Fellowship Reformed Church of Holland

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Rising to Wisdom | 1 Corinthians 1-3

On Sunday, our guest preacher was Matt Scogin, President of Hope College. He shared the Word from the Apostle Paul’s letter to the church in Corinth. The church in Corinth had been very divided and Paul gives insight on how to rise strong from this season of division by making a distinction between the wisdom of God and the “wisdom” of the world.

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Wishing for Wellness | John 5:1-9

On Sunday, we had a wonderful outdoor worship service, followed by a time of fellowship over blueberry and cherry donuts. Pastor Ross and Emily Rosendahl shared a conversational-style sermon focused on Jesus’ question to a “differently-abled” man, “Do you want to get well?” This story points to Jesus as the one who makes all of the difference. Emily said it so plainly, “The gospel lesson is that we can trust Jesus with all…Where are you wishing for wellness, and are you willing to invite Jesus into the healing journey?”

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The Messy Middle | Acts 15

Our summer sermon series has gotten off to a great start! Join us throughout this summer as each week we explore a great biblical story of God and God’s people risking greatly and rising after falling.

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Dreams, Ditches, and Dares | Genesis 37-50

On Sunday, we kicked off our summer sermon series, “Reconnecting & Rising Strong” with the epic story of Joseph. We were led to consider what kind of dream God might have placed on our hearts, whether we’re willing to rise above the ditches others may put us in because of it, and dare to allow God to work in us and through us in these BHAGs (Big, Hairy, Audacious Goals). We can learn a lot from those who came before us, such as Joseph, and the mirrored, greater story of Jesus. Pastor Ross said, “From Joseph to Jesus. From dreams, to ditches, to dares. It seems to me friends, that God is starting a movement and it looks a bit like reconnecting and rising strong. Will you join the movement? I hope so.”

Join us throughout this summer as each week we explore a great biblical story of God and God’s people risking greatly and rising after falling.

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On Sunday, Pastor Lindsay brought us the Word in her final sermon at Fellowship, and the last of our “Letters to the Church” sermon series. Her focus was, fittingly, on Paul’s farewell in his letter to the church in Corinth, as Lindsay, too, said her farewell to us.

We have been blessed by Lindsay’s joyful spirit, convicted by her insight, and encouraged by her kindness and smile. It is hard to say goodbye to a family we love, but we are also excited about the ways God is working in and through the Small family, and how He will continue to work in and through Fellowship in this next chapter.

Pastor Lindsay ended her sermon with these beautiful words: “Fareing each other well is giving each other a glimpse of God’s grace, benedicting one another with the promise and seal of God’s limitless grace. So beloved sisters and brothers: farewell, put things in order…live in peace…remember well…and hope well... There is one place that holds all of these things, a table that Jesus used as he prepared to say farewell to His disciples. And in this, the Lord’s supper, farewell is embodied.”

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1 Thessalonians 5:16-18

This week, we got THREE for the price of one! We had the privilege to hear the Word preached from all three of our esteemed pastors as they collaborated to share about the easy-to-hear, hard-to-practice commands in the Apostle Paul’s letter to the church in Thessalonica:

“Rejoice always. Pray continually. Give thanks in all circumstances.”

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Scripture: 1 Cor 1:1-3, Col 1:1-2, 1 Peter 1:1-2

This week, we began our three week sermon series based on the New Testament letters. Pastor Ross focused on the greetings, specifically, those in 1 Corinthians, Colossians, and 1 Peter. He emphasized the importance of these three things within the letters, and for us, too:

1) Place: "We are called to live the faith here. not elsewhere, and not only in our heads. So wherever you are, 'there you be.' Be christian there. You can't do it anywhere other than where you are. We live it locally, or not at all."

2) People: "[The faith] is to be lived interpersonally"
Though the New Testament writers could have described the recipients of their letters as wayward, insignificant, or foolish, Pastor Ross shared this exhaustive list of the ways these writers actually described them: belonging, loved, saints, sanctified, faithful, brothers and sisters, church, child, beloved fellow worker, elect exiles, those of equal standing by the righteousness of God, called, loved, and kept in Jesus Christ.

3) Purpose: "Grace paves the way to peace."

During the service we watched a few clips from the video “Godspeed" (highly recommend!).

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“Oh wind, why do you move from a high to a low, is it really important for us to know?”

Pastor Lindsay’s playful (and even, can we say, inspirational?!) poetry about wind and the Holy Spirit during Sunday’s sermon was a perfect set of book-ends for a Pentecost Sunday message on Acts 2. During the sermon, we learned a bit about wind and a cringy poetry assignment, and a whole lot about how the capaciousness of God is blowing us out of our safe, comfortable spaces into the world to speak and act on the Good News of Jesus. The word “capacious” means “roomy or having a lot of space inside.” God’s love and His grace are capacious. The Spirit that He sent on Pentecost Sunday was capacious, and His Spirit that lives in each of us is still capacious.

Are we Spirit-filled disciples? Are we allowing ourselves to be open to the Spirit’s leading? Are we willing to move from our safe spaces to the world around us that is in need of hearing and seeing first-hand the Good News of Jesus?

“Oh wind, why do you blow from a high to a low, because on Pentecost, people needed a Spirit to know.”

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In Sunday’s sermon, Pastor Nate shared about Jesus’ resurrection "miracle" found in John 21:1-14. In this story, Jesus gives rather ordinary instructions to the disciples to cast their nets on the other side of the boat, even though they had fished all night and turned up empty. They listened to Jesus and ended up with a “boat load” of fish (literally!). This passage is Jesus’ final act recorded in the book of John before he ascended to Heaven. Quite fitting, given that it was the final message in our 39th Day series, and also Ascension Sunday.

The emphasis in this story seems to be less on Jesus’ power to do extraordinary miracles and more on Jesus’ miraculous invitation to his ordinary disciples to take part in ministry work. Pastor Nate said it best: “The truth of this story of fishing folklore is not the miraculous catch, it’s the ordinary work of ministry." The ordinary work of ministry is “an incredible opportunity to partner with Jesus, done by very ordinary people, in ordinary jobs, when we are open to and attentive to the Holy Spirit.” Whether you are doing dishes, working on a production line, leading a business meeting, eating dinner with friends, or doing anything at all, you can choose to be attentive to the Holy Spirit and accept Jesus’ invitation to take part in the ordinary work of ministry.

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Our 39th Day series continued this week with the story of the Devil’s 40 Day Tempt of Jesus in the wilderness (Luke 13:1-13). Pastor Ross shared three stories to teach on this passage.

The first was The Parable of a Chinese Farmer, with an emphasis on not rushing to judgements, but taking time to discern whether we are facing a trial or a temptation. The second story was about a professor’s wisdom for alumni, and the importance of focusing on our identity in Christ because everything else is secondary. The third story used The Parable of a Rope and a Barn as the metaphor of us relying on Christ because we cannot do it ourselves. Pastor Ross said it so well: “Even better than copying Jesus, tie your rope to Him. Sure, we can learn some tricks from Jesus about how to resist temptation in life, but we will never do it perfectly, and we don’t have to, because He did.”

In the midst of a 39th Day, discern well, focus on our identity in Christ, and rely on Him.