Stonebridge Bible Church Sermons

Michael teaches the first apocalyptic text in the Bible, the book named for Daniel, the exile whose pious life in among a pagan culture drew attention from his enemies and favor from His God. Sometimes referred to as the “Apocalypse of the Old Testament,” Daniel presents a majestic sweep of prophetic history. The Babylonians, Persians, Greeks, and Romans will come and go, but God will establish His people forever. Nowhere is this theme more apparent than in the life of Daniel, a young God-fearing Jew transplanted from his homeland and raised in Babylonia. His adventures—and those of his friends—in the palace, the fiery furnace, and the lion’s den show that even during the Exile God has not forgotten His chosen nation. And through Daniel, God provides dreams—and interpretations of dreams—designed to convince Jew and Gentile alike that wisdom and power belong to Him alone!

Michael teaches through the book named for the prophet Ezekiel.  Ezekiel prophesies among the Jewish exiles in Babylon during the last days of Judah’s decline and downfall. His ministry is in some ways similar to that of his older contemporary, Jeremiah. But while Jeremiah delivers a chilling message of destruction in Jerusalem, Ezekiel brings a warming message of reconstruction in Babylon. Jeremiah is a man of tears, Ezekiel is a man of visions. Join us as we look at what his visions reveal to us about God’s judgment, righteousness, and mercy.

Michael teaches an overview of the book of Lamentations. A mournful post-script to the longest book of the Bible (Jeremiah), Lamentations serves a sure and certain warning. As God’s people grieve the loss of the Tabernacle because of Jerusalem's sin, heaven remains silent. Yet the book contains more than just the backward glances of a vindicated prophet. ‘It is a mute reminder that sin, in spite of all its allurement and excitement, carries with it heavy weights of sorrow, grief, misery, barrenness, and pain. It is the other side of the eat, drink, and be merry’ coin’ (Charles R. Swindoll, The Lamentations of Jeremiah, “Introduction”). Lamentations both mourns the fall of the city and offers reproof, instruction, and hope to its survivors.”  So, what does this tell us about who God is? How should we read and respond to this difficult text? The encouragement found in the sorrowful prose of this book may surprise you–and even offer hope: God’s lovingkindness never ceases.

Michael returns to the Big Book Cover to Cover series, teaching on the book of Jeremiah, the second-longest in the Bible. We know more about Jeremiah's life than we know of any other prophet. For 40+ years, Jeremiah ministers to Judah and to Gentile nations, announcing God’s judgement due to their apostasy, idolatry, false worship, and overall decay as God’s people. Unfortunately, the recipients of his message chose to “beat the messenger” rather than heed the message.

Michael teaches on Psalm 111.

Guest speaker, Wayne Wolf, teaches on Mary during this last Sunday of Advent.

This third week of Advent, Wayne Wolf preaches on the shepherds at Christ’s birth.

Guest speaker, Wayne Wolf, preaches on the faith of Zechariah and Elizabeth on this second Sunday of Advent.

Michael introduces the Major Prophets and teaches an overview on the book of Isaiah.  We transition into the Prophetic books, with Isaiah the 1st of 5 major prophets: Isaiah, Jeremiah, Lamentations, Ezekiel, Daniel followed by the 12 minor prophets.  Isaiah is perhaps one of the most loved and, in a way, important prophets of the Old Testament. Prior to the discovery of the Dead Sea Scrolls, there was great controversy around the book of Isaiah because it’s such a beautiful Biblical Hebrew piece. Some argued it must have had multiple authors or been written across multiple timestamps, but the discovery of the Dead Sea Scrolls demonstrated a unity in Isaiah as well as a dating much earlier than liberal scholarship had proposed. It’s the oldest manuscript we have. The Dead Sea Scrolls copy of Isaiah is a thousand years older than the oldest manuscript we had, but proved to be word for word accurate with our standard Hebrew Bible upon their discovery in 1947 with very slight variation (around 5%, mostly attributed to misspellings and slips of the pen).  This discovery also ultimately offered strong evidence that the entire canonized Old Testament that we have today was completed by 450 B.C. The Greek Translation of the Old Testament – the Septuagint – is dated to about 250 years B.C.

Guest speaker Craig preaches on trusting God in what He’s called us to do.