Living Our Faith

"And so, dear brothers and sisters, I plead with you to give your bodies to God because of all He has done for you. Let them be a living and holy sacrifice -- the kind He will find acceptable. This is truly the way to worship Him." Romans 12:1

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Posted by on in Advent 2015
Read: Genesis 16-17 Advent is a season of waiting and if there’s one thing that we know, it’s that it is hard to wait. We get impatient waiting for coffee to brew or water to boil or supper to finish cooking. As we wait, our minds get so consumed with what we are waiting for that every passing second feels like a minute, every minute an hour … Abram and Sarai knew the feeling. For 11 years they had waited on God’s promise to come true and by now they were tired of waiting. It’s just so hard to wait....
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Posted by on in Advent 2015
We started our Advent season with a sermon on Matthew 1:1-17 -- Matthew’s genealogy of Jesus the Messiah, the son of David, the son of Abraham -- and we noted that by giving us this list of names, Matthew is telling us (or reminding us) of the story of God’s faithfulness throughout the Old Testament to bring about His plan of salvation through Jesus. Each of these names tell a story and remind us of how God was faithful to His covenant promises. Throughout this Advent season, in addition to the passages we will look at on Sunday morning, I...
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Posted by on in Upcoming Sermon
Our Scripture reading forth is Sunday is Genesis 18:1-15 as we continue our series on Questions God Asks. There are two questions here that God asks. First, "Why did Sarah laugh ...?" And then, "Is anything too hard for the Lord?" And it's that second question we will focus on this Sunday. Is anything too hard for the Lord? (Or, literally, is anything too wonderful for the Lord?) This is a question that can be twisted in such a way to suggest that God can and will give us anything that we want, so long as we ask and believe....
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Posted by on in Upcoming Sermon
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Matt Woodley tells the following story: When I was about ten years old, my dad, a medical doctor, received a special gift from one of his patients: a beautiful globe with shiny sequins. The globe spun around on its base and played one of my dad's favorite songs. My dad proudly demonstrated how it worked: grab it by the base, slowly wind it counter-clockwise, and then release it, letting it spin clockwise while playing beautiful music. He told us, "You can touch it, but don't wind it, because you might break it." A week later, while my dad was at...
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Posted by on in Upcoming Sermon
The Scripture reading for this Sunday is Romans 6:1-14.   Who are you? What is your identity? There are so many voices today that tell us our work defines us, so if we are not happy we simply need to go after a better job — something that pays better and holds a little more prestige that what we have already. Other voices tell us that money defines us. Others tell us that our identity is determined by our reflection in the mirror, and any minor imperfections on our body reflect imperfections in ourselves. Others tell us that we are...
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Posted by on in Upcoming Sermon
The Scripture reading for this Sunday is Amos 9:11-15 (but it's a good idea to read all of Amos 9). By the end of Amos 9:10 it's easy to wonder if there is any hope to be had in Amos. Some faint hope is offered in 9:8-10, but even that doesn’t sound like much hope. Things are so bad, that Amos 9 talks about God hunting down His people, that they cannot escape His judgment. They have long ago failed to live as God's people, long ago failed to worship Him as they should, long ago failed to draw the...
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Posted by on in Upcoming Sermon
Our Scripture reading for this Sunday is Amos 5:18-27. God's people in Israel were called to be a special witness for God. It was their job to show God's faithfulness, God's love, God's character to the world. As we read Amos 5:18-27 we hear that hasn't happened.  Through Amos God says: I hate all your show and pretense -- the hypocrisy of your religious festivals and solemn assemblies. I will not accept your burnt offerings and grain offerings. I won't even notice all your choice peace offerings. Away with your noisy hymns of praise! I will not listen to the...
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Posted by on in Upcoming Sermon
Our Scripture reading for this Sunday is Mark 1:4-11. “Cleanliness is next to Godliness.” That’s how the old saying goes, most often encouraging people to have a clean house and good personal hygiene. That saying is wrong (and unbiblical). Outward cleanliness, or the cleanliness that we can achieve on our own, has no connection with godliness. It never did. Jesus himself said, “Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You clean the outside of the cup and dish, but inside they are full of greed and self-indulgence. Blind Pharisee! First clean the inside of the cup...
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Posted by on in Upcoming Sermon
This Sunday we are beginning a four week series called, “Worship is…” Our Scripture reading is Isaiah 6.   When we think about what worship is, sometimes we think about the parts of the worship service (the call to worship, God’s greeting, confession and assurance, offering, sermon, benediction…) or about worship music (hymns, contemporary, mixed, …). But in this series we won’t talk about any of those things, at least not specifically. Rather we are going to try to answer some of the big questions about worship. Questions like: What makes worship, “worship”? What is it that we are doing?...
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Posted by on in Upcoming Sermon
Our Scripture readings for this Sunday – Pentecost Sunday – are Leviticus 23:15-22 and Acts 2:1-13. What does the Feast of Weeks have to do with Pentecost (as we understand it in our New Testament framework)? As you read through Acts 2, it turns out that Luke assumes a lot of us as readers that maybe we haven’t stopped to think about. Why were all these “God-fearing Jews from every nation under heaven” in Jerusalem? What were they celebrating? It turns out they were there celebrating Pentecost … but not the same “Pentecost” that we will celebrate on Sunday. They...
