Wilderness Wanderings

A Sunday Sermon edition of Wilderness Wanderings!  The text is John 20:19-23 from the New International Version of the Bible.  Dive In discussion questions are below for further reflection! To see this sermon in the context of the worship service it comes from, find it  here on YouTube .  Or, head to our website to connect with the worshiping community of Immanuel CRC:  immanuelministries.ca What...

"I meditate on your precepts and consider your ways. I delight in your decrees; I will not neglect your word…Open my eyes that I may see wonderful things in your law" (Psalm 119:15, 16, 18). Even though this is a very long psalm, we offer only this one meditation based on it. Many of us have found ourselves daydreaming as we tried to read through the whole song. It's a psalm that we should not try...

The stone the builders rejected has become the cornerstone; the Lord has done this, and it is marvelous in our eyes. The Lord has done it this very day; let us rejoice today and be glad. (Psalm 118:22-24)   Anyone familiar with the New Testament will know that these verses from Psalm 118 about Jesus being the cornerstone show up all over.  Verse 24 is also where our song "This is the Day that the...

"Praise the Lord, all you nations; extol him, all you peoples. For great is his love toward us, and the faithfulness of the Lord endures forever. Praise the Lord" (Psalm 117).   I remember that Psalm 117 was once our weekly memory work. We were excited: so short. Shortly after, the minister read it as his sermon text. The preaching lasted a long time for so short a psalm. We are reminded that God...

The cords of death entangled me, the anguish of the grave came over me; I was overcome by distress and sorrow. Then I called on the name of the Lord: "Lord, save me!" …  For you, Lord, have delivered me from death, my eyes from tears, my feet from stumbling, that I may walk before the Lord in the land of the living. (Psalm 116:3-4, 8-9)   Death and life.  It shows up all over the Bible, not just i...

"Not to us, O Lord, not to us but to your name be the glory, because of your love and faithfulness" (Psalm 115:1). Today, we return to the Psalms. After our 28 Days of Prayer, we come back to Israel's prayer book (it should be our primary prayer book as well). This psalm poses a question: How do we react when God doesn't do what we want Him to do? Among the Israelites, the Lord's love and faithful...

An extended Sunday Sermon edition of Wilderness Wanderings!  The text is John 12:20-36 from the New International Version of the Bible.  Dive In discussion questions are below for further reflection! To see this sermon in the context of the worship service it comes from, find it  here on YouTube .  Or, head to our website to connect with the worshiping community of Immanuel CRC:  immanuelministrie...

Many peoples will come and say, "Come, let us go up to the mountain of the Lord, to the temple of the God of Jacob. He will teach us his ways, so that we may walk in his paths." The law will go out from Zion, the word of the Lord from Jerusalem. He will judge between the nations and will settle disputes for many peoples. They will beat their swords into plowshares and their spears into pruning hoo...

Observe the Sabbath day by keeping it holy, as the Lord your God has commanded you. Six days you shall labor and do all your work, but the seventh day is a sabbath to the Lord your God. On it you shall not do any work, neither you, nor your son or daughter, nor your male or female servant, nor your ox, your donkey or any of your animals, nor any foreigner residing in your towns, so that your male...

As a prisoner for the Lord, then, I urge you to live a life worthy of the calling you have received. Be completely humble and gentle; be patient, bearing with one another in love. Make every effort to keep the unity of the Spirit through the bond of peace. (Ephesians 4:1-3) Jesus Christ rules over all.  To follow this Lord is to serve him wherever we are without fitting in, light in darkness, salt...

Salvation is found in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given to mankind by which we must be saved (Acts 4:12). Contemporary Testimony: In a world estranged from God, where happiness and peace are offered in many names and millions face confusing choices, we witness-with respect for followers of other ways-to the only one in whose name salvation is found: Jesus Christ. In Jesus,...

The Spirit of the Lord is on me, because he has anointed me to proclaim good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim freedom for the prisoners and recovery of sight for the blind, to set the oppressed free, to proclaim the year of the Lord's favor. (Luke 4:18-19) The Spirit calls all members to embrace God's mission in their neighborhoods and in the world: to feed the hungry, bring water to t...

