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Creating Meaningful Traditions Taste & See Women's Conference | Breakout Session Video Teaching Jon Delger I Didn't Know I Needed the Church Jon Delger Coming Out of Catholicism | Session 2 Creating Meaningful Traditions Jon Delger Christianity and Politics: Q+A Jon Delger I Didn't Know I Needed the Bible Jon Delger Coming Out of Catholicism | Session 1 Jon Delger Withstand: How The Culture War Is A Spiritual Battle Jon Delger Christianity and Politics: Where Do We Go From Here? Jon Delger Coming Out of Catholicism | Q & A Kelly Needham | Women's Christmas Party People Pleasing Jon Delger Christianity and Politics: Are We a Christian Nation?

The Bad News Foundations | Episode 1 Video Teaching Jon Delger Jon Delger I Didn't Know I Needed the Church Jon Delger Coming Out of Catholicism | Session 2 Creating Meaningful Traditions Jon Delger Christianity and Politics: Q+A Jon Delger I Didn't Know I Needed the Bible Jon Delger Coming Out of Catholicism | Session 1 Jon Delger Withstand: How The Culture War Is A Spiritual Battle Jon Delger Christianity and Politics: Where Do We Go From Here? Jon Delger Coming Out of Catholicism | Q & A Kelly Needham | Women's Christmas Party People Pleasing Jon Delger Christianity and Politics: Are We a Christian Nation?

Selfless Wives Sermon Series: No Longer Two Ryan DB Kimmel Lead Pastor Peace Church Main Passage: Ephesians 5:22-24 Transcript Today is the day that the Lord has made. So let us rejoice and be glad in it. And everyone said, amen. So if you've been to peace church long enough, you've probably heard me say this a few times because I believe it. I believe that a primary attack of the devil upon the people of peace church is upon their marriages. Now, this in one sense should be no surprise because Peace Church, we've said, we're gonna be a champion for family ministry and with marriage being a core component of family, of course the devil is gonna attack us. If this is what we wanna be a champion for, the devil's gonna come against it. And that's why today as we start the new year, we're starting off looking at marriage and family with a series called No Longer Two. As we look at and we be honest with the struggles that come with marriage But also the beautiful unity that comes with it when we follow God's design Church, I want Christians to have better happier and more godly marriages who's with me Absolutely, I do and so believing that the devil is attacking marriages particularly marriages of Peace Church. Today is our first stance, continued stance really, but first stance of the new year to push back against the devil. And how we're gonna do that is the same way that Jesus did. When Jesus was tempted in the wilderness, what did he use to take a stand against the devil with? He used the word of God. And so that's what we're gonna do. We're gonna take a stand with the word of God and push back against the enemy as we see God build and strengthen marriages for His namesake. And so, this is a small little three-part series to start the new year. Here's what we're gonna be looking at this Sunday. Today, we're gonna be looking at selfless wives. Next week, we're gonna be looking at sacrificial husbands. And then we have a bonus message on the third Sunday, which is Sanctity of Life Sunday, as we look at the biblical call for wives to submit to their husbands. So would you please in your Bibles turn to Ephesians chapter 5 as we look at selfless wives today. Ephesians chapter 5 verses 22 to 24. Now as you turn in there, just to clarify real quick, we say this is a book of the Bible, but Ephesians is actually a letter. It's a letter that the Apostle Paul wrote to a church in a town called Ephesus. And the people who live there were called Ephesians. So Paul wrote this letter to the church in Ephesus, to the Ephesian Christians, to this church that was meeting there. And what he was doing in this letter is he was describing certain tenets of the Christian faith, but he was He's also teaching that church how to live out the gospel message in their day-to-day lives. And when it comes to chapter 5, Paul begins to talk about family and how to have a Christian household. This section has some counterparts in the Bible, such as 1 Corinthians or Colossians or 1 Peter. But this reminds us, as we look at this passage, this teaching is not some disputed and isolated verse of the Bible This is a core teaching from scripture on how God has designed marriage But many women but many women and people Fear this notion of submission And I think if I could just be real honest with you for two primary reasons One just the reality that some women deal with a lot of pride. And in their heart, they're saying, I'm not going to submit to nobody, nothing. But also, and maybe even more prevalently, is because ungodly people have used passages like this and twisted them in order to abuse women. So hear me on this. God's word is true and his teaching is better. And so that's what we want to look at today. God's true call for us in marriage. And as we look at his call for wives to submit to their husbands and what that actually means. And so with that, would you hear God's word? Ephesians chapter five, we'll look at verses 22 to 24. Would you hear God's word? Ephesians 5:22-24 22 Wives, submit to your own husbands, as to the Lord. 23 For the husband is the head of the wife even as Christ is the head of the church, his body, and is himself its Savior. 24 Now as the church submits to Christ, so also wives should submit in everything to their husbands. Amen. The grass withers and the flowers fade, but the word of the Lord remains forever. Let's pray and we'll continue. Let's pray. Father in heaven above, your design for our lives is beautiful and it's perfect. So please, by the truth of your word and by the power and presence of the Holy Spirit, would you help us to see this picture that you've painted for us? A picture of life and marriage. And not only that, Lord, but would you help us to see the beauty of it. And Father, would you help me today to be able to describe it rightly from your word. And we pray these things through the power of the spirit and in the precious name of Jesus. And everyone said, amen. So if I can give you one main point here today, this is the main point for today's message, but it's kind of an overarching thrust of the entire series. But here's the main point for today. And it's simply this, God's design is better. God's design is better. And so, church, I'll be honest with you, I'm coming off two weeks vacation. I'm rested and I'm ready to go. So I'm gonna come in a little hot here in 2024. So let me just say this, when it comes to passages like this, I am sick of Christians and pastors coming to Bible verses like this, passages that really confront the brokenness of our culture, and pastors come across as either apologetic or ashamed. I know that it's fun to talk about marriage as the old ball and chain, and it's fun to poke about how hard marriage can be. But the reality is that too many Christian teachers, pastors, and influencers come to the topic of wives submitting to their husbands and they are embarrassed by it. Or they try to make excuses. Or they come across like it's unfortunate for ladies. Sorry ladies, it's just what the Bible says. I'm sick of all that. Do you know that God's word is beautiful? And God's plan for you is good? And what he calls you to is wonderful? And his design for marriage is better? Let's talk about what this actually means. See what happens that people come to this passage and passages like it with pride in their hearts or and and or with loads of twisted teachings and false assumptions about what the Bible is saying here. So I'm just asking you if you are vehemently opposed to the Bible passage we just read, I'm just going to ask you human to human, would you just listen to what the Bible says today? See what happens is that because of poor Christian teaching throughout the ages, people have come to disregard passages like this. We don't follow God's design for marriages. And you know what ends up happening? Christian marriages end up looking just like the worldly marriages that are broken and dying and harmful and hurtful, when God's design is better for us. See, church, the devil doesn't need to attack you if you're not following God's design because the devil's plan is to get you to stop following God's design. Stop making the devil's job easier. Follow God's design and you'll see how beautiful it is. Here's what I'm trying to say, that many of us are experiencing marital troubles not because the devil is attacking, but simply because you're not following God's design. And I'm here to tell you, God's design is better. Somebody say amen. So, to help with this, we do need to unload some false assumptions. We do need to bring some clarification here. And so, three verses, three points for today. We'll take it verse by verse. We're gonna look at each one of these points one at a time. The first thing we'll look at is how selfless submission needs clarification and it's Jesus. It's found in Jesus. Second thing we'll look at is how selfless submission brings clarification and it's to who you are to marry. And thirdly, we'll close up by looking at how selfless submission does have clarification, and it's the gospel. Selfless submission needs clarification, and it’s Jesus Selfless submission brings clarification, and it’s who you marry Selfless submission has clarification, and it’s the gospel But as we get going, I do want to speak to the women for a moment. Please hear me on this. I say this as a man married to a godly wife, and together we are raising four children, two boys and two girls. I want to raise my boys to be Christ-like men who are worthy of godly women who will submit to them. But I'm also raising two daughters, two daughters whose hands one day I will hand over to men, men who will love Jesus and submit to God, otherwise they will not get my blessing. I am not calling this church to anything that I'm not also calling my own two daughters to too. I say this as a father of four kids, two boys, two girls. So please know that this is a deeply personal topic for me today. And as we talk about submission, let's remove ourselves some cultural misunderstandings and get some clarification. And it's the first one is this, is that selfless submission needs clarification and it's found in Jesus. 1. Selfless submission needs clarification and it's found in Jesus. Our off like this. Ephesians 5.22 says, wives submit to your own husbands as to the Lord. So immediately let's underscore something here. The call here is for wives to submit to their own husbands. This is not a demand for every woman to submit to every man, but only to the husband that she chose to marry. So let's pop the hood and look at this engine. What is submission? Now the original word here was written in ancient, in Koine Greek, and the word here is hupotasso. Now hupotasso is used almost 40 times in the New Testament, in a wide range of contexts, but here's what it means. Hupotasso is actually the combination of two words, hupo and tasso. Hupo is the word that means under, and tasso means arrangement. So it means to come under an arrangement. And so when it comes to this, biblically speaking, it means to come under God's arrangement. So we could kind of say it like this. Wives, when it comes to your marriage, follow God's arrangement, or the language we would use, follow God's design. And the Bible, in this one verse, adds this beautiful phrase. Wives, submit to your own husbands as to the Lord. Now, to really understand what that actually means, we need to read the next verse, but let's let the cat out of the bag right now. The Lord is Jesus, so Jesus Christ is our focus. Meaning, meaning women need to submit to men who will be like Jesus. Submit to their husbands who will be like Jesus, so that when they submit to them as they are called, in a sense, it feels like their submission to Jesus. And so submitting to Jesus, if you believe this, I need you to say amen, that submitting to Jesus Christ is actually life giving. When we submit to Jesus, it's not a burden, it's a joy. When we submit to Jesus and follow his teachings, it's how we are meant and designed to live. Submitting to Jesus is not a burden, it's a joy. Now, if you've listened to me preach before, you've probably heard me say this, and I don't want to be this pastor that constantly tells you the same stories over and over. If you do that, throw a tomato. If I do that, throw a tomato at me. But there's this one thing that was said to me this one time That to date is the most challenging thing anyone has ever said to me More challenging than anything My dad has ever said more challenging than anything my mentors have ever said more challenging than anything The elders have ever said more challenging than anything. I heard in seminary, and it came from my wife When she said this She said if you love me like Jesus loved the church, it would be a joy to submit to you. Now listen, my wife Tiffany is biblically called to submit to me either way. But what she was telling me in that moment is that if I am being godly, then submitting to me would be a joy for her. And there, ladies and gentlemen, that's the key to unlocking the joy of submission. It's the love of Jesus Christ. The love of Jesus Christ is what needs to permeate the Christian home so that submission is not a burden, but a joy. 2. Selfless submission brings clarification, and it’s who you marry And so Jesus is the clarification that we need, which brings us to the second clarification, and that's who you marry. Now we're going to walk on some delicate ground here, so let's do so confidently, but together and carefully. Our passage continues in verse 23. It says, For the husband is the head of the wife, even as Christ is the head of the church, his body is himself its Savior. This verse is why Christian women should only marry Christian men. Because my sisters in Christ, you should desire a man who submits to Jesus as his Savior, as his God, and as a church, we won't marry a Christian to a non-Christian. Because that husband is biblically called to be the head of the household, the head of the wife. He's the head of the home. And I will not take part in a sister in Christ marrying a man who will not lead her and love her like Jesus does. I'm sorry, ladies. I just think you deserve better. So here's the burning question you probably all have. What does submission practically look like in marriage? Well, to understand that, let's go back a moment. Let's go back to the very beginning. Genesis chapter two, verse 24, gives us the first visionary statement for what marriage is when it says this in the Bible. It says, a man shall leave his father and mother and hold fast to his wife and they shall become one flesh they are no longer two but they are one and did you know that this verse on marriage is so profound that Jesus Christ himself as well as the Apostle Paul both quote this verse in the New Testament this is the biblical standard for marriage that to become one that a man leaves his father and mother and is united to his wife before God and in the sight of God they are now one so how can submission be scary when a man and a woman are to be one before God I'll tell you why it's scary because too many women and young ladies are more concerned with men who are hot rather than men who are humble. They're looking for men who are handsome rather than holy. So what does submission look like? How does it work out practically? It goes like this. The husband and the wife are one. And so they work together because they're no longer two, they're one, they work together. And