The Lake Forest Sermoncast

Faces of Our Faith: Vashti — The Queen Who Said No

Before Esther ever enters the story, another woman has already shown us what courage costs. In week 5 of our Faces of Our Faith summer series, we turn to Esther chapter 1 and the queen we often forget — Vashti, who refuses a king's drunken command and loses her crown for it.

We trace the reversal that follows — Esther's rise, Haman's fall, and a people delivered without God's name ever appearing on the page — then sit with the poet Frances Ellen Watkins Harper, the 19th-century abolitionist and suff...

Faces of Our Faith: Deborah — A Woman of Fire

The book of Judges is Israel's tragedy — a downward spiral of violence and idolatry as the people forget who they're called to be. But tucked into chapter 4 is a flicker of light: Deborah, prophet and judge, sitting under her palm tree, dispensing wisdom to a people who trust her.

This week in our 'Faces of Our Faith' series, Pastor Chad explores what it means that Deborah is called "woman of Lappidoth" — a phrase some ancient interpreters read not as a husband's name but as a description: a woma...

“Give Us a Possession” | Faces of Our Faith

What happens when the law doesn’t account for you — and you speak to those in power and say so?

In this week’s message from Lake Forest Presbyterian Church’s summer series Faces of Our Faith, we explore the remarkable story of the daughters of Zelophehad — five sisters who stood before Moses and the entire congregation and demanded what the law had failed to give them. Their courage didn’t just win them an inheritance. It changed the law itself.

Woven alongside their story is the early lif...

What happens when the commands of the world collide with the commands of the God of life?

This week, we continue our summer sermon series, Faces of our Faith, by diving into the opening chapter of Exodus. While Pharaoh—the most powerful man in the ancient world—is left nameless in the text, history immortalizes two brave Hebrew midwives: Shiphrah and Puah. Ordered by the empire to participate in systemic violence, these ordinary women chose a different path.

Pastor Chad connects their ancient act of creative, nonviolent civil disobedience to our own backyard here in Tenn...

We think we know this story. But do we?

Before there was Adam and Eve, there was ha-adam and ha-adamah — the human and the humus, the groundling and the ground. In this opening sermon of our summer series Faces of Our Faith, Pastor Chad revisits one of Scripture’s most familiar stories and finds it stranger, richer, and more surprising than our childhood impressions let on.

What does it mean that God got on both knees in the dirt to make us? Why did God bring the animals first — and what does that strange, almost comic...

What if the Trinity isn't the spare tire of Christian faith — tucked in the trunk, mostly forgotten — but the very chassis that holds everything together?

On Trinity Sunday, Pastor Chad reflects on the ancient doctrine of perichoresis — the divine dance in which Father, Son, and Spirit make room for one another in mutual, self-giving love — and asks what it would look like for that same love to spill out of our sanctuaries and into our neighborhoods.

Along the way, he revisits the Great Commission with fresh eyes: the center of gravity in Matthew 28 isn't "go" or "bapt...

What does it mean to receive the gift of the Holy Spirit? 

On this Pentecost Sunday, Pastor Chad explores the chaos and wonder of Acts 2 - wind, fire, a hundred and twenty voices, and a crowd of strangers hearing God's love called out in their own language. The Spirit's first act wasn't to create uniformity. It was to create comprehension.

Drawing on the image of a truly great gift-giver, this sermon invites us to consider where we are being called to translate — to do the slow, costly, unglamorous work of moving toward people we don't yet...

What does it mean to trust that God's ways really our higher than our ways? 

This week, Pastor Rick McIntee invites us to acknowledge that there are many different ways to be smart, and many different things we can believe. But knowledge doesn't become trust until we put it to work in the world. 

Inspired by Christ's prayer in the Garden of Gethsemane, let's remember that even when things look like they're at their worst, we serve a God who refuses to give up on us, and who can turn our worst days into our mo...

What happens when the gospel walks into a room full of people who already have their own answers?

In this Mother’s Day sermon from Acts 17, we explore Paul’s famous speech on Mars Hill — not primarily as a model for debate or apologetics, but as a masterclass in listening. Before Paul ever said a word to Athens, he wandered its streets, read its altars, and sat with its poets long enough to find the place where their longing and his gospel were reaching toward each other.

Along the way, we meet the ancient Epicureans and St...

