Union Church

The Good News Podcast - Friday March 20th

Psalm 46

God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble.

2Therefore we will not fear though the earth gives way, though the mountains be moved into the heart of the sea, though its waters roar and foam, though the mountains tremble at its swelling. There is a river whose streams make glad the city of God, the holy habitation of the Most High. God is in the midst of her; she shall not be moved; God will help her when morning dawns.The nations rage, the kingdoms totter he utters his voice, the earth melts.7 The LORD of hosts is with us; the God of Jacob is our fortress. Selah Come, behold the works of the LORD, how he has brought desolations on the earth. He makes wars cease to the end of the earth; he breaks the bow and shatters the spear; he burns the chariots with fire. 10 “Be still, and know that I am God. I will be exalted among the nations, I will be exalted in the earth!” The LORD of hosts is with us; the God of Jacob is our fortress. Selah

 

The Valley of Vision, A Puritan Prayer

Lord, high and holy, meek and lowly,
Thou has brought me to the valley of vision,
where I live in the depths but see thee in the heights;
hemmed in by mountains of sin I behold
Thy glory. Let me learn by paradox that the way down is the way up,
that to be low is to be high,
that the broken heart is the healed heart,
that the contrite spirit is the rejoicing spirit,
that the repenting soul is the victorious soul,
that to have nothing is to possess all,
that to bear the cross is to wear the crown,
that to give is to receive,
that the valley is the place of vision.

Lord, in the daytime stars can be seen from deepest wells,
and the deeper the wells the brighter Thy stars shine;

Let me find Thy light in my darkness,
Thy life in my death,
Thy joy in my sorrow,
Thy grace in my sin,
Thy riches in my poverty
Thy glory in my valley.

 

Romans 11:33-36

Oh, the depth of the riches and wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable are his judgments and how inscrutable his ways! 34 "For who has known the mind of the Lord, or who has been his counselor?" 35 "Or who has given a gift to him that he might be repaid?" 36 For from him and through him and to him are all things. To him be glory forever. Amen.

 

 

Matthew 6:25-34

“Therefore I tell you, do not be anxious about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink, nor about your body, what you will put on. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothing? 26 Look at the birds of the air: they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not of more value than they? 27 And which of you by being anxious can add a single hour to his span of life? 28 And why are you anxious about clothing? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow: they neither toil nor spin, 29 yet I tell you, even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these. 30 But if God so clothes the grass of the field, which today is alive and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, will he not much more clothe you, O you of little faith? 31 Therefore do not be anxious, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’ 32 For the Gentiles seek after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them all. 33 But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you. 34 “Therefore do not be anxious about tomorrow, for tomorrow will be anxious for itself. Sufficient for the day is its own trouble.

 

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

The Good News Podcast - Wednesday, March 18th

Listen in as we launch our new series, The Good News Podcast.

Psalm 27

The LORD is my light and my salvation; whom shall I fear? The LORD is the stronghold of my life; of whom shall I be afraid? 2 When evildoers assail me to eat up my flesh, my adversaries and foes, it is they who stumble and fall. 3 Though an army encamp against me, my heart shall not fear; though war arise against me, yet I will be confident. 4 One thing have I asked of the LORD, that will I seek after: that I may dwell in the house of the LORD all the days of my life, to gaze upon the beauty of the LORD and to inquire in his temple. 5 For he will hide me in his shelter in the day of trouble; he will conceal me under the cover of his tent; he will lift me high upon a rock. 6 And now my head shall be lifted up above my enemies all around me, and I will offer in his tent sacrifices with shouts of joy; I will sing and make melody to the LORD. 7 Hear, O LORD, when I cry aloud; be gracious to me and answer me! 8 You have said, "Seek my face." My heart says to you, "Your face, LORD, do I seek." 9 Hide not your face from me. Turn not your servant away in anger, O you who have been my help. Cast me not off; forsake me not, O God of my salvation! 10 For my father and my mother have forsaken me, but the LORD will take me in. 11 Teach me your way, O LORD, and lead me on a level path because of my enemies. 12 Give me not up to the will of my adversaries; for false witnesses have risen against me, and they breathe out violence. 13 I believe that I shall look upon the goodness of the LORD in the land of the living! 14 Wait for the LORD; be strong, and let your heart take courage; wait for the LORD!

 

A prayer from Redemption Church Tempe,

Lord God, Creator of all things,

You hold both galaxies and germs in the palm of your hand.

We come to You in faith, in hope, and in confidence as we hear of the spread of COVID–19.

You fill the earth with good things and restrain the spread of sin and sickness.

