King's Cross Church (Moscow, ID): Recent Episodes
King's Cross Church (Moscow, ID)
Sermon podcast feed for King's Cross Church in Moscow, ID. Featuring Pastor Toby Sumpter. Visit our website at https://kingscrossmoscow.com.
King's Cross Church is a member congregation of the CREC in Moscow, ID. Visit our website at https://kingscrossmoscow.com.
Follow us on Facebook: https://facebook.com/kingscrossmoscow.
The final episodes in the book of Judges (17-21) are something like an appendix, describing earlier episodes in the era of the judges to help explain why the whole era was so rough. It’s likely that Samuel was the author of Judges, Ruth, and much of 1 Samuel, and he may have included these final stories here as background for what would follow in Ruth and Samuel as well.
The overarching themes are the failure of Israelite education and the syncretistic worship that followed together with the absence of a unifying king who would fear God and protect His people. As Henry Van Til argued, “culture is religion externalized.” Every nation reflects culturally and politically the God/gods they worship. And education is always training for worship.
The Text: “And there was a man of mount Ephraim, whose name was Micah…” (Judges 17:1-13
King's Cross Church is a member congregation of the CREC in Moscow, ID. Visit our website at https://kingscrossmoscow.com.
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The end of Samson’s life is largely a tale of tragic decline, but even in his sin, the Spirit warns us to avoid his failures. And perhaps most important of all, the Spirit teaches us that it is never too late and God loves to hear and answer the prayers of repentant men – and even in Samson’s death, points to the Greater Samson.
The Text: “Then went Samson to Gaza, and saw there an harlot, and went in unto her. And it was told the Gazites, saying, Samson is come hither…” (Judges 16:1-31).
King's Cross Church is a member congregation of the CREC in Moscow, ID. Visit our website at https://kingscrossmoscow.com.
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It is always encouraging to remember that there have been dark days before. There have been corruptions and conspiracies many times, and God has never been worried. God’s plan has never needed any adjustments. From the beginning, God has been deftly carrying out His purpose to save and redeem this sin infested world. He has raised up his servants in the past, and He will do so again in the future. But all of them will only be faint glimmers pointing to the hero of the whole story, Jesus Christ, our wisdom and power. This is the point of the whole story.
The Text: “But it came to pass within a while after, in the time of wheat harvest, that Samson visited his wife with a kid; and he said, I will go in to my wife into the chamber. But her father would not suffer him to go in…” (Judges 15:1-20)
King's Cross Church is a member congregation of the CREC in Moscow, ID. Visit our website at https://kingscrossmoscow.com.
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The story of Samson is a challenging test, a riddle, a parable. Even as we examine the text, the text is examining us – it is testing and cross-examining our loyalties. Samson is not a tidy Sunday school story. He is a wild man, often driven by the Holy Spirit, sometimes driven by his lusts. And the questions require us to think carefully and apply them to ourselves.
The Text: “Samson went down to Timnah, and at Timnah he saw one of the daughters of the Philistines. Then he came up and told his father and mother, “I saw one of the daughters of the Philistines at Timnah. Now get her for me as my wife…” (Judges 14:1-20)
King's Cross Church is a member congregation of the CREC in Moscow, ID. Visit our website at https://kingscrossmoscow.com.
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The message of the whole Bible is that God’s grace is greater than you can possibly imagine. It is an ocean that has no coasts, no bottom. His mercy endures forever.
This story of the birth of Samson is one of the places we are reminded of this, and it reminds us of the grace of God because it points so clearly to the birth of His only Son, Jesus Christ.
The Text: “And the children of Israel did evil again in the sight of the Lord; and the Lord delivered them into the hands of the Philistines forty years. And there was a certain man of Zorah…” (Judges 13:1-25)
King's Cross Church is a member congregation of the CREC in Moscow, ID. Visit our website at https://kingscrossmoscow.com.
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Building Christian community is one of the hardest things we are engaged in. The relative progress we have made in this venture is one of the greatest signs of God’s blessing. Only the Holy Spirit can knit people like us together.
But it also requires great wisdom, constant vigilance, and addressing sin. Bitterness and envy are not little sins that can be ignored. They are cancers that destroy families and churches and nations.
The Text: “And the men of Ephraim gathered themselves together, and went northward, and said unto Jephthah, Wherefore passedst thou over to fight against the children of Ammon, and didst not call us to go with thee? we will burn thine house upon thee with fire…” (Judges 12:1-15)
King's Cross Church is a member congregation of the CREC in Moscow, ID. Visit our website at https://kingscrossmoscow.com.
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As we enter the summer season, with all its God-given goodness, we would be wise to consider the unique temptations that accompany it. A wise man plans ahead and prepares. Planning is not just needed for Airbnb bookings and National Park passes. You also need to prepare your hearts and your families for the summer. You need to be “watchful” against the various temptations that you will encounter. This attitude does not dampen summer fun, but actually protects and increases the blessings that God has in store for you.
King's Cross Church is a member congregation of the CREC in Moscow, ID. Visit our website at https://kingscrossmoscow.com.
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In the evangelical classic The Cross and the Switchblade, David Wilkerson tells the story of his ministry to a street gang and the dramatic conversion of Nicky Cruz, a knife-wielding teenage gang leader. About 20 years later Cruz himself wrote a book called The Magnificent Three in which he wrote, “Something has emerged in my walk with God that has become the most important element of my discipleship. It has become the thing that sustains me, that feeds me, that keeps me steady when I am shaky. I have come to see God, to know Him, to relate to Him as Three-in-One, God as Trinity.”
He continues, “God is a magnificent Father. God is a magnificent Savior, Jesus Christ. But if it were not for the magnificent Holy Spirit, I would still be a wretched, hateful sinner! It is not enough to have a Father-God who loves and provides for me. It is not enough even to have a Savior who died for my sins. For any of those blessings to make a difference in our lives, there must also be present in this world that Third Person of God, the Holy Spirit.”
We refer to the Trinity regularly. We confess our faith and are baptized and blessed in the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, but do you see this truth as magnificent?
The Text: “Beloved, let us love one another: for love is of God; and every one that loveth is born of God, and knoweth God. He that loveth not knoweth not God; for God is love…” (1 Jn. 4:7-17)
King's Cross Church is a member congregation of the CREC in Moscow, ID. Visit our website at https://kingscrossmoscow.com.
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Because we live in a time where the dictionary has been ripped up and reassembled every few years and then weaponized against Christians, we live in a time that faces peculiar challenges. And this is overlaid on top of the usual temptations that have faced all people of all ages: animosity, envy, pride, and fear – frequently related to different nationalities, ethnicities, etc.
But the Holy Spirit has been poured out to remake this shattered world. The Holy Spirit is the wisdom and power and clarity of God’s Word restoring meaning, justice, and love, and with these gifts, over time, true community.
The Text: “Thou shalt not hate thy brother in thine heart: thou shalt in any wise rebuke thy neighbor, and not suffer sin upon him…” (Lev. 19:17-18, 32-36)
King's Cross Church is a member congregation of the CREC in Moscow, ID. Visit our website at https://kingscrossmoscow.com.
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History is covenantal. This means that Christ is Lord of history, and this means that history is demonstrating the covenant faithfulness of God – that God keeps His promises. This also means that history is the story of God’s personal dealings with people, families, and nations based on how they respond to God. It is not an impersonal machine churning through time; it is the story of God’s dealings with His creation. All of it is designed to make us worship Him, to stand in awe at His wisdom, and to trust Him through our chapters in His epic tale. The story of Jephthah underlines these themes.
The Text: “Now Jephthah the Gileadite was a mighty man of valour, and he was the son of an harlot: and Gilead begat Jephthah…” (Judges 11:1-40)
King's Cross Church is a member congregation of the CREC in Moscow, ID. Visit our website at https://kingscrossmoscow.com.
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America is in the mess it is in because of our idols. The central shrine is the worship of the individual self. And like ancient Israel when the chickens come home to roost, we sometimes try to cry out to God for deliverance. But we have not yet actually turned away from our false gods, and so we are in a position where God has every right to say to us what He said to ancient Israel: “Ye have forsaken me, and served other gods: wherefore I will deliver you no more” (Judges 10:13).
The Text: “And after Abimelech there arose to defend Israel Tola the son of Puah, the son of Dodo, a man of Issachar; and he dwelt in Shamir in mount Ephraim. And he judged Israel twenty and three years, and died, and was buried in Shamir…” (Judges 10:1-18).
King's Cross Church is a member congregation of the CREC in Moscow, ID. Visit our website at https://kingscrossmoscow.com.
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The story of history from the Garden of Eden on is the great war between the seed of the woman and the seed of the serpent: God vs. Evil. The story’s climax is the death and resurrection of Jesus, but all of history is revealing this story arc. And this chapter is no different. Here we have the sordid history of Gideon’s sons, and God’s providential superintendence even in the midst evil plots and treachery – teaching us a politics of patience and fruitfulness.
The Text: “And Abimelech the son of Jerubbaal went to Shechem unot his mother’s brethren, and communed with them…” (Judges 9:1-57).
King's Cross Church is a member congregation of the CREC in Moscow, ID. Visit our website at https://kingscrossmoscow.com.
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By the grace of God, we have seen a genuine Christian community grow up in our midst over the years. We have wanted to be a Bible people, which means Christian liberty on issues like alcohol, and so we have not allowed the traditions of men to place any extra-biblical restrictions on us. God gave wine to gladden the heart of man (Ps. 104:15), God urges the purchase of strong drink with the tithe money (Dt. 14: 26), and the Lord Jesus Himself uses wine in the sacrament of the new covenant (Luke 22:20; 1 Cor. 11:25). “Therefore, if you died with Christ from the basic principles of the world, why, as though living in the world, do you subject yourselves to regulations—“Do not touch, do not taste, do not handle”” (Col. 2:20–21, NKJV). So never let a legalist bind up your liberty in Christ.
But our liberty in Christ has a left flank also, and in a community like ours, and in times like ours, it is far too easy to leave that flank exposed. I am talking about the threat of license, which in the name of liberty abuses God’s grace even more than does the legalist.
King's Cross Church is a member congregation of the CREC in Moscow, ID. Visit our website at https://kingscrossmoscow.com.
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Like many great leaders, Gideon does not finish as strong as he begins. He is still listed in Hebrews 11 as one of the great heroes of faith, but there is clearly a decline in faithfulness over the course of his life.
The relative faithfulness of Gideon points to the perfect faithfulness of Christ and is a clear reminder and warning of the need to keep our eyes fixed on Him, to pursue holiness throughout our entire lives, to not grow weary in doing good, to fight sin and chase it all away.
The Text: “And the men of Ephraim said unto him, Why hast thou served us thus, that thou calledst us not, when thou wentest to fight with the Midianites?...” (Judges 8:1-35)
King's Cross Church is a member congregation of the CREC in Moscow, ID. Visit our website at https://kingscrossmoscow.com.
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This is a very famous story – Gideon’s brilliant victory over the Midianites, but it is also at the same time a story about God’s brilliant war against human pride.
