Finding Bread for Your Friends

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Speaker: Wendell Stoltzfus
Scripture: Luke 11:1-13
August 13, 2023

Sermon Outline

1. The prayer and the parable

• The theme in Luke 11 is prayer

• And yet, we struggle to pray

2. The three friends

• An unexpected guest

• An inconvenient hour

• Who the three friends represent

3. The Bread of Assurance

• We who have the Bread of Life, rub shoulders with those who don't

• In the terms of the parable, each of the three friends is, ultimately, starving

4. Real bread, real impudence

• No doubt many of us struggle with assurance at times

• Obnoxious persistence in prayer

• How do we begin?

5. God's answer to prayer

• Jesus says you and I are the link between his bread and our hungry friends

• What will happen if you pray for your hungry friends every day?

• What if we don't see any change?

6. Conclusion

• An inconvenienced friend

• An unfailing God

What is Faith?

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Speaker: Steve Estes
Scripture: Hebrews 11:1-3, 6
August 6, 2023

Hebrews 11:1-3, 6: Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen. For by it the people of old received commendation. By faith we understand that the universe was created by the word of God, so that what is seen was not made out of things that are visible.

And without faith it is impossible to please him, for whoever would draw near to God must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who seek him.

Sermon Outline

1. Mistaken ideas about faith

• Wishful thinking

• Emotion

2. Faith is a confidence in God based on good reasons

• Confidence in God

• Based on good reasons

• More about faith based on good reasons

3. Faith responds positively to what God says

4. Lessons

• Faith involves your mind and your will

Suffering and Safety in Christ

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Speaker: Tyler Estes
Scripture: Romans 8:18-28
July 30, 2023

Romans 8:18-28: For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worth comparing with the glory that is to be revealed to us. For the creation waits with eager longing for the revealing of the sons of God. For the creation was subjected to futility, not willingly, but because of him who subjected it, in hope that the creation itself will be set free from its bondage to corruption and obtain the freedom of the glory of the children of God. For we know that the whole creation has been groaning together in the pains of childbirth until now. And not only the creation, but we ourselves, who have the firstfruits of the Spirit, groan inwardly as we wait eagerly for adoption as sons, the redemption of our bodies. For in this hope we were saved. Now hope that is seen is not hope. For who hopes for what he sees? But if we hope for what we do not see, we wait for it with patience.

Likewise the Spirit helps us in our weakness. For we do not know what to pray for as we ought, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us with groanings too deep for words. And he who searches hearts knows what is the mind of the Spirit, because the Spirit intercedes for the saints according to the will of God. And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose.

Sermon Outline

1. The primary theme of Romans 8 is that those who are in Christ are safe

2. The suffering of Christians is not something to treat lightly

• Our sufferings are sometimes the result of our sin

• But our sufferings are sometimes the result of another's sin

• And our sufferings are sometimes the result of vanity in a fallen world

• The Bible draws a connection between our sufferings and the glory that we receive with Christ

3. Our sufferings are insignificant compared with the glory that is to be revealed to us at Christ's Second Coming

4. We are sustained in our sufferings by the hope of our salvation

5. We are also sustained in our sufferings by the intercession of the Holy Spirit

6. Applications

Christian: Persevere

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Speaker: Steve Estes
Scripture: Hebrews 10:32-39
July 23, 2023

Hebrews 10:32-39: Remember those earlier days after you had received the light, when you stood your ground in a great contest in the face of suffering. Sometimes you were publicly exposed to insult and persecution; at other times you stood side by side with those who were so treated. You sympathised with those in prison and joyfully accepted the confiscation of your property, because you knew that you yourselves had better and lasting possessions. So do not throw away your confidence; it will be richly rewarded.

You need to persevere so that when you have done the will of God, you will receive what he has promised. For,

“in just a very little while, he who is coming will come and will not delay.”

And,

“But my righteous one will live by faith. And if he shrinks back, I will not be pleased with him."

But we are not of those who shrink back and are destroyed, but of those who believe and are saved.

Sermon Outline

1. What the readers experienced in the past

• Pressure from fellow Jews

• Pressure from Gentiles

• Result of pressure

2. Argument #1: You've already come so far

• Regarding loss of property

• For those who escaped ill treatment...

