LaGrave Live

The Book of Romans | 8:40 am (EDT) 9-13-26

About The Service:

Pastor Jonker will begin the fall sermon series on Romans, beginning with Romans 1: 1-17. We will celebrate communion.

Order of Worship:

https://lagrave.org/wp-content/uploads/2026-9-13-AM-Order-of-Worship.pdf

About the Church:

We are a traditional CRC church in the middle of Downtown Grand Rapids, MI, worshipping at 8:40am, 11:00am, and 6:00pm. (10:00am and 6:00pm during the summer months)

We'd love to hear from you:

Connection: https://www.lagrave.org/contact

Let us pray for you:

Prayer: https://www.lagrave.org/prayerrequest/

Giving: https://www.elexiogiving.com/App/Giving/lagr107178

The September special offering is for the Pregnancy Resource Center. Services include abstinence education, testing, prayer, consultation, information about pregnancy/adoption/birth control and the distribution of food/formulas/diapers/baby clothes.

Listen on the go:

Amazon Music: https://bit.ly/LGPodAmazonMusic

Apple Podcast: https://apple.co/3tuOdwQ

Google Podcast: https://bit.ly/LGPodGoogle

Soundcloud: / lagravecrc https://soundcloud.com/lagravecrc

Spotify: https://spoti.fi/3yXDFaT

Follow us!

Facebook: / lagravecrc https://www.facebook.com/lagravecrc

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Website: https://www.lagrave.org

#LaGrave #LaGraveCRC

Righteousness From Above: Launching a Fall Sermon Series on Romans

At LaGrave Avenue Christian Reformed Church, Reverend Peter Jonker opens a fall sermon series on the book of Romans, using Paul's opening chapter and Martin Luther's own struggle to show that the righteousness of God is a gift that comes down to sinners rather than a mountain they must climb, in a service that also includes a children's message on manna and the Lord's Supper.

Opening Worship And Call To Confession

The 8:40 service opens with an organ prelude, tolling bells, and the congregation singing From All That Dwell Below the Skies and Praise the Lord! O My Soul, Rejoice!, led by two soloists and the full choir. Pastor Kristi Mannion welcomes worshippers back to LaGrave Avenue Christian Reformed Church's fall rhythm of 8:40 and 11:00 services, invites everyone to a Ministry Celebration in the multipurpose room after the service, and announces the start of a new fall sermon series through the book of Romans. She reads Psalm 139's words about being searched and known by God, then leads the congregation in a shared prayer of confession asking to be freed from an unchangeable past and opened to a future of transformation. She closes with words of assurance from Romans 8, reminding worshippers that neither hardship nor any power in creation can separate believers from the love of God in Christ Jesus, before the congregation sings Nearer, Still Nearer.

Children's Message: Manna For The Journey

Reverend Peter Jonker calls the children forward for the message before the Lord's Supper, joking about how early it feels to be up for the 8:40 service before welcoming a large group down front. He retells the story of the Israelites freed from slavery in Egypt and marching through the desert toward the promised land, a place with no food of its own, and how God fed them every morning with manna, a bread-like substance gathered fresh each day. He tells the children that although Michigan has plenty of food and water, people's hearts still grow tired, sad, or worn out, and that the Lord's Supper works like manna for the soul, feeding and strengthening hearts the way manna once fed hungry travelers in the wilderness. He says he hopes the children will one day eat this food with the rest of the congregation, then sends them back to their seats with the blessing The Lord be with you.

Prayers, Announcements, And Global Concerns

Pastor Kristi Mannion returns with two pastoral notes: a bulletin misprint wrongly named Cindy Smith as having emergency knee surgery when it was actually Elaine Smith, and an update that Dan Beimers remains hospitalized at Corewell Butterworth with ongoing infection complications after cancer treatment. She leads the congregation in a long pastoral prayer giving thanks for daily provision and naming the spiritual hunger for goodness and wholeness that only God can meet. The prayer turns to the twenty-fifth anniversary of the September 11 attacks on the Twin Towers and the Pentagon, asking that the congregation trust God's security rather than fallible human structures. She prays for men of the church on retreat up north, for missionaries Michael Huizington in Zambia and Tim and Tammy Holwerda in Cairo, Egypt, and for church members Elaine Smith, Dan and Carol Beimers, Kelsey Canton, and Ron Shoemaker who are recovering or receiving therapy, closing in Jesus' name before the choir sings an anthem.

Launching The Book Of Romans

Reverend Peter Jonker reads Romans 1:1-17 and announces an ambitious new sermon series that will carry the congregation through the book of Romans from now until the Sunday before Thanksgiving. He notes that even the apostle Peter, in 2 Peter 3, admitted that Paul's letters contain things hard to understand, joking that Peter must have just finished reading Romans when he wrote it. Still, Jonker insists the rewards of wrestling with the book are enormous, pointing to how it reshaped the lives and missions of Augustine, John Wesley, and especially Martin Luther throughout church history. He reads the passage aloud, highlighting how Paul greets Jews and Gentiles in the preamble before pivoting at verses 16 and 17 to what scholars call the theme statement of the entire letter: that the gospel is the power of God for salvation because in it the righteousness of God is revealed, a righteousness that comes by faith from first to last.

Luther's Flip: Righteousness That Comes Down

Jonker unpacks why Paul's announcement of the righteousness of God struck Martin Luther as anything but good news. He quotes Luther's own words describing how, though an outwardly impeccable monk, he stood before God feeling like a sinner and came to hate rather than love a God whose justice hung over him like an unreachable mountain. Jonker compares this to Isaiah's terror before God's holiness in Isaiah 6. He then argues that righteousness is not a churchy abstraction but an everyday pursuit, the thing people mean when they say they need to get right by exercising, working, or fixing their finances. The turning point, Jonker explains, came when Luther realized he had the direction backward: the righteousness of God is not a peak believers must climb but a gift that comes down to them in Christ, who stood beside sinners at gravesides, touched desperate crowds, and shed his blood on the cross so that people could be washed clean and made new.

Closing Stories And The Lord's Supper

Jonker closes the sermon with two stories about receiving grace rather than earning it. He describes a wordless gesture his colleague Kristi Mannion makes whenever someone shares hard news, a small lifting of the hands he reads as trusting God's mercy without needing to fix everything. He then recalls Christian activist Dorothy Day telling psychologist Robert Coles that she abandoned her memoirs after writing only the title, because thinking of Jesus's visit to the world left her needing to write nothing more. The congregation then moves into the Lord's Supper, with Jonker and Kristi Mannion leading the traditional liturgy of thanksgiving, the Lord's Prayer, and the words of institution over bread and cup. Jonker tells worshippers that in this bread the righteousness of God comes down to them for the complete forgiveness of sins, and the congregation shares communion through several hymns before Jonker pronounces the closing blessing of grace, love, and fellowship over the gathered church.

LaGrave Live

LIVE Morning Worship Service 09-06-2026

Now and Then

About The Service:

Rev. Steigenga will preach on Romans 8: 18-27, and his sermon is entitled “Now and Then.”