Scripture is clear that the fundamental tyranny is sin, and pride is the root sin. Israel turned away from God because of pride and became enslaved to the Midianites. As we have turned away from God in our American pride, we have increasingly been enslaved to many corruptions.
When we cry out to God for deliverance, we must recognize that there is often more that God needs to deliver us from than we realize – and pride is one of our great cancers.
The Text: “Then Jerubbaal, who is Gideon, and all the people that were with him, rose up early, and pitched beside the well of Harod: so that the host of the Midianites were on the north side of them, by the hill of Moreh, in the valley…” (Judges 7:1-25)
King's Cross Church is a member congregation of the CREC in Moscow, ID. Visit our website at https://kingscrossmoscow.com.
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This nation was built by Protestant Christians – puritans and presbyterians who believed in the sovereignty of God. They believed that God was sovereign over the great movements of nations and civilizations because they believed He was exhaustively sovereign over every detail of the universe, preeminently the salvation of every man, woman, and child.
Cotton Mather, Jonathan Edwards, George Whitefield, and John Witherspoon all preached this sovereign grace rooted in the historical event of the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead.
The Text: “But God, who is rich in mercy, for his great love wherewith he loved us, Even when we were dead in sins, hath quickened us together with Christ, (by grace ye are saved;) And hath raised us up together, and made us sit together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus: That in the ages to come he might shew the exceeding riches of his grace in his kindness toward us through Christ Jesus. For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God: Not of works, lest any man should boast. For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God hath before ordained that we should walk in them” (Eph. 2:4-10).
King's Cross Church is a member congregation of the CREC in Moscow, ID. Visit our website at https://kingscrossmoscow.com.
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This Palm Sunday message is really quite simple: the triumphal entry of Jesus into Jerusalem two thousand years ago that resulted in His crucifixion was the beginning of His enthronement and conquest of this world as it’s true King.
This is the pattern of Christ’s conquest: death and resurrection. This is so God will get all the glory.
The Text: “And there were certain Greeks among them that came up to worship at the feast: The same came therefore to Philip, which was of Bethsaida of Galilee, and desired him, saying, Sir, we would see Jesus… Now is the judgment of this world: now shall the prince of this world be cast out. And I, if I be lifted up from the earth, will draw all men unto me. This he said, signifying what death he should die” (Jn. 12:20-33).
King's Cross Church is a member congregation of the CREC in Moscow, ID. Visit our website at https://kingscrossmoscow.com.
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Lord’s Day worship is the foundation for faithful Christian life. Everything else flows from this: obedience, courage, and wisdom. The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom. Bowing down before your King is the beginning of true obedience. True courage is found in full submission to the Living God and learning to read the story He is telling.
And the beginning of the story of Gideon models this for us wonderfully.
The Text: “And it came to pass the same night, that the LORD said unto him, Take thy father’s young bullock, even the second bullock of seven years old, and throw down the altar of Baal that thy father hath, and cut down the grove that is by it…” (Judges 6:25-40)
King's Cross Church is a member congregation of the CREC in Moscow, ID. Visit our website at https://kingscrossmoscow.com.
Follow us on Facebook: https://facebook.com/kingscrossmoscow.
King's Cross Church is a member congregation of the CREC in Moscow, ID. Visit our website at https://kingscrossmoscow.com.
Follow us on Facebook: https://facebook.com/kingscrossmoscow.
All false religions require statism. Only Christianity offers true political freedom because Christianity actually reconciles men to God and gives them the gift of His Spirit which causes His peace to rule in them and writes God’s law on their hearts. Apart from that kind of regeneration and the strength of self-government, men will be ruled by the humanistic strength of iron fists and bureaucratic tyranny.
The Text: “And the children of Israel did evil in the sight of the Lord: and the Lord delivered them into the hand of Midian seven years…” (Judges 6:1-24)
King's Cross Church is a member congregation of the CREC in Moscow, ID. Visit our website at https://kingscrossmoscow.com.
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The song of Deborah is a song of jubilant praise for God’s deliverance of His people. God used men and women who were willing, but God is the One who fought for His people. And in this ancient song, we are reminded of an even greater victory won by the seed of the woman.
The Text: “Then sang Deborah and Barak the son of Abinoam on that day, saying…”
King's Cross Church is a member congregation of the CREC in Moscow, ID. Visit our website at https://kingscrossmoscow.com.
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The Bible teaches that God decreed the history of the world before it began (Is. 46:9-10), Eph. 1:11). This plan is for the good of those who love Him (Rom. 8:28), and it is demonstrating God’s wisdom and power through the weak things of this world (1 Cor. 1-2).
This is one of those stories that highlights the goodness of the sovereignty of God. Calvinists should be the happiest, bravest people in the world.
The Text: “And Barak called Zebulun and Naphtali to Kedesh; and he went up with ten thousand men at his feet: and Deborah went up with him. Now Heber the Kenite, which was of the children of Hobab the father in law of Moses, had severed himself from the Kenites, and pitched his tent unto the plain of Zaanaim, which is by Kedesh…”
King's Cross Church is a member congregation of the CREC in Moscow, ID. Visit our website at https://kingscrossmoscow.com.
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God created men and women to reflect His glory in particular ways, but sin distorts that glory. And we tend to sin against one another in ways that reinforce cycles of shame and dishonor.
But Christ came to break our cycles of sin, and Deborah is a judge who points us to the Church who calls men and women back to the glory of God.
The Text: “And the children of Israel again did evil in the sight of the LORD, when Ehud was dead. And the LORD sold them into the hand of Jabin king of Canaan, that reigned in Hazor; the captain of whose host was Sisera, which dwelt in Harosheth of the Gentiles…” (Judges 4:1-9)
King's Cross Church is a member congregation of the CREC in Moscow, ID. Visit our website at https://kingscrossmoscow.com.
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The Bible is not a book of sweet and pious aphorisms. It is the truest book because it tells the truth about our vile sin, and it tells the truth about the only way out of the shameful pits we have dug for ourselves. Ehud is a glorious picture of the Lord Jesus: a little savior who points to our Great Savior.
The Text: “And the children of Israel did evil again in the sight of the LORD: and the LORD strengthened Eglon the king of Moab against Israel, because they had done evil in the sight of the LORD…” (Judges 3:12-31)
King's Cross Church is a member congregation of the CREC in Moscow, ID. Visit our website at https://kingscrossmoscow.com.
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Despite human rebellion, God is determined to raise up a warrior people – nations trained for battle against the world, the flesh, and the devil. In Christ, God has raised up the Great Judge of all the earth, who fights for us, and gives us His Spirit so that we may learn to fight evil like Him.
The Text: “Now these are the nations which the Lord left, to prove Israel by them, even as many of Israel as had not known the wars of Canaan; only that the generations of the children of Israel might know, to teach them war, at the least such as before knew nothing thereof…” (Judges 3:1-11).
King's Cross Church is a member congregation of the CREC in Moscow, ID. Visit our website at https://kingscrossmoscow.com.
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The people of Israel during the era of the judges largely failed, and they failed because they refused to seek God with their whole heart. They did not destroy their idols and the pagan nations around them, so they would have mild success during the lives of strong leaders and then immediately fall back into their idolatry over and over again. But Christ has come to call His people to true repentance.
The Text: “And an angel of the LORD came up from Gilgal to Bochim, and said, I made you to go up out of Egypt, and have brought you unto the land which I sware unto your fathers; and I said, I will never break my covenant with you. And ye shall make no league with the inhabitants of this land; ye shall throw down their altars: but ye have not obeyed my voice: why have ye done this?...” (Judges 2:1-23)
King's Cross Church is a member congregation of the CREC in Moscow, ID. Visit our website at https://kingscrossmoscow.com.
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Judges opens with the death of Joshua, and Israel calling on the Lord. The book of Judges is all about the radical difference between the Lord being with you and the Lord not being with you: the difference between God being your king and having no king and doing whatever is right in your own eyes.
During the lifetime of Joshua, the Lord was with Israel and gave them victories over their enemies, but Judges will contrast that blessing with a declining cycle of God saving Israel, Israel forgetting God, not seeking God, and being oppressed by their enemies.
But the story opens with a warm reminder of the blessing that is possible for those who seek Him.
The Text: “Now after the death of Joshua it came to pass, that the children of Israel asked the LORD, saying, Who shall go up for us against the Canaanites first, to fight against them? And the LORD said, Judah shall go up: behold, I have delivered the land into his hand…” (Judges 1:1-20)
King's Cross Church is a member congregation of the CREC in Moscow, ID. Visit our website at https://kingscrossmoscow.com.
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In God’s world, words and names matter. Your words are either echoing God’s Word and naming in faith and taking dominion, or else they are defying God’s Word, naming in unbelief, fear, and setting up trouble for yourself and your children.
The tribes of Israel learned this the hard way. The lesson was clear: sin must be completely destroyed or it will eventually destroy you.
The Text: “And the house of Joseph, they also went up against Bethel: and the LORD was with them. And the house of Joseph sent to descry Bethel. (Now the name of the city before was Luz.)…” (Judges 1:22-36)
King's Cross Church is a member congregation of the CREC in Moscow, ID. Visit our website at https://kingscrossmoscow.com.
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It has been said that history doesn’t repeat itself, but it rhymes. Ecclesiastes says, “The thing that hath been, it is that which shall be; and that which is done is that which shall be done: and there is no new thing under the sun. Is there anything whereof it may be said, See, this is new? it hath been already of old time, which was before us” (Eccl. 1:9-10).
The repeated refrain of Solomon is that all is vanity or “vapor” and “vexation of spirit” or “striving after wind.” A better translation would be “shepherding the wind.” Ecclesiastes teaches that there is a kind of cyclical nature to time and yet there is a beginning and an end: “For everything there is a season, and a time for every matter under heaven…He has made everything beautiful in its time. Also, he has put eternity into man’s heart, yet so that he cannot find out what God has done from the beginning to the end” (Eccl. 3:1, 11). The Christian view of history is more spiral.
We live in days of crisis and turmoil. It remains to be seen what kind of stability will emerge, whether it will be favorable to Christianity or not. Regardless, we are called to be “men of Issachar,” who have “understanding of the times, to know what Israel ought to do” (1 Chron. 12:32).
The Text: “For all our days are passed away in thy wrath: we spend our years as a tale that is told. The days of our years are threescore years and ten; and if by reason of strength they be fourscore years, yet is their strength labour and sorrow…” (Ps. 90:9-17)
King's Cross Church is a member congregation of the CREC in Moscow, ID. Visit our website at https://kingscrossmoscow.com.
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Matthew’s quotation of Hosea’s prophecy has often confused Christians. How is this faithful exegesis? But what we find in what might seem like almost a casual reference in passing is something that underlines even more of the glory of Christmas.
The Text: “When Israel was a child, then I loved him, and called my son out of Egypt” (Hos. 11:1).
King's Cross Church is a member congregation of the CREC in Moscow, ID. Visit our website at https://kingscrossmoscow.com.
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When the wise men from the east asked where the King of the Jews was to be born, Herod gathered all the priests and scribes and ask them where the Messiah was supposed to be born. They cited Mi-cah’s prophecy that the Messiah was to be born in Bethlehem.
