Christ the King Church, Hiawassee

Christ the King Church, Hiawassee
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The sermon audio of Christ the King Church, Hiawassee. New episodes every Wednesday.

  1. 4d ago

    He Changed His Mind and Went (Matthew 21:28–32)

    Matthew 21:28–32 places Jesus in the middle of a confrontation with the chief priests and elders. He tells of two sons. One openly refuses his father but afterward changes his mind and goes. The other says, “I go, sir,” but does not go. Jesus asks the question that matters: which son actually did the father’s will? The parable exposes the distance that can open between religious words and obedient lives. The chief priests and elders know Scripture, serve in the temple, and possess religious authority, yet they refused John the Baptist’s call to repentance. Tax collectors and prostitutes believed John and turned. Ezekiel 18 sharpens the call: “Turn, and live.” We cannot hide behind the past, yet Ezekiel also points beyond human effort to God’s promise, “I will give you a new heart.” God truly calls sinners to repent, and God gives the grace by which sinners can turn. Psalm 25 gives the posture of repentance: “Make me to know your ways, O LORD; teach me your paths.” The Collect gives the order of grace: pardon and peace, cleansing from sin, then service. We obey from pardon, not toward pardon. Beyond both sons stands Jesus Christ, the true Son, who does not merely say yes to the Father but goes in obedience all the way to the cross. His mercy makes repentance possible. The practical question is where the Father is saying “Go” while we are still standing still. By grace, yesterday’s no does not have to be the end of the story.

  2. Sep 23

    Do You Begrudge My Generosity? (Matthew 20:1-16)

    Matthew 20:1-16 is framed by Jesus’ warning that “the first will be last, and the last first.” Peter has asked what the disciples will receive after leaving everything to follow Jesus. Jesus affirms that faithfulness matters, but the parable warns against turning sacrifice or longevity into a claim on God. The master repeatedly goes into the marketplace, calls workers, and sends them into his vineyard. At day’s end he pays the eleventh-hour workers a full denarius, and the first workers grumble because “you have made them equal to us.” Their problem is not a broken promise but resentment of generosity. We recognize the same temptation when a newcomer’s gifts are noticed, a prodigal is warmly welcomed, or someone blessed after choices we avoided seems to receive more than we think is fair. Jonah 4 reveals the same heart: Jonah knows God is gracious and merciful, yet resents that mercy when it reaches Nineveh. Our Collect asks the Holy Spirit to pour into our hearts “that most excellent gift of charity,” because without love our deeds are worth nothing. The question becomes especially searching when grace reaches someone whose sins horrify us. Earthly justice and heavenly mercy are not the same question, yet Christ fully receives the sinner who truly repents and believes. The thief on the cross is an eleventh-hour worker. Psalm 145 gives the proper response: worship the LORD who is gracious, merciful, and good to all. Long faithfulness is itself a gift, not leverage over God. Christ came to save sinners, and his mercy is sufficient for the lifelong saint and the sinner who comes at the last hour.

  3. Sep 16

    As I Had Mercy On You (Matthew 18:21-35)

    Peter asks Jesus how often he must forgive the brother who sins against him. Seven times sounds generous, but Peter is still counting. Jesus answers with a number that makes counting useless and tells of a servant owing an impossible debt. He asks for patience, but the king gives something greater: he cancels the debt. Christian forgiveness begins there. Before we are commanded to forgive, we are sinners who have received mercy. Psalm 103 says that God removes our transgressions as far as east is from west. Then the forgiven servant finds another servant who really does owe him something. Jesus does not minimize that debt, and he does not ask us to minimize betrayal, lies, broken promises, or damaged trust. He asks us to see real wounds in the light of the immeasurable mercy we have received. Forgiveness does not mean calling evil good, immediately reconciling, or restoring trust without repentance. Forgiveness releases vengeance; reconciliation restores fellowship; trust is rebuilt through demonstrated faithfulness. Jesus’ final warning is severe, but forgiveness does not purchase salvation. A hardened refusal to forgive may reveal that a profession of receiving mercy has never truly taken root. Forgiveness is fruit, not the price of grace. So we remember the King before reopening the ledger, forgive without enabling, and place the debt into God’s hands. Holy Cross Day reminds us what forgiveness cost: God did not pretend our debt never existed. Christ gave himself for sinners who could not pay. The debt was real, but in Christ God’s mercy was greater still.

