The Advent of Jesus is the greatest news of all time! A three-message Christmas mini-series may at first seem insufficient to proclaim THE GOOD NEWS of the Advent of the Savior, but it does have the power to grab our attention again and refocus our minds and hearts on truths that have become all too familiar to us. Below is an outline summary of the sermon for your further study and deeper reflection.

SERIES: The Unexpected at Advent
TEXT: Luke 2:1-12
TITLE: Wise Men From Afar
PREACHER: Tom Wilkins
BIG IDEA: The Good News of the Savior and King, Jesus, has come to the unexpected who are far off.

POINTS:
1. They Were Directed by God
2. They Were Used by an Evil King
3. They Worshipped the Savior

SERMON EXCERPTS:
All quotes are taken from the pastor’s notes.
”Because of misinterpretation in religion and culture over 2,000 years, these [wise men] can be misunderstood, and the point of them being invited can be completely missed.”

“The ESV Study Bible notes that [the ‘wise men from the east’, literally ‘Magi’] were ‘...priests and experts in mysteries in Persia and Babylon’. The Magi were well-educated counselors, wise men, and they served kings through their knowledge, interpretations, and 'wisdom, speaking into difficult and everyday matters. …The closest thing we have to these guys in the U.S. would be presidential advisors - cabinet members.”

“The Stars belong to God and this star compelling the Magi to the west was HIS DOING. God was directing every single detail and that includes the heavens above and the earth below. His Star is what moved them!”

“While some have described this star as supernova, a comet, or the aligning of planets, Verses 2 and 9 reveal that something more supernatural is occurring - coupled with no one else mentioning it. …God uses Bethlehem’s star as His unique and gracious invitation to the star-led magi.”

“The Magi would have likely been familiar with some of the Old Testament, (the Prophet Daniel in particular) including the promise of the coming Jewish king (See Vs. 2). “His star” that drew their attention westward toward Israel would likely have driven them from studying this star to studying the Israelite Scriptures as they sought to understand what was happening.”

“All of this - the magi and their entourage, the star, and the message they came proclaiming about the birth of a new king - was deeply troubling to Herod. And if Herod was troubled, then all whom he ruthlessly ruled were troubled.”

“Herod ruled through violence and manipulation. He was known for his bloodthirst. Emperor Augustus was quoted as saying, “It is better to be Herod's pig than his son.” As a Jew, Herod refused to kill pigs but killed three of his sons, along with many others, including one of his wives and a number of her family members. AND, like Pharoh of old, under the threat of being replaced by another king, he sets out to find and kill this newborn king.”

“The Gospel reveals that this is the pattern - the Jewish leaders will reject Christ and seek to kill Him but the Gentiles will believe in Christ and be saved according to God’s word!”

“All of this…is completely unexpected! The very ones whom the Messiah came from and came to, they seek to kill him! But, from these unexpected ones who were far away from Him, Jesus would receive extravagant worship… worship fueled by EXCEEDING rejoicing and with GREAT joy!”

“[These Gentile Magi] are on God’s invite list of the birth announcement of The King of the Jews, Jesus, to make it clear that the Savior has come for SINNERS, and this includes sinners LIKE YOU AND ME!”

ADDITIONAL SCRIPTURE:
Psalm 8:3
Matthew 2:16-17
Matthew 23:37
Ephesians 2:12-13

QUOTES:
 Daniel M. Doriani - “...God… chooses to speak to stargazers through a star. Stars had significance for these men. God descended to the Magi’s level to communicate with them. Stars got their attention, so God used a star.”

APPLICATION POINTS:
- Everything is God’s doing. What is going on in your life? It is God’s “invisible hand” directing and guiding it all!
-Satan is at work right now deceiving whoever will listen and follow him (Ephesians 6:12, John 15:18)

Unbeliever
Whether or not you are aware, you are lost in this world, but the Savior has been born unto you and me!
Q. Are you a sinner? The Good News is that You are invited! There is no place where the Gospel cannot reach. There is no sinner who is too far off that the Gospel cannot reach. COME, BEHOLD THE CHILD, JESUS, THE SAVIOR!

Looking into the unexpected people and events God uses can help us not just guard verses mindlessly walk through this Christmas season, but deepen our awe and appreciation of these historical and objective gospel events. Below is an outline summary of the sermon for your further study and deeper reflection.

SERIES: The Unexpected at Advent
TEXT: Luke 2:8-20
TITLE: Shepherds In The Field
PREACHER: Tim Lambros

SERMON EXCERPTS:
All quotes are taken from the pastor’s notes.
”Our Christmas series is titled “The Unexpected at Advent.” Advent means “arrival” and typically Christians take a few weeks each year to celebrate and remember afresh the events of the Incarnation of Jesus Christ. I think this sentence captures our  approach this year - It’s a time to reflect on the unexpected nature of Jesus’ humble birth.” 

“What makes this story so stunning is all the unexpected people and events that occur. Let’s explore together the unexpected first recipients of this profound birth  announcement.”

“In one of God’s providential movements of people and nations, Caesar Augustus dictates there will be a census, all of Israel is seriously inconvenienced and once again reminded of Roman rule and oppression. Even if you’re 9 months pregnant, you are required to register in your home town. Yet Augustus and the local governor Quirinius are simply unsuspecting tools in God’s hand. God uses these secular leaders to fulfill yet another OT prophecy. Micah 5:2 states 700 years prior to this day that the One who would rule Israel would come out of  Bethlehem. God is directing people and nations. ” 

“Luke states that in the same region there were shepherds out in the field, keeping watch  over their flock at night. We can be quite confident these shepherds were not prepared for what was about to happen. For us, 2000 years later, to grasp the depth of  shock and surprise, we must know a few things about shepherds in Christ day.”

“These are unnamed shepherds in the field. We have to be careful in a number of places during the Christmas story because we tend to bring our rendition of who the players are and what the culture was like. 

• Shepherds lived in the fields, could not keep the ceremonial law so they were  treated as unclean  

•They were regarded as liars and thieves and their testimony was inadmissible in a  court of law. 

• Shepherds did not enjoy a very good reputation in their day.”

“The most important announcement in all of history, anticipated for centuries and it comes to these  UNNAMED shepherds working their mundane, dirty, boring job are the recipients! Now listen to the content of the announcement – GOOD NEWS, GREAT JOY ….Not just any news but GOOD news. Not just joy but GREAT joy. Not just for some  people but for ALL the people …”  

“Let’s not be romantic about these manger scenes that populate our homes and public places. The Christ came into this world and lay in a feeding trough.. Jesus is born and is laid in a feeding trough for animals in a barn that stinks of animal smells and sounds. Of all the babies born during the census period, the Shepherds would find Jesus in a barn, looking like every other newborn and drawing no attention  to Himself.”

“God is a speaking God. The revelation of Himself in creation speaks. The revelation of Himself in the OT speaks. But they are like whispers compared to the  Incarnation. This is God shouting! This is the highest revelation of Himself. God sent His Son to take on flesh. We can gaze upon the exact imprint of God. We can see the radiance of the glory of God in that manger! To truly grasp Christmas, we must grasp what a monumental moment this truly is!“ 

“The Christmas message is that there is hope for a ruined humanity - hope of pardon, hope of peace with God, hope of glory - because at the Fathers’ will Jesus Christ became poor and was born in a stable so that thirty years later he would hang on a cross.”

ADDITIONAL SCRIPTURE:
Galatians 4:4
Hebrews 1:1–3

QUOTES:
Phillip Ryken - “Shepherds were despised. With the exception of lepers they were the lowest class of  men in Israel.”
”The shepherds would not find the child couched in royal splendor, as they might have expected, but lying in poverty. This was the humiliation of the incarnation, that the Son of God humbled Himself to save us.“

J.I. Packer - “It is here, in the thing that happened at the first Christmas that the profoundest and most unfathomable depths of the Christian revelation lie. The Word became flesh. …The more you think about it, the more staggering it gets. Nothing in fiction is so fantastic as is this truth of the Incarnation.”

APPLICATION:
1. An unexpected event creates a monumental turning point
To truly grasp the real meaning of Christmas, one must be in awe at God working His redemptive plan. Each time we look at a manger scene, it should move us to awe and humility.
QUESTION – What do you see when you look into the manger?

2. An unexpected audience for profoundly good news  
Why did God appear to these unnamed, lowly shepherds? The answer lies in verse 11.
QUESTION – In what ways does the Incarnation of Jesus Christ help you see your need for a Savior?

All of our sin and the contempt of God is washed away by THE Deliverer, Jesus, in the waters of His forgiveness. Below is an outline summary of the sermon for your further study and deeper reflection.

SERIES: Christ in the Chaos
TEXT: Judges 3:12-30
TITLE: Certain Victory at the River
PREACHER: Tom Wilkins
BIG IDEA: All of our sin and the contempt of God is washed away by THE Deliverer, Jesus, in the waters of His forgiveness. 

POINTS:
1. God’s people turn away from him again
2. God’s utter contempt for His enemy
3. God’s certain victory for the ages

SERMON EXCERPTS:
All quotes are taken from the pastor’s notes.
”Here we are again!  The repeating cycle in the Book of Judges turns again as we turn the page on God’s deliverer. After 40 years of rest, Othniel, the paradigm judge, has died, and the people of Israel did what was evil in the sight of the LORD.”

“This is their constant shame. Their apostasy, their rebellion, and their cosmic treason against their Holy God (using the words of R.C. Sproul) will not be tolerated.”

