Sunday Sermons

Ashland City Church of Christ

Welcome to Sunday Sermons – your midweek connection to what matters most. Each episode features the sermon from our Sunday gathering at Ashland City Church of Christ, offering you a chance to catch up, reflect deeper, or share the message with someone who needs it. We know life gets busy. Whether you were chasing toddlers during the sermon, out of town, or just want to listen again without the distractions, this podcast is for you. Expect biblical teaching, honest reflection, and practical encouragement—always rooted in Scripture, always pointing to Jesus. No pews, no pressure—just real messages for real life, delivered straight to your headphones. New episodes drop every week.

  1. Sep 6

    Villains - Herod Agrippa

    Herod Agrippa was a man who knew how to work a room. The grandson of Herod the Great, he was educated in Rome among the elite, and he spent his life leveraging charm, wealth, and political savvy to climb to the top. The Jewish people admired him and believed he honored God, but beneath the surface he was self-serving and violent. When he saw that persecuting the church won him favor with the crowd, he had the apostle James executed and threw Peter in prison. His motivation was not conviction. It was convenience. He was a people pleaser with power, and that made him dangerous. The church's response to this crisis is one of the most instructive moments in the entire book of Acts. With James dead and Peter in chains, they gathered and prayed. Not as a last resort, but as their most confident and powerful act. God answered in a way no one could have engineered. An angel appeared in Peter's cell, the chains fell from his hands, and he walked past guards and through an iron gate that opened on its own. When Peter arrived at the house where the church was praying, they were so shocked they could barely believe it was him. They had prayed for something miraculous, and when the miracle arrived, they were genuinely stunned. It is a humbling and honest picture of faith. The chapter ends with a sharp contrast. Agrippa, standing before a crowd that called him a god, accepted the praise that belonged only to God and was immediately struck down. After all the violence, the scheming, and the flattery, the final word belongs to God: the word of God increased and multiplied. The lesson for believers today is clear. Powerful people will always exist who oppose the truth, and the temptation to fear them or place excessive hope in them is real. But Jesus is the King of kings, and His kingdom is not threatened by any election, any ruler, or any crisis. That confidence changes how we pray, how we respond to fear, and where we place our trust.

  2. Aug 30

    A Cheaper Perfume

    In the final days before His crucifixion, Jesus was in Bethany at the home of Simon the Leper, sharing a meal with people who had personally experienced His power. Martha was serving. Lazarus, recently raised from the dead, was present. And Mary, their sister, walked in carrying an alabaster flask of pure spikenard, a perfume worth roughly a year's wages, and poured the entire thing over Jesus. She also anointed His feet and wiped them with her hair, an act considered scandalous in that culture. The response from those at the table was sharp criticism. But Jesus silenced them and called what she had done beautiful, using the Greek word kalos. He then made a promise that has echoed across two thousand years: wherever the gospel is proclaimed, what she did would be remembered. And here we are, still talking about her. Every person in that room represents a category we can recognize today. Some were expressive, celebrating what Jesus had done for them. Some were expulsive, criticizing and trying to shut down genuine devotion. And Mary was excessive, giving everything without hesitation, without concern for her reputation, and without expecting anything in return. The honest question is which category we fall into. Have we settled for a cheaper perfume in how we think about the church, how we handle Scripture, how we support missionaries, how we invest in our marriages and families, or how we order our personal priorities? Genuine passion for Jesus looks like Mary's act. It is costly, wholehearted, and beautiful. The invitation is to identify one area where we have quietly pulled back and make a deliberate decision to pour out something valuable as an act of devotion to Him.

  3. Aug 23

    Who Are We To Stand In God's Way?

    One of the oldest struggles in the Christian faith is not just believing the Gospel, but living it out across the lines we draw between ourselves and others. The story of Peter and Cornelius in Acts 11 is not ancient history locked away in the past. It is a mirror held up to every generation of believers. Luke tells this story multiple times in Acts, and that repetition is intentional. The Holy Spirit saw fit to have it told again and again because it addresses something deeply embedded in human nature: our tendency to draw lines, build walls, and decide who belongs and who does not. The circumcision party in Acts 11 represents a group of Christians who insisted that following Jesus was not enough. They required others to adopt their cultural and ethnic practices as well, adding to the Gospel in a way that Paul would later call a heresy. This was not just a first-century problem. For 2,000 years, people have been told that to truly belong, they must not only follow Jesus but also look, speak, and live like a particular group. That is a burden the Gospel was never meant to place on anyone. God's vision for His kingdom has always been multilingual, multiethnic, and multinational. This is not a modern social agenda layered onto Christianity. It is the mission of God from the very beginning, as Paul makes clear in Ephesians 1 when he describes God's plan to bring everything together under the authority of Christ. Peter's encounter with Cornelius forced him to confront the distinctions he had been making, not just about food, but about people. God told him directly to stop calling common what He had made clean. And Peter's honest response was that he had argued with God, pushed back, and resisted, because he had once stood exactly where his critics stood. But God changed his mind, and that same invitation is extended to us. We can stand in God's way actively, by openly refusing to fellowship with those who are different, or passively, by quietly opting out and letting others carry the work of reconciliation. Both postures carry consequences, and the most immediate one is missing the joy of what God is doing. Time does not heal the wounds caused by racism, slavery, or division. A wound left untreated does not simply get better on its own. But Jesus can heal what time cannot. When walls come down and people come together across lines of race and culture, that is not the passage of time doing the work. That is the Spirit of God, and He deserves the credit. God's reconciliation project calls for participants, not spectators. The fruit of the Spirit described in Galatians 5 is not just for personal benefit. It is the means by which God does His reconciling work through His people. Participation looks like getting to know neighbors who look or speak differently, refusing to stay comfortable in a circle that only looks like you, and choosing to love the people around you at work, at school, and in your community. God is glorified when His people are unified across every line the world uses to divide. That unity is not just a nice feeling. It is a testimony to the power of the Gospel, and God's mission will be accomplished with or without our cooperation. The only question is whether we will be part of it.

