Union Church

God is ___ - Merciful and Gracious

Listen in as we begin our new series looking at who God is from Exodus 34.

Notes//Quotes:

Exodus 34:6-7

“What comes into our minds when we think about God is the most important thing about us.” - A.W. Tozer“Here’s how you know if you’ve created God in your own image: he agrees with you on everything…Often what we believe about God says more about us than it does about God. Our theology is like a mirror to the soul. It shows us what’s deep inside.” - John Mark Comer

“In the world of the Hebrew Scriptures a personal name was often thought to indicate something essential about the bearer’s identity, origin, birth circumstances, or the divine purpose that the bearer was intended to fulfill.” - Michael Knowles

Isaiah 49:13-16
Psalm 103:11-14

“What he is, he does. He cannot act any other way. His life proves his heart. Meek. Humble. Gentle. Jesus is not trigger-happy. Not harsh, reactionary, easily exasperated. He is the most understanding person in the universe. The posture most natural to him is not a pointed finger but open arms.” - Dane Ortlund

Ps. 145:8-9
Hebrews 4:14-16

For grace proclaims the awesome truth that all is gift. All that is good is ours not by right but by the sheer bounty of a gracious God. While there is much we may have earned--our degree and our salary, our home and garden, a Miller Lite and a good night's sleep--all this is possible only because we have been given so much: life itself, eyes to see and hands to touch, a mind to shape ideas, and a heart to beat with love. We have been given God in our souls and Christ in our flesh. We have the power to believe where others deny, to hope where others despair, to love where others hurt. This and so much more is sheer gift; it is not reward for our faithfulness, our generous disposition, or our heroic life of prayer. Even our fidelity is a gift, "If we but turn to God," said St. Augustine, "that itself is a gift of God.” My deepest awareness of myself is that I am deeply loved by Jesus Christ and I have done nothing to earn it or deserve it.” - Brennan Manning

 

7/16/20 - One Verse, One Thought, One Quote

“FOR I THE LORD DO NOT CHANGE; THEREFORE YOU, O CHILDREN OF JACOB, ARE NOT CONSUMED.” - MALACHI 3:6

“GOD NEVER HURRIES. THERE ARE NO DEADLINES AGAINST WHICH HE MUST WORK. ONLY TO KNOW THIS IS TO QUIET OUR SPIRITS AND RELAX OUR NERVES.” - A.W. TOZER

Nehemiah 13 - The Anatomy of a Failed Renewal

Listen in as we wrap up our series through Ezra/Nehemiah and see the anatomy of a failed renewal.

Notes/Quotes:

“No Ammonite or Moabite may enter the assembly of the Lord. Even to the tenth generation, none of them may enter the assembly of the Lord forever…

Deuteronomy 23:3

 

“do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit within you, whom you have from God? You are not your own, for you were bought with a price. So glorify God in your body.” 1 Corinthians 6:19 & 20

“Are Christians victims of this post-Christian world? No. . . . Our cold and hard hearts; our failure to love the stranger; our selfishness with our money, our time, and our home; and our privileged back turned against widows, orphans, prisoners, and refugees mean we are guilty in the face of God of withholding love and Christian witness. . . . Our own conduct condemns our witness to this world. Shame on us.” -Rosaria Butterfield

“the best of men are men at best.” - A.W. Pink

“In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things were made through him, and without him was not any thing made that was made. In him was life, and the life was the light of men. The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it. There was a man sent from God, whose name was John. He came as a witness, to bear witness about the light, that all might believe through him. He was not the light, but came to bear witness about the light. The true light, which gives light to everyone, was coming into the world. He was in the world, and the world was made through him, yet the world did not know him. He came to his own, and his own people did not receive him. But to all who did receive him, who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God, who were born, not of blood nor of the will of the flesh nor of the will of man, but of God. And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth.

- John 1:1-14

 

Nehemiah 8-12 - Renewal?

Listen along as we continue our series through Ezra/Nehemiah.

