An Astonished Heart

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(March 25, 2012 – Mike Nichols)

AN ASTONISHED HEART

Today’s readers of the letter to the Romans are likely to skip over chapters 9-11. What does the absence of faith in Christ by so many of the Hebrew people have to do with today’s church? Paul can’t so easily dismiss this question. He says that he would welcome his own damnation if it could mean salvation for the Hebrew people. Three questions are addressed in Romans 9-11:

• Has God’s word failed [9:6] to open hardened hearts?
• Is God unjust—if salvation depends on God’s mercy and God’s initiative is he not unjust or immoral to exclude the Hebrew people [9:14]?
• How can God blame anyone for unbelief if his grace is irresistible? [9:19-22]

Paul’s answers are to lead to an astonished heart which opens Romans 12 with the phrase—“therefore in light of this mercy of God let us offer ourselves fully o God”. As we work through this material today, attend to your own heart and see if it is astonished. (Mike Nichols)

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God For Us

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(March 18, 20120 – Mike Nichols)

GOD FOR US

The most important word in this three word sentence: God for us is “for”. Consider uses of “for” in Rom. 8:18-39.e.g. vv. 26-27: the Spirit himself intercedes for us through wordless groan; vv. 28: And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him. Read more

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Life on God’s Terms

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(March 11, 2012 – Kim Pierrot)

LIFE ON GOD’S TERMS

Text: Romans 8: 1-16

As important as it is to consider what we are freed from, we also need to ask what we are freed for. After hearing the incredibly good news that we have been set free from the law of sin and death through Christ Jesus in Romans 8:1, it might come as a shock to read in Romans 8:12 that we nevertheless have an “obligation”. Yet it is not the obligation to behave well, to prove that we deserve the gift, or to accomplish “great things for God”. Ironically, that would still be to live according to the “flesh”. This morning, as we consider what life on God’s terms looks like, we will discover that the same Holy Spirit that raised Jesus from the dead empowers us (and even obliges us) to live lives as adventurously expectant children of God. As Mary Oliver asks in the final line of her poem, “The Summer Day”, Tell me, what is it you plan to do with your one wild and precious life?

(Kim Pierrot)

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Torn Between One Way and Another

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(March 4, 2012 – Kim Pierrot)

TORN BETWEEN ONE WAY AND ANOTHER

Text: Romans 6-7

The idealistic pessimist (or should that be pessimistic idealist?) in me is deeply satisfied when I read Romans 6-7. We find two certainties outlined clearly within these chapters: first, that we are called to live differently as a reflection of our new relationship with Christ; secondly, that it is an immense struggle to do so.

This morning, as we explore this tension in the text, we come to realize that living out the truth of our death to sin and new life in Christ also involves agreeing with the apostle Paul as he describes the mighty struggle between the good he wants to do and the evil that he nevertheless keeps on doing. Living in the gap between the way God calls us to live and our seeming inability to do so positions us perfectly to understand and receive God’s immeasurable mercy.

As John Stott puts it: “Indeed, an honest and humble acknowledgment of the hopeless evil of our flesh, even after the new birth, is the first step to holiness.”

(Kim Pierrot)

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The Gospel’s Vast Embrace

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(February 26, 2012 – Mike Nichols)

THE GOSPEL’S VAST EMBRACE

The title of today’s sermon “The Gospel’s Vast Embrace” could be phrased as a question, “How vast is the gospel’s embrace?” This is a hot topic in church circles today under the rubric of inclusion and exclusion or who is in and who is outside of the Christian fold. Read more

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A God-Story, Not a Me-Story

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(February 19, 2012 – Mike Nichols

A GOD-STORY, NOT A ME-STORY

The title of today’s message is a God-Story, Not A Me-Story. I suppose it would be more accurate to say that today we are going to talk about GOD’S STORY IN YOUR LIFE. The story of sin and salvation as given to us by Paul in Romans 3 & 4 is certainly the God’s story in the life of Abraham. Read more

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Who Can Really Judge?

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(February 12, 2012 – Mike Nichols)

WHO CAN REALLY JUDGE?

Judgment—we all do it; we all do it every day; but somehow we expect that God shouldn’t. Doesn’t judgment go against God’s loving nature? Turn to the Bible and judgments by God are easy to find. In the first book Adam and Eve are judged. Their judgment [which includes mortality] is described plainly. The Bible is a record of God’s interventions into human history, including His unmistakable judgments. Read more

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Whatever Happened to Getting Along?

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(February 5, 2012 – Mike Nichols)

Whatever Happened to Getting Along?

How do we read someone else’s mail? That is a good question. A few years back when I was cleaning out my family home I discovered a box of letters written to me by every girl I’d dated since grade 8. I had no memory of what I had written to any of these women so it made reading their letters very challenging. I had to reconstruct our possible dialogue from the one side of the conversation I had in front of me. Read more

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