Cutlerville East Christian Reformed Church

Paul had founded the church in Thessalonica not long before, but within a few months he was run out of town. Concerned over how this young church was faring, he sent Timothy, who returned with a good report. Paul is thankful to God for their faith, hope & love, but Timothy’s visit had also brought to light some concerns about proper conduct (having to live a radically different life) and Chris...

Over the last two weeks, we saw how Jesus invited prospective disciples to “come and see”— to hang out with him and see how they liked it. Then he revisited them with the invitation to “come & follow me,” based on their experience having been with him, his promise to equip them and his vision of the kingdom of God. For those who dropped their fishing nets and followed him, Jesus’ first lesson...

Philippians Paul writes the Philippians as partners in the Gospel. It is easily the most most intimate and joyous of his letters to his dearest friends. Like most of Paul’s writings, it is a letter of encouragement and challenge. They are facing conflict and opposition, both externally and internally. Not surprising, then, the church was lacking in joy. True joy, of course, doesn’t rely on our cir...

Last week we saw Jesus first phase of discipling: “come and see.” A few disciples spent some time with him and their eyes were opened. When these disciples left Jesus to return to fishing, they were faced with a contrast between two totally different worlds. Jesus left his new disciples with the question: should I follow him? They knew the day would come when they had to choose either to live for...

Some Christian Jews were calling the Gentile converts to be circumcised, keep the Sabbath and other sacred feasts, possibly even change to having kosher diets, an effort to keep the church “Jewish.” But it was having the effect of telling the Gentiles that you needed these to be Christian! Paul fights this idea of ethnic practices becoming norms for inclusion in this church. The only norm, he says...

How did Jesus get people to sign on for this kingdom task? How does that recruitment continue, long after Jesus walked the earth? That’s what we’ll be looking at over the course of this summer: discipleship. “Growing Disciples into Disciplemakers” is the idea that each disciple of Jesus Christ should be growing into a person who reaches out and makes more disciples.  Scripture:  John 1:19-51 

Paul reminded the Corinthians that “knowledge puffs up, but love builds up” (8:1). He could have used another adage, “a little knowledge is a dangerous thing,” and that was certainly true in Colosse, the next church we look at. There a heresy (or what Paul calls a “philosophy”) arose, also based on “knowledge.” But this was much more serious than divisions (such as in Corinth); it was undermining...

When he was on earth, Jesus spent a lot of time browsing over the lost and found table of the world (it was why God sent him). But the Pharisees saw this and murmured: why do you spend so much time with all that junk?!? Hookers, crooked IRS agents, druggies, AIDS victims. In these two parables, Jesus answers that question: because they are mine! They are lost and I’ve come to find them!  Scripture...

Have you ever heard of churches where there were great divisions? Some members were treated like royalty, others like 2nd-class citizens? Maybe some preferred a certain pastor and left when he did? Some people felt they were smarter, more spiritual, or had better gifts than the next person? Where pride ruled, rather than humility? That was Corinth! Paul preached there for 18 months, after which he...

 Three times a year, God’s people were to appear before him at the Temple, where his presence lived: the feasts of Passover, Pentecost, and Tabernacles. Jews from around the world made pilgrimage to the holy city. Each was a ceremony deeply rooted in past, but also gave hope for future. It is no coincidence that God chose those feast days for the great redemptive acts of Jesus, the Jewish Messiah....

Why, then, is the ascension of Jesus important? The calendar of redemption history, which is a three-act drama with Jesus Christ as the central character, has the ascension of Jesus the Messiah/Christ as the major transitional event between the second and third acts: Jesus’ life on earth and his reign in heaven. Luke understood this. In his 2-volume set on New Testament history, he shows the ascen...

One of most frustrating experiences is to be told to what to do without being given a clear idea how to do it. Unfortunately it happens all the time. One place where it often is true is in the challenge to reach the community for Christ. The Great Commission makes it part of Christians’ job description, but how do we do so? Jesus gives us a formula in the Sermon on the Mount.  Scripture:  Matthew...

The Madman, The Miracle, The Missionary Scripture: Mark 5:1-20

The PASSION of the Prayer.  The PETITIONS in the Prayer. The PROMISE in the Prayer. The PRAISE in the Prayer. Scripture: Ephesians 3:14-21

GO - spread the gospel through the world GROW - knowledge, wisdom, strength of your faith GLOW - let the Word be seen in you

Scripture: Genesis 16:1-13

We’ve seen that Romans is not first about individual salvation (although you can find it there) but about God and his plan for salvation history. God’s righteous plan is accomplished through Jesus his Son, and impacts both Jews & Gentiles corporately. He wants to carry this message to the Jews, but the Gentile Christians have not been helping him. Here he shares the “mystery” of how God is wor...

We turn to three more styles of evangelism from Biblical stories: intellectual, testimonial, and invitational. How did the Apostle Paul, a blind man, and the Samaritan woman all serve as evangelists for Jesus in their own way?  Scripture:  Acts 17:16-34; John 9:1-3, 13-34; John 4:28-30, 39-42

 Heidelberg Catechism Q&A #2 gives us the outline for the entire catechism and, in a sense, the entire Gospel: sin, salvation and service. Where did they get that? Like everything else in the Catechism, directly from the Bible, more specifically from the Apostle Paul. In fact, that outline could serve as a summary for Romans 1-8. However, while the Catechism focuses on individual salvation, Pa...

 What image comes to your mind when you hear the word “evangelist”? Has the popular caricature of an evangelist ever dampened your enthusiasm for sharing your faith, thinking you’ll have to become something that’s contrary to your own personality? The way God has “shaped” us also impacts how we are to reach others. Over two weeks, we are going to look at how God equipped six people in the New Test...

As we celebrate GEMS Sunday, their theme this year is Act. Love. Walk. It’s always great to pick action words for one’s theme, yet it begs the questions: Act how? Love what? Walk how and with whom? The answers to those questions are what make us different than the rest of the world, or the rest of our community. The answers to those questions is what makes these girls GEMS (Girls Everywhere Meetin...

As Protestant Christians, we are used to reading Romans through the eyes of Martin Luther. Out of a crisis of faith and in reaction to the legalism of medieval Catholicism, Luther engaged in a very individualistic reading that saw Romans as an explanation of personal salvation by faith vs. legalism (supposedly of the Jews). But as my late friend and teacher Dwight Pryor said: Romans is not about y...

On Easter Sunday, we celebrate Jesus’ resurrection. The early church primarily preached two events: the death and resurrection of Jesus, the empty cross and the empty tomb. Paul echoes that in 1 Corinthians 15:3-5: Jesus died (and was buried as proof) and he was raised (and appeared to many as proof). So the empty cross and empty tomb go hand-in-hand. Why is the cross the symbol of Christianity? W...

Jesus’ disciples had just gone through radical surgery, the crucifixion of their friend, teacher and Lord. Though the shock had numbed them, it was starting to wear off. They were awakening from the stupor and the pain was hitting them with full force. Good News was coming: the surgery was successful, the Lord was alive. But as with many surgeries, a sign of recovery was post-operative pain; for t...