Order of Worship:

https://lagrave.org/wp-content/uploads/2026-9-6-AM-Order-of-Worship.pdf

About the Church:

We are a traditional CRC church in the middle of Downtown Grand Rapids, MI, worshipping at 8:40am, 11:00am, and 6:00pm. (10:00am and 6:00pm during the summer months)

We'd love to hear from you:

Connection: https://www.lagrave.org/contact

Let us pray for you:

Prayer: https://www.lagrave.org/prayerrequest/

Giving: https://www.elexiogiving.com/App/Giving/lagr107178

The August special offering is for Covenant House. Covenant House Michigan (CHMI) provides shelter and hope to young people aged 18-24 who are experiencing homelessness or victims of trafficking in Grand Rapids and Detroit. Their mission is to serve all youth who come to their doors with unconditional love, absolute respect, and relentless support.

Listen on the go:

Amazon Music: https://bit.ly/LGPodAmazonMusic

Apple Podcast: https://apple.co/3tuOdwQ

Google Podcast: https://bit.ly/LGPodGoogle

Soundcloud: / lagravecrc https://soundcloud.com/lagravecrc

Spotify: https://spoti.fi/3yXDFaT

Follow us!

Facebook: / lagravecrc https://www.facebook.com/lagravecrc

Instagram: / lagravecrc https://www.instagram.com/lagravecrc

Website: https://www.lagrave.org

#LaGrave #LaGraveCRC

Now and Then: Present Sufferings, Future Glory in Romans 8 with Reverend John Stegink

At LaGrave Avenue Christian Reformed Church, guest preacher Reverend John Stegink returns to the pulpit to preach on Romans 8:18-27, weighing the reality of present suffering against the certainty of future glory through stories of a detained Indonesian friend, a World War Two surgeon's letters home, and a chaplain's words of hope amid cancer treatment.

Opening Worship and a Fire Update

The service opens with an organ prelude and the cantor's sung call to worship, followed by the congregation singing the hymn Immortal, Invisible, God Only Wise. Pastor Chad welcomes everyone gathered in the sanctuary and watching online to LaGrave Avenue Christian Reformed Church, then welcomes Reverend John Stegink, one of the church's own, back to the pulpit for the morning. He reminds the congregation that this is the last Sunday of the single ten o'clock summer service, with the familiar 8:40 and 11:00 rhythm returning the following week, and that a ministry celebration will be held in the multipurpose room between services. He also gives an update on the building following the recent fire, telling worshippers that every part of it except the courtyard is safe to use, while the church still waits on reports from the fire department and structural engineers before the city can determine what comes next.

Confession, Assurance, and Prayers of the People

After the opening hymns, Pastor Chad leads the congregation into confession, framing it with Jesus' words from Matthew 11 inviting the weary and burdened to find rest. The congregation sings Come to the Savior Now and joins a responsive prayer confessing sin in thought, word, and deed, followed by words of assurance from Isaiah 53 and the hymn about blood that will never lose its power. Pastor Chad then leads a long pastoral prayer, naming members who need healing or comfort, families grieving recent deaths, and those turning ninety-one and ninety-two. He prays for caregivers, for people drifting from faith, for the coming Bible studies and small groups, and for the evening Vespers gathering. The prayer widens to conflict in the Middle East, Ukraine, Russia, Sudan, and Nigeria, the persecuted church, flooding in Nepal and China, missionaries Dave and Bianca Gifford in Mexico City, and renewal within the Christian Reformed Church.

Children's Message: What Is Real

Reverend Stegink invites the boys and girls forward for the children's message, joking that he is not Pastor Jonker's father, even though people sometimes mistake him for it, and warning that he will not be telling Frog and Toad stories. Holding up an apple, he asks the children how they know something is real, and they answer that they can see its color, touch it, and eat it, naming the senses that confirm what is physically present. He then asks whether they know of things that are real even though no one can touch, see, taste, hear, or smell them. One child offers love as an example, and Reverend Stegink agrees, adding air, thoughts, and silent prayer as other unseen realities. He connects this to the invisible God whom the congregation just sang about, and closes by having the children exchange the blessing The Lord be with you and And also with you before they return to their seats.

Scripture Reading and Three Blessings in Romans 8

Reverend Stegink reads Romans 8:18-27, Paul's passage on present suffering, the groaning of creation, and the Spirit's intercession, then begins his sermon by quoting the old hymn Count Your Many Blessings before turning to the text. Rather than starting with suffering, he first names three blessings drawn from earlier in the chapter. The first is that there is now no condemnation for those in Christ, because Jesus carried that condemnation to the cross. The second is that the Holy Spirit lives within believers as God's own presence and guarantee of a future. The third is that believers are children and heirs of God, not merely receiving God's gifts but inheriting God himself, a truth Reverend Stegink illustrates through the tribe of Levi, who received no land in Canaan because the Lord himself was their inheritance. These three blessings, he says, give present sufferings their proper context before the sermon turns to examine them directly.

Present Sufferings: Persecution and Compassion

Reverend Stegink turns to present sufferings, noting that Christians face persecution today in places like Nigeria, North Korea, China, and Pakistan. He shares the story of an Indonesian friend held in a detention center in Battle Creek for fifteen months while seeking asylum, who recently learned that a deported friend was put to death by his own family after becoming a Christian. Closer to home, he describes Hope for Neighbors, a Grand Rapids group that visits, writes letters to, and provides for immigrants detained in a jail in Baldwin, Michigan, calling it a way of standing alongside the suffering in the spirit of Hebrews 10. He broadens the theme beyond persecution, naming grief, broken dreams, worry over children or parents with dementia, loneliness, and hidden shame present in nearly every pew. Drawing on Genesis 3 and Paul's language of creation groaning as in childbirth, he argues that floods and fires which ravage landscapes and burn churches show creation itself is in bondage to decay.

Hope Beyond the Shadowlands

Reverend Stegink calls this present existence shadowlands, borrowing C.S. Lewis's term for a world of spoiled goodness still waiting for its final redemption, and quotes theologian John Stott's line that believers are, for now, only half saved. He looks ahead to the apostle John's vision of God dwelling with his people and wiping every tear away, and describes worship itself as a place where the membrane between now and eternity sometimes grows thin. To picture the tension between present suffering and future hope, he tells the story of Dr. Richard Boelkins, a LaGrave member and World War Two surgeon who wrote 227 letters home to his wife Jean from the Normandy campaign, letters Jean preserved and their son Jim later published in the book Faith and Family in a Time of War. Reverend Stegink closes with a phrase a chaplain undergoing cancer treatment used to write at the end of his reports, borrowed from the poet George MacDonald: there's a great good coming, then prays that the congregation would receive patient eagerness and eager patience while it waits.

LaGrave Live

LIVE Evening Worship Service 08-30-2026

Barefoot on Holy Ground

About The Service:

Pastor Manion will preach from Exodus 3:1-15, the story of Moses and the burning bush.

