Holy Trinity Ankeny

Episoade

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  INFINITE FORGIVENESS: September 13, 2026 13.09.2026 14min

  When Peter asks Jesus how many times we are to forgive someone, Jesus answers, "Seventy-seven – or Seven times seventy." What he means is, "Infinitely." Can that be right? Is there no room in the world for "enough is enough?" Are there not some things that are unforgiveable? Apparently not.
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  OVERCOMING DIVISION: September 6, 2026 06.09.2026 16min

  It is not news to say that the world and its inhabitants are divided, fragmented in a way that makes us give up hope. We just can't help ourselves from our desire for revenge, retribution, and winning the argument. Jesus called his people, his Church, to bear witness to another way of life which restores hope, to be a light in the midst of the divided darkness.
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  TAKE UP YOUR CROSS: August 30, 2026 30.08.2026 17min

  Jesus' invitation to "take up your cross and follow him" is the essence of the call to discipleship. What does it look like to take up the cross? Are we to be martyrs? Tortured? Imprisoned for our faith? That has happened to many, as the history of the church bears witness. For most of us, the cross comes as we choose the way of Jesus instead of the ways of the world and find friction. If you follow Jesus, the cross will find you.
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  THE SENTENCE YOU DIDN'T WRITE: August 23, 2026 23.08.2026 17min

  We have been finishing that sentence our whole lives. I am… and somebody else usually filled in the blank first. But there is an older word about who we are, spoken before anyone else got a vote. And it turns out, Jesus is still speaking it.   Matthew 16:13-20 | Isaiah 51:1-6 | Romans 12:1-8
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  CRUMBS FROM THE TABLE: August 16, 2026 16.08.2026 11min

  When a Canaanite woman asks Jesus to heal her daughter his response seems, to us, rude. Rude Jesus? Not really. The story shows us that the promise of God in Isaiah 56 has come true – all nations will be drawn to God. The story also shows us that crumbs from the table of grace are more than enough.
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  THAT'S WHAT SHE SAID: August 9, 2026 09.08.2026 29min

  The women we encounter in scripture provide a powerful witness to God's love and mercy. From Miriam to Mary, Hannah to Ruth, the women are empowered by God to preach, teach, proclaim, and praise. Pastor Paul Witmer, Lead Pastor of Women at the Well, a congregation in the Mitchellville Women's Correction Center, is our guest preacher and mission partner.
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  ALL YOU CAN. ALL YOU HAVE. - August 2, 2026 02.08.2026 13min

  When Jesus sees the thousands waiting for him, he has compassion on them. The disciples see a problem. The people need to go home to eat. Jesus tells the twelve, "You give them something to eat." All they have is five loaves and two fish. It ends up being more than enough. Twelve baskets of leftovers remain after all are full. Perhaps Jesus gives us the same command when we see the overwhelming problems of the world and all the suffering. "You give them what they need." We are called to do all we can with all we have, in this place at this time.
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  NOTHING SEPARATES: July 26, 2026 26.07.2026 15min

  Something in you has been asking whether this, whatever this is for you right now, might finally be too much. Too far gone. Beyond reach. Paul already asked that question, on our behalf, and searched the whole universe for an answer.    Romans 8:26-39 | Matthew 13:31-33, 44-52 | 1 Kings 3:5-12
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  WHEAT AND WEEDS: July 19, 2026 19.07.2026 10min

  What shall we do about the presence of evil in the world? Jesus' parable of the "wheat and weeds" gives us an answer. We can't really tell the difference between the two, so good and evil must grow up alongside each other. God will sort out the two in God's good time. That is hard news for us when we want to judge others. It is good news when we are being judged.
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  ALREADY HOME: July 12, 2026 12.07.2026 16min

  We keep asking the same question, just in fancier clothes: Am I enough? We measure. We compare. We keep score against the person in the next pew. But Paul isn't answering that question. He's ending it.   Romans 8:1-11 | Isaiah 55:10-13 | Matthew 13:1-9, 18-23  
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  A NATION OF PEACE AND HUMILITY: July 5, 2026 05.07.2026 16min

  As the nation observes the 250th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence we are called to give thanks and to tell the truth. We are called to live into a vision established not by our own patriotism, but the vision of the reign of God revealed in Christ.
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  THE YOKE: June 28, 2026 27.06.2026 17min

  There is a kind of hope that makes everything worse. We have all offered it. Most of us have needed it. There is another kind. It doesn't promise the weight will lift. But it will not leave you alone in it.   Jeremiah 28:5–9 | Matthew 10:40–42
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  DEAD TO SIN. ALIVE TO GOD. June 21, 2026 21.06.2026 15min

  A core belief of our congregation is "God's love is not earned but is a free gift to broken people." The question is, does God's love revealed in Christ leave us broken? Paul says, "By no means!" To be baptized, to be a disciple of Jesus, is to leave the old life, the brokenness, behind and embrace a new life, even if it is hard to change.
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  WHAT CHRIST FINDS: June 14, 2026 14.06.2026 16min

  We are remarkably committed to carrying things alone. Even when help is available. Even when the effort costs us more than accepting it. Somewhere in all that stubborn self-sufficiency, a belief settles in so quietly we don't notice it arriving: no one is coming.   Matthew 9:35–10:8 | Exodus 19:2-8a | Romans 5:1-8
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  ANOTHER WORD: June 7, 2026 07.06.2026 17min

  The world is very good at speaking final words over us. And we have been carrying some of them for a long time. But there is someone who keeps showing up, past the booth, past the crowd, past the bedside, and he is not done speaking. That word has your name on it.   Matthew 9:9-13, 18-26
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  INTO THE CHAOS: May 31, 2026 31.05.2026 14min

  We have been gripping for a very long time. Managing the unformed places. Performing a certainty we do not have. Because somewhere underneath everything, we believe that chaos means God has already looked away. But that is not how this story begins.   Genesis 1:1-2:4a | 2 Corinthians 13:11-13 | Matthew 28:16-20
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  THE RIVER ALREADY KNOWS: May 24, 2026 24.05.2026 17min

  We have spent a long time on the bank. Watching. Admiring. Keeping ourselves dry and in control. But there is a current underneath all of it that has been moving the whole time, and it didn't ask our permission before it started. The question Pentecost keeps asking is the one we keep not answering.   John 7:37-39 | Acts 2:1-21 | 1 Corinthians 12:3b-13
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  THE HALLWAY: May 17, 2026 17.05.2026 16min

  We are waiting. We have been waiting. For the door to open, for things to resolve, for real life to finally start again. What if we've been wrong about which room we're in?   John 17:1-11 | Acts 1:6-14 | 1 Peter 4:12-14; 5:6-11
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  TO THE UNKNOWN GOD: May 10, 2026 10.05.2026 15min

  We are exhausted. Not tired. Exhausted. And we cannot stop. We have been building altars about it for a very long time. And none of them are working.   But there is another way.   Acts 17:22-31 | John 14:15-21 | 1 Peter 3:13-22
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  THE STONE WE DON'T RECOGNIZE: May 3, 2026 03.05.2026 16min

  An arrest. A sermon. A challenge. A response. The stones didn't come from the faithless ones. Just ask Caiaphas.   Acts 7:55–60 |1 Peter 2:2–10 | John 14:1–14