Stonebrook Church, Ames, Iowa, Sermons

Stonebrook Church, Ames, Iowa, Sermons

By Stonebrook Community ChurchReligion & SpiritualityChristianity
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Stonebrook Church, Ames, Iowa, Sermons episodes

  • At a Crossroads: Blessed or Cursed?

    In His covenant with Israel, God promised amazing blessings to the nation if they remained loyal and obedient to Him and horrific curses if they forsook Him and turned to other gods. Christians are not under Israel’s covenant, but are under the New Covenant—which also contains promises and warnings, but with significant differences. Yet, Christians, too, must love and honor God in order to be blessed.

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  • Reformation Sunday: Semper Reformanda
    500 years ago, the protestant reformation brought the light of the truth of scripture back to a church that had lost its way in the medieval period. The recaptured tenets of the reformation: Salvation by grace through faith alone, personal participation in worship, and scripture as the final authority for faith and practice, are still relevant and essential for us today.
    44 min
  • Reformation Sunday: Semper Reformanda
    Jude 1:3–4:
    “Beloved, although I was very eager to write to you about our common salvation, I found it necessary to write appealing to you to contend for the faith that was once for all delivered to the saints. For certain people have crept in unnoticed who long ago were designated for this condemnation, ungodly people, who pervert the grace of our God into sensuality and deny our only Master and Lord, Jesus Christ.”
    What’s a Protestant?
    What does it mean to be protestant? Are we protestant? What are we protesting? As I was preparing for this message, I started wondering how many of us had a working definition of “Protestant”. I actually started wondering if I had one. So just to get very clear quickly, a good way to summarize “Protestant” is one who protests against any teaching in the church that is different from “The faith once for all delivered to the saints” (as Jude puts it). And that faith being defined by “The 5 solas”.
    The Five Solas
    “The five solas” refer to five latin phrases: Sola Gratia, Sola Fide, Solus Christus, Sola Scriptura, and Soli Deo Gloria. Which mean “grace alone”, “faith alone”, “christ alone”, “scripture alone”, and “glory of God alone.” These solas define the Biblical Gospel: That salvation is by grace alone, received through faith alone, faith in Christ alone, as described in scripture alone, and to the glory of God alone. These five solas are a summary of the bible’s teaching, and they refute every false gospel, or anything that would add to the gospel of God’s amazing Grace.
    Protestants protest any other Gospel. And 500 years ago, the church had a big problem. The medieval, Roman church was teaching another Gospel. And that wasn’t its only problem. The medieval church was actually in an extremely dark place, 500 years ago.
    Problems
    The Church was more of an empire at the time. It crowned and deposed kings, it owned tons of land, it authorized military campaigns, had a massively corrupt clergy who were bent on money and power and the fame and sex that came with it. The church had abandoned its prophetic voice to the world, preaching the good news of Jesus, and was vastly more concerned with money and political power.
    Worship was more of a spectator sport, and a mechanical transaction. It was something you showed up and observed. The common man watched as priests performed strange rituals and said strange things in Latin, a language that they did not understand. In fact, its possible that the very latin words of the Catholic mass, said during communion, quoting Jesus when he said “this is my body”, in Latin, “hoc est corpus meum,” is where we get our magic phrase “hocus pocus.”
    Not only was participation in the worship service withheld from people, the Bible itself was withheld. The scriptures, though originally written in koine greek, the common trade language of most of the world, translations were restricted to Latin, the bible was actually illegal to own and read for the common man. And this is a law made by the church!
    Most egregiously, however, is the actual false gospel that was preached, that salvation was based on our performance, our ability to obey God’s law. Which of course, no one is able to do, so two other strange teachings popped up: the fact that some people do live such exemplary lives that they become “saints.” (This neglects the fact that the word “saint” in the New Testament refers to every Christian!) and the idea of Purgatory, a place where people supposedly go to be purged of their sin so they can at last enter heaven. These two false teachings built on each other in a strange way to produce an even more bizarre false teaching, “The Treasury of Merit.”
    The church taught that the extra-good people, the “saints”, had done more than enough good deeds to earn their way into heaven.…
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  • At a Crossroads: Love the Word of God
    Download Study Notes Deuteronomy 12-26  Week 10 Love the Word of God If you’ve ever read the OT, you’ve come across some commands that you simply don’t know what to do with. Deuteronomy 14:21 ESV “You shall not boil a young goat in its mother’s milk.” What?  Why?  Has anyone here ever disobeyed this command?  No one?  Surely someone has sinned.  🙂 Deuteronomy 15:7 ESV “If among you, one of your brothers should become poor, in any of your towns […]
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  • At a Crossroads: Living for the Glorious
    Israel was confronted with the truth of God and about God: would they consider who he is? Then they were called to respond to God and his will for them: would they follow him? They were at a crossroads, choosing between the glorious and the inglorious, good and bad, blessings and curses. Like Israel was, so we today are confronted with the truth of God and the calling of his will. Which will we choose?
    42 min
  • At a Crossroads: Living for the Glorious
    In the 4th book of the Bible, Numbers, is a shocking story. A story that Hollywood would have trouble matching in its drama.
    Three men in Israel rose up to oppose Moses, the Lord’s prophet. They accused Moses and his brother Aaron of arrogance.