You wake up on an unfamiliar vessel. The floor is cold. Nothing looks familiar. And eventually, someone around the table asks the question out loud: What are we doing here? In this 5th Sunday of Eastertide sermon from 1 Peter 2:1-10, Pastor Chad traces the apostle’s surprising move — reaching deep into the Hebrew Bible to help a scattered, disoriented church remember who they are. Living stones. A royal priesthood. A tree growing so tall that every kind of bird can find a branch. This one’s for anyone who’s ever felt adrift, and needed to be reminded that being cl...

Taking us from Tilda Swinton to toddler naps, Rev. Rachel Penmore leads us in a beautiful practice of Sabbath this week. Reflecting on the Sabbath commandments in both Exodus and Deuteronomy, we remember together that rest is not something we earn. It is fundamental to what it means to live as God’s beloved children. Let us remember and give thanks for the wisdom of rest.

"My Lord and My God" — The Real Thomas | John 20:19-29

He's been called "doubting Thomas" for two thousand years. But what if we've had him wrong?

In this sermon from the second Sunday of Easter, we'll take a fresh look at one of the most misunderstood figures in the New Testament — and discover that Thomas wasn't a cautionary tale. He was a witness. A follower willing to walk toward death when everyone else backed away. A man who sat with honest, unresolved faith for a full week and kept showing up anyway. And the...

The women ran from the empty tomb “with fear and great joy.” Matthew doesn’t resolve that tension — and neither does this Easter sermon.

In the conclusion of our Lenten series “Tell Me Something Good”, we arrive at the moment the whole season has been building toward: an earthquake at dawn, an empty tomb, and a commission to go before the fear subsides. 

Drawing on Matthew 28:1-10, this message asks what it really means to live as resurrection people — not by waiting until the trembling stops, but by running anyway, carrying grief and hope in the same two ha...

On the first Palm Sunday, there were actually two processions entering Jerusalem — and only one of them was a celebration. While Pontius Pilate rode in from the west with armor gleaming and swords drawn, Jesus slipped in from the other side of town on a borrowed, skittish donkey that had never been ridden. 

In this sermon, we ask the uncomfortable question the crowd never thought to ask: What kind of Lord needs a borrowed donkey? And more urgently — when we shout "Hosanna, save us," what kind of salvation are we actually asking for? If we're honest, we want...

In this Lenten reflection, we step into John 8 — the story we've long called "the woman caught in adultery" — and discover it's actually a story about a woman saved from stoning. There's a difference, and it matters.

Drawing on the work of theologian Sarah Bessey and writer Richard Rohr, this sermon explores two traps laid that morning in the temple courts, the radical calm of a man writing in the dirt, and the moment a crowd dissolved into individuals — one by one, beginning with the oldest.

At the center of it all: a woman, alone, and a God...

In this Lenten reflection, we step into John 8 — the story we've long called "the woman caught in adultery" — and discover it's actually a story about a woman saved from stoning. There's a difference, and it matters.

Drawing on the work of theologian Sarah Bessey and writer Richard Rohr, this sermon explores two traps laid that morning in the temple courts, the radical calm of a man writing in the dirt, and the moment a crowd dissolved into individuals — one by one, beginning with the oldest.

At the center of it all: a woman, alone, and a God...

In this week's teaching, we reflect on two brief but powerful texts from Book of Deuteronomy and the Gospel of Matthew that center God’s care for the most vulnerable among us.

When the disciples try to manage the crowd by turning children away, Jesus responds with a surprising command: “Let the little children come to me.” What might children reveal about the Kingdom of God? And what might we need to unlearn—about status, scarcity, and importance—to receive the kingdom as Jesus describes it?

Drawing on the witness of Fred Rogers and the prophetic...

Did you know the modern internet stays online thanks to the way honeybees search for food? In this sermon for the third Sunday in Lent, we explore the "feeding of the 5,000" not as a distant magic trick, but as a "bio-algorithm" of community. When we are tired, grieving, and faced with impossible problems, our instinct is to retreat into scarcity. But Jesus offers a different command: “You give them something to eat.” Join us as we look at how small offerings—from a few loaves of bread to a rain-filled trash can in a hurricane—become "more than enough" when pla...

What does it mean to love well?

On this Second Sunday in Lent, we turn to two powerful gospel texts — Gospel of Luke 7:36–50 and Gospel of Matthew25:35–40 — where Jesus asks two piercing questions: “Do you see this woman?” and “Did you see me?” In both stories, love begins with seeing.