It’s remarkable that the Jews knew this prophesy, knew that Jesus was born in Bethlehem, and still many refused (and still refuse) to believe in Him.
The Text: “But thou, Bethlehem Ephratah, though thou be little among the thousands of Judah, yetout of thee shall he come forth unto me that is to be ruler in Israel; whose goings forth have been from of old, from everlasting. Therefore will he give them up, until the time that she which travaileth hath brought forth: then the remnant of his brethren shall return unto the children of Israel. And he shall stand and feed in the strength of the LORD, in the majesty of the name of the LORD his God; and they shall abide: for now shall he be great unto the ends of the earth” (Mic. 5:2-4).
King's Cross Church is a member congregation of the CREC in Moscow, ID. Visit our website at https://kingscrossmoscow.com.
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This great Christmas verse should be understood as connected to the prophecy of the virgin birth and helps to confirm the New Testament’s insistence that Jesus is the child who was born of virgin to save us and our pitiful world.
But this is no mere spiritual reality; it is the ground of our confidence that Christ’s government and peace will increase until all of His enemies have been put beneath His feet. The One who was born in Bethlehem is the King of this world.
The Text: “For unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given: and the government shall be upon his shoulder: and his name shall be called Wonderful, Counsellor, The mighty God, The everlasting Father, The Prince of Peace. Of the increase of his government and peace there shall be no end, upon the throne of David, and upon his kingdom, to order it, and to establish it with judgment and with justice from henceforth even for ever. The zeal of the LORD of hosts will perform this” (Is. 9:6-7).
King's Cross Church is a member congregation of the CREC in Moscow, ID. Visit our website at https://kingscrossmoscow.com.
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The doctrine of the virgin birth is one of the key doctrines of the Christian faith. Chesterton says that the Creed is like a key that unlocks the world, and as with any key, every ridge and angle matters. The virgin birth is not merely “another cool miracle,” like the healings of blind men or walking on water. The virgin birth is central to our salvation.
The Text: “…Now all this was done, that it might be fulfilled which was spoken of the Lord by the prophet, saying, Behold, a virgin shall be with child, and shall bring forth a son, and they shall call his name Emmanuel, which being interpreted is, God with us…” (Mt. 1:18-25)
King's Cross Church is a member congregation of the CREC in Moscow, ID. Visit our website at https://kingscrossmoscow.com.
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As we begin this Advent season preparing for Christmas, the plan is to look at five Old Testament prophecies that were fulfilled in the birth of Jesus Christ.
This week we look at Jacob’s blessing of his son Judah (sometime around 2000 B.C.), foretelling that God would raise up kings in the tribe of Judah, until all people have been gathered before one king of Judah.
The Text: “The sceptre shall not depart from Judah, nor a lawgiver from between his feet, until Shiloh come; and unto him shall the gathering of the people be” (Gen. 49:8-12).
King's Cross Church is a member congregation of the CREC in Moscow, ID. Visit our website at https://kingscrossmoscow.com.
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In the first century just after Jesus ascended into heaven, the unbelieving Jews murdered Stephen, and Saul of Tarsus was breathing threats against the Christians in every city. The temptation to go dark was great. The Christians were hated, lied about, and mistreated. It would have felt very justified to bitterly hate those Jewish zealots (and their Roman collaborators), and to have done so would be to join their carnal, devilish ways.
But God has determined to conquer this dark world with His grace. That means mercy for the wicked. God justifies the ungodly. God’s plan was to save the leader of that violence and evil. True grace has a backbone, but it is a radical, humiliating grace. This is the wisdom of God and the ground of all Christian gratitude.
The Text: “From whence come wars and fightings among you? Come they not hence, even of your lusts that war in your members? Ye lust, and have not: ye kill, and desire to have, and cannot obtain…” (Js. 4:1-10)
King's Cross Church is a member congregation of the CREC in Moscow, ID. Visit our website at https://kingscrossmoscow.com.
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King's Cross Church is a member congregation of the CREC in Moscow, ID. Visit our website at https://kingscrossmoscow.com.
Follow us on Facebook: https://facebook.com/kingscrossmoscow.
We live in the ruins of a great civilization that was built in many ways by faithful men and women, who kept their marriage vows. Nevertheless in fallen world, sin will wreak havoc, and we need to know what to do when sin happens. The fundamental duty is confession of sin and forgiveness, but marriage is a public covenant and therefore sometimes there are public ramifications for certain sins.
The Text: “The Pharisees also came unto him, tempting him, and saying unto him, Is it lawful for a man to put away his wife for every cause?...” (Mt. 19:3-9)
King's Cross Church is a member congregation of the CREC in Moscow, ID. Visit our website at https://kingscrossmoscow.com.
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In Colonial America it was common for sermons to be preached around elections reminding God’s people of the biblical duties of magistrates, citizens, and the biblical blueprint for civil government.
Today’s message is focused on the duty of citizens to be a certain kind of people, and for men in particular to practice being dangerously good.
The Text: “… Then said he unto them, ‘But now, he that hath a purse, let him take it, and likewise his scrip: and he that hath no sword, let him sell his garment, and buy one…” (Lk. 22:35-38)
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After salvation, the choice of who you marry will likely be the next most significant decision in your life. Marriage is a nuclear reactor – where new immortal souls are being brought into existence, and therefore it is good and right to guard its formation carefully.
This law concerning vows applies in a number of different directions, but since marriage includes covenant vows, it certainly applies there.
The Text: “…If a woman also vow a vow unto the LORD, and bind herself by a bond, being in her father’s house in her youth; And her father hear her vow, and her bond wherewith she hath bound her soul, and her father shall hold his peace at her: then all her vows shall stand…” (Num. 30:1-5).
King's Cross Church is a member congregation of the CREC in Moscow, ID. Visit our website at https://kingscrossmoscow.com.
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God, in His infinite wisdom, made men and women different. These differences inform our roles and duties, especially in marriage, where they complement each other. Scripture clearly teaches that wives are to submit to their husbands (Eph. 5:22, Col. 3:18). This call to submission is not demeaning or oppressive, but is a genuine glory and a necessary part of a thriving marriage and family.
King's Cross Church is a member congregation of the CREC in Moscow, ID. Visit our website at https://kingscrossmoscow.com.
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While we reject all “health and wealth gospels,” as though Jesus were a mechanical vending machine for worldly wealth and power, we fully affirm the personal and covenantal nature of the world, which includes blessings and curses both in this life and in the life to come (Mk. 10:29-30).
Sometimes God sends hardships to His people for their sanctification, and those hardships are working for us an “exceeding and eternal weight of glory” (2 Cor. 4:17). Sometimes He gives the wicked great wealth, yet without His blessing, they do not have ability to truly enjoy it (Eccl. 5:19-6:3). However, sometimes God’s people turn to idols and become debt slaves and are taken out of the fight, but we are called to freedom and dominion.
The Text: “…The LORD shall open unto thee his good treasure, the heaven to give the rain unto thy land in his season, and to bless all the work of thine hand: and thou shalt lend unto many nations, and thou shalt not borrow. And the LORD shall make thee the head, and not the tail; and thou shalt be above only, and thou shalt not be beneath; if that thou hearken unto the commandments of the LORD thy God, which I command thee this day, to observe and to do them. And thou shalt not go aside from any of the words which I command thee this day, to the right hand, or to the left, to go after other gods to serve them.” (Dt. 28:1-14).
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Liberty is not the freedom to do whatever you want. Humanistic lusts always end in tyranny, slavery, and destruction. Liberty is the freedom to obey God, to live according to His law under His blessing. Liberty is doing what you were made for.
Therefore, the foundational governments that God has established of family, church, and state are the foundational checks and balances that limit human tyranny and truly set men free.
The Text: “Let every soul be subject unto the higher powers. For there is no power but of God: the powers that be are ordained of God. Whosoever therefore resisteth the power, resisteth the ordinance of God: and they that resist shall receive to themselves damnation” (Rom. 13:1-2).
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Many Christians say they prefer smaller churches, and in God’s providence, there are many smaller, thriving churches. But it’s worth checking your preferences against God’s word. Are your preferences aligned with biblical priorities? Or are you making your preferences into biblical priorities?
Our church and community have grown significantly over the last few years, and while it is understandable to miss seeing certain friends, we want to make sure that we are processing this growth like believing Christians. So this is a message on big church blessings.
The Texts: “And he brought him forth abroad, and said, Look now toward heaven, and tell the stars, if thou be able to number them: and he said unto him, So shall thy seed be. And he believed in the Lord; and he counted it to him for righteousness” (Gen. 15:5-6)
“For the promise is unto you, and to your children, and to all that are afar off, even as many as the Lord our God shall call. And with many other words did he testify and exhort, saying, Save yourselves from this untoward generation. Then they that gladly received his word were baptized: and the same day there were added unto them about three thousand souls” (Acts 2:39-41).
“After this I beheld, and, lo, a great multitude, which no man could number, of all nations, and kindreds, and people, and tongues, stood before the throne, and before the Lamb, clothed with white robes, and palms in their hands; and cried with a loud voice, saying, Salvation to our God which sitteth upon the throne, and unto the Lamb” (Rev. 7:9-10).
King's Cross Church is a member congregation of the CREC in Moscow, ID. Visit our website at https://kingscrossmoscow.com.
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The gospel collides with all idolatry, whether external shrines or internal obsessions. But idols can be sneaky and even warnings about idolatry can weaponized and misused to steer unthinking Christians. Is it idolatry to love your work, your family, your church, your nation, your ethnicity? The answer is “no,” so long as “love” is defined biblically, so long as your love is obedient to God. Idolatry is disobedient love. And obedient love is at war with every disobedient love.
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Two messages delivered at a joint outdoor worship service with all three campuses of Christ Church and King's Cross Church. "A Mind to Work" by Toby Sumpter and "Lessons for the Limelight" by Doug Wilson.
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Sermon Text: 1 Corinthians 15:1–11
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Paul begins his third missionary journey in Ephesus, and the Lord confirms His presence with Paul through extraordinary signs, causing the Word of God to overcome all opposition. It was true then, and it is true today. The sword of the Spirit is the Word of God. Whatever you face, whatever you need, Scripture is your light, your power, your peace, your wisdom.
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While Paul takes a brief sabbatical to visit and encourage a number of the churches, the Word is going forth mightily in public through a man named Apollos and in private through a refugee missionary couple. This is how Christ rules the nations: through His living and active Word.
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With a handful of exceptions, Christians are overwhelmingly united in their willingness to worship God on the first day of the week. After all, we have been doing this for two thousand years, and we are rarely questioned about it. Why not just go with the flow? The answer to that question is that we should want to be deliberate Christians in everything we offer up to God. We never want to be guilty of the “will worship” that Paul condemns in Col. 2:23. We are constrained to offer to God what He requires of us, and not anything else. So why do we worship on the first day of the week? Why didn’t the Church retain the seventh-day Sabbath of the Jews?
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As we look around the room each Lord’s Day, we can see that many of us are in the thick of it when it comes to raising children. This is not simply an optical illusion; back in January, we ran a report and discovered that 37% of our congregation is under the age of 11, and nearly half are under the age of 18. Therefore, it is good to keep returning to the important topic of childrearing from time to time, for as the Apostle Paul wrote, it is no trouble for him to repeat himself, and it is good for you (Phil. 3:1).
