The Archives
October 6th, 2024
Goodness of God
Here Is Love
Build My Life
Heart of Worship
You can listen to them here.
Recent days have been heavy for many in our church family. While we were spared any major impact from Hurricane Helene in this part of the state, many of us spent days trying to contact loved ones in the path of the storm. People we know and love lost their homes, lost their own friends and loved ones.
This week alone, three of our church members have had significant and unforeseen cardiac events or procedures. That’s not even to mention other trials across our church family over the last several months - everything from cancer to depression to deep relational wounds. And because we are a family, when one of us hurts, we all hurt in some way. So, I’m intentionally writing this a little differently than normal, because I think we need to acknowledge the valleys that many of our brothers and sisters find themselves in. On Sunday, as we worship together, we’ll take a moment to do that in our liturgy. We want to remind ourselves of God’s goodness, presence, faithfulness, and care. As we head towards Sunday, I want to ask you to pray for two things: first, those in our family who are walking through valleys; and second, for our service on Sunday to be an oasis of rest and encouragement as we lift our eyes and our voices to our loving God who holds us, protects us, and remains with us even in the darkest night.
To prepare for Sunday, read Psalm 23.
Grace,
Pastor Joseph
*****
September 29th, 2024
The songs we’ll sing on Sunday are:
You’ve Already Won
Come, Ye Sinners
How Great Thou Art
The Table
You can listen to them here.
The bridge of “You’ve Already Won” is one of my favorite things to sing as a church. It says:
I know how the story ends
We will be with you again
You’re my Savior, my defense
No more fear in life or death
I can’t sing this song without thinking of Romans 8. In that chapter, Paul says things like, “The sufferings of this present time are not even worth comparing with the glory that is to be revealed to us,” and “We know that for those who love God all things work together for good.”
Why can he say that with such certainty? Because of what Jesus has done. The work of Jesus for us means that God loves us like he loves his own Son, the second Person of the Trinity. It means his perfect love for us can never be broken, never be compromised. It means that the God of the universe is on our side; he is for us. It means that we participate in Christ’s victory over sin and death and hell, over the darkness and sadness of the broken creation. We are “more than conquerors” in Christ. And this is not some triumphalist pep talk that ignores the reality of suffering or offers some cheap promise that the gospel makes all our problems go away. This is hope that’s rooted in eternity. Because of what Jesus is done, the future is brighter and better than we can possibly imagine. For the rest of our earthly existence, we will experience sin and pain and loss and conflict and sadness. But these things do not have the last word. One day we will be with the Lord, freed from sin and all the terrible things that sin allowed into God’s creation.
Again in Romans 8, Paul tells us that, “Hope that is seen is not hope.” We don’t yet see, feel, experience the fullness of glory that’s coming. We get tastes of it, to be sure, but it’s not here yet. And, in the midst of difficulty and pain and loss, our ultimate hope can seem quite distant. But I wonder if in moments like that our hope can actually shine brightest, even when it feels weak, as, by the power of the Holy Spirit in us, we fight to believe what God has said.
The truth we sing in “You’ve Already Won” is really, really important for every single one of us. For some, it may be a faint cry for help, as we struggle to believe and feel the truths we sing. And that’s ok; the Bible is full of praise like that - broken, weary people trying to keep their heads above water, singing stuff they’re trying to believe. For others, whose faith may be strong and confidence in God’s promises is high, we worship with joy for what God has done and will do, and we sing to build up our brothers and sisters who don’t “feel it” right now. So I want to encourage and invite all of us to come and to sing, with all of the burdens, the questions, the fears, the insecurities, the hurts. Together, let’s fix our eyes on Jesus, maybe even through tears, and let’s praise him for his glory and grace and urge one another on to trust him and follow him, because we know who our Savior is, and we know how the story ends.
To prepare for Sunday, read Romans 8:18-39.
Grace,
Pastor Joseph
*****
September 22nd, 2024
Sanctus
Come, Thou Fount
Before the Throne
Yet Not I
You can listen to them here.
We’re going to sing a new song this weekend, both at the worship night Friday and in our service Sunday. I’ve attached a rough demo recording so you can get a feel for the song before we sing it together. Like the last song we introduced, it’s a take on a really old text that Christians have been singing and praying in services since about the fourth century, called the Sanctus. It’s a simple hymn of worship, declaring God’s greatness and worth. It says:
Holy, holy, holy, is the Lord God of Hosts
Heaven and earth are full of your glory
Hosanna in the highest
Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord
Hosanna in the highest
That’s so simple, yet profound. We need songs of simple depth, just like we need songs packed full of dense theological truth! Everything that ever has been, is now, and ever will be, exists only by God’s creative and sustaining power. Everything is under his authority, and everything displays his glory. He is so far beyond our wildest imaginations, or any human comprehension. One of the things I love about this ancient text is that it help us to stay there, in recognition that God’s greatness eclipses our understanding. It helps us stand in awe of God, to pause for a moment, breathe, consider his holiness, stunned by his power and beauty, and respond with the kind of reverent, awe-struck worship he deserves.
To prepare for Sunday, read Psalm 99:1-5.
Grace,
Pastor Joseph
*****
September 15th, 2024
Psalm 150 (Praise the Lord)
I Want to Know You
Rock of Ages
Lord, I Need You
You can listen to them here.
In Isaiah 40, the Lord offers comfort to his contrite people with a phrase that I find a little confusing at first glance: “Speak tenderly to Jerusalem, that her warfare is ended, that her iniquity is pardoned, that she has received from the Lord’s hand double for all her sins.”
