Cross of Grace

The high priest of the Old Testament had to be holy enough to reflect the person of God to people. And at the same time, he had to be humble – a man of the people, who could relate to human weakness. No high priest ever did this perfectly. He would either fail on the part of representing God by being too sinful. Or, he would fail in representing man by being too distant, too separated, too out of touch with the common person...That is, until Jesus.

There’s a difference in believing in God, and truly trusting in God. When we don’t trust God, that’s when anxiety and fear increase. But for all who truly trust in Jesus, He gives us rest: Rest from our attempts to please God through our own efforts. Rest from carrying our burdens alone. And the promise of a future rest with Him when this life is over.

Trying times can encourage us to reach out to Christ and to others for help. Or we can be tempted to go inward, become bitter, and eventually find our hearts hardened toward God. Through trials and pain, and discouragement and fear, maybe your heart has become hard. That doesn’t mean you’re not a Christian. It means you need to be revived. Draw near to Jesus, to His throne of grace, knowing that He is the one who makes hearts of stone into hearts of flesh. He’s is the one who takes...

In Mark 11:1-11, we see that the crowd was celebrating a coronation, but Jesus was heading to his execution, He was humbly coming for a cross. Palm Sunday sermon.

For first century Jews, there was no man greater (in their eyes) than Moses. That was true for many Christians who converted from Judaism. So, Hebrews re-focuses their attention on the true source to strengthen their faith, to remind them of the importance of Jesus as greater than anything or anyone they could look to.

John 17 is known as Jesus’ “High Priestly prayer”. And in it, we get a window into how Jesus prays for His disciples, both for His followers back then, and how He prays for us today.

Jesus fought death to the death, and won. So that all who trust in Him are given the same victory over death, to know that the grave is not our final destination. That means death is not something to fear. For the Christian, death is the glorious moment that God says, “Your work here is done. Your purpose in this life has been fulfilled. Well done, good and faithful servant."

Jesus told His disciples “All power in heaven and earth has been given to me” (Matthew 28:18). But if Jesus has all power, why is there still so much evil in the world? Why do bad things happen to good people if God really is in control? For the persecuted Christians that the letter of Hebrews was first written to, that question was real. Maybe you’ve asked this as well. God’s word helps us with the answer...

Drifting from the truth doesn’t happen overnight. It happens slowly, little-by-little, when we’re not paying attention. And it can happen to the best of us. Especially in a gospel-centered church. We hear the gospel so often that we could be in danger of becoming deaf to it. So the writer of Hebrews not only gives us the warning against drifting from the truth, but he also gives us the remedy…

Because angels were used by God to deliver the law, Jews held angels in high regard, even to the point of seeing them as divine. Some even saw them as objects of worship and adoration. So for new Jewish Christians being persecuted, it was very tempting to just go along with that belief, to stop claiming that Jesus is the Son of God, and to deny His deity. So the writer of Hebrews points to different Old Testament passages to remind them, and us, of the total supremacy of Jesus over all things,...

Jesus is God’s Prophet, God’s Heir, Our Creator, God’s Radiance & Imprint, Our Sustainer, our Savior, and our King. How big is your trial? How big are your doubts and fears? How big is your need? Not nearly as big as your Jesus!

Maybe you’ve experienced low points in your life where you’ve even been tempted to walk away from the faith, as some have done. Whether you were weary or worried, discouraged or distracted, condemned or just confused, the Book of Hebrews has something to say to you. In this first sermon in the new series “Jesus is Better”, we look at the Book of Hebrews as a whole, seeing the supremacy of Christ over all things.

Baptism is a sign of that new covenant in Christ. When we go under the water, it is to symbolize the death of that person’s old way of life. We have died to sin. Paul uses the act of water baptism to remind the Romans, and to remind us, of the beautiful realities of the gospel that you and I should celebrate, realities that should change the way we live.

Pastor Nathan Treguboff uses Romans 1:18-32 on Sanctity of Life Sunday to show us “The Image of God and the Glory of Personhood.”

Your Heavenly Father wants to replenish and revive you. And He wants to revive you by drawing you to Himself. Prayer is communing with God in such a way that we are reminded of our need for Him and of His faithfulness to us.

God increases our longing for Him through our reading and meditating on Scripture. Through His Word, God gives us understanding to obey Him, the desire to treasure him, and the courage to live out His commands.