Notes/Quotes:

Nehemiah 8:1-3, 8

Nehemiah 8:9-12

“Joy is more than a desirable emotion. The joy of the Lord in Nehemiah 8:9-12 is repeatedly connected to the holiness of this feast day gathering: His people (amazingly, miraculously) get to come near that holiness and actually participate in it—that is joy. Being near him, we become like him: The joy of the Lord is your strength.” - Kathleen Nielson

“Despite the people’s failure, their refuge is in the Lord’s joy over restoring his repentant people” - Tim Mackie

Zephaniah 3:14-17

It must either be a sin against light and knowledge, or a sin committed with deliberation, or a sin committed with a design of sinning, merely for sinning's sake, or else it must be a sin committed through hardihood, from a man's rash confidence in his own strength. - Charles Spurgeon

Nehemiah 12:43

“God’s final word (in Nehemiah) is one not of exclusion and judgement, but of grace and invitation.” - Hugh Williamson

Hebrews 12:1-3

“The church exists to embody and to tell the story which is the true story. The church is the bearer to all the nations of a gospel that announces the kingdom, the reign, and the sovereignty of God. It calls men and women to repent of their false loyalty to other powers, to become believers in the one true sovereignty, and so to become corporately a sign, instrument, and foretaste of that sovereignty of the one true and living God over all nature, and all nations, and all human lives.” - Leslie Newbigin

“We cannot create a program or campaign for renewal and revival. For in the history of the church, this has rarely if ever had success.” Instead, “we cry out to God to change us, to start His renewal in our hearts.” And this is the paradox of renewal, both that it doesn’t depend upon our effort and also that it doesn’t happen apart from it. In fact, this is the paradox of the whole of the Christian life, for as Paul writes in Philippians 2:13, “it is God who works in you, both to will and to work for his good pleasure.” God’s willing makes us more willing, not less, and his work never make ours unnecessary. - Jen Michel and Mark Sayers

Nehemiah 1-7 - The Collective

Listen in as we look through Nehemiah 1-7. We have a couple audio issues to work out. Your patience is appreciated!

Ezra 7-10 - People of the Word

Listen in as we continue our series through Ezra/Nehemiah and see how God's word shapes God's people.

Ezra 1-6 - Living in the Tension

Listen along as we continue our series through the book of Ezra-Nehemiah.

 

Sermon Notes/Quotes:

• “seek the welfare of the city where I have sent you into exile, and pray to the LORD on its behalf, for in its welfare you will find your welfare.” ( Jeremiah 29:7)

 

• “The enemies of Judah become so by Zerubbabel’s policy of cultural isolation. Such Isolation is sometimes necessary in order to maintain faithfulness in a hostile environment, but can also backfire and generate unnecessary tension with the surrounding culture.” (Tim Mackie)

 

• “And the king of Assyria brought people from Babylon, Cuthah, Avva, Hamath, and Sepharvaim, and placed them in the cities of Samaria instead of the people of Israel. And they took possession of Samaria and lived in its cities. And at the beginning of their dwelling there, they did not fear the Lord. Therefore the Lord sent lions among them, which killed some of them. So the king of Assyria was told, “The nations that you have carried away and placed in the cities of Samaria do not know the law of the god of the land. Therefore he has sent lions among them, and behold, they are killing them, because they do not know the law of the god of the land.” Then the king of Assyria commanded, “Send there one of the priests whom you carried away from there, and let him go and dwell there and teach them the law of the god of the land.” So one of the priests whom they had carried away from Samaria came and lived in Bethel and taught them how they should fear the Lord. But every nation still made gods of its own and put them in the shrines of the high places that the Samaritans had made, every nation in the cities in which they lived.” (2Kings 17:24-29)

 

• “Sing for joy and be glad, O daughter of Zion; for behold I am coming and I will dwell in your midst,” declares the Lord. “Many nations will join themselves to the Lord in that day and will become My people. Then I will dwell in your midst, and you will know that the Lord of hosts has sent Me to you. The Lord will possess Judah as His portion in the holy land, and will again choose Jerusalem.” (Zechariah 2:10-12)

 

• ‘My house shall be called a house of prayer for all the nations’? But you have made it a den of robbers.” (Mark 11:17)

Announcement and Ezra 1: The Faithfulness of God

Listen in as we begin gathering again in-person and start our series through Ezra and Nehemiah.

Sermon Notes/Quotes:

Where are we?
732 BC - Northern Kingdom conquered by Assyria
605 BC - Southern Kingdom conquered by Babylon
539 BC - Cyrus (Persia) conquers Babylon
538 BC - Cyrsus issues Decree (Ezra 1) - First wave
458 BC - Ezra leads second wave
445 BC - Nehemiah Leads third wave

2 Chronicles 36:11-16

“If the fulfillment of God’s promises depended solely on human ability, then hopelessness would be an appropriate response. But, it doesn’t! God has been the faithful one in this story, and it’s his covenant promises that are carrying the day. God is committed to having a covenant people who will love him, love each other, and who will become the vehicle of his divine blessing for all nations.” - Tim Mackie

“Not everything that is faced can be changed, but nothing can be changed until it is faced.” - James Baldwin

Faithfulness:
Is about who we love (Relational, not just theological)
Is about who we trust (Functional dependance, not just a worldview) - Jon Tyson