Receiving double for sins sounds scary to me, not comforting! I read that and think doom and gloom. But God’s message to his people is quite the opposite: he’s assuring his people that not only are they forgiven, but they are blessed. Instead of wrath and destruction, they receive cleansing, life, and a place in the family of God. Towards the end of his sermon last Sunday, Pastor Matt talked about the same idea. He encouraged us that Jesus does forgive us - praise God! - but, in addition, he cleanses us, gives us his righteousness, gives us life, and makes us God’s children.
It’s been convicting and very comforting to think about this passage over the last couple weeks.
God’s wrath against sin and sinners is a very real thing, but Jesus has already borne it for all of us who trust in him. Our iniquity is pardoned, and we receive the double portion of forgiveness and blessing, all because of Jesus. So, let’s run to him, let’s trust him, let’s worship him, let’s abide in him; this is the path to life.
To prepare for Sunday, read Isaiah 40:1-5.
Grace,
Pastor Joseph
*****
September 8th, 2024
Holy is Our God
There is A Fountain
King of Kings
O Come, All Ye Faithful
You can listen to them here.
One of the really beautiful things about Sunday morning is that we’re united in worship with Christians all around the world, and with saints and angels gathered around the heavenly throne. That can fly a little under the radar sometimes; I’m not sure most of us think a lot about this when we gather with our church. But there’s a song that’s been sung for generations, declaring that the Lamb of God who was slain to pay the price for sin is worthy of glory. His finished work unites people from every time, from every nation and language and ethnicity, so we respond by uniting our voices in worship. We, along with literally millions of other redeemed people and all of heaven, declare how great and how worthy Jesus is. The song transcends cultures, styles, and theological traditions. We’re singing with Lutherans and baptists and Anglicans and Presbyterians and charismatics, and the list goes on and on. We’re singing with persecuted Christians whose song is barely a whisper for fear of arrest and torture, with others singing a cappella, with orchestras, organs, bands, choirs, and almost any other musical expression you can think of. But we’re all singing one song, the one being sung around the throne in heaven right now: “Worthy is the Lamb who was slain to receive power and wealth and wisdom and might and honor and glory and blessing!”
So let’s join the song this Sunday! Let’s add our voices to heaven, along with out brothers and sisters around the world, to declare who Jesus is, what he’s done, and all that he deserves.
To prepare for Sunday, read Revelation 5:9-13.
Grace,
Pastor Joseph
*****
September 1st, 2024
Be Thou My Vision
Good and Gracious King
Have Mercy (Kyrie Eleison)
Psalm 34 (Taste and See)
You can listen to them here.
We’re starting a new sermon series through the Gospel of John this week, and I am so excited! John gives us such a unique look at who Jesus is and what it means to be his disciples, and I’m praying for all of us to be deeply formed as we see the grace and truth of Jesus throughout this book.
One of the ways John refers to Jesus in the very first verse of his gospel is “the Word”. What he intends to communicate is that Jesus is the true, full revelation of God; just as the written Word (the Bible) makes God known to us, so does the living, incarnate Word (Jesus Christ). This comes up over and over in John’s writing, as he records Jesus saying things like, “I and my Father are one,” and, “Everyone who has seen me has seen the Father.”
Here’s the thing: a lot of us at least functionally see Jesus as being in a sort of struggle with the Father. We see the Father as distant and full of fury and almost itching to smite everyone and everything, and we see Jesus as full of love and grace, begging the Father not to annihilate us. But that couldn’t be more backwards! Everything Jesus ever did, said, or felt was completely consistent with the entirety of the Triune Godhead. It’s all a revelation of God’s character and heart. So, when Jesus says, “Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest,” that’s an expression of the heart of the high and holy One who created and rules over all things. When Jesus sees Zacchaeus, who was hated by pretty much everybody, and decides to have dinner with him, that’s an expression of God’s heart. Make no mistake - God’s justice demands his fury at sin, but his heart towards sinners is clear: anyone, no matter who they are or what they’ve done, is welcome to receive forgiveness and salvation. All of Scripture attests to that truth, but nowhere do we see it more clearly than in Jesus, the Word of God in flesh, who’s called the mighty friend of sinners, and who bore the righteous wrath of God on the cross so that all who repent might be forgiven.
Jesus reveals the heart of God to meet us in our sin and weakness, to give us life, and to form us into people of love and holiness. As we journey through John over the next several months, let’s ask God to continually show us his glory and grace in the face of Jesus Christ, that we might know him, love him, abide in him, and be more like him.
To prepare for Sunday, read 2 Corinthians 4:1-6.
Grace,
Pastor Joseph
*****
August 25th, 2024
The songs we’ll sing on Sunday are:
His Mercy is More
Christ the Lord is Risen Today
The Table
Doxology
You can listen to them here.
There’s no more vital, defining thing about us than being alive in Christ. The Bible tells us that without Christ, we were dead in our sins - unable to know God, to love him, to seek him, to worship him. Everything about that is contrary to humanity’s purpose; we were hopelessly broken in sin, unable to be the very thing that we are meant to be. Enter Jesus. In living without sin, dying to bear the penalty for our sin, and rising to new life, he opens the door to life for all who would trust in him. He is restoring the image of God in us that’s been so marred. And this new life brings with it new power; if we’re alive with Christ, we’re actually now dead to sin, as the Apostle Paul says. That means sin doesn’t rule us anymore; we’re free not just from its penalty, but its power. This is really good news! The life of Christ, in which we now share and participate, inevitably leads us to greater and greater holiness. But, as we observe in living things everywhere, it’s a growth process. Over time as we follow Jesus, as we abide in Jesus, we experience this resurrection life in new and greater ways. His life changes who we are at the very core of our being, and that new identity works itself out over the course of our lives, so that we look a lot more like Jesus now than we used to, and we’ll look a lot more like Jesus at the end of our lives than we do right now.
