In #6 in his series So You Can Be Certain of the Truth, Pastor Don spoke from Luke 15:1-32.
Luke wrote down these three parables that Jesus taught about lost things being found. The Pharisees and teachers of the law had been complaining that Jesus was welcoming and eating with despised “sinners”; they didn’t want anything to do with people who didn’t fit their idea of how things should be. Are we willing to associate with all kinds of people? The Pharisees knew the scriptures, but they didn’t know God. Does our knowledge of the Bible help us know God and act like Him?
The Lost Sheep
The shepherd in the first parable rejoiced when he found his lost sheep, and heaven rejoices even more when a sinner repents. If we’ve repented of our sins, did we rejoice, too? As the shepherd was moved to find his lost sheep, Jesus is moved by our lost condition. Jesus spent time with sinners because they were lost, and He was their Shepherd. He wants to spend time with us because He’s our Shepherd.
The Lost Coin
The poor woman who found her lost coin rejoiced—publicly, inviting her friends to celebrate with her. Are we thrilled when someone we know repents? God actively seeks out sinners to bring them home. Christians do that, too, when we go where God can use us to tell the gospel.
The Prodigal Son
The prodigal son sinned against his father, and later come to his senses—the first step in repentance is realizing you’re wrong. Then he changed his direction and went to his father. When we sin, we need to come to God in repentance and ask Him to cleanse us from our sin and make us better. The father had compassion on his returning son; our Father isn’t angry, but compassionate with us when we repent. If we realize that, we’ll want to go to God when we’ve sinned.
Lost People
God is seeking out sinners, because they need to be saved. We shouldn’t be discouraged about how many people need to be saved—God will find His lost sheep. Do we want to be part of that?
In these parables, some people were rejoicing; the older brother and the Pharisees were complaining. Which group are we in? If we believe that God seeks and finds sinners, we have an expectation of joy.
A true act of repentance is an amazing evidence of God’s grace. It shows that we’re spiritually alive enough to recognize that we’re wrong and to go to God for forgiveness—that’s grace!
The Church needs to seek out lost sinners and build relationships that lead them to repentance. Can those who need the gospel come to church without fear of being judged? Are we ready to walk beside spiritually unhealthy people as they pursue growth in godliness? We can, because we were once lost and were found by the Shepherd. They need to know the same Savior that we know.
Here are the quotes that Pastor Don used in this message:
“Christ is the kind of person who is not ashamed of sinners—in fact, he even puts them in his family tree! Now if the Lord does that here, so ought we to despise no one…but put ourselves right in the middle of the fight for sinners and help them” (Martin Luther, 1522).
“Let us be marked in our lives and in our churches by the expectation of joy in the kingdom! If there is no joy there needs to be a question of who is there, the saved or the Pharisees? God seeks and He finds – do you believe that? Then you have an expectation of joy!” (Kevin DeYoung)
- 5/19/2013Lost, Then FoundLost, Then Found5/19/2013
In #6 in his series So You Can Be Certain of the Truth, Pastor Don spoke from Luke 15:1-32.
Luke wrote down these three parables that Jesus taught about lost things being found. The Pharisees and teachers of the law had been complaining that Jesus was welcoming and eating with despised “sinners”; they didn’t want anything to do with people who didn’t fit their idea of how things should be. Are we willing to associate with all kinds of people? The Pharisees knew the scriptures, but they didn’t know God. Does our knowledge of the Bible help us know God and act like Him?
The Lost Sheep
The shepherd in the first parable rejoiced when he found his lost sheep, and heaven rejoices even more when a sinner repents. If we’ve repented of our sins, did we rejoice, too? As the shepherd was moved to find his lost sheep, Jesus is moved by our lost condition. Jesus spent time with sinners because they were lost, and He was their Shepherd. He wants to spend time with us because He’s our Shepherd.
The Lost Coin
The poor woman who found her lost coin rejoiced—publicly, inviting her friends to celebrate with her. Are we thrilled when someone we know repents? God actively seeks out sinners to bring them home. Christians do that, too, when we go where God can use us to tell the gospel.
The Prodigal Son
The prodigal son sinned against his father, and later come to his senses—the first step in repentance is realizing you’re wrong. Then he changed his direction and went to his father. When we sin, we need to come to God in repentance and ask Him to cleanse us from our sin and make us better. The father had compassion on his returning son; our Father isn’t angry, but compassionate with us when we repent. If we realize that, we’ll want to go to God when we’ve sinned.
Lost People
God is seeking out sinners, because they need to be saved. We shouldn’t be discouraged about how many people need to be saved—God will find His lost sheep. Do we want to be part of that?
In these parables, some people were rejoicing; the older brother and the Pharisees were complaining. Which group are we in? If we believe that God seeks and finds sinners, we have an expectation of joy.
A true act of repentance is an amazing evidence of God’s grace. It shows that we’re spiritually alive enough to recognize that we’re wrong and to go to God for forgiveness—that’s grace!