“God sovereignly strengthens Eglon [and the Moabites] for the purpose of afflicting His rebellious people. He will not let them continue to sin in the face of His patience and kindness.His name, His holiness, and His justice are at stake. Therefore, He must move to correct them!”

“The Geography is important! Check out the maps in your Bible. This is happening in a real time in real places. These places are important. Moab is the kingdom located on the South/East coast of the Dead Sea. Eglon moves North, gathering armies from the Ammonites and Amalekites. They continue North around the Dead Sea, turn west and cross the Jordan River, and take possession of  Jericho (“the city of palms”)... rebuilding it to a degree, and, from there, ruthlessly rule the people of Israel.”

“God was still leaning in toward his people, longing for their return. We can see His providential hand on his sinful people has not been removed. He will not let His own go! And now we will see His sovereign hand of strength that was on Moab is now removed. Praise God that he has not let His own go! He raises up his ‘deliverer, Ehud, the son of Gera, the Benjamin-ite, a left-handed man.’”

“God’s Contempt of the Enemy was revealed in the stature and very name of King Eglon. It is here in the story that the satire, mockery, and coarse humor begin to emerge.”

“The laughter, the irony, the coarse humor, and the uncomfortableness are purposeful in revealing God’s utter derision and His mocking laughter that makes it clear that HE will not be mocked by man.” 

“You see, these “fords” (these SHALLOWS) in Verse 28 are strategic in cutting off the enemy’s escape. The enemy will be HALTED at the fords of Jordan, leaving no way of escape for any of them - not one of the 10,000 will escape.”

“Maybe you find yourself in the clutches of fear when you see what’s going on in the world. The wars, the death, the immorality, the terror, the economies. You fear that we will get caught up in the wars. You fear that we will get hit by another terror attack. You fear that you could lose it all and quickly. BUT! God is not a spectator on the world stage. God is Sovereign and Reigning from on high in and through it all.”

“From these same fords of the Jordan River, God’s certain victory reverberates across the ages… across all of Redemptive History. Fast-forward over another millenia through Salvation History and another deliverer will stand in the shallows of the Jordan River - THE Deliverer Jesus will wade into these waters and be baptized! Standing in the fords of the Jordan River would be the very Son of God on whom the Holy Spirit descends.”

“Repentance and faith in the Son of God brings salvation to all who will believe. THIS Advent Season we now head into includes that moment when Final Deliverer, Jesus, was dipped into the fords of the Jordan River! All of our sin and the contempt of God is washed away by THE Deliverer, Jesus, in the waters of His forgiveness.”

ADDITIONAL SCRIPTURE:
Psalm 2:4
Psalm 139:7
John 1:10-11

APPLICATION:
This must drive us to our knees before our Holy God. 

God will not be mocked, either by His people in their sin and certainly not by the kings of this earth who seek to devour His own.

Unbelievers - God’s contempt of your sin is real, and your very eternal life is at stake. This is just a taste of what will happen in God’s final judgment when He unleashes HIS FULL DERISION! Cry out to God for Salvation!

Christian - let this text arrest your attention! Let it wake you up from your slumber! Are you caught in sin? Cry out to Christ in repentance!

Today, we will see in the text the Grand Pattern of Salvation - that marks all of Redemptive History. Below is an outline summary of the sermon for your further study and deeper reflection.

SERIES: Christ in the Chaos
TEXT: Judges 3:7-11
TITLE: Grace - God's Paradigm of Salvation
PREACHER: Tom Wilkins
BIG IDEA:  The only hope we have after forgetting our God is that in His mercy, He will not forget us!

POINTS:
1. They forgot Him (Vs. 7-8)
2. He did not forget them (Vs. 9-11)

SERMON EXCERPTS:
All quotes are taken from the pastor’s notes.
”There is a larger repeating cycle (for at least 6 of the judges). Each repeated cycle is broken about 7 basic parts:

• The people sin against the LORD - turning away from Him and turn to idol worship

• The LORD disciplines them by selling them into the hands of their foreign enemies

• The people cry out for deliverance

• A divine word is spoken to the people

• The LORD raises up a judge/deliverer to save His people from the oppression of their enemies

• Peace reigns for a time

The judge dies bringing an end to the cycle and the setting up of the next. In today’s story in 3:7-11, the theological pattern in Chapter 2 now begins to take on flesh, names, places, and times.”

“This forgetting of the LORD is described in Vs. 7 as “evil in His sight” and in Chapter 2:17, likened to an unfaithful woman who has turned away from her faithful husband and ‘sells’ herself to other men. …The biblical language is stark. The imagery is revolting, and when they beheld what was out there, THE LORD becomes to them unattractive, unsatisfying, undesirable… in their minds that have turned to worldliness, their very Creator and Sustainer and Provider and Protector has become to them unnecessary, uncaring, not providing enough for them and weak… THEY FORGOT HIM, their living Holy God, and ran after dead and filthy gods.”

“The text is clear - “forgetting of the LORD” = their serving of the idols, namely the Baals and the Asheroth. The result: God’s Anger. We cannot miss this. In all of history. In all of creation… there is someone that we do not want to anger – the Holy God!”

“We forget Him! But the good news is that His discipline is an act of His remembrance of us! They forgot the LORD their God, but God will now move to deliver them and grant them rest… He has NOT forgotten them!”

“God’s retribution in judgment (for those who are outside of His covenant) is unmitigated by grace. Yet, His judgment for those who are His covenant people is not retribution but, rather, corrective, and it is tempered by grace. THIS is why He will not forget them! They belong to Him, and He keeps them as His own. He will not break His covenant with them.”

“This deliverer is, by and large, a mystery. What does seem clear, though, is that not much is said of this man for the purpose that much will be said of THE DELIVERER. God is the one who is saving!”

“In our text, we see it is God who is at work, and while the King of Double Wickness is God’s ‘agent of discipline,’ Othniel is God's ‘agent of grace!’”

“Recall the cycle/spiral that today’s story follows. Verse 11 includes the death of the first judge/deliverer. The death of Othniel is a clue that the cycle is about to restart… the downward spiral into moral depravity, and this will include both a decline in the people and a decline in the judges. BUT… THIS CYCLE HAS BEEN INTERRUPTED BY THE GLORIOUS GOSPEL. Jesus, the Son of God, comes and does what no other deliver can! And Othniel begins to present a pattern that ultimately points us to the Great Deliverer, Jesus!”

“At the end of Verse 11, we have the death of our 1st deliverer, the death of Othniel… and the death of the judges to come will mark in the cycle the people returning to their sin, BUT the death of THE Great Deliverer, Jesus, will mark the END of their sin. Instead of a judge dying and the people turning away to sin, Jesus takes away their sin upon Himself. God’s anger burns again our Sin Bearer instead of us. He dies AND WE LIVE!”

QUOTES:
C.J. Mahaney - “The epitaph on the gravestone of the people of Israel often read: “They Soon Forgot”

Barry G. Webb - “They are not snatched from God’s hand (no tyrant has the power to do that), but (literally) ‘sold’ by him in a deliberate transaction that he initiates and controls. It is a carefully measured act of discipline, in which the punishment fits the crime. Those who ‘serve’ foreign gods are made to ‘serve’ a foreign ruler (vv. 7,8), and those who do ‘evil’ are handed over to one who is ‘wicked.’”

Dale Ralph Davis - “Our primary problem is that verse 9 moves us only to yawn. After all, we already know the theological truth of verse 9 - we’ve read that sort of thing often before. So we respond with a please, nodding ho-hum. Isn’t God nice? What’s for supper? If we fail to see, to feel, to delight in the miracle of God’s own nature, are we not strangers to rather than partakers  of such unbelievable grace?”

APPLICATION:
Q. Have you forgotten the LORD your God? Are you in bed with other gods?

Q. Has the world become so attractive to you that you are forgetting the beauty and steadfast love of the LORD your God?

We’re not advancing the narrative chronologically today. Instead, our text parallels what we have already seen, focusing on the five-alarm emergency of Israel’s spiritual condition. While finding anything to smile about here is hard, we will find something if we look close enough. Below is an outline summary of the sermon for your further study and deeper reflection.

SERIES: Christ in the Chaos
TEXT: Judges 2:6-3:6
TITLE: My Sin, God’s Mercy, And Everyday Life
PREACHER: Derek Overstreet

POINTS:
1. Faith Matters
2. Sin Is Serious
3. God Is Merciful

SERMON EXCERPTS:
All quotes are taken from the pastor’s notes.
”The author begins by providing a contrast. The details of Joshua’s death and burial are essential. In 7, we learn how God’s people thrived spiritually under Joshua’s faithful, God-centered leadership. Then, in 9, the author tells us Joshua was buried in his promised inheritance. The point is that God rewards the faithful.”

“Amid difficulty and crisis, Joshua was faithful to God personally and in his leadership. And God rewarded him. But it’s a new era in Israel. An entire generation did know the Lord and what He had done for them.”

“Not knowing isn’t innocent ignorance or memory loss. They had been taught of God’s love, holiness, and faithfulness. They had been taught about Egypt, the Red Sea, and crossing the Jordan into the Promised Land. They just didn’t care. They had no regard for God. They weren’t atheists—they were agnostic.”

“Our faith matters. The Israelites had all the knowledge in the world about God. But knowledge saves no one. The demons know exactly who God and Christ are—they are still demons. Faith in Jesus is everything. Without it, you have nothing. That’s not to say our hope is in our faith. Our hope is the object of our faith, Jesus—He alone saves. But faith is the God-ordained conduit by which we receive the gospel's life, blessings, and promises.” 