• Now... persecution seems to have returned

• The point

3. Argument #2: Great rewards for perseverance; awful consequences for abandonment

• Perseverance

• Abandonment

4. All this takes reasonable faith

5. Closing exhortation

Focused Eyes for Spiritual Endurance

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Speaker: Dave Royes
Scripture: Philippians 3:16-4:1
July 16, 2023

Philippians 3:16-4:1: Only let us hold true to what we have attained.

Brothers, join in imitating me, and keep your eyes on those who walk according to the example you have in us. For many, of whom I have often told you, and now tell you even with tears, walk as enemies of the cross of Christ. Their end is destruction, their god is their belly, and they glory in their shame, with minds set on earthly things. But our citizenship is in heaven, and from it we await a Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ, who will transform our lowly body to be like his glorious body, by the power that enables him even to subject all things to himself.

Therefore, my brothers, whom I love and long for, my joy and crown, stand firm thus in the Lord, my beloved.

Sermon Outline

1. Eyes on true faith in true believers

2. Eyes weeping for the world around us

• Short-lived pleasure

• Suppressed conscience

• Secular mentality

3. Eyes up toward heaven

God's Steadfast Love For His People

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Speaker: Rich Goswiller
Scripture: 1 Chronicles 16:34
July 9, 2023

Matthew 5:45b: For [God] makes his sun rise on the evil and on the good, and sends rain on the just and on the unjust.

Romans 5:5b: God's love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us.

Jeremiah 31:3b: I have loved you with an everlasting love; therefore I have continued my faithfulness to you.

Ephesians 3:17b-19: That you, being rooted and grounded in love, may have strength to comprehend with all the saints what is in the breadth and length and height and depth, and to know the love of Christ that surpasses knowledge, that you may be filled with all the fullness of God.

Deuteronomy 7:6-8: For you are a people holy to the Lord your God. The Lord your God has chosen you to be a people for his treasured possession, out of all the peoples who are on the face of the earth. It was not because you were more in number than any other people that the Lord set his love on you and chose you, for you were the fewest of all peoples, but it is because the Lord loves you and is keeping the oath that he swore to your fathers, that the Lord has brought you our with a mighty hand and redeemed you for the house of slavery.

John 17:23: I in them and you in me, that they may become perfectly one, so that the world may know that you sent me and loved them even as you loved me.

Zephaniah 3:17: The Lord you God is in your midst, a mighty one who will save; he will rejoice over you with gladness; he will quiet you by his love; he will exult over you with loud singing.

Sermon Outline

1. God loves you with a redemptive love

• God has a general love for all his creation (Matthew 5:45b)

• God has a distinctive redeeming love for people He saves (Romans 5:5b)

2. God loves you with an eternal love (Jeremiah 31:3b)

3. God loves you with an infinite love (Ephesians 3:17b-19)

4. God loves you with an unchangeable love

5. God loves you with an unconditional love (Deuteronomy 7:6-8)

• Does not mean God loves sinners the way they are!

• Means God's love for you is unmerited.

6. God loves you with a special love

• God loves to love his saints (Zephaniah 3:17)

God's Ways, Our Ways

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Speaker: Stephen Coleman
Scripture: Mark 5:21-43
July 2, 2023

Sermon Outline

1. God's timing is not our timing

• The synagogue ruler and the hemorrhaging woman

• How does Jesus prioritize?

2. God's ends are not our ends

• Jesus restores, cares for the hemorrhaging woman

• Jesus came to give life to the spiritually dead

• The end is life for those who are in Christ

3. God's means are not our means

• Foreshadowing Calvary

God, Humans, Hatfields and McCoys

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Speaker: Steve Estes
Scripture: 2 Corinthians 5:18-21
June 25, 2023

2 Corinthians 5:18-21: All this is from God, who reconciled us to himself through Christ and gave us the ministry of reconciliation: that God was reconciling the world to himself in Christ, not counting men's sins against them. And he has committed to us the message of reconciliation. We are therefore Christ's ambassadors, as though God were making his appeal through us. We implore you on Christ's behalf: Be reconciled to God. God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.

Sermon Outline

1. Hatfields and McCoys

• Who were they?