so women, submission does not mean you check your thoughts and your feelings at the door. A husband and wife are to passionately love each other as they patiently listen to each other. But what submission means is that the ultimate and final leadership of the home rests with the husband, because the Bible says he is the head of the household. He's the head of the marriage. And you know what that means, gentlemen? You are the one who will be judged for your marriage. So understand, this comes with great cost and great responsibility. So here's how I explain this when I do premarital counseling. When I work with couples who want to get married, oftentimes younger couples, here's how I try to explain it. I'll say to the young gal, or I'll say to the woman, I'll say this question. I'll ask her, is the man you are marrying a man who you know will actually listen to you? And is the man who you want to marry a man who you know will truly listen to the Lord? And if you disagree with it. Because that's the type of man you should marry. And you shouldn't marry him until you have that level of trust. This is what submission looks like. It's trusting. It's releasing leadership to the man because God has called him to that, knowing that he will be ultimately be the one judged for it. Submission brings clarification, ladies, and it's clarification to who you marry, that is to who you are to marry. Women, only marry men where it brings you joy to submit to them. Joy because these men are strong and kind and wise, that he is a man who cares and is loving, a man who will provide as best as he is able, a man who loves and submits to Jesus. And from that, from that submission to God's Word and from that indwelling of the Holy Spirit, he is able to preside over his house like Jesus does for the church, which comes with both grace and strength. That's the type of men we need more of in this world. Not these jerks online parading around calling themselves alpha males. I got a word from them and it starts with A, but it's not alpha male. Am I allowed to say that? Church, let me share something with you. I want to be very vulnerable with you today. I know, I know in my heart that God will provide. I know He will. But I am deeply concerned for my two daughters. I'm deeply concerned because of the generation of boys that's being raised right now. So I want to take a moment in this message on selfless wives, I want to speak to the teenage guys and the single men out there. Don't you think you get to marry a godly woman if you're not first going to be a godly man. And yes, I fully believe that 17 and 18 year olds can be godly men, even if they can't grow a righteously red beard. Listen, I love this country. I love this country. I do. And if our country thinks that you can voluntarily sign up, fight for, and die for this country, then you better believe that God can call you as an 18-year-old to stand as a full-grown man before him. This prolonged adolescence has got to stop. We need families, we need men and women raising boys to be men. And so, I want to speak to those of you who are single. And God's called you to a life of singleness, just like Jesus, by the way. If God has called you to a life of singleness, then what's your call in the midst of this? It's to still be Christ-like. It's to still serve the Lord as a single person, just like John the Baptist, just like the Apostle Paul. Men and women, if God has called you to a life of singleness, then you are in good biblical company. And I'm here to tell you that we will support you as a church family.Amen? And for those of you who are single, but you want to get married, here's what you do. Pray. Pray for your future spouse as you passionately pursue the path of the Lord and do not stray from it. Follow the path of the Lord and you might be surprised who you meet along the way. But what about this?What about this? What if you find yourself in a marriage and you're like, too late, pastor. I married a man who doesn't follow God. What am I to do? Well, sister, the Bible speaks to this. Twice, actually. First time is in 1st Corinthians chapter 7 verse 13. You can look that up later. 1st Corinthians 7 verse 13. But the Bible also speaks to this in 1st Peter chapter 3. And I want to look at that real quick. 1st Peter chapter 3 says this. It says, likewise, wives, be subject to your own husbands so that even if some do not obey the word, meaning God's word, they may be won without a word by the conduct of their wives when they see your respectful and pure conduct. Church, listen. Divorce is to be avoided as much as possible. The Bible says God hates divorce. And so, ladies, if you are married to a man who does not follow God, then the Bible calls you to show him, by your incredible godliness and your selfless actions, what it means to be a Christian, that you are to love him, love God, go to church, serve the Lord, and do this with joy so that he may see the changes that the gospel brings in a person that it might win him over. But let's be clear here, church, this is not a license to marry a non-Christian. The biblical call is for women to marry men who will they themselves submit to Christ firstly. We need to take a time out. We need to take a time out right now. If you are a woman who is being abused or you are unsafe in the home, then you need to get out and get help. Bible's not calling you to stay in an abusive environment. This is not what this is about. So do not hear me saying that. If you are unsafe, then get out and get help, get to a safe place. Or, if your husband has abandoned you, or he has demonstrated that he has no commitment to remain faithful to you, then please contact your church elder and we can pray and discuss what the biblical next steps are because the Bible does allow for divorce when the marriage covenant has been grievously broken, not simply because you two have grown apart. Marriages are to be fought for. Submission brings clarity, women, to who you should marry and you need to choose wisely, patiently, a man who will love Christ and love you. Submission brings clarity to who women should marry. 3. Selfless submission has clarification, and it’s the gospel And thirdly, selfless submission has clarification and it's the gospel. Verse 24, verse 24 says, now as the church submits to Christ, so also wives should submit in everything to their husbands. So church, this is one of the most important things I want to communicate to you about marriage. And so I know you slept in this morning because you're at third service. So here's what I want you to do. Elbow the person next to you, make sure they're awake. Go ahead and just elbow them, make sure they're awake real quick. I think some of you were waiting for an excuse to do that. You really took that to the next level. Make sure they're awake, because I want you to hear me on this. Seriously, if there's anything you take away from today, let it be this. For Christians, marriage is a picture of the gospel. I want you to say that with me. Marriage is a picture of the gospel. For Christians, when we live out our marriage, we are in a sense showing the world the gospel, and this is the gospel. that Jesus Christ gave up his life for the sacrifice as the sacrifice for sinners. That we may be renewed and made right with God, receiving eternal life in Jesus' name because Jesus has been raised from the dead. And when we give our lives to him, we joyfully submit to our Savior, knowing that he will give us not just life, not just eternal life, but abundant and full life in his name. That's the gospel. Somebody say amen. And so women, when you think of submission, do not think oppression. I want you on the flip actually to think victory and fulfillment. Why? Because the gospel is victory over our sin and fulfillment in our lives because of Jesus Christ. Now, I'm going to totally date stamp this sermon for those who listen to this later, but the Detroit Lions are doing really good right now. They're going to win against the Vikings today, name it and claim it. They're going all the way. That was a hope, not a prophecy, by the way. If you watch the game today, tag me online and we can chat about it. Now, okay, as we get into this, let me just say, I really hate sports analogies. Like when pastors give sports analogies, I just roll my eyes. But it kind of works here, so I'm going to go with it. The Lions are many players, but one team. Not every player on the team gets to kick a field goal. Not every player scores a touchdown. But when the Lions win, all the players share in the win. When every player plays their part, then every player gets the victory and the fulfillment of the win. In a marriage, God has designed a husband and wife to operate together as a team, each with different roles according to how God has designed them. And when two people in the marriage do what God has called them to do, then their marriage wins, and they get to both celebrate the win because they are one in Jesus. So live according to God's design, and you will get to experience the victory and fulfillment of marriage. Men, love your wives as Jesus loves the church. And wives, submit to your husbands as the church is meant to submit to Jesus. Church, this should not be controversial. This should be celebrated. Listen, I come from the Gen X generation and I was also indoctrinated by MTV in the 90s to rock the vote, which we know basically just meant make sure you vote Democrat. I grew up in the 90s. I went to middle school and high school all through the 90s. I was indoctrinated to think that liberalism was cool and conservatism was icky. I have progressive in me. I'm being open and transparent with you. And I come to passages like this, and because I'm culturally conditioned like all of us are, my progressive side wants to say, no, ladies, don't you listen to this submissive junk. You marry a man who's going to throw down his goals so that you can have yours. Listen, if you're feeling that tension, then I want to see if you agree with me on what I'm about to say. I've seen how marriages look out there in our so-called progressive society. 50% divorce rate, low levels of satisfaction in marriage. I don't think that's very cool, and I don't think that's a mark of progress. I've seen how marriages look out there in our culture and I want nothing to do with it. And you know what? Apparently the next generation doesn't either. In the last 20 years, we've seen a 10% drop in the number of adults who are married and a 5 point increase in cohabitation. Right now, 46% of Americans now say that people are just as well off if couples who want to stay together long term decide not to marry. Living together has become normal, yet studies continue to show that married adults, those who are married, have higher levels of relational satisfaction and trust than those who are living with an unmarried partner. Studies, secular studies, continue to show that people who do not live together before marriage go on to have happier and longer lasting marriages. This is known in our culture, but the people of our culture are not learning the lesson. People are still living together. Why? Because our culture is losing the value of saving sex for marriage, and we're simply losing the value of marriage itself. And guess what? People are not happier in the long run. And all of the church said, no, duh. When you don't follow God's design for humanity, he's created us, he's designed us. When we don't follow the way he's designed us, of course, it's not going to turn out well. Of course, the trajectory is not going to be better for us. I'm not saying that un-Christians can't have a good marriage. I'm saying that God's design is better. Marriage is no longer a lifelong commitment between a man and a woman through the ups and the downs. It's now simply a way to express your love for another person while also getting some legal benefits as long as you two keep up the arrangement. Yes, yes, actually divorce rates are going down, but so are the number of people getting married. This isn't a solution. This isn't the trajectory that we want to go. The next generation, the current generation, saw what marriage was becoming, and collectively, together, they are choosing not to get married. They are basically saying, forget it. They saw the problems of our world. They saw the problems of marriage. They saw it being made fun of. They saw it being belittled. They saw Christians not valuing it. And they said, forget it, what's the point? And you know what? Part of me understands. I also see how marriages look out there in our culture, and I also want nothing to do with it, but the difference is, I don't want to abandon the institute of marriage. I wanna help save it. I wanna help point people to something better because God's design is better. This is what my wife and I have found out, and we invite you to find out as well. And women, if you think submission is a tall order, make sure you come back next week when we talk to the husbands. Guys, I happen to know hunting's over, and there ain't We'll see you here next week, boys. It's your turn. Actually, I don't want to poke fun at that. Guys, what you're going to hear next week is one big sermon with me preaching to myself. And I hope that you find something of value from it. Remember, selfless submission has clarification, and it's the gospel. gospel, church, men and women, young and old, ladies and gentlemen, husbands and wives. If the gospel can save souls, can it save marriages? Can it? Absolutely, it can. But here, like the gospel, we have to give ourselves to it. We have to accept it and be willing to follow God's design. I believe the gospel can save your marriage. I believe the gospel can strengthen your marriage. I think the gospel can take good marriages and make them into great ones. If God loves us and gave marriage for us, then you best believe it's for our good. So follow God's design because it's better. And let the gospel give you a picture for how marriage could be and should be. Let it form your marriage. Church, what we're going to do right now is we're going to celebrate the gospel together. So would you please stand? What we're going to do is we're going to do what we said in the beginning we're going to do. Right now, here's what we're going to do. We're going to push back on the force of evil. We're going to push back on the face of the devil, and we're going to do that through our worship. As a church, we're going to stand as one, lifting up the name of Jesus as we worship Him. So here's what I want you to do. And listen. I know my church. I know the faces out here. I know that there are different levels of marital satisfaction before me, but I'm going to invite you, wherever you are at in your journey with your spouse, would you grab their hands and maybe not for their sake, but for the sake of Jesus, would you worship Him together? Father, we come before you. In Jesus name, Father, I pray for the marriages that are lasting and strong right now, that they would lead the way, Father, that they would lead the way in worship, as we lift up and sing of the evidence that is before us of God, your goodness. I pray for the marriages that are good, but are getting better, and I pray for the marriages that have failed, that maybe one day, Lord, that you are the God of resurrection, that you can do that work. I pray for the marriages that are failing, that the power of the gospel would intervene right now as a husband and wife would give themselves to your saving grace. Father, I pray right now that your church would sing, sing out loud as we push back against the enemy and we lift up the name of Jesus. and we lift up the name of Jesus. It's in his name we pray, and everyone said, amen.