“The author could have simply said—They did what was evil in the sight of the Lord. But he is hammering away at, in a word—Idolatry. …They didn’t combat the culture around them. Instead of evangelizing, they assimilated. Instead of being an influence, they were influenced. Their loyalty was horizontal, not vertical. Now, they don’t look like God’s people. They look like Canaanites.”

“We may not be joining ourselves to sacred prostitutes, but as John Calvin famously put it—Our hearts are idol factories. An idol is whatever you allow to become more significant in your life than God. I need IT for happiness. I want IT for status. I have to have IT for sanity. Whatever IT is, even if IT is something good—family, leisure, marriage, children, convenience, godly reputation, health—if you want IT more than God—that will be evident in your priorities—if you are willing to sin because you don’t get IT or to get IT, IT is an idol. Idolatry is loyalty to self and this world. Idolatry is sin. The sin of idolatry is with us every day!”

“Be assured that the penalty of sin was paid at the cross. Be assured that the power of sin was defeated in the resurrection. But be equally assured that sin is still present and powerfully deceptive. If we ignore it, like Israel, our hearts will be hardened as we spiral downward spiritually.” 

“Was this an overreaction by God? I thought God was always faithful to His people? He is—read verse 15. God’s anger is an expression of His faithfulness. It’s a faithful anger. Israel was not innocent. God is doing exactly what He promised to do so many times in the past. …God’s anger is an expression of His holy love.”

“Astonishing! Discipline—Yes! Abandon—No! God is faithful. He is a covenant-keeping God. And despite Israel’s utter failures, God was merciful. God, who rightly casts Israel down, lifted them up! Through individual stories and as one BIG story, this is how Judges reveals the gospel to us. It points us to one who would do what no earthly judge could do.”

“God disciplines those He loves. He knew what Israel needed. But He was merciful through it all. He sent judges to save them. He was longsuffering with them. He loved them with an undying love to restore them as His covenant people.”

ADDITIONAL SCRIPTURE:
Hebrews 3:12-13
Deuteronomy 28:25
Leviticus 26:17

QUOTES:
Dale Ralph Davis - “Love divine is not soft laxity but blazing intolerance and absolute claim. Such is the God of Israel whose jealous love makes him faithful in his anger toward you. Who ever heard of love and fidelity like that?”

Our Marriages Needed the Redeeming Power of God.

Thursday night was our Community Group. It so happens that our group right now has six married couples. Our topic for discussion last night was based on the role of the husband and this was strategic and will be followed by our next meeting that will discuss the role of the wife. These two meetings follow our church’s recent Sermon Series – The Final Word: Gender, Marriage, and Complementarian Roles According to Scripture (what a gift God’s word is to us regarding these issues has been and what a gift these sermons have been to our church).

So, the agenda for our meeting was set. The Bible text was Ephesians 5. Our guide for discussion was Chapter 2 from the book, “Love that Lasts – When Marriage Meets Grace”, by Gary and Betsy Ricucci. The title of the chapter is “Leading with Love – The Role of the Husband.” 

Yet my heart for our group was one of desperation, a desperation for the Holy Spirit to minister to these couples… to Lisa and me. I knew that this meeting was coming at a time that met the various couples right in the middle of life’s suffering, bewilderment, conflict, trouble, failure, sin and more. Our meeting was not filled with starry-eyed newlyweds. Together we needed instruction, help, encouragement, correction, conviction, repentance, forgiveness, mercy, grace, and most definitely real and lasting hope, hope we knew but have often forgotten could be found only in Jesus. Our marriages needed the redeeming power of God. 

Knowing this, I began the meeting by reading the final word’s in Chapter 2. Gary wrote:

“Men, I could have easily filled this chapter with the examples of my failures to love, lead, understand, and honor my wife. But that wouldn’t serve you.” He went on. “Instead, I want to draw your attention to the glorious gospel of the Son of God who cleanses us from our past and then moves us forward to grace-filled future.” 

Each husband (and their wives) so needed to be reminded about the redeeming power of God in the glorious gospel! The time flew by, and we seemingly barely scratched the surface, yet nearing the end of our time, one of the wives highjacked the last several minutes of the meeting and each of wives encouraged their husbands in specific ways that God was at work in them as they fulfilled their roles husbands. 

Our marriages so needed this Community Group! God has been at work redeeming husbands’ and wives’ roles, redeeming their marriages, and our marriages so needed to hear it. Instead of being left to the condemning nature of a litany of failures, each husband was encouraged forward by the truth of God’s redeeming power that is at work in their marriage. 

Let this simple retelling of a single Community Group’s story direct your gratitude, and your worship to your Savior, Jesus, who loved His bride so much that “He gave himself up for her.” Ephesians 5:25 (ESV)

-Tom Wilkins

Compromise can be good. It can also be bad—really bad. Bad compromise happens when one chooses to live below the standards they know are true for an intended effect. Spiritual compromise is the worst kind of compromise. It’s the Christian’s kryptonite. Below is an outline summary of the sermon for your further study and deeper reflection.

SERIES: Christ in the Chaos
TEXT: Judges 1:19b-2:5
TITLE:   Compromise Kills
PREACHER: Derek Overstreet
BIG IDEA: Spiritual compromise jeopardizes the full realization of God’s promises and blessings to us.

POINTS:
1. Israel’s Compromise
2. Our Warning

SERMON EXCERPTS:
All quotes are taken from the pastor’s notes.
”The Bible repeatedly warns us about spiritual compromise, and for good reason: When we compromise our faith, we forfeit experiencing the Lord’s promise and blessing as we should.” 

“Israel’s compromise is front and center in Judges. Today, it is a warning for us as we follow Jesus in a messed-up world.”  

“The author's message is impossible to avoid—they did not drive the enemy out of the Promised Land.”

“Here’s the deal—It’s not up to Israel or us to determine what happened. A question we must learn to ask is—What is God’s view? And that’s precisely what we get next.”

“What God says here, He has repeatedly said in Exodus and Deuteronomy. First, He reminds them how He delivered them from Egypt, expressing His covenant faithfulness. Second, given redemption, He commands and warns them not to covenant with the Canaanites but to drive them out of the land and destroy their pagan liturgy, break down their altars of worship, lest they turn from God to the idols of Canaanites. Israel failed to obey God. We have an explicit example of this at the beginning of our passage—read 1:22-26.” 

“The root of Israel’s problem was not military strategy, physical might, or pragmatic policy. It wasn’t that iron chariots were insurmountable or that God’s power was less effective in the plains than in the hill country. It was spiritual—Spiritual compromise. As we will see in next week’s text, Israel’s spiritual compromise led not only to the accommodation of the Canaanites but an assimilation of the Israelites to the Canaanite's paganism.”

“Israel’s compromise is a warning for us. Like Israel, our compromise is often gradual, subtle, and not always black and white. Joseph acted “kindly” to the man and his family fleeing Bethel. But their kindness was a spiritual compromise in that situation because it disobeyed God.”

“Whether it is inconsistent with His Word or a conscience calibrated by His Word, compromising our faith is simply doing something inconsistent with being faithful to God.”

“As Christians, we want to love others. The ground is level at the foot of the cross. We are all sinners in need of a Savior. But here’s what we must never do: No matter how right, kind, innocent, or socially acceptable something may seem, we must never place our desires, convenience, comfort, or reputation over God’s Word.”

“Christ gave his life for us. By the grace of God, you are what you are in Jesus. Forgiven, righteous, kept, and EMPOWERED to live for Jesus. What God calls you to, He will provide grace to walk in.” 

“Christian or not, never presume on God’s grace. He will not be mocked. The Bible is clear: When we compromise our faith, He will discipline us (Hebrews 12). When we yoke ourselves to unbelievers (2 Corinthians 6), He will oppose us in our pride (James 4). To compromise our faith is to NOT abide in Christ, and when we don’t abide in Christ we miss out on the promised joy that is ours in Christ (John 15).” 

“How is the Spirit convicting you of compromise? No fear or condemnation. Just grateful and sincere repentance followed by joyful gratitude that Jesus cleanses you of all your sins and He never leaves or forsakes you despite your sin.” 

“That’s our prayer through this series. That God, in His kindness, would grant us fresh affections for Christ and a renewed desire to live for Him and him alone, so that we will experience all He has for us to the praise of His glory!”

ADDITIONAL SCRIPTURE:
Romans 12:1-2

QUOTES:
Unknown - “The chief danger of the Church today is that it is trying to get on the same side as the world, instead of turning the world upside down.”

Daniel Block - “This reaction on God’s part is neither impulsive nor arbitrary nor capricious; it reflects his own fidelity to past pronouncements.”

Barry Webb - “Doing something that is inconsistent with being faithful to God.”

Randy Smith - “Compromise with the culture is often the result when we lose a reverence and respect for the Lord. It’s the “Jesus won’t mind” attitude. To overcome compromise we need to remove our fear of offending the world and recapture a healthy fear of the Lord that our God expects and demands.”

APPLICATION:
Three things about compromise:

1. Compromise can be subtle; often, you don’t even notice it

2. Compromise happens when we lose focus on our true calling. We don’t drift into holiness; we drift into compromise.

3. Compromise is a hard habit to break

In light of this, here is our application—Prioritize Community Group. 