The Church needs to seek out lost sinners and build relationships that lead them to repentance. Can those who need the gospel come to church without fear of being judged? Are we ready to walk beside spiritually unhealthy people as they pursue growth in godliness? We can, because we were once lost and were found by the Shepherd. They need to know the same Savior that we know.
Here are the quotes that Pastor Don used in this message:
“Christ is the kind of person who is not ashamed of sinners—in fact, he even puts them in his family tree! Now if the Lord does that here, so ought we to despise no one…but put ourselves right in the middle of the fight for sinners and help them” (Martin Luther, 1522).
“Let us be marked in our lives and in our churches by the expectation of joy in the kingdom! If there is no joy there needs to be a question of who is there, the saved or the Pharisees? God seeks and He finds – do you believe that? Then you have an expectation of joy!” (Kevin DeYoung)
- 5/12/2013What Do You Do When You’re Desperate?What Do You Do When You’re Desperate?5/12/2013
In #5 in his series So You Can Be Certain of the Truth, Pastor Don spoke from Luke 8:40-56 & Philippians 4:6-7.
Life has moments of desperation, when we just don’t know what to do. What do we do then? Luke wrote in this passage about two people who were desperate. Jairus’s daughter was dying. A woman had been hemorrhaging for 12 years and was unclean—an outcast. In America, we have so much that not many of us feel desperate, but the condition of our soul is desperate if we’re without God.
The father of the dying girl was a respected leader of the synagogue, but he fell at Jesus’ feet. The woman also fell at His feet. These two give us an example of how to respond when we’re desperate: go humbly to Jesus.
Faith is what made contact with Jesus. He wasn’t angry that the unclean woman had come close to Him; He spoke to her tenderly, “Daughter, your faith has healed you. Go in peace” (Luke 8:48). She had faith that if she could just get to Jesus, she would be healed. What do we put our faith in? Faith chooses to trust God. Anything less chooses to panic. Trusting God is difficult for anyone who isn’t surrendered to Jesus; if we still have things we want to try, we won’t trust Him. Desperation teaches us dependence on Jesus. If you’re not in a place where all options are gone, you don’t need faith. Sometimes God will take every option off the table, teaching us to trust Him.
Both of these people encountered Jesus—and they got mercy. All of us need mercy, and God has plenty of it! How close are you to Him, where the mercy comes from?When Jairus learned that his daughter was dead, Jesus admonished him to believe that someone greater than death was there. There are no facts in this world that can stop God. Jesus demonstrated His lordship over everything, even disease and death, foreshadowing the victory of the cross; the cross and resurrection of Jesus make us clean and give us life.
The apostle Paul was in a desperate situation in a Roman prison when he wrote, “Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus” (Philippians 4:6-7). It’s wonderful what happens when Christ displaces worry at the center of your life.
Who’s at the center of your life? What do you do when you’re desperate? There’s no person or circumstance that’s beyond the reach of our Savior.
What should you do when you’re desperate? Go first to Jesus, having strengthened and built up your faith by studying His word, by prayer, by fellowship with other Christians, by talking about Him with others, and by learning about Him. Strengthen your faith, so that when you’re in a desperate situation, faith moves you to Jesus, who is your only hope.
Here are the quotes that Pastor Don used in this message:
Fear knocked at the door. Faith answered. There was no one there” (Martin Luther King Jr.).
“When I wonder what God could possibly be thinking…I choose trust.
“When I desperately want relief from unrelenting reality…I choose perseverance.
“When I feel oppressed by my disappointment and sorrow…I choose gratitude”
(Christian author Carol Kent).“Looking back, [my wife] Jan and I have learned that the wilderness is part of the landscape of faith, and every bit as essential as the mountaintop. On the mountaintop we are overwhelmed by God’s presence. In the wilderness we are overwhelmed by his absence. Both places should bring us to our knees; the one, in utter awe; the other, in utter dependence” (Former major league baseball pitcher Dave Dravecky in When You Can’t Come Back).
- 5/5/2013They Had Eyes, but They Could Not SeeThey Had Eyes, but They Could Not See5/5/2013
In #4 in his series on Luke, Pastor Don spoke from Luke 4:16-30.
We have a way of missing what’s right in front of us—sometimes because we’re looking at the wrong things. We tend to focus on the temporary things, when we could be seeing the eternal things.
In this passage in Luke 4, Jesus went to the synagogue, “as was his custom.” We should follow His example and go to church when God’s people gather for worship. God is worth our going to church to worship Him.
Jesus spoke from the scriptures. We need to be familiar enough with the Word of God so that we can talk to each other about it. We can edify each other that way.
Jesus read a passage that had been written hundreds of years earlier, and He was living it out in front of the people who heard Him. The people were amazed at the “gracious words that came from His lips.” He told them what He had come to do, and described the condition of all people: spiritually poor, imprisoned by sin, blind to God’s truth, and oppressed by the devil. He spoke good news, but the people couldn’t see it. They knew the facts that they had been taught, but they didn’t know the truth. They had eyes, but they couldn’t see, because they were focusing on the wrong things.
