Grace Dover Messages

Sermon by Joshua Suh, Senior Pastor, from 1 Kings 3:3-14 & Ephesians 5:15-21. Many Christians know King Solomon to be the wisest king in the Bible. God bestowed upon him wisdom to govern his people and make them follow his statutes. Paul also encourages us to be wise and not foolish. We can do this by walking with God and being together with God’s people.

Sermon by Kenny Foster, Associate Pastor, Exodus 19:4-6 & Hebrews 12:28-29, 13:10-16. This Sunday will be the third sermon of the series on worship; learning to love God and love his people. We have seen in the last two messages that worship is formational. That is to say, that the worship of God is forming something within us. This is an inward aspect of worship. However, there is an outward aspect to worship, too. Worship is relational. This means that the worship of God forms something in us that is to be worked out of us. Worship of God takes place inward but has outward results. This is what this week's Scripture texts is showing us. Exodus shows us that because of the rescue the Lord has provided, we are made into a kingdom of priests and a holy nation. The priesthood is bestowed upon us because we have been rescued. Hebrews describes what this priesthood does as the writer exhorts, "...let us offer to God acceptable worship, with reverence and awe, for our God is a consuming fire."

This sermon will focus on what it means to offer to God acceptable worship by asking three questions; How do we do it? Where do we do it? Why should we do it?

Sermon by Joshua Suh, Senior Pastor, from Deuteronomy 12:28-32 & Romans 12:1-2. We continue our series on worship as we continue to examine worship as formation in our lives. All of us are formed by our thoughts, habits, and daily routines. In the same way, we are taught as Christians to build healthy spiritual habits and routines that are outwardly conveyed through worship. Just as we follow a liturgy for worship during Sunday services, we must also follow the liturgy that God has set before us. In doing so, we will offer up a worship of our lives that is not conformed to this world and glorifying to God.

Sermon by Kenny Foster, Associate Pastor, Isaiah 44: 9-20 & Revelation 15:3-4. This week we begin a sermon series about the worship of God. The title of the series is: "Worship: Learning to Love God and Love His People." The worship of God is the ultimate purpose for the existence of every person who has ever lived at any time. To fail to worship God is to fail at being human since the very purpose of our being is to express the value and worth of God.

Now, in the first sermon of this series we want to learn that worship is formational. In our text we can see this clearly using the negative contrast of false worship. We can see what worship is, what power it has, and who deserves our worship. The last verse of our Old Testament reading shows us the impact of false worship saying, "He feeds on ashes; a deluded heart has led him astray, and he cannot deliver himself or say, "Is there not a lie in my right hand?" The only way to break the power of the deluded heart and bring it back to the reality for which it was designed is for God to intervene and draw us back to the worship of the Lord. True worship begins with embracing the good news of the gospel of Jesus Christ. Through him, God shows us his power to turn our hearts back to God.

Sermon by Joshua Suh, Senior Pastor, from Psalm 123:1-4 & 2 Corinthians 12:2-10. As Christians, we often express our confession that God works through us to accomplish his good works by saying that “the Lord did it.” Paul reminds us that this is true not only in times of comfort, but also in times of suffering. Even during times that we deem as "weaknesses, insults, hardships, persecutions, and calamities,” God is working in and through us for his glory. In fact, Paul says that in these times of difficulties we are strong because it is God, not us, that is at work.

Sermon by Kenny Foster, Associate Pastor, Lamentations 3:22-33 & Mark 5:21-43. How often does fear prevent you from doing what is right? Those fears may be legion. Fears can be psychological, emotional, and physiological. Fears are faith stifling. Yet Jesus commands, "Do no fear, only believe." What if fear and faith are both addressed by the Master's hand? In the text of our sermon this week we see that, more than anything, touching Jesus and Jesus' touch brings about the goodness we seek. To have Jesus's touch or to touch Jesus is to let faith take over your fear. Furthermore, it is only because Jesus commands us, "Do not fear, only believe." that we can move toward him without fear! This sermon will encourage every child of God to rely on the touch of the master's hand to remove fear and provide the faith, steadfast love, and new mercies that are needed daily to face the troubles of living in this world and overcome them. Fears, though they are legion, they will come to an end. But the steadfast love of the Lord never ceases. The gospel of Jesus Christ guarantees it.

1 Samuel 17:41-49 & Mark 4:35-41. It is human nature to put our trust in what we can see and prove. Thus, we trust and depend on people and material things that we can see. Even as Christians, we allow outward circumstances to dictate our faith and trust in God. Yet, we are called to put our trust and hope in immaterial things, and have faith in God who we cannot see.

Sermon by Kenny Foster, Associate Pastor, from 2 Samuel 9 & John 9:1-7. It is easy for the believer to get caught up in the narrative of an assumed understanding of "normal". Then out of that assumption comes ideas and precepts that are predicated on what should "naturally" follow. But all of that is blown up when you come face to face with someone who doesn't fit the narrative or picture of normal. Consequently, what is "natural" feels out of place. And you are disoriented. Like the disciples when they, along with Jesus, encounter the man who was blind from birth. In the assumption of "normal" they ask the question, "Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind?" The narrative of an assumed idea of normal breeds this kind of blame game. But the Christian has to grapple with the grace that is in Jesus' answer, "It was not that this man sinned, or his parents, but that the works of God might be displayed in him."

The wrong understanding of disabilities can limit a person's faith and obscure the work of God because of supposed ideas of normal, that doesn't account for the works of God and is seeking to blame someone. As a church that seeks to celebrate and demonstrate the power of the gospel to remove the barriers that divide, we have to think about those who have disabilities and how we serve them. We won't serve out of our abilities or our own power. It has to be with the wealth and power of the King who seeks us in our lonely disabled condition and brings us to his table (Like David and Mephibosheth) all the days of our lives. This sermon will show us how God displays his work in and through the disabled and those who love and welcome them. The glory of God is not dependent on the "normal" people and their ability, but on those who are disabled and find no other help or hope than what is offered to us through faith in Jesus Christ.

Sermon by Joshua Suh, Senior Pastor, from 1 Samuel 8:4-9 & 2 Corinthians 4:16-5:1. In the Old Testament, God used men to execute the offices of the Prophet, Priest, and King. However, the men that held these positions could not exercise them perfectly, nor could they bring perfect peace or salvation to the people. However, Jesus Christ resurrected and ascended to the right hand of God the Father, and he perfectly executes the three-fold office of Prophet, Priest, and King on our behalf. We are reminded through today's scripture that our hope and trust should not be in any earthly king or leader, but only in Christ.

Sermon by Kenny Foster, Associate Pastor, from Deuteronomy 4:9-14 & I John 2:12-14. This Sunday is Next Gen Sunday. During this time we seek to communicate to our young people their value, the value of the gospel and the practice of that value. What this sermon will show is that we are not to live for ourselves but for the generations that are coming up behind us. How? By following the command of the covenant. The command of the covenant is always related to the action that God takes within the covenant to deliver us from bondage and death. Each generation is to know what God has done. The way they know it is that the previous generation was to make it known. They make it known, not through just talk, but through their actions. Actions that are predicated on the saving action that God had taken. This passing on of the truth of God's salvation is a stabilizing presentation of the desire of God to dwell with the humanity. In a world of shifting foundations of ideas, identities, politics, and religions, the covenant we have with God through Jesus Christ is a sure foundation that is unchanging and leaves us in the land (earth) when all others are swept away.