• The Civil War

• The hog incident

• Roseanna and Johnse

• Other incidents

2. Our distance from God is like the Hatfields vs. McCoys in that there is real hostility from both sides

• Hostility from humans toward God

• God at odds with humans

3. How our distance from God is unlike the story of Hatfields and McCoys

• H&M hated each other for the other's wickedness; humans dislike God for his righteousness

• Because of his love, God's desire is to restore friendship with us

Benediction

To every follower of Jesus

Colossians 1:21-22: Once you were alienated from God and were enemies in your minds because of your evil behavior. But now he has reconciled you by Christ's physical body through death to present you holy in his sight, without blemish and free from accusation.

To every not-yet follower

Revelation 22:17: Come! Whoever is thirsty, let him come; and whoever wishes, let him take the free gift of the water of life.

The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with your spirit. Amen

The Life of a Genuine Christian

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Speaker: Steve Estes
Scripture: 2 Corinthians 5:11-17
June 18, 2023

2 Corinthians 5:11-17: Therefore, knowing the fear of the Lord, we persuade others. But what we are is known to God, and I hope it is known also to your conscience. We are not commending ourselves to you again but giving you cause to boast about us, so that you may be able to answer those who boast about outward appearance and not about what is in the heart. For if we are beside ourselves, it is for God; if we are in our right mind, it is for you. For the love of Christ controls us, because we have concluded this: that one has died for all, therefore all have died; and he died for all, that those who live might no longer live for themselves but for him who for their sake died and was raised.

From now on, therefore, we regard no one according to the flesh. Even though we once regarded Christ according to the flesh, we regard him thus no longer. Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come.

Sermon Outline

1. The life of a genuine Christian — particularly of a genuine minister — is fueled by the fear of God

2. The life of a genuine Christian — particularly of a genuine minister — is fueled by a sense of Christ's love

• Text speaks of Christ's death as a substitutionary one

• Result of Christ's death: We sense his love and change how we live

3. The life of a genuine Christian — particularly of a genuine minister — will sometimes be attacked

• Said directly elsewhere in 2 Corinthians

• Hinted at in this passage

• Paul's goal in defending himself

4. A genuine Christian — particularly a minister — should be defended by other Christians who know him well

• It's right for a minister to defend/explain himself

• It's right for Christians to defend other Christians — particularly ministers — when those Christians are slandered

• Only a change in the heart by Christ will give Christians the insight and courage to act this way

Christians on Judgment Day

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Speaker: Steve Estes
Scripture: 2 Corinthians 5:9-10
June 11, 2023

2 Corinthians 5:9-10: So we make it our goal to please him, whether we are at home in the body or away from it. For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, that each one may receive what is due him for the things done while in the body, whether good or bad.

Sermon Outline

1. Christians live holy lives to bring pleasure to Christ

2. Christians also live holy lives for another reason

• There will be a day of reckoning

• Judgment can be negative or positive

• Christians, safe and secure in heaven, will enjoy more/fewer rewards based on how they have lived

3. Christians lead holy lives to avoid loss and enhance their own joy in heaven

• Appearing before the judgment seat of Christ

• Who will appear?

• In what manner will we appear?

• Purpose of appearing

• What will be the general standard of judgment?

• What will be the particular standard of judgment?

4. Some observations

• Our presence in heaven is based 100% on God's grace and mercy

• Our status in heaven will reflect our faithfulness and diligence

• Faithful Christians will be rewarded appropriately. Less faithful Christians, though not punished, will forfeit rewards

• Neither our presence nor our status in heaven is based on merit

• Do you struggle with a besetting sin?

• David's big sins

• Perhaps the tears God will wipe away will be tears shed on Judgment Day

• Regarding those above you in heaven

• Regarding those below you in heaven

• Final thought

Departed Christians: What Do They Experience?

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Speaker: Steve Estes
Scripture: 2 Corinthians 5:1-8
June 4, 2023

2 Corinthians 5:1-8: For we know that if the earthly tent we live in is destroyed, we have a building from God, an eternal house in heaven, not built by human hands. Meanwhile we groan, longing to be clothed instead with our heavenly dwelling, because when we are clothed, we will not be found naked. For while we are in this tent, we groan and are burdened, because we do not wish to be unclothed but to be clothed instead with our heavenly dwelling, so that what is mortal may be swallowed up by life. Now the one who has fashioned us for this very purpose is God, who has given us the Spirit as a deposit, guaranteeing what is to come.