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Human beings are inherently religious. We are homo adorans – worshiping man. We will either worship the Creator or some part of creation. Basing your life on some part of creation (reason, experience, science, health, pleasure) ultimately results in despair, anger, and anxiety because all of them are ultimately dependent on you and self-esteem, self-awareness, self-determination, and self-care are a backpack of bricks too heavy to bear. The weight of “self” is too heavy for any of us to carry.
Paul saw this phenomenon in Athens, and our culture is currently at “crush depth” with these mantras. But the gospel is that Jesus Christ, the Son of God, came to carry us, and He is risen from the dead.
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After the Fall, there are really only two kinds of community in the world: the fellowship of nobility and the fellowship of envy. Cain envied his brother, murdered him, and was exiled and built a city; Seth was the father of noble generations who found grace in the eyes of the Lord. The word “noble” literally means “good generation” (high-born). Envy is the gangrene of bitter zeal. It is murderously destructive, while claiming to be concerned about truth and justice. Paul and Silas found examples of both nobility and envy in Thessalonica and Berea.
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In 42 B.C. in the fields of Philippi in Macedonia, Greece, the armies of Brutus and Cassius collided with the armies of Mark Anthony and Octavian, and the latter soundly defeated the former. Octavian would become the emperor of the Roman Empire, taking the name Caesar Augustus and eventually lavish a great deal of prominence on the colony of Philippi as the site of that historic battle.
Around 80 years later, in that same city, Paul and Silas began proclaiming the reign of another King, the Lord Jesus Christ, and a new way of being Roman. And as is the case wherever this gospel goes, it caused trouble – trouble that sets prisoners free.
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The wisdom of God is foolishness to man, and we must understand deep in our bones that one of the central missions of God in the history of the world is to destroy the wisdom of man (1 Cor. 1:19). This doesn’t mean that we cannot grow in God’s wisdom, but it means that we must be incredibly skeptical of human wisdom. The goal of the history of the world is that no flesh would glory in His presence but that all would glory in Him (1 Cor. 1:29-31).
This wisdom is on display in Paul’s circumcision of Timothy, and in his obedience to the Holy Spirit leading him to the Philippian riverside to preach to a few Jewish women.
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We live in world full of petty divisions and many foolish alliances. Maturity means growing up into a deep commitment to the truth as well as being able to tell the difference between gnats and camels. Unity at all costs will always lead to compromise, and certain wooden ideologies create brittle men and communities. We are seeking to build an anti-fragile like-mindedness, full of resilient, joyful saints, loyal to Christ and their people.
King's Cross Church is a member congregation of the CREC in Moscow, ID. Visit our website at https://kingscrossmoscow.com.
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Sermon Text: Luke 10:25-37
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The decision of the Jerusalem Council illustrates a principle that Christians have always struggled with: grace has a backbone. True grace really is radically free, and because it is so free, it is potent and transformative. Grace welcomes and instructs. Grace rests and works.
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Christian warfare always consists of multiple fronts: external, domestic, and internal. The fact that we see this in the first century should give us hope and reassurance that we are not facing something profoundly new or different. This dynamic is also part of the ‘continuing adventures of Jesus.’ Our task is to walk by faith before God, the ‘Knower of Hearts, in obedience, trusting His grace.
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Far too many people in the church are not truly converted to God. They are religious or maybe conservative, but they do not know Christ and the power of His resurrection. They know about Christ, and perhaps they know about the Bible and catechism answers. But they do not know Christ, and this is obvious because sin still has power over them. They are still dead in their sins, even while they may think they are serving God. This is what Saul/Paul thought until the Risen Jesus met him and gave him a new life.
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Our modern world pits authority against friendship, falsely insisting that friendship can only exist be- tween complete equals. But in that case, a complete equal has nothing to offer, nothing to contribute. True friendship exists in relations of inequality and hierarchy, where different parties have different skills and responsibilities.
Ultimately, this heresy of egalitarianism seethes with pride that hates the authority and friendship of God over sinful creatures – that we are completely dependent on Him, that He has made us and not we ourselves, and that true blessing only exists in bowing before Him. But that is what we celebrate on Palm Sunday and every Sunday. God made us, and God saves sinners. He has true authority, and He is good and therefore He defines what is good.
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THE TEXT: James 5:16–18
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One of the marks of the Reformed faith was a great political reformation. This is why it is sometimes called the “Magisterial Reformation.” The Pope and Roman church had slowly claimed political power, but the Reformers insisted that Scripture clearly taught that all power was given to Jesus Christ and therefore, directly and delegated to magistrates, pastors, and parents for particular tasks by Him.
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We live in a world that says you can be anything you want, anything at all – the more bizarre and perverse the better, just don’t be an ordinary, faithful man who marries an ordinary faithful woman, and have a pile of happy, ordinary kids and love and serve the Lord together. Anything but that. And the mischievous Tom Sawyer inside you should grin and say, “Well, now I’m going to normal even harder.”
A significant part of the Protestant Reformation was a recovering of the Bible’s teaching concerning the goodness and power of marriage, children, and family. Celibacy had come to be seen as the “higher calling,” and the duties and responsibilities of family as therefore lower and menial. The devil has always sought to lure people away from the glory of marriage and family precisely because when God’s blessing is upon it, it is such potent goodness.
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As a young church, we have not yet experienced a public church discipline case. While the elders have been active in encouraging, admonishing, and occasionally suspending individuals from the Lord’s Supper privately, we have not yet reached the point of needing to go through the formal process of excommunication.
But if we are a faithful church, a time is coming when we will have to work through this together. Therefore, we should seek to understand the biblical practice of formal church discipline now in order that we may be found faithful when confronted with the task.
King's Cross Church is a member congregation of the CREC in Moscow, ID. Visit our website at https://kingscrossmoscow.com.
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The 16th Century Reformation was a reformation of worship. Worship is at the center of human life, and therefore, we believe it is the most important thing we do as Christians. How we think about worship and offer our worship flows into all of life.
In the beginning, God placed Adam in the Garden Sanctuary where Adam had direct communion with God, and from that Garden a river flowed out to the four corners of the world. In Ezekiel’s vision, a river flows out from under the altar growing deeper until it reaches the sea, bringing healing to the nations. What we do in worship impacts us and the whole world.
King's Cross Church is a member congregation of the CREC in Moscow, ID. Visit our website at https://kingscrossmoscow.com.
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One of the great recoveries of the Reformation was the notion of covenant. The doctrine of the covenant steers a biblical “middle way” between sacerdotal mysticism on the one hand and subjective mysticism on the other. God’s covenant is His objective personal relationship with human beings in history, with attendant blessings and curses. And because God deals with us in this way, we also deal with one another broadly through covenants in our families and nations.
King's Cross Church is a member congregation of the CREC in Moscow, ID. Visit our website at https://kingscrossmoscow.com.
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Pastor Wilson has used this phrase “Chestertonian Calvinism” for a number of years to describe the flavor of Calvinism we are aiming for. It’s a riff on something C.S. Lewis once said about the Puritans: “On many questions, and specially in their view of the marriage bed, the Puritans were the indulgent party; if we may without disrespect so use the name of a great Roman Catholic, a great writer, and a great man, they were much more Chestertonian than their adversaries.”
In other words, far from the morose and harsh caricatures, the legacy of John Calvin is joy and gladness, astonishment and relief, and the early accusations were that, if anything, they were too celebratory when it came to the gifts of bed and board.
So as we go over the basics of what has come to be called “Calvinism,” we want to do so in an obedient and humble way, which is to say: the right kind of humility before these high doctrines ought to result in a robustly earthy joy.
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As a newer congregation with many newer folks, I want to spend the next few weeks going over some of the basics of what mean when we say we are “Reformed.” Historically, this name goes back to the Protestant Reformation of the 16thcentury, but it is fundamentally based on the supremacy of God, revealed in Scripture, as the perfect Word of God. To say we are Reformed is to say that we want everything we think, say, or do to be God-centered and obedient to His Word. This is not to say that we have arrived, but it is to say that He is worthy.
As we do this, we really do want to stand in the “old paths” and hold fast to the “faith once delivered for the saints,” but we want to actually live in this glorious house and not merely become the next museum curators. Or to change the metaphor, we want to fire these cannons at real, modern enemies, not merely polish them and rehearse how they were once used in the glory days of yore.
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Scripture says that we Christians are more than conquerors. And that is one of our beloved verses. But, if we are conquerors, that means there are things standing in our way. This truth, the one about looming obstacles, can weigh down the spirit if we let it. But, there really is no need for soul troubles. We are victors after all. And what good are victors if they have nothing to vanquish?
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In January 2022, the Canadian government enacted Bill C-4, effectively criminalizing Christian preaching, teaching, and counseling that upholds Biblical morality for human sexuality. Many pastors in Canada have determined to preach messages annually until the law is repealed and have invited American pastors to join them in proclaiming God’s truth about sexual sin and the gospel of grace.
The Bible teaches that when God judges a people, it often comes as a kind of suicidal sexual madness. Apart from God there is only sorrow and destruction, but sometimes when people defy God for a while, He turns them over to their degrading demands. Ezekiel describes the fruit of this “sexual liberation” as self-mutilation, murder of children, and complete destruction.
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As we begin a new year, it’s worth reviewing some of the most basic assignments we have in our marriages. The central paradigm is the gospel, and the central duties are love and respect. But as with many of these things that we hear often, it is incredibly important that we determine by God’s grace not to be merely hearers of the Word but doers.
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In our day, it is commonplace to hear messages on the need for work/life balance, the need for “me time,” and the dangers of workaholics, ambition, and stress. And I am convinced that 99% of it is a siren song for laziness, apathy, selfishness, and cowardice. The Lord created the world in six days and rested on the seventh day, and our Lord Jesus remade the world in three days and rested on the first day, re-affirming the Sabbath principle and transforming the first day into the Christian Sabbath (cf. Heb. 4:9-10). But the Kingdom of God is taken by a kind of holy violence, that is, great struggle and ambition (Mt. 11:12).
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The birth of Christ is the fulfillment of God’s covenant with Adam, renewed with Noah and Abraham and David. And the overarching promise is a promise of mercy and the remission of our sins, which is like the sun coming up after a long dark night.
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There is great confusion in the modern church over the doctrine of repentance – over the fact that the good news of the gospel includes the command to turn from sin and idols. This command, just the like the command to “believe,” is a command in which Christ gives what He commands. And what He gives is Himself. Therefore, repentance is entirely grace, but it is a potent and powerful grace because precisely because it is primarily aimed at God’s glory.
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One of the more puzzling lines in the Definition of Chalcedon is where it says, “as regards his manhood begotten, for us men and for our salvation, of Mary the virgin, the God-bearer.” What does it mean to confess that Mary is the “God-bearer?” We should note that this title is carefully qualified by the phrase “as regards his manhood,” which comes immediately after in the original Greek. But there is a very important point being underlined about the personal nature of our salvation. The One born in Bethlehem is the Logos/the eternal Word of the Father who embraced His creation for us men and for our salvation.
