Trinity Church of Portland - Sermons

This morning we began a new series titled, Christian Living In The Current of Culture, preaching expositionally through Paul's First Letter to the Corinthians. This sermon titled “The People, Paul, & the Purpose For It All.” was preached by Pastor Thomas Terry from 1 Corinthians 1:1-3.

This sermon laid the groundwork for coming months we will be preaching through the letter of First Corinthians. Corinth was the Roman gateway to Greece and a crossroads for people traveling all directions. This made Corinth a city and in turn made the church one that was wealthy and gifted. Even though this church was full of sin and messiness they were still God’s church. Paul focused closely on preaching Christ to move the Corinthian Christians from the culture of Corinth to the cross of Christ. Paul was telling the Corinthians, you are members of God’s church called to be different, called out from the world. As you approach this letter ask yourself whether your life looks like a Christian should look? And does your life reflect the truth of your identity, focused on remembering who you are and whose you are?

This morning we celebrated Resurrection Sunday and continued our series Christian Living In The Current of Culture, preaching through Paul's First Letter to the Corinthians. This sermon titled “The Message of the Cross” was preached by Pastor Thomas Terry from 1 Corinthians 1:18-2:5.

This sermon text helps us see the power in the preaching of the cross of Christ—the gospel, which Paul brought to Corinth and preached to both Jews and Greeks. Despite the fact that many in Corinth and in our own day view this message as foolishness, it is the wisdom of God which he uses to save people. God also calls people to salvation through this message who are seemingly unimpressive according to the world’s standards. This must cause us to boast only in God—never can we boast in ourselves or anything we have done.

This morning we continued our series Life Letters, an exposition of the two letters Paul wrote to the Thessalonian church. This sermon titled, A Church That Encourages Is A Church That Endures from 1 Thessalonians 5:12-22 and was preached by a guest preacher, Pastor Cody Cannon from Life Pointe Church.

In this text, Paul exhorted the church that meaningful participation in a local church is an essential means of endurance in the Christian life. We are not meant to live the Christian life solo, it requires the local church where we find and give encouragement, love, and care for each other.

Pastor Cristian Boanca continues our summer sermon series, Made Like Him: Spiritual Disciplines for Jesus's Disciples. This sermon was preached from Mark 10:42-45 brings us to the subject of Service And Evangelism. Because Jesus came to serve people, we, his people should also serve, using the gifts the Holy Spirit has given us for the common good of the church and our community.
We also need to be people who go about evangelizing our neighbors using simple words that speak to the love of God for sinners, then leave the results to the Lord. He can use our gospel chatter to save people and build his kingdom.

This morning we continued our series "Hevel Under The Horizon" going through the wisdom book of Ecclesiastes. This fifth sermon of the series is titled "The Mtyh of Having Other People’s Lives" and was preached by Pastor Thomas Terry from Ecclesiastes 4:4-12

In this text we see the Preacher expose the vanity of envy and desiring the lives other people seem to be living. Human envy will often lead to either laziness or over work. Both of these sinful responses from our envy produce vanity, they are worthless and harmful to human flourishing. The way God would have His people live is to work hard yet also avoid envy by being content with what God has given you and how God has blessed you. God has given Christians each other to walk through this world socially integrated within the church and family relationships. There is a safety in numbers which we should see also as a blessing from God.