Therefore we are always confident and know that as long as we are at home in the body we are away from the Lord. For we live by faith, not by sight. We are confident, I say, and would prefer to be away from the body and at home with the Lord.

Sermon Outline

1. Our future bodies will be far superior to our current bodies

• Current bodies are likened to mere tents

• Future bodies are likened to buildings

• What we were created for

• Applications

2. A seeming problem

• When do we receive these bodies?

• Until then, what do we do in the meantime?

• Some commentators, troubled by this answer, propose some "creative" ideas

3. Solution to the problem

• Our groaning is positive, not negative

• Paul expresses longing, not horror, over heaven

• Why talk about "nakedness"?

• God's whole plan is this...

Correct Confidence

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Speaker: Dave Royes
Scripture: Philippians 3:1-11
May 28, 2023

Philippians 3:1-1: Finally, my brothers, rejoice in the Lord. To write the same things to you is no trouble to me and is safe for you.

Look out for the dogs, look out for the evildoers, look out for those who mutilate the flesh. For we are the circumcision, who worship by the Spirit of God and glory in Christ Jesus and put no confidence in the flesh — though I myself have reason for confidence in the flesh also. If anyone else thinks he has reason for confidence in the flesh, I have more: circumcised on the eighth day, of the people of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin, a Hebrew of Hebrews; as to the law, a Pharisee; as to zeal, a persecutor of the church; as to righteousness under the law, blameless. But whatever gain I had, I counted as loss for the sake of Christ. Indeed, I count everything as loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. For his sake I have suffered the loss of all things and count them as rubbish, in order that I may gain Christ and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which comes through faith in Christ, the righteousness from God that depends on faith — that I may know him and the power of his resurrection, and may share his sufferings, becoming like him in his death, that by any means possible I may attain the resurrection from the dead.

Sermon Outline

1. A false teaching

• The danger of putting confidence in the flesh

2. A powerful testimony

• Earthly gain as rubbish

• Self-abandonment as the beginning of righteousness

• Knowing Jesus as resurrection

3. A simple safeguard

Working Out Our Salvation

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Speaker: Steve Midgley
Scripture: Philippians 2:12-18
May 21, 2023

Philippians 2:12-18: Therefore, my dear friends, as you have always obeyed -- not only in my presence, but now much more in my absence -- continue to work out your salvation with fear and trembling, for it is God who works in you to will and to act in order to fulfill his good purpose.

Do everything without grumbling or arguing, so that you may become blameless and pure, children of God without fault in a warped and crooked generation. Then you will shine among them like stars in the sky as you hold firmly to the word of life.

And then I will be able to boast on the day of Christ that I did not run or labor in vain. But even if I am being poured out like a drink offering on the sacrifice and service coming from your faith, I am glad and rejoice with all of you. So you too should be glad and rejoice with me.

Sermon Outline

1. Because God is in you, work out your salvation

• How does the Christian life work?

2. Because the world is difficult, shine like stars

• Do everything without grumbling or arguing

• Hold firmly to the word of life

3. Because of one another, rejoice

Separated by Sin, Reconciled by Sacrifice

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Speaker: Joe Whalen
Scripture: Leviticus 16
May 14, 2023

Sermon Outline

1. Eden: A perfect home... for two chapters

• Perfect relationships

• Sin ruined those relationships

• Sin continues to ruin those relationships

2. Scapegoats: Temporary sacrifices for sin

• One goat is sacrificed, the other is banished

• The banished goat is imputed with the sins of Israel, then led out of the camp and abandoned

3. Jesus: The final sacrifice for sins

• Abandoned by his disciples

• Led out of Jerusalem

• Imputed with our sins and sacrificed

4: Answering two objections

• Objection #1: "I don't think my sins separate me from God"

• Objection #2: "My sins have made me irredeemable"

5. Two applications

• For the lost who want to be found

• For those who have already turned to Christ

Benediction

2 Corinthians 13:14: May the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, and the love of God, and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with you all. Amen.

Earthly Suffering, Eternal Glory

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Speaker: Steve Estes
Scripture: 2 Corinthians 4:13-18
May 7, 2023

Corinthians 4:13-18: So then, death is at work in us, but life is at work in you.

