Rooted Fellowship Sermons

Jericho falls! Jesus tears down the walls.

After Israel crosses the Jordan, the kings of Canaan lose heart. Not because Israel is strong, but because God is. With Jericho in sight, you’d expect the next step to be war… but God pauses the momentum to deal with the heart. In Joshua 5, God restores Israel’s covenant identity through circumcision and renews covenant fellowship through Passover. Then the manna stops as they eat the produce of Canaan showing a shift from wilderness provision to inheritance provision. The lesson is clear: God cares more about who His people are than how quickly they seize the opportunity. All of this points to Jesus. The better covenant and the true Passover Lamb who has gone before us. Our part is not to strive, but to step forward in faith, trusting God in both the miraculous and the ordinary

As Rooted Fellowship steps into a new season of leadership, we turn to Joshua 3–4 and the powerful moment when Israel stood before a raging Jordan River. With Moses gone and a new generation watching, the question hung in the air: Will God still be with us? The answer was unmistakable. Before the waters parted, the priests had to step in. Before the people crossed, the Ark, the presence of God, went first. This wasn’t just a story about geography; it was theology. It was about reverence, risk, remembrance, and trust. It was about a God who finishes what He starts. In this message, we are reminded: Most of all, this passage points beyond Joshua to a greater Joshua. Jesus. Who stepped into the waters of sin and death and made a way for us to cross from death to life. As we install new leadership and look toward the future, we do so with trembling joy. The same God who planted this church will carry it forward. The same God who was faithful then is faithful now. The question is not whether God will show up. The question is: Will we step in?

As Israel stands on the edge of the Promised Land, God interrupts the conquest story with an unexpected act of grace. In Joshua 2, we meet Rahab, an outsider whose faith, not her past, defines her future. This week we’ll see that God’s saving grace always demands a response, that His faithfulness stretches across generations, and that no failure is too great for the God who saves. Moses may be gone, but God is not finished.

Joshua 1 God speaks to His faithful servant: "Be strong and courageous." Why can he do this? God's promises still stand. God will be with His faithful servant. How can he do this? Meditate on God's word so that you will obey God's word so that you may be prosperous and successful (in carrying out God's plan). God's faithful servant speaks to God's people: "Go in and take possession of the land the Lord your God is giving you for your own." How can they do this? Keep trusting God's promises and make every effort to enter the land. (God's sovereign plan to give the land to his people invites human action - it does not mean they/we should be passive). Remember God's commands and carry them out faithfully. Help the rest of God's people. God's people reply to His faithful servant: "Whatever you have commanded us we will do." How do they do this? By trusting in the Lord's servant, because God's promises to His servant are true and still stand. Joshua is a foreshadowing of Jesus, God's servant. How will we respond to Jesus? Will we respond to Jesus like the Reubenites, the Gadites and the half-tribe of Manasseh?

This Sunday we look at what “More of You, Less of Me” means for our generosity. Jesus and Paul both show us that giving isn’t a guilt-payment or a performance for applause. It’s worship. We don’t give to get; we give because God has already given His first and best in Christ. Come be challenged and encouraged toward a “hilariously cheerful” life of giving with your time, talents, and treasures.

Matthew 6:1-18 Are you praying to impress people, or to commune with God? Are you giving to impress people, or to honour God? Are you fasting to impress people, or to impress people?

He must increase, but I must decrease.

Isaiah 9:6 Luke 2:8-18

Luke 1 & 2.

My yolk is easy, and My burden is light.

Paul chooses to rejoice in Jesus, no matter the circumstances. In his letter to the Philippians he encourages them (and us) to do the same.

In chapter 3 Paul begins to call out the “Jesus and…” believers in Philippi and he cautions us against self-sufficiency as he calls us to lay down the things of this world.

As the gospel transforms our lives, we need to foster joy and commit to building unity in the church (local and global). In this sermon, we take a deep dive into Philippians 2:12-30.

In Philippians 2:1–11, Paul paints a breathtaking picture of the mind of Christ; a mind marked by humility, unity, and obedience. Writing from prison, Paul calls the church to mirror Christ’s self-emptying love, the kind that counts others as more significant than oneself. Through the mystery of the incarnation, Jesus, fully God and fully man, lowered Himself to the point of death, and in doing so, revealed that true greatness is found in humility. This passage reminds us that the path of humility is the path to glory, and that our unity as God’s people is both our greatest witness and our deepest joy.

This Sunday in our series This Is Living, we’re in Philippians 1:27–30 (through the lens of 2:5–11). Paul calls us to live as citizens of heaven; lives whose conduct matches our calling. We’ll see how unity isn’t optional; it’s our strength and our witness. And we’ll discover a surprising grace: suffering for Christ is not a detour, but a gift that deepens our fellowship with Him and each other. Come ready to be encouraged, challenged, and to respond, to stand firm, strive together, and suffer well for the sake of the gospel.

Paul’s chains didn’t slow the gospel. They amplified it. In Philippians 1:12–26 we see how adversity advances God’s mission, why motives can’t mute Christ, and how ‘to live is Christ, to die is gain’ shapes real joy right now. Come be strengthened to speak the Word fearlessly and live with purpose.

We launched This Is Living in Philippians with the big claim: to live is Christ. Paul frames a Christ-shaped life: downward in humble service like Jesus, upward in God’s exaltation. He invites us into a gospel partnership God himself began and will finish. Our prayer this season: that our love would abound “more and more” in knowledge and discernment, bearing real fruit as we press toward the prize together.