Order of Worship:

https://lagrave.org/wp-content/uploads/2026-8-30-PM-Order-of-Worship.pdf

About Us:

We are a traditional CRC church in the middle of Downtown Grand Rapids, MI, worshipping at 8:40am, 11:00am, and 6:00pm. (10:00am and 6:00pm during the summer months)

We'd love to hear from you:

Connection: https://www.lagrave.org/contact

Let us pray for you:

Prayer: https://www.lagrave.org/prayerrequest/

Giving: https://www.elexiogiving.com/App/Giving/lagr107178

The August special offering is for Covenant House. Covenant House Michigan (CHMI) provides shelter and hope to young people aged 18-24 who are experiencing homelessness or victims of trafficking in Grand Rapids and Detroit. Their mission is to serve all youth who come to their doors with unconditional love, absolute respect, and relentless support.

Listen on the go:

Amazon Music: https://bit.ly/LGPodAmazonMusic

Apple Podcast: https://apple.co/3tuOdwQ

Google Podcast: https://bit.ly/LGPodGoogle

Soundcloud: / lagravecrc https://soundcloud.com/lagravecrc

Spotify: https://spoti.fi/3yXDFaT

Follow us!

Facebook: / lagravecrc https://www.facebook.com/lagravecrc

Instagram: / lagravecrc https://www.instagram.com/lagravecrc

Website: https://www.lagrave.org

#LaGrave #LaGraveCRC

After the Fire: Awe, Calling, and the Next Faithful Step

Summary

Worship After a Devastating Fire

The service takes place shortly after a fire destroyed half of a historic LaGrave Church building. The pastor acknowledges that the campus, stained-glass windows, roof, basement, and narthex are now experienced differently than they were one week earlier. Church members had gathered in the parking lot to witness the aftermath, pray, and stand together. The pastor distinguishes their presence from mere curiosity, describing it as an act of bearing witness and remembering that the church is more than its buildings. The event gives new emotional weight to the planned Scripture passage about Moses and the burning bush.

Moses Encounters Holy Ground

The service reads from Acts 7 and Exodus 3, tracing God's faithfulness from Moses through Stephen and into the present. Moses sees a bush in flames that is not consumed and hears God call his name. God tells him to remove his sandals because he is standing on holy ground. The sermon imagines the physical vulnerability of Moses' bare feet on thorns and gravel as part of a multisensory confrontation with holiness. That encounter gives Moses what he needs to begin taking the next step with God.

Holiness as Moral Perfection and Overwhelming Power

The pastor explains that God's holiness includes moral perfection, wisdom, justice, goodness, and the need for atonement. The sermon also argues that holiness means everything about God that inspires awe. God's power is compared with the sun, whose light and warmth sustain life from a distance but whose strength consumes anything that comes too close. In this metaphor, danger does not arise from hostility but from the overwhelming nature of the source itself. Moses is therefore told to stop and approach with reverence for his own protection.

God Calls Through a Patient Process

God announces that He has seen Israel's misery, heard the people's cries, and come down to rescue them. The unexpected part is that God sends Moses to confront Pharaoh. The sermon notes that Moses responds with many questions and objections, while God patiently reveals His identity and plan little by little. Knowing God is described as more than acquiring information; it involves relationship, worship, conversation, dependence, trust, and movement in God's direction. The task ultimately belongs to God even though Moses is called to carry it forward.

Barefoot Awe Before the Next Step

The pastor applies Moses' experience to a congregation facing uncertainty after the fire. The building was genuinely damaged, and the sermon does not claim that the blaze was a divine manifestation or that a voice came from it. Nevertheless, the pastor insists that God has not withdrawn His call or claim from the church. Before making plans or rushing forward, the congregation is invited to pause in vulnerable, barefoot awe and acknowledge that its building, resources, community, and members belong to God. Questions are permitted, but the next step is to be taken in dependence on God's direction.

Putting the Shoes Back On

The sermon concludes that awe is a first step rather than the final destination. Just as Moses eventually had to put his sandals back on and go toward Pharaoh, the church will eventually need to move into its renewed calling. Christian signs of hope are found in Jesus, who entered human life, walked in ordinary sandals, washed His disciples' feet, and sent them to serve. The pastor assures the congregation that Christ will not abandon His work and will provide what is needed along the way. The closing prayer and benediction ask for God's guidance, presence, peace, and strength for each faithful next step.

LaGrave Live

LIVE Morning Worship Service 08-30-2026

From Cretan to Christian

About The Service:

Guest minister, Dr. Reggie Smith, long term pastor of Roosevelt Park Church, will preach from Titus 3:3-7. His sermon is entitled, "From Cretan to Christian."

Order of Worship:

https://lagrave.org/wp-content/uploads/2026-8-30-AM-Order-of-Worship.pdf

About the Church:

We are a traditional CRC church in the middle of Downtown Grand Rapids, MI, worshipping at 8:40am, 11:00am, and 6:00pm. (10:00am and 6:00pm during the summer months)

We'd love to hear from you:

Connection: https://www.lagrave.org/contact

Let us pray for you:

Prayer: https://www.lagrave.org/prayerrequest/

Giving: https://www.elexiogiving.com/App/Giving/lagr107178

The August special offering is for Covenant House. Covenant House Michigan (CHMI) provides shelter and hope to young people aged 18-24 who are experiencing homelessness or victims of trafficking in Grand Rapids and Detroit. Their mission is to serve all youth who come to their doors with unconditional love, absolute respect, and relentless support.

Listen on the go:

Amazon Music: https://bit.ly/LGPodAmazonMusic

Apple Podcast: https://apple.co/3tuOdwQ

Google Podcast: https://bit.ly/LGPodGoogle

Soundcloud: / lagravecrc https://soundcloud.com/lagravecrc

Spotify: https://spoti.fi/3yXDFaT

Follow us!

Facebook: / lagravecrc https://www.facebook.com/lagravecrc

Instagram: / lagravecrc https://www.instagram.com/lagravecrc

Website: https://www.lagrave.org

#LaGrave #LaGraveCRC

When Plans Change: Grace, Proximity, and God's Good Work

Summary

Worship and Lament After the Fire

The morning service begins with gratitude that the congregation can worship safely after a fire damaged a neighboring historic church building. Pastor Christi names the physical losses, including space, art, history, worship memories, an organ, and ministry possibilities that had been under consideration. She also explains temporary closures and relocated activities caused by a compromised wall. The congregation is encouraged to lament honestly while trusting that the church, its buildings, and its people belong to God. Leaders continue planning for the future while asking the community to pray for the church's people, ministry vision, and next steps.

New Members and Baptismal Promises

The service welcomes Tim and Sue Visor and Nick Rosema as new church members and shares details about their work, family, interests, and prior involvement. The congregation then celebrates the baptisms of Josie Lubin and Catherine Van Eerden. Pastor Christi presents baptism as God's covenant promise, a sign of grace, and incorporation into the family of God. Parents and congregation promise to teach, pray for, encourage, and love the children as they grow. The baptisms become an important image later in the sermon for God's grace drawing people close.