When it comes to sharing the gospel with others, guilt is a terrible incentive. Jesus doesn’t call us to evangelize out of guilt, but out of gratitude, out of joy, out of grace. How does our gratitude grow? By seeing the truth afresh, looking again at what God has done in your life. Seeing how God has gloriously, graciously reconciled you to Himself.

The First Advent guarantees the Second Advent. The manger points us to the throne. That God fulfilled His promise to send the Messiah the first time proves that God is sovereign and faithful to His promises, and that guarantees Jesus is coming again! And when He does, He will make all things new.

Trust Jesus to be your defense. His cross says two things about us: It says we are sinners who deserve that kind of death. And at the same time, the cross says Jesus loves us so much He took that death for us. In Him, our debt is paid. Our record is cleared. The cross is the final word.

“The people who walked in darkness have seen a great light.” Almighty God opens the portals of time and space and shows Isaiah a glimpse of this great promise fulfilled. As if seeing two realities at the same time, Isaiah describes the darkness and desperation he could see all around him then and there. But there was an even greater reality, one that would soon take place, the reality of the promised Messiah to come.

This week's guest speaker Justin Lakemacher unpacks Titus 2:11-14 to show us "The Gospel of Grace for the Enslaved".

The whole book of Exodus is about God wanting to be with His people. God rescuing a people, making covenant with that people, and wanting to come down and live among those people. That’s what the people were promised, and that’s what they were waiting on – for God to come down and dwell with them.

When Moses came down from the mountain, his face was shining from being in God’s presence. Moses asked to see God’s glory. Instead, God gives Moses something better. He reveals who He is. And Moses would never be the same. The greatest thing God can give us is Himself, to let us truly know Him.

Guest pastor Chris Oswald uses Colossians 1:9-16 to consider, what it does it mean to be saved?

From Genesis to Revelation, the Bible reveals a gracious and glorious God who accomplishes all his plans for good. The aim of this course is to help you see and savor the Christ-centered story that unfolds in Scripture, describe its stages, and articulate its big idea: For his glory, God is reconciling the world to himself under King Jesus.

Without God’s presence, Moses didn’t want the promised land. He valued God over what God could give. You and I have something Moses did not. We have the Holy Spirit living inside of us, His very presence empowering us for a purpose.

From Genesis to Revelation, the Bible reveals a gracious and glorious God who accomplishes all his plans for good. The aim of this course is to help you see and savor the Christ-centered story that unfolds in Scripture, describe its stages, and articulate its big idea: For his glory, God is reconciling the world to himself under King Jesus.

The Hebrews were blinded by their longing for a god they could see and control. Jesus came not only to open our eyes to the false gods we chase, but also to reveal to us the One True God who saves. Because of Him, the sin we once reveled in, we now mourn. And the mystery of the gospel we once dismissed, we now treasure.

From Genesis to Revelation, the Bible reveals a gracious and glorious God who accomplishes all his plans for good. The aim of this course is to help you see and savor the Christ-centered story that unfolds in Scripture, describe its stages, and articulate its big idea: For his glory, God is reconciling the world to himself under King Jesus.

“The Bronze Basin and the Golden Altar were both places of prayer and reflection. Self examination is good, but only if we see ourselves the way Christ does - loved and forgiven. Condemnation can never take hold when we focus on the cross."

God intended the garments of the high priest in the Old Testament to be an outward sign, a visual aid, to remind the people of two major things: The priest represented God before the people. And, the priest represented the people before God. But over and over, human priests failed. God knew we would need a perfect High Priest. We would need Jesus.

“We never ‘get beyond the gospel’ in our Christian life to something more ‘advanced.’ The gospel is not the first ‘step’ in a ‘stairway’ of truths, rather, it is more like the ‘hub’ in a ‘wheel’ of truth. The gospel is not just the A-B-C’s but the A-Z of Christianity. The gospel is not just the minimum required doctrine necessary to enter the kingdom, but the way we make progress in the kingdom.” Tim Keller The Apostle Paul knew that the gospel was of "first impo...

"As much as the Bronze Altar represented death and judgment for sin, it was also a merciful reminder that God allowed for the blood of a substitute sacrifice to cover the sin of the guilty person who broke God’s law. This would point forward to the Sacrifical Substitue of God’s own Son, who would not only cover our sin, but cleanse us completely."