  4. Aug 26

    The Confession of the Church (Matthew 16:13-20)

    The Confession of the Church: Thirteenth Sunday after Pentecost, Proper 16, Year A. Matthew 16:13–20. Two Sundays ago the disciples worshiped Jesus in the boat and said, “Truly you are the Son of God.” So what is different at Caesarea Philippi? Peter adds the messianic title Christ. There is no new miracle in this scene to prompt it. And Jesus immediately names the source of the confession: flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but my Father who is in heaven. Evidence matters, but evidence alone does not produce the confession. The disciples had extraordinary firsthand evidence and still needed the Father to reveal it. This is why we pray before we share the Gospel, and why we keep praying for people who seem closed to it. Isaiah 51:1–6 supplies the Old Testament background: look to the rock from which you were hewn, to Abraham and Sarah. God multiplied one seemingly barren beginning into a nation. The Church is built by the same power, not its own achievement. Peter is the rock in connection with the apostolic confession the Father revealed through him, while Christ remains the ultimate foundation and cornerstone. Three applications: the confession must be received before it is made, so let us pray for the Father to open our eyes and for those who seem closed to the Gospel; we are what the rock produces, not the rock, so our confidence is not in our size or strength; and the witness of the Church is cross-shaped, so let us identify our own Caesarea Philippi, where confessing Christ costs something. “Blessed are you, Simon Bar-Jonah! For flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but my Father who is in heaven.” (Matthew 16:17, ESV)

  5. Aug 12

    Lord, Save Me (Matthew 14:22-33)

    "Lord, Save Me". Eleventh Sunday after Pentecost, second Sunday of Movement III: the King acts and is recognized. Matthew 14:22–33. Last week’s question was answered at three in the morning, in a storm, by men in a battered boat: Truly you are the Son of God. The storm is not the absence of Christ; it is often the occasion of his coming. After feeding five thousand, Jesus sends the disciples across the Sea of Galilee and withdraws to the mountain to pray. They row through the night against the wind and waves. The fourth watch (3–6 AM): hours at the oars, cold and exhausted. They are in this storm not because of disobedience but because of obedience to Jesus’ command. Jesus watches from the mountain, seeing them making headway painfully (Mark 6:48). He comes not by calming the storm from a distance but by walking into the middle of it, into the same wind, toward the same waves. This is the shape of how God saves: not salvation from a safe heaven but the Son of God entering what threatens to destroy us so he can be with us in it. He speaks: “Take heart; it is I. Do not be afraid.” Jesus identifies himself with the divine name revealed to Moses. Psalm 29, the appointed psalm: “The Lord sits enthroned over the flood; the Lord sits enthroned as king forever.” The disciples are in the middle of that psalm. Peter asks to come; Jesus says come; Peter walks on water, the only human other than Jesus to do so. He sees the wind; distazo (dis-TAD-zo), hesitation or wavering: not lost faith but lost focus. He begins to sink and cries, “Lord, save me.” Jonah 2, the appointed Old Testament reading, is the experiential key across both testaments: a man going under, a cry from the deep, a rescue, ending in worship. Jesus reaches out immediately; the hand is faster than the sinking. Little faith that cries to the right person is enough, because Christ is enough. The wind ceases. Now, for the first time, the disciples worship Jesus. They had watched healings, exorcisms, the feeding of five thousand. Not yet. Demons knew, the Father declared at the baptism, Satan acknowledged in the wilderness, the crowds wondered. Now, halfway through the Gospel, the disciples confess what heaven declared from the beginning: “Truly you are the Son of God.” The storm was not incidental to the confession; it was the occasion of it. The Feast of the Transfiguration was Thursday, August 6: the same face that walked on the water and caught Peter is the face that will shine like the sun on the mountain. The Feast of the Virgin Mary falls this Saturday, August 15. Three applications: the storm is not the absence of Christ but often the occasion of his coming; “Lord, save me” is enough, two words to the right person; the storm produces what calm could not, the worship of those who have been rescued. The collect: “Give us the increase of faith, hope, and love.” Every Christian eventually learns this prayer. Some beside a grave. Some in quiet despair. Two words. The remarkable thing is what happened next: immediately, the hand. The Church is still in the boat. The wind still rises. His people still worship him. Not because the storm has passed, but because he is in the boat. “The Lord sits enthroned over the flood; the Lord sits enthroned as king forever.” (Psalm 29:10, ESV)

  6. Aug 5

    He Had Compassion (Matthew 14:13-21)

    "He Had Compassion". Tenth Sunday after Pentecost, first Sunday of Movement III. Matthew 14:13–21. The miracle begins in grief, not abundance. Jesus has just learned of John the Baptist’s execution and withdraws by boat to grieve. The crowd follows on foot and is waiting when he lands. He steps off the boat and has compassion: splanchnizomai (splank-NIDZ-oh-my), gut-level visceral compassion that acts before calculation. He heals the sick. As evening comes the disciples suggest sending the crowd away; Jesus issues an impossible command: you give them something to eat. Five barley loaves — the bread of the poor. The question is never whether five loaves are enough; it is whether the one holding them is merely a rabbi or the Lord who fed Israel in the wilderness. He took, blessed, broke, and gave: the same four verbs Matthew uses at the Last Supper in 26:26. The feeding of the five thousand anticipates the Table. The desolate place (erēmos) echoes the Sinai wilderness where God fed Israel (Psalm 78:19; Nehemiah 9:20). Moses interceded for Israel; Jesus fulfills the wilderness bread, declaring, “I am the bread of life” (John 6:35). Twelve baskets remain, pointing to the new Israel Christ is gathering around himself. This week the Church celebrates the Feast of the Transfiguration on Thursday, August 6. The same face that had compassion on the crowd will shine like the sun on the mountain. Christ’s compassion meets us before we are ready, receives our inadequate offerings, and returns them with abundance through his blessing. “When he went ashore he saw a great crowd, and he had compassion on them and healed their sick.” (Matthew 14:14, ESV)