From Cretan Identity to Christian Identity

Dr. Reggie Smith preaches from Titus 3:3-7, contrasting the Cretans' former reputation with the new story given through Jesus Christ. He describes their earlier life as foolish, disobedient, deceived, malicious, envious, and shaped by Roman cultural values. The decisive change comes through the kindness and love of God, not through righteous works performed by the people themselves. Rebirth and renewal by the Holy Spirit redefine them as people justified by grace and heirs of eternal life. The sermon insists that their identity is defined by God's saving action rather than by their past or their culture's labels.

God's Plans When Human Plans Collapse

The guest preacher connects Paul and Titus's disrupted expectations with LaGrave's plans for the fire-damaged building. The church had imagined partnerships and housing-related ministry in that space, but the fire abruptly changed the circumstances. Dr. Smith repeatedly assures the congregation that smoke and damage cannot choke out God's plans for a people committed to blessing their city. He invites the church to reimagine its future under the cross rather than conclude that its calling has ended. The promise that God will complete the good work He began becomes the sermon's central encouragement.

Transformation Requires Proximity

Using a story about Bryan Stevenson and his grandmother's powerful hugs, Dr. Smith argues that people cannot be changed from a distance. Paul and Titus had to become close to the Cretans, walk in their shoes, and pastor them with patience, goodness, kindness, and love. Jesus is the ultimate example because the Word became flesh and moved into the neighborhood rather than sending a distant message. The sermon applies this principle to baptism, congregational care, and LaGrave's ministry among neighbors experiencing pain and housing insecurity. Christian mission is presented as becoming personally and persistently present in the lives of others.

Grace Answers the Voice of Not-Enoughness

Dr. Smith recounts a massage therapist's story about her father becoming too afraid to enter a church because he believed he was not good enough. He calls this condition "not-enoughness" and contrasts its condemning voice with the gospel's affirmation. The Cretans also carried demeaning labels, yet Paul and Titus offered them a new and better story grounded in Christ's grace. The preacher declares that if Jesus and the cross say yes, no opposing voice can finally say no. He closes by asking God to strengthen the church's imagination, renew its calling, and help its people follow faithfully as a blessing to everyone they encounter.

LaGrave Live

LIVE Morning Worship Service 08-23-2026

The Alchemy of Faith

About The Service:

Pastor Jonker will preach on Hebrews 11: 1-12.

Order of Worship:

https://lagrave.org/wp-content/uploads/2026-8-23-PM-Order-of-Worship.pdf

About Us:

We are a traditional CRC church in the middle of Downtown Grand Rapids, MI, worshipping at 8:40am, 11:00am, and 6:00pm. (10:00am and 6:00pm during the summer months)

We'd love to hear from you:

Connection: https://www.lagrave.org/contact

Let us pray for you:

Prayer: https://www.lagrave.org/prayerrequest/

Giving: https://www.elexiogiving.com/App/Giving/lagr107178

The August special offering is for Covenant House. Covenant House Michigan (CHMI) provides shelter and hope to young people aged 18-24 who are experiencing homelessness or victims of trafficking in Grand Rapids and Detroit. Their mission is to serve all youth who come to their doors with unconditional love, absolute respect, and relentless support.

Listen on the go:

Amazon Music: https://bit.ly/LGPodAmazonMusic

Apple Podcast: https://apple.co/3tuOdwQ

Google Podcast: https://bit.ly/LGPodGoogle

Soundcloud: / lagravecrc https://soundcloud.com/lagravecrc

Spotify: https://spoti.fi/3yXDFaT

Follow us!

Facebook: / lagravecrc https://www.facebook.com/lagravecrc

Instagram: / lagravecrc https://www.instagram.com/lagravecrc

Website: https://www.lagrave.org

#LaGrave #LaGraveCRC

Faith Made Visible: Turning Hope into Substance

Summary

Faith in a Church That Knows the Routine

The service centers on Hebrews 11 and the challenge of sustaining vibrant faith over time. The preacher describes Hebrews as a message to a church that is not primarily battling persecution or false teaching, but weariness and spiritual boredom. He compares that situation to a long-established congregation where years of meetings, programs, volunteer recruitment, sermons, and familiar routines can make faith feel ordinary. Rather than condemning the church for this fatigue, he presents Hebrews as encouragement to recover joy and perseverance. The sermon repeatedly points listeners back to Jesus as the source and focus of renewed faith. The goal is not simply to maintain church activity, but to run the race of faith with fresh conviction.

Faith in the Head, Hands, and Heart

The sermon defines full-bodied faith through three dimensions: belief, action, and heartfelt assurance. Faith belongs in the head because Christians hold doctrines and truths drawn from Scripture, including belief in God, Jesus Christ, forgiveness, resurrection, and eternal life. Faith also belongs in the hands because what a person believes should lead to concrete action, such as comforting someone who is grieving or participating in the life and work of the church. Finally, faith belongs in the heart as a deep-rooted assurance and passion rather than merely an answer memorized for a test. The preacher argues that faith can become boring when one of these dimensions is missing. Robust faith engages the whole person - head, hands, and heart together.

The Substance of Things Hoped For

A central part of the message explores Hebrews 11:1 and the Greek word hypostasis, which the preacher says can carry the meaning of substance or essence. He prefers the image of faith as the "substance" of things hoped for because it suggests something concrete rather than merely an inward feeling of confidence. This becomes the sermon’s "spiritual alchemy" metaphor: faith takes hopes, beliefs, and ideas that seem intangible and makes them visible in the world. The preacher connects this idea to creation, describing God as bringing what was unseen into physical reality by His word. He also connects it to the opening of Hebrews, where Christ makes the unseen God known and visible. In the sermon’s framing, genuine faith similarly makes invisible hope tangible through faithful living.

Forgiveness as Faith Made Concrete

To show how faith becomes substantive in ordinary life, the preacher gives the example of a marriage damaged by infidelity. The couple may sincerely hope for reconciliation, but the hope remains abstract until forgiveness becomes an actual choice and practice. He describes a wife deciding not to define her husband only by what he has done, but to look at him in light of his identity in Jesus Christ. The preacher makes clear that forgiveness does not mean forgetting the betrayal. Instead, the act of forgiving becomes something solid on which the relationship may begin to rebuild. The illustration is offered as an example of faith turning an idea into visible, consequential action.

Courage That Gives Faith a Visible Form

The sermon then recounts the story of Swiss border official Paul Gruninger, whom the preacher portrays as an ordinary churchgoing man whose beliefs became concrete when he chose to help Jewish people seeking refuge during the Nazi era. According to the sermon, Gruninger defied instructions, altered documents, and helped many people enter Switzerland, eventually suffering arrest, disgrace, loss of position, and poverty. The preacher connects this costly action with the figures of Hebrews 11, many of whom acted faithfully without receiving an easy or immediate reward. He names biblical and historical figures alongside ordinary parents, teachers, and youth leaders as people whose choices can make faith visible. The point is that faith becomes compelling when hope and conviction take physical form in acts of courage, mercy, and obedience.

