2023

Advent | Love | December 17

Sermon by Jon Ludovina on December 17, 2023.

Advent is Latin for "adventus," meaning "arrival," where we celebrate the arrival of Jesus over 2,000 years ago with the global, historic Church. For each week of the Advent season, we look at one thing Jesus has made possible for us through His birth. This week, we look at Love.

Advent | Joy | December 10

Sermon by Jon Ludovina on December 10, 2023.

Advent is Latin for "adventus," meaning "arrival," where we celebrate the arrival of Jesus over 2,000 years ago with the global, historic Church. For each week of the Advent season, we look at one thing Jesus has made possible for us through His birth. This week, we look at Joy.

Advent | Peace | December 3

Sermon by Jake Blair on December 3, 2023.

Advent is Latin for "adventus," meaning "arrival," where we celebrate the arrival of Jesus over 2,000 years ago with the global, historic Church. For each week of the Advent season, we look at one thing Jesus has made possible for us through His birth. This week, we look at Peace.

Advent | Hope | November 26

Sermon by Jake Blair on November 26, 2023.

Advent is Latin for "adventus," meaning "arrival," where we celebrate the arrival of Jesus over 2,000 years ago with the global, historic Church. For each week of the Advent season, we look at one thing Jesus has made possible for us through His birth. This week, we look at Hope.

Embodied | Agape | November 5

Sermon by Jon Ludovina on November 5, 2023.

Last week, we unpacked the whole chapter of 1 Corinthians 15, looking at how the reality of bodily resurrection fills us with great strength, empathy, and hope. This week, we anchor in one verse as we focus on the question, “How do we walk faithfully in love in the cultural moment we find ourselves in?”

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Embodied | Resurrection | October 29

Sermon by Jon Ludovina on October 29, 2023.

Last week, we talked about Genesis 3 and how, because of the fall, we experience breakdown and pain at all levels, including in our bodies. In 1 Corinthians 15, we flash forward to look at the end of the story for our bodies, connecting how knowing the end of the story for our bodies shapes how we live here and now.

Embodied | Epithumia | October 22

Sermon by Jon Ludovina on October 22, 2023.

For the last few weeks, we’ve camped in Genesis 1-2 and painted this beautiful picture of God’s design, His intent for humanity, and what reality should look like. And yet, these ideals are not the reality of our lived existence. Genesis 3 goes on to tell us why that is.

Embodied | Eros | October 15

Sermon by Adam Gibson on October 15, 2023.

So far, we looked at Genesis 1-2 and what it means to be embodied and gendered. Last week, we discussed joining those two genders in marriage. This week, we examine Genesis 2 further to discuss the sexual expression of embodied gendered humans inside a covenant union.

Embodied | Union | October 8

Sermon by Jake Blair on October 8, 2023.

This week, we look at Genesis 2 and discuss the origin story of marriage. What’s marriage for? That word, or idea, has been around since the dawn of time. And based on your cultural context, you will get different answers about what that word means. So what’s marriage for? Who or what gets to define marriage? Is it me, my feelings, or is it based on biology or something else?

Embodied | Ish and Ishah | October 1

Sermon by Jon Ludovina on October 1, 2023.

Last week, we began our new series discussing what it means to be an embodied person. This week, we continue that discussion as we talk about gender. Where does gender come from? Why did God create male and female? What is the ideal relationship between men and women supposed to be? How should men and women treat and think about each other?

Embodied | Telos | September 24

Sermon by Adam Gibson on September 24, 2023.

Oversimplified narratives about our bodies surround us. Through conversations and airwaves, we are constantly told what we should pursue with our bodies, how we should think about them, and what dangers follow disagreement with the cultural ethos of desire, gender, sexuality, and marriage.

But these messages skip over some very essential questions–questions like: what is your body, exactly? What is your body for? Who created it, and with what purpose? What is the eternal destiny of our bodies, and how does that inform what we do on a normal week? 

Join us for an eight-week series unpacking God’s plan for the human body–a majestic story from beginning to end.

People of the Pages | Come for You, Stay for Others | September 17

Sermon by Adam Gibson on September 17, 2023.

In the Bible, the good life is found when we discover life doesn't exist for ourselves. When we lose our lives for the sake of others, that's when we find it. So, what does that look like in our context as we strive to be people of the pages?

People of the Pages | People of Presence | September 10

Sermon by Jon Ludovina on September 10, 2023.

With the rise of tech, our presence with one another is being diminished. In about two decades, we’ve experienced a shift in daily life experience of such magnitude that it’s rare in human history. This shift can be a massive issue for our mission as the church. So what does being a people of presence in a highly digitized world look like?

People of the Pages | Known, Loved, and Challenged | September 3

Sermon by Jake Blair on September 3, 2023.

This week, we look at Ephesians 4, where Paul maps out the vision for community: to look more like Jesus. As a church, we strive to go after this vision, but what temptations and trappings can we fall into that can keep us from living into this vision?

People of the Pages | Enjoying the Imperfect | August 27

Sermon by Adam Gibson on August 27, 2023.

Joy should be one of the defining attributes of God's people. And yet, what are the things in our lives that can keep us from being these sorts of people Jesus calls us to? And how can we push back against a spirit of discontentment in our lives?

People of the Pages | The Pages Point to a Person | August 20

Sermon by Jon Ludovina on August 20, 2023.

Last week, we began our series by asking, "Why don't we do what we see on the pages of Scripture?" This week we explore what the Scriptures are all about, the person and work of Jesus. So what do we need to do as a church to be a people that look more like Jesus, and what do we need to be on guard for?

People of the Pages | August 13

Sermon by Adam Gibson on August 13, 2023.

Midtown Fellowship started over 15 years ago, in 2007, in a context where Christ's name was abundant, but faithfulness to his teachings sometimes was not. The resounding question back then was: Why aren't we just doing what's on the pages?

Fast forward fifteen years, and new challenges face the church that we must learn to navigate if we want to live out being a Jesus-centered family on mission faithfully.

These challenges require us to look again at our Bibles and ask questions like: What are we at risk of neglecting as Christians today? What must be rediscovered and re-committed to if our story is to remain the same story – to be a church that says, "Why don't we just do what's on the pages?"

Jesus & the Prideful | August 6

Sermon by Chet Phillips on August 6, 2023.

In our final week of the series, we look at Luke 11:37-44, Jesus’ encounter with the Pharisees. In their time and place, the Pharisees were considered good guys. And yet, Jesus says their hearts are far from him. So what does Jesus have to say to us in this encounter?

Jesus & the Jealous | July 30

Sermon by Brandon Clements on July 30, 2023.

This week we look at Matthew 19:27-20:16, where Peter essentially asks Jesus, “Is following you truly worth it?” This is a question we may have asked at some point in our journey of faith. We can easily play the comparison game, or we go through a season of suffering, or life doesn’t turn out how we thought it would. So what does Jesus have to say to us?