Let Justice Roll On Like A River

January 26, 2025

Amos 3:1-2, 9-10; 4:1; 5:7, 10-12, 24; 6:1-7; 8:4-6 — Amos continues to pronounce God’s judgment against Israel’s sins, which includes various social, political, economic, and legal injustices committed against others. Israel is guilty of the sin of self-indulgence and self-pleasing. They loved gain more than they love honesty and God. Wealth and success brought about a false sense of security. Although they seemed to be very religious, their religion was fake, hypocritical, wrong, and untrue. Their special intimate covenant relationship with God does not ensure privilege without responsibility nor indemnify them from God’s judgment and punishment. Therefore, God will punish them for all their sins. Again, there will be no escape. God’s punishment serves to remove the unfaithful non-members and to discipline and purify his people. As God’s people today, the blood of the Lamb redeemed us for obedience, holiness, and righteous living. Therefore, in all we say and do, we must let justice roll on like a river in all we do.

Series on the Old Testament Prophets — Walk in God’s Ways.

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No Escape!

January 19, 2025

Amos 2:4-16 dealt within the context of chapters 1-3:2 — God’s people rejected God’s Word. They despised his truth and his ways. Therefore, they fell into lies and sin and no longer walked in God’s ways. They committed acts of unrighteousness against other human beings driven by the lust for power and possessions. They oppressed others. This self-centeredness expresses itself in political oppression, slave trade, barbarous cruelty, denial of others’ legal or economic rights, lack of compassion, use and misuse of women, and forced conformity to the standards of the privileged. Violence turns people into objects and denies their inherent worth. It negates the creation of human community. Sin is not only sin against the first great commandment to love God, but also sin against and disobedience of the second great commandment to love others as ourselves. The nations ought to have known better, but God’s people did know better because God’s truth and ways had been revealed to them. However, blessings, prosperity, and peace have led to spiritual and moral complacency. Sins against God—whether in forgetfulness, neglect, or rebellion—invariably turn against one’s fellow human beings. Crimes against humanity are expressions of defiance against the Almighty. Being God’s chosen people is no excuse for not walking in his ways. His people rejected God’s grace and salvation. God’s people have forfeited His favor. Therefore, there will be no escaping God’s judgment and punishment for breaking His covenant with his people. Walking in God’s ways means that we must live every day in the awareness of the One, the Lord God Almighty, who stood on Mount Sinai, declaring his will, and the One who hung on Mt. Calvary on the cross, demonstrating his love for us.

Series on the Old Testament Prophets — Walk in God’s Ways.

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Walk in God’s Ways

January 12, 2025

Deuteronomy 5:31–33; 30:15-20; Jeremiah 6:16-17; 7:21-26; 18:15; Isaiah 2:1-5 — The prophets proclaim God’s ways and call His people to walk in His ways. They are imaginers and visionaries of God’s alternative kingdom reality drastically different from the present order. God himself acts in human history to bring this about. The prophets call God’s people to repent and turn back to God’s way. Holy living includes not only correct worship but also social, economic, and political justice. God’s ways are for the whole of life. Worship without justice is worthless. Those who refuse to repent and deny God’s ways will experience God’s judgment. But God also saves his people when they repent and return to his ways. God’s people are to be a blessing for the nations. They walk in God’s ways to show God and his ways to the world.

This begins our new series on the Old Testament Prophets — Walk in God’s Ways.

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Truth, Love & Hospitality

December 8, 2024

Matthew 5:44-45; 11:25-30; John 15:1-5, 12-14; Mark 12:29-31; 1 John 3:16-18; 4:7-12; Luke 6:27-28; 14:12-14, 16-23; Romans 12:13; Hebrews 13:1-3; 1 Peter 4:9-10 — How then should we practice kingdom politics as kingdom citizens? In short, kingdom politics proclaim and apply God’s truth to our politics, and we do so by practicing love and hospitality. We follow Jesus by taking upon us his easy yoke and light burden. We abide in him and learn from him God’s truth. Then we proclaim God’s truth, and we practice the truth by doing God’s will and obeying his commands. The greatest of these commands is to love God and our fellow humans created in God’s image. We love all, including our enemies. We love them by practicing and showing hospitality to strangers, others, and our enemies. This is possible because the living God empowers us to live as Christ did. When we love and practice hospitality, every person can meet Jesus in us and experience God’s love for them through us.