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As is our custom, we began using the Definition of Chalcedon this morning for our Creed, which was adopted and published in 451 A.D. The purpose of the Definition was to further defend the full divinity and humanity of Christ from several heresies, while preserving the Creator-creature distinction.
All non-Christian societies are fundamentally what Peter Jones calls “oneist.” Oneism teaches that everything is essentially one, part of the same basic substance, and therefore oneism is pantheistic. Christianity is the lone religion in the world that teaches “twoism,” that there are fundamentally two different realities: God and everything else. This has profound implications for all of life, including how we think about politics and power.
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Holidays are challenging times for many reasons: routines are off, people in our houses, being in other peoples’ houses, challenging people, missing loved ones, or the things that aren’t right or good, and simmering beneath it all, you’re a corrupt sinner. Sometimes another contributing factor is the contrast of really good things and really hard things at the same time in different ways that tempts us to discontent, anxiety, frustrations, bitterness, or despair. But Christ gives the strong gifts of contentment, peace, and joy as He teaches you to rest in Your Father.
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We live in a world full of anxiety and stress. And far too often, Christians default to unbelieving assumptions, diagnosing their problems as circumstances, environment, diet, or chemicals. While sometimes material changes can help, God’s Word says our central need is Christ. In Him is a peace that passes all understanding, a peace that is a fortress for our hearts and minds.
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Acts is about the continuing work of Jesus through His Spirit bringing the gospel from Jerusalem to the ends of the earth. Not only is Jesus doing this, but what we find is that He has also prepared the world for this: synagogues functioned as open doors for the gospel, but the Gentiles were also being prepared for faith. And Jesus continues to work this way, going ahead of His people, preparing the way, turning everything, even trouble and tribulation, into a door that leads to the Kingdom.
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A Universal Song from A Particular Situation
Psalm 3 in Light of 2 Samuel 14-19
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As we mark and celebrate the great work of the Spirit that we call the Protestant Reformation, we need to be mindful of remembering two things. The first is that we must recall the gospel of liberating grace, the gospel that is perennial good news, always good news. Sinners always need to able to hear the message of “no condemnation.” Secondly, we need to take care that we do not turn that glorious doctrine into a museum piece. The gospel is a message of forgiveness for any sin, and it is consequently therefore a message of truth that answers every lie—especially the lie that is current in our day.
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God’s way of conquest is not what we would have thought up. One of His central plays is provoking people to jealousy through His extravagant blessings. Sometimes this provocation turns angry and violent, but ultimately, the plan is for the ends of the earth to be saved.
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THE TEXT: 1 John 3:19–24
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We commonly sing and repeat that glorious refrain from Psalm 136 (and others) that the mercies of the Lord endure forever, and this is certainly true in a general way. But as we see here in Paul’s first recorded sermon, there is a particular meaning of that phrase and application in the covenant that God made with King David that was fulfilled in Jesus Christ and all who believe in Him. In other words, there’s a specific reason why David sung about it so much.
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The Holy Spirit is the personal Spirit of the Father and the Son. He is not an impersonal force. He leads the Church in fierce and zealous obedience. He is God’s fiery love and fellowship, and the center of His power is in the Word.
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When we began this series, we said that Acts is the continuing adventures of Jesus, that Acts is a book of action and adventure driven by the Spirit of God, and here we see that point in high relief. Walking with God is the greatest adventure.
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After the resurrection, Jesus said that since all authority had been given to Him, the apostles were to “therefore, go” disciple all the nations of the world. The center and most essential point of this mission is the regeneration of individual hearts. But the Bible teaches that this ordinarily happens through public and private, national and individual, external and internal means, all of which is not neat and tidy. The story of Peter and Cornelius demonstrates this, as does the controversy following. Jesus is at work by His Spirit ruling through the challenges and opportunities of making a new people and saving the nations of the world.
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One of the great lies of the Devil, embraced by modernity, is the inevitability of history – that time is like a stream, and you can’t stop it, you can’t reverse it, and everything that has come before is rushing down upon us. We see this in the victim-mentality of many: blaming childhood, parents, income level, minority status, abuse, addictions, or their oppressors, their governments, their bosses, or their persecutors.
But the Bible reveals to us a God who is before and outside of time and therefore not bound by time. He is Lord of time. And while there are many patterns and repeated themes (so learning from history is valuable), there is also true innovation, creativity, Reformation, and repentance (so freedom, responsibility, and surprising change are also possible). One of the great twists in human history was the gospel going to Gentile nations directly, tearing down the middle wall of separation between Jew and Gentile, destroying the enmity, and sanctifying them that they may all come to God in worship directly through faith and repentance in Jesus Christ.
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Satan is the “father of lies,” and this why those under his sway speak lies and murder with their words and deeds (Jn. 8:44). This is also why Christians are frequently attacked here by the Devil, just like the woman in the Garden in the beginning. The fundamental lie is about the goodness of God and His Word. But if we repudiate that lie, we will hate all other lies and love the truth.
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I don’t remember a time when I did not love Jesus. One of my earliest memories is being interviewed for membership in an OPC church by a couple of elders when I was four years old. I was baptized and became a communicant member shortly thereafter. I’ve always loved singing worship songs and hymns. Part of how I’ve always known the presence of the Holy Spirit is through the many times I’ve been convicted of sin.
One of the first times I remember sharing the gospel with someone was a neighborhood boy in Alaska who prayed with me and my brother to receive Christ. I was probably nine years old; he was probably around seven. My dad, an OPC minister, often took me around with him knocking on doors or walking through the park to share the gospel. Sometimes we would do a literature table at the local shopping mall.
Why do I begin here? Because “by the grace of God I am what I am, and his grace toward me was not in vain” (1 Cor. 15:10). This, in part, is my testimony of God’s grace in me, and if you have met Jesus, you have a story to tell as well – you have a story of God’s grace toward you. This is my gospel, my testimony of the gospel of free grace, the gospel of blood-bought forgiveness and freedom and unending goodness, through Jesus. This is also your gospel. It’s the same Jesus, the same grace, but you have a different story of the same grace that has not been in vain. This is why you need to learn to say, “this is my gospel.” This is your testimony.
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We live in a land that has no fear of God before their eyes, and right on schedule, neither do we honor our parents. If it is not going well for us in the land, this is one of the main things we must recover: the fifth commandment is the first command with a promise of blessing. The fear of the Lord and true justice go together (Ps. 19:9).
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In many ways, this passage is the hinge of the book of Acts. The whole book describes the continuing work of Jesus, and just as He promised, the goal is a mission from Jerusalem to the ends of the earth. Everything has been pointing to this: all the languages at Pentecost, Stephen’s message that God is not bound to one place, the conversion of the Samaritans, the baptism of the Ethiopian, the conversion of Saul, and now we come to Peter’s vision.
But while Jesus had clearly sent the apostles out to preach the gospel and disciple the nations, it had not yet been made clear that this meant that the Gentile nations could remain Gentile nations without converting to Judaism and still be full members of the household of God. Here, God declares the unclean nations to be clean. This means the nations can come to God. And since Jesus is Lord of the nations, this means that they will come.
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One of the things that is very striking and obvious if you look around on a Sunday morning is that we love children. The Bible teaches that children are the inheritance of the Lord, a great reward, and faithfully raised children are a central part of our warfare against all unbelief. And because of these things, someone might be forgiven for assuming that we must have some kind of rule against birth control or that we think that it is necessary for every family to have as many children as they physically can. But we don’t.
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A call to modesty is a call to glory. This is a call to all women and young ladies to true beauty. The Apostle Peter says that this beauty is the incorruptible kind which is precious in the sight of God.
In a sin-soaked culture that is saturated and darkened by immodesty, true modest beauty shines all the brighter, and points people away from self and to the God from whom all glory and beauty is derived.
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The Lordship of Jesus Christ means the submission and surrender and obedience of all. And this is good news because He died and rose again for our sins, and He knows what He’s doing – He is a gracious Lord. He rules for our happiness. But this may be one of the most hated Christian doctrines.
The lies of our flesh, the world, and the Devil say that God is withholding something from us, He has forgotten us, He would help but He can’t, or else that He isn’t really good. And these lies tempt us to panic, grasp, demand, get angry, and in various ways assert our own lordship which only makes us less happy. In this passage, Christ confronts the plans and misconceptions of Saul and Ananias, and what Jesus says to them, He says to every one of us: “arise and go.”
The Text: “And Saul, yet breathing out threatenings and slaughter against the disciples of the Lord, went unto the high priest, and desired of him letters to Damascus to the synagogues, that if he found any of this way, whether they were men or women, he might bring them bound unto Jerusalem…” (Acts 9:1-22).
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Having invaded the land of Samaria with His grace, Christ now sends an advance unit to Africa. And in so doing, Christ teaches us that the tip of the spear is the Word of God by which He comes to us and directs us where we should go and fills us with rejoicing.
The Text: “And the angel of the Lord spake unto Philip, saying, Arise, and go toward the south unto the way that goeth down from Jerusalem unto Gaza, which is desert. And he arose and went: and behold, a man of Ethiopia…” (Acts 8:26-40)
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Here we see the continuing conquest of Christ extending to the Samaritans. Colliding with their centuries of idolatry and syncretism, the Holy Spirit gets the victory and the Word goes forth with power. The message for us is to trust Him, trust His word, and not lose heart.
The Text: “And Saul was consenting unto his death. And at that time there was a great persecution against the church which was a Jerusalem; and they were all scattered abroad throughout the regions of Judea and Samaria, except the apostles…” (Acts 8:1-25)
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Today we consider Stephen’s martyrdom and his message to the Jewish leaders, that might be boiled down to the simple quotation from Isaiah: “Heaven is my throne and earth is my footstool, what house will you build me?” (Acts 7:49, Is. 66:1-2)
The Jewish leaders hated God, and this means that they used fastidious religious traditions to attempt to keep Him at bay. And so we too must be aware of this tendency in the Christian church. It is not enough that we be around the Word of God. We must listen and obey. We must humble ourselves and worship Him alone.
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One of the reasons Christians are not as bold as they ought to be is because they do not know what covenant they are of. We have heard the stories of saints who have smelled of heaven; they have sizzled with the aroma of angels. And this is just what we are after. Some, not knowing the kingdom of heaven, have looked upon such saints and mistaken their boldness for pride, their freedom for madness. Some believers, even, who have drifted too far from the Heavenly Father, have made this same misjudgment. Even so, this is what we are after: the full assurance of faith seen in the likes of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego before the fire, or Jonathan climbing up to the Philistine garrison, outnumbered.
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The Ascension of Jesus is one of the key glories of the gospel, and it really is part of the good news. Our Conquering King is our High Priest, and He has gone ahead of us, appearing in God’s presence for us.
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A minister friend of mine once said that parents don’t really get their report cards until they see their grandchildren thriving in the Lord. This means that our goal as parents should not only be to see our own children standing with us inflicting damage on the kingdom of darkness, but also see our grandchildren standing with us and peace upon Israel (cf. Ps. 128:6).
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The only way to be ready for death is to die before you die.