As we baptize a number of people on Sunday, THIS is what we celebrate! We were dead in our sins, but, as Jesus was raised from the dead, so we have been raised to new life, enternal and abundant, available to us right now. What a gracious, miraculous gift from our God!
To prepare for Sunday, read Romans 6:1-11.
Grace,
Pastor Joseph
*****
August 11th, 2024
The songs we’ll sing on Sunday are:
Doxology
King of Kings
Have Mercy (Kyrie Eleison)
It is Well
Resurrection Power
You can listen to them here.
Pastor Matt reminded us last week that beholding the glory of Jesus is a key factor in fighting sin and growing in holiness. 2 Corinthians 3 says that it’s in beholding his glory that we’re changed “from one degree of glory to another.” It doesn’t happen overnight; in fact, it often happens almost imperceptibly. But, over the course of our lives, as we see more and more of how great Jesus is, how powerful, how graciously how kind, we are slowly but surely transformed to be more and more like him. This takes continual, consistent practices of considering his glory and growing in our communion with him. And, as we get ready to worship together on Sunday, I want to highlight the role our services play in beholding the glory of Christ.
Every Sunday, the person and work of Jesus stand at the very center of our liturgy, as we retell and respond to God’s story of redemption. Gathered worship serves as a sort of pinnacle of our continual beholding of Jesus’s glory. Left alone in our pursuit of Christlikeness, we inevitably falter; it’s really, really hard to keep on believing and worshiping and trusting Jesus when the only voice telling us to do those things is our own. As Pastor Matt said, we absolutely need to preach the gospel to ourselves, but we need our brothers and sisters preaching the gospel to us, too. We need the people of God pointing us to Jesus, helping us to see how glorious and how good he is. This is why we believe that gathering on Sunday is a key part of our formation into the people Jesus calls us to be. So, let’s approach Sundays this way! Let’s embrace the privilege of calling our brothers and sisters to behold the glory of Jesus. And let’s come expectant that we will see his glory and be changed.
To prepare for Sunday, read Hebrews 1.
Grace,
Pastor Joseph
*****
August 4th, 2024
The songs we’ll sing on Sunday are:
Praise to the Lord the Almighty
Have Mercy (Kyrie Eleison)
The Solid Rock
Behold Our God
You can listen to them here.
This week, we’re going to sing a new song that comes from a really old song called the Kyrie. That’s a Greek word meaning “Lord”, and Christians as early as the fifth century, when Greek was the common language, sang or read a simple phrase: “Kyrie eleison; Christe eleison.” That simply means, “Lord, have mercy; Christ, have mercy.” Of course, that phrase was taken straight out of the gospels, where people in need of healing and forgiveness asked Jesus for mercy. And from the early days of the church until today, Christians all over the world recite the same phrase, generally after confession of sin, as an expression of both petition and thanksgiving. We ask the Lord for mercy, and we rejoice and rest in the fact that, in Christ, we have received mercy and continue to receive mercy.
This song intentionally gives us language to acknowledge our sin before God and to comfort our souls with the assurance of forgiveness and pardon in Christ. The Bible promises that God will not remember our sin, that he casts them into the bottom of the sea. True, gospel-formed confession of sin doesn’t treat sin lightly, nor does it languish in self-loathing. When we confess, we throw ourselves on the grace and mercy of Jesus, who knows our weakness and welcomes us with steadfast love. This is the hope of the gospel.
You’ll hear many references in the song to scripture and to historical Christian expressions of confession and assurance. That’s on purpose; in writing this song, as with so many other elements of our worship, we want to be connected to what Christians have believed, said, and sung throughout history, all around the world. You’ll even hear the original Greek phrase as a sort of echo or descant in the chorus.
I’m attaching a rough demo recording of the song, so you can listen a few times and get familiar with it before we sing it together on Sunday.
To prepare for Sunday, read Psalm 103.
Grace,
Pastor Joseph
*****
July 28th, 2024
The songs we’ll sing on Sunday are:
Doxology
Come Behold the Wondrous Mystery
Crown Him with Many Crowns
Goodness of God
Sovereign Over Us
You can listen to them here.
God’s sovereignty is one of the most stunning, incomprehensible parts of his nature and work. He knows all things and is completely in control of all things. Ephesians 1 relates God’s sovereignty to his redemptive work and his redeemed people. It says that God chose us in Christ before the foundation of the world. Let’s park here for a second. In eternity past, before anything existed, before there was even time, God had already chosen us to be his children. Knowing fully everything that we would be and do, knowing the darkest, most sinful corners of our hearts even better than we know them ourselves, the Lord loved us and determined to save us, at great cost.
We already have ample reason to worship if we ended the conversation right now. But Paul continues in Ephesians , saying that the gospel is one part of God’s sovereign work to unite everything in Christ Jesus at the end of time. We are caught up in a massive, cosmic story of redemption and restoration. One of the beautiful promises that the people of God hold on to is that God will redeem everything that’s broken - all the darkness, all the evil, all the pain. He will bring beauty from ashes; not one thing will be wasted. Our passage describes this as God “working all things according to the counsel of his will.” Now, that doesn’t leave us without any questions, does it? We can’t even begin to understand how all of that evil, all the brokenness, works within God’s sovereignty. The best we can say about it is that God is in control of all things, everywhere, always; yet somehow he is not, and cannot be, the cause of evil. How that works together, I really don’t know, and the Bible just doesn’t say explicitly. But here’s what it does say clearly, and what we therefore can know with absolute certainty: he will redeem and restore, even the darkest and most difficult things, whether things we’ve done, things done to us, or things we see in the world around us. And that restoration will be so full and so beautiful, that, no matter the pain or loss in this life, one day there won’t even be pain or sadness or shame anymore. Brothers and sisters, let’s behold God in his glory and his goodness, and let’s respond with worship, with trust, and with obedience.