An Invitation to the Adventure of Faith

The service closes by calling the congregation away from spiritual boredom and toward what the preacher calls the adventure of faith. He emphasizes that believers do not create this transforming power independently; God is presented as the original source of the movement from unseen promise to visible reality. The closing prayer asks for a rich and robust faith expressed in heads, hearts, and hands, both individually and together as a church. Earlier prayers in the service connect this faith with congregational ministries, youth formation, people facing illness and grief, and outreach to the surrounding neighborhood. The final desire is that God's hope would become visible to a needy world through the church's life. The benediction sends the congregation into another week with a prayer for God's blessing, grace, presence, and peace.

LaGrave Live

LIVE Morning Worship Service 08-23-2026

The Way of Wisdom: The Wisdom of Worship

About The Service:

We will conclude our Way of Wisdom sermon series. Pastor Jonker will preach on Psalm 73 which is considered a wisdom Psalm. His sermon is called “The Wisdom of Worship”

Order of Worship:

https://lagrave.org/wp-content/uploads/2026-8-23-AM-Order-of-Worship.pdf

About the Church:

We are a traditional CRC church in the middle of Downtown Grand Rapids, MI, worshipping at 8:40am, 11:00am, and 6:00pm. (10:00am and 6:00pm during the summer months)

We'd love to hear from you:

Connection: https://www.lagrave.org/contact

Let us pray for you:

Prayer: https://www.lagrave.org/prayerrequest/

Giving: https://www.elexiogiving.com/App/Giving/lagr107178

The August special offering is for Covenant House. Covenant House Michigan (CHMI) provides shelter and hope to young people aged 18-24 who are experiencing homelessness or victims of trafficking in Grand Rapids and Detroit. Their mission is to serve all youth who come to their doors with unconditional love, absolute respect, and relentless support.

Listen on the go:

Amazon Music: https://bit.ly/LGPodAmazonMusic

Apple Podcast: https://apple.co/3tuOdwQ

Google Podcast: https://bit.ly/LGPodGoogle

Soundcloud: / lagravecrc https://soundcloud.com/lagravecrc

Spotify: https://spoti.fi/3yXDFaT

Follow us!

Facebook: / lagravecrc https://www.facebook.com/lagravecrc

Instagram: / lagravecrc https://www.instagram.com/lagravecrc

Website: https://www.lagrave.org

#LaGrave #LaGraveCRC

When Worship Changes What You See: Wisdom for a World That Looks Upside Down

Summary

Wisdom Begins in the Life of Worship

The service frames wisdom not merely as intellectual knowledge but as a way of life formed through God's Word, confession, prayer, community, and worship. The opening readings from Colossians emphasize putting off the old self and putting on compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness, patience, and love. The prayers repeatedly identify God as the source of wisdom and ask for help in walking wisely in everyday life. This establishes the central theme that biblical wisdom must be practiced, not simply understood. Worship is presented as one of the primary ways believers are continually reoriented toward that path.

Mentoring as Wisdom Put Into Practice

A major congregational segment highlights the church's partnership with Kids Hope USA and Congress Elementary. Allison Klink describes how mentors give students consistent, individual attention and how children eagerly anticipate their weekly time together. She also explains the Blue Ticket Store, which rewards positive behavior and is supported by church volunteers and donations. The testimony stresses measurable changes in attitude, confidence, academic growth, and school behavior while also emphasizing that mentors themselves are changed by the relationships. The invitation to become a mentor presents service to children as a practical expression of Christian love and faithful community involvement.

The Spiritual Crisis of Psalm 73

The sermon turns to Psalm 73 and the struggle of Asaph, who nearly abandons the way of wisdom because he sees arrogant and wicked people prospering while his own faithful life seems difficult. The preacher illustrates that struggle through an imaginative modernized story in which Asaph is a hardworking, financially strained church musician who compares himself with an apparently carefree and successful former classmate named Biff. Biff represents a life of wealth, confidence, pleasure, attention, and worldly success that appears to contradict the claim that God is good to the pure in heart. Asaph's envy leads him to question whether keeping his heart pure has accomplished anything. The sermon argues that this ancient spiritual conflict remains recognizable in contemporary life.

Worship Changes the Perception of Reality

The turning point in Psalm 73 comes when Asaph enters the sanctuary of God. According to the sermon, worship changes his perception because it places his circumstances within a larger spiritual and eternal reality. What looked successful from the perspective of envy and comparison begins to look temporary, while the difficult way of wisdom begins to look meaningful and enduring. The preacher describes worship as something designed to lift people out of distorted cultural assumptions and help them see what is true. The lesson is that human willpower and knowledge alone are not sufficient to sustain a wise life; believers need the worship and communion of God's people.

The Sanctuary, God's Presence, and the Way of Wisdom

The sermon explains the tabernacle as a worship space that symbolically drew Israel into the holy presence of God and recalled Mount Sinai. Its courts, the Ark of the Covenant, and its sacred imagery are described as helping worshipers understand that they were approaching the throne room of God. From that perspective, ordinary judgments about power, success, status, and security are challenged. The preacher then connects this imagery to Christian worship by saying that the church building itself is not the tabernacle; Jesus is the tabernacle through whom believers enter God's presence. From that vantage point, the way of wisdom can be seen as the way of life even when it is difficult.

Worship as Freedom and Strength for the Week

The sermon closes with a story about worship at Celebration Fellowship Church in the Ionia prison. The preacher contrasts the guarded, distrustful atmosphere of the prison with the warmth, welcome, prayer, singing, and fellowship found inside the worshiping community. One inmate says that when he worships and prays with his brothers, he sometimes forgets that he is in prison and feels free. The preacher presents that experience as an example of what worship is meant to do: lift people out of fear, temptation, pressure, and distorted cultural messages so they can see that they belong to God. The closing prayer asks that the congregation leave worship ready to walk the way of wisdom for another week in the world.

LaGrave Live

LIVE Morning Worship Service 08-16-2026

Breakfast with Jesus

About The Service:

We welcome Grant Mensonides to our pulpit. Grant grew up at LaGrave and he currently serves a church in Illinois.

Order of Worship:

https://lagrave.org/wp-content/uploads/2026-8-16-PM-Order-of-Worship.pdf

About Us:

We are a traditional CRC church in the middle of Downtown Grand Rapids, MI, worshipping at 8:40am, 11:00am, and 6:00pm. (10:00am and 6:00pm during the summer months)

We'd love to hear from you:

Connection: https://www.lagrave.org/contact

Let us pray for you:

Prayer: https://www.lagrave.org/prayerrequest/

Giving: https://www.elexiogiving.com/App/Giving/lagr107178

The August special offering is for Covenant House. Covenant House Michigan (CHMI) provides shelter and hope to young people aged 18-24 who are experiencing homelessness or victims of trafficking in Grand Rapids and Detroit. Their mission is to serve all youth who come to their doors with unconditional love, absolute respect, and relentless support.

