Claim OwnershipSermons from Christ Covenant Church
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© 1971-2026 Christ Covenant Church. Unless otherwise noted, all Scripture readings are from the English Standard Version Bible, © 2001 Crossway; Used by permission; All rights reserved.
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Christ Covenant Church is a reformed, presbyterian church (RPCNA) in Lawrence, Kansas. Here, you can find archives of the sermons preached during our Sabbath morning worship services, both from our pastor, Rev. John McFarland, and the occasional guest preacher. To learn more about our church, visit christcovenantchurchrpc.org. We would love to have you join us for worship!
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“Please stay, to tell us more about Jesus!” This is what all evangelists long to hear. Is this always our sign to stay around, and why did Jesus say no?!
As we close out this bold interview & divine appointment involving the woman of Sychar & our Master, what can we learn about evangelitic witness, from Him, from her, and from the relatively silent & absent disciples?
The woman of Sychar was highly distracted by things of this world, but Jesus continued to present Himself as the living water to quench her real thirst, then make her a fountain of that life for others.
“Taking matters into our own hands” usually leads to folly, and such was the case for Abram and Sarai, who believed they were ill-equipped to bear children as God promised them. But if we choose to wait on God instead as Hagar did, He will bless us.
Why is it that Jesus had to go through Samaria? Why didn’t the infamous impurity of that place & those people keep Jesus away? What more can we see about Jesus from this famous interaction?
Jesus publicly praised John the Baptist, hinting as great teachers do that we should strive to be like this “model.” Do you know, specifically, what Jesus found admirable about His cousin?
Even though Abram has already seen God’s great power at work, he is still afraid that God will not be able to fulfill His promise to give him an heir. He is anxious about misery, sin, and death. But the Word of God comes to him proclaiming, “Fear not,” and reassures him of His promises. We can be just as sure that the Word of God has come to conquer misery, sin, and death for us.
The Sermon on the Mount served as the beginning of Jesus bringing the ideals of God’s Kingdom down to reality. And one of the most sorely-misunderstood aspects of God’s Law at the time was the subject of divorce. Today we ought to heed Christ’s warnings and strive to be faithful, as He will always be faithful to us.
We should not penalize ourselves due to our “familiarity” with this most famous verse. Rather, we should look more intently into this big verse about a big God, big world, big love, & big faith requiring our big response.
Paul in Romans 4 describes Abram as one who “walked in the footsteps of faith.” This included obedience to God, but also times of disobedience; times where his faith was tested through temptation and persecution; and times where he questioned his faith, followed by God confirming His covenant with him.
There is an element of offense in the gospel, seen even in one “picture” God gave us of it, the uplifting of the bronze serpent by Moses in the wilderness. But those who are born from above are glad to look up, and to look away from themselves.
Here we see a recorded conversation between two rabbis (teachers): Nicodemus and Jesus. One rabbi came in with flattery which disguised his ignorance about the most important spiritual truths. The other Rabbi shows us how critical it is for all teachers & students to know the regeneration precedes faith if one is to be saved at all & born from above.
Man’s attempt to reverse the curse of sin and recreate paradise failed, but God did not leave man hopeless. Thus God chose Abram - a nomad with no heir who practiced idolatry in Babylon - and promised to bless the nations through him. God would indeed reverse the curse of sin for all nations through Abram’s descendant, Jesus Christ.
This first temple-cleansing by Jesus teaches us much about the rights of the Son, the purpose of the Passover & temple & sacrificial system, ways we reveal our impurity, and the consuming zeal Jesus has for this house & body.
Humanity longs to return to the paradise God banished us from, so we often attempt to build our own paradise on Earth. But so long as sin exists, any paradise we build cannot last - such was the case of Noah after the Flood and of the founding of Babylon. Only the paradise God is building will last forever, and we see Him beginning to build it even in the immediate aftermath of the Flood.
Given the prominence of the several versions of The Great Commission along with the heavy Biblical emphasis on sowing & reaping (spiritually understood), Christians & our churches must push against the world’s resistance and our own excuses so we are investing well in the practical sharing of Christ with many, especially those who are not walking with Him today.
The Flood was an outpouring of God’s wrath on the corrupted world, yet it was also a display of His grace. Noah and his family deserved to die like everyone else, yet God showed grace to preserve them from His wrath through the Flood, and preserve them from His wrath after the Flood by establishing His covenant with Noah and his descendants.
John selected seven of what must have been thousands of Jesus’ signs, to highlight His manifold care & compassion, His power over all that could hinder us, and His obvious divinity.
As man began to increase on earth after the Fall, there arose a distinction between those who identified themselves with the world and were corrupted, and those who found favor with God and were defined by their calling upon Him. We must therefore be heralds of righteousness in this sinful world just as Noah was.
Jesus began to glorify Himself & His Father through signs, at a wedding. This teaches us much about Jesus, human life, priorities, and the wondrous grace of God.
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