Gospel for life with Nathaniel Timmermann

Vocation: "What Should I Do with My Life"

The question, "What should I do with my life" is constant refrain. We graduate from high school - what should I do with my life? Finish college - what should I do with my life. Don't like our career - what should I do with my life? Have kids - what should I do with my life? Retire - what should I do with my life. Over the next few weeks, we'll try to answer this question through the lens of "vocation", the Christian answer to "what should I do with my life". Vocation means we are "saved to serve". This is the first sermon on July 20th, 2025 from 1 Timothy 1:12-20.

Acts Answers: Do I need a Savior?

Charles Taylor explains that while 500 years ago it was almost impossible to NOT believe in God, now it is almost impossible TO believe in God. In so many ways, we've built a life that can be meaningful, rewarding, and successful in some ways without God. Then we use little salvations to fix the problems we still have. But what if each of those little salvations simply pointed to the bigger salvation that was already won for us in Jesus Christ? A sermon on Acts 4:1-22 on June 15th, 2025

Don't give up on the Bible

For someone who takes the time to investigate the issues related to the Bible, they will likely discover hundreds of questions and problems. There are reasonable answers for many of these questions. The real question is, what is the Bible? Is it data or information? Is it a rule book? if it is these things, it will disappoint us. But if it is something more.... a sermon on June 1st, 2025

Can we believe the Bible?

Can a book so old be reliable? Can we trust it and learn from it? What about all the problems in the Bible? This week we consider whether the Bible is reliable. A sermon on Acts 17:10-15.

Why does Christianity ruin all the fun?

A common problem with Christianity is that it ruins the fun in people's lives. Whether intentional or not, it becomes something of a "straitjacket" that people simply have to put up with. What do we do about this? Why does Christianity take all the fun out of life? A sermon from Acts 11 and other lessons on May 18th 2025

Acts Answers: Why is there so much suffering if Jesus is risen from the dead?

The first Christians dealt with some of the hardest questions. One of them - what do we do about suffering? They faced so much. Then they healed. Acts Answers - a sermon on May 11th 2025.

Acts Answers: Is Christianity Good?

There are plenty of arguments that Christianity does good things in the world. See Confronting Christianity or Alvin Schmidt How Christianity Changed the World. But Jesus doesn't say Christianity is good because it makes the world a better place or because people do good things because of Christianity. Rather, he says Christianity is good because Jesus died and rose. A sermon on Acts 9:1-22 on May 4, 2025

Acts Answers: Is Christianity legitimate?

We still ask a lot of questions of Christianity, and so did the ancient people. Acts answered a lot of the same questions. Lets find out what they said. First study - is Christianity legitimate? is it valid? Should we keep it around? Acts 5:17-34

Real Easter:

Peeps. Crème filled eggs. Chocolate. Bunnies. Chicks. Lambs. Lilies. Tulips. Daffodils. They’re all fun things that are part of spring. But they actually take us back to the real Easter. While the religions of the East speak of dissolving into the ocean of being, and while Islam and the Christian cults portray an otherworldly future, the Bible promises resurrection. This is different. It’s this life laid hold of and turned around. Resurrection is Jesus taking us through the valley of the shadow and out into a happily ever after, complete with best wedding ever. Without Jesus, life ends with a funeral. With him, there is a never-ending feast. A sermon on Easter Sunday April 20th, 2025

Renewed by repentance

Repentance can be difficult, almost terrifying. Yet it is renewing, and God is desperate to renew us. A sermon on Psalm 51:10-13