If you don’t have one—find one. If you have one, but no one in it knows you—start going. We all need help identifying, avoiding, and defeating compromise. You shouldn’t go the Christian life alone because you can’t go it alone because God didn’t intend you go it alone. The answer to compromise is refocusing on Jesus, getting back to the Bible, and renewing our affection for Jesus. That’s what happens in CG.

At our Prayer Night this past Sunday we prayed together as a church, confessing our anxieties and casting them upon the Lord (1 Peter 5:7). We do this not only because it is a command from God’s Word, but because scriptures like Psalm 93 remind us that God is ruling and reigning on His throne and is worthy of our trust. As we ended the evening, we sang a song called The Lord Almighty Reigns (Psalm 93) which proclaims that very truth. 

As God’s people, we need to sing this song together. Why? Because it is so easy for us to forget: As we encounter trial and sorrows, as we fight the sin of anxiety, and especially in the midst of the chaos and busyness of life, we need to be reminded that God is ruling and reigning on His throne. 

We often come on Sunday mornings distracted by the chaos of life. What a joy to be able to gather together as God’s Church and remind one another of this truth as we sing. In the Lord’s kindness, He often works to encourage His saints this way when we gather to sing. I encourage you to listen and learn this song as we look forward to singing it throughout our Judges Series (Christ in the Chaos). 

God’s people needed this reminder in the Book of Judges and we need it today. 

Title: The Lord Almighty Reigns (Psalm 93)
Album: Unchanging God - Songs from the Book of Psalms, Vol. 1
Link to listen: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YfG0Efz49VU

When things get chaotic, where do we find hope? The Book of Judges is in the Bible for a reason: to point us to and ground us in our hope in life and death, especially in times of chaos. Below is an outline summary of the sermon for your further study and deeper reflection.

SERIES: Christ in the Chaos
TEXT: Judges 1:1-19a
TITLE:   A Hopeful Start
PREACHER: Derek Overstreet

POINTS:
1. The Supreme Sufficiency of God
2. The Unfailing Hope of Christ
3. The Irreplaceable Value of Unity

SERMON EXCERPTS:
All quotes are taken from the pastor’s notes.
”Judges shows us how God forged a people for Himself in a chaotic time, described in the final words of Judges as a time when—Everyone did what was right in his own eyes. That was chaos then, and it’s chaos now. Doesn’t it seem like we live in a world that is more and more chaotic? Increasingly, everyone is doing what is right in their own eyes. So then, the question for believers is this—When things get chaotic, where do we find hope? The Book of Judges is in the Bible for a reason: to point us to and ground us in our hope in life and death, especially in times of chaos.”

“Today may be the happiest day of our series as we look at Israel’s response to the death of Joshua. As our sermon title suggests, it was A Hopeful Start. In this Hopeful Start, we find three unchanging truths that we must not lose sight of amid the chaos.”

“As we come to the Book of Judges, Israel was in crisis. Their leader is dead. The mission incomplete. The future very uncertain. What will Israel do? What would you do? Maybe you’re experiencing the uncertainty of life right now: 

• New season of life (marriage, fatherhood/motherhood, retirement, empty nest). 

• Uncertainty of the future (country, finances, health)

• Unimaginable loss (death of your Joshua, a towering presence and force for good in your life—father, mother, mentor)

Where do you turn? Where is your confidence? What is the source of your hope? Notice Israel’s response.”

“As successful and loved as Joshua was, Israel knew the true source of their fruitfulness and well-being. It wasn’t Joshua; it was the Lord. God had been faithful to Israel. He made promises to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, and He kept them. Joshua is gone, and that’s hard. But God has gone nowhere. He is right there with them. And he hears their prayer.”

“To some, verses 4-18 may seem like nothing more than geography and a list of military successes. More than mere geography, this list is what one commentator called Theological Geography. The cities, regions, people, details, and short sub-stories all matter. They happened in real space and time. They are world history. But it’s history and geography that reveals God's wisdom, assurance, power, and presence with His people.”

“Israel’s help and hope are not in an earthly hero; it’s in the eternal purposes and powerful presence of an Almighty God. But Israel lost sight of God. More and more, they drifted away from God to the world.”

“This point should not be lost on us. Judges is not about pagan nations—it’s about God’s people. This series is not about a chaotic world—it’s about the church. It’s about you and me. It’s about our pride and idolatry. It’s about our insatiable appetite to do what we think is right in our own eyes instead of turning to, trusting in, and following God.”

“GOOD NEWS: Judges doesn’t leave us to ourselves. Whether it’s the macro picture or the micro details, Judges reveals a merciful and gracious God who uses flawed and weak people to fulfill his purposes.” 

“When God’s people inquired who would go against the enemy, God said Judah. And now, the Lion of Judah has gone against our greatest enemy, Satan, and sin, and God has given them into his pierced hands so that we would be saved from the consequences of our sin—That battle has been won!”

“Our legacy isn’t found in a theological hero or a national identity. Our legacy is a gospel legacy. We are the fruit of Christ’s work on meant to impact a chaotic world. 
Q) How do we do that?  A) Together!”

“God put His finger on Judah to lead the way. But the battle against the enemy was going to be difficult. So Judah did not launch out alone; they fought the fight TOGETHER. As we have seen in 4-18, this strengthened the nation. Corporate unity is essential in Judges because it is a primary way we experience God’s sufficiency and faithfulness—TOGETHERNESS. The key to seeing Christ in the chaos is seeing the wonders of his love for His people.”

“Grasping the limitlessness of Christ’s love for us and God’s faithfulness to us is not something we can do in isolation. If left to ourselves, the fight for faith becomes chaotic because we become weak.”

“Judges happened long ago in a faraway land. But it couldn’t be more relevant for us today because, ultimately, it points us forward to Jesus and His coming kingdom where we live together as a shining light for the glory of God, renown of Jesus in the salvation of sinners, with eager anticipation of heaven!”

ADDITIONAL SCRIPTURE:
Joshua 23:14
2 Samuel 7
Revelation 5
Ephesians 3:17-19

QUOTES:
Barry Webb - “Joshua made a great impact on his generation and left behind him people who worked together, called on God, moved at his command, and experienced his blessing….As Christians we all share in a far greater legacy. For the whole church of which we are a part is the legacy of Jesus Christ.”

Dale Ralph Davis - “The unity and fellowship of God’s people is not a wimpy idea weaker Christians dote on. It is an essential condition for experiencing the strength of our God.”

APPLICATION:
This is why Sunday matters more than you can imagine. When it comes to the chaos in your life, gathering with your church to pray, sing, serve, and sit under God’s preached Word brings clarity, faith, ammunition, and strength for the spiritual battle.

Our gathering is meant to proclaim and demonstrate the power and testimony of Jesus Christ as the one mediator between God and man, that all people would come to a saving knowledge of the gospel truth in the power of the Holy Spirit and to the praise of God’s glory. Below is an outline summary of the sermon for your further study and deeper reflection.

SERIES: The Final Word
TEXT: 1 Timothy 2:8-15
TITLE:   Gathering God’s Way
PREACHER: Derek Overstreet
BIG IDEA: When we gather as God’s people, we gather God’s way.

POINTS:
1. Humility Matters When The Church Gathers
2. Order Matters When The Church Gathers

SERMON EXCERPTS:
All quotes are taken from the pastor’s notes.
”Scripture doesn’t tell us how to do everything when we gather, but it is clear on some things, including our God-ordained complementarian roles. Where Scripture is clear, we must be committed.”

“One would think this goes without saying, but there’s no fighting at church. Paul says anger and quarreling have no place in the household of God, especially when we gather to worship God.”

“Men like to duke it out, be it with fists or words. And don’t tell me to back down—I can fight a war of words for as long as I have to. A bit of hyperbole, but it’s true; men get angry. At times, we get loud. Other times, we quietly huddle in the lobby to grumble about music that’s too loud, a member that’s too different, or a pastor that’s too direct. Sometimes, our anger is silent. The anger and quarreling are internal. Paul says—STOP. Instead of fighting, pray with each other.”

“As men, we are called to lead the church in making it a gathering of peace, love, and unity.”

“That takes humility. Where there is humility, there will be peace. Humility means seeing others as more important than ourselves (Phillipians 2:3). Humility means looking to others’ interest (Philippians 2:4). Humility means being able to overlook an offense (Proverbs 19:11). Humility means having an eagerness to guard the unity of the Spirit in the body of Christ produced by the gospel (Ephesians 4:3).”

“Ladies, we live in a society that screams in your ear—You are what you look like! Botox, plastic surgery, fancy jewelry, and designer clothes. If you want to get noticed or feel like a woman, you’ve got to have it. If that external pressure wasn’t enough, you have the internal tendency to compare yourself with other women. Look at her—I wish I could pull that off. The Bible says something vastly different—It’s not about the outside; it’s about the inside. It’s about your heart. It’s about your motive. That’s the point of verses 9-10.” 

“If you dress to get noticed, no matter how long your skirt is or how loose your pants are, you are missing it —that’s pride. Fashionable clothes, nice jewelry, and that latest hairstyle aren’t sinful, but a self-centered, proud heart is.”

“Ladies, God desires you to come to church not to dazzle with your looks but to demonstrate the glory of Jesus with your heart by humbly giving yourself—look at 10—good works—serving and pointing others to Christ. This is a God-glorifying profession of godliness.” 

“First, what Paul is not saying. He is not saying women cannot pray or prophecy in the church (1 Corinthians 11:5). Nor is he saying women cannot teach other women (Titus 2). He is not saying women can’t speak up in CG or offer counsel to a man (Acts 18:26). Other NT passages make it clear that Paul is not prohibiting women from speaking PERIOD in church.” 