A Sunday Sermon edition of Wilderness Wanderings!  The text is John 20:19-23 from the New International Version of the Bible.  Dive In discussion questions are below for further reflection! To see this sermon in the context of the worship service it comes from, find it  here on YouTube .  Or, head to our website to connect with the worshiping community of Immanuel CRC:  immanuelministries.ca What...

Christ himself is our peace. He has destroyed the hatred that was like a wall between us…On that cross, Christ put to death [our] hatred toward one another. He came and preached peace to you who were far away. He also preached peace to those who were near. Through Christ we both come to the Father by the power of one Holy Spirit… You are also members of God's family. You are a building that is bui...

Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come: The old has gone, the new is here! All this is from God, who reconciled us to himself through Christ and gave us the ministry of reconciliation: that God was reconciling the world to himself in Christ, not counting people's sins against them. And he has committed to us the message of reconciliation. We are therefore Christ's ambassadors...

You are God's chosen people. You are holy and dearly loved. So put on tender mercy and kindness as if they were your clothes. Don't be proud. Be gentle and patient. Put up with one another. Forgive one another if you are holding something against someone. Forgive, just as the Lord forgave you. And over all these good things put on love. Love holds them all together perfectly as if they were one (C...

Our new life in Christ is celebrated and nourished in the fellowship of congregations, where we praise God's name, hear the Word proclaimed, learn God's ways, confess our sins, offer our prayers and gifts, and celebrate the sacraments. (OWBTG 36) 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 and long and high and...

Here is what love is. It is not that we loved God. It is that he loved us and sent his Son to give his life to pay for our sins. Dear friends, since God loved us this much, we should also love one another. No one has ever seen God. But if we love one another, God lives in us. His love is made complete in us (1 John 4:10-12) . Simon Peter answered, "You are the Messiah. You are the Son of the livin...

An extended Sunday Sermon edition of Wilderness Wanderings!  The text is 1 Peter 2:4-10 from the New International Version of the Bible.  Dive In discussion questions are below for further reflection! To see this sermon in the context of the worship service it comes from, find it  here on YouTube .  Or, head to our website to connect with the worshiping community of Immanuel CRC:  immanuelministri...

My dear brothers and sisters, take note of this: Everyone should be quick to listen, slow to speak and slow to become angry, because human anger does not produce the righteousness that God desires. Therefore, get rid of all moral filth and the evil that is so prevalent and humbly accept the word planted in you, which can save you. Do not merely listen to the word, and so deceive yourselves. Do wha...

Jesus performed many other signs in front of his disciples. They are not written down in this book. But these are written so that you may believe that Jesus is the Messiah, the Son of God. If you believe this, you will have life because you belong to him (John 20:30-31) . Contemporary Testimony: Our World Belongs to God : It is the Word of truth, breath of God, fully reliable in leading us to know...

For we did not follow cleverly devised stories when we told you about the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ in power, but we were eyewitnesses of his majesty. He received honor and glory from God the Father when the voice came to him from the Majestic Glory, saying, "This is my Son, whom I love; with him I am well pleased."  We ourselves heard this voice that came from heaven when we were with him o...

But as for you, continue in what you have learned and have become convinced of, because you know those from whom you learned it, and how from infancy you have known the Holy Scriptures, which are able to make you wise for salvation through faith in Christ Jesus. All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting, and training in righteousness, so that the servant of God...

In the past God spoke to our ancestors through the prophets at many times and in various ways, but in these last days he has spoken to us by his Son, whom he appointed heir of all things, and through whom also he made the universe. The Son is the radiance of God's glory and the exact representation of his being, sustaining all things by his powerful word. After he had provided purification for sin...

A Sunday Sermon edition of Wilderness Wanderings!  The text is Psalm 19 from the New International Version of the Bible.  Dive In discussion questions are below for further reflection! To see this sermon in the context of the worship service it comes from, find it  here on YouTube .  Or, head to our website to connect with the worshiping community of Immanuel CRC:  immanuelministries.ca Dive In  H...