Jesus was preaching about Himself, and the people were fascinated. He was preaching grace: liberty for captives and sight for the blind. His news was exciting! He talked about the “year of the Lord’s favor,” which a way that the Old Testament refers to the “year of jubilee” (Leviticus 25:10-13, 25), when the people were to celebrate their possession of the land God had given them by returning purchased land to its original owners. The nation of Israel had never actually observed the jubilee, but as Isaiah prophesied, Jesus came to bring that liberty—at the cost of His life. That’s grace, and His audience loved it!
But then He said something that made them furious. He told how God had sent His grace to Israel’s enemies and to people who weren’t Jewish. Jesus’ hearers were accustomed to hearing about the law all the time. If you’re stuck in Law, Grace will make you angry. You don’t want anyone to get Grace, especially not your enemies. God doesn’t owe us grace. We can have rights based on law, but when we come to Jesus, we leave our rights behind. As we stand before the cross, we have no rights whatsoever. It’s grace, or nothing. But in the cross where Jesus died, we have abundant grace.
Christian, does it not amaze you that you follow Jesus, when people you know think so little of Jesus? We see, because of His grace. Those who were angry at Jesus couldn’t see His grace—and yet, grace is the only cure for that kind of blindness.
Let grace always lead you to Jesus!
Here are the quotes that Pastor Don used in this message:
“Too many times we miss so much because we live on the low level of the natural, the ordinary, the explainable. We leave no room for God to do the exceeding abundant thing above all that we can ask or think” (Vance Havner).
“His love has no limit,
His grace has no measure,
His power has no boundary known unto men…”
(Annie Johnson Flint). - 4/28/2013A Lesson from a TeenagerA Lesson from a Teenager4/28/2013
In #3 in his series So You Can Be Certain of the Truth, Pastor Don spoke from Luke 1:39-52 and Acts 1:1-3.
All of us at some time in our lives have looked to somebody as an example—we need to learn things we can’t find in a book. The mother of Jesus is an example to us of how to live in the kingdom of God.
Mary was a teenager when the angel Gabriel brought the astonishing announcement that she as a virgin would become the mother of God’s Son; she humbly believed him. In contrast, Zechariah had demanded proof when Gabriel had brought him an announcement. God speaks to us today through His word the Bible. We need to believe God like Mary did when she said, “I am the Lord’s servant…. May your word to me be fulfilled.”
Mary expressed her soul’s joy and praise toward God. Our privilege to watch God’s work on earth is so magnificent that it should fill us with joy. Our soul should glorify the Lord, and our spirit should rejoice in God our Savior!
Mary was talking “kingdom talk.” The kingdom of God is a very important theme in the New Testament. When Jesus appeared to His disciples during the 40 days after His resurrection, He chose to speak to them about the kingdom of God (Acts 1:3).
The kingdom of God came into the history of this world from outside, from God. It’s not geographic or earthly—it’s a supernatural relationship. We’re in the kingdom of God because we’re related to Him by the blood of Jesus. God has given us a living relationship with Him as our Father.
The kingdom of God is His working in His Church, the assembly of God’s people. We belong to God, because He has paid the price for us. We should treasure the title “the people of God.”
Jesus compared the kingdom of God to yeast working all through the dough; that’s how God works in His redeemed people—all through us. He won’t let us keep Him in a compartment.
We can learn from Mary the right way to respond to God for His purposes, which are always good. We should respond to God by praying and praising God, like Mary did. If your life isn’t where it should be, pray. Ask God to teach you, and believe Him when you pray. We don’t pray to move God; we pray to move us to God.
Mary relied on God alone, and so must we. She embraced the kingdom of God, and so much we.
We can learn a lot from this teenager, if we’ll listen.Here are the quotes that Pastor Don used in this message:
“The Kingdom of God is: ‘God’s people in God’s place under God’s rule’” (Graeme Goldsworthy).
“We use prayer as a boatman uses a boat hook: to pull the boat to the shore and not to try to pull the shore to the boat” (Ralph W. Sockman).
- 4/21/2013Know the Unshakable Reality of Jesus!Know the Unshakable Reality of Jesus!4/21/2013
In #2 in his series So You Can Be Certain of the Truth, Pastor Don spoke from Luke 1:5-38.
The story of Jesus is worth telling—how He left heaven and lived among sinners on the earth and then died in our place to save us from the judgment of our sins. Only those who know the unshakable reality of Jesus can tell this story right. Luke wrote this gospel so that we can tell it.
The angel Gabriel appeared to the priest Zechariah while he was offering incense in the temple; Gabriel delivered God’s message that Zechariah’s wife Elizabeth would bear a son in her old age. Zechariah doubted what Gabriel had told him, and as a consequence was unable to speak until his son was born. Luke wrote this story so that we would believe that nothing is impossible with God and so that we’ll believe that what God says is true.