“We will not wake up ten years from now and find we have passively taken on the character of God. We must make a study of our God: what he loves, what he hates, how he speaks and acts. We cannot imitate a God whose features and habits we have never learned. We must make a study of him if we want to become like him. We must seek his face.” - Jen Wilkin

The Good News Podcast - Wednesday, June 3rd

Psalm 13:1-6 - 1 How long, O LORD? Will you forget me forever? How long will you hide your face from me? 2 How long must I take counsel in my soul and have sorrow in my heart all the day? How long shall my enemy be exalted over me? 3 Consider and answer me, O LORD my God; light up my eyes, lest I sleep the sleep of death, 4 lest my enemy say, "I have prevailed over him," lest my foes rejoice because I am shaken. 5 But I have trusted in your steadfast love; my heart shall rejoice in your salvation. 6 I will sing to the LORD, because he has dealt bountifully with me.

 

A Prayer

Our Father In Heaven,

We praise you that, though we have rejected your authority and refused to give thanks for your provision, you have promised your people an eternity under your perfect rule and a world full of abundance, a banquet of the best of meats and the finest of wines.

We praise you that you have done what was necessary for these promises to come to fulfillment, that you have sent your Son to seal the covenant of your promises in his own blood, so that we may have confidence that, though our sins are scarlet, you will wash them white as snow. Father, we praise you that when we have received every blessing that you have promised, we will not rejoice so much in the glory of the world around us but in the face and presence of our beloved Saviour, Jesus Christ. We praise you that every blessing we receive from your hand is the overflow of the glories of your character. Amen.

 

 

Mark 7:1-13  - 1 Now when the Pharisees gathered to him, with some of the scribes who had come from Jerusalem, 2 they saw that some of his disciples ate with hands that were defiled, that is, unwashed. 3 (For the Pharisees and all the Jews do not eat unless they wash their hands properly, holding to the tradition of the elders, 4 and when they come from the marketplace, they do not eat unless they wash. And there are many other traditions that they observe, such as the washing of cups and pots and copper vessels and dining couches.) 5 And the Pharisees and the scribes asked him, "Why do your disciples not walk according to the tradition of the elders, but eat with defiled hands?" 6 And he said to them, "Well did Isaiah prophesy of you hypocrites, as it is written, "'This people honors me with their lips, but their heart is far from me; 7 in vain do they worship me, teaching as doctrines the commandments of men.' 8 You leave the commandment of God and hold to the tradition of men." 9 And he said to them, "You have a fine way of rejecting the commandment of God in order to establish your tradition! 10 For Moses said, 'Honor your father and your mother'; and, 'Whoever reviles father or mother must surely die.'

11 But you say, 'If a man tells his father or his mother, "Whatever you would have gained from me is Corban"' (that is, given to God)-- 12 then you no longer permit him to do anything for his father or mother, 13 thus making void the word of God by your tradition that you have handed down. And many such things you do.”

 

1Peter 1:13-25  - 13 Therefore, preparing your minds for action, and being sober-minded, set your hope fully on the grace that will be brought to you at the revelation of Jesus Christ. 14 As obedient children, do not be conformed to the passions of your former ignorance, 15 but as he who called you is holy, you also be holy in all your conduct, 16 since it is written, "You shall be holy, for I am holy." 17 And if you call on him as Father who judges impartially according to each one's deeds, conduct yourselves with fear throughout the time of your exile, 18 knowing that you were ransomed from the futile ways inherited from your forefathers, not with perishable things such as silver or gold, 19 but with the precious blood of Christ, like that of a lamb without blemish or spot. 20 He was foreknown before the foundation of the world but was made manifest in the last times for the sake of you 21 who through him are believers in God, who raised him from the dead and gave him glory, so that your faith and hope are in God. 22 Having purified your souls by your obedience to the truth for a sincere brotherly love, love one another earnestly from a pure heart, 23 since you have been born again, not of perishable seed but of imperishable, through the living and abiding word of God; 24 for "All flesh is like grass and all its glory like the flower of grass. The grass withers, and the flower falls, 25 but the word of the Lord remains forever." And this word is the good news that was preached to you.

 

And now, may the Lord direct your hearts to the love of God and to the steadfastness of Christ.

The Questions of God: Why are you so afraid? Have you still no faith?

Today we look at Mark 4:35-41 and wrap up our series looking at the questions of God.

Questions for reflection:

How have previous trials refined you for closer relationship?

What current fears are you working through?

Where do you tend to place your faith and hope?

In what ways does Jesus address those fears?

How is He worthy of our faith?