Christ Church (Moscow, ID)

INTRODUCTION So we have now come to the conclusion of the second consolation section in the prophecy of Micah. As we continue to work through this passage, notice again that deliverances are hard. To be saved through trials is not the same kind of thing as an afternoon at the park. THE TEXT “And the remnant of Jacob shall be in the midst of many people as a dew from the Lord, as the showers upon t...

INTRODUCTION Leviticus 3 introduces the Peace Offering which was established by God to proclaim His intention of renewing fellowship with sinful humanity. But this fellowship with God does not merely re-establish fellowship vertically with Him, it is the only basis for re-establishing horizontal fellowship and peace on earth. THE TEXT “Now if his offering is a sacrifice of peace offerings, if he i...

INTRODUCTION We are still in the middle of one of Micah’s consolation sections, and we have come to the passage where the birth of the Messiah is promised. THE TEXT “Now gather thyself in troops, O daughter of troops: He hath laid siege against us: They shall smite the judge of Israel with a rod upon the cheek. But thou, Bethlehem Ephratah, Though thou be little among the thousands of Judah, Yet o...

INTRODUCTION Leviticus 2 explains the Tribute Offering, an offering of flour and oil, often cooked into a cake or loaf of bread. This offering expressed love and loyalty and devotion for God the King. It teaches Christians that Christ is our King, and therefore, we are called to even greater devotion. THE TEXT “Now when anyone presents a grain offering to the LORD, his offering shall be of fine fl...

If we are not able to comprehend joy in the suffering, then consider our faith, which is the assurance of what is hoped for and in the suffering the answer is the love of God in His Spirit that is given to us. And that Spirit doesn't disappoint.

INTRODUCTION We are continuing to work through the consolation section of the second cycle. As this section encompasses two chapters, we are tackling it in pieces. Today we will be working through the latter half of chapter 4. In this section, God promises the restoration of Israel’s fortunes, and that this deliverance will come through the midst of great difficulties. We will consider some of tho...

INTRODUCTION First, why Leviticus? It’s one of those portions of God’s Word that can be challenging to modern Christians. But Leviticus is where the Second Greatest Commandment is taken from (Lev. 19:18). In some ways you might organize the whole book under the headings of the First and Second Great Commandments: Love God: Lev. 1-17, Love Your Neighbor Lev. 18-27. We live in a world that has attem...

As we go out into this world our job is to bring the taste of heaven and of life to a world that tastes everything as bland.

Why do Christians lose? Why do God's people lose battles when our God is infinitely stronger than the gods of all of our enemies?

INTRODUCTION A striking feature of heaven-born reformations is a restoration of Biblical worship, and from this fountain springs psalms & hymn of praise. In our time, we face a similar need to restore biblically ordered worship to the church. This means going to the Word, not our preferences, to determine how to bring the glory due His name. The overwhelming instruction in Scripture is to give glo...

One of the hallmarks of the Protestant Reformation was the motto ad fontes, meaning: “to the sources.” This led them to read the Bible for themselves in the original languages. What they found there they could neither keep to themselves, nor keep quiet about it. The Apostles’ Gospel of free grace, which the Reformers rediscovered, was found by reading Scripture’s witness. The Word of God was the e...

INTRODUCTION As you all know, we have seen a steady stream of folks moving to Moscow, and, as you might not know, it shows no sign of letting up. Up to this point, we have all been pretty flexible, constantly dealing with a new situation. This has been true of those of you who have moved, and it is also true of long-time residents—pretty much everyone is a member of a very different church than yo...

INTRODUCTION Sarah only calls Abraham “lord” one time in recorded history. “Now Abraham and Sarah were old, well advanced in age; and Sarah had passed the age of childbearing. Therefore Sarah laughed within herself saying, ‘After I have grown old, shall I have pleasure, my lord being old also?’” (Gen. 18:11-12). This ought to catch our attention. Why use Sarah as the example of submission? And why...

Just like there are different tools for different jobs, there are different ways of speech for different conversations. For one person, you might need to use a rhetorical chainsaw to chop them down a peg, but often for others a rhetorical bandage is required to heal their gaping wounds. And it takes wisdom to know which tool to use. But notice that regardless of the tool, St Paul says our speech i...

The NT has a particular warning for husbands. That warning is expressed by Paul in Col. 3:19, when he admonishes, “Husbands, love your wives, & be not bitter against them.” Modern translations render this phrase as “do not be harsh with them,” which is true enough. But translating it that way changes our perception of where the sin lies. In our modern age, a husband telling his wife she may not do...

The consolation section of the second cycle is long, encompassing two whole chapters—chapters four and five. We will therefore be working through this section over the course of a few weeks. Remember that Micah was a younger contemporary of Isaiah, and was probably his disciple or protégé. His dependence on Isaiah can be seen in our text this morning, in the passage about beating swords into plows...

It says in Ecclesiastes 7:8 that "the end of a thing is better than its beginning; the patient in spirit is better than the proud in spirit." What is it that makes the end of something better than its beginning?

I’d like to aim this exhortation towards the single adults in our congregation. I’m fond of telling singles, “Your days of singleness are numbered. Either you’ll get married, or you’ll die unmarried.” Now, before you singles sigh & say, “Thanks a LOT,” let me explain. Regardless of how your singleness comes to an end, God instructs you to learn to number your days. Time is a form of wealth; as the...

Since the fall, man’s default setting is to turn glory into shame. David asks in Psalm 4: “O ye sons of men, how long will ye turn my glory into shame?” Paul speaks of enemies of Christ “whose god is their belly, and whose glory is their shame (Phi. 3:19).” In other words, unregenerate man’s desires have been so disordered by sin, that what ought to have been a glory has become a shame. This then...

In the midst of great civil unrest and tumult in England in the 1600s, Jeremiah Burroughs preached a sermon series on Christian Contentment, which is now published as The Rare Jewel of Christian Contentment. When your nation is melting down, when the world has gone mad, or even when your family or business are facing challenges, what do Christians need? One of the most important skills you need is...

We begin the second cycle of prophetic ministry from the great prophet Micah. Remember that he ministered over the course of forty years or so, and yet was able to summarize his message in these seven short chapters. That is probably one of the reasons why his words are so potent. In this second cycle, the words of warning and the words of judgment are combined, and so the next message will go str...

Introduction As we consider our moment in history, it is important that we not lose sight of the way God has always dealt with His people over the course of history: through covenant. Covenant is the name of the relationship God has determined to have with His people and ultimately the whole world. But because of who God is, the dominant theme is death and resurrection – which means that God will...

One of the reasons we have trouble dealing realistically with evil in this world is that we have drawn mental cartoons of the evil beforehand. When someone says “tyranny,” we think of goose-stepping armies, missile parades, and funny looking helmets. But then, when something genuinely bad happens in our own lives, and we see it with our own eyes, because it doesn’t match the cartoon we treat it as...

And He was saying to them, “You are from below, I am from above; you are of this world, I am not of this world."

The solution to the enchantment of "the inner ring" is a robust sense of membership, which is exactly what is offered to us in the gospel of Jesus Christ.