bpchurch Sermons

It's our 160th anniversary as a church and many of you have worked hard to put together a wonderful celebration. This is a good time to look back over God's faithfulness across the years, decades, even centuries, as we look forward to where the Lord leads us next. Just a few years after this church began, in the midst of some difficulties and uncertainties, Rev. John J. Clark preached a message to the church titled "Go Forward." This Sunday we're going to hear again from the essentials he preached to the church then, which remain our essentials today as we seek to go forward. Join us in looking back at what God has done, that we too might Go Forward into what God is doing.

Have you ever tried to hide a problem rather than deal with it? For instance, maybe you start hearing a funny noise from your car, and so you just turn up the radio to drown it out. Or maybe there's a fun-ny smell, (like mildew) in your house, and so you decide just to plug in an air freshener. Often times it feels like a lot less trouble in the short term to hide our problems, but in the end, it often makes them worse. This week in Psalm 32 we will see what happens when we try to hide our sin from God rather than letting Him deal with it.

God's Greatest Work

Psalm 19

In Psalm 19, we read of God's greatest work, which shows his glory in ways that nothing else can. But God's greatest work is not the heavens and the earth. His greatest work is not even the Law or the Psalms. What is God's greatest work? Let's talk about it on Sunday.

In Psalm 16, David calls out to the Lord for protection. He is in danger; hitmen are watching for an opportunity to ambush him. David has been anointed to be Israel's king and yet he is banished from the royal court. He is hunted as an outlaw instead of cheered as Israel's champion. It may seem that David has reason to grumble, "where is the fulfillment of God's promise?" Yet, David finds contentment in the Lord's presence, even in desert places. In these difficult times, God gives David the words which will ultimately point Israel and us to our true hope, Jesus the Messiah. Read 1 Samuel 19 for the likely background to Psalm 16, then we'll talk about it on Sunday.

We normally use a calendar to look ahead and plan what's coming. But God's people used a calendar to remind them of what he has done. We too need to look back and remember, because often we don't really know what's ahead. Whatever does come, we'll be more ready for it if we have been remember-ing what God has done.

Psalm 95 is probably a psalm from Israel's calendar. It calls them to rejoice in who God is and what he has done, to help them not fear what lies ahead. It's a psalm that invites us to rejoice in faith and soften our hearts. Come, this Sunday, "let us sing unto the Lord!"

Over the next couple of clear summer nights, go outside after dark and take a look at the sky, away from artificial lights if you can. What do you see? What does it tell you about God? What does the vastness of God's created universe tell you about you? It should make you feel kind a small, and yet it could make you, in humility, stand tall! What do I mean? We'll talk about it on Sunday.

Join us as we start a new series in the Psalms this summer. I have found that many people go to the Psalms for comfort and encouragement, and you can undoubtedly find both of those in many of them. But you will also find that many of them confront us; they confront our wrong thinking about God and our focus on ourselves. Psalm 1-2 form an introduction to the book as a whole, and they present two types of people: the righteous who meditate on God's Word day and night and the rebellious who have set themselves against the Lord. We are inclined to put ourselves in category one, but let's look at Psalm 2 this week and see how this might confront our thinking. I encourage you to read both Psalms 1 and 2 this weekend.

We love the ironic surprise of Luke 24: the women at the tomb and the two on the road to Emmaus. Night is turned to day, their despair is turned to day; why were they looking for the living among the dead?! The answer is that they weren't looking for the living, they were expecting that Jesus was dead. Sure, they should have known better: "Remember how he told you..." (24:6). But then again, we can't be too hard on them, we also should know better. You see, often our perspective is also still stuck in the past - how everything was before. We too need to remember what he has told us and how that changes everything.

We love the ironic surprise of Luke 24: the women at the tomb and the two on the road to Emmaus. Night is turned to day, their despair is turned to day; why were they looking for the living among the dead?! The answer is that they weren't looking for the living, they were expecting that Jesus was dead. Sure, they should have known better: "Remember how he told you..." (24:6). But then again, we can't be too hard on them, we also should know better. You see, often our perspective is also still stuck in the past - how everything was before. We too need to remember what he has told us and how that changes everything.

When we come the crucifixion story in the second half of Luke 23, we expect the focus to be on Jesus and his sufferings on the cross for us. Surprisingly, much more of Luke's writing is focused on the people gathered around the cross. There are three groups in particular: the religious rulers, the sol-diers, and the criminals who ridicule, mock, and rage against Jesus. And yet, it is from these three most unlikely groups that God then does something amazing - do you see it?