To prepare for Sunday, read Ephesians 1:3-14.
Grace,
Pastor Joseph
*****
July 21st, 2024
Holy Holy Holy
Turn Your Eyes
I Want to Know You
My Redeemer Jesus Christ
You can listen to them here.
In Philippians 3, the Apostle Paul says that “counts everything as loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus.” He willingly suffered the loss of anything and everything if it meant “gaining Christ.”
Of course, this doesn’t mean that nothing else matters at all. It means that nothing compares to knowing Jesus, and nothing is worth holding onto if it keeps us from knowing him better and loving him more. In fact, to unravel this a little further, we could say other things actually derive their meaning and value from our connection to Christ. What is it that makes us into faithful men and women, husbands, wives, sons, daughters, grandparents, friends, neighbors, employees, etc.? It’s our identity in Christ, and our pursuit of Christ. So, other things are important, but Jesus is central, so much so that anything else is worth losing to gain more of him. Jesus himself said it like this: “What will it profit a man if he gains the whole world and forfeits his soul?”
All of us probably agree with this, right? But actually believing it and then living it out are a different story. Notice that Paul doesn’t say he counts everything as loss to know about Jesus, but to actually know him. Right theology is important, but it’s not enough. At some point, what’s in our heads has to sink down into our hearts; what we know to be true has to become part of who we are. We don’t just think about Christ; we actually love him, treasure him, and abide in him. As you prepare to worship with our church family on Sunday, can I invite you to ask the Spirit to show you where your affections are out of step with your theology? Ask the Lord to reveal to you the things that you still count as gain, even if it means not knowing Jesus fully. Let’s do some healthy introspection, and let’s ask God to help us actually believe and walk in the truth that Jesus is more valuable than anything and anyone else in the world.
To prepare for Sunday, read Philippians 3:1-11.
Grace,
Pastor Joseph
*****
July 14th, 2024
Doxology
Only A Holy God
Build My Life
Here is Love
He Will Hold Me Fast
You can listen to them here.
The Bible has a lot of difficult things to say to us. Some of the most difficult things have to do with our state apart from Christ. Because of our sin, we deserve God’s wrath, and we can even be called his enemies. And while that was our state, God set in motion a plan to rescue us. As he contemplates this gospel in the book of Romans, the Apostle Paul muses that maybe, just maybe, some of us might be willing to die for the sake of a “good person”, but that’s not the gospel. The gospel tells us that the eternal, holy, sinless Son of God gave his life to save us while we were still sinners. He willingly died for people in active rebellion against him. Per Paul’s point, even the best of us can’t really understand that. The only basis is love infinitely greater than anything we’ve ever experienced. God’s measureless, self-giving love made a way for us, sinners under God’s wrath, to be reconciled to God.
Pastor Matt has often encouraged us that it’s impossible to overstate or overemphasize God’s love. A passage like Romans 5 hammers that point home, as do many others: 2 Corinthians 5, where we read that the love of Christ compels us forward towards obedience, or Ephesians 3, which tells us that knowing the love of Christ is the key ingredient to being filled with the fullness of God, to name just a couple. But I, and a lot of us, I believe, have spent much of our lives afraid of thinking too much about God’s love. I’ve feared that if I really believed that God loves me the way the Bible describes, I’ll cheapen his holiness, or I’ll be too easy on my sin. But those are lies from Satan. The last thing the enemy wants is for us to know and believe who we are, and how loved we are, in Christ, because it changes everything!
May we be people who comprehend the breadth and length and height and depth of God’s love, and may his love form us into people of love, for his glory, for our good, and for the sake of the mission to the lost.
To prepare for Sunday, read Romans 5:6-11.
Grace,
Pastor Joseph
*****
July 7th, 2024
The songs we’ll sing on Sunday are:
Worthy of More
Come, Thou Fount
You’ve Already Won
Nothing Beside (Psalm 73)
You can listen to them here.
At the beginning of Psalm 138, King David says that he will sing the Lord’s praise “before the gods.” Isn’t that an interesting statement? I don’t know the tone David was trying to convey, but it almost comes across a little sarcastic, doesn’t it? Like he’s imagining lining up all these false gods and idols and then having a worship night singing to the true and living God, just to highlight the Lord’s power and the absurdity of idolatry. Staying on theme, the psalm goes on to say that all the kings of the earth - the most powerful, most wealthy, most influential people in existence - will all bow down to God one day, for “great is the glory of the Lord.”
