Cutlerville East Christian Reformed Church

In Luke's account of the Easter story, the followers of Jesus were challenged to remember important prophesies of the Old Testament. In all 3 segments of the story, they are questioned, sometimes even reprimanded about their failure to see the OT predictions of the things happening during these heady days.  Three times they are asked, "Don't you remember? Don't you get it?&quot...

The final "passion parable" is not a story as much as an "acted parable" in the tradition of the Old Testament prophets. Jesus illustrates and gives evidence of being "the resurrection and the life" as he raises his friend Lazarus. Scripture: John 11:17-44

As we read this parable of Jesus and reflect on our own actions, how many would say they are 100% sheep? 100% goat? A mixture? When we truthfully evaluate our actions, it is hard to say with confidence that we are pure-bred sheep. There is always a trace of doubt when judgment is cast in terms of works. Scripture: Matthew 25:31-46

Every follower of Jesus Christ is where he or she is because someone passed on the torch of faith. Maybe it was parents, grandparents, a teacher, a Sunday School teacher, a youth leader, a pastor, a friend; somebody prayed, invested, loved, and let the flame burn bright in his/her life. It has happened in every generation, from Adam & Eve to Abraham to ours; no generation has been skipped. Whi...

King Ahab takes evil to new heights and the people of Israel to new depths of sin. He married a pagan wife from Sidon, Jezebel. She hates God and his prophets, and Ahab puts her in charge of religion in Israel! Her agenda is to completely replace the one true God with Baal (they’d maintained some worship of Yahweh), so she kills all the prophets and sets up her own Baal prophets. Into this scene E...

A key theme here is stewardship. In Jewish thought (which has continued in Christian thought),  God’s creation of the world makes every person a caretaker of what really belongs to God, whether created world, the spiritual gifts of individuals, or the kingdom itself, both the movement and the message. Another way to look at it is that Jesus uses a business analogy: kingdom work is an investment. S...

In Kings and Chronicles, we are introduced to 39 kings. There’s a formula that’s followed for almost every one: length of reign; his reign synchronized with the reign of the corresponding king in the north or south; and each king is evaluated by the standard of a previous king. But God evaluates greatness by a person’s character. For every king, there is a God-given evaluation: good or evil. The t...

Imagine with me for a moment: The President stares out in disbelief. After ceremoniously sweeping down the stairs of Air Force One, he realizes that there is no one there to greet him. No dignitaries, no bands, no limo, not even a cab driver to pick him up! After his aides check all the arrangements, they find that there has been no mistake; no one bothered to show up! Will Jesus find himself in t...

Do you do unwise things that you end up regretting on a fairly regular basis? Would you like to cut down on those things? We’re going to talk about how to grow in our ability to live wisely. At the beginning of 1 Kings, David is dying, which leads to a lot of intrigue and jockeying for the throne. It’s a political mess, but God is still at work. He comes to Solomon in a dream and says: “Ask me for...

The chief priests, scribes and elders were the authorities. They couldn’t just let anyone enter the Temple courts, claim to be Messiah, and stir up the people into a dangerous, revolutionary Messianic fervor: “By what authority are you doing these things, or who gave you this authority?” they demanded of Jesus. They were supposed to be the authorities. Jesus responded with a story that would expla...

Scripture: Luke 11:5-13

Scripture: 1 John 2:28-3:3

As we go on the adventure of the Christian life with God, we are learning more about who this God is through his attributes. One of those attributes is his omniscience, that God knows everything. As David seems to be saying in Psalm 139, God’s omniscience is a bit daunting, perhaps scary, but ultimately wonderfully reassuring. This attribute affects numerous areas in our life, but I’d like to focu...

Despite his military victories, accomplishments as king, and the praise of people, he seems at his best in the furnace of the Judean wilderness. The dry air cracks his lips; the heat zaps his energy. But in this arid, desolate place, David meets with God; here he wrote most of his Psalms. We usually don’t beg to be in the desert. But God often leads people there as a place of training, discipline,...

God had given Israel a promise through Abraham: they would be a great nation, ruled by God, that would be a blessing to other nations as they lived in the land of Israel, at the crossroads of the world. But once they got in the land, they failed to live by God’s will under the judges. Last week we looked at Samuel, the last great judge of Israel. His sons weren’t following his ways, so the people...

We often refer to Jesus as Immanuel, which means “God with us.” But how can he be with us all at the same time? Last week we talked about God as being self-existent, the source of our life, actions, and being. But what good is this if God is not present with us? And how can he be present with all of us? These questions we’ve been asking, ranging from the ridiculous to the sublime, all revolve arou...

We’ve looked at Joshua and the people of Israel taking possession of the land. They were supposed to become a community that was a blessing to the nations and to live according to God’s Torah, his teaching. But during the time of Judges, they constantly went astray to idolatry. God would raise up a judge to save them from neighboring nations, they’d obey him for while, but then fall away when the...

Suppose you ran into a Mormon who, in the course of conversation, says that God has a physical body. After all, the Bible talks about his eyes, hands, mouth, ears, arm, etc. And we are made in the image and likeness of God, and we have bodies. So God must have a physical body! How would you answer? Scripture: John 3:1-8; 4:19-24