“Paul IS saying two things: 1) Women are not to teach the gathered church, and 2) Women are not to exercise authority over the gathered church. IMPORTANT: Teaching and exercising authority are two different and distinct activities. The text bears this out.”

“Biblical roles for men and women in the church are rooted not in the culture, tradition, or fairness but in the created order of Genesis 1-2.” 

“Some have interpreted this as women being spiritually weaker, less intelligent, or more gullible—Not true! This would imply that women are inferior to men, and Scripture never says that.” 

“Paul uses this fundamental and unchangeable distinction to encourage women—ladies, I hope you are encouraged—that as you persevere in embracing and walking in your unique God-ordained roles, stated in 9-12, contrasted to the Garden in 14, and exemplified in 15 by child-bearing, it is one evidence, along with faith, love, holiness, and self-control, of your new life in Christ. So Paul ends this teaching on roles in the gathered church by showing the destruction of not walking in their God-ordained roles, i.e., Eve’s deception, and the good of walking in those roles, i.e., perseverance and endurance in godliness and truth to the end when our salvation will be final and we will be with Jesus.”

QUOTES:
Thomas Schreiner - “In approaching Eve, then, the Serpent subverted the pattern of male leadership and interacted only with the woman. Adam was present throughout and did not intervene. The Genesis temptation, therefore, stands as the prototype of what happens when male leadership is abrogated. Eve took the initiative in responding to the Serpent, and Adam let her do so.”

APPLICATION:
- Men, are you an angry person? Are you angry with someone in this room? Humble yourself and pray for them, and watch your perspective and attitude toward them change. Go to them and humbly talk it out with another brother or pastor. There will be disagreements. We are sinners. But as men, we are called to lead the church in peacemaking and unity. 

-Ladies, what are you more aware of or concerned about on Sundays—your looks or serving others? Reflecting a particular image or reflecting your Savior? God doesn’t forbid your desire to look good at church. He made you way more beautiful than men! But God does want you to know that looking good is not where you get your identity and value. That comes from not what you can do to yourself but what Jesus has done for you in the gospel.

Today, the risen Jesus is building his church. As he does, he is redeeming our roles through truth and the Spirit. This means:

1. Men, because of Jesus, you can walk in your God-given roles of leading the church in humble peacemaking and prayer. Be encouraged and repent where you need to. God is merciful and gracious.

2. Ladies, because of Jesus, you can walk in your God-given role of doing good works with a submitted spirit. Be encouraged and repent where you need to. God is merciful and gracious.

Tomorrow, October 22nd, you will receive a GIFT! 

The ESV Scripture Journal on the book of Judges

Sunday, October 29th, we begin a 22-week series in the Book of Judges. Judges is ugly, violent, and depressing. Yet, in all the chaos, we see God powerfully at work as He faithfully and patiently sustains His people and points us forward to our Savior.

Christ in the Chaos - Into the darkness of this ugly, violent, and sinful world, “the sunrise,” (Luke 1:78 ESV) God’s only begotten Son, Jesus, came to us! Into the chaos of our messed up sinful lives, the Savior has come! What a pure JOY! What a certain HOPE!

These Journals are given to you as a means to encourage your study and meditation on the book of Judges. They include the complete book of Judges (ESV) and space to take notes. 

During this series, each of the sermons will give us the opportunity to open the pages in the book of Judges and hear God speak to His Church… to us… in order that Jesus may be magnified. Therein the light of His Word will shine into our hearts and lives. We will be challenged, confronted, convicted, given grace, encouraged, granted hope, moved to fall before Him, and to stand in awe of Him in true worship! 

Use these Journals to take notes. 

That last sentence made me laugh out loud! “... take notes?” Are you kidding me? This is from the guy who at Eastwood Middle School was more interested in collecting NFL pencils (from a vending machine in the front office) than I ever was interested in actually using them to take notes! 

We don’t need scientific proof that note-taking helps us remember more. Just revisited your desk, the front of the fridge, the countertop, the bathroom mirror, the car dash, and the “texts-to-self” on our phones. The dilemma is not the Word… it’s our forgetfulness, neglect, or disregard. Consider the possibility of redeeming these struggles by the intentional application of the simple God-given tool of taking notes in order to recall again, recite again, and delight in God’s Word again and again. 

I found this on the internet (I am sure it is true :-)) : “One Saturday night, apparently from exhaustion, Charles Spurgeon fell asleep before preparing his sermon for the next morning. However, he began talking in his sleep. Taking up pen and paper, his wife Susannah wrote down the things Spurgeon said in his sleep, handing her notes to him in the morning. He used those notes to preach the sermon to his 6,000-member congregation!” Not an exact application of the kind of note-taking I was referring to, but I’ll bet you never forget the story!

I know for certain that this series in Judges will definitely be etched a little deeper in this “middle-schooler’s” mind and heart because I will finally use that pencil. How about you?

A wife’s complementarian role in marriage isn’t an old-fashioned tradition or a barbaric form of oppression. When a wife embraces God’s design for her in marriage, she serves and worships the Lord. Below is an outline summary of the sermon for your further study and deeper reflection.

SERIES: The Final Word
TEXT: Ephesians 5:22-24
TITLE:   It’s Not About Your Marriage, Part 2
PREACHER: Derek Overstreet
BIG IDEA: When a wife gladly submits to her husband, she worships the Lord.

POINTS:
1. A Horizontal Mandate
2. A Vertical Motivation

SERMON EXCERPTS:
All quotes are taken from the pastor’s notes.
”…nowhere in Scripture are the roles ever reversed. The husband is always called to loving, sacrificial, and understanding leadership, and the wife is always called to joyful submission to her husband’s leadership. That’s God’s Final Word on roles in marriage.“

“Clearly, 21 calls us to submit to one another. But unless that submission is qualified and defined, it would be chaos. That’s precisely what Paul is doing. Beginning with the wives, Paul shows how we submit to one another, not in a mutually absolute way, but according to the God-ordained roles and relationships we find ourselves in. So, Paul instructs us on Christ-exalting submission in different relationships, first wives to husbands, then children to parents in 6:1, and finally employees to employers in chapter 6:5.” 

“What does biblical submission look like? Wives, your role is to partner with your husband (and your husband only—context is marriage) as his helpmate. That is not a mindless task. Biblical submission does not mean you’re a doormat. You are not a silent partner without a voice.”

“True complementarianism doesn’t mean you’re forbidden to disagree with your husband or speak out apart from your husband. You’re not called to obey your husband, as children obey their parents. That’s hyper-complementarianism. It’s destructive. It’s unbiblical. It’s no complementarianism at all. It grieves the Spirit. If your husband is leading you into sin or stubbornly leading you into a supremely unwise situation—don’t submit! I appeal to you to reach out to your pastor. If you don’t feel physically safe, reach out to your pastor and get help. If you are married to an unbeliever (tricky), reach out to your pastor and get help.” 

“A marriage is a loving, intimate, covenantal union between a man and a woman, co-heirs with Christ, equal yet different to complement one another. That means there is a necessary interdependence and a great degree of mutual submission in marriage. For the wife (husbands, we need to hear this and lead our wives in this), that means using your strengths, skills, wisdom, understanding, and perspective to help your husband as he makes decisions and leads your marriage and home in a Christ-exalting direction.”

“To be clear, Paul isn’t saying wives are to submit to their husbands EXACTLY as you submit to Christ—that’s idolatry! Husbands, we have to be careful that we don’t lead our wives and have expectations of them that, in effect, cause them to idolize us. Ladies, before you are a Christian wife, you are a disciple of Jesus. And as a disciple of Jesus, you are called to an absolute and complete submission to Him. So when Paul says submit to your husband as to the Lord, he means: A wife submits to her husband as an expression of her submission to the Lord.”

“This means your marriage is not about your marriage. It’s about God filling the earth with the glory of His wisdom and the mercy of His love—through your marriage! That should bring us to our knees. But it should also flood our hearts with hope. The very thing at the heart of your marriage—the gospel—is powerful enough to transform any marriage, including yours.”

“Nothing is more critical, essential, and hopeful to your marriage than believing the gospel is powerful enough for your marriage! When you believe it, your marriage is a living parable that produces joy in your heart, shines truth to the world, and brings glory to God.” 

ADDITIONAL SCRIPTURE:
Colossians 3
1 Peter 3
Titus 2

QUOTES:
Alexander Strauch - “The word submission can hardly be used in our culture without misunderstanding and strong disdain. It is loaded with negative, provocative connotations, yet submission is a biblical word and a Christian virtue. We cannot avoid it.”

Gary Ricucci - “The relationship between a husband and his wife is meant to be a reflection of Christ’s relationship with his church—a living parable of the supernatural union between Jesus and his Bride.”

APPLICATION:
1. Know your calling by studying it
2. Transfer the truth
3. Don’t be surprised when submission gets difficult

What a joy it is to be part of Sovereign Grace Churches! Your financial partnership and prayers continue to be a means of God's grace in advancing the Gospel through our family of churches throughout the world. YOU together with our Church, are making an eternal difference!

Mark Prater, the Executive Director of the Sovereign Grace Churches Global Leadership Team, recently provided the following encouragement and a list of Prayer Requests. We hope that you are encouraged by his words and are asking you to join us and pray for these things.