Yes and Amen to the Promise of Grace Sermon Series: Always Yes Ryan DB Kimmel Lead Pastor Peace Church Main Passage: Romans 6:5-14 Transcript Today, today is the day that the Lord has made. So let us rejoice and be glad in it. And everyone said, amen. So I think if you asked the kid, would you love it if your parents always said yes to everything you asked? I don't know a kid on the planet who wouldn't love that setup. So as parents, I'm a parent, we have to ask ourselves, why don't we just give kids everything they ask for? Now we have a term for kids who get that, spoiled. Somebody in the first service actually said brat. They can play. They must have been a visitor. But. Now , there are many answers to why parents or grandparents don't give their kids or grandkids everything they asked for. Now, there could be things like, uh, it's not the right time. Maybe we can't afford it. Maybe they don't actually need it. But I think the most important answer to why parents don't give kids everything they asked for is simply because we know that not everything they asked for is good for them. It was November 21st, 1991. I was 12 years old and the Legend of Zelda A Link to the Past was released for the Super Nintendo. I tell you now, as a 12 year old, there was nothing more I wanted on this planet than that video game. It was November 21st, and I remember begging my parents for this video game. And you know what my parents told me? I haven't told you yet, so no, yeah. My parents told me, well, why don't you just wait a month until Christmas? I tell you, for a 12 year old, a month is an eternity. I remember this conversation in our kitchen in our old house. I remember begging my parents for this. They said, why don't you just wait a month until Christmas? And I said, I want it now. And I'll tell you this, I tried to bargain with them. I said, if you give me this video game right now, I don't want anything else for Christmas and I don't want anything for my birthday. And then I even like tripled down. I said this, if you get me this video game, I will never ever ask for another video game for the rest of my life. Here's the question. Did I really know what I really wanted? Did I know what was best for me? Here's your question. Listen to the, listen to this. Did I know what would actually make me happier in the long run? No, I didn't. But my parents did. Because that's what parents offer. Parents may say no to us in the moments, but it's because they have a grander, bigger perspective. Now, maybe for you it wasn't a video game. I don't know what it was, but I'm willing to bet at some point in your life you desperately wanted something from your parents and they said no, or your grandparents. I bet you wanted something so bad that your parents said no to it. Now listen, kids may not understand or agree in the moment, but it takes a parent to know what's best. Hear me, it takes a loving father. And if we know this, if we know this from like a human, earthly standpoint, then that in some way helps us to understand why sometimes our most sincere and desperate prayers are answered by God with no. Because we are His children. And He is not just our Father, He's our loving Father. For a 12-year-old, a month feels like an eternity. And us grown-ups, we just kind of chuckle at that, don't we? But hear me, for an adult, a lifetime can feel like an eternity. And God just kind of laughs at that. Because God's timeline is much grander and better than ours. If a good parent knows that we shouldn't always say yes to our kids, that helps us to know why God doesn't always say yes to everything we pray for or everything we request. But, but what if there is something that God always says yes to? Because there is something God always says yes to. And it's the promises he's made. The promises of God are things he will always say yes to. It's the better parent who keeps their promises rather than give their kids everything they're asked for. And God is a better father because he says yes to his promises, not yes to what we always ask for. Because his promises are better than our wants. Amen. And we're reminded about this in such a powerful passage that we've been kind of using as the anchor for this entire sermon series. It comes from 2 Corinthians chapter 1. Says this, for this, as surely as God is faithful, our word to you has not been yes and no. Verse 19, for the Son of God, Jesus Christ, whom we proclaim among you, was not yes and no, but in him, it is always yes. For all the promises of God find their yes in Him. 2 Corinthians 1:19-20 19 For the Son of God, Jesus Christ, whom we proclaimed among you, Silvanus and Timothy and I, was not Yes and No, but in him it is always Yes. 20 For all the promises of God find their Yes in him. That is why it is through him that we utter our Amen to God for his glory. All of God's promises find their yes, find their fulfillment in Jesus Christ whom we are here to celebrate today. Now listen, there are many reasons why God is great, but not least of all is because God keeps His promises. And today on this Easter Sunday we are celebrating that Jesus is alive. And because of that, we have God's yes and amen to the promise of grace. We're gonna talk about that here this morning. The promise of grace is most clearly shown in the resurrection of Jesus Christ. And to see that, we're gonna see that fulfillment as it's described in the book of Romans chapter six. So if you have your Bibles, would you please go ahead and turn there now. If you are using the Bibles we provided that's on page 1199 but we'll be in Romans chapter 6 here this morning and on this Easter on this Resurrection Sunday. I want you to know that the resurrection of Jesus Christ is not just a theological tenant of the Christian faith it's not even a deeply held belief for Christians the resurrection of Jesus Christ is first and foremost a historical event it's something that actually happened and the Bible says that this historical event makes or breaks the Christian faith. Now with as much certainty as we can have about any historical date, because the ancients kept different records and kept track of time differently, as best as we can say about any historical date, the resurrection of Jesus Christ, this historical event, in all likelihood, April 5 in the year 33 AD. The resurrection of Jesus Christ is the pinnacle event of all four Gospels. It's the focus woven throughout the New Testament. Everything hinges on whether or not Jesus Christ literally, physically rose from the dead. First Corinthians chapter 15 says this, it says, if Christ has not been raised, your faith is futile and you are still in your sins, meaning if Jesus Christ did not rise from the dead, then we have no faith and we have no hope. But if he did, then that changes everything. Every single thing. Our faith hinges upon whether or not Jesus Christ rose from the dead. And we are here to tell this most certainly happens. Because He is risen. My friends, the resurrection of Jesus Christ is a guarantee that the promises of God are true and the promises of God find their fulfillment in Christ. And the resurrection is what gives our passage such hope here today. So we're going to read God's Word, Romans chapter 6. And here on this Resurrection Sunday, I would ask that you would please stand for the reading of God's Word. Would you hear God's Word, the letter to the Romans, chapter 6, verses 5 to 14. Romans 6:5-14 5 For if we have been united with him in a death like his, we shall certainly be united with him in a resurrection like his. 6 We know that our old self[ a ] was crucified with him in order that the body of sin might be brought to nothing, so that we would no longer be enslaved to sin. 7 For one who has died has been set free[ b ] from sin. 8 Now if we have died with Christ, we believe that we will also live with him. 9 We know that Christ, being raised from the dead, will never die again; death no longer has dominion over him. 10 For the death he died he died to sin, once for all, but the life he lives he lives to God. 11 So you also must consider yourselves dead to sin and alive to God in Christ Jesus. 12 Let not sin therefore reign in your mortal body, to make you obey its passions. 13 Do not present your members to sin as instruments for unrighteousness, but present yourselves to God as those who have been brought from death to life, and your members to God as instruments for righteousness. 14 For sin will have no dominion over you, since you are not under law but under grace. Amen, this is God's holy word. Let's pray and we'll continue. Father, we come before you, we're thankful for the opportunity to gather here in the company of saints and friends to celebrate the most important event in all of history, when your son rose from the dead, triumphing over Satan, sin, and death. We thank you for the promises that you've made in Christ, and how in Him your promises are always yes. We thank you for the promise of the Holy Spirit, and we ask, oh Holy Spirit, that you be with us here and now to receive your truth that is both timely and timeless. And we pray these things in the name of the resurrected Savior. It's in Jesus' name we pray, and everyone said amen and amen. You may have a seat. So church and friends who are gathered here, if I could give you just one idea to take home today, it would be this. The resurrection of Jesus Christ is God's yes and amen to the promise of grace. Yes is a statement of affirmation. Amen is a word that basically means truly. So when we say yes and amen, what we are saying is that this is both beautiful and this is true. The resurrection of Jesus Christ is God's yes and amen to the promise of grace. And so with that, let me give you an idea how the rest of the morning is going to be structured. We're gonna look at three things here this morning.We're gonna look at how the promise of grace is revealed in our resurrected life, our eternal life, and then we'll look at how it's revealed in our new life. The Promise of Grace is revealed in... Our Resurrected Life Our Eternal Life Our New Life So as we talk about grace, though, let's just take a step back and make sure that we know what we're actually talking about. And what's helpful is not just to have a definition, but maybe to hold it in contrast with some of its counterparts to find out exactly what grace is. Now, if you were here with us on Palm Sunday or Good Friday, you would have heard us begin to talk about that. But let me just quickly recap here as we look at what mercy, justice, and grace is. Now, mercy, mercy is not getting what we do deserve. "Mercy is not getting what we do deserve." Like when you are speeding and a cop pulls you over and lets you off with a warning instead of a ticket, he or she is being merciful, not giving you what you do deserve. Now this is in contrast to justice. Now let's talk about justice. Let's give it an important definition. Justice is getting what you do deserve. "Justice is getting what you do deserve." Let's put it like this. Like when you're speeding and you get pulled over and the officer actually gives you a ticket. That's justice. Justice was happening. Justice is getting what you do deserve. But grace, but grace, oh, grace. There's a reason we call it amazing grace because grace is getting what you do not deserve. "Grace is getting what you do not deserve." For instance, like. Like when you're speeding and you get pulled over and you get a ticket, rather than your insurance cost going up, they go down. That's a very crass way to understand grace, that you are getting something that you do not deserve. And when it comes to the Christian faith, what's beautiful about the Christian faith is that we see all three, mercy, justice, and grace. All of those promises find their fulfillment in Jesus. So let's look at grace as revealed in point number one. 1. The Promise of Grace is revealed in our Resurrected Life. Now there's a church in our area with a similar name to that, Resurrection Life Church. They've got a great name for a church because that is the Christian life. As Christians, we live a resurrection life. We are resurrected. When we become Christians, when we place our faith in Jesus, that means we embrace what he's done for us. This means that we go from being spiritually dead to spiritually alive in him. Go back to your passage. Keep your Bibles open here today. Romans chapter six, look at verses five, six and seven. Paul writes to the Romans and he says this, he says, for if we have been united with him in a resurrection like his. We know that our old self was crucified with Jesus in order that our body of sin, the life we live now, might be brought to nothing so that we would no longer be enslaved to sin. Now let me unpack this. I know that's a thick statement there. Now we often, I think when we talk in church world, we often talk about how modern day religious people can feel like the Pharisees of the Bible. Remember those Pharisees