GOD WON’T ALWAYS PROTECT YOU FROM, BUT WILL ALWAYS PRESERVE YOU THROUGH YOUR TRIALS

In 1 Samuel 18, David just kept on winning. Saul was trying to kill him, but David was blissfully unaware. As his life progresses, though, Saul’s intentions, driven by jealousy, become painfully clear to David. Cross of Grace Intern, Jason Roenicke showed us from this passage that God was no less present with David in chapter 19 than chapter 18. The difference, however, is that God’s grace was present to preserve him - not necessarily to shield him entirely - from his trial. This preservation is a particular grace that God uses to teach and form His disciples. Listen to last Sunday’s sermon to learn more.

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BUT GOD’S GRACE IS GREATER THAN YOU COULD FATHOM

After he slew Goliath, David experienced a meteoric rise of influence and popularity in Israel. What he didn’t know, though, was that Saul was threatened by and jealous of his success, leading Saul to make multiple purposeful attempts at his life. But those attempts strangely resulted in even greater success for David. Why? Because God’s favor rested with David. Through 1 Samuel 18, we learned that this kind of protection and favor is the heritage of everyone who has placed their faith in David’s descendent - Jesus Christ. Listen to last Sunday’s sermon to learn more.

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IN THE STORY OF DAVID AND GOLIATH, WE ARE MORE LIKE THE COWERING ISRAELITES THAN DAVID

The story of David and Goliath - one of the most well-known stories in the Bible. The commonly understood moral of the story is “Be a David. Courageously go up against ‘your Goliaths’ because the heroically courageous come out on top”. But if we listen to the text itself and not our preconceived notions, we find that Davidic God-centeredness and Davidic courage is not common at all - either among the Israelites or among us. Someone else is reflected in David and His name is Jesus. We, like the Israelites, need a Savior who is fully committed to God’s glory and who will courageously take up God’s cause to save us from our own fear and unbelief. The story of David and Goliath teaches us about the Gospel and makes us wonder at our Savior who faced down sin and defeated it. Listen to last Sunday’s sermon to learn more.

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DAVID GIVES US A TASTE OF THE GOODNESS OF THE KING WE NEED

In 1 Samuel 16, we’re introduced to David. After 16 chapters following the life and ascension of Saul, we discovered that Saul makes us long for a better king by contrast. He’s like a gulp of saltwater to our thirsty souls, heightening our longing for a better king by furthering our dissatisfaction. Now as David arrives, we discover he makes us long for God’s coming king by similarity. Though still a sinner, an imperfect king as we’ll see in the remainder of 1 Samuel, he bears the characteristics of the king we need. David is like a sip of cool, fresh water, heightening our longing for the true king by giving us a taste of the real thing. Listen to last Sunday’s sermon to meet this shepherd/servant king in 1 Samuel 16.

LISTEN TO THE SERMON HERE

HE IS PREEMINENT. MAKE HIM SO IN YOUR LIFE

In Colossians 1:15-20, the Apostle Paul pens a hymn that gives us what some scholars say is “the highest Christology” in the entire Bible. Having seen the whole Christ, the humiliated and exalted Christ, Paul declares that Jesus is preeminent. He is first - in every way that matters.

As we enter into a new year as a church, the pastoral team wants to encourage you to give Jesus first place in your life, but in four areas in particular:

1. In your affections and desires

2. In your relationships

3. In your sexuality

4. In your parenting

If you haven’t yet listened to this sermon, we’d highly encourage you to. As a church, may Christ be preeminent in our lives!

LISTEN TO THE SERMON HERE

JESUS SHARES WITH US THE ROLES THAT HE FULFILLED

The Gospel message tells us that Jesus came to earth, took on flesh and fulfilled the roles of prophet, priest and king in ways that no human in history ever had before Him, namely in a perfect way. We are the beneficiaries. Yet, our benefits don’t end there. In our union with Him, we actually inherit and share in those roles as we represent Jesus to the world. The Church has become a royal people, a priesthood and a people who speak as His ambassadors. Listen to the last sermon of 2021 and be encouraged as your bear the name of Christ to your neighbors.

LISTEN TO THE SERMON HERE

THE BIRTH OF JESUS IS A ROYAL SUMMONS

You may not sense a driving need in your life for a king, but you and everyone around you wants a certain kind of kingdom. You want the world you live in to look a particular way. You think others ought to act a particular way. You want a kingdom. But there is no kingdom without a king. Jesus was born to rule as king over the only kingdom that will last forever. His birth, then, is a summons. Will you receive His summons by repentance and faith or will you reject His summons and live outside His kingdom? Learn more in last week’s 4th Advent message.

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JESUS WAS BORN TO STAND ONCE AND SIT FOREVER

Few among us live our daily lives thinking, “I need a priest.” Such a thought conjures images of men in black robes and sacrificial altars. But a priest’s role and function is fundamentally that of a mediator. You and I objectively and desperately need a mediator. We need someone to arbitrate the divine dilemma between us and God. We need someone to solve the problem of sin we can’t solve. We need someone who doesn’t have to first atone for their sin and then the sins of others. We need someone who can offer a perfect sacrifice and not have to stand daily at their service. On the first Christmas morning, Jesus was born to perfectly satisfy that need. Listen to last Sunday’s third Advent message from Hebrews 10:1-18 to hear more.

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JESUS REVEALS THE TRUTH WE CANNOT LIVE WITHOUT

Prophets are those who received God’s words and spoke them to God’s people. God’s people of old needed them because without them they’d live in ignorance. They wouldn’t know the will of God or the way they could return to God when they’d fail to keep his will. The prophets pointed the people back to God the King and his appointed priests. We need them because as Thomas Edison once said, all “mankind is incurably religious,” and by nature we’re all bent to serve kings and seek out priests who will keep us in good standing with them. We all seek out someone or something to follow and worship. But, apart from the light of God’s word breaking into our darkness, we’ll never receive or be reconciled to the one true God.

This is why Jesus came. He came and fulfilled the office of prophet in order to provide the truth without which we can’t make sense of life. But even more than that, he came to announce the truth without which we could not be made alive - set free from sin and death in order to live with God both now and forever. Jesus is the ultimate prophet who came to most fully and finally reveal the truth about: what God wants, who God is, and how sinful and separated man, could be reconciled to him. Listen to the second message in our 2021 Advent sermon series from Hebrews 1:1-4 to learn more.

LISTEN TO THE SERMON HERE

JESUS IS GOD’S MAN AND THE GOD-MAN

1 Samuel and the Old Testament as a whole cause us as readers to wonder, “will there ever be a good king? Or a perfect priest? Or the promised prophet like Moses? Jesus’ arrival into this world and subsequent baptism followed by the Father’s declaration, “This is my beloved Son in whom I am well pleased” (Matt. 3:17), were essentially a loud yes to the above questions. Which of those three questions? All of them.

The title of Messiah (Hebrew) and Christ (Greek) is translated into English as “anointed one”, which in layman’s terms simply means “the one God appointed”: God’s man. Christ’s identity as God’s Messiah implies that in Him is perfected every role and office that every man and woman in the Old Testament failed to perfect. Jesus is the sum of all our needs; the sum of all necessary parts. Yet, this Christmas season, we need to remember that Jesus did not become the sum of all parts just to be one part of your life. He came and has always existed to stand at the center of your life and all things. Listen to the first message in our 2021 advent series to learn more.

LISTEN TO THE SERMON HERE