by Elder Chris McCool, Pastor (preached on December 21, 2025)

When Christ came the first time, the Jews by and large were unsuspecting and unprepared. But if they had studied the Book of Daniel, they should have known the general timeframe of the Messiah’s arrival on the scene. In Daniel 9, God gave them a timeline through Daniel’s prophecy of “seventy weeks of years.” In this prophecy, although it speaks of weeks, each day in these weeks represents one year. When we trace out the timeline, we can see that this prophecy should have prepared any who studied it for the first coming of Jesus and His ultimate sacrifice. Due to the somewhat detailed and technical nature of this sermon, we want to post it without any breaks, so it will be a little longer than usual. But please join us today for our attempt to expound upon Daniel’s Seventy Weeks of Years.

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by Elder Chris McCool, Pastor (preached on December 14, 2025)

As we began to see yesterday, God turned from the Jews to the Gentiles by grace, and not because of some inherent superiority of the Gentiles. In the same way the Jews were not better than the Gentiles, neither were the Gentiles better than the Jews! Therefore, no one should be lifted up in pride over the fact that the early church was becoming more of a Gentile church than a Jewish church. In the last half of this sermon, Paul admonishes the Gentile believers not only to remember their own depravity, and that the Jews fell because of unbelief, but also to remember that it is all of God’s grace, which displays His greatness and glory.

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by Elder Chris McCool, Pastor (preached on December 14, 2025)

In the last sermon we posted, we dealt with the Jews and jealousy. Today, we turn to the Gentiles and grace. We saw that, because of their unbelief, God turned from the Jews to the Gentiles in His primary dealings under the gospel age. However, that is no reason for the Gentiles to become lifted up in pride! When it comes down to the heart of the matter, salvation is all about grace and not at all about anyone deserving it. Join us today for the first half of this sermon about Paul’s reminder to the Gentiles that salvation is by grace and that no one should be lifted up in pride against anyone else in the Kingdom of God.

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by Elder Chris McCool, Pastor (preached on December 7, 2026)

As we began to see yesterday, when the Jews as a nation rejected Christ as the Messiah, God “judicially blinded” them, and turned His focus on the Gentiles to spread the gospel message. This “judicial blindness” was not an arbitrary act based on some secret cosmic plan, but rather a timely chastisement for their unbelief. And although it did not carry eternal consequences, it was a severe judgment nonetheless. Today we will see that one of the purposes for turning to the Gentiles with the gospel was to provoke the Jews to jealousy – that is, to make them want what the Gentiles now have in the Kingdom of God. This brings us to the heart of the matter: are we provoking those around us to this same kind of jealousy? By our actions and attitudes, are we making others want to have what we have in the church? May we ever live in such a way that others will want to “come and see” where our joy and godliness comes from! Join us today for the conclusion of this sermon about the Jews and jealousy.

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by Elder Chris McCool, Pastor (preached on December 7, 2025)

In Romans Chapter Eleven, we have learned that the Jews of Jesus’ day were “judicially blinded” by God due to their persistent rejection of the gospel message. We learned that this was a timely chastening, and not an eternal punishment, for Paul is speaking about Jews who were regenerated children of God. Today, we learn a little more about the condition that they were in, and how the apostles turned to the Gentiles with the good news of Christ’s death, burial, and resurrection. But we see that one of the purposes of the focus on the Gentiles was in order to provoke the Jews to jealousy. Join us today for the first half of this sermon about the Jews and jealousy.

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by Elder Chris McCool, Pastor (preached on November 30, 2026)

As we began to see yesterday, “judicial blindness” is a specific chastening judgment meted out by God upon His people the Jews due to their persistent unbelief of the gospel message. We learned that this sort of blindness is a spiritual condition where individuals or groups are divinely permitted to remain in a state of spiritual ignorance or insensitivity as a consequence of their continuing unbelief and disobedience. God is truly longsufferring, but there comes a point where He permits the consequences of our actions to overtake us in this life! Thankfully, this is a timely chastening, and not an eternal judgment, but we should strive to avoid it by embracing the true gospel message that Christ is the end of the Law for righteousness!

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by Elder Chris McCool, Pastor (preached on November 30, 2025)

In Romans 11, we read about the “judicial blinding” of Israel. This “judicial blindness” is a chastening judgment upon His people – in this case the Jews – who continually reject the clear preaching of the gospel message. These are NOT reprobate, non-elect persons; rather, just like in Chapter 10, these are regenerated children of God who have persisted in disobedience to the gospel. Join us today as we begin looking at this concept of “judicial blindness,” and how it can affect us if we refuse to heed the clear teachings of Scripture.

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by Elder Chris McCool, Pastor (preached on November 16, 2025)

We return today to the question of whether there are any of God’s children who, through their actions, will be “cast away” from God. As we were beginning to see in the first half of this sermon, the answer is an emphatic “No!” Paul uses Elijah as an example of how NOT to think about what we see in our current ministry: instead of thinking there are no children of God left, and we alone are God’s faithful servant, we should understand that matters of eternal life are left in the hands of God! Join us today for the conclusion of this sermon about whether God will ever forsake any of His children based on their actions.

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by Elder Chris McCool, Pastor (preached on November 16, 2025)

As we return to our exposition of the Book of Romans, we are beginning today in Chapter Eleven. In this chapter, Paul is still dealing with the disobedience of God’s elect children, particularly in rejecting the gospel message. He uses Elijah as an example of the way we should NOT think as we serve God. Join us today as we begin to answer the important question of whether God has “cast away” any of His children.

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by Elder Chris McCool, Pastor (preached on December 14, 2025)

As we bring our study of the Book of Nehemiah to a close, we are examining the leadership of Nehemiah. Remember, Nehemiah was not a prophet or a priest, but a lay member of Israel’s congregation. He didn’t have a special calling on his life, but he had a strong burden for the Kingdom of God. What an example he is for us today! In the first half of this concluding sermon, we saw that Nehemiah’s leadership depended on vision and prayer. In the second half of the sermon, which we are posting today, we find that Nehemiah led the people of Judah by following God’s plan, not by making up his own plan. True leadership cannot be divorced from the word of God, which teaches us the right path to follow. And Nehemiah was a godly man, who didn’t just “talk the talk, he “walked the walk”! Join us today for the conclusion of our exposition of Nehemiah, a leader who is an example for our times.

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