in the Bible, those religious teachers who were hypocrites, who thought they knew better than everyone else, condescending, always looked down on other people. A lot of times we say, that's how modern day religious people are. Modern day religious people are like the Pharisees. They thought they knew better than everyone else. Now, I'm gonna flip that today. I'm going to say, actually, I think the world and the culture at large, in many ways, are like the Pharisees. Hypocrites and think they know better than everyone else. Here's not for you think I'm being judgmental. Here, follow me on this. You see, what happened was Jesus told some amazing teachings. Jesus told some amazing parables that made you think so much deeper. He calls you to think deeper about these things. And when he would share these things, the Pharisees, they just couldn't get it. It just never clicked for them. They couldn't think like Jesus was teaching. Now, when you read the Bible, Jesus was always throwing people off their guard. He was always saying something and then making them think deeper about it. This is why Jesus' teaching was amazing. This is why he's the greatest teacher there ever was. He would say things like this to the Pharisees. He would say this. He would say, You are slaves to sin. And the Pharisees would be like, We're not slaves. Nobody owns us. Nobody tells us what to do. We're not slaves to anybody. And Jesus would be like, You're missing something here, guys. What I mean is that you're enslaved to sin, not because someone else tells you what to do, but because your sin tells you what to do and you obey it because it's your master. You're enslaved to sin. It's like that with this teaching here in Romans. When Paul writes to the Romans and he says that you are dead in your sin and you need to have a pulse. I enjoy my life. And like Jesus, what we have to do is we have to help them to understand what is deeper, what actually is going on here. Like, you think you're alive because you have a body and you have a pulse? Scripture tells us that your spirit is dead because you've given it to sin. And sin is like a grave. Sin is a tomb that entraps us even if we are still breathing and have a pulse. This is a hard one for people. I'm telling you now, this is a hard one for our culture because people, people love their sin. Very few people will actually put it like that. Not many people will say, yes, I love my sin. Because they don't see it. Most people won't say that though, because they don't see it like that. Rather, it's like this. What happens is, is people love their life apart from God. And they love their life where God doesn't play a role. And what this means is, to love your life apart from God more than you love your life with God. That's what we're talking about. Or to put it another way, it's like this. When we say people love their sin, here's Here's why this is so sad. Because they see God as that thing that stands in the way between where they are and the life that they love and the life that they want to enjoy. They see God as an obstacle. And in here we expose something about human nature, I'd say especially in our American culture, is that we have so confused the difference between enjoyment and fulfillment. I will tell you right now, I can personally attest to you, sin can be enjoying for a while. Sin can bring enjoyment for a while, but what you don't understand about sin is that it always takes more than it gives. And it's a poison that slowly rots us from the inside. Oh sure, it tastes sweet for a moment, but over a life it hollows us out until there's nothing left for us and we have no fulfillment. We have no fulfillments versus life in God where we have not just happiness, we get that, but we get joy. And through that we have true fulfillments because faith will always bring us more than what we give to it. That's the difference between faith and sin, but our world loves their sin. They love their life apart from God because it tastes sweet for the moment, but they don't have the eternal perspective like God does. And like God gives to his followers to see this won't last. It's only going to lead somewhere dark and I think there's something about the human nature that in our heart of hearts we actually know this. We just never will realize it because we love our sin. Sin brings enjoyment for a time but can never bring fulfillment. That's what faith in Jesus brings. That's what Christ brings us. I love what scripture says here in verse 5. It says, if we have been united with him in a death like his, we shall certainly be united with him in a resurrection like his. We were dead, but now we are resurrected. But listen here, we didn't just return to life. That's called resuscitation. We've been resurrected. And with that, the resurrection life that we have, the Bible says that in this resurrection life, we will no longer be enslaved to sin because the death of Jesus has freed us from that. So here's how it works. Resurrection life is not a return to a life where we just continue to sin. Resurrection life is the start of a life free from sin. That's the difference between resuscitation and resurrection. Is that people who are resuscitated, they are brought back from death, their heart may start again, but they will return to their life of sin and they will still die. But for those who have been resurrected spiritually, though we die, yet shall we live. We live forever, which leads to our second point. Our eternal life. 2. The Promise of Grace is revealed in our Eternal Life. Go to verses 8, 9, and 10 and 11. Here we go. Verse 8, Now if we have died with Christ, we believe that we will also live with him. We know that Christ, being raised from the dead, will never die again. Death no longer has dominion over him. For the death he died, he died to sin once for all. But the life he lives, he lives to God in Jesus Christ. I'm fully aware that for many people, probably many people who can hear my voice right now, this is the only Sunday you'll find yourself in church all year long. So I want you to hear something from me. Your life actually does mean something. You are not a cosmic accident. Your life has purpose, has value, it has meaning. You are created in the image of God. All of this actually means something. This is all actually going somewhere. I know the world and the world out there wants to tell us that we're just around until the eventual extinction of the human race or the eventual exhaustion of all the heat in the universe, but I'm here to tell you, history has a bookend. This is all leading somewhere, this is all leading to a grand culmination, and your life means something, and it really means something in the long run, but you need to know, you need to realize that now, that your life starts now, hear me. We have not been resuscitated to a life that will just end again. For those who believe in Jesus, we've been resurrected spiritually to a life that will never end. As we get to be with Christ and get to be with God again, to be a Christian means to have eternal life here and now. As our verse says in verse eight, as our passage says in verse eight, if we have died with Christ, we believe that we'll also live with him. We place our faith in Jesus, it's like we're crucifying our old self just as Christ was actually crucified. But as he was resurrected, our crucified self gives way to a new spiritual resurrected life that will never end. But hear me, that doesn't start when you die. It starts the moment you believe. So let me just jump to the end right now and say to you, call on the name of Jesus Christ. Find the love of God. Find salvation in Jesus' name. Be brought back into a relationship with God that brings you fulfillment that only He can bring. To be a Christian means to have eternal life here and now. Christians, in Christ we will never die. We get to be brought back to God forever. This is called grace. We don't have to face an eternal death in hell, separated from God, which our sins most certainly deserve. If you're here Good Friday, we talked about that. It's a simple equation, my friends. When we sin against an eternally holy God, the way we pay for those sins is through an eternal punishment. It's a simple equation. To sin against an eternally holy God means we pay for those sins eternally. But we don't have to because of what Christ has done. He has stood in the gap, paid the penalty for our sin, and we place our faith with Him and not only do we get eternal life, we get brought back to God. This is resurrection life. This is eternal life, which can be summed up in number three, our new life. 3. The Promise of Grace is revealed in our New Life. Since we have this resurrected and eternal life, we need to ask ourselves, how then shall we live? What's our response? What is to be a Christian life from here on out? Where our passage tells us, here's what it says, verse 12, it says, let not sin therefore reign in your mortal body to make you obey its passions and our past is continues. But here's what we do now. We present ourselves to God as those who have been brought from death to life. We live before God as people who have been saved as people who have been brought from death to life. That's how we live. Now the letter to Romans here is a saying you've been made new, so don't live like the old. You've been made new, so don't live like the world. That's the old way. We have a new way in Jesus. We need to live like people made new. Who here has ever drawn on a whiteboard, on a dry, erased whiteboard? Let me see, let me see. I don't care how old you are, it's always fun. If you ever stop into my office at some point during the week, you're gonna see, most times you're gonna see my whiteboard is covered in jots and notes, because that's how I think about sermons and writing and stuff. Every now and again my kids will come and erase something and write me a note, and I can't get mad at them for that. But here's the thing. I think when we think about salvation, I think some people conceptually think about it in terms of a whiteboard. Here 's what I mean. I think here's what many people think salvation is. That when we are born, we're born with a clean whiteboard. A clean slate. And so what happens is that we've got this red marker. And throughout our life, what happens is that every time we sin, that gets written on our whiteboard. And throughout our lives, this whiteboard becomes covered in all these red sins. And I think what people often think is that, well, salvation is like Jesus walking into the room and taking the eraser and he wipes the board clean and there it is clean and that's salvation. We get a clean slate. Let me tell you that is a very, very shallow way to understand salvation. Let me explain how, using this analogy, let me explain how this really goes. Number one, you're not born with a clean slate. All of us are born into sin. All of us are born with that red pen in our hand, ready to sin. I mean, this is why most babies' first word is no to their parents instead of yes. But let's just play it out. You got this whiteboard, and throughout your life, you're writing, you go through your life, and every time you sin, it gets written on that whiteboard. And for those who place their faith in Jesus, it's not as though Jesus walks into the room and wipes the whiteboard clean. No, no, no, no. It's like Jesus walks into that room, he takes that whiteboard off the wall, he breaks it over his knee, he chucks it out the window, he grabs your hand and he walks you outside and into the sun and he welcomes you not just as a sinless person, but as a son or daughter in the kingdom of God. Yeah, amen. Salvation is more than a clean slate. It's a new identity. Meaning the gospel doesn't through the gospel. God doesn't just see us as sinless, though he does. God doesn't just see us as righteous, though he does. God sees us as a son or daughter in his kingdom. And this is why we obey our father. Verse 14 says, sin will have no dominion over you, since you are not under the law, but under grace. Here's what we mean. We're not under the law. We don't live trying to obey God's law to earn God's love or earn salvation. We're not under that. There are many a man with calloused hands because of a life of hard work, them trying to earn their way to heaven who are in hell right now. You are not saved by your good works. You are not saved by obeying the law. You could never obey the law perfectly enough to earn your way into heaven. We are not under the law, we are under grace. We are under the fact that God saves us though he does not have to. We are saved by grace, we are given salvation though we have not earned it. It is something we receive by placing our faith, by placing our lives in the loving trust of our faithful Savior. Knowing what He's done for us is better than what we could ever do for ourselves. Our loving Father has said yes and amen to the promise of grace, giving us what we do not