Grace Church Elk Grove

Now in chapters 11-14, Paul is concerned with God’s glory being clearly DISPLAYED in the church, especially in its worship.

Today we consider v. 2-16 of chapter 11, and we must do so mindful of two obstacles. First, this passage involves women in worship, and WE have been discipled into feminism and egalitarianism more than we realize.

The second obstacle is that we are more materialistic and less supernatural in our outlook and i...

This is now the third Sunday we are considering the sin of ENVY. This is not because we ENJOY it, but because ENVY is THE emotion which inflates our superheated world.

Today Pastor Jed describes three reasons why socialism is immoral, sinful and harmful to the world. That’s because it breaks three commandments: the 8th commandment, the 10th commandment, and the Great Commandment. Therefore, socialism is wrong, evil and stupid.

Lis...

We are returning to the topic of envy today because it is THE emotion which superheats our pressurized age.

Envy drives everything OUT THERE. But how could this be, in a country with so many Christians? It’s because WE are the salt and light, but we have not taken seriously Jesus’ command in Luke 12:15:

“Take care, and be on your guard against all covetousness”

As the church goes, so goes the culture. Yet this command wraps so...

“There is no atheism among those brought up in nature.” Or, as Psalm 19 begins, “The heavens declare the glory of GOD . . . day to day pours out speech . . . There is no speech, nor are there words, whose voice is not heard.”

You can stamp out buildings and people, but not the stars. God speaks, and ALL hear it. God in fact speaks in THREE ways to us. Through His creation, v. 1-6; through His Word, v. 7-11; and through our conscie...

Today we consider Psalm 18.

It is a long Psalm - 50 verses. But its point is very simple. David praises God, for making him successful in war, specifically over Israel’s first king Saul and all his other enemies.

The language is poetically graphic - David heaps up words to create vivid images. For God’s anointed son, David, God is, v. 1-3, his strength, a rock, David’s fortress, his deliverer, his refuge, his shield, the horn of h...

One of the failures of the American Church that has led to today’s insanities is that we have thought, after the end of the Cold War, that we have no enemies left. And that may have been true, geopolitically. But in many places Jesus assumed that those who follow HIM WOULD have enemies - for instance, Matt. 24:9. We who follow Christ are hated by ALL nations.

We must not assume, therefore, that one of us is doing anything wrong, w...

David asks a question in Psalm 15 that humanity has been asking throughout history, even up to this day: who can stand before God? Who is good enough.

This is not just a Christian question. All humanity asks this. The missionary at camp recently told us how, when they came to the secluded tribe in Papau New Guineau, how they told the missionary that they KNEW they had done wrong - they KNEW they were separated from God. They ju...

Today we Christians spend a lot of ink and energy on the OBVIOUS and BLATANT forms of atheism that show up everywhere. But like the lookout on the Titanic, we can be sure that when we see OVERT atheism in classrooms courtrooms or boardrooms or elder meetings or worship services, that we only see the small portion of ice ABOVE the water. We can be sure that there is a LOT more under the surface. OBVIOUS, public atheism only comes af...

We have a tendency to look to the ancient past and assume that we are more mature, emotionally and morally, than those cave-dwellers of the past. But the truth is that we HAVE progressed technologically. And yet it possible to PROGRESS one way, while at the same time REGRESS in other ways - for our generation, that regression is in how we emotionally process our world. We have much to re-learn from David in Psalm 12, in how HE emot...

Throwing up your hands and saying, there’s nothing to do, except exit the field of battle, and run for the hills.

After all, if the very foundations of society are destroyed, what then can the righteous do? If the institutions that we have created and treasured have become corrupt, what then can good people do? If our elites, who are supposed to affirm the good and punish evil don’t CARE what those words even MEAN, then what hope ...

First I want us to see three truths about you, from John’s first letter. Christianity NEVER says, DO this, and then you will BE this. Christianity says, you ARE this, because of what Christ has done. So then, by faith in Him, DO this.

So John, in a sort of poem in his letter, says three things about you, that are already true.

1.”You HAVE OVERCOME the evil one.”

2. “You know the Father.”

3. “You are strong . . . And the word of God...