Grace Dover Messages

Psalm 119:33-40 and Romans 13:8-14

Our Scripture reading for this Sunday continues looking through the lens of God’s mercy. Paul has never left the idea of love that results from the mercy of God, but he sees all of life’s nooks and crannies are places where love is expressed overtly and disproportionately to the evil that is present. Love and the goodness it pursues is to overwhelm evil. This sermon’s focus will remind us that the church has a priority to express this love that does no harm. Love is an unfinished debt that fulfills the law, understanding the times, while utilizing Christ’s  love.

Love that does no harm to its neighbor is not a love that we can produce. It has to be given to us and we have to be taught. But from whom can we learn? Where do we get the power to love without harming? Psalm 119 instructs us that the Lord teaches, gives, directs, turns, takes away and preserves, all according to his law. His law is love! How gracious is our God?

If you want more than law and order, look to the Lord for his love does no harm.

Psalm 26:1-8 & Romans 12:9-21

Our Scripture reading for this Sunday brings before us the kind of culture that flows when we take the view through the lens of God’s mercy. This sermon’s focus is on the type of culture we are to cultivate as those who have received the mercy of God in Christ. We are to cultivate love to the point where we don’t take revenge, even on our enemies! The Scripture says, “Do not take revenge, my friends, but leave room for God’s wrath…” Love that is sincere leaves room for God’s wrath.

This shouldn’t be construed as passivity. Love remains active and preemptive! The Bibles calls us to take positive action. Instead of evil for evil, we overcome evil with good. Instead of starving your enemy, love feeds them. Instead of letting your enemy die of thirst, love gives them something to drink. What enables us do this? Only when you view through the lens of God’s mercy. God’s mercy relieves us from the wrath of God. When the Psalmist said: “Test me, O Lord, and try me, examine my heart and my mind.” (Psalm 26:2) Where does he get the confidence to pray such a prayer? For who can withstand the gaze of a Holy God! The only way one can gain this kind of confidence is to do what the Psalmist did; “for your love is ever before me, and I walk continually in your truth.” (Psalm 26:3) He keeps the love of God before him. His confidence is in God’s love for him, and not in his ability to please God. God’s love relieves the pressure of self-righteousness. This is the good news of the gospel. And the relief is felt more and more when you view through the lens of God's mercy in the Sacrament. In the Sacrament of the Lord’s Table we remember that when we were enemies of God, Jesus gave us something to eat and something to drink. He gave us his body and his blood. Jesus said, “For my flesh is real food and my blood is real drink.” (John 6:55) In his body and through the shedding of his blood, Jesus absorbed the wrath of God for us and brought to us the mercy of God. Now in the Lord’s Supper, we are fed, our thirst quenched, and the wrath of God is satisfied.

The vindication that we need is in Christ. The sincerity of our love is rooted in Christ. The altar in which we wash our hands in innocence (Psalm 26:6) is the Eucharist, the Great Thanksgiving! We leave room for the wrath of God every time we come to the Table of our Lord.

Text: Isaiah 51:1-6 and Romans 12:1-8

Our Scripture reading beseeches us to give a response to the immense mercies of God that are given to us in Christ. The passage says, “…in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies…” So in this sermon we are answering what it looks like to see things through the lens of God’s mercy. The view through God’s mercy changes the view of everything.  God’s mercy changes the way we see ourselves, the way we see others, and the way we operate in serving.

To experience God’s mercy is to enjoy the relief his salvation brings. This salvation, according to Isaiah 51:6, will last forever. Accompanying this salvation is the righteousness from God. A righteousness that will never fail. This is the good news of the gospel. To those whom God has shown mercy, his salvation is forever and his righteousness will never fail.

What lens are you looking through in times like these? The invitation from God is to view everything through his lens of mercy.

