Sermon: “It’s Not Fair!” A Question of God’s Righteousness (Pt 3)

“It’s Not Fair!” — A Question of God’s Righteousness (Part 3) Romans 9:27-29 September 15, 2019 The question of the day is whether God is fair and whether He is faithful to His promises. Know therefore that the Lord, your God, He is God, the faithful God, who keeps His covenant and His lovingkindness to […]

Sermon: “It’s Not Fair!” A Question of God’s Righteousness (Pt 2)

“It’s Not Fair!” — A Question of God’s Righteousness (Part 2) Romans 9:14-26 September 8, 2019 The story of God’s justice is also a story of God’s mercy. God certainly is just. He certainly will not let the guilty go unpunished (Ex. 34:7). He will execute His wrath. He must. Because He is holy He […]

Sermon: “It’s Not Fair!” A Question of God’s Righteousness

“It’s Not Fair!” — A Question of God’s Righteousness Romans 9:19-23 September 1, 2019 In homes with children — especially young children — there is an often repeated declaration that particularly reveals the theology of the children: “It’s not fair.” When dad receives a larger portion of ice cream for dessert, “it’s not fair.” (The […]

Why pray?

Two weeks ago, Pastor Keith exhorted us that in thinking about the future of Grace Bible Church, we should be thinking in terms of prayer — that a God-honoring church is a praying church. Last week, we were given an example from Paul’s letter to Colossae of the kinds of prayers to pray, and how […]

Sermon: How Shall We Pray?

How Shall We Pray? — A Prayer for the Future Colossians 1:9-12 August 18, 2019 We have remembered our church’s past. And we have remembered God’s faithfulness in our past. We have given thanks to God for His care for us over the past 40 years. Now what? As we said last Sunday, by the […]

Giving Thanks for 40 years of God’s Faithfulness

This past week, we gave thanks to the Lord as a congregation for His faithfulness to us over the 40 years of the church’s existence. A large amount of time, energy, and financial resources went into that celebration. Is it legitimate to do something like that celebration? Why should we be overt in our expression […]

Sermon: We Give Thanks to God

We Give Thanks to God Colossians 1:3-8 August 11, 2019 A tremendous amount of effort has gone into acknowledging GBC’s 40th anniversary. Hours and hours in planning, interviewing, designing logos, phone calling, ordering (food and shirts and…), setting up tables and chairs, mowing, marking parking, and more. Is it worth the effort? Is there value […]

The Lord, Our Help — for 40 years (and counting)

Much of life is ordinary and routine. Get up in the morning, get a cup of coffee, get the kids ready for school, go to work, come home, pay bills or mow the lawn, go to bed. Get up. Repeat. But periodically, circumstances change unexpectedly, and unusually joyful events are interjected into our lives. Babies […]

Sermon: The Light of God’s Word in the Darkness of the World

The Light of God’s Word in the Darkness of the World Psalm 119:105-112 August 4, 2019 We live in a dark world. We live in a world where people are blind to the reality of God, the devastation of sin, the truth of Christ and His righteousness. We live in a world where blind people […]

Words of (great) grace: “but God…”

Profound words are often not multisyllabic, impressive words. Profound words are often simple words interjected at significant moments. They are words like, “I love you,” “I will help,” “I’m coming,” “Yes,” or “No,” and “I am with you.” The profundity of the words is that they are helpful and gracious words interjected at a moment […]

Sermon: The Grace of God Has Appeared

The Grace of God Has Appeared Titus 2:11-15 July 28, 2019 Forty years ago this summer, Grace Bible Church held its first worship service. For forty years, GBC has been worshipping God, discipling believers, evangelizing unbelievers, and sending the gospel through missions to foreign lands. For forty years we have seen and experienced God’s faithfulness […]

When Scripture speaks

The Apostle Paul is fond of quoting from the Old Testament — particularly in the book of Romans. In that theological treatise, the apostle quotes the Old Testament directly over 60 times. And over half those quotations appear in three chapters — Romans 9-11. As Paul lays the foundation for God’s sovereignty in salvation in […]

Sermon: God’s Sovereign Mercy, Pt 4

God’s Sovereign Mercy, Pt. 4 Romans 9:6-18 July 7, 2019 There are some things we don’t like to talk about or think about. Because we don’t like to think about our finances we don’t balance our bank statement for six months — and that tends to make us want to think about it even less! […]

How God chooses men for salvation

Romans 9 is the beginning of an extended section in Romans about the sovereignty of God in salvation — how does God bring about salvation in those who were hated by Him and who hated Him? That God is not only the author of salvation in that He accomplishes it, but He is also the […]

Sermon: God’s Sovereign Mercy, Pt 3

God’s Sovereign Mercy, Pt. 3 Romans 9:6-13 June 30, 2019 Starting at the end of July, we are going to spend a few weeks reflecting on God’s glory and grace to us as a church body, as we think about 40 years of ministry at GBC. We will think about a variety of ways that […]