Sermons by Pastor Austin Vondracek

Christmas is over.  The wrapping paper’s gone, the cookies are stale, and life is getting back to the same, old normal.  But what if “normal” is where God stays at work?  Even when life gets quiet, God isn’t absent.  The same God who came to us in Bethlehem is still at work – doing something big, quietly.

The first Christmas wasn’t perfect, and that’s exactly how God planned it.  When everything was messy and uncertain, God didn’t shout from heaven or send more rules; he showed up.  We remember that Jesus came not to reward our perfection but to rescue us from our imperfection.  The story of Christmas isn’t about a perfect presentation but about the presence of God, Immanuel, “God with us.”  When we couldn’t get to him, he came to us.

Joseph’s story reminds us that faith isn’t about having all the answers; it’s about trusting the One who does.  When Joseph’s life fell apart, he responded with quiet obedience rather than loud control.  Advent reminds us that God’s interruptions are often invitations.  His plans may wreck ours, but they’re always better.  The same God who rewrote Joseph’s story is still rewriting our when we trust him enough to say yes, even when we don’t understand.

Advent reminds us that God is not late, even when he feels slow.  Just as Israel waited centuries for the Messiah, we wait for God’s promises and Christ’s return.  The Christmas story shows that God’s timing – his mow’ed – is perfect.  In our impatience, we want instant answers, but God works like a farmer, not a factory.  He grows faith in seasons, not seconds.  While we wait, we serve.  Advent trains us to be patient and remember the same God who showed up unexpectedly in a manger…

Most of us feel thankful for the people around us, but rarely say it.  And when we don’t express gratitude, it doesn’t just go unnoticed.  It can be misunderstood.  In this message, we look at how gratitude was never meant to be kept to ourselves.  When you express it, you do more than make someone’s day.  You reflect the heart of God.  Your gratitude can restore dignity, build connection, and even changed a life.  Because gratitude withheld is love unfelt.

Gratitude isn’t just a holiday tradition.  It’s a practice that has the power to transform us.  This message explores how thankfulness can bring peace, contentment, and joy no matter the circumstances, and how living with gratitude opens our eyes to God’s goodness.

Joseph’s setbacks weren’t wasted – they were classrooms where God shaped him through hardship, service, and waiting.  Each holdup refined Joseph’s character, taught him empathy, an deepened his trust in God’s timing.  When Pharaoh finally called him forward, Joseph was no longer the arrogant teen of Genesis 37 but a humble leader ready for influence.  Today, the same God who prepared Joseph through setbacks is at work in your hardships too, shaping you before he works through you.

In Genesis 39, Joseph’s integrity was put to the test.  When Potiphar’s wife pursued him, Joseph refused.  Not because of fear of reputation or loss of position, but because he wouldn’t betray God.  His “yes” to integrity landed him undeservedly in prison.  Yet Joseph never lost what mattered most: God’s presence.  This week reminds us that doing the right thing won’t always bring short-term reward, but compromise costs even more.  Integrity may twist the plot of your life, but it…

Joseph’s life, once aimed toward privilege and leadership, is suddenly rewritten by betrayal and loss.  This message highlights how easy it is to trust God’s goodness when we know the ending, but Joseph didn’t.  In the pit and on the road to Egypt, all he knew was his dreams were gone.  Like Joseph, we face seasons when the “all things” that God works together for our good (Romans 8:28) are just bad things.  Yet the same God who was with…