Sermons by Matt Heerema (Page 7)
Matt serves as lead pastor, and focuses on teaching, leadership, and theological development. He and his wife Nancy have four daughters. He is a musician and led in Stonebrook’s music ministry for 15 years before putting the guitar down. Matt is an avid reader and massive sci-fi geek.
The Advantage The Jew Has
“THIS IS HARD TO UNDERSTAND” – COMPLEXITY IN THE BIBLE. A warning from the Apostle Peter: 2 Peter 3: 15-17 “And count the patience of the Lord as salvation, just as your beloved brother Paul also wrote to you according to the wisdom given him, as he does in all his letters when he speaks in them of these matters. There are some things in them that are hard to understand, which the ignorant and unstable twist to their own…
God Shows No Partiality
INTRO AND RECAP – picking up Paul’s argument Today we’re picking up our series from the book of Romans in chapter 2, so if you’d all turn there with me, we’ll be working our way through the whole chapter, but with special focus on verses 1 through 16. As you are turning, I just wanted to comment on the difficulty of a series like this. Romans is one of the longest letters in the New Testament, and it is a…
Don't Waste It. Part 2: The Gospel Lens
Last week, this week and next week, Brad, Paul, we are taking some time to talk big-picture. Like really big picture: all of life. Our theme for these weeks: “Don’t Waste It. God’s Glory & Your Life”. So you know, very specific and easily applicable. So, two big concepts, often spoken of in the church. So familiar, in fact, that we need to take time this morning and define both of them. Defining Glory Last week, Pastor Paul showed us…
Lamentations
Today we’re continuing our series on “The Forgotten Books” with everyone’s favorite devotional read: Lamentations. I don’t know about you but I haven’t typically considered Lamentations a “go-to” book when I’m looking for some encouragement from the scriptures. In my bible reading plans, Lamentations is one of those that I tend to just kinda coast through without much engagement because frankly I have a hard time relating to its contents. Anyone else? There are a few verses here and…
Job
Introductory thoughts. Today we are beginning an 8-week series overviewing often neglected books of the Bible, the ones we don’t typically get around to when we’re thinking through sermon series. I get to kick us off with a single sermon on 42 chapters of the book of Job. A large task, and one that I’ve really enjoyed digging into in the last couple of months. Of course 40 minutes on this book is going to be totally insufficient for an…
The Reality of Resurrecton
Easter is that time in the Christian calendar when we set our sights on the very foundation, roots, essence, and core message of our faith: the resurrection of Jesus of Nazareth, the Christ, the Messiah, from the dead. It is very easy, with all the cultural and religious trappings of the holiday, to turn Jesus and his resurrection from the dead into another mere myth. I want to say emphatically that the Gospel Message that Christians proclaim, is not good…
The Life of a Sojourner and an Exile
Why Should We Obey God’s Commands? Have you ever wondered why we should obey God’s commands? “Well that’s a silly question, Matt! God is God, therefore we should obey Him!” Yes, yes, of course. But really though, have you wondered why? Christians believe that we are not saved by what we do. Rather we are saved by faith in the free grace of God, through the work of His son Jesus, alone. We do not add to this by anything…
God's Work and Ours
Matthew 25:14–30 (ESV) – Jesus Describes the coming Kingdom of God 14 “For it will be like a man going on a journey, who called his servants and entrusted to them his property. 15 To one he gave five talents, to another two, to another one, to each according to his ability. Then he went away. 16 He who had received the five talents went at once and traded with them, and he made five talents more. 17 So also he who had the…
The Holy Spirit and The New Birth
Prologue We are in week three of a series on The Holy Spirit. In the first message, Pastor Paul gave an excellent overview of who The Holy Spirit it is, and what He does. In the second, Pastor Dave gave a very good Biblical history of the promised Holy Spirit, and the arrival of the Spirit in the church at Pentecost. Our series is arranged roughly in the order we experience His presence and work in the church and…
Life on the Battlefront
Introduction This the second of a three week series on the Christian life and the reality of the spiritual war we are in that we are calling “Wartime Lifestyle”, a phrase coined (I think) by John Piper that has been very helpful to me as in making decisions about how to think about life and how to spend my time and money. It is an intentionally jarring phrase. If you resolve that you will live a “Wartime lifestyle” you are…
Work is Worship
Intro When we kicked off this series, I said I hope we can learn that our daily “mundane” and “secular” tasks can glorify God and expand His kingdom in real and practical ways. And I’m hoping that as a result of this series, we’ll learn to be encouraged that our daily work matters to Him and will count for something eternal. And most of all, because of that, we’ll become equipped to live every moment or our life with a…
How the Gospel Affects Our Work
Intro Good morning! I suppose most of you know me, but for those that don’t, my name is Matt Heerema and I usually serve as one of the music leaders here at Stonebrook. I’m on staff here with the church help with that role as well as a few other things, and I also own a business here in Ames that provides graphic design and digital communications consulting. I have a couple employees there, and between these two roles…