  4. Aug 16

    A Gift For All

    From the very beginning of Scripture, God's mission was never confined to one people group. When He called Abraham, the promise was sweeping and global: all the families of the earth would be blessed through him. The Apostle Paul looked back at that moment and called it the gospel preached in advance. This theme does not appear just once. It runs through the law of Moses, which taught that every nation descended from Adam. It runs through the Psalms, which declared that all the ends of the earth would turn to the Lord. It runs through the prophets, who described God's house as a place of prayer for all peoples. Jesus Himself quoted that vision when He cleansed the temple, reminding His listeners that God's presence was never meant to be exclusive. And yet, even with all of that, the early church was slow to act on it. It took multiple visions, miracles, and a direct encounter in the home of a Roman Gentile named Cornelius before Peter and his companions were truly confronted with what God had been saying all along. When the Holy Spirit fell on those Gentile believers, the Jewish Christians who witnessed it were stunned. That reaction is worth sitting with, not to judge them, but to honestly ask where we carry the same blind spots today. Paul would later write in Ephesians that the great mystery now fully revealed is that Gentiles are fellow heirs, members of the same body, sharing the same promise through Jesus Christ. One body, one Spirit, one hope, one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God and Father of all. Living out this truth requires more than good intentions. Sharing is not passive, and it is not simply the absence of prejudice. It is intentional. It is also reciprocal. When we pursue genuine relationships with people from different backgrounds, we are not just offering something to them. We are opening ourselves to blessings that can only be received in that kind of community. God designed His blessings to be shared across every boundary. Abraham was blessed to be a blessing. The church is blessed to be a blessing. And the fullness of what God has for us is experienced together, across every nation, every ethnicity, and every background.

  5. Jun 28

    Why Be Baptized?

    Baptism is one of the most discussed and debated subjects in the Christian faith, but the Bible does not leave us guessing about its meaning or purpose. First Peter 3:21-22 provides a rich and detailed picture of what baptism truly is, and unpacking seven key words from that passage opens up a deeper understanding of what happens when a person is immersed. The word baptism itself comes from the Greek word baptisma, meaning to dip, plunge, or immerse. This is not a ceremonial sprinkling or pouring. It is a full immersion in water, just as people were immersed in the Jordan River during the ministry of John. Baptism corresponds to the story of Noah, where God used water to wash away the corruption of the world and bring His people safely through it. In the same way, immersion washes away the filth of our past sins. The blood of Jesus is how that cleansing happens, and baptism is when it takes place. The two work together and cannot be separated. First Peter 3:21 also tells us that baptism saves us, not as a removal of physical dirt, but as an appeal to God for a good conscience. This appeal carries the weight of standing before God under His full scrutiny and being able to say, with confidence, that your heart and life align with His Word. That confidence does not come from personal goodness. It comes from the blood of Jesus washing away everything you used to be. The resurrection of Jesus Christ is what makes all of this possible. Romans 1:4 declares that He was shown to be the Son of God in power through His resurrection from the dead. Because He rose, we have no fear about the past and no fear about the future. Hebrews 10:2 tells us that with true forgiveness, there is no more consciousness of sin. God no longer holds those sins against us, and we are free from carrying them as well. Finally, 1 Peter 3:22 reminds us that Jesus has ascended into heaven and is seated at the right hand of God, with all angels, authorities, and powers subjected to Him. He is not distant or uninvolved. He is actively interceding for us right now. First John 2:1 calls Him our advocate with the Father. Hebrews 7:25 tells us He always lives to make intercession for those who come to God through Him. If you have been immersed, you are not walking through life alone. You have a Savior who has washed away your past, a good conscience before God, and an advocate in heaven who is on your side every single day.

  6. Jun 21

    What is Baptism?