Genesis 45:1-15 & Romans 11:1-2a, 29-32, Kenny Foster, Senior Pastor Elect The Scripture reading for this Sunday reminds us of the preemptive mercies of God in the midst of our troubles. Jospeh’s summary of his life’s circumstances are bound up in the phrase, "God sent me ahead of you.”  Joseph went from being the favorite son to being kidnapped, enslaved, falsely accused and imprisoned. But then he is taken from the prison to become the prime minister of Egypt. Joseph had suffered wrongs because of other’s disobedience, but it turned out to be the opportunity for mercy for many. However, he could not have predicted that he was going to be the savior of his family, until the moment he saw his brothers on the verge of being destitute. He judged that the events of his life were God’s plan to save the lives of many. Joseph had incredible trust!  This is precisely Paul’s point concerning Israel’s disobedience to the gospel. Their disobedience is the door for mercy to come to the Gentiles through the Jewish Messiah, Jesus Christ. Of Jesus it could be said, "God sent him ahead of you to save many lives by a great deliverance.” Jesus, the true and better Jospeh, had an unimpeachable trust in the Father!  This means his circumstances are not just “his" circumstances. They were for us who would believe on his name.  God had preemptively planned to show mercy by a great deliverance through Jesus Christ.  How do you view the circumstances of your life? Choose to see them through the preemptive mercies of God. Then for Jesus, and because of his great salvation, will you endure the seemingly nonsensical impositions of coronavirus? Will you persevere in prayer for the pain brought on by unjust suffering? Will you pursue ethnic harmony in the time of a famine of unity? God has sent Jesus ahead of you to save lives. This sermon   will help you see the grace of God preserving us in all our trouble, by showing how the tears of trouble are transformed into kisses of joy in the end.

Psalm 85:8-13 & Romans 10:5-15. The Apostle Paul in our reading exclaims, "How beautiful are the feet of those who bring good news!” But why is this something to be excited about? That is the focus of this sermon.

The reason for Paul’s excitement is the salvation that is provided by the Lord. This salvation brings a righteousness from God, that creates a unity in humanity, through which his rich blessings flow.

Both readings from Psalm 85 and Romans 10 describe beautiful things. There is beauty in love and faithfulness meeting and righteousness and peace kissing. But what good is this type of beauty? Psalm 85 tells us that is it the Lord giving what is good. This is the good news of the gospel. The Lord gives to us and our land (earth) what is good; a dwelling of his glory! However, the beauty and the good news comes to us through the cross of Christ. The proclamation of peace, the good news of the Lord’s salvation, comes through the message of Christ’s death and resurrection. We can’t confess he is Lord without embracing his death on our behalf. His nail pierced feet are the beautiful feet bringing good news. What does our feet look like? Where are they taking us? What news are they bringing? These are appropriate questions for those who "will listen to what God the Lord will say." (Psalm 85:8)

Text: Isaiah 55:1-5 & Matthew 14:13-21

This week we return to the lectionary reading in Matthew’s gospel and Isaiah’s prophecy. Both texts are speaking about hunger being satisfied.

When you are traveling, you will get hungry and knowing where to eat is important. If that is true about physical hunger, then it is probably equally true when we are spiritually hungry. We live in a spiritually hungry culture. Our culture, for all of its richness, struggles to find a place to satiate its hunger. Politics is not enough. Drugs won’t work. Pleasures are like junk food. When traveling through life, these food options will not bring the nourishment needed to continue the journey!  And what is the Christian supposed to feed on in this "convenience store" culture?

This sermon’s focus is about finding satisfaction when we are spiritually hungry. From our reading we find there is a reason for the hunger, a responsibility to the hungry and the remains after eating. God makes an offer to us as we to "Come and buy wine and milk without money and without cost." (Isa. 55:1) His offer is in a promised person, Jesus Christ. He is the one from whom everyone that eats, all are satisfied.

Psalm 72.8-11 and Revelation 7.9-12

As I’ve reflected on my nearly thirty seven years as Sr. Pastor here at Grace Church, there are three things that have been paramount in my ministry. They are: Worship; The Gospel; and Reconciliation. As I thought of these, in preparation for my last sermon as Sr. Pastor here at Grace, I had the three points I wanted to make. I had, what we preachers humorously refer to as, “a sermon in search of a text!” And I found just such a text! It is our New Testament Reading for today. From this text I wish to highlight the three challenges that I leave with Grace Church:

Keep Worship as the Centerpiece of Your Life as a Community

Keep the Gospel Ever Before You

Keep the Vision of Reconciliation at the Heart of Your Mission

It is my prayer that our Lord will deepen these individually and corporately in the lives of God’s people here at Grace.