deserve, and this is seen most powerfully in the resurrection of Jesus Christ. The question I want to ask a couple groups of people in here, for you Christians, have you gotten off course? Have you forgotten the truths revealed to you? Have you forgotten the grace that God's extended to you? Have you gotten off course? Brother or sister, come home. Return, return to your Father. Return to your Father through faith in Jesus empowered by the Spirit. Do not delay. Do it now. But for those of you who do not have faith in Jesus, maybe you've heard this your entire life, maybe you've heard this for the very first time, my prayer for you right now is that you are open to the Spirit moving in your hearts, calling you to repent, to reject your sin and place your faith in the one who loves you infinitely more than anyone else possibly ever could. Place your faith in the one who can save you from the pit of hell. Place your faith in the one who can save you from yourself. Place your faith in Jesus. Jesus Christ gave up his life for us, taking our punishment on the cross so that we could be made new. This happened. This was fulfilled on the resurrection that happened on Sunday, April 5th, in the year 33 AD, the day that changed everything, the promise of God was made sure for all who would place their faith in God. We started the sermon by talking about how God sometimes makes us wait. God sometimes says no. But I'm telling you now, there's one thing that God is not making you wait for. There is something that God is calling you to right now, and that's salvation. He does not make you wait for that. He calls you now as your loving Father, calling you back home. So reject, repent of your sin that Christ has already paid the penalty for, and embrace the love of God that's only found in Jesus Christ. If it's time for you, Christian, to return home, if it's time for you, lost sinner, to place your faith in Jesus and be found as a son or daughter in the Kingdom of God, I'm going to tell you right now, after the service, join us in the prayer room. But even before we do that, we're going to respond through worship. And here's what I'm going to say to you. Salvation. If God's our Father and He looks upon us as children, He's going to make it as simple, as simple as for a child to understand. We simply place our faith, we place our trust, we place our life in God's hand, handing it over to Him, placing our faith in Him, in Christ, by the power of the Spirit, makes us new. And it's that simple. And that starts an eternal life, not when you die, it starts now, that we no longer live under the law, but we live under grace. And this is good news. And so, if you are a Christian who has held this belief for one day or for 80 years, as we close up today, we're going to sing an old hymn in an old way. My prayer for you, brother or sister, is that you would sing of your faith in ways that shows the rest of the world that you believe that Christ is risen. He is risen indeed. We are going to respond in prayer. If it's time for you to come home and place your faith in Jesus, we'll gather here after the service, but I think the proper, the most immediate response is to worship. Amen? Amen. So let's stand and do that now. Would you please bow your head and let's pray. Father, we come before you here and now in the presence of our church family or new friends, asking God that you, by the power and presence of your spirit, you'd speak to our hearts, calling us, reminding us of what Christ has done for us, that he has triumphed over Satan, our sin, and death itself, and extends to us new life. It's an offer of grace, giving us what we don't deserve. And so, Father, I pray, as we sing these words of this old hymn, I pray, Father, we'd sing them because they're true, because we love these words, because they mean something. And so, Father, we pray that by the power and presence of the Spirit, you'd be with us now as we sing how amazing grace is. It's in Jesus' name we pray. And everyone said, amen.

Sermon Discussion Questions 1 Title Sunday, April 14, 2024 The Church Never Preaches On... Matthew 7:1-5 Christians Judging Others 2 Overview Main Idea: Sermon Outline: 1. More than a command against passing judgment, this is a caution against self-condemnation. 2. More than a forgoing moral standard, this is a caution against self-assurance. 3. More than a protection from rebuke, this is a call for self-reflection. 3 Pre-Questions 1. How would you define "judgment?" 2. What would it look like if you were judged based on every time you've said "you should..." Would you be able to uphold your own standard? 4 Questions 1. What would you say to someone who says "You should be able to do whatever you want, as long as it doesn't hurt someone else." 2. How does Revelation 20:11–15 help us understand (eternal) judgment? Is judgment wrong? Who is the ultimate judge? 3. There are two (unhealthy) heart postures. One that is judgmental, and one that never judges. How does Matthew 7 correct both of these heart postures? 4. Read Galatians 6:1-2 & James 5:19-20. How should we judge others? PDF Download

Sermon Discussion Questions 1 Title Sunday, May 5, 2024 The Church Never Preaches On... Romans 9:1-8 Is Israel Still God's Chosen People? 2 Overview Main Idea: Sermon Outline: 1. We should have a heart for the lost (1-3) 2. We should value God's history (4-5) 3. God never fails (6-8) 3 Pre-Questions 1. When you hear the word covenant, what comes to mind? 4 Questions 1. What is the only way for the lost to be saved? 2. Why should we have people in our lives who aren’t saved? 3. How should we think about the nation of Israel? 4. Read Romans 9:11–13. How does this passage help us understand this idea better? PDF Download

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Beyond Bluey Christian Life Stephanie Delger Podcast Host Mom Guilt Podcast Published On: July 10, 2024 One day while scrolling on social media, I stumbled across a meme that said, “Never have I felt so seen as a parent as the first time I saw the backseat of the car in Bluey.” I had never seen the show before, but reading this made me eager to check out this new show - Bluey. I went home with my kids, and we watched the first episode of Bluey. I instantly understood why everyone was talking about this show! The more I watched, the more I loved it. However, after some time, I began to walk away frustrated rather than refreshed. “Why don’t I play with my kids as much as Bluey’s parents play with her?” “Does that make me a bad mom?” “Everyone talks about how messy the backseat of the Heelers’ car is, but that’s actually clean compared to mine!” What started as innocent family TV time turned into a guilt session for me as a mom. I was no stranger to the comparison game we play as moms, but this was absurd. I was comparing myself to a fictional character! I texted a friend asking her how she felt about the TV show. It turns out, I wasn’t the only one who was struggling with comparing myself to Chilli Heeler. My friend was struggling too! As moms, we are constantly comparing ourselves to others. But how can we break the habit? How do we resist this temptation to compare ourselves to others? Embrace Your Calling God doesn’t make mistakes or accidents. This means that He chose you specifically to be the mother of your children. In His divine wisdom, He knew that it was best for you and your children to be placed together. As moms, we need to embrace our calling. We shouldn’t compare ourselves to other moms, both real-life and imaginary. We need to faithfully follow what God has asked us to do rather than trying to copy our best friend. When we get to Heaven, we’ll be asked how we raised our children, not how our best friend raised hers. In Deuteronomy 6:5-7, God tells us how we should live. God says, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might. And these words that I command you today shall be on your heart. You shall teach them diligently to your children, and shall talk of them when you sit in your house, and when you walk by the way, and when you lie down, and when you rise.” As Christian moms, our primary calling is to love the Lord. The natural overflow of that love results in telling others about Him. As we grow closer to God, it will naturally overflow to us teaching and telling our children about Him. The day-to-day ways moms live out this calling will look differently. That’s a beautiful thing. God has given each person and family different life experiences that uniquely equip them to share the gospel. Rather than lamenting that our life doesn’t look like someone else’s, we should celebrate that God has chosen to give each of us a unique way we can share the gospel. Find Strength in God After reading that we are each asked to live out the gospel differently, if you are like me, you may be left feeling more pressure rather than less. But God hasn’t asked us to do this on our own. We have been given the Holy Spirit. Jesus, when telling His disciples that He would be returning to heaven, gave them comfort saying, “When the Spirit of truth comes, he will guide you into all the truth.” (John 16:13) We are not left alone. We have the Holy Spirit guiding us in how we should live. Not only does the Bible tell us that the Holy Spirit guides us, but the Holy Spirit also intercedes for us. Romans 8:26 says, “The Spirit helps us in our weakness. For we do not know what to pray for as we ought, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us with groanings too deep for words.” On days when life is crazy and everything is spiraling out of control, this is incredibly comforting. We might not know exactly what we need, but the Holy Spirit does. As moms, we can cry out to God for help. When we do this, we can feel comforted knowing that the Holy Spirit is standing before the Lord, praying on our behalf and asking God to give us exactly what we need. Keep Your Identity Rooted in Christ Another way we can fight the temptation to compare is by embracing our identity. If you have placed your faith in Christ, when God looks at you, He doesn’t see our sins and failures. He sees Jesus. Our identity is secure in Christ, and our value isn’t dependent on how well we parent. Jesus doesn’t love you more on good days, and He doesn’t regret saving you on your bad days. Your standing before the Lord is secure. We can live unburdened from this guilt of feeling inadequate or feeling like a bad mom because that is not what defines us. We don’t have to tire ourselves out trying to keep up with the newest parenting trends on social media. We shouldn’t be comparing ourselves to others and basing our worth on if we are a ‘good’ or ‘bad’ mom. As Christian moms, we need to look to the Bible for how we should raise our children. We should strive to honor God with our lives and stop focusing on how others around us are parenting. As moms, we should strive to do what God has asked of us. This is how we live out the calling of being a faithful Christian mother. We are not defined by what we think about ourselves or what the world tells us. We are defined by God and who He says we are. So the next time we are tempted to compare ourselves to another mom, remember that we are asked to faithfully raise the children God has given us. We can draw on the strength and guidance God has given us and rest assured that He will always love us and that our identity is secure in Jesus Christ. If you would like further encouragement and help on how you can fight comparison in motherhood, please listen to this episode of the Mom Guilt Podcast - Bluey Guilt here: https://www.buzzsprout.com/2177117/12696885-bluey-guilt More Blogs You'll Like Is Prioritizing Love Un-Christian? What Does The Bible Say? Read More More Than Meets the Eye Discovering God’s Purposes for Motherhood Read More Mom Guilt and How to Fight It Read More