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Part of the problem modern Christians have is that we have abandoned the mission of the family and so the instructions often don’t make sense. But if the mission is to be fruitful, multiply, and take dominion of the world in obedience to Jesus, and if sexual intimacy, marriage, and children are more like a nuclear reactor, then the stakes are wonderfully high.
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The goal of parenting is not merely that our children would submit to the standard, but rather that they would love the standard (Dt. 6:5-7). Our goal is not merely that their faith would survive intact or that they would avoid various moral hazards. Our goal is that they would rise up with us and do damage to the Kingdom of darkness, that they would behazards to unbelief and immorality. We want to raise dangerous kids – children that hate the darkness even more than us, love Jesus even more than us, and drive the Devil and all his works further off the field.
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Broadly, you should think of training up children like teaching them to ride a bike. In the earliest years, you are doing everything for them. In elementary school, you begin letting your child make some decisions and balance for themselves, while you’re still hovering over everything. Finally, at some point in high school, you should let go, allowing them to ride for themselves before they actually leave home, while you’re still close by to catch them or help them up.
This means that you should think of parenting in the earliest years as a benevolent totalitarian dictatorship. It really should be full of joy, and you should do everything for them. Your job is to give them reality as best as you can.
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“While he was still speaking, Judas came, one of the twelve, and with him a great crowd with swords and clubs, from the chief priests and the elders of the people. Now the betrayer had given them a sign, saying, ‘The one I will kiss is the man; seize him.’ And he came up to Jesus at once and said, ‘Greetings, Rabbi!’ And he kissed him. Jesus said to him, ‘Friend,do what you came to do.’ Then they came up and laid hands on Jesus and seized him” (Mt. 26:47–50).
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Augustine says that, “Pride is the beginning of sin.” Pride is a stiff-necked obsession with self, thinking higher of yourself, your looks, your abilities than you ought (Rom. 12:3). And pride is often highly religious and spiritual: “men shall be lovers of their own selves, covetous, boasters, proud… highminded, lovers of pleasures more than lovers of God; having a form of godliness, but denying the power thereof…” (2 Tim. 3:2, 4-5).
This is Palm Sunday, the Sunday before Easter, when we remember the triumphal entry of Jesus into Jerusalem as the greatest conquering King of all time, and precisely because He is the greatest, he came to defeat our greatest enemies: sin, death, and Satan, with pride at the heart of all of it. Our sermon text is after Palm Sunday, on the night of the Passover that week, but it summarizes the mission of Jesus well as He labors to teach His prideful disciples that He is establishing a Kingdom of Humble Servants, a Kingdom of Left-handed Power.
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After touching Jesus’ hands and side and believing, Jesus said to Thomas, “because you have seen me, you have believed: blessed are they who have not seen, and yet have believed” (Jn. 20:29). There is a particular blessing in hearing the good news that Jesus is risen from the dead and believing. In fact, while sight has a good function, it is not the controlling or foundational faculty. What you believe colors what you can or will be able to see. Living by faith doesn’t mean living in an imaginary world; it means living with the certain knowledge that some things are true even though you can’t see them and with that knowledge seeing everything more clearly.
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As we are a congregation of fruitful families, we will spend the next five Sundays reviewing what the Bible says about raising children. This week we begin with the big picture goals of Faith, Fellowship, and Fruitfulness, and from there we will proceed to parenting young children, teenagers, courtship and marriage, and finally grandparents and grandchildren.
I want to frame this series not merely as common sense and biblical principles (although that’s true), I also want to frame this in terms of our cultural and political moment. When Moses preached the sermon series of Deuteronomy, he was giving Joshua and the elders their marching orders for conquest. While our culture self-immolates, many thoughtful Christians ask themselves, “What can we do?” There are many things we can and should do, but one of them is gather ammo. And by that I mean, have children and train them well (Ps. 127).
Training them well begins with a firm faith in God the Rewarder. There is an enormous difference between parenting in faith and parenting in fear. One fills a home with tension, stress, and constant anxiety; the other fills a home with relief, peace, and joy.
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We often think of boldness and courage as breaking the rules, but in a fallen world, it is often just the opposite. True boldness is submission to God’s rules when the world wants to rebel. Jesus was the courageous one who submitted to His Father in order to save the world.
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Keeping children engaged in worship isn't an easy task, but nothing worthwhile is. By training them up in this way, you are helping them grow up into faithful parishioners. You are helping them become like Christ.
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The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom. This is not a craven fear, but an honest, reverent, and clean fear. It acknowledges that God is perfectly holy, almighty, and the highest and greatest, and He knows all things, and all that we are is laid bare before Him in humility.
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In God’s good wisdom, He has designed the family to be a great force for welcoming others into the life of the church. And in a God-honoring household, one that is full of joy and well-ordered, the light of the gospel shines very bright. This is especially true in a dark culture where the destructive consequences of sin are most keenly felt in the home and in families.
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Unto You I lift up my eyes,
O You who dwell in the heavens.
Behold, as the eyes of servants look to the hand of their masters,
As the eyes of a maid to the hand of her mistress,
So our eyes look to the Lord our God,
Until He has mercy on us.
Have mercy on us, O Lord, have mercy on us!
For we are exceedingly filled with contempt.
Our soul is exceedingly filled
With the scorn of those who are at ease,
With the contempt of the proud (Ps. 123).
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In conclusion, like King David we must seek the Lord, and seek Him rightly, and offer Him worship as He has commanded.
But this worship does not terminate here. It is meant to flow into our homes, into our neighborhoods, throughout our land, and throughout the earth.
With David, let us say to all with our words and with our actions, Come! Come, worship the Lord with us in the beauty of holiness!
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Romans 13:14 says that you are to put on Christ. Does this mean that when you do this you will instantly reflect Christ in all of his holiness and righteousness? Not at all. Christ is your new uniform. Yes, it’s way too big for you. But you’ll grow into it. You put on Christ that you might become like him.
Put on Christ this week. Plan your days like Christ. Go to bed like Christ. Do your work like Christ. Browse the internet like Christ. When you do this, you’re not being a hypocrite. You’re just showing that you want to be like your older brother.
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Text: Acts 3
This passage is about the power of Jesus to completely forgive sinners. Jesus did not die and rise again in order to make forgiveness a possibility. He did not die and rise again in order that if you do your part, He will do His. No, He died and rose again in order to raise powerless-lame sinners from their guilt and shame, in order to guarantee that times of refreshing would come from the presence of the Lord.
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Christians often feel squeamish about Old Testament passages where God commands the complete destruction of cities: men, women, and children. But this is because we have often imbibed a sentimentalism that is not really Christian, and it has had disastrous effects on the Church.
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When dealing with the sin and affliction of anxiety, we can be prone to turn great Bible passages into trite and simplistic answers.
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Text: Acts 2:36–47
When the Spirit is at work, God’s covenant promises are proclaimed clearly, and they prick human hearts and drive them to repentance. And instead of sin driving a wedge between people, the Spirit begins knitting them together in glad fellowship around the worship of the Lord.
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Acts is the record of what Jesus continued to do and teach, and this includes the seemingly mundane, ordinary work of prayer, Bible reading, gathering together with God’s people, and obeying Him. The Risen Jesus works through these ordinary means.
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In this famous text, Jesus pours out His Spirit on His people, and the apostles, led by Peter, begin to testify boldly that Jesus is risen from the dead and is Lord and Christ of the world.
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When Jesus ascended, He promised that when He got to Heaven, He would prove it by baptizing His people with the Holy Spirit, making them powerful witnesses of His resurrection and the Kingdom. He did, and then they did. And that’s how we’re here.
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So with a heart of gratitude and trust, hear the Word. But don’t stop there. Let the Word move through your ears and settle down in your heart. And then in faith watch it flow out – adorning all that you say and do, to the glory of God.
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The book of Acts has often been called “The Acts of the Apostles,” which is certainly what the book describes, primarily beginning with Peter in Jerusalem and then following Paul’s missionary journeys all the way to where the book ends in Rome. But many commentators have pointed out that it is particularly the Holy Spirit who empowers and drives the ministry of the Apostles, and so others have suggested a revised title “The Acts of the Holy Spirit,” which is also good and helpful. But if we read the first sentence of Acts, Luke seems to have yet another layer in mind: these are the Acts and Words of Jesus continued.
The opening line of Acts also highlights the nature of the book: it’s a book of action and words, adventures and messages: from jailbreaks to shipwrecks to sermons, miracles, baptisms in the middle of the night, mobs, beatings, and conspiracies, it ranks among the most fast-paced adventure stories of the Bible. And Luke is teaching us that these adventures are what Jesus does through His Spirit, working through His people.
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When Christ is made manifest to the world, He is either worshiped and adored, or hated and reviled. To some He is the aroma of life leading to life, and to others He is the aroma of death leading to death (2 Cor. 2:16).
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The Bible says that a man who doesn’t sin with his words is perfect and has tamed something wilder than beasts and serpents (Js. 3:2-8). If this is the case ordinarily, how much more so are we up against it in a world that has embraced profanity, perversion, lies, and violent words and has the technological ability to send and multiply them exponentially around the world?
But this is one of the marks of a new heart in Christ. No man can tame the tongue (Js. 3:8), and out of the abundance of the heart, the mouth speaks (Lk. 6:45). Therefore, only a new heart from God can turn the tongue into a well of blessing, and when He does, it is exponential blessing.
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As the Christian foundations of our society continue to crumble, animosity is the inevitable result, because in this New World that Christ rules, there is no other integration point, no other peace, no other fellowship. It is literally Christ or nothing. But this doesn’t stop rebellious men in their pride from forging false integration points, politically, culturally, or racially, but since they are all idolatrous rivals to Christ, they will only succeed in deforming men, inciting malice and envy (Ps. 115:8). Our presbytery recently adopted the following statements in order to address our current situation, proposing them to the full CREC to be adopted as memorials.
On Ethnic Balance: We believe the human tendency to congregate around shared affections is natural and can be good—it creates the blessing of cultures and subcultures, for example. But as with all natural goods in a fallen world, there is a temptation to exalt it to a position of unbiblical importance, thus making it an idol. While an ethnic heritage is something to be grateful for, and which may be preserved in any way consistent with the law of God, it is important to reject every form of identity politics, including kinism—whether malicious, vainglorious, or ideologically separatist/segregationist.
On Anti-Semitism: We believe the conversion of the Jews is key to the success of Christ’s Great Commission, and it is incumbent upon us to pray and labor toward that end. While, apart from Christ, the Jews are as all others––alienated from God—they have remained an object of God’s care because the gifts and calling of God are irrevocable. God’s plan for converting them is for them to see Gentile nations under the blessings of Christ’s lordship, thus leading them to long for the same. Hence, the cancerous sin of anti-Semitism has no place in God’s plan.
King's Cross Church is a member congregation of the CREC in Moscow, ID. Visit our website at https://kingscrossmoscow.com.
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Christmas is the celebration of the birth of the great Dragon-slayer, and in Him, the birth of a race of dragon slayers. So lift up your heads. Lift up your hearts. Christ is born. The Seed of the Woman has come. The dragon has been mortally wounded, and you have been set free. So take up your arms. Confess your sins. Forgive one another. Rejoice and sing and celebrate. This your testimony, and by this testimony you overcome the dragon.