It is written: "I believed; therefore I have spoken." With that same spirit of faith we also believe and therefore speak, because we know that the one who raised the Lord Jesus from the dead will also raise us with Jesus and present us with you in his presence. All this is for your benefit, so that the grace that is reaching more and more people may cause thanksgiving to overflow to the glory of God.

Therefore we do not lose heart. Though outwardly we are wasting away, yet inwardly we are being renewed day by day. For our light and momentary troubles are achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all. So we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen. For what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal.

Sermon Outline

1. Christians have real troubles in this life

2. Christians are renewed by their faith

• David's faith in the Old Testament

• Paul's faith in the New Testament

3. Renewing faith is faith that our troubles will be replaced by resurrection glory

• The basic teaching

• Objection: the road is hard and heaven seems so far away

• How our trials are "light"

• How our trials are "momentary"

4. Renewing faith is faith that our troubles actually increase our future glory

• Your sufferings will make you more glorious

• Your sufferings increase your future glory by making others more glorious

• Your sufferings increase your future glory by bringing greater glory to God himself

5. What all this glory — through — suffering will look like on the Great Day

• Beauty

• Splendor

• Honor

  • "The Charge of the Light Brigade" poem by Alfred, Lord Tennyson

• All reflecting Christ's glory

Jars of Clay

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Speaker: Steve Estes
Scripture: 2 Corinthians 4:7-12
April 30, 2023

2 Corinthians 4:7-12: But we have this treasure in jars of clay to show that this all-surpassing power is from God and not from us. We are hard pressed on every side, but not crushed; perplexed, but not in despair; persecuted, but not abandoned; struck down, but not destroyed. We always carry around in our body the death of Jesus, so that the life of Jesus may also be revealed in our body. For we who are alive are always being given over to death for Jesus' sake, so that the life of Jesus may be revealed in our mortal body. So then, death is at work in us, but life is at work in you.

Sermon Outline

1. Christians have something priceless

• Knowledge of the glory of God

• Knowledge of God reflected in the face of Christ

2. Christians have the priceless knowledge of Christ in frail bodies and hard experiences

• "hard pressed on every side"

• "perplexed"

• "persecuted"

• "struck down"

• Frail bodies and hard experiences are portrayed as a living death

3. Our dying is a joining with Christ in his death

• The statement: "our dying with him"

• Fleshing out the statement

4. Through our suffering/dying with Christ, we share the very life of Christ

• The statement: Suffering Christians share the very life of Christ

• Illustrations of suffering Christians sharing the very life of Christ

Benediction

May you know Christ through the fellowship of sharing in his sufferings and the power of his resurrection. — paraphrased from Philippians 3:10

Romans 15:13: May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace as you trust in him… Amen

The Lord Builds the House

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Speaker: Clint Estes
Scripture: Psalm 127
April 23, 2023

Psalm 127: Unless the Lord builds the house, the builders labor in vain. Unless the Lord watches over the city, the guards stand watch in vain. In vain you rise early and stay up late, toiling for food to eat — for he grants sleep to those he loves.

Children are a heritage from the Lord, offspring a reward from him. Like arrows in the hands of a warrior are children born in one's youth. Blessed is the man whose quiver is full of them. They will not be put to shame when they contend with their opponents in court.

Sermon Outline

1. Life is futile without the Lord

• House

• City

• Children

• Anxious toil

• Application

2. Life is fertile with the Lord

• Children

• Sleep

• Application

3. The Lord will build his house

• Solomon's temple

• Failure of others

• Fulfilled in Jesus

• The church

Christians Refusing to Lose Heart

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Speaker: Steve Estes
Scripture: 2 Corinthians 4:1-6
April 16, 2023

2 Corinthians 4:1-6: Therefore, since through God's mercy we have this ministry, we do not lose heart. Rather, we have renounced secret and shameful ways; we do not use deception, nor do we distort the word of God. On the contrary, by setting forth the truth plainly we commend ourselves to everyone's conscience in the sight of God. And even if our gospel is veiled, it is veiled to those who are perishing. The god of the age has blinded the minds of unbelievers, so that they cannot see the light of the gospel that displays the glory of Christ, who is the image of God. For what we preach is not ourselves, but Jesus Christ as Lord, and ourselves as your servants for Jesus' sake. For God, who said, "Let light shine out of darkness," make his light shine in our hearts to give us the light of the knowledge of God's glory displayed in the face of Christ.

