What a beautiful day for worship this past Sunday!  We’ve been walking through the text of Genesis and examining the story of Noah and the Flood.  As we approach Easter Sunday, I hope that we will be able to see the parallels of God redeeming act through Noah and God’s superior redeeming act through His Son, Jesus Christ.

In this part of the story, I thought about how Noah and his family could survive approximately 400 days together in the ark.  Imagine staying in one place with your family with no other outside contact for over a year!  I think for most of us a week is plenty.

How did they get along?  Their focus, trust, and devotion was in God.  Their obedience to His plan and following through with that helped them see beyond themselves and be totally committed to His will in their lives.

How about for you?  Within your family, workplace, community, and even church…how do we get along?  When we are truly devoted to God and seeking His will in our lives, our own desires become God’s.  When the desires of God become the desires of our family, we move in step with His plan, and there we find joy.  The same is true of our church.  Several scriptures point to where the early church was most blessed when it was one in spirit and mind seeking God’s leading for their lives.  May we remember daily that it is not about us, and may we seek to please Him each and every day.

You can download the sermon here:  Eight is Enough by Rev. Bryon LePere

Scriptures Referenced:

• Genesis 7:1-5
  • 1 Peter 3:20
• Genesis 7:6-16
  • Malachi 3:10
• Genesis 7:17-24
  • Jonah 2:7
  • Exodus 13:20-21
  • Joshua 1:6-9
  • Acts 2:42-47, 4:32, 9:31
  • Matthew 21:42-43
  • Mark 4:35-39
• Ephesians 4:1-6, Philippians 1:27, Hebrews 12:1-2

Another great day to be in God’s House!  It was truly a blessing to have Matt from the IMB share with us in worship.  Please keep him in your prayers as he and his family head to Japan next Wednesday.

In my message I started us in a study of Noah and the Flood.  There is certainly a dearth of research and study on this topic, and I will fall short, but I want us to consider how the story of God and Noah has parallels with the story of God and Jesus.  In both stories, God does something new in seeking to redeem His Creation to Himself.

As much as God’s work with Noah was an act of compassion, we see the heart of God in Jesus when Jesus tells us of His compassion for Jerusalem and we consider what He does for humankind through His death and Resurrection.  And, just as everyone else had rejected God in Noah’s time, so many rejected Jesus.

And, today, I believe there are still many that reject Christ when they claim His Word as their guide, and yet they intentionally reject so many of His teachings.  Thoughts?

You can download the sermon here: The Heart of God by Rev. Bryon LePere

Scriptures Referenced:

• Genesis 6:5-8
• Colossians 1:19, 2:9
• 1 Samuel 15:11, Joel 2:13
• Genesis 18:3, Exodus 33:17
• Luke 13:34-35
  • Matthew 9:36
  • John 11:35, Matthew 26:38
  • Matthew 23:37
    • James 4:17
• Matthew 5:38-39, 43-44, 6:14-15, 7:1-3
• Mark 9:35, Luke 18:18-25, John 6:60-67

Another great day to be in the House of the Lord!  In the past few weeks, I am finding myself more and more drawn into God’s Word and His Holy Scripture.  Not that I avoided it before, but I am even more motivated to get to know Him through the Bible.  Part of this was reflected in my message Sunday.  I did not want to preach from Romans 12:17, but after reading it during the week, I couldn’t get away from it.  What a challenge to all of us to strive to do what is right before everybody.

But then this begs the question – who’s right?  And is that who’s (who is) or who’s (possessive)?  Think of all the incredible outside influences in our lives today – newsmedia, family, friends, co-workers.  And so many of our news channels are driven today by personalities as much as they are driven by the actual news!

So who’s right?  Simply put, God is.  And where do we find that right?  We find it in scripture.  No matter what else you have learned through the years or what you see in the newsmedia, it is God’s Word that is the final statement on what is right.  One of the fundamental aspects of having a Biblical worldview according to George Barna is believing that there is absolute truth in our world.  Sadly, many people think too much in our world is relative, which leaves us open to all kinds of viewpoints controlling our world.

As Christian believers, we need to build our faith on what is right, by God’s standard.  Then we need to be careful with that, guarding and growing from that grace and knowledge, and finally we must realize that making everybody happy is impossible.  In the end, the One that must be pleased by us is God, and He is the one that we live to honor and glorify.

You can download the sermon here:  Who’s Right? by Rev. Bryon LePere

Scriptures Referenced:

1. Romans 12:17
2. Psalm 19:8, Hosea 14:9
3. Proverbs 14:12, Judges 21:25
4. Deuteronomy 6:3, Joshua 23:6, 11
5. Psalm 1
6. Ephesians 5:15, Matthew 12:33-37
   1. Luke 3:8, Acts 26:20
7. Proverbs 3:1-7, 2 Timothy 3:12
8. 2 Timothy 4:1-5
9. Galatians 5:14-15
10. John 14:15
    1. John 15:12, Psalm 103:8-10

What a morning!  What a blessing to be in God’s house!  I looked at Genesis 3 where Adam and Eve and the serpent are judged, cursed, and cast out of the Garden of Eden.  In our own lives and faith, we are either moving away from God through our sin (going) or we are growing closer to Him through our maturing faith (coming).  My 3 points:

1. Are you going?  Are you living in sin absent a relationship with Jesus Christ?  Just as Adam and Eve through their disobedience were driven out (and away) from God, so too we are moving away from Him when we persist in our sinful disobedience.
2. Are you coming?  Are you a believer, having truly repented and been baptized into a community of faith?  2 Peter 3.18 tells us to grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.  Our lives should be lived in the constant pursuit of knowing Christ and growing in Christ each and every day.
3. If you are coming, if you are a believer, how are you influencing others?  Does your life and witness cause them to move closer to faith in God (coming) or are you driving them away (going)?  Too often we get comfortable, thinking that we are saved and have little left to do.  That in itself is wrong, but how much worse to consider that because of our negative or hypocritical example of faith we might keep others from coming into the saving grace and knowledge of Jesus Christ?

Scriptures Referenced:

• Genesis 3.8-24
• Isaiah 59.2
• Matthew 7.13-14
• Luke 17.1-3
• Romans 5.18-19, 6.23, 10.9-10, 12.17
• 1 Corinthians 10.31-32
• 2 Corinthians 5.16-21
• Ephesians 2.1-2
• Hebrews 6.4-12
• Revelations 21.25

Your thoughts?