King's Cross Church is a member congregation of the CREC in Moscow, ID. Visit our website at https://kingscrossmoscow.com.
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The Song of Songs is both a love song between Solomon and his wife, as well as an allegory of the love of God for Israel, prefiguring the incarnate love of Christ for His Bride, the Church.
When the Word became flesh, He “tabernacled” among us, dwelling with us like a faithful bridegroom, come for His faithless bride. When He came, He came to build a new house, the Church, which turns out is a feasting hall, but this is the kind of festival that organizes the participants into platoons and regiments. The love of God establishes the armies of God.
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The first Christmas was extravagant. God did not merely send angels and dreams and give barren women birth. He did not merely involve the stars and stir up the Roman Emperor to perform a census. He not only involved magi from the East, and shepherds in the fields, and governors and soldiers, on top of all of these things and many more, God Himself came. The Word became flesh and dwelt among us.
King's Cross Church is a member congregation of the CREC in Moscow, ID. Visit our website at https://kingscrossmoscow.com.
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So in all your preparation this week involving gift wrapping and cookie baking, do not neglect your own hearts and the hearts of your children. Humble yourselves before the Lord’s appearing. Anticipate His arrival. Tell the story again and again to your family, increasing their joy and wonder in Him.
For the Lord is near, the Lord is coming, the darkness is fleeing and the light of Christ is dawning. So lift up your heads and receive Your King.
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King's Cross Church is a member congregation of the CREC in Moscow, ID. Visit our website at https://kingscrossmoscow.com.
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Revelation is a notoriously challenging book of the Bible, but like the rest of Scripture, it was written for our edification. Much of it is written in highly symbolic language, but it was written to “reveal” the truth not confuse or obscure it. One of the interpretive keys comes at the very beginning: “The Revelation of Jesus Christ, which God have unto him, to shew unto his servants things which must shortly come to pass… Blessed is he that readeth and they that hear… for the time is at hand” (Rev. 1:1, 3).
What John saw in the Revelation was an apocalyptic vision of things that had happened or were about to happen in the first century. We noted last week that what Jesus described as the end of the world was the end of the Old Covenant world and the inauguration of a New Heavens and New Earth upon His Ascension. Likewise, here we see another angle on the same events: the defeat of Satan and His kingdom by the death, burial, resurrection, and ascension of Jesus.
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The coming of the Messiah Jesus at Bethlehem was in many ways the end of the world. It was the end of an old world and at the same time the beginning a new world. In the old world Satan, Sin, and Death had a fierce power. The god of that age blinded many, and they served many idols and false gods viciously. The light of God was relatively faint and shadowy, largely limited to a tiny nation in the middle east.
But with the coming of Christ, Satan has been struck with a fatal blow, and now sin and death are on the run. Satan has been cast down and now Christ is seated at the right hand of the Father. This means that we live in a radically new world, a new heavens and a new earth, and we are witnesses of a New Jerusalem coming down out of Heaven.
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This longing for our Lord’s coming must not be confined to tidy church calendars and liturgical seasons, useful as they are. Rather, it should be one of our foundational prayers throughout the year and in all circumstances. Our most fundamental need is for the Lord Jesus to come.
King's Cross Church is a member congregation of the CREC in Moscow, ID. Visit our website at https://kingscrossmoscow.com.
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Our confusions surrounding marriage are legion, and therefore it is no surprise that our confusions bleed into how we raise our sons and daughters or how we think about pursuing marriage or try to function within marriage. But all of these things are related and relate back to Christ and His union with His Bride, the Church. Our theology comes out our fingertips.
King's Cross Church is a member congregation of the CREC in Moscow, ID. Visit our website at https://kingscrossmoscow.com.
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So where does this Reformation start? It begins here. It begins with our corporate worship of the Triune God, and then flows into our families, our work, and our communities. For out of the Temple flows a living river that reaches to the ends of the earth, bringing new life everywhere it goes.
King's Cross Church is a member congregation of the CREC in Moscow, ID. Visit our website at https://kingscrossmoscow.com.
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The goal is not to get your kids to submit to the standard; your goal is to get your kids to love the standard: to love Christ, to love His ways, to love His people all their days.
King's Cross Church is a member congregation of the CREC in Moscow, ID. Visit our website at https://kingscrossmoscow.com.
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If your relationship with your parents or in-laws is strained, if there are any difficulties present, that is not a reason to leave honor behind. Rather, honoring them is the path forward.
Love covers a multitude of sins. And if there is any sin present that cannot be covered much longer, then you need honor to be the atmosphere in which it is eventually addressed.
So as you begin to make those holiday to-do lists, include on there the need to prepare your hearts in order to express honor toward your parents.
For it is in the soil of honor that God is pleased to grow the fruit of love, joy, and peace.
King's Cross Church is a member congregation of the CREC in Moscow, ID. Visit our website at https://kingscrossmoscow.com.
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Man is the glory of God, and woman is the glory of man (1 Cor. 11:7). And far from a demotion, that means that woman is the glory of the glory. But the Bible teaches that this glory is the result of sacrificial love. The love of Christ is at the center, driving this glory in the church until it fills the world, but husbands, in particular, are called to imitate that sacrificial love cultivating that glory in nourishing and cherishing their wives just as Christ does the church.
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Love is never abstract. It is concrete. It can be touched and felt. Love is expressed in verbs. And love is a choice, not just some feeling that may or may not come. We must choose to love.
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You don't really have to remind American Christians that we are sliding down a slippery slope. We all sense that the wheels are coming off. It is an easy time to be a defeatist and an escapist. But Scripture won't let us curl up in the corner. It will not let us freeze up and wait for Jesus to return and beam us up out of our present day Sodom. "But," someone says, "there are giants in the land." Yes, indeed there are. And remember how it went for Israel in the wilderness when they refused to go conquer those sons of Canaan.
Our retreatism is not fruit of our humility, "Well, I just have to know my limitations. I'm simply to weak for that fight." That's not meekness talking. That is unbelief. God has shown us this message many times: When Christ takes the throne, he rules. When he takes the throne, he advances his kingdom. And we must offer ourselves freely in the day of his power (Psalm 110:3).
Today is the day of his power. Christ does now what David did in our passage. David ascended to the throne only a few chapters before in the book of Samuel. Now he conquers from that throne. Likewise, Christ has ascended to His heavenly throne. And now he rules victoriously from that throne.
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When God unites a man and woman in the covenant of marriage, they truly become one flesh. This is why divorce is always violent (Mal. 2:16). This is not merely a picture; it is a covenantal reality. Therefore, a man’s love and care for his wife is always simultaneously for himself. Like Christ, a man is always presenting his wife to himself, the only question is whether he is presenting glory to himself or not.
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We come to the next verse in Ephesians 5, turning to the Christian wife’s duty to embrace the glory of imitating the church’s obedience to Christ in her obedience in everything to her own husband. The world calls this oppression and tyranny, but we call it glory under God’s blessing.
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I therefore, a prisoner for the Lord, urge you to walk in a manner worthy of the calling to which you have been called, 2 with all humility and gentleness, with patience, bearing with one another in love, 3 eager to maintain the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace. 4 There is one body and one Spirit—just as you were called to the one hope that belongs to your call— 5 one Lord, one faith, one baptism, 6 one God and Father of all, who is over all and through all and in all. 7 But grace was given to each one of us according to the measure of Christ’s gift. 8 Therefore it says, “When he ascended on high he led a host of captives, and he gave gifts to men.” 9 (In saying, “He ascended,” what does it mean but that he had also descended into the lower regions, the earth? 10 He who descended is the one who also ascended far above all the heavens, that he might fill all things.) 11 And he gave the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, the shepherds and teachers, 12 to equip the saints for the work of ministry, for building up the body of Christ, 13 until we all attain to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to mature manhood, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ…” (Eph. 4:1–13 ESV).
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King's Cross Church is a member congregation of the CREC in Moscow, ID. Visit our website at https://kingscrossmoscow.com.
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The central command given to husbands for their duty to their wives is “love.” We live in a world that has willfully rejected God’s love, and substituted all manner of madness in its place, but it is the duty of husbands in particular to learn what God’s love means and embody it toward their wives, without any excuses or complaints. Here, we are told specifically that the action of love is sacrifice and the effect is holiness and cleansing.
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Again, we face the scorn and mockery of a world in rebellion to God, but we are not ashamed and we will not apologize for the headship of a man over his wife, since it is a glorious picture of Jesus Christ our Head and our Savior. In fact, we insist that as men repent and turn to Christ, this is one of the central places for the gospel is proclaimed and bears much fruit.
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King's Cross Church is a member congregation of the CREC in Moscow, ID. Visit our website at https://kingscrossmoscow.com.
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Thomas Aquinas mused that Jesus had to call Lazarus specifically by his name. Why did he think this? Because Christ’s word was so powerful that all the dead would have been awakened if he had not limited the command to that one man. What a wonderful and glorious thing to imagine! Our Lord having to focus the power of His Word on one, lest all those in the earth came wandering out of their graves prematurely…
And this same Word, that created the world out of nothing and raised Lazarus from the dead, has called you—and He called you by name.
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The submission of a woman to her own husband in the Lord is considered more and more foreign in our modern world, but it is the clear teaching of Scripture and will be a mark of Christian civilization to the end of the world.
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King's Cross Church is a member congregation of the CREC in Moscow, ID. Visit our website at https://kingscrossmoscow.com.
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As we begin a series on biblical marriage basics, we begin with two primary characteristics that are often missing from marriages: gratitude and the fear of the Lord. These are characteristics that may seem opposed to one another, but if we understand the gospel rightly, they actually go quite well together.
Consider this series review for those of you who are married, and preparation for those of you preparing for marriage. You will not make much progress in Christian marriage unless you are deeply grateful to God and you fear Him.
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The Authority of Scripture #3
Justice, freedom, and love are the buzz words of our culture, but it is not at all clear that many of our neighbors know what these words mean. The Bible teaches that all three of these gifts originate in the Triune God and are only received and enjoyed through the Cross of Jesus.
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The Authority of Scripture #2There might not be a more contested topic in the modern era than human sexuality, and this is because a constellation of cultural leaders going back to Darwin, Rousseau, Freud, and Marx have successfully discipled a number of generations in their claims that human freedom, happiness, and fulfillment come from individuals following their own feelings and desires, and sexual desires have come to be seen as the center of what it means to be human. While it is sometimes claimed that Jesus had nothing to say about these things, that is simply not true. And here, in this text, is one such place where Jesus gives us His authoritative word on human sexuality. It has been a massive failure of the Christian Church not to declare these words authoritatively and stand behind them with loving discipline.
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The Authority of Scripture #1 | Text: Col. 1:15–17Christians do not merely believe that God created all things from nothing and an intelligent design of the universe, we believe that the only fully rational accounting of the universe, science, logic, reason, and human experience begins with the authority of Scripture, submits to the supremacy of Jesus Christ in all things, and surrenders in glad worship at His throne.