That’s the end of one page in my Bible. My expectation, when I turn that page, is that I’m now going to read about God’s righteousness and justice as he rains down judgment on his enemies. I’m thinking I’ll read about the God who moves mountains, who speaks and stops storms, whose power is unstoppable and whose greatness is unsearchable. But when David explains why everyone and everything will worship the Lord, he says that “Though the Lord is high, he regards the lowly, but the haughty he knows from afar.” God’s glory is not just his greatness, his holiness; it’s his nearness. He deserves our worship because, though he he is high and holy and exalted, he is near to those who recognize their need for him. New Testament writers pick up this idea by saying things like, “God resists the proud, but he gives grace to the humble.” Of course, we see this most clearly in the sacrifice of Jesus for us, but, because that sacrifice, we continue to live in the presence and goodness of God. Psalm 138 concludes by saying that God will fulfill his purpose for us, because his steadfast love endures forever. That’s pretty much the story of the entire Bible, condensed into 9 verses by an Old Testament king and songwriter. God is high and exalted, but he reaches down to us, draws near to those who trust in him, and protects and preserves us to eternity. Let’s live like people who know how much we need God and how much God cares for those who trust him in their need. And when we gather on Sunday, let’s sing like people who know that, because great and how gracious he is, God is worthy of all of our songs and so much more.
To prepare for Sunday, read Psalm 138.
Grace,
Pastor Joseph
*****
June 30th, 2024
Doxology
How Great Thou Art
How Deep the Father’s Love for Us
Is He Worthy
You can listen to them here.
We talk often, and probably sing even more often, about God’s greatness. Nothing else in the story of redemption really makes sense without an initial grasp of how great, how worthy, how holy God is. In his very nature, he is so far beyond us that we can’t even begin to comprehend his glory; it’s intrinsic to who he is.
But the Bible also talks about a progressive sense of God’s greatness. In books like Habakkuk and Malachi, we read that God’s name will be great among the nations. This doesn’t happen as God himself becomes greater or better - he is already infinite in all of his greatness and perfection. What the prophets, in particular, describe is a greater awareness of and response to the greatness of God as his name and rule are recognized. This will be fully realized in the new creation, when everyone and everything on heaven and earth lives in perfect submission to their King, and God’s glory covers the earth, as Habakkuk describes. But there’s a progression; we play a part in spreading God’s fame across the earth as his kingdom breaks into the here and now. We prepare the way of the Lord by making his name great in our lives, in our families, our church, our neighborhoods, all the way to the ends of the earth. That’s a holy and beautiful task, isn’t it? Our Sunday gatherings serve as a sort of rehearsal, or maybe better yet a rally, where we remind each other of how great and worthy our God is and rejoice in his goodness and grace, and then get sent out, on mission, to declare his glory and grace to the world. So come this Sunday ready to worship the One who is worthy, ready to encourage and to be encouraged with the glory of God and our calling as his people, and then to be sent out on mission, making the Lord’s name greater and greater everywhere we go.
To prepare for Sunday, read Psalm 104.
Grace,
Pastor Joseph
*****
June 23rd, 2024
In Christ Alone
Come, Ye Sinners
Psalm 34 (Taste and See)
O Praise the Name
You can listen to them here.
I heard a pastor say recently that as we read the New Testament, we discover that Jesus is almost irresistibly drawn to need and to faith. Since then, I’ve thought back over so many stories from the gospels, and, indeed, that’s exactly how Jesus is portrayed. A sick woman merely touches the hem of his robe, and she’s healed. A distraught father begs Jesus to help his dying daughter, because there’s no other option left - the daughter actually dies while her father is talking to Jesus - and he raises her from the dead and sends her to the kitchen to eat breakfast. Over and over again, this is what Jesus does, because this is who Jesus is.
I’ve been thinking this week about how this relates to confessing our sin, something we do corporately almost every Sunday, but something I’m certain we’re personally doing daily as well. If Jesus really is irresistibly drawn to need and to faith, confession positions us perfectly to receive his presence, grace, healing, and love. When we confess sin, we acknowledge both our immediate need for forgiveness and our ongoing neediness - we cannot live the life Jesus commands in our own strength. And, as we come to him for forgiveness and grace, we express faith that Jesus supplies what we lack, and is what we need. So, in response to his invitation, let’s go to Jesus, weary, heavy-laden, weak, needy. He will not turn us away; he eagerly moves toward us in love, healing what is broken and strengthening what is weak.
To prepare for Sunday, read Philippians 2:5-11.
Grace,
Pastor Joseph
*****
June 16th, 2024
This Sunday is Father’s Day. We had a photo op and a small gift for our ladies on Mother’s Day, and we didn’t want to leave the men out! Men, grab your family, grab your friends and take some fun photos this weekend. And don’t forget to pick out your gift – your sock drawer will thank us!
This Sunday, we’ll sing:
Doxology
Psalm 150 (Praise The Lord)
Holy Is Our God
Good And Gracious King
Jesus Is Better
The book of Psalms - the hymnbook of God’s people in the OT - ends with a triumphant call to worship the Lord. The final words of Psalm 150 say: “Let everything that has breath praise the Lord!” While the Psalm is simple, its implications are profound. Everything that exists, exists to declare the glory of God; this is the ultimate purpose of all creation. Scripture is full of references of nature doing just that. How much more, then, human beings, who can actually know God and worship with understanding and intention! And beyond that, Christians worship as those who don’t just know things about God, but as people who know him personally and have experienced his unimaginable grace and mercy in the gospel!
So, as the people of God, we get to live out our highest calling as we worship. We have been given breath that we might pour that breath back out in praise. As we sing a hymn this Sunday that unpacks Psalm 150, let us reflect on God’s immeasurable greatness, and remind ourselves of the privilege and responsibility of worship.
To prepare for Sunday, read Psalm 150.