Later, Gabriel appeared to the virgin Mary and promised her a son who would reign forever on His ancestor David’s throne. Jesus’ conception was another impossible thing that God did. Jesus was infinitely more than an ordinary man. When Elizabeth visited Mary, Elizabeth was filled with the Holy Spirit and knew that Mary’s baby was her Lord. Jesus was called Lord again by an angel at His birth.
We must know about Jesus with unshakable certainty. A message should be understood in its context, and the Bible’s context is Jesus; it’s about Him and by Him. We can’t understand the Bible without Jesus. Once we grasp that reality, all the details in the Bible come into focus, and we can’t help telling the good news of how He has saved us.
The unshakable reality of Jesus is a story that only Christians have—and it’s worth telling!
- 4/14/2013Certain of God!Certain of God!4/14/2013
In #1 in his series on Luke, Pastor Don spoke from Luke 1:1-4.
Everywhere we go in life, God is in view. Our problem is, we’re so busy with life that sometimes it seems we go right past Him. We know God exists, but we often don’t notice Him, just like we don’t notice the air we breathe. But no one we can know is more important to the quality of our life than knowing God. He is the main reality in all of the history of the world.
In the prologue to his gospel, Luke says that his purpose is that we would know the certainty of what we’ve been taught. He wants us to be sure that we know God. Let’s not be satisfied with knowing Him just a little and without any confidence!
Luke, guided by the Holy Spirit, wrote what he had learned directly from eyewitnesses of Jesus’ life and teaching. Luke was an educated physician, and he used his academic skills as he investigated and reported the things that God did in Jesus’ life. He wants his readers to know God. He wants us to know the reality of Jesus in an unshakable way.
Here is the quote that Pastor Don used in this message:
“The heaviest obligation lying upon the Christian church today is to purify and elevate her concept of God until it is once more worthy of him and of her. In all her prayers and labor this should have first place. We do the greatest service to the next generation of Christians by passing on to them undimmed and undiminished that noble concept of God which we received from our Hebrew and Christian fathers of generations past. This will prove of greater value to them than anything that art or science can devise” (A. W. Tozer).
- 4/7/2013He Ascended into Heaven…He Ascended into Heaven…Series: Guest Speakers4/7/2013
Special guest Rev. David Fischer spoke from Hebrews 7:23-8:2 and 10:11-39. A couple minutes are missing at the start of the recording, due to a problem with the microphone.
A few weeks after Jesus’ resurrection, He ascended into heaven to reign at the right hand of God the Father. We don’t hear a lot about the ascension, but it was very important to the early Christians—important enough to be included in the essential doctrines of Apostles’ Creed: “He ascended into heaven and sits on the right hand of God the Father Almighty; from thence He shall come to judge the quick and the dead.”
Christ’s ascension encourages Christians in at least three ways to live boldly at all times:
- Christ’s ascension should encourage us to live boldly, because He rules over all things. He didn’t just leave the earth; He ascended to His heavenly throne. He rules over us in love, and He conquers His and our enemies. We know His reigning power by faith, even when the eyes in our head can’t see it.
- Christ’s ascension should encourage us to live boldly, because He intercedes for us as our great High Priest. He is at the Father’s right hand to bring our prayers to God the Father on our behalf. Our past, our guilt, our shame are no match for our great High Priest.
- Christ’s ascension should encourage us to live boldly, because He dwells in us.Jesus sent the Holy Spirit to dwell in us; we enjoy present continuous participation with the divine fellowship of the Trinity.
What should this encouragement look like?
- A confident assurance to come before God, knowing that He receives us, having cleansed us from our sins.
- A confident assurance to live before God, because He gives us the strength to defeat the ongoing effects of sin in our lives.
- Patient endurance in all circumstances, holding fast our confession of hope.
- Persistent fellowship to encourage each other & share our lives with each other.
Here’s the part from the Westminster Shorter Catechism about Christ’s kingship:
Question 26: How does Christ execute the office of king?
Answer: Christ executes the office of king by subduing us to himself, by ruling and defending us, and by restraining and conquering all his and our enemies.
- 3/31/2013Resurrection Sunday 2013 MeditationsResurrection Sunday 2013 MeditationsSeries: general3/31/2013
In the sunrise service, Pastor Don spoke from Luke 24:1-8 and Romans 4:25 on “Why?” Following that short message, you can hear his mediation in the Resurrection Sunday worship service.
