Cutlerville East Christian Reformed Church

We move quickly from the second to the third generation of covenant promise. Isaac serves more as a bridge between Abraham and Jacob, whose life will span most of the rest of Genesis (though his son Joseph is the greater focus of 37-50). If Abraham’s life is a picture of experiencing God by faith, then Jacob’s life is a picture of the scandal of grace. If Abraham was heroic in his faith, leaving e...

Even some Christians say the Ten Commandments are not for New Testament Christians. We live by grace, not by law. That’s why it surprises some people, if they read the Sermon on the Mount carefully and correctly, to hear Jesus say: Yes, absolutely the Law still applies in the 21st century! Let’s look at how and why he says so, as we prepare to study the Ten Commandments this summer.  Scripture:  M...

We’ve been working our way through some of the stories in the book of Genesis, and we last looked at Abraham’s life of “experiencing God.” Abraham made his mistakes, tried to fulfill covenant his own way, but ultimately trusted God and obeyed him. Now we see the changing of generations, the first time the covenant will be passed from one to another. As we see the passing of the baton, the word tha...

Jesus passed the keys of the kingdom on to his Apostles and, ultimately, church leadership. These keys give the church the authority to “open and close the kingdom of heaven (God).” One of the two main ways is through the preaching of the Word, which we looked at last week. The second key is less regular and less comfortable: discipline. And yet, if thought about rightly and done properly, is an i...

Preaching is important. In fact, the Heidelberg Catechism reminds us that it is one of the “keys of the kingdom.” It opens the kingdom by proclaiming the Gospel message so people might accept by faith a relationship with God through Jesus Christ. It closes the kingdom by announcing God’s wrath against the sin of those who remain unrepentant. It is the “backbone” of the body of Christ. We cannot st...

If we want God’s best, we must sometimes go through the furnace of testing until we fully display God’s intended design in our life. Perhaps no one understood this better than Abraham. In this story, the heat was turned up! Here we see a God who tests, asks for a sacrificial faith, and ultimately provides.  Scripture: Genesis 22

This time of year, many families are focused on graduations. Graduation is the end of one type of General Fund Offerings and Percent of Budget 5/12 5/5 4/28 4/21 Last 4 Wks. $4,647 72% $2,328 36% $15,117 236% $3,249 51% $25,341 99% education but the beginning of another, either at another school or in the world. It is fitting, then, that graduation season coincides with Pentecost, because it is th...

Life has turning points, including a life of experiencing God. As God calls you into relationship and to join him in his work, there are at least two major turning points where you could miss experiencing God working through you: a crisis of faith and the (in)ability to make major adjustments (Henry Blackaby, Realities 5 and 6 of Experiencing God). While Abraham had several turning points in his l...

Scripture: Romans 13:1-7

Scripture: 1 Corinthians 15:1-11 

Scripture: John 8:1-11

Scripture: John 13:1-20

One of Paul’s favorite pictures of the Christian life is the walk of faith (translated “live” in most Bibles), which actually comes from the Hebrew halakh (“walk”, but used for one’s conduct of life; sometimes called halakhah). The Christian life begins with a step of faith. Walking suggests progress (which we all need as Christians). To a young Thessalonian church, who recently took their first b...

Have you ever said: if only I could have lived when Jesus was on earth and been able to talk with him? If only God would speak to me as He did Abraham, Moses, prophets, etc. Another reality of experiencing God is that God has never stopped speaking to people! He may use different methods, but He still speaks. Using Abraham’s life, we are going to look at how God spoke and how He speaks today.  Scr...

Years ago, there was an extremely talented law school student whose life was changed by a couple of scary events: his friend’s sudden death and his own narrow escape from a lightning strike. Suddenly he became terribly afraid for his own salvation. He viewed Jesus Christ as an angry judge ready to throw him into hell. How could he be right with God and find peace for his soul? He eventually found...

This next stage in experiencing God may cause us to laugh, or cry, depending on what God has in store for us. Reality #3 of Experiencing God (Henry Blackaby): God invites you to become involved with His work. We’ll look at three key phrases: God’s invitation, our involvement, and God’s work.  Scripture:  Genesis 17 

When we talk about knowing and doing God’s will, we sometimes divorce it from the relationship itself. Yet it is the relationship that God created us for, not the work. More than anything else, He wants us to love him with our whole being (Deut 6:4-5). Jesus says the greatest commandment is to love God above all! Experiencing God: Reality #2 = God pursues a love relationship with us.  Scripture: ...

The Thessalonian church was worried about Christ’s return being like a sneak attack, catching them off guard (and making them liable to judgment!). Not wanting to be trapped by a false sense of peace, they had no peace. So Paul reassures them of how to live in peace with Christ, in light of his second coming, then also talks about having peace with fellow Christians.  Scripture:   1 Thessalonians...

Jesus and his Apostles retreat to Caesarea Philippi, where we see a turning point in Jesus' ministry - all events that follow lead to a cross - and the Apostles' discipleship:  Will they  follow him to the end?  Will they maintain Jesus' message and ministry when he's gone, or drop away like the fickle crowds?  So Jesus asks a public opinion poll him: who am I? Scripture:  Matt...

Henry Blackby, in Experiencing God, writes: "One of the greatest tragedies among God's people is that while they have a deep longing to experience Him, they are experiencing God day after day but do not know how to recognize Him."  So how do we recognize and, therefore, experience God?  We are going to explore "seven realities of experiencing God" (Blackaby) using the life...

On Resurrection Sunday evening, we’ll look at how the Apostle Paul shares the impact of Jesus’ death and resurrection with the church in Thessalonica, and the difference it makes to face death as a Christian.  Scripture:  1 Thessalonians 4:13-18

Over the Lenten season, we’ve spent some time in the Upper Room, as Jesus called his disciples to service, comfort, fruitfulness, peace, and remembrance. Yet the disciples were still confused about the meaning of all this. They hadn’t grasped the complete truth of Jesus as Lord: that death couldn’t hold him, that his farewell “calls” weren’t a swan song before his death but instructions for after...

A look at how Jesus celebrated the Last Supper with his disciples the night before going to the cross. 

As we begin the “passion week,” we focus on the suffering of Jesus, particularly on the cross. The Catechism focuses our attention in that direction, asking what his suffering was like and why he was crucified. We are going to explore that suffering by listening to a couple of Jesus’ own words as he hung on the cross.  Scripture: Psalm 22, 31 

There was a certain magnetism to Jesus on Palm Sunday. But a few days after Jesus’ seeming highwater mark of magnetism, with the adoring crowds, Jesus died like a criminal on a Roman cross, and lost that worldly sort of attraction. Yet I want to talk about a magnetic Christ and his magnetic cross, which may repel some, but continues to attract others. And then we’ll talk about how Christians must...