Cutlerville East Christian Reformed Church

The passion week had begun with crowds littering road with palm branches before King Jesus, and now we find Jesus talking in word pictures, calling his disciples to act like vine branches. So the Passion week moves from palm branches, known mostly for their shade & beauty, to vine branches, known mostly for their fruit. That’s the kind of branches Jesus calls his disciples to be: branches know...

As we near the Passion Week of Jesus, we encounter in the story of Jesus’ suffering two glaring sinners: Peter and Judas. Matthew puts these stories together for a purpose: to compare the sins and to contrast the responses. What is Matthew trying to teach the church of his day? And how is God speaking through these stories to us today?  Scripture:  Matthew 26:69 – 27:5 

The gifts of the Spirit are fascinating and exciting; to be a gifted person means to receive accolades. Perhaps for these reasons, the gifts of the Spirit often receive far more attention than the fruit of the Spirit. Yet it is the evidence of the fruit of the Spirit that is the mark of our progress in sanctification.  Scripture:  Galatians 5:22-23; 1 Corinthians 13 

How do we find comfort? Some try to find it in a new car, or by throwing themselves into their job. They find it in their spouse or a certain type of lifestyle. Others find it in a bottle, pill, or needle. Some in an enlarging bank account. Others resort to finding comfort at the wrong end of a gun, rope or suicide note. The disciples were fortunate; they found their comfort in Jesus, whom they tr...

Two weeks ago, we talked about sanctification, the work of the Holy Spirit done within us to cleanse us and cause growth. While sanctification is a work of the Spirit, it is one work of God with which we must cooperate. Our look at the Holy Spirit is incomplete without looking at the fruit the Spirit produces in our lives.  Scripture: Galatians 5:16-26 

During this season of Lent, we are going take a little break from Genesis to explore John 13-17, spending time with Jesus and his disciples in the upper room, the night before his crucifixion. We’ll listen to what Jesus has on his mind, including his several “calls” to the Apostles and us to be his kind of disciples, as they gathered for the Passover meal. First we see Jesus washing the dirty feet...

Scripture:  Colossians 1:9-14

Scripture:  Romans 8:28; Genesis 50:15-20

Sometimes we use the phrase “safe and sound,” praying for travelers, or those with risky jobs: “bring them back safe and sound.” By safe we mean alive; by sound we mean healthy, unaffected, unstained. The work of the Holy Spirit is to bring us back to God safe and sound.  Scripture:  Romans 8:1-27

We’ve been looking at the sin of the human race using the analogy of a virus in a computer system. It enters insidiously, spreads rapidly and becomes destructive. Sometimes it turns deadly, as evidenced by the later stories of murder, polygamy, vengeance, intermarriage between good and evil. Many viruses can be cleaned up with minimal damage (getting rid of polluted programs). But in the most extr...

We continue our look at the Holy Spirit, particularly by focusing on his role in our lives, and the spiritual fruit he leaves in his wake. We first meet the Spirit in Genesis 1, where he hovers over creation and through whom the Father breathed in us the breath of life. From that perspective, the Holy Spirit inhabits everyone. But not all in the same way. For believers, the Spirit not only gives u...

Two weeks ago, we talked about sin as being like a virus in a computer system. Sin enters history and human life insidiously, through the tempting of Satan. It then spreads rapidly and becomes destructive. But scariest of all, it turns deadly, and that is descriptive of Genesis 4 - 6:8, closing the first section of Genesis.  Scripture:  Genesis 4:1-6:8 

Since we looked at the Creed regarding Jesus during Advent, with more to come during Lent, we turn to the third member of the Trinity, the Holy Spirit. In The Mystery of the Holy Spirit, RC Sproul tells the story of his conversion. But his fiancée was not particularly impressed. She noted that both of them had grown up in the church and professed their faith already. But in a prayer meeting one ev...

When a virus gets into your computer system, it spreads rapidly, re-writes code/commands, leads to crashes or total destruction or as vehicle to send to others. The only hope is an antidote to the virus. Sin is a lot like a computer virus: it gets into our system, spreads rapidly, corrupts our attitudes & actions and can bring eternal destruction. And, like with a virus, the only hope is antid...

Another thing the Apostles’ Creed tells us about God revolves around his providence. It’s easy to recognize the presence of God when things are going well: the sun is shining, you have plenty of money in the bank, you’re healthy. But what about cloudy days, when the doctor brings bad news, or relationships seem to be coming apart? Where is God when pain and sorrow come? From Joseph we learn that G...

This Year’s Cadet Theme is “Rooted and Grounded,” based on Ephesians 3:17-18, “I pray that you, being rooted and established in love, may have power, together with all the Lord’s holy people, to grasp how wide & long & high & deep is the love of Christ.” How do we become “rooted and grounded”? On whose word do we stake our confidence? What lifestyle will we choose? Psalm 1 introduces t...

JB Phillips wrote about this in his book, Your God Is Too Small. He talks about a number of different images people have for God: a policeman, judge, grand old man, managing director of the universe, our projected image of the ideal father (Freud), a powerful and uncaring Greek deity (like Zeus). The Heidelberg Catechism, reflecting on the first statement of the Apostles’ Creed, says quite a mouth...

In Genesis 1 we see the creation account, so what is Genesis 2 about? Is it a second creation account? Actually it is a more focused view of God’s special creation: humanity. This account of God’s special creation shows us how we were created, but also what we were meant to be (before the fall in Genesis 3). This account reveals three important aspects of humanity: in relation to God, other humans...

As we being a new year, it is often an excuse, or perhaps a good reason, to make a fresh start. I’d like us to begin the new year with a reminder that the Christian life is an adventure. It’s not about how often you go to church or how much you put in the collection plate or how moral you are, all good things. The Christian life is, at its root, an adventure of living with God. To adventure with G...

This morning we are going to begin looking at an overview of the book of Genesis. As we do, we look first at the creation of the world. This also happens to be where we are at in our study of the Heidelberg Catechism: the Creator God. So in the morning, rather than the evening, we will look at the question: What can we learn about God and his creation of the world (today) and of people (next week)...

Scripture: Revelation 3;14-22

Scripture: Ecclesiastes 3:1-14

Angels have always been part of Christmas. Our Christmas cards or figurines portray cute, chubby little cherubs with rosy cheeks. But if that’s the case, why does their every appearance come with the assurance: “Fear not!” The angel figurines in our home are rather benign, certainly not creatures that would evoke terror at their appearance. But what if they really are “a great company of the heave...

Glory is the way God reveals himself. But not too much, for we couldn’t take it. In this story, we see a few brief moments when the glory of heaven broke through. But when it broke through, to some shepherds in the fields outside Bethlehem, their response was fear—and an angel has to say, once again, in the Christmas story: Do not be afraid. But what are the shepherds afraid of?  Scripture:  Luke...

On a television show called The Fear Factor, contestants are confronted with facing their greatest fears. There is definitely a fear factor in the Christmas story. Every time an angel shows up, he does so with the assurance: do not fear! What are we afraid of today? What would be our greatest fear factors? We’ll notice this morning that the “fear factor” for Joseph is very different than most of o...