  7. Jul 29

    Of Great Price (Matthew 13:31-33, 44-50)

    Of Great Price. Ninth Sunday after Pentecost, final Sunday of Movement II. We reach the end of Matthew 13 with five Kingdom parables that pivot from what happens in the field to what the field is worth. Three groupings: mustard seed and leaven (how the Kingdom works: from small beginnings and in hiddenness); hidden treasure and pearl of great price (what the Kingdom is worth: total reorientation of priorities); and the dragnet (eschatological sorting, that is, what happens at the end of the age, recapping Proper 11). Verse 31: mustard seed, smallest of seeds, becomes the largest of garden plants. Verse 33: leaven hidden in flour until all is leavened. These two say: the invisibility is the method. Verse 44: a man finds treasure in a field that is not yet his, covers it back up, sells everything in his joy, and buys the field. The man does not create the treasure; he discovers it: we respond to grace, not purchase it. Verse 45: a pearl merchant who knows pearls finds one of great value and sells everything immediately. Both arrive at the same posture. No delay between recognition and response. The transaction is about value, not literally about liquidation: has the Kingdom become the standard against which everything else in our lives is measured? Has it reordered our priorities? The Kingdom is where the King is: to find the Kingdom is to find Christ its King, the one in whom are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge. We reorder our lives not around a concept but around a person. 1 Kings 3: God says to Solomon, ask what I shall give you. He asks for wisdom to govern God’s people, foregoing everything else. The merchant who sells all for one pearl is Solomon’s prayer in parable form. God gives Solomon wisdom and what he did not ask for, fulfilling the collect: more ready to hear than we to pray, to give more than we desire or deserve. Psalm 119:127: I love your commandments above gold, above fine gold. The pearl already in hand. The dragnet: cast broadly; sort on shore; the sorting at the close of the age belongs to the angels. Three practical steps: name what we actually value most (did we recognize Christ himself?); invest in the field, not just admire it; trust the size. Even our ability to recognize the treasure is God’s gracious work; the Spirit opens eyes. Movement III begins next week. “The kingdom of heaven is like a merchant in search of fine pearls, who, on finding one pearl of great value, went and sold all that he had and bought it.” (Matthew 13:45–46, ESV)

  8. Jul 22

    Until the Harvest (Matthew 13:24-30;34-43)

    Until the Harvest. Eighth Sunday after Pentecost, final Sunday of Movement II. The parable of the wheat and the tares: good seed sown in the field, an enemy sowing weeds while men sleep. The weed is zizania (zi-ZAN-ee-ah), bearded darnel, virtually indistinguishable from wheat in early growth, root systems entangled; to pull it is to pull the wheat. The judgment that can separate them requires the maturity of the harvest. Jesus gives the full interpretation in verses 36–43: the field is the whole world; the righteous have always lived in the midst of the unrighteous, from Abel to the present day. God withholds immediate judgment for the sake of the elect still being gathered: Peter writes to the elect that God is patient toward them, not wishing that any should perish (2 Peter 3:9), referring to the elect still being brought in. Verse 41: the Son of Man will send his angels, Jesus assuming the divine prerogative in the first person. The judgment accomplishes two things: not only a separation of the ungodly from the godly but a separation of ungodliness from the godly. This is glorification (cf. Philippians 1:6): the final completion of what the Spirit has been doing in the believer, accomplished at the resurrection in an instant. Verse 43 echoes Daniel 12:3: the righteous will shine like the sun, a resurrection promise. Not survival language but transformation language. This does not mean silence: we still name evil, pray against it, speak prophetically, and practice discipline within the household of faith. What the parable prohibits is the presumption of executing the final separation that belongs to the Son of Man alone. Romans 8:18–25: creation groans in the pains of childbirth alongside us; the firstfruits of the Spirit are the guarantee. Psalm 86 is the prayer of the wheat in a weedy world. The collect names almighty power as chiefly expressed in mercy and pity. Mary Magdalene (Jul 22) and James the Apostle (Jul 25) fall this week; articles on the church website. “He who has ears, let him hear.” (Matthew 13:43, ESV)

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The sermon audio of Christ the King Church, Hiawassee. New episodes every Wednesday.

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