Mercy is the chief characteristic of God in the Old Testament. That’s right! It’s not His wrath but His mercy that prevails in describing God through those 39 books. Unfortunately, mercy is a misunderstood concept in our society, making it difficult to comprehend this vital biblical truth. Many states (not North Carolina) have what is called a No Fault car insurance which avoids assessing blame on either of the drivers involved in an accident. Society has adopted a “mercy light” version of mercy that is characterised by tolerance, attempting to  gloss over guilt. But is it possible to experience true mercy without first acknowledging guilt?  The mercy that describes God in the Old Testament does not gloss over sin or the guilt that comes with it. As a matter of fact, guilt must first be acknowledged before a person could enjoy the blessings of God’s mercy. Furthermore, God’s righteous holiness must be respected by the just punishment of that guilt. That is where mercy comes in. The gospel reveals the mercy of God in that when we acknowledge the guilt of our sin before a holy God, Christ becomes the object of God’s wrath on the cross so we can experience the radical love of God in the forgiveness of our sins. If we only ask God to tolerate our sins, His divine wrath is never satisfied and we would remain hopelessly separated from him. And how do we know if we have genuinely received the mercy of God? You will joyfully offer mercy to those that are burdened with guilt from a sin against you – something that can only be done in our lives through a supernatural work of God. Join us this Sunday as we take a deep dive into the refreshing waters of God’s Mercy.

Values are a popular concept today. It is used all the way from our highest-ranking elected officials to multibillion-dollar corporations, to philanthropists, to non-profit organizations, churches, and right down to the individuals. You could say there is a buffet of values today! Values encapsulate the purpose and goals of the person or group. Stating their values serves as a rutter that directs decisions and how resources are used. Values point to morals.

As the culture shifts to be more secular, we find the values of individuals or groups are often in conflict with the virtues of Scripture: when life begins, gender, marriage, the family, work ethic, the origin of the universe just to name a few. There is an attempt to have morals without God – But I would respectfully present to you that is an impossibility!

In 1896 George Jacob Holyoake, an atheist and coiner of the term Secularism, insisted it is possible to do good apart from God, saying, “It is good to do good.” What good was he referring to? Reflecting on what is good for secularists, sociologist Phil Zuckerman said, “The answer is simple: the Golden Rule. Being good means treating others as we would like to be treated. That is the bedrock of secular morality.” And who could argue that is not a good thing to do. However, unbeknownst to Zuckerman, the Golden Rule is taken from the Sermon on the Mount – Matthew 7:12 “So in everything, do to others what you would have them do to you, for this sums up the Law and the Prophets.” What we see here is that there can be no true and lasting values or virtues or morals that are not based on God. For the Christian, our values need to be based on the virtue of Christ and the doctrine that is revealed in Holy Scripture.

Sunday, we are talking about the pursuit of righteousness. This righteousness is not subjective or individualistic. It is a clear reference to what is RIGHT based on the person and character of God! God himself is righteousness! He is always right! It is impossible for him to be wrong!  God himself is the standard of what is right! Jesus’ promise is that hunger and thirst for righteousness shall be satisfied. Join us this Sunday as we find lasting satisfaction for our deepest hungers.

This Sunday we continue the sermon series based on the Beatitudes in Matthew 5. The Beatitudes are the most significant moral teaching in all the New Testament, contextualizing the teaching of the Old Testament for the church in the age of Grace. Sunday we will look at the third Beatitude , “Blessed are the meek.” Meekness is not a popular character trait in the secular world view. We live in a “look at me world” which has no room for meekness and it is often equated with weakness as coined in the phrase “nice guys finish last.” As with all of Jesus’s moral teaching, the Kingdom world view is the opposite of secular society. Meekness addresses complex issues like how should we respond when we are wronged or our rights have been violated? When should we exert the power we have and what brings true and lasting justice?