    Baptism is one of the most debated topics in Christianity, but a closer look at the original Greek words of the New Testament reveals something that changes the entire conversation. Three Greek words are used in Scripture to describe washing and cleansing: nipto, which refers to washing a specific part of the body; luo, which describes a full bathing or complete cleansing; and pluno, which refers to the deep laundering of something to make it thoroughly clean. Each of these words appears in passages directly connected to baptism, and together they paint a consistent picture. In God's eyes, baptism is not merely a symbol or an outward sign. It is a cleansing. The blood of Jesus is the source of that cleansing. Without the blood, there is nothing to believe in, nothing to repent toward, and baptism would accomplish nothing. But the blood of Jesus reaches a person's life at a specific moment, and that moment is baptism. Scripture connects both the blood and baptism to justification, purification, and sanctification. Romans 5:9 tells us we are justified by His blood. First Corinthians 6:11 tells us that justification, sanctification, and washing all happen together in the name of Jesus and by the Spirit of God. Acts 22:16 commands a person to be baptized and wash away their sins. The blood is the how. Baptism is the when. This truth has real and personal implications. If you have been baptized, that moment was not just a public declaration or a religious ritual. It was the moment God's grace entered your life, the moment you were made new, set apart, and declared clean before God. Carrying that identity daily matters. And for those who have not yet been baptized, or for those who know someone weighed down by their past, Scripture offers a remarkable promise. Such were some of you. God no longer sees His people through the lens of who they were before. The blood of Jesus, received through baptism, has the power to wash away everything.

  7. Jun 14

    Persevering Through Crisis

    When life throws unexpected challenges our way, whether personal struggles, family crises, or global uncertainties, these difficulties can quickly evolve from external problems into internal crises of faith. We begin questioning whether God truly loves us or if we deserve His help after our past mistakes. However, most of the Bible was written to and about people living in crisis, providing us with timeless wisdom for navigating our own difficult seasons. David's experience in 2 Samuel 15 offers a powerful example of finding confidence in the midst of overwhelming circumstances. His own son Absalom had systematically undermined his leadership, stealing the hearts of the people and eventually launching a full conspiracy to overthrow his father's kingdom. Even David's trusted counselor Ahithophel joined the rebellion, leaving the king betrayed by family and abandoned by close friends. Rather than fight and risk bloodshed in Jerusalem, David chose exile, walking barefoot up the Mount of Olives with his head covered in shame. Yet from this darkest hour came Psalm 3, which reveals the secret to maintaining confidence during crisis. Despite his enemies claiming that God wouldn't save him, David responded with unwavering certainty: God is his shield, his glory, and the lifter of his head. Most remarkably, David could sleep peacefully even while his world fell apart, demonstrating trust in the One who could put it back together. His confidence wasn't based on perfect behavior or favorable circumstances, but on his covenant relationship with God. Through Jesus, we too can approach God's throne with boldness, knowing that faithfulness doesn't require flawlessness, and that our present circumstances don't define what God thinks of us.

  8. Jun 7

    Persevering Through Disappointment

    Disappointment is an inevitable part of human experience, often leaving us questioning God's presence and wondering if He has abandoned us during our struggles. When problems feel overwhelming and God seems distant, it's natural to feel forgotten and alone. These emotions are valid, but they don't reflect the true reality of God's faithfulness. Psalm 22 captures these universal feelings perfectly, beginning with the cry that Jesus would later echo on the cross: "My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?" For nearly a thousand years before Christ, God's people recited these words because every generation needs to express such feelings. The psalmist acknowledges God's faithfulness to previous generations while feeling personally abandoned and mocked. Yet this psalm doesn't end in despair - it declares that God has not despised the affliction of the afflicted and has not hidden His face from those who cry to Him. Jesus didn't just quote this psalm; He embodied it completely. Every detail found its ultimate fulfillment in His crucifixion, making Him not only our fellow sufferer but our ultimate sufferer. The resurrection serves as proof that God did not forsake Jesus, and this same faithfulness extends to all who trust in Him. When we face disappointments and feel God is distant, we must remember that our emotions, while valid, don't always reflect spiritual reality. The empty tomb remains empty, serving as our constant reminder that God's faithfulness to Jesus guarantees His faithfulness to us.

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About

Welcome to Sunday Sermons – your midweek connection to what matters most. Each episode features the sermon from our Sunday gathering at Ashland City Church of Christ, offering you a chance to catch up, reflect deeper, or share the message with someone who needs it. We know life gets busy. Whether you were chasing toddlers during the sermon, out of town, or just want to listen again without the distractions, this podcast is for you. Expect biblical teaching, honest reflection, and practical encouragement—always rooted in Scripture, always pointing to Jesus. No pews, no pressure—just real messages for real life, delivered straight to your headphones. New episodes drop every week.

Information

  • Creator
    Ashland City Church of Christ
  • Years Active
    2025 - 2026
  • Episodes
    40
  • Rating
    Clean
  • Copyright
    © Copyright Ashland City Church of Christ
  • Show Website
    Sunday Sermons