The sunrise service
Luke 24:1-8
On the first day of the week, very early in the morning, the women took the spices they had prepared and went to the tomb. They found the stone rolled away from the tomb, but when they entered, they did not find the body of the Lord Jesus. While they were wondering about this, suddenly two men in clothes that gleamed like lightning stood beside them. In their fright the women bowed down with their faces to the ground, but the men said to them, “Why do you look for the living among the dead? He is not here; he has risen! Remember how he told you, while he was still with you in Galilee: ‘The Son of Man must be delivered into the hands of sinful men, be crucified and on the third day be raised again.’” Then they remembered his words.Romans 4:25
He was delivered over to death for our sins and was raised to life for our justification.Why is the resurrection of Jesus Christ such a big deal? Death on earth is the consequence of sin, which Adam and Eve introduced when they rebelled against God’s one restriction in a perfect world. Another consequence of sin is alienation from God.
Because of the resurrection of Jesus Christ, the broken relationship between God and man has been set right. Jesus was crucified for our sin, and God the Father raised Him from the dead. Jesus did not deserve to die, but He died for our sake. His resurrection proves that God is satisfied His payment for our sins.
Without the resurrection of Jesus, the sins that separated us from God would be paid for, but nobody would know it. We would have a Savior, but He would be a dead Savior. There would be no Church, because Jesus is the Head of the Church.
Death couldn’t keep God’s Son. The resurrection says that death can’t have Jesus or those who follow Jesus. We no longer need to fear death.
The resurrection of Jesus Christ validates everything He promised: His peace, reconciliation with God, justification, salvation from everlasting death, rebirth in to the family of God.
The resurrection proves that Jesus’ sacrifice for us is enough to save us; we add nothing to what He did to save us.
Here are the quotes that Pastor Don used in this message:
“Death is God’s punishment for sin, its consequence. But Jesus had not sinned and therefore did not deserve death. That he did die was because he was dying in our place as our sin-bearer. The resurrection is God’s proof, provided for our benefit, that a full payment for sins has been made” (Dr. James M. Boice).
“The resurrection is the proclamation of the fact that God is fully and completely satisfied with the work that his Son did upon the Cross” (Dr. D. Martyn Lloyd-Jones).
Resurrection Sunday worship service
We often hear people say, “It’s not fair!” The resurrection of Jesus turned around the most unfair thing that has ever happened: the death of Jesus, who never sinned. Death is the result of sin. Jesus’ death was for our sins, not His.
The death of Jesus was designed by God for us. “He was delivered over to death for our sins” (Romans 4:25). That was unfair, but Jesus wasn’t an unwilling victim. He laid down His life willingly.
His resurrection was achieved by God for us. “By his power God raised the Lord from the dead, and he will raise us also” (1 Corinthians 6:14).
God planned it all for us!
“To him who loves us and has freed us from our sins by his blood, 6 and has made us to be a kingdom and priests to serve his God and Father–to him be glory and power for ever and ever! Amen” (Revelation 1:5).
- 3/24/2013This Is JesusThis Is JesusSeries: general3/24/2013
Pastor Don spoke from Psalm 24:7-10 and Matthew 21:1-11.
Excited crowds followed Jesus into Jerusalem on Palm Sunday; they had heard his teaching and witnessed his miracles.
Many things came together in Jerusalem that day: shouts of praise, objections to those shouts, preparations for the Passover, and donkeys for the humble King to ride on.
The whole city was stirred, as it had been when the Magi came to ask about the One who had been born King of the Jews.
The city asked, “Who is this?” The crowds knew: this was Jesus, the promised Prophet and King. But they made the mistake of seeing Him as a political figure. Some people still make that kind of mistake, reducing Jesus and His Church to political actors.
Jerusalem is God’s holy city, and He has entered it three times: first when David and Solomon brought the Ark of the Covenant to the temple where God showed His presence on earth, again as Jesus when He went to Jerusalem to die on the cross as our substitute, and a third time as the Holy Spirit when He descended on His followers on Pentecost.
When Jesus died, the veil separating the people from the Ark of God’s presence was torn in two. Since Pentecost, God lives in the hearts of all His people, and not in one city.
Jesus will come to Jerusalem one more time, not on a donkey, but as a Warrior and the King of glory, the God of His covenant people.
The city asked, “Who is this?” This was Jesus, the Son of the living God, the promised King and Savior, more loving and holy than we could imagine. We worship Him!
Here is the quote that Pastor Don used in this message:
“The picture is highly poetical, and shows how wide heaven’s gate is set by the ascension of our Lord. Blessed be God, the gates have never been shut since. The opened gates of heaven invite the weakest believer to enter” (Charles H. Spurgeon).
- 3/17/2013We All Walk with a LimpWe All Walk with a LimpSeries: general3/17/2013
Pastor Don spoke from Luke 15:11-24 and 1 John 1:8-10.
Sin has damaged all of us; we all walk through life with a limp. All that the Church has for doing the ministry that God has called the Church to do is sinners—but that doesn’t stop God. Sin means we are guilty of something. Our Guilt doesn’t stop the Lord, either.
Our sin and guilt bring us to God’s amazing faithfulness. God knew the cross was ahead before Adam sinned, and He still went on with His plan to save us.
