Sermons

In this week’s sermon, Pastor Ike Nicholson unpacks a dramatic encounter between Jesus and the Pharisees—a moment where a seemingly simple question about the Law becomes a revelation of the Gospel. When a lawyer asks, “Which is the great commandment in the Law?”, the Pharisees hope to trap Jesus. But He turns the tables, showing that the Law’s demand to love God and neighbor points not to human achievement, but to the faithful work of Christ Himself.

This week, Pastor Ike Nicholson explores Jesus’ parable of humility at the Pharisee’s dinner table—a moment where human pride meets divine grace. The sermon opens with a scene familiar to us all: the quiet calculation of social standing, who sits where, and who belongs. But as Jesus observes the guests scrambling for the places of honor, He turns the table on pride itself.

“Everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, and he who humbles himself will be exalted.”

On this, Trinity 16, God’s word reminds us that when the procession of death meets the procession of life, death is defeated. In today’s scriptures, we see Elijah raise the widow son from the dead, and Jesus, coming into Nain, raise the Widows son. The funeral procession meets the procession of Jesus and his followers. Jesus Christ has defeated sin, death, and the devil.

When evil and death seek to rob us of hope in this world, the Gospel reminds us that Christ is victorious.