    And ironically, they in their arrogance want to usurp Moses.
    Humbly, Moses went to prayer first. Apparently under God’s direction, Moses then told Korah, Dathan, and Abiram that in the morning the Lord will show through a miraculous sign whom he chooses to lead the people.
    Who was right? Who was the Lord’s spokesman? Whom did the Lord approve?
    The next morning the rebellion of the three men came to a head. Korah had so deceived Israel that he had some of the congregation of Israel on his side.
    The Lord was angry toward the three men and all who supported them, so he told Moses he was ready to wipe out all of Israel.
    But Moses prayed to intervene, and the Lord relented. Partially.
    So the story unfolds like this:
    Numbers 16:23–35 ESV
    And the Lord spoke to Moses, saying, “Say to the congregation, Get away from the dwelling of Korah, Dathan, and Abiram.”
    Then Moses rose and went to Dathan and Abiram, and the elders of Israel followed him.
    And he spoke to the congregation, saying, “Depart, please, from the tents of these wicked men, and touch nothing of theirs, lest you be swept away with all their sins.” So they got away from the dwelling of Korah, Dathan, and Abiram.
    And Dathan and Abiram came out and stood at the door of their tents, together with their wives, their sons, and their little ones.
    And Moses said, “Hereby you shall know that the Lord has sent me to do all these works, and that it has not been of my own accord. 29 If these men die as all men die, or if they are visited by the fate of all mankind, then the Lord has not sent me. 30 But if the Lord creates something new, and the ground opens its mouth and swallows them up with all that belongs to them, and they go down alive into Sheol, then you shall know that these men have despised the Lord.”
    And as soon as he had finished speaking all these words, the ground under them split apart. And the earth opened its mouth and swallowed them up, with their households and all the people who belonged to Korah and all their goods. So they and all that belonged to them went down alive into Sheol, and the earth closed over them, and they perished from the midst of the assembly.
    And all Israel who were around them fled at their cry, for they said, “Lest the earth swallow us up!”
    If that story doesn’t shock you or alarm you, you’re not paying attention. God opened up the earth to swallow these rebels, and they fell in to their doom.
    The judgment of God is severe.
    This story, while shocking, is really just one of a number of shocking stories during a 40-year period.
    That 40 year period began in Egypt with 10 Plagues and deliverance through the Red Sea.
    God revealed his love, holiness, and power to his covenant people, Israel, over and over again.
    Yet Israel revealed their stubbornness over and over again.
    We are in Week 9 of a series going through the 5th book of the Bible: Deuteronomy.
    Now at the end of this 40-year period of judgment, Israel was finally ready to receive their long-awaited promise of a beautiful, bountiful land.
    Would they respond in Faith and in Love for the Lord? Or would they rebel like their fathers?
    Israel was at a CROSSROADS with two choices: the glorious or the inglorious.
    The good and beautiful and holy and wonderful. Blessings.
    OR, the bad and ugly and shameful and destructive. Curses
    And their story has some remarkable parallels and applications for us today.
    Bulletin insert
    In your bulletin is an insert. An overview of the entire Pentateuch. The five books of Moses.
    It’s the same insert from 8 weeks ago when we began t…
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  • At a Crossroads: Remember Who You Are
    Wrapping up the first section of his sermon to the new generation of Israelites, who are about to at last enter the promised land, Moses reminds the nation who they are: stubborn, rebellious, and undeserving, yet loved, chosen, and cherished nation. He exhorts them to never forget this fact, as they are about to enter the promised land. He reminds us today to keep in view who we are without him: stubborn and rebellious, yet loved and chosen. This reminder will keep our hearts in the right posture of humility, gratefulness, joy, and confidence in God’s love for us as His children.
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  • At a Crossroads: The Key to Blessing
    As Israel is at the doorway of entering the promised land, God pauses to give them the key to enjoying those blessings.  He reveals that for the last 40 years he has been teaching them the all important lesson that life comes from listening to Him.  The material world alone cannot bring us life and if we begin to think that it does even the good things that God longs to gives us will become a curse.
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  • At a Crossroads: Completely Destroy the Canaanites
    Israel was commanded by God to drive the Canaanites out of the land and completely destroy those who remain. Although appalling to modern sensibilities, this command can be harmonized with the Bible’s portrayal of a God of perfect love and justice. God has a duty to judge the world and sometimes judges people and nations in the course of history, not always waiting until the final judgment day. We should respect and appreciate God’s judgments, flee from anything that defiles […]
    46 min
  • At a Crossroads: Completely Destroy the Canaanites

    Israel was commanded by God to drive the Canaanites out of the land and completely destroy those who remain. Although appalling to modern sensibilities, this command can be harmonized with the Bible’s portrayal of a God of perfect love and justice. God has a duty to judge the world and sometimes judges people and nations in the course of history, not always waiting until the final judgment day. We should respect and appreciate God’s judgments, flee from anything that defiles us, and pray for those who are far from Him.

    For further study of the nature of God’s love and the difference between unconditional love and unearned, undeserved love consider the following resources:

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Weekly sermon from Stonebrook Church in Ames, Iowa