Thank you for medical professionals that embody your healing and restorative love. Thank you for soap, hand sanitizer and disinfectants that remind us that you are our Ultimate Protector and care deeply about our protection.

Thank you for unplanned moments that we can use to connect with You. Thank you for calling some into fields that will uncover the cure and vaccination against this virus.

 

Lord, heal those who are sick. Protect the elderly and vulnerable. Bless the work of those working towards healing answers. Pour out your Spirit of peace upon your people to embody the real hope we have in Christ.

 

COME QUICKLY LORD JESUS

 

Philippians 4:4-9

4 Rejoice in the Lord always; again I will say, rejoice. 5 Let your reasonableness be known to everyone. The Lord is at hand; 6 do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. 7 And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus. 8 Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is commendable, if there is any excellence, if there is anything worthy of praise, think about these things. 9 What you have learned and received and heard and seen in me--practice these things, and the God of peace will be with you.

 

 

Matthew 6:5-15

[5 "And when you pray, you must not be like the hypocrites. For they love to stand and pray in the synagogues and at the street corners, that they may be seen by others. Truly, I say to you, they have received their reward. 6 But when you pray, go into your room and shut the door and pray to your Father who is in secret. And your Father who sees in secret will reward you. 7 "And when you pray, do not heap up empty phrases as the Gentiles do, for they think that they will be heard for their many words. 8 Do not be like them, for your Father knows what you need before you ask him. 9 Pray then like this: "Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name. 10 Your kingdom come, your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven. 11 Give us this day our daily bread, 12 and forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors. 13 And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil. 14 For if you forgive others their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you, 15 but if you do not forgive others their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses.

 

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

Ephesians: Do You Love Me?

Listen in as Dr. Ekdahl shares on the current pandemic and Anthony Garcia wraps up our series through Ephesians.

Ephesians: Safety, Strength and Stability

Listen in as we look at Ephesians 6 and see how strength, safety, and stability are found for God's people in daily life.

Ephesians: Not Today Satan

Listen in as we continue through Ephesians and look at the command, conflict, and call in the midst of spiritual warfare.

Sermon Notes/Quotes:

Ephesians 6:10-13

There are two equal and opposite errors into which our race can fall about the devils. One is to disbelieve in their existence. The other is to believe, and to feel an excessive and unhealthy interest in them. They themselves are equally pleased by both errors and hail a materialist or a magician with the same delight. - CS Lewis

“Sin is an impossible possibility, an inexplicable mystery, something that defies comprehension, something that is essential irrational and absurd, something that cannot be neatly fitted into any conceptual scheme.” - Michael Williams

“Temptation is when the Devil asks us to ignore the holiness of God. Accusation is when he blinds us to the love and grace of God.” - Tim Keller

“Mention of the “schemes” of the devil reminds us of the trickery and subterfuge (deceit) by which evil and temptation present themselves in our lives. Evil rarely looks evil until it accomplishes its goal; it gains entrance by appearing attractive, desirable, and perfectly legitimate. It is a baited and camouflaged trap” Klyne Snodgrass

“It is funny how mortals always picture us as putting things into their minds: in reality our best work is done by keeping things out.” CS Lewis

“Satan is fundamentally a liar. He lies to us about God and attempts to persuade us to worship anything rather than God. However, ultimately Satan is vulnerable. He cannot withstand the truth of God” - Tim Keller

Our Call in the Conflict:
See the schemes (where we are)

“If I can recognize a threat looming on the horizon as a deception of the enemy, the battle is more than half won. Once the scheme is exposed, it backfires by reminding me that I am in a position of strength, armed with the real promises of a victorious God against a skilled illusionist.” - Betsey Childs Howard

Our Call in the Conflict:
Deepen dependency (who we are)

Our Call in the Conflict:
Practice being a prayerful presence. (how we roll)

Ephesians: How the Revolution Began

Listen in as we look at Ephesians 6:5-9 and see the story of scripture, history of the text, theology behind the text and how it practically shapes our lives today.