1 John 1:8-10 tells about God’s faithfulness to us despite our sin, and the parable of the Prodigal Son is a picture of it. In both passages, the central character is God, our faithful Father. Our sins disrupt our fellowship with God, but they don’t affect His love for His children or our relationship with Him.
When we’ve sinned, our fellowship with God doesn’t need to stay disrupted. Our restoration doesn’t depend on us; it depends on God, who is faithful.
When you sin, don’t stay away from God—run to Him—quickly! God calls us to walk in the light (1 John 1:7). Walking in the light doesn’t mean we’re sinless—it means we can see our sin for what it is. Seeing our sin doesn’t increase our self-esteem, but what we really need is God-esteem and a desire to spend time with God. God doesn’t want us to spend our life on something less.
If we say we haven’t sinned, God’s word has no place in our lives (1 John 1:10). There’s no worse place to be! But in His amazing faithfulness, God will forgive us when we agree with Him about our sins (1 John 1:9). God’s forgiveness is also just—legally right—because Jesus paid our sin-debt on the cross. We should be so filled with the light of God that the pain of knowing we’ve sinned should drive us to the cross in humble confession the moment we sin. The test of whether we believe the gospel—the good news about what Jesus has done for us—is what we do when we’ve sinned: do we say out in the darkness and try to make ourselves right—or do we run to God in confidence, understanding our need of His grace? If we sin & ignore it or try to fix ourselves, that’s an offense to the grace of God: we don’t realize what our sin cost Jesus.
We all walk with a limp. So let’s stop looking at each other’s limp and keep looking at God’s faithfulness. Let’s help others look to God’s faithfulness. Let’s have compassion on our fellow sinners. Let’s let our light shine on the faithfulness of God.
Here are the quotes that Pastor Don used in this message:
“Every congregation is a congregation of sinners. And if that weren’t bad enough, each has a sinner for a pastor” (Eugene Peterson).
“All the holy men seem to have gone off and died. There’s no one left but us sinners to carry on the ministry” (Jamie Buckingham).
“The human heart has so many crannies where vanity hides, so many holes where falsehood lurks, is so decked out with deceiving hypocrisy, that it often dupes itself” (John Calvin).
“An apology is an expression of regret: I am sorry. A confession is an admission of fault: I am sorry because I did wrong. I sinned” (Susan Wise Bauer, The Art of the Public Grovel).
- 3/10/2013Those Who Know GodThose Who Know GodSeries: Changed People Change Cultures3/10/2013
In the last message in his series Changed Lives Change Cultures, Pastor Don spoke from 1 John 1:5-10.
What we believe about God is important, but it’s much more important how well we know Him.
God is light. Light is a metaphor for comfort to the soul, for God’s presence, and for the truth of God. We say we believe in God, but do we know Him? All knowing starts with believing, but it doesn’t stay there on the surface—it gets deeper.
Knowing God in a personal, intimate way is where the change takes place in our life. Our way of life is an indicator of what’s happening in our soul—whether there’s light or not. We can’t have one foot in the world and one foot with God—or we’ll drift toward the world and fall in. We need to be completely His in the precious relationship that Jesus bought for us on the cross. Knowing God will change us as people and as a culture.
Light reveals things. God knows everything about us. Knowing God liberates us to be honest with Him: to confess our sins to Him and to each other. Darkness can exist only where there’s deception. Those who know God will create a culture where His word is really practiced—where we walk in the light—a culture of honesty.
Those who know God will take a stand against the darkness. They will do whatever it takes to grow in Christ and to know Him. They’ll accomplish great things in the world as they obey God’s word. Let’s make our relationship with God visible to all who see us!
Here are the quotes that Pastor Don used in this message:
“God has all life, glory, goodness, and blessedness in and of himself. He alone is all-sufficient in and unto himself, nor does he need any of his creations or derive any glory from them. Rather, he manifests his own glory in, by, unto, and on them. He is the only source of all being, by whom, through whom, and to whom everything exists. He has completely sovereign dominion over all things and does with, to, or for them whatever he pleases. Everything is revealed and completely open to him. His knowledge is infinite, infallible, and does not depend on any created being, so that to him nothing is conditional or uncertain. He is completely holy in all his purposes, works, and commands. To him is due whatever worship, service, or obedience he is pleased to require from angels, human beings, and all other creatures” (The Westminster Confession of Faith, chapter 1, paragraph 2).
“I believe a very large majority of churchgoers are merely unthinking, slumbering worshipers of an unknown God” (Charles H. Spurgeon).
- 3/3/2013A Culture of Life!A Culture of Life!Series: Changed People Change Cultures3/3/2013
In #6 in his series Changed Lives Change Cultures, Pastor Don spoke from John 10:10 and Romans 6:20-23.
Life is a gift from God. Are we living—really living—our life, or are we just existing? Christians have the unique responsibility of showing the world what life is and how to live. Living the gospel is part of how we make disciples, as Jesus commissioned us to do. Our Savior is the Creator of life, and we can’t truly know life if we don’t know Him. The Church should be a culture of life, in contrast to the culture of death around us.
