Series
Rev. Jerry Hamstra
The Book of Esther
The Book of Esther
Sermons
Rev. Jerry Hamstra
Introduction to Acts
Introduction to Acts

Sermons

Government Corruption and Poverty

“Ecclesiastes is saying that it is gain for the land when you have a ruler who is committed to everyone flourishing as much as possible. “But this is gain for a land in every way: a king committed to cultivated fields.” Within the context of Ecclesiastes, corrupt governments are one of the things about life under the sun that is vanity and problematic, while good and just governments are a real gain under the sun. Good governments can be a great means to promote human flourishing.”
— Rev. Jerry Hamstra

“Therefore let your words be few.”

“It is actually dangerous for sinful human beings to be in the presence of God. This idea was at the heart of the worship of the temple in the Old Testament. The temple was the dwelling place of God and the only way that God could continue to dwell in the midst of his sinful people was through the offering of sacrifices that provisionally atoned for the people’s sin until the final sacrifice offered by Jesus Christ on the cross.”
— Rev. Jerry Hamstra

“You shall not make for yourself a carved image…” (3) The Regulative Principle

“This is why worship that is authorized by the Bible is so simple and unadorned. God wants us to focus on what he is saying to us and on what we say back to him. He wants our attention to be focused like a laser on him, and anything that detracts from that is counter-productive as far as what God is looking for in our worship is concerned. God is not interested in us feeling worshipful because of a worshipful atmosphere. God wants us to love and rejoice and adore and tremble and fear and exult because our attention is riveted on what he is saying to us.”
— Rev. Jerry Hamstra

“You shall not make for yourself a carved image….” (2) Worship and the Word

“The relationship between Jesus Christ and the second commandment is very significant because in Jesus Christ, God has provided an image whom we are not only allowed to worship, but whom we are required to worship. In Colossians 1:15 Paul refers to Jesus as “the image of the invisible God.” And in verse 19 of the same chapter, he tells us that “in him all the fullness of God was pleased to dwell….””
— Rev. Jerry Hamstra

The Vanity of Government

“The kingdoms of this world have their place, but they are always flawed, always imperfect, always provisional. The kings and rulers of this world are necessary, but they also cause as many problems as they fix. Human governments can never solve all the problems that need solving. They are part of the problem. And their imperfections should cause us to look for something above and beyond the imperfection and brokenness of everything in this world.”
— Rev. Jerry Hamstra

“You shall not make for yourself a carved image….” (1)

“You see, God has made us reflectors. We do not have independent existence. We are images. We are not originals. We are images of some original. That is our essence. And that is all that we can be. We are God/god reflectors. We are images of some God/god. It is not possible for us not to be an image of some God/god. Either we reflect the true God, or we reflect some false god. Just like a mirror is always going to reflect something so we are always going to reflect some God/god. When God said that he made us in his image he said that he made us as mirrors to reflect him.”
— Rev. Jerry Hamstra

The Importance of Community

“But within this overall perspective, an important part of the answer to the problem of meaningless is our relationships with other people. The meaning of life has to do with relationships, first of all our relationship with God, but within that context, our relationships with other people. And what these verses in Ecclesiastes that we are looking give us is a spectrum ranging from vanity towards meaning – a spectrum from emptiness to fulfillment.”
— Rev. Jerry Hamstra

“You shall have no other gods before me.” (3)

“If the true God is our God, then serving and pleasing him is our greatest desire and we enjoy God’s gifts in moderation while being grateful to God. But if we make a god of our appetites and desires then satisfying them is more of a focus and priority than serving God is and so our life is dominated by serving our appetites.”
— Rev. Jerry Hamstra

Right and Wrong Attitudes Towards Work

“The gospel strikes at the heart of envy and rivalry and wanting to outshine others, because the gospel gives us the mind of Christ who came not to be served but to serve and to give his life for others. By the example of Christ and by the power of his resurrection, believers are enabled to put to death the lust for wanting to outshine others and to begin to love others and serve others and rejoice when they rejoice rather than resenting their successes and blessings.”
— Rev. Jerry Hamstra

“You shall have no other gods before me.” (2)

“God is to fill the horizon of our lives. God demands literally everything from us. Having God as our God means that our lives are not our own. It means that no part of our lives are our own. It means that we exist for God. It means that every second of our lives and every thought that we think and every thing that we do is to be directed by love for God and directed to pleasing God. Any time that is not happening we are breaking the first commandment.”
— Rev. Jerry Hamstra