Through the story of the so-called “sinful woman” who anoints Jesus’ feet and the parable of the sheep and the goats, we’re invited to examine the ways discomfort, shame, pride, and self-righteousness can cloud our vision. What keeps us from recognizing the belovedness of others — and of ourselve...

This week, we heard a beautiful sermon from our guest preacher, Susan Reisinger on Psalm 32. We focus on imagery from verse 7, reflecting on God as our 'hiding place' and the blessings that come from confession and forgiveness. It's such a gift to be reminded that, at the base of a penitent Lenten season lies very Good News. 

On this Transfiguration Sunday, we stand at a turning point in the church year—and in Jesus’ ministry.

High on the mountain, Peter, James, and John catch a glimpse of Jesus in glory: radiant, affirmed, and named as God’s beloved Son. But the story doesn’t end there. The mountaintop moment isn’t meant to be preserved or protected—it’s meant to prepare Jesus (and us) for the journey down the mountain and toward Jerusalem.

As we turn toward Ash Wednesday and the beginning of Lent, this sermon reflects on transfiguration, belovedness, and transformation...

This week we return to the Sermon on the Mount with a fresh look at some of Jesus’ most famous—and most misunderstood—metaphors. In this message, we explore Matthew 5:13-20, where Jesus tells a group of ordinary, weary people that they already are the salt of the earth and the light of the world.

Through a distinctly Appalachian lens (complete with a much-needed "y'all" translation), we dive into what it means to be a "counter-testimony" to the powers of the world. Jesus wasn't calling for moral heroics or flashy displays of piety; he was describing a commun...

What does it really mean to live the good life—and would you even recognize it while you’re living it?

In this sermon on the Beatitudes, we step into one of the oldest human questions and discover just how radically Jesus answers it. Drawing on philosophy, Scripture, and real-life stories, this message explores how Jesus’ vision of the good life turns conventional wisdom upside down. Instead of celebrating the strong, successful, and self-sufficient, Jesus blesses the poor in spirit, the grieving, and the meek—those who already know the world is not as it should be.

Set...

In this week's sermon, we turn to John 1:29–42 and Jesus’ very first words in the Gospel of John: “What are you looking for?” 

As Andrew and Peter begin to follow Jesus, they don’t arrive with clear answers or confident belief—only curiosity and a willingness to stay. This sermon explores how our expectations shape what we see, why Jesus offers belonging before belief, and how faith often begins not with certainty but with abiding. Drawing on humor, honest questions, and the witness of John the Baptist, we’re invited to rediscover the church’s calling: not to b...

What if baptism isn’t about being set apart from the mess of the world—but sent more deeply into it?

In this sermon on Jesus’ baptism in Matthew 3:13–17, we stand again at the muddy banks of the Jordan, where Jesus steps quietly into line with everyone else. Before the miracles, before the teaching, before the cross, Jesus is named Beloved—soaking wet, anonymous, and vulnerable.

Drawing on personal story, Rowan Williams’ theology of baptism, and the church’s practice of ordination and shared vocation, this sermon explores baptism as a holy paradox: God’s unshakable claim...

In this Epiphany sermon, we journey with the Magi of Matthew 2:1–12 and rediscover a long-held but often forgotten truth: God reveals God’s self not only through scripture, but through creation itself. Before prophets, before texts, before sermons, the cosmos bore witness to God’s light—and the Magi were listening.

Drawing on scripture, theology, and the Epiphany tradition of Star Words, this sermon explores how outsiders were the first to recognize Christ, how fear and power resist good news, and how God’s revelation often arrives from unexpected places. We reflect on what it means to follow the...

On the first Sunday of Christmastide, we turn away from sentimental manger scenes and toward one of the Bible’s most troubling Christmas stories. Drawing from Matthew 2 and Isaiah 9, this sermon explores how God speaks through dreams—not as an escape from reality, but as a way through it. In a world shaped by fear, political violence, and forced migration, we listen for God’s quieter dream: a dream of courage, hospitality, and “robust love.” From Joseph’s midnight flight to modern questions about power, refugees, and security, this sermon asks whose dreams we are living by—and invites us to trust th...

On Christmas Eve, we return to a story we think we know—and listen again for what it reveals about who God is. Drawing from Titus 2 and Luke 2, this sermon reflects on the risky, vulnerable way God enters the world: not in power or spectacle, but in a crowded town, under empire, wrapped in cloth and laid in a manger.

