First Free Rockford Sermons

“Get up, pick up your mat and walk.” For a man who had lost all hope, Jesus steps in. This powerful story also shows us the way Jesus heals and restores far more than just our physical bodies.

A Jewish man, talking in public with a Samaritan woman known mostly for her moral failings. Scandalous! Jesus set aside ethnic, cultural, social and political barriers to speak to a weary soul and call her to himself, the Messiah. We can learn a lot from this holy interaction.

If anyone could have thought they were right with God, it was Nicodemus. Yet, Jesus offered him a challenge that he continues offering to every person today: You need to be born again. What exactly does this mean, and how do we know? A deeper look at this familiar passage may surprise you.

A hospitality crisis leads to Jesus’ first recorded miracle, turning water to wine. But it was about a lot more than that.

John the Baptist offers clear words about who he is—and who he isn’t. A day later, he brings Jesus’ identity into focus. Then and now, we see the eternal significance in living a life that points to Jesus.

As we begin a new series in the Gospel of John, we’ll immediately see that this disciple’s account is very different from the other three gospels. In his opening words, there’s information about Jesus that John wants us to know immediately.

We finish our series with the best-known Psalm of them all. When we read Psalm 23 with an eye toward what it assures us about our Good Shepherd, we find some reliable expectations for our lives as Christ-followers.

What does it really mean to be blessed by God? How should our lives (and even our faces) reflect this? And what is our proper response — and responsibility?