Christ Church (Moscow, ID)

Preacher: Douglas WilsonThe story of our Lord’s passion is a story that is saturated in ironies. One of those ironies is found in how the high priest got Jesus to speak at His trial, and what the Lord included in His answer. Just as Jesus made the good confession before Pilate (1 Tim. 6:13), so also He spoke the truth before Caiaphas—making the good confession there also.

Preacher: Douglas WilsonSermon: The Public CrossJesus was not murdered in private by thugs, only to come back from the dead in secret, with a select band of initiates being told to whisper the news to another handful: “Pssst! Pass it on.” No, He was executed publicly by the authorities, and He rose from the dead in such a way as to declare His absolute authority over all the kingdoms of men, and over everything that they contain. We have to learn how to see the cross in these terms...

Preacher: Toby SumpterFreedom and truth go together, hand in hand. Freedom is not merely lack of constraint or the power of choice. Because it if were, truth would have no bearing on freedom. You wouldn’t need truth to be free. But Jesus says that you cannot be free apart from the truth. The truth is what makes a man free. And therefore, lies are what enslave. Lies are captivity. “Therefore my people are gone into captivity, because they have no knowledge…” (Is. 5:13).

"Tell all the stories. And while you're at it, live out some stories that will be worth the telling." – Douglas Wilson

Preacher: Aaron Ventura

Preacher: Toby SumpterText: Mark 11:11–26What’s wrong with this world? What do we really need? The central answer of the Bible is that our problems all flow from the problem of sin, and therefore, what the world fundamentally needs is forgiveness. When Jesus entered Jerusalem on Palm Sunday, He went straight into the temple. And then over the next few days, He keeps returning to the temple: first clearing it out, then preaching and teaching in it. Jesus insists that the point of His life is to fulfill what the temple always pointed to: forgiveness for sins.

Preacher: Ben ZornesText: Zechariah 9:8–10The danger of clichés is that they are usually quite right. but because they are right, they get consigned to pasteboard behind the goalposts of a televised football game. What should shake the foundations of darkness is met with an eye-roll.

Preacher: Douglas WilsonText: Matthew 23:27–39When the Lord entered Jerusalem in His triumphal entry, He was walking steadily toward a triumph that only He really understood. His followers knew that it was a triumph, certainly, but they did not yet know what kind of triumph it was going to be. The Lord was going to die on a cross, and that is why He set His face to go to Jerusalem (Luke 9:51). And this is why, as Chesterton once observed, the cross can never be defeated. It can never be defeated because it is defeat.

Preacher: Douglas WilsonDedicate yourself to things that matter.

Speaker: George Grant—Christ taught us that the poor will always be with us. He called us to clothe the naked, feed the poor, visit the imprisoned, care for the widow and orphan. But when the Church grows lax in her mission of mercy, it won’t be long before the Nanny-State ambles along offering her services to solve the problems of poverty, suffering, and broken homes. When charity becomes the task of godless bureaucracy you can guarantee that you will end up with very little true charity and instead you’ll have endless bureaucratic hallways.The Church must return to God’s instructions for caring for the poor.