Rev. Jerry Hamstra February 17, 2019 Sermons The Sixth Commandment (3) Jesus and the Sixth Commandment Rev. Jerry Hamstra February 17, 2019 Sermons Read: Exodus 20:13Matthew 5:21-26 Clearly Jesus is passionate about relationships between people. Clearly relationships are a priority for God. The Sixth Commandment speaks directly about murder, but it addresses us long before it comes to murder. The Six Commandment is about living at peace with all men. What Paul wrote in Romans 12:8 summarizes what Jesus is teaching in these verses, “If possible, so far as it depends on you, live peaceably with all.” — Rev. Jerry Hamstra Download ManuscriptSermon Series: The Ten Commandments
Rev. Jerry Hamstra February 17, 2019 Sermons Stewardship Rev. Jerry Hamstra February 17, 2019 Sermons Read: Matthew 25:14-30 The life of stewardship is not a life of asceticism where the focus is mostly on self-denial and sacrifice. But neither is it a life which is all about ourselves and our pleasures without any self-denial and sacrifice. We are saved to love. Love is other-centered. Love involves doing things for other people. Love involves putting others before ourselves. And it involves being engaged in building the body of Christ – supporting the work of the kingdom, contributing to the great commission. — Rev. Jerry Hamstra Download Manuscript
Rev. Jerry Hamstra February 10, 2019 Sermons The Sixth Commandment (2) Different Kinds of Killing Rev. Jerry Hamstra February 10, 2019 Sermons Read: Exodus 20:13Numbers 35:9-34 The Bible is the story of how God is overcoming death. The great plan of salvation that the Bible describes is about God’s victory over death. That victory was not painless for God. It required him to absorb the penalty for sin himself in Jesus Christ. While it is not true to say that God died when Jesus died, the close relationship between Jesus’ divine and human natures means that there is a sense in which death came close to the very heart of God when Jesus died. — Rev. Jerry Hamstra Download ManuscriptSermon Series: The Ten Commandments
Rev. Jerry Hamstra February 10, 2019 Sermons Biblical Responses to Secular Beliefs (5) The Meaning of Life Rev. Jerry Hamstra February 10, 2019 Sermons Read: Genesis 1:26-31Revelation 21:1-42 Corinthians 5:6-10 These are just a few aspects of the biblical teaching about the meaning of life. It begins with being reconciled to God through Jesus Christ. Apart from salvation, we only live for ourselves rather than living for God and the Bible teaches that that is the way of death. But it also teaches that those who believe in Jesus and follow him find their purpose in pleasing God and enjoying fellowship with him. And it insists that living this way is the most satisfying and joyful and fulfilling way to live. And it insists that living to please God has an eternal significance. It matters now, but it will also matter forever. — Rev. Jerry Hamstra Download ManuscriptSermon Series: Biblical Responses to Secular Beliefs
Rev. Jerry Hamstra February 3, 2019 Sermons The Sixth Commandment (1) The Value of Human Life Rev. Jerry Hamstra February 3, 2019 Sermons Read: Exodus 20:13Genesis 9:6Mark 8:34-37 Human life is almost infinitely valuable. The glory of God is the most important value of existence. The human beings as the image of God are glorious beings because they reflect the glory of God. Sin is such a horrible thing that it requires the destruction of the most glorious thing. And the love of God is so great that he was willing to sacrifice his dearly beloved Son for the rebels. And so this God is even more glorious and more worthy of our love and worship than we could have ever known apart from his saving love for sinners. — Rev. Jerry Hamstra Download ManuscriptSermon Series: The Ten Commandments
Rev. Jerry Hamstra February 3, 2019 Sermons Biblical Responses to Secular Beliefs (4) Faith, Reason and Knowledge (2) Rev. Jerry Hamstra February 3, 2019 Sermons Read: Proverbs 1:7Romans 1:18-23Hebrews 11:1-3 Evolution cannot rationally account for anything because of the huge role it gives to chance, but it certainly cannot account for the deeper spiritual and psychological and moral aspects of human life. The jump from nothing to something and then from random something to orderly something, and then from orderly physical stuff to the profound spiritual, psychological and moral aspects of life is a whole list of impossibilities. At the end of the day our experience of life is nothing like what you would expect if the secular worldview were true. — Rev. Jerry Hamstra Download ManuscriptSermon Series: Biblical Responses to Secular Beliefs
Rev. Jerry Hamstra January 27, 2019 Sermons The Fifth Commandment (8) Authority and the State Rev. Jerry Hamstra January 27, 2019 Sermons Read: Exodus 20:12Romans 13:1-71 Peter 2:13-17 As we have been seeing in our studies of the Fifth Commandment, we are to submit to those whom God has placed in authority over us and that doing so is for our good – it is the way of life and blessing. But as we have also seen along the way is that that is sometimes problematic because authority is often misused and abused because all authority figures are sinners and many of them are not saved. There is an awful lot of suffering in the world because of the abuse of authority. — Rev. Jerry Hamstra Download ManuscriptSermon Series: The Ten Commandments
Rev. Jerry Hamstra January 27, 2019 Sermons Biblical Responses to Secular Beliefs (3) Faith, Reason and Knowledge Rev. Jerry Hamstra January 27, 2019 Sermons Read: Proverbs 1:7Romans 1:18-23 If you do not start your thinking with the God of the Bible, it is impossible to give a reasonable account of the world and the big questions of life. You don’t start with reason and reason your way to God. You start with God and show that any reasoning about ultimate things that does not start with God is actually irrational. — Rev. Jerry Hamstra Download ManuscriptSermon Series: Biblical Responses to Secular Beliefs
Rev. Jerry Hamstra January 20, 2019 Sermons The Fifth Commandment (7) Authority in the Church Rev. Jerry Hamstra January 20, 2019 Sermons Read: Exodus 20:121 Peter 5:1-5Hebrews 13:17 The requirement of believers in Jesus Christ to submit to the oversight of elders requires them to be members of a specific congregation. The biblical teaching about salvation includes church membership and not submitting to church membership is direct disobedience to the clear teaching of the word of God. — Rev. Jerry Hamstra Download ManuscriptSermon Series: The Ten Commandments
Rev. Jerry Hamstra January 20, 2019 Sermons Biblical Responses to Secular Beliefs (2) The Conforming Power of Society and the Biblical Answer Rev. Jerry Hamstra January 20, 2019 Sermons Read: Romans 12:2Ephesians 4:17-24 We live in a secular world that teaches that all that matters is our lives in the here and now. The Bible teaches us that the most important thing for human beings is how they relate to the God of the Bible. And what we will see the more that we study the Bible and ourselves and the world around us is that the world of which we are a part reflects perfectly the word of its Creator. — Rev. Jerry Hamstra Download ManuscriptSermon Series: Biblical Responses to Secular Beliefs