 

Sermon Quotes:

Ephesians 6:5-9

“Coram Deo captures the essence of the Christian life. This phrase literally refers to something that takes place in the presence of, or before the face of, God. To live coram Deo is to live one’s entire life in the presence of God, under the authority of God, to the glory of God.” - RC Sproul

“We have the slaves submitting to their master and we have the master loving their slave, and so what Paul has created is an environment between the slave and master where slavery could only wither and die. As soon as the Christian church was established and the New Testament was written, slavery had an expiration date, because its roots died in the church. It was only a matter of time.” - Anthony Garcia

2 Corinthians 5:17-21

“Of all the world’s religions, including the three great monotheisms, only in Christianity did the idea develop that slavery was sinful and must be abolished. Although it has been fashionable to deny it, antislavery doctrines began to appear in Christian theology soon after the decline of Rome and were accompanied by the eventual disappearance of slavery in all but the fringes of Christian Europe. When Europeans subsequently instituted slavery in the New World, they did so over strenuous papal opposition, a fact that was conveniently ‘lost’ from history until recently. Finally, the abolition of New World slavery was initiated and achieved by Christian activists” - Rodney Stark

“The cursed blast of slavery has, like a pestilence, withered almost every moral bloom. I know not how any person can feel a union with such a monster, such a child of hell. I feel a burning hatred against it and look upon it as one of the most odious monsters that ever disgraced the earth.” - William Knibb (Missionary to Jamaica)

“We must develop and maintain the capacity to forgive. He who is devoid of the power to forgive is devoid of the power to love. There is some good in the worst of us and some evil in the best of us. When we discover this, we are less prone to hate our enemies.” - Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.

Ephesians: Children and Parents

Listen as we look as Anthony Garcia walks us through Ephesians 6:1-4 and shows us how Jesus brings help and hope to both children and parents.

Sermon Quotes:

“God doesn't say, 'Honor your father and mother only when they're honorable.’ Theirs is a position. They hold an office. And even if they are unworthy of that office, the office itself is still to be honored.”  -R.C. Sproul

“Honor is the unsentimental moral nucleus within the complex relationships between any child and their parents. From the day the child is born to the day the parents die—and even reaching beyond their grave as a relationship to an ineradicable memory—everything in the relationship changes except the moral duty of honor. The rule of honor is probably as universal as any human duty. No child, young or old, ought to ever dishonor their parents. In every culture, parents believe in their right to be respect by their offspring. Plato probably registered a universal ethic when he said on the scale of human decencies honor to parents is second only to piety toward God. But absolute as we must admit it to be and universal as we imagine it to be, honor to parents is a duty that shifts and slips in our hands as we try to examine what it calls us, young or old children, to do. - Lewis B Smedes

“This means that my biggest, ongoing problem as a dad is not my children, it’s me. My children don’t cause me to do and say what I do and say. No, the cause of my actions is found inside my own heart. My children are simply the occasion where my heart reveals itself in words and actions. So I need much more than just rescue and relief from my children; I need rescue from me. This is why Jesus came, to provide us with the rescue that we all need but that we cannot provide for ourselves.” - Paul Tripp

Ephesians: Marriage and the Gospel

Listen in as Jon and Karen walk through Ephesians 5:22-33 and deconstruct unhealthy views of marriage, rebuild around the truth of scripture and offer some practicalities for the road forward.

 

Sermon notes/quotes:

Ephesians 5:22-33

“Men and women today see marriage not as a way of creating character and community but as a way to reach personal life goals. They are all looking for a marriage partner who will fulfill their emotional, sexual, and spiritual desires. And that creates an extreme idealism that in turn leads to deep pessimism that you will ever find the right person to marry.” - Tim and Kathy Keller

“Marriage means, one mortal life fully shared.  Two selfish me’s start learning to think like one unified us, sharing one everything: one life, one reputation, one bed, one suffering, one budget, one family, one mission, and so forth.  No barriers.  No hiding.  No aloofness.  Now total openness with total sharing and total solidarity, until death parts them.” - Ray Ortlund

Genesis 2:18-25 (The Story of Marriage from Creation)

“Marriage is the display of Christ and his Bride in love together.  A beautiful, tender, thriving marriage makes the gospel visible on earth, bringing hope to people who have given up believing there could be any love anywhere for them.  That is why biblical marriage deserves our courageous loyalty and articulate defense today.  Its true meaning is understood and embodied and sustained only by the power of the gospel.” - Ray Ortlund

“Submission is the divine calling of a wife to honor and affirm her husband’s leadership and help carry it through according to her gifts.” - John Piper

“A husband’s leadership of his wife is meant to be a picture of Christ’s sacrificial lordship over us, driven by selfless love, full of grace, and aimed squarely at another’s benefit and joy. Christ himself, the eternal Lord of the universe, is “gentle and lowly in heart” Christian husbands are called to this same heart.” - ESV Study Bible

1 Cor 7:7-9 (Embracing the gift God has given you)

Practicalities:

Stay Centered

Cultivate Communication

Sense Seasons

Redeem Routines

Practice Joy

Live in Community

“When over the years someone has seen you at your worst, and knows you with all your strengths and flaws, yet commits him-or herself to you wholly, it is a consummate experience. To be loved but not known is comforting but superficial. To be known and not loved is our greatest fear. But to be fully known and truly loved is, well, a lot like being loved by God. It is what we need more than anything. It liberates us from pretense, humbles us out of our self-righteousness, and fortifies us for any difficulty life can throw at us.”