Text: Psalm 86:11-17 & Romans 8:12-25

Our reading for this Sunday is taken from Romans 8 where Paul informs us that, because of the gospel of Christ, we are not under condemnation and we will suffer no separation. These truths are the north and south poles of the chapter. Between these two "poles" of Romans 8, there is the sentence that tells us about the hope in which we were saved. What is the hope in which we were saved? That is the focus of this sermon.

The hope is the redemption of our bodies. Paul says it is the reason why we have the Spirit of God. Which is why we have sonship. Our sonship makes us heirs with Christ. Which means that we suffer with him and share his glory.

The whole creation waits for the full revelation of this redemption. This waiting causes considerable groaning in the world, in us, and the Spirit. This is a glorious hope!

Do you ever ponder the hope in which you were saved? Scripture says, “…consider our present sufferings are not worth comparing with the glory that will be revealed in us.” These hope-full truths reminds us that the gospel of the grace of God in Christ, transforms everything.

So if you feel as if you are struggling with having what you don’t want and wanting what you don’t have, then this message will show you how the cross brings these things together for the glory of Christ, so that you can serve hope-full and joy-full in your present sufferings.

OT Reading: Psalm 65.9-13, NT Reading: Romans 8.1-11

In today’s New Testament Lectionary Reading, we have a glorious declaration of the gospel from the pen of the Apostle Paul.  He lays before us those wonderful words, “therefore there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.” Paul dwells on this truth for a few verses, then moves to the realities of God’s Spirit in the life of the believer, and it is in these words that Paul strikes the note which this sermon highlights: the physical nature of God’s redemptive and transformative work through his Spirit.  Paul triumphantly declares that just as the Spirit raised Jesus from the dead, so will he also raise us.  “And if the Spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead is living in you, he who raised Christ from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through his Spirit, who lives in you.”  Paul here highlights the great truth that the salvation God has wrought is not merely spiritual.  It is physical as well!  Paul will drive this point home even deeper as he moves further into this chapter, making it  clear that the redemptive work of Christ extends to the physical creation, including our physical bodies.  And so, in a time when our mortality is highlighted by the daily onslaught of COVID-19 news, we find hope in the reminder that life will, one day, be given to our mortal bodies, and the created order will be restored.  The great story of the Bible is profoundly, but simply this: Creation; Fall; Redemption; Restoration. It this hope of Redemption and Restoration that enables us to look with profound hope, beyond the present, to the day of Christ’s return.  “Amen. Come, Lord Jesus”

Text: Zechariah 9:9-12 & Matthew 11:16-19, 25-30 Our lectionary reading for this week comes from the familiar Triumphal Entry text in Zechariah and the famous passage of Jesus’ offer of rest in Matthew 11. Zechariah poetically calls the exiles "prisoners of hope.” Zechariah is among the genre of apocalyptic literature in the Bible. This means that the symbols in the book are there to convey a message. The message is what’s important, the symbols are not as important as the message they convey. So the image of being prisoners of hope is a powerful one for those who are feeling hopeless in their present situation. Being "prisoners of hope" is an apt way of describing our daily existence during this pandemic and the societal unrest our nation is experiencing right now. Because while we are sheltered away and feeling like we are under siege, it is good to know that we have the hope of our coming King who keeps his covenant. Therefore we can return to our stronghold, which is our faith in the covenant keeping King, as hope’s prisoners. Jesus is the covenant keeping King who came the first time and offered the promise of rest. But he is coming again and this time he will restore everything and the rest will be eternal. Imprisoned in this hope, the Christian’s soul, during a pandemic and societal/cultural upheaval, should be on lockdown.