Life is about knowing Jesus, the author of life. When we meet Him, we’re introduced to life. Then we begin to grow in our faith. As God sanctifies us, we move more and more away from sin and toward the righteous life that God made us for.
Jesus suffered and died to purchase for us a life connected to God. We must value the life that Jesus paid for; we must live life to the full. God cares that we treasure and use the life He gave us. We should use it in a way that makes others want the kind of life that God gave us. Our life is a monument to Jesus Christ, to His sacrifice for us. Our sanctification makes that monument bigger and bigger, so that it’s easier and easier for the world to see. Only when we recognize Jesus and what he’s done for us, can we rightly value the gift of life that He’s given us.
Let’s pray that God will help us value and live the life that He gave us, so that others will recognize Him in our life.
Here are the quotes that Pastor Don used in this message:
“If you were doomed to live the same life over and over again for eternity, would you choose the life you are living now? The question is interesting enough, but I’ve always thought the point of asking it is really the unspoken, potentially devastating follow-up question. That is, if the answer is no, then why are you living the life you are living now? Stop making excuses, and do something about it” (William Alexander).
“God destines us for an end beyond the grasp of reason” (St. Thomas Aquinas, c. 1225-1274).
Westminster Shorter Catechism
“Question 35: What is sanctification?
“Answer: Sanctification is the work of God’s free grace, whereby we are renewed in the whole man after the image of God, and are enabled more and more to die unto sin, and live unto righteousness.” - 2/24/2013The High Priestly Ministry of the WordThe High Priestly Ministry of the WordSeries: Guest Speakers2/24/2013
Special guest Rev. David Fischer spoke from Hebrews 4:11-5:10.
What could possibly change someone who hates Christianity into a believer in Jesus?
The Word of God, the Bible
- The Word of God is a living thing that engages and transforms those who are willing to engage with it.
- The word of God is powerful to transform people from within.
- The Word of God exposes the thoughts and intentions of our hearts. This idea would terrify us, but the author doesn’t stop here.
We have a great High Priest who mediates for us.
- Knowing that Jesus intercedes for us empowers us to come confidently to the Father’s throne of grace, where we find mercy to cover our sins and grace to strengthen and sustain us. And so we can minister mercy and grace to those who don’t know it.
- We can be reassured, because of the kind of High Priest Jesus is to us. The Father appointed Jesus to be our High Priest. God is for us.Our High Priest acts on our behalf in relation to God. Jesus doesn’t stand to make intercession before an angry judge, but to present prayers and petitions to a loving Father. Jesus can deal gently with us, because He experienced weakness when He suffered in Gethsemane and on the cross; He experienced temptation during His life on earth, although He never sinned.
- Jesus is the source of eternal salvation from our sin for those who obey Him by persevering in faith in Him.
Christians as members of the Body of Christ are also called to be high priests.
Our priestly ministry is the means that God has ordained to bring people to the great High Priest. We are to act on behalf to men and women with regard to God. God isn’t the one who needs us—our neighbors are. We should serve them by dealing gently with the ignorant and the wayward, out of our own weakness.
- We should let the Word do its work in our lives together—its work of exposing our sin and weakness in the context of grace-filled covenant relationships.
- We should let the Word do its work in our neighbors’ lives—its work of convicting of sin and producing faith and repentance. Our job isn’t to change people, but to welcome them and let the Word work. If the Word has exposed our sin and suffering and weakness, and if we’ve faced those things in Christ, then we’ll be the kind of gentle high priests that people long to be with.
What will change the heart of someone who resists the gospel? The ministry of high priests who can relate to them. May the worst of sinners in our cities come to hear us because our hearts exhibit so much likeness to theirs and our lives exhibit so much likeness to Christ’s.
- 2/17/2013Where Peace Comes FromWhere Peace Comes FromSeries: Changed People Change Cultures2/17/2013
In #5 in his series Changed Lives Change Cultures, Pastor Don spoke from 2 Corinthians 5:17-21 and Ephesians 2:11-16.
Reconciliation is bringing back into harmony two parties that were in discord; it’s bringing peace where there was anger and separation. We in the Church should treasure the reality that Jesus has done the work to reconcile us to God. After reconciliation comes peace.
From the Christian perspective, peace comes in two ways: vertically, as peace with God because of Jesus’ death on the cross; and horizontally, as peace with each other. Our culture needs to see peace lived out in the Church.
The first Christians were Jewish heirs of God’s covenant with their ancestor Abraham, a covenant that separated them from the idolatrous cultures around them. The first Christians continued to be separate from gentiles, although Jesus had sent them into the whole world to make disciples. Their Jewishness became a barrier separating them from gentile believers. They needed to learn that the Law no longer divides us, but Jesus unites us in the Church.