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From Mark:

"Building relationally has always been a value in Sovereign Grace, and by the grace of God, it's our hope that it always will be. One of the ways that we strengthen the relationships we have among our churches is to pray for one another. It is right that we, as a family of churches, pray for one another, but it is also right that we remember who we pray to. Charles Spurgeon in his book, The Power of Prayer in a Believer’s Life, writes: 'The frail, feeble, undeserving creature is permitted to stand in the august presence of the God of the whole earth, and the Lord regards the poor creature as if there were nothing else for Him to observe, bending His ear, and His heart to listen to that creatures cry. It is essential that we know that we are speaking to God and that God is hearing us.'

Amazing isn't it? The Lord of the whole earth bends His ear and His heart to listen to the prayers we pray for one another. What a faith-building truth!"

Sovereign Grace Churches Fourth Quarter 2023 Prayer Requests

• Pray that God would draw unbelievers to Sovereign Grace churches as we hold our Christmas-related events and services in December.

• Pray that God would give the members of Sovereign Grace churches opportunities to share the gospel with unbelieving family members, friends, neighbors, and coworkers over the holiday season.

• Pray for the Sovereign Grace Churches Pastors Conference, November 14-16, 2023, in Orlando, FL, asking God to work in a way that our relationships among our churches are strengthened, pastors and wives are equipped for what God has called them to do, and that our family of churches is united in our shared gospel mission all for the glory of God alone.

• Pray for our two church plants in Mexico, one in Reynosa, Tamaulipas, and one in Huajuapan Oaxaca asking God to provide for their needs, strengthen their church planting teams, and draw unbelievers to both churches.

• Pray for Dave Taylor (Director of Global Missions) and Sovereign Grace Church, Sydney as they host 17 pastors from the Philippines for the second half of our SG Pastors Immersion Training, October 14 – November 6. This training will help us to continue putting some key foundations into Sovereign Grace Churches Philippines and bring these pastors together as a foundational leadership cohort. We’re very excited about this step, as our two big groups of churches in the Philippines start to come together in partnership in this way, all under the one banner of SGC Philippines.

• Pray for our brothers and sisters in Pakistan who have been affected by the recent rioting. There were about 20-25 churches that were looted and burned as well as many homes of Christian families. One of those looted and destroyed churches is pastored by a man who is with the group that we have the privilege of partnering with in Pakistan. So please pray that God would meet them in this time of great affliction and sorrow.

• Pray that God would bring peace and end the wars in Ukraine and in Israel. Pray that God would turn the tragedies of war into gospel opportunities in both nations. Please continue to pray for the Ark Church, our sister church in Dnipro, Ukraine, asking God to protect them, and use them to meet practical needs, and to offer gospel hope to people impacted by the conflict in Ukraine.

• Pray that God would continue to provide financially for Sovereign Grace Churches so that we can fund the gospel opportunities He is giving us throughout the world.

Here is the good news—Being a husband is not about how far we have come but how far Jesus went to enable, empower, and ensure that, though imperfect, we can be God-exalting husbands. Below is an outline summary of the sermon for your further study and deeper reflection.

SERIES: The Final Word
TEXT: Ephesians 5:25-33
TITLE:   It’s Not About Your Marriage
PREACHER: Derek Overstreet
BIG IDEA: Husbands, and future husbands, your role doesn’t begin with a ring at the altar; it begins with Jesus atoning sacrifice on the cross.

POINTS:
1. A Sacrificial Love
2. A Purposeful Love

SERMON EXCERPTS:
All quotes are taken from the pastor’s notes.
”We have spent the last two Sundays in Genesis 2 learning marriage is designed by God to be a life-long commitment between a man who lovingly leads and a woman who joyfully follows as her husband’s helpmate. Sin has made that hard (Genesis 3:16). Instead of leading in love, the husband’s inclination is to dominate his wife. Instead of a joyfully submitted helpmate, the wife now wants to rule over her husband. And the result is a sky-high divorce rate, adultery as the norm, crushing spousal abuse, and lovers turned roommates. That’s just in the church! What’s the answer? …we have to get our eyes off the latest five steps to a better marriage, off love languages, off romantic idealism, off the idol of self-fulfillment, and back on Jesus.” 

“Marriage is vertical before it’s horizontal. It’s about you and Jesus before it’s about you and your spouse. It’s about the gospel. Marriage is a relational context meant be a living parable of Christ and the church.”

“…before we even have time to think about it looks like to love your wife, Paul says, get your eyes of yourself and LOOK UP.”

“A husband’s love for his wife is not culturally defined, experientially defined, or traditionally defined. It is Christologically defined. God wants your holy duty as husbands to be informed, motivated, and shaped by Jesus’ love for sinners beginning with the cross.”

“No one made him do it. It’s not something he deserved. Yet, submitting to his Father’s will to the praise of his glory, Jesus took the initiative and gave, not simply what he had—he gave himself.“

“This daily sacrifice involves a willingness to see your wife, a co-heir in Christ as more important than yourself, as well as a readiness to lay down all you hold dear to care for her. This daily sacrifice is about living with our wives in an understanding way, even when she refuses to do the same with you. We don’t lead and love our wives this way because they’ve earned it. If Jesus is our model, Jesus didn’t make us earn his love. He loved us when we were unlovable and he continues to love us despite our unlovability.”

“Husbands, and future husbands, your role doesn’t begin with a ring at the altar—it begins with Jesus atoning sacrifice on the cross.”

“We all know the saying—Happy wife makes a happy life. While there may be some truth to that, our call as husbands is to be concerned, not primarily for her short-term happiness, but for her long term holiness and ever-increasing satisfaction and joy in Jesus. There is no greater way we can lead our wives.” 

“Listen, as husbands, we do not, we cannot sanctify and cleanse our wives of their sin. It’s not us who presents our wives in splendor before the throne of God above. Jesus alone can and does do that. But we are called to lead, encourage, promote, and spur them on in holiness. As God’s primary instrument of grace in our wives spiritual lives, we are to be purposeful in this calling.”

“Men, we need heavenly help for our holy duty. And God gives it. He made us new in Jesus. He fills us with His Spirit. He stands by His promises to give us all things we need for life and godliness. And as we will see next week, He gives us wives, the perfect helpmates who, with their wisdom, love, and own obedience, help us grow in being the husbands God has called us to be.”

ADDITIONAL SCRIPTURE:
Galatians 2:20
1 John 3:16
1 Peter 3:7
Philippians 2:3-4
Romans 5
John 17:17

QUOTES:
Martyn Lloyd-Jones - “We must start by studying the relationship between Christ and the church, and then, and then only, can we look at the relationship between the husband and wife.”

Gary Ricucci - “The role of a husband doesn’t begin at the altar…it begins at the cross.”

Larry McCall - “A husband who would love his wife as Christ also loved the church will begin by understanding that his love is a choice, made in spite of (not because of) his wife’s actions, attitudes or appearance.”

Gary Ricucci - “Our role originates in the gospel, is empowered by the gospel, and is perfected through the gospel. We can love and lead our wives because our Savior, Jesus Christ, loved us, gave himself up for us, and leads us each day in mercy and grace.”

APPLICATION:
Redemptive Questions for Husbands (taken from “Love That Lasts” by Gary and Betsy Ricucci):
- Do I faithfully pray for her, that Jesus Christ might be glorified in her and that she might know his love and grace?
- Do I love her enough to confront and correct her sin, especially recurrent patterns of sin, and then patiently and consistently lead her into fruitful and liberating repentance?
- Do I wash her with the Water of God’s Word (Ephesians 5:25-27), or do I compromise her growth in godliness because my pride, selfishness, or fear keeps me from this God-given responsibility?
- Do I lead her into active involvement and service in our local church?
- Do I constantly remind her of the gospel of grace and of God’s active goodness on our behalf?

Lord, use this text to make us more amazed at you while feeling more desperate for and dependent on you. 

There are many facets to our life as a church! Our hope is that these posts will enable you to plan, pray, and ultimately rejoice in what the Lord is doing at Sovereign Grace Church. Here are a few updates for you to do just that! 

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SGU Autumn 2023 Unit

The first class in the Sovereign Grace University Unit, The Doctrine of Man/Sin, started September 3rd!

SGU is a discipleship class that focuses on theology and this fall we will be going over THE DOCTRINE 0F MAN & SIN.

If you haven’t signed up yet, there is still time! To register or to find out more information, visit our SGU PAGE HERE.

“Judges: Christ in the Chaos” Preaching Series

October 29th, we begin a 22-week series in the Book of Judges. Judges is ugly, violent, and depressing. Yet, in all the chaos, we see God powerfully at work as He faithfully and patiently sustains His people and points us forward to our Savior. Don’t forget to grab your free Judges Journal, coming to the Information Center soon.

5TH SUNDAY STRETCH WORSHIP & PRAYER NIGHT

A WORSHIP & PRAYER night will be held at the church on October 29th (the fifth Sunday) at 7PM. This event is a time for us to “stretch” ourselves - to come together as a church community to praise and worship God and pray together about specific topics. For more details about this event, please reach out to Tom Wilkins.

FALL CHURCH PICNIC

After church on Sunday, November, 5th we will be having a churchwide picnic after the Morning Service! Food, fun, and fellowship…and a great opportunity to invite guests!

2023 Pastor’s Conference

Pray for your pastors and their wives as they attend the SG Pastor’s Conference in Orlando, FL, Nov. 14-16. It is a wonderful time of refreshment, teaching, and fellowship with like-minded men and women from around the globe who are uniquely on gospel mission together. 

