Buffalo City Church

John Baumgartner \\ David pitched a tent for God's worship on Mount Zion. He saw the blessings of God flow out from this worship tent. All the nations will be blessed through the true worship of God. David calls not just the people but every single thing that exists in all creation to the blessing that is found in true worship.

Caleb Drahosh \\ The Psalmist invites God's people to worship Him recognizing both His heavenly might and His gentle leading. But there is also a warning: God's people must not faithlessly wonder if God is with them. Instead, God's people are to respond by trusting His Word. Jesus came offering the bread of life and living water and unbelieving hearts dismissed Him out of hand. But those who recei...

Blaze Culliton \\ The Sabbath Song of Psalm 94 acknowledges the sin of the world through a call to God for vengeance. Creator God is almighty and His discipline is a promise that He will not forsake His people. Through Jesus Christ, the Lord is doing and will finish the righteous work of the end of sin and death.

Caleb Drahosh \\ The Lord is dressed for action and there is no corner of creation where His strength diminishes in potency. The mightiest of earthly forces rage, but the Lord stands undisputed above them. When Jesus Christ came into the world, the waves and wind heard His voice and they knew it as belonging to the King sung of in Psalm 93.

John Baumgartner \\ It is good to give thanks to the Lord. What separates the righteous from the wicked? The righteous want to praise God for His goodness. The wicked cannot see any reason to. The wicked cannot see how God works, but the righteous know that all things come from God's gracious hand. The righteous know how to sing for joy.

Caleb Drahosh \\ Moses composed Psalm 90 to teach Israel how to pray while they wandered in the wilderness and it's so good, it gets a retelling in Psalm 91. That which threatens God's people will not touch them when they make the Lord their dwelling place. All of God's resources are deployed for the protection of His people.

Caleb Drahosh \\ When God speaks, things happen. Back at the beginning of this section in Isaiah God spoke comfort to His people. Now He reminds them of the effectiveness of His Word; they will be comforted. God's Word does not return empty; it brings about a perfect yield of joy and peace.

Caleb Drahosh \\ God's people have looked for satisfaction in all the wrong places. And now God calls them to take action. The satisfaction He provides isn't theoretical. It's as practical as eating and drinking, listening and looking, seeking and finding. The food is free and the finding is easy to all who come to Christ by faith.

John Baumgartner \\ Following the last servant song in Isaiah, the Lord reveals just what His servant has accomplished for His people by His suffering. The Lord proclaims that it is now time for His people to rejoice because He will give them increase and security. They will fill the whole earth with the worship of their God, and He will build them up in peace forever.

Caleb Drahosh \\ The wisdom of God is wiser than men and in God's wisdom He chose to send a substitute, despised by men, to bear the grief, sorrow, transgressions, iniquities, chastisement, wounds, oppression, affliction, judgment, and anguish of His people in order to make many to be accounted righteous. Kings promote the good and punish the evil, but God justifies the unrighteous and ungodly by...

Caleb Drahosh \\ God's strength does not fail, it does not run out. Will His strength fail when He sets out to deliver, redeem, and comfort His people? God commands His people to put on His strength and to rejoice because their deliverance is near. God is preparing to bring them out of their captivity back to their home.

Caleb Drahosh \\ Israel abandoned their God in their sin and their sin became the reason they were carried off into exile; they preferred their sin over God. But God did not put them away. God comes for His people by sending His servant who would deliver Israel through His suffering. Jesus Christ is the suffering servant sent by God to deliver God’s people and give them ears so that He may be hear...

Blaze Culliton \\ In the second servant song of Isaiah, the Lord reveals attributes of His Chosen Servant Jesus Christ. The Chosen Servant will be made as a light for the nations that His salvation may reach to the end of the earth and comfort & compassion for His people. While the response of God’s people is unbelief and questioning, His response is assured by the truth of His word as Savior and...

Caleb Drahosh \\ God's unwavering commitment to His people, despite their waywardness, serves as proof that He is the true God. God is gracious and patient toward His children for the sake of His name. He is the true God because His actions aren't contingent on human action, they are aimed at His glory and that always results in the good of His people.

Caleb Drahosh \\ As the gospel made its way to the ends of the earth, Paul writes to Timothy, who is pastoring in Ephesus, about the correct approach to implementing a deacon ministry. He tells him to look for individuals who are exemplary servants, but even more than that, who model godly character and doctrinal fidelity.

Caleb Drahosh \\ As the gospel took hold and the church in Jerusalem continued to grow, a challenge presented itself. The newly-converted Gentiles made it known that the widows weren't being properly taken care of. The Apostles knew that the charge given to them was to focus on the word and prayer. And so they had the Gentiles choose seven qualified men to take care of the practical needs. These s...

Philip Reeves \\ The death and resurrection of Jesus Christ are not reactionary events to the deceitful plots of men. Matthew’s Gospel demonstrates that God is in perfect control over everything that leads to Jesus’ crucifixion. Those who have placed their faith in Christ can trust that God’s redemptive purposes cannot and will not fail.

Caleb Drahosh \\ In the garden, sin opened the door to death. Death spread to all men. Death ruled unopposed. Death swallowed up everyone, but Christ swallowed up death according to the promise in Isaiah. The undefeated was defeated. In these things, Jesus brings His people out of darkness and neutralizes their greatest enemy. All who are in Christ walk through death into eternal life.

John Baumgartner \\ God's people in exile are going to be tempted to believe that the gods of Babylon–Bel, Nebo, and others–are mightier than the Lord. The Lord reminds His people that unlike the idols of the nations that must be carried about by their worshippers, He has carried them like a father. Just as He carried them out of slavery and put Egypt to shame, so shall the Lord now carry them out...

Kalen Heller \\ The people of God don’t simply need things patched up, they need a complete overhaul. Their exile has left them in desperate straits. But God is in control of their situation and He will, even through the most unexpected means, bring them into abundant life.

Caleb Drahosh \\ Isaiah goes into detail on how idols are made; he takes us inside of the idol factory and inside the heads of those who worship them. The absurdity of the whole situation is that the same wood that a man uses to kindle a fire to cook over, he also fashions into an idol and worships. God's good gifts are given to us not for us to worship them, but to point us to Him that we might w...

Caleb Drahosh \\ God's people grew tired of God. They ignored His Word in weariness, claiming to be burdened, all while it was Israel who burdened God with their sins. But God is merciful and blots out the sin of His people. He extends the grace needed to return to worship that flows from the heart instead of the rote pacification of an impersonal deity.

Caleb Drahosh \\ The people of God grow insensitive to God's purposes for them and resist His discipline. But God is rich in mercy. He graciously intervenes on behalf of His people, paying a great price and going to great lengths to accomplish the redemption of His wayward people.

Blaze Culliton \\ In lieu of the foretelling of sending His chosen servant, the Lord through the prophet Isaiah commands His people to sing to the Lord a new song, lift up their voice, sing for joy and declare His praise. The Lord will redeem His people, stopping at nothing to destroy sin and death and restore them - for He does not forsake His people and faithfully delivers them.

Caleb Drahosh \\ God turns the attention away from the cheap substitute of idolatry and toward His plan. Here He introduces His servant. But this isn't one who will rise to prominence through political and military conquest like Cyrus. Instead the Lord's servant will come gently, not trampling on rulers as on mortar, but tending to the bruised reed and reigniting the faintly burning wick. Jesus Ch...