“For the good news of Advent is not only that Christ is going to return in His glory, but his Bride - the Church - will be ready. For God himself has undertaken the task of preparing her…”

The Church as Christ will find her will be a testifying people…a sanctified people…a feasting people…and a rejoicing people. Tune in to hear Pastor Josh’s 'annual topical message’ on the hope that we celebrate in the Advent season.

The early church read this passage celebrating the Incarnation of Christ. Tune in to hear Pastor Larry journey through this passage alongside other scriptures as we celebrate the Advent of Christ.

Craig Isaac teaches us from 2 Peter this morning:

“…Now this is precisely what false teachers tend to deny. They deny the Master that bought us, and in so doing they deny the dreadfulness of sin and they deny the triumph of the cross. And don’t be mistaken, this wasn’t just a problem in the first century. This is pervasive in our day as well. People begin to say things like ‘The cross was a demonstration of God’s love for all people. The cross is the greatest example of selfless love and we should follow in his example’ . All of a sudden in such a subtle way, the philosophical foundations have been laid for all kinds of false teaching. Jesus has ceased to be our Saviour and instead he is merely our example. Our faith, which is rooted in Jesus’ sacrificial death, has been craftily changed into an example to emulate. The power of God to redeem sinners has been exchanged for human effort. But that’s not all, sin has also ceased to be utterly sinful. It is now merely a cruel sickness we are victims of, rather than what the cross would say it is, namely a treasonous rebellion against the king of Glory.

You see the cross is the demonstration of God’s love for humanity. It is the greatest example of selfless love that we will ever see, and we should seek to emulate it. Jesus is our example. But it is also how the righteous king dealt with his wrath toward sinful people, and he bought these people to be a people of his very own…”

Peter Hamm teaches us from the third epistle of John this morning:

“The truth of the Gospel means nothing if merely agreed to and signed off on. A thing we said one time. An answer we got right on a true of false test. It has to be something we live and believe in. If we believe in (the Gospel) as much as we believe in gravity, or that the sun will rise tomorrow, then we will live according to that truth - then we will walk in that truth…”

Pastor Josh continues teaching Rose City through the book of Romans this morning:

“In Romans 9, we read the unpalatable truth that God himself had caused the Jews to be hardened in their hearts, but we must realize here that this was not by causing or working evil in them, or by tempting them to sin: it was the gospel of Jesus Christ...That was the stumbling block and offense; that’s what they could not handle, because he was saying to them, ‘Your works are not pure enough to merit entry into the kingdom of God.’ This infuriated the Jews because the doctrine of justification by faith alone is a violent assault upon human pride. ‘Instead of allowing Jesus to lift them up, they tripped over him.’…Romans 10 is a vital section for understanding that Paul viewed divine sovereignty and human responsibility as complementary rather than contradictory truths…”

Pastor Josh continues teaching us from Romans 9 (note: due to technical difficulties experienced this Sunday morning, a manuscript reading is posted instead of the live sermon):

“Paul is not saying that humans have no free will, only that, in the clearest possible terms, free will is not the fundamental factor in divine election; it depends only ‘on God, who has mercy.’…It is important, as we speak the truth about human inability to save ourselves, that we accurately portray that our weakness is not physical, or even fundamentally intellectual, but moral.  It is not as though God has commanded anything of us which we are totally incapable of, only that we will never want to do it.  The weakness is in your will…Who of us, by our own free will, would claim to be able to choose absolute and eternal submission to the lordship of Jesus Christ.  Who of us, by our own choosing, could practice perfect and perpetual obedience?  But this is exactly what is promised to us in salvation.  And this is exactly what God does in his mercy; he makes us fit for heaven.  This salvation is not of ourselves, ‘it is the gift of God… so that no one may boast.’”

Pastor Josh continues teaching us through Romans 9 this morning:

“Welcome, this morning if you are visiting. We are in the most difficult part of the Bible. Not the most difficult part to understand, mind you. But the most difficult part to be comfortable with…Any attempt to explain the election of Jacob over Esau on the basis of God’s foresight of Jacob’s good works or Jacob’s choice is to reverse everything Paul is saying here and to turn the text here on its head. Paul very carefully and specifically explains that it was not Jacob’s choice or Jacob’s works that saved him only the sovereign choice of God who chooses. To come up with some apologetic that makes this make no sense doesn’t help us. We just must hear the word of God and it’s us that needs to change if we don’t like it…”

Pastor Josh continues teaching us through Romans, beginning Romans 9 this morning:

“Whenever we are studying in Romans there is a danger, especially as we work slowly through a couple verses at a time, that we miss the forest for the trees. This is Romans. There are some magnificent sequoias in here, some towering cedars. We’ve got predestination, we’ve got the sovereignty of God, we’ve got the state of ethnic Israel and the promises being granted to Israel….but we don’t want to miss the big picture…(T)he central issue in these chapters is not predestination, nor even the salvation of Israel, but the question: “Are we in the church able to fully trust the promises we have just received in chapters 5-8?”  At the forefront of Paul’s thinking is God’s faithfulness to his promises…(F)or God to be truly ‘good’ he must also be fully in control.  For God to consistently give such amazing promises to his people, as we have just seen in abundance throughout chapter 8, he must be fully willing and capable to carry them out.  Anything less is not ‘ good’, well meaning though it might be…”

Pastor Leighton continues teaching Rose City through Mark 8 this morning:

“We need to settle this now my friends. Your normal everyday christian walk involves putting to death all of your self interest. It will throw off every sin that entangles and ensnares. It will daily kill the old man of flesh that cares only for himself. It will supplant God’s will for your own. It will bear witness about your king at the very great expense of all the things this world holds dear. And it will rejoice in the suffering this illicits…”

Pastor Leighton teaches us from Mark 8 this morning:

“…I actually want you to be offended by this. Don’t be offended if the music is too loud or not to your taste, don’t be offended if the carpets are too old, or if someone here in the church once said something to you that was hurtful. Let that stuff slide. But be offended when I lump you into the same batch as the Twelve. Because the moment that you say to yourself ‘Stupid disciples! How did they miss that Jesus just fed 5000 people and could easily feed 4’, then you are in danger more than they ever were…We need to be offended. There is great sanctification in catching yourself next time saying ‘Well, I would never do that’, or ‘At least I’m not like they are’…and then to rebuke yourself. To take every thought captive. And repent. We need to be a people of repentance…”

(Note: there was a brief loss of audio at the 4:11 mark, but the sermon remain substantially complete in its recording)