21st Century Acts

KISS THE SON: Psalm 2- A Word for America on it's 250th birthday!

21st Century Acts is the sermon archive of Pastor Jonathan Hayes — raw, unfiltered, rooted in Scripture. This episode: America turns 250 this week. Flags flying. A people celebrating a heritage they are simultaneously dismantling. Psalm 2 was written for this moment. The nations rage. Heaven laughs. The Son reigns. And the offer still stands — Kiss the Son, or meet the rod of iron. There is no third option.

A Good Father? John 1:12-13

Every myth humanity ever told reached for the same thing — a son of God with power and purpose. This Father's Day, Pastor Jonathan Hayes opens John 1:12–13 and asks the question most people have never stopped to ask — what does it actually mean to call God Father? And what does it demand of the fathers in the room?

The Covenant and Compassion of the Cross. Isaiah 53:4-6

What happened at the cross? Was it God's love on display — or a legal payment for sin? The answer is yes. Both. In this message from Isaiah 53:4-6, Pastor Jonathan Hayes unpacks the ancient debate between atonement and expiation and lands where scripture lands: the cross is covenant and compassion. God is righteous Judge and merciful Savior. This isn't a contradiction — it's the whole point. Whether you came to faith through passion and encounter or through law and covenant, the cross holds both. And so does He. jonathannathanielhayes@gmail.com or on social media at The ARC of northern Maine

Rededicate 250 | One Nation Under God

On May 17, 1776, the Continental Congress did something remarkable — they called an entire nation to a day of fasting, humiliation, and prayer, asking God to bless a revolution. Two hundred and fifty years later, Pastor Jonathan Hayes asks a sobering question: what happened to us? Drawing from Jeremiah's covenant warning — "If my people, which are called by my name" — and Christ's indictment of a church that had abandoned its first love, this message is less a history lesson and more a mirror. America has not simply drifted politically. The church has drifted spiritually. And the two are not unrelated. This is a call to return. To remember. To rededicate.

Psalm 1: The Tree and the Chaff

What does a life rooted in God look like? And what happens when we choose our own way instead? In this powerful study of Psalm 1, Pastor Jonathan Hayes explores the stark contrast between two paths: the way of the righteous and the way of the wicked. Through the vivid imagery of a tree planted by rivers of water and chaff blown away by the wind, Scripture reveals the blessings of a life anchored in God's Word and the instability of a life disconnected from Him. This message examines: The progression of compromise: walking, standing, and sitting in the counsel of the ungodly What it means to delight in God's Word and meditate on it day and night The secret to spiritual stability in a changing world Why true prosperity is deeper than financial success The sobering reality of God's coming judgment How Jesus Christ perfectly fulfilled the righteous life described in Psalm 1 Whether you feel deeply rooted in your faith or are struggling to find firm ground, this episode will challenge you to examine which path you are walking and where your roots are planted. "For he shall be like a tree planted by the rivers of water, that bringeth forth his fruit in his season..." — Psalm 1:3 Join Pastor Jonathan Hayes as we discover the difference between being firmly planted in God's truth and being blown about like chaff in the wind. Subscribe, share, and join the conversation as we seek to live out the Book of Acts in the 21st century.