PRE-SERVICE PRAYER

At 9:30 AM each and every Sunday morning, you will find a number of people gathered in our auditorium for prayer, including those who are serving every Sunday. We pray for our service. We pray for all those who will be attending that morning. We pray that the Gospel will advance in the hearts of all who come. And YOU are invited to come and join us too!

RELAY 2024 CONFERENCE

Your pastors are excited to invite you to RELAY 2024 - A Sovereign Grace Young Adults Conference on January 4-6, 2024, at the Sovereign Grace Church in Glen Mills, PA (Covenant Fellowship Church). 

This conference is geared towards young adults ages 18-25 years old, but those who are 16-17 years old as well as those in their late 20’s or 30’s are welcome. (Both singles and married couples are invited!)

CLICK HERE for more conference details!

Where are we to go for help regarding this cultural shift in the definition of what a man is, what a woman is, and, today, what True Marriage is? We go to the Word of God. Below is an outline summary of the sermon for your further study and deeper reflection.

SERIES: The Final Word
TEXT: Genesis 2:24-25
TITLE:   True Marriage is the Handiwork of God
PREACHER: Tom Wilkins
BIG IDEA: True marriage is the handiwork of God.

POINTS:
1. True Marriage, by design, is between a man and a woman.
2. True Marriage, by design, is God's joining of a man and a woman.
3. True Marriage, by design, is made holy by God.

SERMON EXCERPTS:
All quotes are taken from the pastor’s notes.
”This is not just an American issue, but rather, the weakening of marriage through deconstruction and redefinition is a worldwide mankind issue - wherever the hearts of men and women have turned away from God and where they have been given over to the evil desires of the flesh, the collapse of that society has already begun.”

“Disorienting winds of doctrines are blowing strong wave after wave of this culture’s attempts to reimagine, redefine, reshape, and even remove what ‘marriage’ is. They can be disorienting and even become plausible. By God’s grace may the Word of God silence these waves, calm our hearts, and reestablish the TRUTH about ‘marriage.’”

“THE FINAL WORD on what true marriage is has already been spoken by God. True marriage is God’s handiwork. Marriage, biblical marriage… true marriage is God’s doing.”

“This could not be any clearer. The nouns and the pronouns involved could not be any clearer. If we are confused, and disoriented, and perplex about “what is marriage” the lack of understanding is us. The word of God is clear and understandable.”

“The Word of God NEVER provides or allows for any other definition. We have to add to or take away from the WORD in order to find another definition - we have to completely reject God and what He has said in order to get what we want.”

“We cannot underestimate the influence of our culture on our thinking regarding marriage! We have about 196 countries in the world today - almost 20% have legalized homosexual marriage, just in the past 6 years! 7 years ago - ZERO, as of today, 34!”

“The mention of the man and woman both being “naked” causes us to begin to back up and recoil… the mention of even the thought of marriage being without shame causes us to wonder how this is even possible. Moments of shame regarding our own marriages and the shamefulness that we have witnessed in other marriages cause us to doubt that God has made marriage to be free from shame. But marriage, by design, is holy and beautiful and this is God’s doing.”

“In God’s design, the institution of marriage is untouchable. It is undefiled. He sees it all, and nothing in the purity of and sanctity of marriage is vile… nothing about it is vulgar… nothing debased. True marriage is from Him, it is through Him, and it is to Him. It truly is Holy Matrimony! The undefiled complement of the man and woman pours forth His image as a testimony to His nature and goodness to the world both in their covenant of marriage and the marriage bed.“

“God has made it possible for marriages, that are completely exposed by the “nakedness” of their sin, to be made holy again and no longer be ashamed. The Holiness of True Marriage is redeemed by the Gospel and for the Gospel.”

“We must reject same-sex unions as being somehow part of a redefined marriage. Same-sex unions, by definition, are enemies of the Gospel! YET the joyful hope is that the Gospel offers repentance and forgiveness to these same individuals. Jesus truly is the Redeemer after all!”

“May we behold the beauty of True Marriage designed by God! May we behold the beauty of the Gospel as it shines bright through marriages that are between men and women made by God, joined together by God, and made holy by the blood of Jesus.”

ADDITIONAL SCRIPTURE:
Leviticus 18:22, 20:13
Genesis 19:1–10
Judges 19:1–30
Romans 1:18–32
1 Corinthians 6:9–11
1 Timothy 1:8–11
Mark 10:7-9
Ephesians 5:31-32
Hebrews 4:14-16

QUOTES:
Kevin DeYoung - “Sexuality in the context of heterosexual marriage is not only good but exclusively good. Only heterosexual marriage relationships can show forth the complementary design of men and women. According to the apostle Paul, one of the purposes of marriage is to show forth the mystery of Christ and the church (Eph. 5:32). If marriage can be construed as a man and a man or a woman and a woman, what is left of the glorious mystery of Christ and the church? We are left with only Christ and Christ or church and church.”

APPLICATION:
Wonder and marvel at God’s design!

 Q. Do you feel ashamed in your marriage today?

Is your marriage in a time of need for mercy and grace? The greatest counsel I can offer is not a program, is to point you to the Gospel that removes shame and redeems your marriage. The Holy Spirit has the power to remove the shame in your marriage! Don’t grow weary in your marriage! Get help.

Q. Is what is happening in our world disorienting and confusing to you?

Persist in the Truth. Don’t wait to be re-grounded in sound doctrine. Do you believe that God reigns? Is His word truth? Don’t grow weary – Continue to pursue good!

Q. Do you long for the removal of the shame of sexual sin? 

Come to Jesus, the ONE WHO CAN TAKE IT ALL AWAY AND RENEW YOU!

The issue of gender is all around us: in schools, at work, in politics, on the internet, in your neighborhood, in your family, and in the media. The world thinks gender is fluid; the Bible says it is the fixed handiwork of God. Our goal as Christians is not to win arguments but to lovingly lead people to Jesus. For this reason, being equipped and ready to engage in humble, patient, informed, and biblical conversations is critical. The books below will help you do just that. May God use you to help others see the same identity, hope, and joy you have that IS Jesus!

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the gender revolution

Patricia Weerakoon

“Contemporary discussions of sexual and gender issues faces a plethora of challenges….Here is the clarity of thought and writing one expects of experts. Agree or disagree with their arguments, but you will come away better informed, and better able to engage in the discussion with more light than heat” —D.A. Carson

gender ideology

Sharon James

“Get this book and read it and get lots of copies for friends and family to read as well. This little book reminds us that God created us male and female, and that that is very good” —Mark Dever

The Rise and Triumph of the Modern Self

Carl R. Trueman

“This is a characteristically brilliant book by Carl Trueman, helping the church understand why people believe that sexual difference is a matter of psychological choice” —Rosaria Butterfield

eikon

A semi-annual journal for biblical anthropology that engages issues like sexuality, gender, marriage, singleness, family, and others from a biblical, historical, and theological perspective. You can access these journals online for free OR you can subscribe to eikon to get the copies mailed to you for only $25 annually!

The gender you were born with is the handiwork of God, and no matter what you declare or do, you can’t change it. But there is another gender battle being fought in our culture and churches: What is true masculinity and femininity? Below is an outline summary of the sermon for your further study and deeper reflection.

SERIES: The Final Word
TEXT: Genesis 2:18-23
TITLE:   Equal Yet Different: True Masculinity and Femininity
PREACHER: Derek Overstreet
BIG IDEA: True masculinity and femininity are experienced when men and women cherish and embrace their God-given roles in the home and church. 

POINTS:
1. God created Adam before Eve
2. God formed Eve out of Adam
3. God created Eve for Adam

SERMON EXCERPTS:
All quotes are taken from the pastor’s notes.
”The gender you were born with is the handiwork of God, and no matter what you declare or do, you can’t change it. But there is another gender battle being fought in our culture and churches: What is true masculinity and femininity?”

“[However] you choose to say it, our culture has a one-word response—TOXIC! Sadly, we live in a society actively erasing, not blurring; blurring is yesterday’s news, erasing any sense of gender differences. To even consider differences is increasingly intolerant and intolerable. Even in the church, the glorious truth of Complementarianism is rapidly becoming extinct.” 

“Our website says: We believe it was God’s glorious plan to create men and women in His image, giving them equal dignity and value in His sight while appointing differing and complementary roles for them within the home and the church. I pray we will never loosen our grip on our Complementarian Convictions. That is the focus of our current series and our text today: men and women are equal yet different.”

“This Created Order matters. In the OT, the firstborn assumed the leadership role in the family for his generation. In general, that pattern remains today.”

“In verse 7, we read that God formed Adam out of dust and breathed life into him. But Eve was created differently. Woman originated from man. God fashioned her from Adam’s rib. That matters for two reasons. First, they had equality in nature and personhood. Look at Adam’s description of Eve in verse 23—bone of my bones and flesh of my flesh. Unlike the animals, the woman shared Adam’s human nature, created in the image of God. Second, being fashioned differently than Adam highlights the difference in roles.”

“Up to this point in the creation narrative, we are used to hearing, and it was good. God creates, and it is good. So it is a bit jarring to hear God say—It is not good. In this case, the ‘not good’ is man being alone. It’s not that God miscalculated or underestimated Adam’s ability. God’s design was always man being completed by woman.”

“Adam was lord of the earth, created and called by God to represent and glorify Him through the stewardship of His creation. But he needed a helper. God brought all the animals to Adam, but none of them were fit to help. None were his equal. None shared his nature. None caused affections to grow in his heart. Dogs may be a man’s best friend, but they don’t complement us.”

