Celina First Church Sermon Podcast

This week at Celina First, we celebrated 110 years of God’s faithfulness.
The weather may have moved us indoors, but it didn’t change what we came together to celebrate. We worshiped, witnessed baptisms, and reflected on the generations of faithful men and women who have carried the Gospel before us.
In this message, Pastor Craig looks at what it means to receive the baton, run your race faithfully, and hand it off well to those coming behind you.
God has been faithful for 110 years, and the question for each of us is simple: What will we do with the part of the race He has entrusted to us?

In Romans 8:1–17, Paul shows us what life looks like for those who belong to Christ. We are not only forgiven and freed from condemnation, we are adopted into God’s family and given the Holy Spirit.
In this message, Pastor Craig looks at how the Spirit marks us as God’s children, begins changing our desires, gives us strength to put sin to death, and leads us toward true life and peace. Walking in the Spirit does not mean life becomes easy, but it does mean we never walk alone.

In Romans 7, Paul ends with a desperate question: “Who will rescue me?” Romans 8 answers with one of the clearest declarations of the gospel: “There is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.”
In this message, Pastor Craig looks at the difference between conviction and condemnation, why Christians sometimes put the chains of shame back on themselves, and why our confidence does not rest in what we have done, but in what God did through Jesus Christ.
If you have ever struggled to believe that grace is really for you, this message is a reminder that in Christ, the chains are off and you are free to walk in the Spirit.

In Romans 7, Paul addresses an important question for Jewish believers: If salvation comes through grace, what do we do with the law? Paul makes it clear that the law is not sinful. The law is holy, righteous, and good. It reveals what holiness looks like and exposes the sin already present within us. But knowing what is right does not always give us the power to do what is right. As Paul honestly admits, “What I want to do I do not do, but what I hate I do.” The law can reveal our sin, but it cannot rescue us from it. Rules, knowledge, discipline, and willpower cannot transform a sinful heart. That is why Paul cries out, “What a wretched man I am! Who will rescue me from this body that is subject to death?” The answer is not greater effort, but a greater Savior. “Thanks be to God, who delivers me through Jesus Christ our Lord!” Through Christ, we have been released from the law as the means of becoming righteous before God. We now belong to Jesus, serve in the new way of the Spirit, and depend on His grace. The law can reveal our guilt, but Jesus bore our guilt. The law can show us our need, but Jesus alone can rescue us.

In this week’s message, Pastor Craig teaches on “The Sound of Repentance.” Repentance is more than feeling guilty or simply saying we are sorry. Biblical repentance includes both confession and change.
Confession is what repentance sounds like. It clearly names the sin, takes responsibility, and asks for forgiveness without excuses or blame. Change is what repentance looks like. It means turning away from sin and producing fruit over time as we walk in obedience to God.
The message also explores what repentance should sound like in our relationships. When our sin affects another person, a simple and honest response may be: “I sinned against you when I did this. I was wrong. Will you forgive me?”
Repentance is not weakness. It is the humble path that leads us away from sin, toward Jesus, and into healthier relationships with others.

In this week’s message from Romans 6:15-23, we look at Paul’s reminder that grace is not permission to keep living in sin. Grace is the power of God that sets us free.
Paul uses the language of slavery to show us that everyone serves something. We were created to worship God, but sin bends our worship toward things like money, pleasure, reputation, success, comfort, or self. Sin may start small, but it grows, leads to shame, and ultimately ends in death.
But the good news of the gospel is that in Christ, sin is no longer our master. Jesus has set us free from sin and shame so that we can now belong to God and walk in righteousness.

In this week’s message from Romans 6:1-14, we continued our series through Romans by looking at Paul’s response to one of the natural misunderstandings of grace. If God’s grace increases where sin increases, does that mean we should just keep sinning?
Paul’s answer is clear. By no means. The Christian has not only been forgiven of sin, but has died to sin. In Christ, we are made new. The old self has been buried, and we are raised to walk in new life.
This message also looked at the meaning of baptism as a picture of being united with Christ in his death and resurrection, and the call to no longer offer any part of ourselves back to sin. Grace is not permission to keep living under sin’s power. Grace is what sets us free from sin’s power.
Here is this week’s message from Romans 6:1-14.

In this week’s message from Romans 5:12-21, Pastor Craig walks through one of the clearest passages in Scripture on Adam, original sin, and the greater grace we have in Jesus Christ. Paul shows us that sin is not just a series of bad choices, but a condition that entered the world through Adam and spread to all people. Because sin entered, death entered too.
But the good news of the gospel is that Adam does not get the final word. Through one man, sin and death came into the world. But through one man, Jesus Christ, grace, righteousness, and life are offered to all who receive him by faith. This message reminds us that sin is serious, death is real, and we cannot save ourselves, but the grace of Jesus is greater than all of it. Where sin increased, grace increased all the more.