Many resources were used in this series. Here are some of the sources that shaped this series and the content of the sermons: Craig R. Koester, Revelation and the End of All Things, Second Edition (Grand Rapids, MI: William B. Eerdmans Publishing Company, 2018); McKnight, Scot; Matchett, Cody. Revelation for the Rest of Us: A Prophetic Call to Follow Jesus as a Dissident Disciple (Zondervan. Kindle Edition); Wright, N. T.; Bird, Michael F F. Jesus and the Powers: Christian Political Witness in an Age of Totalitarian Terror and Dysfunctional Democracies. Zondervan. Kindle Edition. Gregory A. Boyd, 2005. The Myth of a Christian Nation. Zondervan, Grand Rapids, Michigan. David VanDrunen, 2020. Politics after Christendom: Political Theology in A Fractured World. Zondervan Academic. Shreve, JB, 2023. Politically Incorrect: Real Faith in an Era of Unreal Politics. Windmill Media. Kindle Edition. Alberta, Tim, 2023. The Kingdom, the Power, and the Glory: American Evangelicals in an Age of Extremism. HarperCollins. Kindle Edition. Gitsham, Denise Grace, 2023. Politics for People Who Hate Politics: How to Engage without Losing Your Friends or Selling Your Soul. Baker Publishing Group. Kindle Edition. Chang, Curtis; French, Nancy, 2024. The After Party: Toward Better Christian Politics. Zondervan. Kindle Edition. Cho, Eugene, 2020. Thou Shalt Not Be a Jerk: A Christian's Guide to Engaging Politics. David C Cook. Kindle Edition. Moore, Russell D, 2023. Losing Our Religion: An Altar Call for Evangelical America. Penguin Publishing Group. Kindle Edition. Pamela Cooper-White, The Psychology of Christian Nationalism: Why People Are Drawn In and How to Talk Across the Divide (Minneapolis, MN: Fortress Press, 2022). Wayne A. Grudem, Politics according to the Bible: A Comprehensive Resource for Understanding Modern Political Issues in Light of Scripture (Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan, 2010). Andrew L. Whitehead, 2023. American Idolatry: How Christian Nationalism Betrays the Church and Threatens the Church. Brazos Press. Bonnie Kristian, 2022. Untrustworthy: The Knowledge Crisis Breaking Our Brains, Polluting Our Politics, and Corrupting Christian Community.

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Kingdom Living, Kingdom of God, Kingdom of heaven, Faith & Politics, Faith & CultureSUCCTag 01, Tag 02
“In” But Not “Of”

December 1, 2024

John 17:1-26; 1 Peter 1:1; 2:11-12; Jeremiah 29:4-13 — As kingdom people, we are in but not of the world. Jesus sent us into the world as God’s holy people to proclaim and be witnesses of his already here and coming kingdom. How are we in but not of the world? We are exiles living and working alongside unbelievers in the world as resident aliens. As exiles, we seek the welfare, the shalom, of the societies and cultures we are part of. This shalom vision derives its meaning and values from God’s kingdom and not from the culture. The political implications for Christian exiles are that we cannot hitch our faith to any one political ideology because God’s kingdom politics transcends, supersedes, and exceeds all worldly political ideologies and agendas. Thus, we neither assimilate nor isolate ourselves from our culture and society but seek the society's welfare so that they can see, hear, and experience God’s love.

Many resources were used in this series. Here are some of the sources that shaped this series and the content of the sermons: Craig R. Koester, Revelation and the End of All Things, Second Edition (Grand Rapids, MI: William B. Eerdmans Publishing Company, 2018); McKnight, Scot; Matchett, Cody. Revelation for the Rest of Us: A Prophetic Call to Follow Jesus as a Dissident Disciple (Zondervan. Kindle Edition); Wright, N. T.; Bird, Michael F F. Jesus and the Powers: Christian Political Witness in an Age of Totalitarian Terror and Dysfunctional Democracies. Zondervan. Kindle Edition. Gregory A. Boyd, 2005. The Myth of a Christian Nation. Zondervan, Grand Rapids, Michigan. David VanDrunen, 2020. Politics after Christendom: Political Theology in A Fractured World. Zondervan Academic. Shreve, JB, 2023. Politically Incorrect: Real Faith in an Era of Unreal Politics. Windmill Media. Kindle Edition. Alberta, Tim, 2023. The Kingdom, the Power, and the Glory: American Evangelicals in an Age of Extremism. HarperCollins. Kindle Edition. Gitsham, Denise Grace, 2023. Politics for People Who Hate Politics: How to Engage without Losing Your Friends or Selling Your Soul. Baker Publishing Group. Kindle Edition. Chang, Curtis; French, Nancy, 2024. The After Party: Toward Better Christian Politics. Zondervan. Kindle Edition. Cho, Eugene, 2020. Thou Shalt Not Be a Jerk: A Christian's Guide to Engaging Politics. David C Cook. Kindle Edition. Moore, Russell D, 2023. Losing Our Religion: An Altar Call for Evangelical America. Penguin Publishing Group. Kindle Edition. Pamela Cooper-White, The Psychology of Christian Nationalism: Why People Are Drawn In and How to Talk Across the Divide (Minneapolis, MN: Fortress Press, 2022). Wayne A. Grudem, Politics according to the Bible: A Comprehensive Resource for Understanding Modern Political Issues in Light of Scripture (Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan, 2010). Andrew L. Whitehead, 2023. American Idolatry: How Christian Nationalism Betrays the Church and Threatens the Church. Brazos Press. Bonnie Kristian, 2022. Untrustworthy: The Knowledge Crisis Breaking Our Brains, Polluting Our Politics, and Corrupting Christian Community.

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Kingdom Living, Kingdom of God, Kingdom of heaven, Faith & Politics, Faith & CultureSUCCTag 01, Tag 02