We were all reconciled to God by the same blood of Jesus. In Him, there is no barrier between Christians. To live otherwise is to show contempt for the body and blood given to save and unite us. God’s righteous anger against my sin was loosed on Jesus on the cross; it ought to be very personal. And since God has reconciled us to Himself through the cross, our message is one of reconciliation. If Jesus is your Savior, you’re my brother or sister, and we will not separate from each other. The world won’t know what real peace looks like, unless it sees the Church modeling it.
Many people in our culture try to have peace by avoiding the conflicts that come with relationships—they keep to themselves, either living alone or isolating themselves in separate rooms.
The Church must demonstrate a culture of peace in order to change the culture around us. We need to go into the world, telling about reconciliation and showing what it looks like in our lives. We need to go, even among people who are hostile to us as Christians, because that’s what Jesus did for us. The living reality of reconciliation with God through Jesus is such an indescribably enormous gift, that we have to live it out in front of this world. When we do, we’ll see God do great works of grace through us.
Here are the quotes that Pastor Don used in this message:
Reported by sociologist Eric Klinenberg:
- 32 million Americans live alone, representing 28 percent of all households.
- In prosperous American cities — Atlanta, Denver, Seattle, San Francisco and Minneapolis — 40 percent or more of all households contain a single occupant.
- Five million people in the United States between ages 18 and 34 live alone, 10 times more than in 1950.
- The largest category of single people is the middle-aged group (ages 35-64).
- “Those in large suburban homes often splinter into private rooms to be alone. The image of a modern family in a room together, each plugged into a separate reality, be it a smartphone, computer, video game or TV show has become a cultural cliché.”
“Jesus Christ lived in the midst of his enemies. At the end all his disciples deserted him. On the Cross he was utterly alone, surrounded by evildoers and mockers. For this cause he had come, to bring peace to the enemies of God. So the Christian, too, belongs not in the seclusion of a cloistered life but in the thick of foes. There is his commission, his work. (Quoting Luther) ‘The kingdom is to be in the midst of your enemies. And he who will not suffer this does not want to be of the Kingdom of Christ; he wants to be among friends, to sit among roses and lilies, not with the bad people but the devout people. O you blasphemers and betrayers of Christ! If Christ had done what you are doing who would ever have been spared’!” (Dietrich Bonhoeffer)
“My belief has come about in large measure because of the lives and examples of people I have known—not the famous, not saints, but friends and relations who have lived, and faced death, in light of the resurrection story, or in the quiet acceptance that they have a future after they die” (British author A. N. Wilson).
“My sin—O the joy of this glorious thought—
My sin, not in part, but the whole,
Is nailed to the cross, and I bear it no more:
Praise the Lord, Praise the Lord, O my soul!”(“It Is Well with My Soul” by Horatio G. Spafford)
- 2/10/2013We Are Wanted!We Are Wanted!Series: Changed People Change Cultures2/10/2013
In #4 in his series Changed Lives Change Cultures, Pastor Don spoke from Romans 5:1-5.
Our parents disciplined us when we disobeyed them, but we still had a place at the family dinner table. God always loves His children, and He loved us even before we were born. Before Jesus went to the cross literally, He had already gone to the cross in the mind of God. Christian, no matter what you’ve done, you still have a place at God’s table with Him. God wants us to be with Him. We are wanted. Knowing that will make all the difference as we go through the difficulties of life.
How we as Christians handle the things that hurt us will show the world what is real to us in life. If we expect to change the culture out there, we have to change the culture inside the Church and inside our own lives—especially when life hurts us.
Our troubles don’t happen accidentally. “We also rejoice in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance” (Romans 5:3). Pain is part of life in this world, but when the pain has accomplished what God intended, beauty of character will remain. While we’re in the difficulties, we may not see the details of life clearly. We need to know then that God loves us in spite of ourselves. Suffering is part of a process intended to result in hope. “We know that suffering produces perseverance; perseverance, character; and character, hope” (Romans 5:3-4). Tribulations should drive us closer to God.
Suffering results in character and hope that have been proven valuable through testing. This hope can get us through anything. It comes as the Holy Spirit’s pours out God’s love in our hearts and works in our hearts day by day in the good and bad times; it’s a gift from God.
When the world out there sees that the culture in the Church is a culture of hope, they will come. We have hope, because we are wanted by God.
Here are the quotes that Pastor Don used in this message:
“Too often we try to use God to change our circumstances, while he is using our circumstances to change us” (Dr. David Osborn).
“Character is the moral, ethical, and spiritual undergirding that rests on truth, that reinforces a life in stressful times, and resists all temptations to compromise” (Chuck Swindoll).
“We are apt to think that everything that happens to us is to be turned into useful teaching; it is to be turned into something better than teaching, that is, into character. We shall find that the spheres God brings us into are not meant to teach us something but to make us something” (Oswald Chambers).
“If the foundation of your happiness is your vocation, your relationships, or your money, then suffering takes your source of joy away from you. But if your ultimate value in life is God, then suffering drives you closer to your source of joy—God” (Tullian Tchividjian).