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Posted by on in Upcoming Sermon
Our Scripture reading for this Sunday is Acts 1:1-11. Yesterday (Thursday) was Ascension Day. Traditionally, perhaps, we would have had a service last night to celebrate that, however, we will celebrate on Sunday. In preparation for that I invite you to read the passage from Acts 1. Also, I invite you to read this article by Kevin Miller, the Executive Vice President of Christianity Today. I don't think I have permission to reprint the article here - even with credit given to the author - so I invite you to click on the link below and read the article. You...
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Posted by on in Upcoming Sermon
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Our Scripture Readings for this Sunday are Leviticus 23:23-25 and Matthew 21:1-11. This Sunday we are looking at the Feast of Trumpets as we celebrate Palm Sunday and also Profession of Faith and Baptism. It’s going to be an exciting service. The Feast of Trumpets was a solemn day. It was celebrated on the first day of the seventh month and on that day the priests would continuously sound trumpets. It was a day meant to remind them of God’s presence among them – God’s presence that they witnessed at Mt. Sinai when all of God’s people trembled as they...
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Posted by on in Upcoming Sermon
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This week we are going to look at the Feast of Tabernacles (also known as the Feast of Booths). Our Scripture readings are: Leviticus 23:33-44 and Nehemiah 8:13-18. I’ve always been proud of my teeth. Not that they “look great” or any of that … but because I never had a cavity in my adult teeth. I even managed to make it “cavity free” through seminary without seeing a dentist for 4 years. But last week, it happened. The dentist walked into the room and looked at the x-ray a little longer than he normally does. I heard him say,...
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Posted by on in Upcoming Sermon
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This Sunday we will look at the third feast in our series on the feasts of Israel as described in Leviticus 23 – the Feast of Firstfruits. Our Scripture readings are Leviticus 23:9-14 and 1 Corinthians 15:12-22. In our relationship with God, one of the most difficult things that we wrestle with is trust. Do we trust Him fully? Do we trust Him to meet our needs? Do we trust that He knows best? Based on what He has done and given to us, do we trust that He will keep providing? Or do we start stocking up, keep from...
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Posted by on in Upcoming Sermon
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This Sunday in our Lenten series on the Feasts of Israel we are looking at the Feast of Unleavened Bread. Our Scripture readings are: Exodus 12:14-20 and 1 Corinthians 5:6-8. *** Just a reminder that the background passage for our series is Leviticus 23 so you may also want to read Leviticus 23:4-8 which references the feast of Passover and Unleavened Bread and the command for the Israelites to keep these feasts each year. Other passages to read: Romans 6-8, Colossians. A couple months ago I went into the cupboard with a craving for toast with peanut butter on it....
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Posted by on in Upcoming Sermon
Our Scripture reading for this Sunday is Exodus 12:1-14 and John 19:28-37. Lent begun on Wednesday. This year for our Lent series we are looking at the Feasts of Israel from Leviticus 23 and how they are fulfilled by Jesus. This Sunday we will look at the feast of Passover. By way of introduction to the series (entitled, “Fulfilled”) I invite you to read this series introduction from Reformed Worship magazine. Texts: Leviticus 23:1-2, Colossians 2:16-19. Leviticus 23:1­2 isn’t a captivating read. There doesn’t seem to be any wisdom to follow, any advice to heed, any comfort to grasp. It’s...
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Posted by on in Upcoming Sermon
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    There wasn’t much in the wilderness. There wasn’t much at all. They couldn't go to the grocery store, or pick food from their garden. That wasn't an option, so day after day God’s people depended on Him to provide their food - manna and quail. And morning after morning, night after night, day after day, year after year (for forty years!) God provided.   God gave them their daily bread. He met their needs.   In preparation for Sunday, I invite you to read through Deuteronomy 8. It’s forty years later. God’s people are about to enter the...
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Posted by on in Upcoming Sermon
This Sunday we will look at the second petition of the Lord’s Prayer. “Our Father in Heaven, … Your kingdom come, on earth as it is in heaven.” Our Scripture reading is Mark 1:14-28. We will also read together Heidelberg Catechism Q&A 123. On Sunday we will look at Jesus’ proclamation in Mark 1:15 when he said, “The time has come, the kingdom of God has come near. Repent and believe the good news!” We will study this passage in Scripture so that so that we will better understand what we pray for when we pray, “Your Kingdom come.”  Darrell...
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Posted by on in Upcoming Sermon
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In his book, “Fifty-Seven Words that Change the World: a Journey Through the Lord’s Prayer” Darrell Johnson begins, saying, “Jesus is brilliant. Yes, Jesus is good, and kind, and merciful, and strong. But the more I get to know Jesus, the more I am impressed by our Lord’s sheer brilliance. Nowhere is his brilliance more manifest than in the gift of the prayer he taught his disciples to pray, the prayer that has come to be known as ‘The Lord’s Prayer.’ A mere fifty-seven words in the original Greek of Matthew’s gospel, it manages to gather up all of life...
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Posted by on in Upcoming Sermon
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Our Scripture reading this Sunday is Luke 1:26-38. It’s a challenge for us to read Luke 1 and 2 every year as we prepare for and celebrate Christmas. It’s a challenge because we know these passages. They don’t surprise us anymore. The angel Gabriel came to Zechariah and announced the birth of John, the one who would prepare the way for Jesus and we just keep on reading. We do the same when silent Zechariah witnesses his formerly barren wife, Elizabeth, who was way too old become pregnant, when Gabriel visits Mary, when John is born, and even as we...
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