PODCAST That's a Good Question Exploring Faith and Fossils: A Journey Through Creation, and Evolution November 28, 2023 Jon Delger & Stephanie Delger Listen to this Episode JonHey everyone, welcome to That's a Good Question, a podcast of Peace Church, this place where we answer questions about the Christian faith in plain language. I'm Jon, I can serve as a pastor here at Peace Church, I also get to serve as the weekly host of this show, and you can always submit questions at peacechurch.cc/questions. And I'm here today with a very special guest who I'm excited to get to share this episode with. My guest here is one of the hosts of the Mom Guilt podcast. She also teaches in our women's ministry here at Peace Church. She's also a mother of four, a homeschool teacher, and she's my wife. My wife, Miss Stephanie Delger, is my guest here on today's show and I'm excited to have her on because she is someone who has done a lot of reading and study and thinking about the topic that we're going to talk about today. So let me read our question for today. All right, the question that came in is this, I assume you guys don't believe in evolution. Question #1: If you don't believe in evolution, then what do you say about Neanderthals or dinosaurs? And so Stephanie, you have read a lot of books about dinosaurs because since a young age you have wondered this question yourself. As a Christian, I read the Bible, but scientists say, you know, some different things about dinosaurs. How do dinosaurs fit into the whole timeline? And so we're going to talk about that a lot. We're also going to talk a little about Ken Ham and answers in Genesis, which is a key resource that we use. But thanks for being here. And I'm excited to talk about the question. StephanieYeah, me too. JonSo we're going to break it down a little bit and we're going to start by talking about that big question of evolution. So Stephanie, what do we think about evolution? StephanieYeah, so I think it's important when talking about evolution, what do you really mean by evolution, right? So I would say evolution, there's two different types of evolution. I would say there's micro evolution and there's macro evolution. So one of those I would say I would agree with and say yes, and the other one I would say no. So first, if it's okay, we can talk about microevolution. So I would say microevolution is where there's some type or some kind of organism that is going to maybe change over time. So I was a nurse and I worked in the healthcare field. And so one of the things that I was thinking about, how do I give you an example of what this would be, was bacteria, right? So in health care, they don't like to give out antibiotics a lot for certain bacterias because the bacteria can change and actually become resistant to that medication or that antibiotic. And so I would say that's actually a great example of micro evolution. It's some type of organism that is changing or adapting to its environment to survive. JonMm hmm. That makes sense. StephanieYeah. So then macro evolution would be some type of living organism changing into a whole different type. And I think talking about kinds or types, I get that from Genesis. So if you read in Genesis 1, the creation account, you're seeing God created things to their kind. And as you read that, you see he created according to their kinds, according to their kinds. And so right there in the creation narrative, you're seeing there's a certain type compared to a different type. And so what I would say is microevolution is the same type of organism that's maybe just changing or adapting, whereas macroevolution is some kind changing into a different kind. JonRight. And we have evidence of microevolution. Absolutely. We have, you know, verifiable cases of that, but we don't have evidence of verifiable cases of macroevolution, right? There's no case of that that we know of. So evolution itself is a scientific theory, right? It's one theory about it looks at data and it tries to put together that data and make sense of it. It's one theory about how we could get put together some different data of basically how are there all these different kinds of organisms on the earth and how did we get here and how did it happen over a span of time? You wanna talk about evolution as a theory a little bit? StephanieYeah, so when talking to our kids about it, you know, there's this idea that what the scientists are doing in this, like the creation scientists, they're looking at it saying, how did all of this come to be? Well, some of them are looking at this, and they're making guesses, right? We were not there at creation. So they're taking these things and trying to make sense of it. And so what they're trying to do is sometimes they will say, well, we're not believing in God. So if you take God out of the equation, how do we then explain how everything has came to be? And so what they'll say is well, there's no God so something has to happen And so this is just a theory that they're saying oftentimes trying to pass it off as fact, right? A lot of times they're not saying this is a guess. This is our Idea that we've came up with but rather I mean we just need to be honest about that because sometimes I think they can be Kind of deceptive and how they talk about it. JonYeah, and we're not being anti-science in saying that. We're pro-science, right? Absolutely. Christians are in favor of science as the work of looking at God's created order, looking at things in creation and studying them so that we can understand them better. In science, we make hypotheses about how the different things that we see might work together and what might happen after different experiments. So it's important that we do that hard work of science, but we're saying, looking at evolution, I think honest scientists would say, hey, we don't, this isn't a verifiable fact. This is one theory about how things may have come to be. Right? Is that fair to say? StephanieYeah, I think that's great. JonYeah. So, as we think about that, we're saying, okay, let's think about the biblical evidence as well as the evidence that we see in creation. Now, let's think about what is the best way to bring those together. And so, thinking about that ourselves, now, you know, neither of us are science experts, but we have done a lot of study of the Bible. And so let's come at it from the biblical side. What are some of the biblical problems with evolution? You want me to go first? StephanieI would love you to go first. JonSo what are some of the minor problems? Minor, not minor. So what are some of the biblical problems with evolution? So I think one of those that I think of right away is death before the fall. So the whole idea of evolution is predicated on that things have to die in order to, you know, death has to happen in order for evolution to happen. StephanieYeah, evolution is coming, one animal is dying and turning into something else. Death has to be part of the evolution as they're trying to describe it. JonYeah, it happens over the course of generations. Whereas in the Bible, we see that death doesn't come into play until after Genesis 3, after the fall, which is after animals and human beings have all been created. And so that just doesn't line up, I think, both with the scriptural chronology as well as with God's character. That if death happens before Genesis 3, before the fall, then something's out of place, right? The idea is that before sin enters the world, everything is perfect, everything is good, there's no sickness, there's no death, that's the state that we're actually going to be returning to at the end of all things when Jesus returns. And so death before the fall is a major problem with evolution. What else we got? StephanieYeah, so I think of passages like I was able to teach on Romans 8 this last year in the Women's Bible Study at our church. And in Romans 8, it talks about the creation groaning together along with us and it's longing for this restoration. And so I think even in Romans, Paul is pointing back saying this was perfect and it was then broken by sin and it will be restored. And so I think even in the New Testament, you see that pattern of everything was perfect and then sin entered the world, it was fallen, right? God's good design was broken and then it will be restored and you look forward to Jesus coming back and doing that for us. JonYeah, yeah, definitely. Another problem that comes up is just the biblical account that, you know, for evolution to work, you know, so if you look at some of the, some of the work there done by scientists, they would say that evolution, you know, has to make sense, you have to start with a large population of humans at the beginning. I think from what I've heard is there has to be about 10,000 people to sort of to start with. And so, and when we look at the Bible, it says that there's Adam and Eve, two people, two human beings. And so, we've got kind of some contradiction there that those two can't be true at the same time. So, I think for evolution to work, evolution to make sense, we'd have to say that Adam and Eve were not really the first humans like the Bible says, which is a problem. Yeah. One last one that I want to point to is, because this goes right to the very heart of the gospel, and for me this just brings up how important of an idea this is. This isn't just sort of a secondary or side issue in theology, this is a real issue of the issue of evolution. So I think about Romans 5 verse 12, let me read it and then we'll just kind of explain how it relates. It says, therefore just as sin came into the world through one man and death through sin, so death spread to all men because all sinned." Okay, so in Romans 5, it's making the case for how sin came into the world through Adam and death through sin and through Adam. And then it's going to make the case later that through Jesus comes life and righteousness. And so you've got this core problem for the gospel that if Adam wasn't a real person, and if Adam didn't sin, and if he's not the father of all mankind, and all mankind died with him, you know, that all mankind is born into sin ever since Adam, if that's not true, then we've also got the problem of, well, what does that mean for Jesus, and how can Jesus be the leader, the father of a new humanity that is freed from sin by his death on the cross and his resurrection. So this really does affect the very core of the gospel. StephanieYeah, I think this is a great example of how sometimes we can kind of pass something off and say, oh, this doesn't really matter. But I think as you were just explaining that verse, these things in Genesis that we're talking about of how God created us, these are really important and it impacts how we view Christ and how thankful we are for our salvation from that. You know, if we don't think that Adam was a real person and that through him entered sin into the world, then we're gonna take that less seriously than that Christ came to save us from that. And I think that this is just one example of how these things really do matter. We can't just cast them off and say, oh, just forget it. Yeah, right. JonCool. Well, let's get into some of the specific questions that were asked about dinosaurs. Rawr! StephanieI didn't see that coming. JonI didn't think you would. StephanieThat was awesome. JonAll right, so the other perspective is what has been called the old earth perspective. And so when they look at Genesis, they would look at that word day and they would see that not as a literal 24 hour time period, but as a long period of time, an undisclosed amount of time, many years during that period of time. So and a lot of that is looking at what some scientists are telling us, looking at the age of the earth, looking at things buried in the ground, carbon dating, different methods like that, fossils, and they're trying to estimate the age of the earth. And we're trying to figure out how does that work with what Genesis is telling us. So those are the kind of the two different perspectives. And that comes into play when we talk about dinosaurs. So we're talking about did dinosaurs live millions of years ago? And we have to ask the question, did the earth exist millions of years ago? So you got to ask kind of that question. You're going to come down on one of those two sides of that coin. And like we said earlier, again, I think, you know, Christians who are faithful to the Bible can disagree on this topic. But the next issue we're going to talk about is the fall. So how that comes into play is for dinosaurs to die, for dinosaurs to have cancer, as we've found evidence of, things like that, this means that sickness and death was in the world. StephanieYeah, and I think, I mean looking at fossils, there are some that I will show our kids or even looking at preparing for this episode that you see fossils of like a fish eating another fish or like you were saying dinosaur fossils having cancer or tumors or broken bones, that's then showing that if the earth is millions and millions of years and dinosaurs existed before humans, that you then have cancer, you have broken bones, you have this death that came into play before sin entered the world, which I don't see that in scripture. Jon Yeah, what we see in scripture is that those things didn't happen until after Genesis 3, until Adam and Eve eat the fruit, which means if dinosaurs didn't die or have cancer until Adam and Eve ate the fruit, that means that they were actually on the earth at the same time together. So to fit with the biblical storyline, I think we have to say that dinosaurs and people have to be living at the same time. So, all right, let's talk about our take on this, and we don't declare to be the experts on this topic, but we've done some good study and some good reading on this topic. Stephanie, you want to kick us off? What's our take on this? How did dinosaurs fit into the biblical storyline? StephanieYeah, so like you were saying earlier, dinosaurs were created on day six with Adam and Eve with humans, so they coexisted. Now what I think probably makes