*****
June 9th, 2024
All Creatures of Our God and King
Good Shepherd
Come Thou Fount
Living Hope
The Bible employs some interesting and powerful metaphors. One of the most interesting ones, to me at least, is Jesus referring to himself as the Bread of Life, recorded in John 6. He said that whoever comes to him would never hunger or thirst, and that we can’t have eternal life without eating his flesh and drinking his blood. Jesus’ point is that he alone gives and sustains spiritual life. Just as food is a source of physical sustenance, so Christ is our source of spiritual sustenance. What do we actually, most deeply need? Jesus. He is the answer to our biggest questions, the satisfaction of our deepest longings. Apart from Christ, there is no life, no joy, no rest, but in him there is abundant life.
I’ve heard Sunday worship gatherings compared to a family meal. Sometimes, we share communion, as we will this Sunday - a tangible expression of a meal. But every week, every single element of our service is intended, by God’s grace, to help us to feast on Christ, the Bread of Life. We do that through Scripture, so we read, sing, pray, and preach the Bible, and as we see the glory of Jesus there, we are sustained, satisfied, and empowered to be worshipers of Jesus who are growing in the gospel and going with the gospel.
To prepare for Sunday, read John 6:35-40.
*****
May 26th, 2024
This Sunday, we’ll sing:
Behold Our God
How Great Thou Art
Doxology
Psalm 145 says that one generation will declare God’s mighty acts to another, as they mediate on his glory and works. That’s part of what happens every Sunday: a bunch of redeemed people get together, spanning generations and life experiences, and declare to God and to one another how great the Lord is, and how gracious and powerful are his works towards us. We actively participate in drawing one another into the rhythm of worship - revelation of who God and what he’s done, and response of awe, gratitude, and praise. That’s the beauty and holy privilege of corporate worship, and one of the (many) reasons Christianity is not a solo effort. We need each other, and we need to gather on Sundays to sing the Bible to each other and to testify to God’s power and glory and the way he’s worked in and for us.
To prepare for Sunday, read Psalm 145.
*****
May 19th, 2024
This Sunday, we’ll sing:
Holy, Holy, Holy
He Will Hold Me Fast
My Only Boast is Christ
Christ Our Hope in Life and Death
Many of the songs of worship recorded in the Psalms have a seemingly paradoxical combination of lament and praise. There’s a pattern of worship in and through suffering. How is that possible for God’s people? The psalms answer like this: God’s people are able to continually worship because we are rooted firmly in his steadfast love. We rest in the assurance that God’s purposes are for our good - in the good, the bad, and the ugly. His plans are for his own glory, but he has intertwined his glory and our good. How incredibly gracious and kind is our God! It may not be easy, but, as we align our minds and hearts with the truth of Scripture and rest in the unfailing promise of God’s steadfast love, we can sing with the psalmist, “Be exalted, O God, above the heavens; let your glory be over all the earth.” We sing on the mountaintop and in the valley, in joy and in sorrow, because our God is infinitely great and worthy, and because he is infinitely loving and committed to his people.
To prepare for Sunday, read Psalm 57
*****
This Sunday, in our Titus series, we arrive Paul’s discussion of Christians as good citizens. He’s explaining how followers of Jesus are supposed to relate to their neighbors and to the government. What’s the key factor to being a good citizen of our neighborhood, our city, our nation? Remembering and living out our identity as citizens of the kingdom of heaven. In a different apostle, the Apostle Peter begins a conversation about earthly citizenship with a reminder that we are “a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation,” people from every nation and tribe and language brought together in Christ. We are sojourners in our earthly homes, bound for the heavenly kingdom, of which we are already a part.
Does that mean we don’t care about the earthly city or country where we live? Not at all! You can’t read the Bible - particularly the prophets - without seeing that God wants his people to contribute to the thriving of the place they live and the people who live there. But that flows out of a heart like Jesus that’s turned worshiping and obeying Jesus. Being a good citizen of heaven always makes us good citizens on earth. We’ll be full of both grace and truth, loving, kind, patient, generous, and the list goes on. That comes from knowing Christ, and knowing who we are in him. So, before we think practically about how best to love our neighbor, what submission to civil authorities looks like in a democratic republic, how to apply the gospel to public policy, etc., we need to know Jesus. We fix our eyes and our allegiance on him, and, by his grace, we seek to faithfully live as citizens of heaven while we sojourn in the nations of earth.
To prepare for Sunday, read 1 Peter 1:1-10.
Grace,
Pastor Joseph
*****
November 12th, 2023
The stunning truth at the very heart of everything we believe is this: the God of the universe knows and loves us. That statement includes two vital theological ideas: God’s transcendence - the fact that he is so high above us that we cannot even begin to comprehend him, and his immanence - his nearness to us, his presence in and care for his creation. As humans, we sometimes pit those two ideas against each other, but, in reality, they are inextricably linked in God’s character and for his glory. He is holy, holy, holy, and yet he patiently pursues the prodigal and offers mercy to the sinner. He reigns in infinite power and wisdom, yet he came as a helpless baby to live among us, that he might redeem us. He is completely self-sufficient; he needs nothing from anyone or anything, yet he desires relationship with us - with you and me, even though he knows every part of us, all of the sin, all of the weakness, all of the doubt. The more we understand God’s majesty and his nearness, his transcendence and his immanence, his glory and his grace, the more we’ll be led to worship. There’s nothing else we can do! By God’s grace, we want be a church that understands that our God is high and holy, and that marvels that the Holy One would love us, condescend to us, and restore us to right relationship with himself. And we want to be a church that worships like we know who our God is and what he does for his people.
To prepare for Sunday, read Psalm 145.
