Nathaniel From Timfam

While many gifts have downsides, some gifts are truly, and other gifts don't last, there are a few gifts that make a lasting difference. They are truly good gifts. A Thanksgiving sermon on November 26th 2025.

"the deepest principle of Human Nature is the craving to be appreciated, and I left it out altogether from the book, because I had never had it gratified till now." William James Favor is fabulous, but we need to receive it the right way. God teaches us this in Genesis 4, Jacob and Esau. A sermon on November 23, 2025

Can you and I even know the truth anymore? It seems so twisted and unclear. But beyond it all, Jesus triumphed over the twists and the tricks so that some truth remains. People will be cut as we come to the truth, just like he was - cut to untwist the truth. A sermon on Genesis 3:1-13, November 9th 2025

We have mastered freedom from certain restrictions, rules and laws, but I would argue that all this freedom has left us just as burdened. With Jesus we can regain a freedom that allows us to live out of faith - a freedom for faith. We have to continually go back to his rescue from evil. Sermon on November 2nd, 2025 on Galatians 5:1-6.

What an awesome marvel it is that God gave humanity a role to play in his work. We are not supposed to lay back and coast and just consume all this stuff, nor are we supposed to condemn the world and the good God put in it. We are supposed to craft it. To work. And God gave the woman to the man to help him in that task. Genesis 2:18-25 , October 26th 2025

Many myths present us with a "tree of life". But Genesis 2 goes beyond to present us with a sacramental life with God (the tree of life) - living with him and his promises and his grace; or living on our own with the many good things that can either ruin us or wow us. If we make the gifts our god, what will that do for us? A sermon on October 19, 2025 on Genesis 2:8-17

The Christian funeral of Mary Wright embodies for us the great truth that God brings joy after sorrow because of his immense delight in rescuing us. Sermon on Psalm 126:5

Who am I? There is no way to entirely answer that question in a few minutes with theology. But the basics will give me so much for my life. A sermon on Genesis 1:26-2:7 on October 12, 2025

It's not enough to describe the world we live in, the world that was created as "perfect". Genesis 1 shows us at least three good things about this world - its real, it's ordered, and it's good. It's a home, and that is what is should feel like. That uncanny feeling that you don't belong can only get fixed with the stranger who made this place his home. A sermon on Genesis 1:3-25 on October 5th 2025

Genesis 1:2 is a strange verse; it basically announces chaos after creation to the world. There are at least three ways to handle it. I argue that it is the creation of substantive stuff that can be filled with something. A sermon on Genesis 1:2 on September 28th 2025

What's the story you are part of? And who is the center of your story? The story begins at the beginning, Genesis 1. A sermon on September 21st, 2025

What an awesome thing that the God of heaven and earth wants us, wants to find us, and looks for us. However much you and I have messed up our lives or done our own thing, we don't have to work our way back or fix things to be with God. He comes for us. A sermon on Luke 15:1-10 on September 14th, 2025 

Do you love your vocation? Which one? Do you see the Lord working through your vocation? I find it both incredibly convicting that the Lord would work through me (he certainly could do much better) and also very encouraging. Wrap up on vocation. A sermon on September 7th 2025

Everything has its setting or context where it flourishes. Plants flourish in gardens; football teams flourish in schools with equipment and fields. Where do humans and humanity flourish? An answer from 1 Timothy 6 and Michael Berg's "Vocation" on August 31st 2025

Paul sows us that the most practical activities of our lives - eating and marriage - are spiritual. He lays out ow these are the areas for spiritual warfare. A sermon on 1 Timothy 5 on August 24

We've got the awesome privilege that God is working through us. We are his masks. A sermon on 1 Timothy 3, 5 and Michael Berg's "Vocation" on August 10th

The people of Peace want to build a good congregation in Otsego-Plainwell that lives well for the people around us. We want to know the people around us and build better relationships because there is one mediator and not just because we share other common interests. A sermon on August 3, 2025 for Friendship Sunday. 

A sermon on 1 Timothy 2 and Michael Berg's "Vocation". On july 27th, 2025 

The question, "What should I do with my life" is constant refrain. We graduate from high school - what should I do with my life? Finish college - what should I do with my life. Don't like our career - what should I do with my life? Have kids - what should I do with my life? Retire - what should I do with my life. Over the next few weeks, we'll try to answer this question through the lens of "vocation", the Christian answer to "what should I do with my life". Vocation means we are "saved to serve". This is the first sermon on July 20th, 2025 from 1 Timothy 1:12-20.

Charles Taylor explains that while 500 years ago it was almost impossible to NOT believe in God, now it is almost impossible TO believe in God. In so many ways, we've built a life that can be meaningful, rewarding, and successful in some ways without God. Then we use little salvations to fix the problems we still have. But what if each of those little salvations simply pointed to the bigger salvation that was already won for us in Jesus Christ? A sermon on Acts 4:1-22 on June 15th, 2025