Listen on the go:

Amazon Music: https://bit.ly/LGPodAmazonMusic

Apple Podcast: https://apple.co/3tuOdwQ

Google Podcast: https://bit.ly/LGPodGoogle

Soundcloud: / lagravecrc https://soundcloud.com/lagravecrc

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Empty Nets, Full Table: Christ's Provision and Restoration

Summary

Bread for Hungry People

The service begins with Jesus’ declaration in John 6 that He is the bread of life, establishing the theme of God’s provision for both body and soul. Peter welcomes the congregation and connects the evening’s sermon to Psalm 23, especially the image of God preparing a table in the midst of trouble. The Heidelberg Catechism’s explanation of “Give us this day our daily bread” reinforces the call to depend on God rather than placing ultimate trust in human effort or created things. The pastoral prayer returns repeatedly to the language of living bread. Across the opening liturgy, physical food becomes an image of God’s sustaining presence, grace, and care. This theme prepares the congregation for the sermon’s picture of Jesus feeding weary disciples beside the sea.

Bible Translation and the Meaning of Covenant

Josh and Virginia Hamm describe their work with Wycliffe Bible Translators after many years based in Africa, most recently in Cameroon. Josh explains his linguistic work of studying language structures and helping create writing systems that make translated Scripture easier to read. Virginia describes training translation teams, checking translated texts for accuracy, and mentoring others who can continue that work. She explains that translation can be a seed-planting ministry in which the workers may not personally see the eventual fruit. Her example of the term “minkala,” used by one language community to express covenant as a deep family-forming bond, illustrates how translation can also deepen the translators’ own understanding of Scripture. The couple plans to continue supporting translation teams remotely while making periodic return trips to Cameroon.

Prayer for Daily Bread in Every Circumstance

The pastoral prayer expands the bread-of-life theme into the daily needs of the congregation and the wider church. Peter prays for widows and widowers, teachers and students, social workers, missionaries, businesspeople, lonely people, those struggling with doubt or temptation, people who have been abused, and those fighting addiction. He also prays specifically for Josh and Virginia as they transition into a new season of ministry. The prayer remembers an infant in the NICU and several congregation members recovering from falls, surgeries, serious illness, or approaching the end of life. The repeated request is that Christ would give living bread where human strength is insufficient. The prayer presents dependence on God as a need shared by people in very different circumstances.

Restlessness and Empty Nets

Grant’s sermon centers on John 21 and develops the passage through three movements: restlessness, recognition, and restoration. He compares the disciples’ failure to recognize Jesus with workers who fail to recognize the architect who understands a structure better than they do. After the resurrection, the disciples return to Galilee, where Peter responds to uncertainty by going back to fishing. Grant connects Peter’s instinct to ordinary human behavior: when people do not know what God is doing, they often fill the waiting with activity, planning, checking, working, and striving. The disciples work through the night and catch nothing, creating an image of restless labor that ends in emptiness. Jesus’ question about whether they have caught any fish gently brings their need into the open.

Recognition Through Christ’s Provision

The sermon’s second movement begins when Jesus tells the disciples to cast the net on the other side of the boat, and an overwhelming catch follows. Grant connects the scene with the earlier miraculous catch in Luke 5, arguing that John recognizes Jesus because the moment recalls the beginning of their discipleship. The repeated miracle shows that Jesus can provide what the fishermen’s own skill and labor could not produce. Grant emphasizes that Christ meets exhausted people not merely with criticism, but with provision and grace. The full net exposes both the disciples’ limitations and Jesus’ authority. Recognition comes when they see that the Lord standing on the shore possesses the power and provision they lack.

Breakfast as Restoration

The final movement focuses on the breakfast Jesus has already prepared when the disciples reach shore. Grant stresses that Jesus already possesses the fish and bread they were unsuccessfully trying to obtain, making the meal an image of provision before their contribution. He then explains the relational significance of shared meals, arguing that an invitation to eat communicated acceptance, peace, belonging, and restored relationship. For disciples who had abandoned Jesus, and especially for Peter after his denial, “Come and have breakfast” becomes more than an invitation to eat; it communicates restoration. Grant concludes that people cannot manufacture the forgiveness, righteousness, relationship, life, or peace with God that they most deeply need. Christ provides what human striving cannot, and the sermon closes by inviting weary people to receive the daily bread, forgiveness, and restored fellowship that Christ gives.

LaGrave Live

LIVE Morning Worship Service 08-16-2026

The Way of Wisdom: Wisdom from the Family Skeptic

About The Service:

We will continue our Way of Wisdom sermon series, a series which looks at some of the wisdom literature in the Bible. Next week we will leave the book of Proverbs. Pastor Jonker will preach on the remarkable book of Ecclesiates.

Order of Worship:

https://lagrave.org/wp-content/uploads/2026-8-16-AM-Order-of-Worship.pdf

About the Church:

We are a traditional CRC church in the middle of Downtown Grand Rapids, MI, worshipping at 8:40am, 11:00am, and 6:00pm. (10:00am and 6:00pm during the summer months)

We'd love to hear from you:

Connection: https://www.lagrave.org/contact

Let us pray for you:

Prayer: https://www.lagrave.org/prayerrequest/

Giving: https://www.elexiogiving.com/App/Giving/lagr107178

The August special offering is for Covenant House. Covenant House Michigan (CHMI) provides shelter and hope to young people aged 18-24 who are experiencing homelessness or victims of trafficking in Grand Rapids and Detroit. Their mission is to serve all youth who come to their doors with unconditional love, absolute respect, and relentless support.

Listen on the go:

Amazon Music: https://bit.ly/LGPodAmazonMusic

Apple Podcast: https://apple.co/3tuOdwQ

Google Podcast: https://bit.ly/LGPodGoogle

Soundcloud: / lagravecrc https://soundcloud.com/lagravecrc

Spotify: https://spoti.fi/3yXDFaT

Follow us!

Facebook: / lagravecrc https://www.facebook.com/lagravecrc

Instagram: / lagravecrc https://www.instagram.com/lagravecrc

Website: https://www.lagrave.org

#LaGrave #LaGraveCRC

When Wisdom Questions Everything: Ecclesiastes and the Search for What Lasts

Rooted in What Lasts

The service opens by contrasting life rooted in the ways of the world with life rooted in Christ, using the imagery of wastelands and streams of living water. The congregation is invited to confess the ways it has turned from God and to trust again in God’s mercy, patience, and love. This theme of rootedness becomes an important foundation for everything that follows. The opening also introduces the continuation of The Way of Wisdom sermon series and its move from Proverbs into Ecclesiastes. The service frames Ecclesiastes as a book that questions what has lasting value when God is not at the center. That tension between temporary pursuits and enduring meaning becomes the central concern of the sermon.