the most sense of how come there's not dinosaurs now, I think really is the flood. So we read in the Bible that there was the global flood, that Noah and his sons and their wives were on the ark along with two of every animal. And so a majority of the dinosaurs, along with other animals, were wiped out pretty much by the flood. JonYeah, but how come, but didn't God save each kind of animal? StephanieYeah, so Noah was instructed or God sent two of each type of animal to the ark to save. So I would actually say there were probably dinosaurs on the ark along with all of the other animals. And for some reason, after the flood receded and they all got off for whatever reason, they became extinct at that point. But there were most likely dinosaurs, I would say, on the Ark. JonBut wouldn't they have been too big? StephanieYeah, so in some of the stuff, like, I immediately, when I think of dinosaurs, I like to think of the big T-Rex, like all of the toys that our boys love to play with, like the huge ones. But looking at all of the dinosaurs, it's talking about type. So it's not saying every single type of fossil that we find is on there. It'd be a kind of dinosaur. So I think that then limits a little bit as to how many dinosaurs maybe were on the ark. But also I think it also makes a lot of sense for him to not have like the big, huge, like at their biggest that they're going to be. It actually makes more sense to have some of the younger ones, especially thinking about how the animals that were on the ark are the ones that are responsible to repopulate their entire population post flood. And so it doesn't really make a lot of sense to have like grandma and grandpa dinosaur on the ark. No offense, but it does make sense to have like teenage dinosaurs on and so those younger ones are going to be smaller in size too. JonYeah, that makes sense. So the reason that, so what is the reason that fossils look so old? StephanieYeah, so I think with the Bible we read about again the flood and I think the flood actually makes a lot of sense to explain a lot of the fossils. So, thinking about how fossils are formed, yes, they can be formed over long periods of time, but we also see that fossils can be formed over a very short period of time under the right circumstances. And I think looking at the circumstances that you need to create a fossil, like all of that is found in the flood. And so, when you have all of these different circumstances coming together, those things actually create the perfect circumstance for fossils to be formed. And so what they're maybe saying is millions of years really under the right circumstances, specifically the flood, that's a great way that fossils, I believe, would be formed. JonRight. And this is one of the things that I found most compelling in our trip to the Creation Museum. So, Ken Ham, Answers to Genesis, great organization. That's kind of our go-to resource on this topic. And so they make a great case for how this could have worked. And one of the, they point to some more modern examples. So Mount St. Helens erupted in 1980, and they talk about just the, everything around Mount St. Helens and kind of how if you were to grab that stuff and look at some of the trees that got buried, animals that got buried, things that would appear to be fossils, and you pull those up and you date them the way that we date dinosaurs, you would think that they were millions of years old. But actually they're only, you know, 40, 50 years old. The reason for that is because of how quickly they were buried and under what conditions, you know, the conditions of heat and cold and, you know, a volcano, just all that kind of stuff. And so, one of the other examples they use is of these World War II planes. I forget what kind of plane, but there were some planes that were on some kind of mission flying over a frozen area, and they went down, and then we found them, maybe, I forget what it was, 40, 50 years later, they were discovered, they were found, buried in the ice. And the same thing was true, using the methods that we would normally use to date things buried in ice. We would date them at being millions of years old, but we know that they were World War II planes. They're from the 1940s. StephanieYeah, I think there's a lot of fossils that you can find that to me I would just I would want them to answer. So you find clams of fossils. Now normally when a clam dies there's that little muscle that like holds the two sides of the shell together. Well, when that dies the the muscle falls apart and it opens up. But you find a lot of clams that are fossilized in a closed position, which points to a rapid burial, like with the flood. You find fossils, there's one of a dinosaur that they found that's actually giving birth. You know, if that was millions and millions of years and it was really slowly, that would have decayed, that wouldn't have fossilized in the position of that dinosaur giving birth. So I think a lot of reasons there's fossils that make a lot more sense of like a rapid burial, which is explained by the flood. JonRight. So again, this is us trying to be faithful Christians, but also to do good science, right? We're looking at the data and we're trying to make sense of it. Now, some look at the data and they make sense of it saying that this is millions of years old, others look at the data. And there's also a scientific reason we say, we'll look at the biblical story of the flood and what that would have done to the whole earth if there was a flood and how that would affect the sediment layers and all that kinds of stuff that we use to do dating. StephanieI think part of the science too is you want to replicate it, right? And so when you replicate something over and over, you should be guaranteed that same result. And so if you're saying that there are these items like the planes that you were talking about where if you're going to figure out their age, and we know that it's not millions of years, and yet the same dating that you would use for dinosaurs is showing that it's millions of years. To me, that just maybe shows that there's a level of error or that you're claiming something as fact, which might not be fact. JonRight, might be theory. StephanieYeah, theory. JonGood, all right, so the other part of it was this question of Neanderthals, and I think essentially they're asking the big question of, you know, so Homo sapiens is the term used to refer to what modern humans are. So how does all of that work? What do we do with these other forms of human life that have been found? And how does that all fit together? StephanieYeah, so I think one of the things you were saying earlier is really important that they're finding these things and they weren't there at the time of when like the Neanderthals were there. We're taking something old and we're making guesses as to how it came to be. Now, some of the things that we found with Neanderthals is that they were able to have babies with what they would call current humans. And in the Bible, it talks about each kind being with its kind. Well, if something is mating with a human and having a child, that's a human, right? And humans are made in God's image. And so I would say just kind of on a really simple thing is Neanderthals were humans that maybe have some genetic differences than what maybe you and I do here today. But because specifically because they were able to have babies with what they would call modern humans, they were a human. Jonconversation is how do we explain Neanderthals or this bigger category of different types of humans, human remains, human fossils that are found that are older and that look different from each other. You know I've heard different names given to them Homo sapien, Homo erectus, different you know should I say that differently? Yeah I said it last night. I said different Homos. Okay, I'm going to say it again. I'm going to say it. All right, so one other question. So the other part of the listener question was about Neanderthals, or I think they're asking the question about, you know, there's different human remains, fossils that have been found and they look different from each other. How do we explain that? You know, some have been given the label of Homo sapiens, some of them given the label of Homo erectus, other types. Just how do we explain all those differences in these human remains that are older? StephanieYeah, so I think it's important. Some people will say that they're not human, that they maybe are like an in-between. But I would say that, especially with some of the scientific journals that I have read is that they know that these Neanderthals were bred or had children with modern day human genes. And so I think that right there, like Neanderthals are human. So I just want to kind of come out clear and say that because some people will disagree on that. And so again, looking to the Bible, you see at the Tower of Babel, what happens there. So these people are building a tower, God then comes down and he separates the people and gives them different languages. And so there's all of this genetic code that is then spread out in small people groups, right? Because you're not going to choose to bring somebody with you if you're speaking a different language. I think it makes a lot of sense that some of the genetics are going to then go and be formed in specific ways based on who they're with, which is a small population. And so the Neanderthals, I think, would be best explained as a people group that broke off of the Tower of Babel that had a similar language that then had a certain set of genetics that are gonna breed, and as they had children, that genetic code is passed on. And so you're going to then have maybe different characteristics, like the defined bridge row, or like a thicker body or skeletal structure. And I think that would just be a genetic difference, but still within like the human race. JonSure. So you're saying, yeah, if they just split off in a different group. So if you've got a small group of people, a few characteristics, a few traits could become dominant quickly and take over a group of people. And maybe that's the differences between these different remains that we found. I remember you telling me, what is the percentage of DNA difference between the different remains that we found? StephanieYeah, so I think researchers were saying that the Neanderthal DNA is 99.7% identical to modern human DNA. So this is a really small difference. JonRight, so it makes sense to say that it's explained not by being a lesser evolved version of human beings, but to say that it's actually that they're humans, they just they went their different ways after Babel and different traits became dominant or something like that. And they're just different forms of human beings. StephanieAnd I think looking at that, too, it's a great way that we can see God is just this amazing creator that within Adam and Eve, he had this vast genetic code that will then go on to repopulate these people will go and repopulate the world. And so you're gonna see differences. And I think just seeing even how the defined bridge route, the bridge brow, bridge? JonI don't think that's it. StephanieNope. JonBrow line. StephanieBrow line, defined brow line. Okay. So I think even seeing how these genetic differences play out, I think just shows us how great God was when he created Adam and Eve, that in Adam and Eve, he gave all of this genetic code that could then go and create different characteristics and different people groups like we see with this to me. I just think I look at this. I'm like wow God you are just so good and you had everything in under your plan that this is what you decided to do before you even made Adam and Eve. I love seeing the differences because I think it just points to how great God our creator is. JonYeah, yeah, amen. So great, well hey, we're about out of time here, but thanks Stephanie for talking about evolution and dinosaurs and Neanderthals. It's been awesome to get to talk. You wanna share a little bit more about Mom Guilt, the podcast that you lead? StephanieYeah, so the Mom Guilt podcast is something that my friend and I started, because we realized as moms, we have mom guilt. Now talking with you and with our husbands, we've realized dad guilt isn't really a thing, but mom guilt is. And so, you know, how do you, how do you figure out what to do when you are struggling and you feel guilty about something? Well, I would say what we do in that podcast is to compare it to the Bible. How does God view this? And so we can then kind of become unburdened by that mom guilt that we feel, that we feel specifically through the gospel. And so that's the goal of our podcast. JonAwesome. Awesome. I would highly recommend it. Not just because you're my wife, but because I think it's great stuff. Awesome. Well, hey, thanks everybody for listening. Well, hey, thanks everybody for listening. Hope you have an awesome week.