“God put Adam in a deep sleep and formed Eve out of his rib to be his helper. This is the first description of the woman’s role in the Bible. It implies Adam was lacking something. Being alone was not good for him; he needed someone to assist and support him. He needed a helper, notice the end of verse 20—fit for him.” 

“Eve was not a male. She was not a clone. Her biology and body were different. Her psychology was different. Her physiology was different. Yet, the woman was not inferior to Adam. She shared his nature as bone of his bones and flesh of his flesh. She bore the image of God. She was what no other living creature could be—his perfect helpmate. The first woman was created FOR the first man.”

“God is redeeming gender differences through the gospel. This reality reflects the relationships within the Trinity, where we find an eternal equality of personhood and deity, yet with different roles, particularly in redemption.”

“As we allow our minds and hearts to be shaped by Christ’s loving sacrifice for us, we will increasingly embrace that we no longer belong to ourselves but to Jesus, commissioned and empowered to live for his glory, and our gender roles in marriage and the church will follow. Jesus is our authority, our hope, our strength.” 

ADDITIONAL SCRIPTURE:
1 Timothy 2:12-13
1 Corinthians 11:8
1 Corinthians 11:9

QUOTES:
John Piper - “At the heart of mature masculinity is a sense of benevolent responsibility to lead, provide for, and protect women in ways appropriate to a man’s differing relationships….At the heart of mature femininity is a freeing disposition to affirm, receive, and nurture strength and leadership from worthy men in ways appropriate to a women’s differing relationships.”

Alexander Strauch - “Since the dawn of human civilization, men, not women, have primarily ruled society. Is this by chance? Or is it by design? Why are women seeking liberation and not vice versa? Genesis 2 provides the answer: from the beginning, the Creator shaped the human clay in patriarchal form, not matriarchal or egalitarian form. Adam was the first patriarch.”

Danvers Statement - “Redemption in Christ aims at removing the distortions introduced by the curse. In the family, husbands should forsake harsh or selfish leadership and grow in love and care for their wives; wives should forsake resistance to their husbands’ authority and grow in willing, joyful submission to their husband’s leadership. In the church, redemption in Christ gives men and women an equal share in the blessings of salvation; nevertheless, some governing and teaching roles within the church are restricted to men.”

APPLICATION:
Husbands, the gospel calls you to lead your wives and families with diligence, understanding, initiative, and gentleness, working hard to support and provide for your families. Wives, the gospel claim on your life is to willing and joyfully submit to your husbands with respect, responding to their leadership as you help him build a godly home. When you think gospel mission—this is part of it. It is the fruit and effect of allowing Jesus’ love for you to pour out into your relationships as a light in the darkness.

As men, we stand in grace to lead, protect, and provide. As women, you stand in grace to help, strengthen, and complement. This is True Masculinity and Femininity.

Friends, take courage. Stand in grace. Remain firm in your faith. Model biblical gender with joy. God has clearly spoken. While heaven and earth, culture and governments will all pass away, The Final Word of God remains forever. It’s good. It’s right. It’s beautiful. It’s loving.

Transgender ideology is dangerous, destructive, and demonic. It is consuming our culture and creeping into our churches. What do we do? In the words of the Dean of SG Pastor’s College, Jeff Purswell—Stay close to your Bible and the cross. Below is an outline summary of the sermon for your further study and deeper reflection.

SERIES: The Final Word
TEXT: Genesis 1:26-27
TITLE:   Your Gender is the Handiwork of God
PREACHER: Derek Overstreet

POINTS:
1. God Created Us
2. God Created Us in His Image
3. God Created Us Male and Female

SERMON EXCERPTS:
All quotes are taken from the pastor’s notes.
”That’s what this series is about, taking our thoughts captive to the obedience of Christ. God has spoken The Final Word on gender.”

“Your gender is not the work of human hands, the result of social constructs, or the fruit of perceived reality. It is the perfect handiwork of God.”

“God created man. This is the starting place of self-understanding, the Creator—creature relationship. I am not an accident. I did not evolve. I am not self-made. God created me. That means I am not my own. I am dependent on God. I am accountable to God. This is the reality that transgender ideology ultimately denies.”

“We are a living analogy of God. Imperfect because of sin, yes, but still image bearers of the divine being redeemed by the power of the cross and sanctification of the Spirit.”

“This understanding of man is significant. It means humans are set apart from the rest of creation as the object of God’s special care. Our dignity, worth, value, and equality as individuals are rooted in the reality that we are God’s image bearers.”

“Given verse 28, where God commands man and woman to be fruitful and multiply, the gender terms in verse 27 have a literal connection to the male and female reproductive organs. Not only does this make gender essential to humanity, but it also reveals the intentionality of God in our biology, something Scripture repeatedly emphasizes.”

“The phrase ‘I am fearfully and wonderfully made’ is more than a statement of God setting his people apart in the womb. It points to His creative, intentional, invisible hand in developing a baby from beginning to end.”

“You can make many changes, but you cannot change your DNA. You cannot be born in the wrong body. There is no spectrum. Social constructs are not determinative.” 

“God’s handiwork should be a source of wonder and awe! Yet, for many, it is not. Why? Two words: sola affectus or feelings alone. Transgender ideology is the idolatry of subjective feelings. We live in a society, outside and inside the church, where what you feel is who you are. Fickle Feelings have become the authority regardless of science, biology, or theology.” 

“Good News! 

• God has spoken into the chaos and confusion with the first and final word: You are who I created you to be—and I never make mistakes! 

• God has spoken into our darkness and depravity through the light of Jesus Christ, who, through his perfect life, death, and resurrection, is our unfailing identity and self-worth: I created you. You turned from me. But I am redeeming you because I love you! Come to me with your gender dysphoria and misplaced longings.”

ADDITIONAL SCRIPTURE:
Job 10:8,11
Psalm 119:73
Psalm 139:13-16a
Jeremiah 17:9
2 Corinthians 10:5
Ephesians 4:15

QUOTES:
Herman Bavinck - “The entire world is a revelation of God, a mirror of his virtues and perfections; every creature is in its own way and according to its own measure and embodiment of a divine thought. But among all the creatures, only man is the image of God, the highest and richest revelation of God, and therefore head and crown of the entire creation.”

James Hufstetler - “You are the result of the attentive, careful, detailed, creative work of God. Your personality, your sex, your height, your features are what they are because God made them precisely that way. He made you the way He did because that is the way He wants you to be….Your genes and chromosomes and creaturely distinctives are what they are by God’s design.”

The Gender Revolution - The ordinary processes of human development within the womb are not merely biology responding to chemicals as guided by our DNA. While this is true, it’s so much more. Starting from the womb, God creates you to be a sexed person. He gives you the biology of either a male or a female.”

Christopher Yuan - “Being created in the image of God and being male or female are essential to being human. Sex is not simply biological or genetic, just as being human is not simply biological or genetic. Sex is first and foremost a spiritual and ontological reality created by God. Being male or female cannot be changed by human hands; sex is a category of God’s handiwork-his original and everlasting design.”

Carl Trueman - “People who think they are a woman trapped in a man’s body are really making their inner psychological convictions absolutely decisive for who they are; and to the extent that, prior to “coming out,” they have publicly denied this inner reality, to that extent they have had an inauthentic existence.”

APPLICATION:
1. Put on humility by getting help from your pastor if you struggle with your gender.

2. Pursue with compassion those caught in the evil destruction of transgender ideology

We should hate with a passion transgender ideology. It’s demonic. It denies God. It destroys lives. It is a false gospel. But we should be compassionate toward those who are captive to it.

Hello Sovereign Grace Tucson,

As was recently announced, Chris and Raina Johnson are stepping down from their role as GRACEkids leaders after four years of faithful and sacrificial service to the families of our church. Thank you, Johnsons, for the efforts of your hearts, minds, and hands to bless our church, and thank you for the training you’ve given to Joelle and me to grow us as teachers in GRACEkids. You are kind and thoughtful servants.

This fall, we are excited and humbled to take on leadership of this ministry. Over our past two years here, we have been blown away by the parents in our church and their faithfulness to raise families that know and treasure Jesus Christ. Witnessing the labor and discipleship already prevalent in the homes of our church, we are delighted to encourage and assist these families in our new role within GRACEkids.

Psalm 127 speaks highly of the blessing of children. They are a joy! Like arrows, they are also the future generation of the Church, currently being discipled and molded in grace, one day to be deployed on the Lord’s evangelistic mission to the world. What a delight and what a duty for the parents, teachers, and members of our church! Psalm 127 also reminds us that apart from the establishing work of the Lord, all efforts are futile. While we labor and water, may we humbly, desperately ask the Lord to give growth.

Parents, we are so excited to join you in this profound mission. Thank you for your faithfulness in raising up your children. Teachers, we look forward to working with each of you. Thank you for stewarding the gifts that the Lord has given you. Remember to join us Sunday, September 17th after church for this year’s kick-off meeting (parents are welcome to attend too). Church, if you are interested in joining this ministry as a teacher, please contact us. And, please pray with us. Pray for parents, GRACEkids teachers, and us in this work. Pray that the Lord would guide this ministry and establish these efforts. Pray that the Lord would save the children of Sovereign Grace Tucson from their sin through faith in Jesus Christ, even from a young age. Lord, help us so that all glory may be to Christ!

John and Joelle McCauley

mccauley.gracekids@gmail.com