Faith Publicly Claimed

A major portion of the service centers on Callan, Philip, Victoria, and Ashley as they publicly profess their faith. The pastor explains that although all four are making the same basic commitment to follow Jesus, their paths to that moment have been different. Philip, Victoria, and Ashley are described as having grown up in the church and returning to the baptismal font where they were baptized as children. Callan’s path is described differently: he sought out faith, studied the Reformed tradition, joined the congregation, and is baptized during the service. The pastor presents profession of faith as a decision to root one’s life in Jesus and to make Christ’s story one’s own. The participants are welcomed into the full fellowship of the church with the reminder that a faithful life includes both joy and difficulty.

Different People, One Church

The children’s sermon uses different kinds of footwear to explain why differences within the church are valuable. Dress shoes, running shoes, winter boots, and an ice skate each have different purposes, and none is ideal for every task. The pastor applies that illustration to the church, where preaching, singing, playing the organ, repairing things, and many other forms of service require different gifts. Rather than wishing everyone were the same, the children are encouraged to see diversity as useful and necessary. The Holy Spirit is described as bringing different people together into one church. The illustration reinforces the broader service theme that people can have different roles and journeys while still being united in Jesus.

The Skeptic Beside the Sage

The sermon emphasizes the sharp contrast between Proverbs 31 and Ecclesiastes 1. Proverbs ends with a picture of the wife of noble character, who embodies wisdom, flourishing, competence, and honor. Ecclesiastes then opens with the Teacher declaring that everything is meaningless and describing life as a repetitive cycle under the sun. The pastor calls this contrast “biblical whiplash” and compares Ecclesiastes to a skeptical, curmudgeonly uncle at a family reunion who refuses easy optimism. In that illustration, the cheerful advice of Aunt Gladys and Aunt Agnes is interrupted by Uncle Hank, who insists that life is harder than their encouraging sayings suggest. The preacher argues that Scripture intentionally includes both voices and that believers need to listen to both the hopeful wisdom of Proverbs and the difficult questions raised by Ecclesiastes.

Death, Dissatisfaction, and the Empty Cathedral

The preacher identifies death and dissatisfaction as two major sources of the Teacher’s skepticism. Death can interrupt even a disciplined, wise, hardworking life, as illustrated by the story of two ministers who retired after decades of work and died soon afterward. Dissatisfaction presents another problem because wisdom, pleasure, power, wealth, and achievement may fail to provide the deep fulfillment people expect. The sermon compares this pursuit to racing dogs chasing a mechanical rabbit that always stays just out of reach, then suggests an even greater disappointment would come from finally catching it and discovering that it is fake. The Teacher’s grief is interpreted as evidence of a deeper human need for meaning, pictured as an empty cathedral inside the heart. Ecclesiastes, in the preacher’s view, strips away idols and false sources of satisfaction so that people can feel the longing for something more.

Beyond the Sun

The sermon ultimately interprets that longing as a sign that human beings are made for eternity and fellowship with God. The preacher argues that “under the sun” is not the whole of reality and that death is not the final ceiling over human existence. A spaceflight story is used to illustrate a person confronting awe, fragility, and a longing for spiritual language after seeing Earth from space, with the cross becoming a powerful symbol in that moment. The sermon then turns decisively to Jesus, presenting Christ as the one who breaks the closed circle of death and gives lasting significance to faithful acts of love, hope, and service. The Teacher asks whether anything is truly new under the sun, and the sermon answers with the New Testament image of a person in Christ becoming a new creation. The final message is that Ecclesiastes’ skepticism is worth hearing, but Jesus is given the last word: people are beloved, their lives matter, and they belong to an eternal story.

LaGrave Live

LIVE Evening Worship Service 08-09-2026

The Way of Wisdom: Wisdom for Families

About The Service:

We continue our Way of Wisdom sermon series, a series which focuses on some of the Bible's wisdom literature.

Pastor Jonker will preach on Proverbs wisdom for families as found in proverbs like 22:6.

Order of Worship:

https://lagrave.org/wp-content/upload...

About the Church:

We are a traditional CRC church in the middle of Downtown Grand Rapids, MI, worshipping at 8:40am, 11:00am, and 6:00pm. (10:00am and 6:00pm during the summer months)

We'd love to hear from you:

Connection: https://www.lagrave.org/contact

Let us pray for you:

Prayer: https://www.lagrave.org/prayerrequest/

Giving: https://www.elexiogiving.com/App/Givi...

The August special offering is for Covenant House. Covenant House Michigan (CHMI) provides shelter and hope to young people aged 18-24 who are experiencing homelessness or victims of trafficking in Grand Rapids and Detroit. Their mission is to serve all youth who come to their doors with unconditional love, absolute respect, and relentless support.

Listen on the go:

Amazon Music: https://bit.ly/LGPodAmazonMusic

Apple Podcast: https://apple.co/3tuOdwQ

Google Podcast: https://bit.ly/LGPodGoogle

Soundcloud: / lagravecrc https://soundcloud.com/lagravecrc

Spotify: https://spoti.fi/3yXDFaT

Follow us!

Facebook: / lagravecrc https://www.facebook.com/lagravecrc

Instagram: / lagravecrc https://www.instagram.com/lagravecrc

Website: https://www.lagrave.org

#LaGrave #LaGraveCRC

Delight, Discipline, and Dysfunction: Finding Wisdom for Family Life

Summary

Proverbs as a Family Book

The service frames the sermon around wisdom for family life and presents Proverbs as a book deeply rooted in family relationships. The sermon speaker argues that Proverbs repeatedly places wisdom inside conversations between parents and children, with fathers and mothers teaching younger generations how to live. He says that the subject matter may include conflict, money, discipline, and other parts of life, but the wisdom is meant to be discussed in ordinary family settings. The message emphasizes that every person has a family story, whether that experience has been loving and secure or painful and traumatic. Because family relationships can shape people so profoundly, the speaker presents family wisdom as a concern for everyone, not only married parents with children.

Families Under Strain

The sermon describes modern families as facing significant pressure. The speaker points to what he sees as growing reluctance among younger people to marry and have children, along with fear about entering family life after observing fractured relationships around them. He also discusses family estrangement, including parents and children or siblings who no longer speak to one another. He acknowledges that separation can be necessary in circumstances involving abuse or severely toxic relationships, while also expressing concern that estrangement may sometimes happen too readily. Against this backdrop, he argues that all families need wisdom to navigate difficult relationships and changing social conditions.

Delight as the Foundation

The first major sermon theme is delight. Although the selected Proverbs contain strong language about instruction and discipline, the speaker says the deeper foundation of family life should be love, joy, and delight in one another. He describes delight as present at the beginning, middle, and end of healthy family formation, including the joy parents experience when children grow in wisdom. He then introduces a five-to-one principle: for every word of correction or criticism, there should be multiple positive expressions of affirmation, attention, and love. Practical examples include offering hugs, expressing pride, asking about someone’s day, putting down a phone to listen, and responding warmly to bids for attention.