This message invites us to notice how God shows up not in moments of readiness or control, but in exhaustion, disruption, and ordinary life—in the journeys we didn’t plan to take. Exploring themes of love, vulner...

On this Third Sunday of Advent—Gaudete Sunday—we explore a deeper, sturdier vision of joy through Isaiah’s promise of a desert in bloom and John the Baptist’s searching question from prison: “Are you the one who is to come?” Drawing on the image of a “superbloom,” this sermon reflects on joy not as fleeting happiness, but as a resilient gift cultivated through faith, patience, and community—one that can take root even in seasons of doubt, dryness, and waiting.

In this second week of our Advent series, Out of the Blue, we explore one of Scripture’s most startling invitations: the call to repentance. But not the shame-filled version many of us inherited. Instead, we look at repentance as a holy reorientation—a turning toward the God who surprises us with renewal in the very places we thought were beyond hope.

We'll hear John the Baptist’s bold call to “prepare the way” and explore repentance not as shame, but as a holy reorientation—turning toward the God who brings new life out of what looks cut down or...

In this first week of Advent, we enter the holy tension between the world as it is and the world as God promises it will be. Drawing from Matthew 24:36–44 and Isaiah 2:1–5, this sermon invites us to explore what it means to stay spiritually awake in a distracted age—awake to God’s presence, awake to our neighbor’s need, and awake to the coming peaceable Kingdom.

Reflecting on a scene from A Boy Called Christmas, the advent essays of Dietrich Bonhoeffer, and the honest realities of our messy, overfull lives, we’re reminded that Advent isn’t passive waitin...

On this Reign of Christ Sunday—marking 100 years since the church first proclaimed this feast day—we remember a truth as radical now as it was in 1925: Christ’s reign stands in opposition to every earthly power that demands our allegiance through fear, coercion, or dominance.

This sermon explores the origins of Christ the King Sunday as a deliberate act of resistance against rising authoritarianism, nationalism, and political idolatry in the early 20th century. Through the lens of Luke’s crucifixion narrative (Luke 23:32-43), we revisit the kind of king Jesus actually is—not a warrior or a Caesar...

What does it take for all things to be made new—and who needs that newness the most? This sermon invites us into Isaiah’s sweeping vision of a new heaven and new earth (Isaiah 65:17–25), given to a people returning from exile and longing for home. In a world marked by inequality, displacement, and the weight of systems that work for some but not for others, Isaiah’s words open our imagination to God’s desire for creation: joy instead of weeping, security instead of exploitation, flourishing instead of fear.

Through the story of Kenneth and Phyllis Laurent an...

In this weeks message, we step into the temple with Jesus — right into the heart of things — where a clever question meant to trap him turns into a profound conversation about life, death, and what really matters.

In Luke 20:27–38, the Sadducees try to make resurrection sound absurd, but Jesus turns their logic upside down — reminding us that resurrection isn’t just about life after death, but about life transformed here and now.

Join us as we reflect on what it means to be children of the resurrection — people who live with courage, generosity, and hope, even in a wo...

In this week’s message from Luke 19:1–10, we revisit the story of Zacchaeus — a man seen by the crowd as beyond redemption, yet sought out by Jesus for relationship and restoration. What begins as a simple encounter in a sycamore tree becomes a profound moment of transformation, as Zacchaeus learns that salvation looks less like escape and more like repair.

Through this story, we explore what it means to participate in God’s healing work — to face what’s been broken in our lives, our communities, and our world, and to take small, faithful steps toward making things right...

In this week’s message, we step into one of Scripture’s most mysterious and powerful moments — the night Jacob wrestled with God at the river’s edge. From the book of Genesis, we’ll explore what it means to wrestle with the divine, to hold on through the struggle, and to come away changed — limping, yes, but blessed.

Along the way, we’ll talk about tricksters and transformation, Bugs Bunny and blessings, and the kind of faith that isn’t about having all the answers, but about refusing to let go of God — even when we don’t understand.<...

This week’s message comes from Reformation Sunday, a time when the church pauses to remember that God’s Spirit is always reforming us — reshaping our lives and our community in grace.

Our scripture reading comes from the Gospel of Luke, chapter 18, verses 9 through 14 — a parable about two people who go to the temple to pray: a Pharisee and a tax collector. It’s a story that gets to the heart of what true humility looks like… and what happens when faith turns into comparison.

In this sermon, Pastor Chad Wright-Pittman reflects on what Jesus’ words might me...