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Hospitality is one the central expressions of the Christian gospel, holiness, and the glory of God. Hospitality is an essential way we are commanded to love one another, and we love because God loved us first in Christ. And this is one of the central ways God has determined to proclaim to the world that the Father has sent the Son and draw the world to Himself (Jn. 17:23).
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This chapter closes Leviticus by underlining the true covenant between God and His people through vows. Not only does God take His Word, and the obedience (or disobedience) of His people seriously (cf. Lev. 26), God takes the words of His people seriously. This is why Jesus cautions us against thoughtless vows. God keeps covenant, and His people are to be people of their word.
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Text: Philippians 3.
It is an eternal privilege and grace that Christ has made Himself known to you. That He has placed His name upon you. So as you work hard in this community, as you pour yourselves out into your children, as you strive diligently in your occupations – keep Christ central.
It is first All of Christ, and that is what flows into All of Life. Never find yourself leaning upon your own righteousness, but continually throw yourself upon Christ as your only righteousness.
To know Christ as your righteousness may seem like a simple thing. And in one sense it truly is, it is perfectly and gloriously simple. And yet it is the most important thing.
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Text: Leviticus 26
Christians frequently fail to recognize how all of life relates to God. While we rightly reject the “prosperity gospel” that treats God like a vending machine, we must also reject various forms of Deism that assume that God is not active in the world, personally blessing and cursing. While God’s wisdom is far beyond our understanding, and the secret things belong to Him, those things that He has revealed, belong to us and to our children forever, namely the covenant, God’s personal promise of blessing for faithfulness and cursing for unfaithfulness (Dt. 29:29).
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Part of the advantage of taking larger sections together is seeing how seemingly different laws actually fit together. Here, we have a passage that begins with worship, flows out into criminal justice, and concludes with Israelite economic policies. The overarching point is that justice and economics are always thoroughly theological matters. We are always appealing to God or some god, when we adjudicate crimes, buy, sell, lease, or forgive. There is always an ultimate standard. It is not whether but which.
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Forgiveness of sins is the foundation of Christian joy. You can face very difficult circumstances, even terrible and horrible things, but if your sins are forgiven, you won’t lose your joy.
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Food is right at the center of world. When God created man in His own image, He put him in a garden full of food with a Tree of Life in the midst of the garden. And the recurring picture of salvation and redemption is a feast: “And in this mountain shall the Lord of hosts make unto all people a feast of fat things, a feast of wines on the lees, of fat things full of marrow, of wines on the lees. He shall swallow up death in victory; and the Lord God will wipe away tears from off all faces…” (Isa. 25:6–7).
The Bible closes with John’s vision of the Marriage Supper of the Lamb (Rev. 19:7–8). And at the center of the Christian life, Jesus has given us a meal, a feast of life and joy and rest.
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The central message of the Bible is God’s victory over death through resurrection. As the ministers of God in the Old Testament, the priests of Israel were required to picture God’s coming victory over death in a number of ways. While some of the particulars have changed in the New Covenant, the principles really have not. What the Old Testament pictured, Christ has accomplished as our High Priest, and He has made us a holy priesthood for God.
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On Friday, June 24th, the United States Supreme Court handed down its Dobbs v. Jackson decision reversing the 1973 ruling Roe vs. Wade. In Roe v. Wade, the Supreme Court had claimed that a woman had a constitutional “right to privacy” which included the right to abortion up to the point of viability (the baby could live outside the womb). While constitutionally and morally States had an obligation to ignore and defy Roe, they did not, and this led to one of the most permissive cultures of abortion in the world, rivaling communist countries like China and North Korea.
The Dobbs case originated in Mississippi with a 15 week ban, directly challenging the “viability” standard. Justice Alito’s majority opinion argues that there is no right to abortion in the Constitution and therefore, the issue must be decided by the states. This is a most welcome reversal, but for Christians, it is not yet the full-throated defense of pre-born life we are working toward. The constitution and declaration of independence everywhere assume the right to life granted directly from God, and therefore, it really should not be a matter of democratic vote. But we rejoice in this great deliverance, and we look to Christ to drive this bloody scourge fully from our land.
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Modern man prides himself in not being violent and savage, and yet we have butchered 60 million babies and counting. We have high rates of drug and alcohol and porn addiction, suicide, incarceration, and so on. We sacrifice babies to our Molech, and we sacrifice millions more in the slow cooker of government programs and prisons. We have rejected Jesus and His easy yoke, calling it harsh, and we have demanded the demented yoke of humanistic hubris and tyrannical government. And the only way out of this mess is through the Cross of Jesus.
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We have a ton of work to do. But we do not work from a place of fear. We work from a place of gratitude, a place of deep thanksgiving, because we serve a God who hears the prayers of His people, a God who saves. And we know this because we have seen it with our own eyes, and because we remember.
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Leviticus is sometimes called the Sermon on the Mount of the Old Testament, since like the Sermon on the Mount in Matthew, it is a collection of moral instructions for God’s people, including the specific command that is the second greatest commandment: “love your neighbor as yourself.” Repeated twice in this chapter, we should understand the whole chapter (and Jesus says the whole Old Testament) as a lesson on that point.
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Do you truly know God as your Father? There is only way to Him, and it is through His Son. And this is Good News for you today.
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The Psalms are the war songs of the Church. The Psalms are the steak and potatoes for men and women, boys and girls committed to fighting the world, the flesh, and the devil. Do you want joy in your home? Sing Psalms around your dinner table. Do you want to drive away temptation, bad attitudes, hard hearts, and just plain taunt the Devil? Sing Psalms in your car. Do you want God to grant Reformation to our land and silence the proud and the foolish? Sing Psalms every chance you get.
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Leviticus 18–19 are the hinge of the book of Leviticus, the first half broadly sketching our duties to God (1-17) and the second half our duties to our neighbor (18-27). In this, we see the great indicative/imperative distinction that echoes through the rest of Scripture and Christian theology. We do because of what God has done. We do because of what God has made us to be. So the center of life is the blood of Christ, and everything else flows from there.
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The word “glory” means heavy, and so it is, but then when you receive the glory of God, you find that you can- not imagine it any other way. The yoke of Christ is light and only gets lighter, but the burden of the world, the flesh, and the devil is crushing. The gift of children and parenthood is heavy, but it is heavy like a table full of food, like a basket full of fresh fruit.
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We live in a land full of religious people who don’t know Jesus, who have not died, whose lives are not hid with Christ in God, and therefore, they cannot set their minds on things above and therefore they cannot put to death the sins in their flesh.
Those who go through religious motions are hypocrites because they know that they cannot actually stop sinning. They talk about sin and grace, but they don’t actually know what those words mean. But those who have met Jesus, who have truly been born again know that Jesus has ascended into Heaven, and they know this because they have miraculously been able to put their sin to death.
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As we have noted previously, sinful humanity hates God, and therefore since it cannot actually strike God, it strikes His image wherever it can be found. This is why there is such vehemence against men and women, and this is why the covenant of marriage has been a central target. The Christian response to all of these attacks should be to double down, recognizing the potency of being joyful men and women and honoring marriage in particular.
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The glory of a woman is her beauty, and but real Biblical beauty is not mere externals but something far deeper and richer and incorruptible that cultivates and glorifies life. Man is the glory of God and woman is the glory of man, and this means that she is the glory of the glory. She makes the human race shine. The center of this glory is the wisdom of motherhood, through building and making homes where life is conceived, blessed, enriched, and loved.
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God isn’t keeping you out. Only sin keeps us out. But the promise is glorious: if we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us and cleanse us from all unrighteousness. God really is easy to please.
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Today we look particularly at the glory of men, and the Bible teaches that the glory of men is their strength. That strength is for sacrificial love and leadership in homes, churches, and the broader world.
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We must view this gathering as both a place to receive from God, but also as a place to serve him.
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Text: John 21
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King's Cross Church is a member congregation of the CREC in Moscow, ID. Visit our website at https://kingscrossmoscow.com.
Facebook: https://facebook.com/kingscrossmoscow
If joy is not driving your response and resistance, it isn’t a Christian response or Christian resistance. Joy is what allows us to walk away whistling, and joy is what allows us to see the appropriate response. We must not be fearful or wrathful. Jesus commands us to rejoice.
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King's Cross Church is a member congregation of the CREC in Moscow, ID. Visit our website at https://kingscrossmoscow.com.
Facebook: https://facebook.com/kingscrossmoscow
A central aspect of this community that we are seeking to grow is hospitality. We believe in welcoming strangers, feeding the hungry, and befriending the lonely. It was not good for man to be alone in the beginning, and that was not just talking about bachelors; it was talking about community. We are talking about the work of the Spirit in the Church, conforming us more and more into the image of Jesus Christ. This happens around conversations after church, meals in one another’s homes, play dates, business ventures, prayer, and worship.
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King's Cross Church is a member congregation of the CREC in Moscow, ID. Visit our website at https://kingscrossmoscow.com.
Facebook: https://facebook.com/kingscrossmoscow
Text: John 20
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King's Cross Church is a member congregation of the CREC in Moscow, ID. Visit our website at https://kingscrossmoscow.com.
Facebook: https://facebook.com/kingscrossmoscow
Text: Matt. 11:20–30.
We were thankful to have James White preach the Word during his recent stay in Moscow, ID.
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King's Cross Church is a member congregation of the CREC in Moscow, ID. Visit our website at https://kingscrossmoscow.com.
Facebook: https://facebook.com/kingscrossmoscow
On this day and throughout this season, we say, He is risen/He is risen indeed! Our mouths are full of this blessing. And so it is that God would have us, His people, have resurrection mouths, Easter mouths. Mouths full of resurrection blessing and life.
But it’s so easy whether by long bad habits or surprise disappointments or festering bitterness or anger for our words to be ugly, biting, resentful, malicious. But all of those words, the words that bite and devour, the words that criticize and accuse, they are words of fear and despair. They are words of the grave. They are words of death and decay. But when we say Christ is risen, we cannot despair. We cannot fear any more.
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King's Cross Church is a member congregation of the CREC in Moscow, ID. Visit our website at https://kingscrossmoscow.com.
Facebook: https://facebook.com/kingscrossmoscow
The Bible teaches that the resurrection of Jesus is an historical fact with cosmic ramifications. The resurrection of Jesus establishes the forgiveness of human sins, the bodily resurrection of all believers, and the renewal of all things. And so the resurrection of Jesus is the ground of all Christian hope.
King's Cross Church is a member congregation of the CREC in Moscow, ID. Visit our website at https://kingscrossmoscow.com.
Facebook: https://facebook.com/kingscrossmoscow
If you want to be saved from political tyranny and oppression, you must first have Christ wash your feet, which is to say, He must wash you from your sins. —Toby Sumpter
King's Cross Moscow: https://kingscrossmoscow.com
Facebook: https://facebook.com/kingscrosskirk
Psalm 118 is quoted at least a dozen times in the New Testament, and is used in all four of the Gospels to describe Jesus’ triumphal entry into Jerusalem. This Psalm found its real fulfillment in Jesus, who has become the salvation of the Lord.
King's Cross Church is a member congregation of the CREC in Moscow, ID. Visit our website at https://kingscrossmoscow.com.
Facebook: https://facebook.com/kingscrossmoscow