Archives for July 2020

In addition to C.J.'s recent sermon series, Faithfulness in a Fractured World, below are resources that the pastors of SGCL commend to you. Race Bloodlines: Race, Cross, and the Christian (John Piper) Every People and Nation: A Biblical Theology of Race (J. Daniel Hays) Mission of the Church What is the Mission of the Church? (Kevin DeYoung Greg Gilbert) ...

Ex 32:1-14Overview of Sermon:Moses is on Mt Sinai receiving the instructions for the tabernacle in which God intends to dwell in the midst of his people. Waiting for Moses to return, the Israelites' impatience turns to rebellion as they complain to Aaron, demanding an idol to replace the missing Moses. God's wrath is stirred, but in his mercy he informs Moses of the loomin...

"Exodus 32 is simultaneously one of the low points and one of the high points in Israel's history." Don Carson "You shall not make for yourself a carved image, or any likeness of anything that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth. You shall not bow down to them or serve them, for I the Lord your God am a jealous God"...

Overview of Sermon: These chapters in Exodus give detailed instructions for building the tabernacle. Far from being irrelevant today, we were reminded of the tabernacle's importance: For the first time since Eden, God will dwell among his chosen people. The tabernacle is meant to communicate a message and function as a place of God's dwelling, a place of revelation, and a...

"What was the point of such a demand for precise adherence to a revealed design? It was to create a longing for and hope of heaven in the hearts of God's peoplea desire to live in his presence forever." Douglas Stuart "The truly staggering answer which the Bible gives to this question is that God's purpose in revelation is to make friends with us. It was to this end that ...

"Within the context of Exodus this section provides an exceptionally important introduction to all that will take place in the rest of the bookVerses 1-2 set the scene chronologically and geographically for the events that will be narrated in the rest of Exodus, God's speech to Moses in verses 4-6 sets the scene theologically for the covenant that will be formally ratified...

Overview of Sermon:Exodus 19:1-6 is the heart of the book of Exodus as well as the entire Old Testament as God delivers the people of Israel and invites them into a covenant relationship. Israel was meant to perceive God's tender and personal affection for them as his treasured possession. God saved Israel through his divine action alone and called them to gratefully serve...

"It was the explicit aim of Jesus, in his earthly ministry, to save and gather a people of God not defined by any one race or ethnicity, or any political banner, but rather defined by faith in himself as the only Savior, absolute Lord, and supreme Treasure. Thus his mission was, among other glorious things, the end of ethnocentrism." John Piper "in Jerusalem and in all Ju...

Acts 8:26-40 marks a significant moment in salvation history, when the gospel crosses into the gentile world and begins to go to the ends of the earth. This expansion begins with a eunuch, a God-fearer, a foreigner, and one who is hungry for the Word of God. C.J. used this passage to explain how a biblical worldview is a multiethnic worldview. The salvation of this Ethiopi...

"There is a political or social dimension to Christianity which is simply inescapable. But, Christians should think through all things-including the nature of social or political reality-in explicitly scriptural categories." Brad Green "A Samaritan was just about the last person that anyone in Israel would expect to stop and help. In centuries past the Samaritans had defi...