Reformed & Expository Preaching

Israel forgot her God and is in Babylon in the midst of exile. Israel is away from the promised land as a consequence for their sin. Has the Lord forgotten his people? Is this a time to take up arms and revolt like in the time of Joshua? What does Jeremiah tell them? What does Jeremiah’s exhortation teach us today?

Hebrews warns us, "that if we go on sinning deliberately…. there no longer remains a sacrifice for sins" (Heb. 10:26). This is a pretty severe warning because it sounds as if we consciously sin then there is no redemption. Further, you combine this warning given to us in Hebrews 6 and we might be temped to give up on our Christian walk. Where is our hope? How do we know that we can attain the substance of our profession? What does it mean to maintain our profession?

“First, we must understand that as long as Christ remains outside of us, and we are separated from him, all that he has suffered and done for the salvation of the human race remains useless and of no value for us.” - Calvin. So, are we saved by our faith or by Christ? What is the power of faith?

Israel is in the land, and Joshua gives his farewell address. He exhorts the people to consciously choose if they will follow the Lord or the false gods of the land. We can think that we are going to be faithful or that God should note our faithfulness, but how much of it is really about us? Where do we find the power to persevere in our pilgrimage?

We welcome Rev. Angelo Contrares to our pulpit this Evening. Pastor Angelo is an associate minister in our sister church in Ripon, CA.

Pastor Lindemulder went to attend an informational meeting for a Reformed Church Plant in Sheridan, WY.

https://sheridanreformed.org

We welcome Rev. Angelo Contrares to our pulpit this morning. Pastor Lindemulder went to attend an informational meeting for a Reformed Church Plant in Sheridan, WY.

https://sheridanreformed.org

We skip over the wilderness wandering to the next chapter in Israel’s pilgrimage through this earth.  We move to Joshua surveying the land of Canaan as he gears up to carry out his war mission.  Why does Israel go into the land of Canaan in such a violent manner?  What does this tell us about life and our struggle as we live our lives under the sun as God’s pilgrim people?

One of the frustrating things about Christianity is that we do not have a tangible king. This means that we cannot simply knock on a door and see a king at work. We are a people who are to walk by faith with our eyes peering to the heavens as we sojourn on this earth. How can we be assured that our Lord is walking with us? How can we be assured that we really do have a priest who continues to minister on our behalf?

If Christ is going to have a successful mission he better accomplish something that is tangible. Rome and Israel both have an issue with the way Christ conducts His holy war. In their mind Christ is a weak king whose mission falls flat, Christ is a king with bigger ideals than power, and Christ is a king who is not to be feared. Are these claims true? How can we say that Christ's mission is successful as we have record of Christ dying on the cross?

Our story of God’s pilgrim people skips ahead to the tragedy of Israel’s rebellion. We would hope that with the huge build up and the drama of being called out of Egypt that the Lord’s people would possess the land of Canaan. However, God’s pilgrim people fail to see the big picture. Why would we want to see the bigger picture of God’s redemptive mercy? What does the full context of covenant history teach us about God’s gracious work?