Grace,
Pastor Joseph
*****
November 5th, 2023
Hebrews 4 calls us to “strive to enter God’s rest.” That call is contrasted to the OT Israelites, who failed to enter God’s rest because they didn’t believe God. Passages like this can be really challenging, because, at first glance, it seems that we have to work hard to enter God’s rest. The bar seems almost impossibly high. But the point of the passage is actually the opposite, as verse 10 makes clear: the way that we enter this rest is actually by resting from our works, and trusting in God’s promises and grace.
Here’s how Hebrews 4 makes its point: How exactly did the Israelites disobey God in Moses’ day? By trying to save themselves, protect themselves, provide for themselves, when God had promised to do all of those things for them. They doubted that God would actually give them victory over giants and heavily fortified cities in the Promised Land. They questioned whether they were actually better off as slaves in Egypt than they were marching towards Canaan. And, because of their lack of faith, God didn’t allow them to enter the land, where they would’ve been blessed with rest and provision. Likewise, the way we access God’s rest is simply by faith - the opposite of our works! Consider Jesus’ call in Matthew 11; he tells us to simply come to him, weary and heavy laden, and we will find rest for our souls.
So, a passage that, on the surface, can seem kind of scary, becomes comforting. Those who enter God’s rest are those who have put their faith in Jesus, who have stopped trying to earn that rest by their own works. The kind of disobedience that disqualifies us from rest is a lack of faith, the refusal to trust God’s promise of salvation in Christ, and a return to our futile attempts to save ourselves. Much more could be said about the very important place of good works as a response to and result of our faith, but, for today, we’ll simply leave it where Christ himself did: come to him in faith, and find rest.
To prepare for Sunday, read Hebrews 4:1-13.
Grace,
Pastor Joseph
*****
October 29th, 2023
On Sunday, we’re going to pray together a prayer Christians have used in gathered worship since at least the 11th century. Here’s what it says:
Almighty God,
to whom all hearts are open,
all desires known,
and from whom no secrets are hidden:
cleanse the thoughts of our hearts
by the inspiration of your Holy Spirit,
that we may love you completely,
and rightly magnify your holy name;
through Christ our Lord. Amen.
Isn’t that a beautiful, reverent way to begin a worship service? As God’s people gather, we humbly acknowledge that we need his grace to do the very thing we’re there to do! We can’t “rightly magnify” the Lord without his working in us, drawing our attention and affection to himself, freeing us from distraction, from sin, from self-reliance. There’s a reason this prayer has lasted in Christian worship for centuries: it reflects, in simple, concise, accessible terms, the biblical posture of God’s people in worship.
To prepare for Sunday, read Psalm 108:1-6, and pray this prayer by yourself or with your family or some friends. May God help us to rightly exalt him this Sunday!
Grace,
Pastor Joseph
*****
October 22nd, 2023
Psalm 107 calls all those whom the Lord has redeemed to “say so” - to declare and celebrate God’s saving work. It goes on to recount several Old Testament examples of God delivering his people. It recalls God providing for his people in the desert and filling the hungry with good things, rescuing his people from slavery, delivering prisoners from bondage, and so on. Because we believe all of the Bible is relevant to us, because all of the Bible points ultimately to Jesus, we should ask how we read and connect to Psalm 107’s to worship. Obviously, we weren’t delivered from slavery in Egypt, nor did we experience God’s provision as his people wandered through the wilderness for forty years. But the Bible uses these acts of God and experiences of his people as metaphors for the way God works throughout history. Our sinful state apart from Christ is often compared to bondage, to captivity, and God has graciously freed us. We, like the Israelites, have rebelled against God’s commands, and he has graciously forgiven and restored us. Our souls have longed for rest and satisfaction as we sojourn in a broken and fallen world, and God has filled our hungry souls with good things; he has led us to feast on the Bread of Life. He has broken chains of sin and fear and doubt in so many of us over the course of our lives.
I think it’s important to recognize, too, that many among us feel the need for rescue even now. We may be in the desert, or beset by sin, suffering, fearful, doubting. One of the reasons we sing is to remind ourselves of what God has already done. We need to remember his work to redeem us, and we need to remember the ways we’ve seen his power and grace over the course of our lives. We sing because we need to remind ourselves of who are God is and what he’s done, and because our brothers and sisters need to be reminded of who God is and what he’s done.
We are the redeemed of the Lord; he has rescued us, forgiven us, provided for us, and we now have the immense privilege of declaring his work and grace.
To prepare for Sunday, read Psalm 107:1-22.
Grace,
Pastor Joseph
*****
October 15th, 2023
Would you say that you’re inclined to “boast in your weakness”? I can’t say that’s my natural bent. But that’s exactly what the Bible says Christians are supposed to do. In 2 Corinthians 12, the Apostle Paul says, in so many words, that he has seen and done a lot of really incredible things, but even after all that, he refuses to boast in his apparent strength. It’s in our weakness, our limitation, our need, that Christ’s power is most magnified. That reality helps us to better understand our successes; apparent strength is actually not even our own, but Christ working graciously in and through us. We are, without exception, and by God’s good design, finite, limited beings. And the Lord is so gracious that he meets us in our weakness and limitations and continually pours out his strength, such that Paul can conclude that, “When I am weak, then I am strong.”
The more we come to grips with - and yes, even embrace - our human limitations, the more prepared we will be to experience God’s grace and power. We desperately need God to be the people he created and called us to be, and, incredibly, he has promised that when we come to him acknowledging our need and asking for grace, he eagerly, liberally gives it.
To prepare for Sunday, read 2 Corinthians 12:1-10.
