Cutlerville East Christian Reformed Church

When it comes to our food and beverages, we are all in favor of purity. But when it comes to our own lives, we give ourselves a fair amount of latitude (“after all, we’re only human”). Our idea of purity is a far cry from God’s definition. God is holy and wants to see us grow in holiness. His plan to impact and reach the world with his love will be built on this group of people; so they need to gr...

Everyone faces moments when they need help; sometimes we humbly accept it and other times we stubbornly reject it. If I’m lost, I often refuse to ask directions. We have the strange ability to live in the worst of situations and pretend everything’s under control. Life goes so much better when we can admit we need help. All of us face moments when we need a deliverer. The people of Israel came to...

Last time we looked at the petition in the Lord’s Prayer: “may your kingdom come.” We noted that the kingdom is God’s active rule that happens progressively in the world and in individual lives. To pray that petition is to pray both Jesus, continue to rule this world and Jesus, come and rule my life. We also noted that this next petition is directly connected: when the will of God is done on earth...

In Paul's 2nd letter to the Corinthians, Paul discusses his suffering and the fact that even in the midst of suffering God's grace is sufficient. Scripture:  2 Corinthians, 12:1-10

This sermon looks at Jesus' encounter with Zacchaeus and illustrates how God's amazing grace is available for all and dramatically changes lives. Scripture:  Luke 19:1-10

If we are honest, a simple reading of the book of Genesis shows that the Bible pulls no punches and glosses over nothing. These are not a bunch of pious stories; this is real life! Why be so honest and graphic? Mostly God tells us these stories because the real hero of Genesis is God! There are lots of pivotal people who seem heroes on one day, goats the next. Sometimes good people do bad things a...

As we’ve been studying the Lord’s Prayer, we’ve learned that the context in which we pray is to our Father in heaven – God’s intimate relationship with us, tempered by the fact that he is the sovereign king. It means that God wants to listen and act on our behalf as Father, but he also has all the power to deliver what we need. Because of who he is, we pray committing ourselves to honor or sanctif...

We have seen how God created us to be in community with him, but we then broke community in our sin. Then came the tower of Babel incident. Has God now lost patience? Is his dream of community broken beyond repair? Genesis 12 tells us that God still has plans for his children, and it starts with one man: Abraham. God calls him into covenant, a binding relationship between two partners. Often in re...

The Lord’s Prayer is one in which Jesus stresses the most important things to pray, the essence of our communication with God. He teaches us is to pray to “Our Father,” a reminder of our intimate relationship with God, as well as his promise to care for us as children. Now we turn to a promise of our own: “hallowed be your name” Do we need to make God’s name holy? NO, it already is holy! Then what...

As we noted last week, the Disciples’ Prayer (aka Lord’s Prayer) is very Jewish. So to better understand how and what Jesus is teaching us to pray, we need to explore some of these Jewish aspects. It starts with the opening, which in Hebrew would be: Avinu shebashamayim (our Father in the heavens). The disciples ask: “Lord, teach us HOW to pray.” In the opening address, Jesus already is teaching h...

Last week, we saw that God created the world as a place where he could be in community with us. But next we will look at Community Busters; we’ll survey four scenes in Genesis 3-11 that chart the downward spiral of sin and God’s response to it. Scripture: Genesis 3-11

Over the course of the new church year, we will spend our evenings in the Old Testament, the Bible Jesus read and quoted, and which points to him.  We begin with the first words spoken and written in the Bible: "In the beginning God" - a transcendent, all powerful, eternal, personal being - "created the heavens and the earth".  And the world has never been the same.  These word...

One day Jesus' disciples asked: "Lord, teach us to pray."  What are they asking?  How does Jesus answer?  We will explore this over the next several weeks in a series on the Lord's Prayer, focusing in particular on what we can learn from the Jewish background of this prayer. Scripture: Luke 11:1-3; Matthew 6:5-15

Artist: Rev. George Vink

Psalm 2 talks about some fools making a king laugh.  They are not paid to make him laugh, like a court jests; in fact, they will pay, says the king!  If the court jester was in a dangerous position, the fools of this Psalm are walking an event thinner line.  What's more, this king is the God of the universe!  And it doesn't take much of an eye to see that there are plenty of fools around...

Are we really satisfied or do we always want more?  And how do we get what we want?  The 10th commandment is really a summary of the attitude that underlies the first nine commandments.  The 10th commandment describes our inner wants and desires while commandments 1-9 deal with the outer actions we use to fill those desires.  The 10th commandment shows us the attitude behind our actions. Scripture...

The Israelites were captive in Babylon:  men forced to work, women abused.  Verse 9 notes one of the more grotesque scenes, the needless slaughter of children.  Perhaps the Israelites turned to song, which then gave the captors something to taunt them about.  "Give us some entertainment;  sing us one of the songs of Zion."  The response was:  "Let's hang up our harp!  Zip our l...

"Watch your mouth!" Did your parents ever have to say that to you?  Maybe you said something hurtful or sinful. In the 9th commandment, God says: "You shall not give false testimony against your neighbor.". Jesus put up with a lot of "false testimony", especially in this story. He uses the situation to talk about speech.  As with other commandments, Jesus gets at the...

Micah prophesied during a time of intense social injustice in the divided kingdom.  False prophets preached for riches, not for righteousness.  Princes thrived on cruelty, violence, and corruption.  Priests ministered more for greed than for God.  Landlords stole from the poor and evicted widows.  Judges lusted after bribes.  Businessmen used deceitful scales and weights.  Sin had infiltrated ever...

Psalm 121 is a great comfort. especially before surgery with its promises that while one is "asleep" under anesthesia, God neither slumbers nor sleeps. Some use it before they begin a trip somewhere with its promise of God watching over our "comings and goings."  Indeed, it is a travel Psalm, or more specifically a pilgrim's song.  "Songs of Ascent" were used by...

"Look," said the college bound student, "just because some old man spent a night on a mountain and came down and said, 'You shall not commit adultery,' why should I let that spoil my fun?".  In actuality, most people don't even think that hard abour it. Premarital sexual activity and living together without even the thought of marriage has become the norm in our...

We've seen the success of Alcoholics Anonymous and other twelve-step programs over the years, and one of the key principles behind them is to "let go and let God," to give up some control over yourself and let God be in control. That's not a new idea. In fact, we find it in Psalm 42-43. While these Psalms can stand alone, the identical refrain (42:5, 11; 43:5) indicates that th...