Riverside Church

“God works all things together for our ultimate good. And our ultimate good is not a life of ease and this-worldly comfort. Our ultimate good is being right with God and growth in holiness and godliness. Our ultimate good has to do with growing in the knowledge of God and in faith and love and submission to God. Our ultimate good has to do with learning not to be overly attached to the comforts and pleasures of this life and learning to enjoy the greater and deeper pleasures of loving God with all our hearts, minds, souls, and strength.”

— Rev. Jerry Hamstra

“There is something very precious about belonging to Jesus Christ and belonging to God the Father. When we belong to God, we matter to God. Jesus bought us with a price. God the Father chose us to be his treasured possession. He has adopted us into his own family. We are important to God. We are significant to God. We are loved by God. Because we belong to him in these different ways we know that we have value in his sight. And this is something that matters a great deal.”

— Rev. Jerry Hamstra

“There is something very precious about belonging to Jesus Christ and belonging to God the Father. When we belong to God, we matter to God. Jesus bought us with a price. God the Father chose us to be his treasured possession. He has adopted us into his own family. We are important to God. We are significant to God. We are loved by God. Because we belong to him in these different ways we know that we have value in his sight. And this is something that matters a great deal.”

— Rev. Jerry Hamstra

“But through believing in Christ our sins are forgiven and we have peace with God. Through believing in Christ the power of sin is broken in our lives so that we are learning to live lives that please God. Through believing in Christ we are renewed so that we are learning to find our greatest joy in loving and worshipping and serving God. Through believing in Christ we receive eternal life – that is the life of the world to come. Through believing in Christ we know that death is not the end, but that we will rise from the dead and live with Christ in a renewed creation forever and ever. ”

— Rev. Jerry Hamstra

“But through believing in Christ our sins are forgiven and we have peace with God. Through believing in Christ the power of sin is broken in our lives so that we are learning to live lives that please God. Through believing in Christ we are renewed so that we are learning to find our greatest joy in loving and worshipping and serving God. Through believing in Christ we receive eternal life – that is the life of the world to come. Through believing in Christ we know that death is not the end, but that we will rise from the dead and live with Christ in a renewed creation forever and ever. ”

— Rev. Jerry Hamstra

“Jesus came on a mission of mercy because he came to save us from our sins. God’s mercy has to do with saving us from our sins. We cannot understand or appreciate the meaning of the birth of Christ unless we understand this fact and unless the horror of sin and its consequences are real to us. Jesus came to live the life that we should have lived, and he came to die the death that we deserve so that our sins might be forgiven and so that the power of sin in our lives may be broken.”

— Rev. Jerry Hamstra