“In too many marital conflicts, we work too hard at winning the argument and too little at winning the heart. You can express your feelings and thoughts, even share criticisms and complaints, but the end goal of marital conflict should be care for your spouse’s soul, not trying to rack up the most points. Seeking to win is not love.” Matt Chandler

“The reason marriage is so painful and yet wonderful is because it is a reflection of the gospel, which is painful and wonderful at once. The gospel is this: We are more sinful and flawed than we ever dared believe, yet at the very same time we are more loved and accepted in Jesus Christ than we ever dared hope. This is the only kind of relationship that will really transform us…God’s saving love in Christ is marked by both radical truthfulness about who we are and yet also radical, unconditional commitment to us…Through the gospel, we get both the power and pattern for the journey of marriage” - Tim and Kathy Keller

Ephesians: Walk in Wisdom

Listen in as we continue through our journey of Ephesians and see Paul's encouragement to be attentive and walk in wisdom.

 

Quotes from the sermon:

 

The endless cycle of idea and action,
Endless invention, endless experiment,
Brings knowledge of motion, but not of stillness;
Knowledge of speech, but not of silence;
Knowledge of words, and ignorance of the Word.
All our knowledge brings us nearer to our ignorance,
All our ignorance brings us nearer to death,
But nearness to death no nearer to GOD.
Where is the Life we have lost in living?
Where is the wisdom we have lost in knowledge?
Where is the knowledge we have lost in information?
The cycles of Heaven in twenty centuries
Bring us farther from GOD and nearer to the Dust. - TS Eliot

Proverbs 15:1
Proverbs 1:1-7

Proverbs 3:5-6
Proverbs 3:7-8

James 1:5-8

God wants us to seek him, draw near to him, believe in him, and what does he do? He rewards us. It pleases him. We get to have a relationship with him. It is to our benefit to know him and he's not hiding. - Trillia Newbell

The mind is the portal to the soul, and what you fill your mind with will shape the trajectory of your character… Ultimately, nothing in this life, apart from God, can satisfy our desires. Tragically, we continue to chase after our desires ad infinitum. The result? A chronic state of restlessness or, worse, angst, anger, anxiety, disillusionment, depression—all of which lead to a life of hurry, a life of busyness, overload, shopping, materialism, careerism, a life of more…which in turn makes us even more restless. And the cycle spirals out of control. - John Mark Comer

"Gratitude is not only a response to God in good times - it's ultimately the very will of God in hard times. Gratitude isn't only a celebration when good things happen. It's a declaration that God is good no matter what happens.Being joyful isn't what makes you grateful. Being grateful is what makes you joyful." -Ann Voskamp

Ephesians: Emulating Jesus

Listen in as Anthony Garcia walks us through Ephesians 5:1-14 and see how God leads us in child-like faith to emulate Christ.

 

Sermon Quotes:

• “Our imitation of God in this life — that is, our willed imitation as distinct from any of the likenesses which He has impressed upon our natures or states — must be an imitation of God incarnate: our model is the Jesus, not only of Calvary, but of the workshop, the roads, the crowds, the clamorous demands and surly oppositions, the lack of all peace and privacy, the interruptions. For this, so strangely unlike anything we can attribute to the Divine life in itself, is apparently not only like, but is, the Divine life operating under human conditions.” - C.S. Lewis

 

• “Because when the devil throws your sins in your face and declares that you deserve death and hell, tell him this: "I admit that I deserve death and hell, what of it? For I know One who suffered and made satisfaction on my behalf. His name is Jesus Christ, Son of God, and where He is there I shall be also!”  - Martin Luther

 

• “The most fully human and complete person who ever lived was Jesus Christ. He never married. He was never in a romantic relationship, and never had sex. If we say these things are intrinsic to human fulfillment, we are calling our Savior subhuman.”     - Sam Allberry

 

• “Jesus doesn’t put the word self in front of identity. Jesus puts the word self in front of denial.” - Sam Allberry

 

• In all your course, walk with God and follow Christ as a little, poor, helpless child, taking hold of Christ's hand, keeping your eye on the mark of the wounds on his hands and side, whence came the blood that cleanses you from sin and hiding your nakedness under the skirt of the white shining robe of his righteousness. - Jonathan Edwards