This has been a troubling week on several fronts for our nation and for our Baptist denomination.  Those who were responsible for violence against others exercised a gross abuse of the power they had. It is safe to say if they were people of meekness we would not be grieving the loss of life and the loss of innocence. Jesus is the ultimate example of meekness: he held the power of heaven, and yet for our sake he willingly surrendered his life so others could be restored to the Father. Quite frankly, what our world needs  is more political leaders, business owners, spritual leaders and parents that demonstrate meekness in how they deal wth others.

The promise Jesus gives to those who are meek is an inheritance. And who doesn’t get excited about receiving an inheritance! But I’ll save what that inheritance is for Sunday. Join us this Sunday as we consider Meekness in a Look At Me World.

We live in a world where we don’t like to admit to or even recognize that we have expereinced a loss of some kind. Our general response when asked “how are you today” is the simeple “good” even when things are not.  We are conditioned to always put the best foot forward and in so doing we run the risk of denying our emotions which leads to all kinds of difficulties. From a casual glance, the statement “Blessed are those who mourn” can seem trite and even insensitive but nothing could be further from the truth. In this beatitude the word “mourn” is an active verb inviting us to recognize our feelings when we expereince a loss of some kind. God created us with emotions and Jesus is promissing a blessing to those that are willing to acknowledge and process those emotions in a godly way.

In the Old Testament there is a genre of literature called the Lament. It generally goes like this: something bad happened to me, so I feel bad, so I question God why this happened, and God anwsers me with the assurance of His loving care for me. We don’t talk much about Laments in churches today – but we need to. There is also a genre of music you may be more familar with that is based on the same ideas as a Lament: The Blues. Most Blues songs go like this: something bad happened and I’m feeling bad so I’m going to do something different in my life. When Jesus pronounces a blessing for those who mourn, for those who actively deal with their emotions in a godly way, he is really inviting us to sing the Blues. But unlike the Blues we are not left on our own to find a resolution. Christ promises that those who mourn will be comforted. The word comforted is referring to the supernatural and is loaded with meaning, but we will leave that for Sunday morning.  Join us this Sunday as we learn to sing the Blues Jesus style.

The electronic devices we all are so dependent on can be fun and a tremendous benefit in life, until they don’t work the way they are supposed to. Most of us love the challenge of trying to figure out what went wrong and try with all our might to fix it. But at the end of the day the sure fire way to right the wrong of an electronic device is to hit the reset button. Amazingly that usually fixes whatever was ailing your device. The spiritual life can be a bit like that. It seems to be going good, until it isn’t anymore. And we also try to fix it with all our natural resources and might. But like that electronic device the sure fire way to get our spiritual life back to where it needs to be is to hit the reset button as it were. The Apostle Peter got imself in a bad situation during the cricifixion of Christ by denying that he ever knew Jesus. When we meet up with Peter and some of the other disciples in John 21, Peter has returned to what he did before he met Jesus – fishing. In this passage Peter, an experienced fisherman found his efforts in fishing to be futile, until Jesus showed up. After Jesus causes Peter to make a miraculous catch of fish he lovingly restores Peter’s walk with him and Peter hits the reset button. You will often here me say that the success of the Christian life is a series of new beginnings. It was for Peter in John 21 and it may be time for you to hit the reset button and have a new beginning with Jesus. Join us this Sunday.

The Bible is a supernatural book that records many supernatural events. People are intrigued to hear how about the exodus of the Jesus under the leadership of Moses: the 10 plagues and then the crossing of the red sea. It was supernatural. We love the account of Daniel and the lion’s den, Elijah and the prophets of Baal and the miraculous victory of Gideon. In the New Testament we read about the supernatural visit of angels to the people in the Christmas narrative and the amazing events around the birth of Jesus. And of course, we love to hear about the miracles of Jesus in the four gospels. As great as all those events are in the biblical narrative, by far the greatest supernatural event in all the Bible is the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the grave. The resurrection is what makes every other miracle worth paying attention to and it is the central truth of the Christian faith. For that reason, the resurrection has faced the greatest opposition from humanists, resulting in many people being deceived into thinking it never happened. Join us this Sunday are we explore a defense of the resurrection of Christ, using both the Bible and non-biblical sources to support this fact of history. Why I believe in the Resurrection of Jesus.