“We never ‘get beyond the gospel’ in our Christian life to something more ‘advanced.’ The gospel is not the first ‘step’ in a ‘stairway’ of truths, rather, it is more like the ‘hub’ in a ‘wheel’ of truth. The gospel is not just the A-B-C’s but the A-Z of Christianity. The gospel is not just the minimum required doctrine necessary to enter the kingdom, but the way we make progress in the kingdom.” Tim Keller The Apostle Paul knew that the gospel was of "first impo...

"The veil in the tabernacle separated God from man. At the moment of Jesus’ death, the temple veil was torn in two, from top to bottom. Torn from the top, to signify this was not man’s doing, but it was done by God. And torn, to show that the chasm, the separation between a holy God and sinful man was now reconciled through the final sacrifice of God’s own Son."

The Tabernacle of Moses in the OT was not only God’s lavish expression of His desire to dwell with His people. Ultimately it was meant to be a type and shadow, an illustrated sermon, a sign post pointing forward in history to when God in the flesh would come and “tabernacle” with His people through Jesus.

Here in Exodus 24 we see an amazing thing: the God of the universe comes near and invites men to enter into covenant with Him, and then they sit and eat in His presence. The gift wasn’t the meal. The gift was God’s presence, His approval, His acceptance and invitation to a sinful people to be in covenant with Him. To call them friends.

We all know the feeling: Constantly running on empty, feeling like you’re just one more obligation away from burnout, and one more crisis away from collapse. But our weariness can often be a gift from God, reminding us that we are connected to the wrong source. The remedy is not trying harder, but being a branch connected to the Vine.

These chapters in Exodus (20-23) are called “The Book of the Covenant”. Here, God is instructing His people what it looks like to live out His covenant law in different situations of everyday life. In the Ten Commandments, God’s law is spoken. Now, we will see God’s law applied.

We often say to ourselves, “If I only had this one thing, if only this situation was different, then I could be happy.” But whatever that thing is, it has the potential of being an idol. You could be putting your hope or your desire into something you don’t have while forgetting what you do have. The remedy is finding true contentment in Christ. Here's how...

“A false witness lies about what he hasn’t seen. A silent witness stays quiet about what he has seen. We are called to be faithful witnesses, to courageously tell others who Christ is and what He has done for us.”

In his application of the OT Law, Jesus often showed that behind a simple prohibition like "You shall not steal" is a matter of the heart. In contrast to theft, scripture shows that because God established a pattern of work and rest, we are to follow suit. Stealing disrupts that pattern. Ultimately, we rest in Jesus' finished work on our behalf, which frees us to do good work.

The transformation from caterpillar to butterfly is a radical change. When Jesus came he fulfilled the OT law covenant. He transformed the 7th commandment, expanding and internalizing it. Whoever even looks with lust commits adultery in their hearts. Jesus calls us to radical obedience. Hell is at stake. But there is hope for the adulterer

The Sixth Commandment reminds us that God is the God of life. He made man in His own image, and that image should be valued and protected. Surrounded by a culture of death, you and I need to be reminded often of the gift of life, and even more, the One who gave His life for us...

The first four commandments are vertical, focusing on man’s relationship with God. The remaining six commands are horizontal, dealing with how we relate to one another. And the very first command where God instructs us on how to relate to one another has to do with children and parents. That’s because the family is the foundation of every other relationship, and ever aspect of society.

Is it a sin for Christians to work on Sunday? How is Jesus the fulfillment of our Sabbath rest? The Fourth Commandment teaches us more than we realize.

The third commandment tells us not to take the LORD's name in vain. That means much more than just watching our language and not using God's name in our curse words. It means having a heart that has been changed by Christ and growing in the desire to honor the name of Christ in every way possible.

In the second commandment, we are reminded that God wants us to worship Him without having to see Him or any image that depicts Him. Our faith is in who He is, as He has revealed Himself in Scripture, not in some image or idol or statue or painting.

Our hearts are often noisy and crowded, with something or someone competing for our affection, our attention, our allegiance, our pursuit, our trust, and our worship. But there’s only room for one ruler of our hearts, and that’s God Himself...

It would be hard to find another section of literature of any kind that has had as big of an impact on mankind and modern society greater than the impact the Ten Commandments have had. Also known as the Decalogue, or “Ten Words” in Hebrew, the Ten Commandments hold a unique place of prominence in human history, not only for what they meant to the Hebrew people at Mt. Sinai, but also what they mean in the life of the Christian today.

Israel has now come to Mount Sinai, the Mountain of God, and it is moment of preparation for them to receive God’s covenantal words, formalizing their relationship with the Lord, and affirm that they will serve him alone.