Grace,
Pastor Joseph
*****
October 8th, 2023
Psalm 24 asks the question, “Who shall ascend the hill of the Lord? And who shall stand in his holy place?” The answer is intimidating, to say the least; it’s the person who has clean hands and a pure heart, one who doesn’t lift up his soul to what is false. Bad news friends: none of us qualifies, and we’re not even close. So, what are we left to do with Psalm 24? We’re supposed to fix our eyes and our hope on the only human being who ever met the conditions to ascend the hill of the Lord - Jesus Christ. There’s a really beautiful doctrine called union with Christ that helps us rightly understand and appreciate this psalm. We have, by faith, been united to Christ in his death and resurrection - the Bible often describes this as being “in Christ”. And because we’re in Christ, his clean hands and pure heart are credited to us; we receive the blessings and benefits of his righteousness. We are now welcomed to ascend the of the Lord and to stand in his holy place. And we aren’t supposed to be skittish or shy; we’re supposed to come boldly, because we come not on the merit of anything in us, but on the merit of the life and work of Jesus.
To prepare for Sunday, read Psalm 24.
Grace,
Pastor Joseph
*****
October 1st, 2023
Our sermon passage this Sunday describes the gospel as the “goodness and lovingkindness of God.” Romans 5 backs this up, saying that God shows his love for us in Christ dying for us while we were sinners. Just sit and think about how loving that is. Like, actually stop reading for a minute and meditate on it.
The holy God who made and rules the universe loves us, and because of his love he made a way for us to be reconciled to him, to have the kind of relationship with him that was lost in Eden. And he accomplishes that through the sacrifice of his Son. That’s jaw-dropping goodness and lovingkindness. The more we grasp God’s heart in the gospel, the further empowered and motivated we are to live the kinds of lives the gospel calls us to live. Our obedience and worship are responses to God’s grace and love in the gospel (more on that from 2 Corinthians 5 in a couple weeks). For now, let’s get our eyes fixed on the depth of God’s goodness and lovingkindness demonstrated to us in the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus. Everything else will begin to take shape as we truly center ourselves on the gospel.
To prepare for Sunday, read Romans 3:21-31.
Grace,
Pastor Joseph
*****
September 24th, 2023
The Old Testament records a seemingly constant cycle of Israel’s idolatry and repentance. They start out worshiping the Lord, then turn to idols, starting with the golden calf at Mount Sinai and continuing on to Baal and myriad other false gods of the surrounding people. Eventually, God intervenes and brings his people to repentance, and they return to worship him, only to repeat the cycle.
We can see ourselves in that story, to one degree or another. Like the Israelites, our hearts, our worship, our trust are often misdirected to things other than God. Our idols aren’t made of wood or stone or gold, so they may not be as easy to spot, but I wonder if they can be even more insidious. We idolize things like money, security, success, affirmation, a political system or value, or - *gasp* - our family or our ministry. None of those things are bad on the surface; in fact, some of them are quite good! But that’s what makes them so dangerous. None of them are worthy of worship; none of them are worth prioritizing over the Lord himself.
Passages like Jeremiah 10, which we will read in our service this Sunday, confront us with the absurdity of placing our trust or devoting our lives to anything that is not the true and living God. In doing so, the Bible also reminds us of the incredible privilege of knowing and worshiping the true and living God! As we behold him, may our affection, our devotion, our trust, be set fully on him.
To prepare for Sunday, read Jeremiah 10:6-16.
Grace,
Pastor Joseph
*****
September 17th, 2023
You can listen to Sunday’s songs here, and song lyrics are on our blog and in the digital hymnal on our app.
This Sunday, we’re going to introduce a new original song based on Psalm 73 called “Nothing Beside”. A demo recording of the song is attached that I hope helps you start to learn it before we sing it on Sunday!
Psalm 73 expresses the tension we often feel as followers of Jesus when unbelievers seem to be so much better off than we are. The psalmist, Asaph, declares that he has kept his heart clean in vain. But the psalm reorients towards the truth that, though it’s possible to prosper in this life apart from God, earthly gain does not equal ultimate good. What we all need, and what we all crave in our souls, can only be found in God himself. We want peace, security, joy, rest, pleasure, and myriad other things, and we might be able to find some semblance of them in the right circumstances, but any earthly expression of those things is fleeting at best, and ultimately intended to point us towards the Giver of all good gifts.
Here’s the good news for Christians: God has already given us himself. The restoration of our broken relationship with our Creator is at the very heart of the gospel. Because of what Jesus has done, we can experience true rest, true joy, true security in God. He is with us, and his presence is our good. That’s our anchor in a world that’s broken, when questions and fears arise, when it feels like those living in rebellion against God prosper while we struggle and suffer.
There’s one image towards the end of the psalm that really sums all of this up, for me at least. Asaph says that the Lord is “holding his right hand.” When a little child holds their parent’s hand, what are they getting from their parent? Presence, affection, security, and even direction. So it is with God. He holds our hand, giving us himself, guarding and leading us like a loving parent.
To prepare for Sunday, read Psalm 73.
Grace,
Pastor Joseph
*****
September 10th, 2023
Tim Keller said that, “The church is a hospital for sinners, not a museum for saints.” That’s an important and very biblical statement. Think about the parable of the Pharisee and tax collector in Luke 18. The Pharisee loudly and proudly thanks God that he is “not like other men,” that he’s more holy, closer to God than all those other sinful people. The tax collector, on the other hand, humbly begs God to “be merciful to me, a sinner.” Who’s in the right? The tax collector! Isaiah 66 says that the Lord esteems those who are humble and contrite in spirit. James 4 tells us to mourn and weep in humbling ourselves before God; then he will exalt us. Ch