Author: joemarino (Page 1 of 53)

Acts 4:32 – 37 | A Generous Community

January 23, 2026 / joemarino / 0 Comments

This is the third installment in our series on what it means to be the church. In the first installment, we studied what it means to be a disciple making church family. In the second installment, we studied what it means to be a devoted church family. This week we are looking at what it means to be a generous church family.

Acts 2:42 – 47 | A Devoted Community

January 16, 2026 / joemarino / 0 Comments

Let me start us off with a question today. What do you think it means to be the church? It should not be a stretch to say that the church is not a building or a program, it is a group of people who have been saved and sent by Jesus.

Matthew 28:16 – 20 | A Disciple Making Community

January 9, 2026 / joemarino

We are beginning a new series today entitled, “The Family” and my aim with this series is for us to hear from God’s Word on what it means to be the church. I have spoken often in my preaching about the shortcomings of the church in the west as well as the unbiblical influence of a westernized, consumer-driven society.

1 Samuel 22:1 – 5 | Distressed, In Debt, Bitter In Soul

December 28, 2025 / joemarino

As we jump back into our study of 1 Samuel today, we find David still running from King Saul as well as the Philistines whom he had tried to find shelter with, in the last chapter. God’s chosen king is running for his life; he is suffering in ways that seem foreign to our modern understanding of Christianity which treats Jesus like a gene in a bottle and treats the church like a gumball machine.

Christmas ’25 | John 1:14 – 18 | Light in the Darkness Part III

December 23, 2025 / joemarino

This is the last sermon in our three-part series on John 1:1 – 18. In the first two sermons, I laid out some of the cultural issues that were present in John’s day as he painted the picture of who Jesus is. I also tried to build a bridge of application from that culture to our culture today. In everything I have preached so far, my desire has been to stay faithful to the text, while applying it to modern day believers and unbelievers alike.

Christmas ’25 | John 1:6 – 13 | Light in the Darkness Part II

December 21, 2025 / joemarino

We started our mini-Christmas series last week by looking at the first five verses of John’s gospel, where he began to give us an astounding description of Jesus that is very different from the other gospel accounts that we have from Matthew, Mark, and Luke.

Christmas ’25 | John 1:1 – 5 | Light in the Darkness Part I

December 14, 2025 / joemarino

Well, here we are, Christmas is upon us once again! Christmas is a beautiful time of year that, for many people, is full of joy and celebration. For others though, Christmas is just another reminder of all that is wrong with the world and all that is broken in our lives.

1 Samuel 21:10 – 22:1 | The Insanity of Fear

December 7, 2025 / joemarino

I must admit that I felt really puzzled, the first time I read this passage in preparation to preach it to all of you. It struck me as a really weird passage of Scripture. I honestly could not get past David’s seeming stupidity as he sought refuge with Israel’s greatest enemies.

1 Samuel 21:1 – 9 | Nourished, Alert, & Armed

November 30, 2025 / joemarino

In our passage today, we find David, running for his life from king Saul. He has just learned in Chapter 20, that Saul is in fact, still on the warpath, ready to murder David at the first chance he gets. I imagine that David had held onto a small shred of hope that king Saul would have come to his senses and relented from his evil, hate-filled, mindset towards him, but his best friend, Jonathan had just confirmed that nothing had changed and that he better run for his life.

1 Samuel 20:24 – 42 | Rejecting Evil & Choosing Christ

November 23, 2025 / joemarino

Rejecting evil and choosing Christ is the general theme I want to work with today as we study this passage of Scripture. In our passage, Jonathan executes a plan to discern his father’s true intentions towards David and then he ultimately chooses to embrace David to keep him safe as he rejects his own father’s evil plans.