Caring For Widows Sermon Series: From Womb To Tomb Ryan DB Kimmel Lead Pastor Peace Church Main Passage: Exodus 22:22-24 Transcript Hey Peace Church family and friends, it's awesome to be with you, even if it is mostly online. Let me start with these words, the words that we always start with. Today is the day that the Lord has made, so let us rejoice and be glad in it. And everyone said, Amen. So welcome to our first of our two-part series, From Womb to Tomb, as we look at what it means to really be pro-life. This is a two-part series that we'll be walking through together as we have church online for the most part, while we wait for the final touches to be put on our brand new worship center. Who's excited? I don't know if I could be more excited. And so when this is played for our church, so when this is viewed for the entire church family, the very next week will be Sanctity of Life Sunday, a Sunday where churches and those who love life pause and recognize the value of the unborn lives that are among us. It's also all life, because we recognize that all people, born and unborn, are made in the image of God, and this makes life a sacred thing, which is why we are pro-life. But there's often a criticism that we hear against the pro-life movement and those who are pro-life, is that we're not really pro-life, we're just pro-birth. That we don't care about kids after they're born, we only care about kids when they're in the womb. And of course, those who are pro-life emphatically refute this because we are pro-life from inception to the end of our life. And so this is all throughout scripture. This is a call that we see woven throughout the pages of scripture that comes from the heart of God. And one of the ways that we see this is this repeating phrase that we see throughout scripture that we have to care for the widows and the orphans, or often the widows and the fatherless. Two groups of people who are on opposite ends of the human lifespan, two groups of people who are often neglected and are in need, and God calls us to care for those people because that's his heart. And so next week on Sanctity of Life Sunday, we'll talk about us leading the charge in our cause, in our care for the fatherless, for the orphans and for the unborn. But today we're gonna talk about caring for widows and God's call and unique call for that. And so would you please turn in your Bibles to Exodus chapter 22. We're gonna look at three verses today, 22 to 24. Now as you're turning there and as you're turning there online, some context for our passage. Moses is leading the people, the Israelites, the Hebrews. He's led them out of Egypt. God has freed them from slavery. They have crossed the Red Sea and now God has led them to the foot of Mount Sinai. And there God calls his people into a covenant relationship with them. He's going to lead them and they're going to be his people. And God is calling them to be a kingdom of priests They are to be the pastors of the world there to be the priest who share about God and his goodness with the rest of The world and so in Exodus chapter 20 what we see is that God gives the ten commandments these ten overarching rules which have sort of Sort of embody all of the rules and statutes and laws that God has for his people that that his people are to live by as they embody God's character, his goodness, and his holiness. That's Exodus chapter 20. But then in the next couple verses, God gets more particular about laws for the Israelites. Now these laws are to show them how they are to live and function as a society of people. And then we get to Exodus chapter 22. And we're going to look at verses 22 to 24 that we in in this we're gonna see that God's heart comes out in his care for others in his care for people And this is going to show us and inform us how we are to continue to live this out and care for others here today and so Exodus chapter 22 verses 22 to 24. Would you hear God's Word? You shall not mistreat any widow or fatherless child. If you do mistreat them and they cry out to me, I will surely hear their cry, and my wrath will burn, and I will kill you with the sword, and your wives shall become widows, and your children fatherless." Wow. God's word is serious here. So let's pray, prepare our hearts, and we'll dive in. Father, we come before you. Father, we know that your word and your heart remain the same. So please, by the power of the Holy Spirit, help us to know both here today, your heart, your word, your truth, that we, the people of the new covenant, would come to know how you are calling us to care for the orphans and for the widows, how we are called to uphold life from womb to tomb. And we pray this in the name of Him who was also born of a woman. In the name of Jesus we pray these things and everyone said, Amen, Amen. Alright church, let's consider just one main idea here today from our passage. God's people are to share God's heart to care for those who can't care for themselves. Let me say it again. God's people are to share God's heart to care for those who can't care for themselves. Next week we'll focus on the orphans, but today we're going to focus on the widows. And we are to care for those who can't care for themselves, because this is God's heart. Listen to me, God's heart is not soft or stoic. God's heart is sovereign and sincere, and that's the heart that we are to have. So let's look at just two thoughts from our passage here today. And we're gonna start with this, this thought here. God has concern for those who are neglected. God has concern for those who are neglected. So God has led his people to freedom and he's going to be leading them to the promised land and he will establish them as a people and as a nation. And he will set them as a light for the world as a light for the Gentiles. And he does this this by setting particular laws before them, laws that are meant to help shape their culture so that they may stand apart from the pagan religions around them. And God says this, verse 22, you shall not mistreat any widow or fatherless child. The widow was the most vulnerable woman, if not the most vulnerable person in that society. Typically they were aged women who were fully dependent on any family They may have had left and certainly the people around them and God tells them not to mistreat them But I wonder what did you think when God says do not? mistreat them This may sound like just a simple prohibition, but God isn't saying just simply leave them alone You have to understand what God is saying here. What his heart is saying here. God wants them treated rightly. Allowing them to suffer is mistreating them. Neglecting them is mistreating them. Acting like they are a burden or that they get in the way is mistreating them. Complaining about them is mistreating them. Letting them go hungry is mistreating them. God has concerns for his people and for particularly the widows neglected in any other ancient society. God is saying not here, not among my people. You're going to be different than the rest of the world. God wants his people to be a better society, and a better society is one that takes care of those who can't take care of themselves. This is the heart of God throughout all scripture. God is so adamant about this that later in the New Testament, the Holy Spirit leads the church in the earliest of days to formalize a group of men to ensure that the widows are properly cared for. In Acts chapter six, I'm sure you're probably familiar with this. In Acts chapter six, when the church is beginning to grow, you're seeing more Jews and more Gentiles come together into this one faith and now they're having to coexist together. And as they come together and they're blending their cultures, one of the things that kind of came to the forefront where some of the people felt like the Hebrew widows were being cared for more than the other widows and the rest of the women. So the 12 disciples convene and they get together and they say, okay, let's ensure that all the widows are being cared for equally. And not just that, but let's make sure that all of the needs of the church are met and so they say this in Acts chapter 6 verse 3 they say therefore brothers pick out from among you seven men of good repute full the spirit and of wisdom whom we will appoint to this duty but we will devote ourselves to prayer and to the ministry of the Word and the Bible goes on to list the seven men they chose and they prayed over them and what we see here is this is the first inception of the role of deacon. Men called to ensure that the physical needs of the church is met so that the spiritual leaders can continue to work spiritually to pray and preach the word. But what is amazing about this passage is look what happens right after these deacons are formalized. The very next verse, Acts chapter 6 verse 7 says this, And the word of God continued to increase, and the number of disciples multiplied greatly in Jerusalem. It is so simple, my friends. God will grow the church if the church is faithful to care for one another, starting with the oldest and the most vulnerable among us, the widows. And so today in our modern era, things are different, and it's okay to recognize that. We have longer lifespans and not only that but greater social safety nets. And we may not have or see the dire need of widows like the ancients did, like we see in the Old Testament. So let's put this before us in two different ways. Today, our care for the widows is still as strong, but it may look a little differently, or at least have some different nuance. Today our care for widows is to be relational as much as it is meeting their material needs. The widows in our church need to feel as enfolded into the life of the church as anyone else in the life of the church. This is one of the ways that we care for the widows if their financial needs are secure. But I also think the word widows, I think of that term and that notion here today, as far as the desperation of needs go. Yes, this goes for any woman in their older years, any woman who is alone. And I would say by extension, it also goes for widowers in our church family. But when I think about the women who have desperate needs, how can we not think of single moms? I think our call in our day to live out this heart of God may look a little a little different in the sense that we also have a great burden to focus on single mothers. Moms who are on their own and have a hard time caring for their children while also holding down a job or two or three. When we care for them this is one of the ways that the church can step up to care for some of the people who are the most vulnerable among us, those who are quote-unquote the least of these. And this shows, this shows them and this shows the world that we care not just for the child in their womb, but for the woman who carries that child as well. This is why we are so adamantly in support of places like the PRC, the Pregnancy Resource Center, and Alpha Women's Center, places that are fully pro-life, showing that this also means, to be fully pro-life, means that we come alongside the mother, ensuring that she has the physical needs so that she can confidently choose life. Why? Because God is pro-life. God is basically saying, I have a heart for the orphan who are young in years, and I have a heart for the advanced, those widows who are advanced in their years. And God is saying, if you are to be my people, then you are to have that heart as well. And God is desperately serious about this. Look at verses 23 and 24 as we look at this notion, that God has condemnation for those who are unjust. Verse 23, God says, If you do mistreat them and they cry out to me, I will surely hear their cry. God says, I will hear them. Listen to me, this is how you know if you truly have a heart for someone. You're willing to listen to them. You're willing to hear them. A pastor loses his heart for his church when he stops hearing them, when he stops listening to them, but not God. God says, if they cry to me, I will hear them. And then look at verse 24. And my wrath will burn, 24 and My wrath will burn and I will kill you with the sword and your wives shall become widows and your children fatherless what What is going on for this patriarchal society God is saying if you don't care for the women who are alone God tells the men that he will kill them God says to neglect the widows and the orphans is a capital offense. That is the heart that God has for his people. He will make sure that they are cared for. God is saying, if you don't care for the widows and the orphans, then I'll turn your wives and children into widows and orphans. Think God takes this seriously? You think we should take this seriously? Listen church, I hear this and I hear this warning as I leave this church and so should you. Listen to me, I am thankful. I am really thankful for the well-produced and powerful events that we have at this church. But if we're not gonna get our hands dirty, if we're not gonna get on our knees and serve the least of these, I wonder if God's gonna say to us, if you're not gonna be the type of church that shares my heart, why should I keep you around? Do we have the ears to hear what God is truly saying to us? May I say that again? Do we have the ears to hear what God is truly saying to us? What he's calling us to do? I've come to realize that sometimes when I say things to my kids, they're not listening to hear my heart. They're listening to try and wiggle out of what I'm asking them to do. Like when I say to my kids, say to one of my kids, hey, why don't you go take the trash out right now? You know, sometimes they'll respond like saying, sure, dad, I can take the trash out as soon as I'm done playing my video game. At which point I have to say, oh, hold on a second here. I'm sorry, I wasn't actually asking you a question. I was telling you to do something. So turn off the video game before that video game becomes part of the trash that you're about to take out. God is not asking us to take care of the widows and the orphans. He's commanding us to. You know what also makes us so powerful is that there's a gospel truth to be shown in this. When we care for those who can't care for themselves, this reflects the gospel that Christ saved us when we couldn't save ourselves. That God certainly does have condemnation for those who are unjust. Those who are unjust in this world will be held to account. God has condemnation for those who are unjust, but the reality is that's me and you. That's all of us lost in our sin. But the condemnation that we deserve was not given to us. It was given to Christ. He stepped in to take our punishment by dying on the cross in our place, and he does this only to rise again victoriously to new life. And this new life is now given to us by faith in him. It's new life. It's eternal life that we don't deserve. And therefore, how much more should we be living for God? Knowing God's goodness to the point where we get what we don't deserve, eternal life, how much more should we be living according to God's commandments and his standards? Church, we have some amazing widows in our church family with incredible stories. Sandy, Gani, Judy, Miss Patty, who taught my kids Sunday school, and many more who helped make our church such an incredible place. But listen to me, our church is only as strong as the care we give to our widows, the seniors and the lonely. And if you're a man listening to this message right now and you're thinking, what does this really have to do with me? Here's what I'd say what it has to do with you. Husbands, this is why you need to lead your families to be involved and make connections at church. Because when one day, when God takes you home and your family's left here, the church is meant to take care of them. And so make sure that your family has the connections at church, so that that's not a weird, awkward interaction when that finally happens, that they're already unfolded into life of the church family. Men, get your families to church because you may not always be there. Again, our church is only as strong as our care for those in our church who can't care for themselves. So yes, let's let God establish in us a new type of society to show the world something better. People who care for life from the inception of life to the old age of life. This is how we are going to be distinct in this world. This is how we're going to truly show that we are pro-life. This is how we're going to model God's heart. And listen to me, it starts with the widows who are among us. Because, remember, God's people are to share God's heart to care for those who can't care for themselves. So let's do that. Amen? Amen. Let's pray.

Retiring and Aspiring "Retiring and Aspiring" is a unique podcast that bridges the wisdom of experience with the enthusiasm of ambition. Hosted by Mitchell Leach, a pastoral candidate with a vision to lead, this podcast delves into the insightful world of retired pastors who have completed their journey in church leadership. Each episode features candid conversations with these seasoned leaders, uncovering the rich tapestry of their experiences, challenges, and triumphs. Listeners, whether aspiring pastors or those interested in the dynamics of spiritual leadership, will find a wealth of knowledge and inspiration. The podcast not only celebrates the legacy of retired pastors but also offers guidance and wisdom for the next generation of church leaders, making it a valuable resource for personal growth and spiritual enrichment in the realm of pastoral leadership. Listen to the podcast 1 2 3 4 5 1 ... 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 41 42 43 44 45 46 47 48 49 50 51 52 53 54 55 56 57 58 59 60 61 62 63 64 65 66 67 68 69 70 71 72 73 74 75 76 77 78 79 80 81 82 83 84 85 86 87 88 89 90 91 92 93 94 95 96 97 98 99 100 ... 100

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