Sermon Outline

1. Christians are sorely tempted to lose heart

2. Reasons a Christian might lose heart

• Paul will mention many reasons later in 2 Corinthians

• One reason mentioned in these verses: Lack of success in ministry

3. Christians who lose heart may be tempted to change the gospel message

• Describing "changing the gospel message"

• The opposite of changing the gospel message

4. Christians who lose heart may be tempted to make themselves more important than the message (preach themselves)

• Describing "preach themselves"

• The opposite of preaching themselves

5. Why does Paul not lose heart? Two reasons in these verses, with more to come

• God has shown him great mercy

• God can penetrate the deepest darkness

Avoiding the Resurrection

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Speaker: Steve Estes
Scripture: Matthew 28:11-20
April 9, 2023

Matthew 28:11-20: While the women were on their way, some of the guards went into the city and reported to the chief priests everything that had happened. When the chief priests had met with the elders and devised a plan, they gave the soldiers a large sum of money, telling them, 'You are to say, 'His disciples came during the night and stole him away while we were asleep.' If this report gets to the governor, we will satisfy him and keep you out of trouble." So the soldiers took the money and did as they were instructed. And this story has been widely circulated among the Jews to this very day.

Then the eleven disciples went to Galilee, to the mountain where Jesus had told them to go. When they saw him, they worshiped him; but some doubted. Then Jesus came to them and said, "All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age."

Sermon Outline

1. Background of this passage

• The burial of Christ

• The next day

• The Resurrection

2. The actions of those for whom the Resurrection was something to avoid

• The guards

• The Jewish leaders

3. We learn things that tempt people to avoid Christ's Resurrection

• Reputation and luxury

• Fear of the supernatural

• These things feel safe

4. Avoiding Christ's Resurrection is not safe

• The Jewish leaders weren't safe

• Pontius Pilate and Rome weren't safe

• No unrepentant sinner is safe

5. Believing in Jesus Christ is the only true safe place

6. What Jesus told his disciples

• "All authority on earth has been given to me."

• "Therefore, go!"

Benediction

All honor to him who was delivered over to death for our sins, and was raised to life for our justification. Blessed is the one who trusts in the Lord. — paraphrased from Romans 4:25

We Are Glad!

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Speaker: Wendell Stoltzfus
Scripture: Psalm 126
April 2, 2023

Psalm 126: When the Lord restored the fortunes of Zion,
    we were like those who dream.
Then our mouth was filled with laughter,
    and our tongue with shouts of joy;
then they said among the nations,
    “The Lord has done great things for them.”
The Lord has done great things for us;
    we are glad.

Restore our fortunes, O Lord,
    like streams in the Negeb!
Those who sow in tears
    shall reap with shouts of joy!
He who goes out weeping,
    bearing the seed for sowing,
shall come home with shouts of joy,
    bringing his sheaves with him.

Sermon Outline

Introduction: "He never committed a pleasure"

• Ellen Glasgow's father

• Martin Luther's colleague

1. We are glad! (v. 3b)

• Psalm 126 is a Luther-type psalm

• In the Bible, the chief characteristic of the Christian pilgrimage is gladness and joy

  • Not the gladness of lightheartedness

2. Joy past (vv. 1-3a)

• In the OT, there are many times where God restored His people in hopeless situations

• The ultimate fulfillment of these verses comes later, with Christ

3. Joy future (vv. 4-6)

• In this psalm, two images express the joy or anticipation in a seemingly hopeless situation

• The joy of anticipating what God is going to do -- based on what God has already done -- comes in the context of the pain, suffering, loneliness, of life in this fallen world

4. Conclusion: Joy present

• First Application: Psalm 126 teaches us how to read the Bible

• Second Application: A thought exercise

• Think of a giant scale

• On one side, put all of your stinking circumstances

• On the other side, put all that God has done for you in Jesus Christ

• See which side outweighs the other

• Consider that all the stuff on the hardship side is part of your preparation for God's eternal kingdom

• The Verdict found in God's Word

  • Romans 8:18: For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worth comparing with the glory that is to be revealed to us.