We also will have three people being baptised this Sunday at the 10:30 service. There is no better way to celebrate the resurrection of Jesus then with a baptism during the service.

Peace in a World of Evil –

This Sunday is Palm Sunday! It is the start of Holy Week and the day we remember Jesus rode a donkey into the city of Jerusalem as people spread palm leaves and coats on the pathway. Why a donkey and why on that day? Jesus chose to ride a donkey in fulfillment of Zechariah 9:9, but also because it communicated that He was coming to offer his kingdom to the people of Israel in a peaceful way. But the fact that Jesus did it on this particular day is also significant. That day was one week before the Day of Passover and was the day Jewish families would select the lamb they would sacrifice on the Day of Passover. Jesus came to offer PEACE in a World of Evil. As events would unfold during Holy Week the nation would reject Jesus and his kingdom offer, culminating in His crucifixion. What is amazing about this event is through his death and resurrection the ultimate PEACE was accomplished as Jesus satisfied the wrath of God by taking our sins on himself, making it possible for mankind to have relationship with a Holy God. Join us for Palm Sunday as we find PEACE in a World of Evil. Text – Matthew 21:1-11.

The Walk of the Spiritually Mature

James states the main theme of the book in the opening words of the book (1:4): “. . . that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything.” The book’s theme is spiritual growth toward maturity and thus, the title of this series; “Growing Up with Jesus.” This Sunday we will conclude this book and sermon series by considering chapter 5:13-20. James opens (1:2) “Consider it pure joy . . . when you face trials” and closes this book, (5:13) “Is any one of you in trouble,” by pointing out the role trials play in our spiritual growth. If spiritual growth is the theme of the book, it is hard to miss the point that we grow through our trials. These closing verses of the book paint a picture of what the mature follower of Christ will be like. We might think it is because of the great things they have done or the deep knowledge they have of scripture but it’s not. James characterizes the mature follower of Christ as a person that lives with an attitude of prayerful dependance on God. Once again, the spiritual life is the opposite of the natural world. In the natural world maturity comes when the individual learns to live autonomously of their parents. Christians are mature when they learn to live dependent upon their heavenly father.

The Services Sunday will conclude with Communion.

Patience is needed for spiritual growth and at the same time it is one of the greatest indicators of spiritual maturity. Unfortunately, the best way for patience to be developed is through trials and testing. We all are familiar with Romans 5:3 “. . . tribulation worketh patience” and James agrees with that sentiment in 5:1-12 that God uses trials for our growth. James uses the farmer as an example of patience. Farming requires a lot of hard work, planning, patience, and faith that what has been sown will produce a crop. In the spiritual life we act by faith in obedience to God, trusting that in due season he will bring for fruit to His glory. Join us this Sunday as we take a look at the patience of a farmer and spiritual growth.

As you are aware I have been doing a sermon series, “Growing Up with Jesus,” where we are moving passage by passage through the Epistle of James. I generally like to preach in a series that sometimes is topical (but still based on a scripture passage) and other times, like this one, is totally driven by the content of a book or section of a book.  I like to preach through a book or section of a book because it forces me as a preacher and us as a congregation to address what can be some difficult and uncomfortable issues. Scripture is timeless and is relatable to life across cultures, as well as generations of time. I hope in some way God has spoken to you through this book and I pray that you all are continuing to Grow Up with Jesus.

This Sunday we will cover the entire fourth chapter of James with a message titled “The Posture for Spiritual Growth.” The spiritual life runs counter to the ways of the natural world and the norms of various societies. The natural world operates on a survival of the fittest mindset; that in order to grow you need to assert yourself and watch out for number one! Spiritual growth is the opposite. Spiritual growth only takes place when we assume the posture of submission and humility. Anything else will stunt spiritual growth. Join me this Sunday as we consider the correct posture for growth.