Discipline and Parental Authority

The second theme is discipline, especially the biblical imagery of the “rod.” The speaker explicitly rejects the idea that the passages simply command parents to beat their children and argues that the term can also carry meanings connected with authority and leadership. In his interpretation, parents are called to exercise real authority, not merely function as a child’s friend, and to guide and form the child toward wisdom. He uses the provocative word “indoctrinate” to make the point that every child receives a worldview from the people and culture around them. For Christian parents, he says the highest responsibility is the formation of the child’s soul and helping the child become rooted in Jesus and the life of the Christian community.

Balance and Family Dysfunction

The sermon also warns against both extremes in parenting. It says family authority can become controlling and abusive, while a completely hands-off approach can also fail to provide needed formation and discipline. The final major theme, dysfunction, rejects the idea that loving and disciplined families automatically become perfect. Even parents who do their best can experience addiction, divorce, estrangement, conflict, or children who reject what they were taught. The speaker emphasizes that every family is broken in some way and that outwardly idealized pictures of family life do not match the complexity of real relationships.

God, Broken Families, and Hope

The message closes by comparing human family pain with the biblical picture of God’s relationship with a rebellious people. The speaker points to Hosea and Jesus’ lament over Jerusalem to describe God as a wounded parent who continues to move toward his family in love. He presents Jesus as the one sent to heal the brokenness, take punishment upon himself, and restore people to a renewed family gathered at God’s table. The closing prayer acknowledges both the joy and the pain families can bring and asks for healing where people no longer know how to repair relationships themselves. The service ends with a blessing invoking the grace of Jesus Christ, the love of God, and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit.

LaGrave Live

LIVE Morning Worship Service 08-09-2026

The Way of Wisdom: Wisdom for Families

About The Service:

We continue our Way of Wisdom sermon series, a series which focuses on some of the Bible's wisdom literature.

Pastor Jonker will preach on Proverbs wisdom for families as found in proverbs like 22:6.

Order of Worship:

https://lagrave.org/wp-content/upload...

About the Church:

We are a traditional CRC church in the middle of Downtown Grand Rapids, MI, worshipping at 8:40am, 11:00am, and 6:00pm. (10:00am and 6:00pm during the summer months)

We'd love to hear from you:

Connection: https://www.lagrave.org/contact

Let us pray for you:

Prayer: https://www.lagrave.org/prayerrequest/

Giving: https://www.elexiogiving.com/App/Givi...

The August special offering is for Covenant House. Covenant House Michigan (CHMI) provides shelter and hope to young people aged 18-24 who are experiencing homelessness or victims of trafficking in Grand Rapids and Detroit. Their mission is to serve all youth who come to their doors with unconditional love, absolute respect, and relentless support.

Listen on the go:

Amazon Music: https://bit.ly/LGPodAmazonMusic

Apple Podcast: https://apple.co/3tuOdwQ

Google Podcast: https://bit.ly/LGPodGoogle

Soundcloud: / lagravecrc https://soundcloud.com/lagravecrc

Spotify: https://spoti.fi/3yXDFaT

Follow us!

Facebook: / lagravecrc https://www.facebook.com/lagravecrc

Instagram: / lagravecrc https://www.instagram.com/lagravecrc

Website: https://www.lagrave.org

#LaGrave #LaGraveCRC

Delight, Discipline, and Dysfunction: Building Families in God’s Wisdom

Summary

Family as the Center of Proverbs

The service frames family life as one of the central settings in which biblical wisdom is learned and practiced. Peter explains that Proverbs repeatedly presents fathers and mothers instructing their children, making wisdom part of an ongoing family conversation. He argues that families shape people profoundly, whether those experiences are nurturing or deeply painful. A healthy family can become a firm foundation, while a harmful family can feel like a minefield whose effects continue through life. The sermon therefore treats family not as a narrow topic for parents with children but as a reality that affects everyone, including single people and married people without children. This broad framing leads into the need for wisdom amid the pressures facing modern families.

Modern Strain, Estrangement, and Fear of Family Formation

Peter identifies two pressures he believes are placing special strain on families today. First, he says many young people appear increasingly reluctant to marry or have children because they see the difficulty and fracture that can accompany family life. Second, he discusses family estrangement, including parents and children or siblings who stop speaking to one another. He acknowledges that separation can be appropriate in cases of abuse or severely toxic relationships and does not treat all estrangement as wrong. At the same time, he worries that relationships may sometimes be labeled toxic too quickly, producing unnecessary rupture. His conclusion is that every kind of family needs wisdom because family relationships are powerful, difficult, and deeply consequential.

Delight as the Foundation of Family Life

The first major sermon theme is delight. Peter argues that the family portrayed in Proverbs is not primarily a place of rules and rigor but a place of love, joy, and delight. He points to passages in which discipline flows from love and in which parents rejoice over wise and righteous children. This delight is presented as something that should exist at the beginning, middle, and end of family relationships. Peter emphasizes that love is not merely something beneath discipline; love and delight themselves are formative. He offers the practical idea of a five-to-one ratio, suggesting that correction should be surrounded by many more expressions of affirmation, attention, affection, and genuine interest.

Attention, Affirmation, and Everyday Connection

Peter develops the theme of delight by describing ordinary ways family members communicate love. Affirmation can be verbal, such as telling a child, sibling, or spouse that they are valued, but it can also be shown through a hug, a question, or undivided attention. He describes what psychologists call bids for attention: small attempts to connect through a smile, question, story, or gesture. In a healthy family, those bids are noticed and answered rather than ignored. His example of putting down a phone to listen carefully to a spouse illustrates how delight becomes a daily practice rather than an abstract feeling. The sermon presents these repeated moments of attention as a powerful way family members shape and strengthen one another.

Discipline, Authority, and Forming the Soul

The second major theme is discipline. Peter addresses Proverbs passages about the rod and argues that they should not be reduced to a command to beat children. He explains that the transcribed Hebrew term “shebat” can carry a broader sense of authority and leadership, and he interprets the parental task as owning and responsibly exercising that authority. Parents, in his view, are not primarily buddies but leaders charged with guiding, training, and forming their children. He uses the provocative word “indoctrinate” to make the point that every child inevitably receives a worldview from family and culture. For Christian parents, he says the highest responsibility is not achievement in academics, sports, or music, but helping children send their roots into Jesus, while avoiding both abusive control and hands-off parenting.

Dysfunction, Grace, and Hope for Broken Families

The final theme is dysfunction, where Peter rejects any idealized picture of a perfect family. Even families that try sincerely to love and discipline well may face addiction, divorce, estrangement, rebellion, and unresolved pain. He turns to God as the model of a father who knows the grief of children who turn away despite perfect love and care. Citing Hosea and Jesus’ lament over Jerusalem, he portrays God as a brokenhearted parent who continues to move toward a rebellious family. The Christian answer, in the sermon, is that God sends his Son, who bears punishment and makes restoration possible. The closing prayer therefore entrusts both healthy and broken families to Jesus and asks for healing where human effort alone cannot repair what has been damaged.