On Sunday mornings Pastor Dirk and other guest speakers take the Bible and provide inspiring, encouraging, and often challenging messages to help you grow spiritually and discover good news from Jesus for your life.
If you are going to participate online, you can get the sermon notes and bulletins for each week below. Also there are links to the specific sermons, and an audio player for most Sunday messages.
Is it better to be a servant or a master? In 1979 Bob Dylan released the song, "Gotta Serve Somebody." We are all going to end up serving somebody or something - and what we serve impacts our whole lives. But we can also be a master. When following Jesus, we are not supposed to be pushed around or driven by the things of this world, we need to take control and serve our Master well.
Matthew 25:14-46 “enter into the joy of your master” & “inherit the kingdom prepared for you”
Jesus boils it all down to: Love God, Love your Neighbor. Implied in this is a healthy, holy love for yourself. The command is to love your neighbor as yourself, so we need to know the right kind of love, one that moves away from selfishness, if we are going to follow the way of Jesus. It doesn't matter who you are, you can be lovable for one profound reason.
We are to be clothed in love - and that new clothing is part of a new identity with God. Where does this take us in life? Listen to this message to hear about the amazing life which comes with the new wardrobe. (If you didn't hear Pastor Dawn's message from last week, you may want to listen to that first)
How quickly do we size people up by the clothes they are wearing? The spiritual guidance given to us as we seek a better way is to "clothe ourselves in love." What does love look like and how do we get dressed properly? Listen as guest pastor Rev. Dawn Alpaugh shares on this central theme from Colossians 3.
Colossians 3:14 Above all, clothe yourselves with love, which binds everything together in perfect harmony.
If we want to head in a better way, in God's way, we have to get rid of those things which are incompatible with it. The better way God has for us is contrary to some of our natural desires. Often what we write off as "human nature" is in direct conflict with what God would have for us. In Colossians 3, we are told to deal with it in an extreme manner - put it to death. So how do we put to death that selfish part of human nature called greed?
Colossians 3:5 Put to death, therefore, whatever belongs to your earthly nature: ...greed, which is idolatry.
Forgive and forget is easy to say, but often hard to do. Sometimes the hardest person to forgive is yourself. A past decision, a hurtful comment, a missed opportunity; replaying the past can keep us from moving forward. The Way of Jesus is better, and it starts with forgiveness. Not only accepting God's forgiveness, not only forgiving others, not only accepting the forgiveness of others - but also forgiving the person you see in the mirror every day.
We all have a past - but in Christ, we can all have a better future.
You used to walk in these ways, in the life you once lived.
...forgive whatever grievances you may have against one another. Forgive as the Lord forgave you. Colossians 3:7 & 13
If you read through the life of Jesus, he askes many questions, but he is also constantly bombarded with questions. He doesn't seem to mind, however. If you had a chance to have lunch with Jesus, what would be your questions? If you had the opportunity to ask just one question of Jesus what would it be?
What you ask Jesus might reveal more than you realize. Let's think about your question and how it might guide spiritual growth.
Matthew 16:13-27
There is something better than this. God promises that there will be a new earth someday. Some look at this claim with great skepticism, others want to have all the answers and now when, and others say, why do we still have to wait? Why is God taking so much time to make things right, and what do we do as we wait? Peter, one of the first church leaders, wrote two letters to believers who were suffering. Looking at the end of his second letter, we find some helpful answers.
"The Lord is not slow about his promise, as some think of slowness, but is patient with you..."
What if Jesus came by to evaluate all the churches in upstate New York? After his anonymous visit he then sent his review via a trusted messenger. What would he say, and how would he present his findings? Something like this happened in the very earliest days of the church, as people became followers of Jesus throughout the Roman Empire.
In a vision Jesus came to John on a prison island in the Mediterranean, and he gave seven reviews of seven churches. And one message comes through: there is no perfect church. Let's look at these messages from Jesus and what they might be saying to churches today.
Let anyone who has an ear listen to what the Spirit is saying to the churches. (Revelation 2-3)
For those of you who regularly listen online, I don't want you to miss out on this message. However, the final few minutes were not recorded. Here is the end: But in fact, Christ has been raised from the dead. (1 Cor 15:20), and this clearly demonstrates that good is stronger than the evil which killed the perfect One, and tried to keep good in the grave. Good is stronger than evil, and with this knowledge you can have hope.
Preaching from 1 Corinthians 15
Was Jesus perfect? Am I really that bad? Why did Jesus have to die?
This sermon touches on these themes and more as Pastor Dirk examines the crucifixion of Jesus.
Sometimes it is not popular to follow Jesus. He asks things of people, challenges the status quo, and can make people uncomfortable. Jesus can even make Christians uncomfortable at times.
Once when he was doing just that, Jesus asked his disciples if they also were going to leave. Peter has a great response, "Lord, to whom else would we go?" There is no better place to be than walking with Jesus, and allowing him to be with and in you as you go through life.
John 6:60-61 Many of Jesus' disciples said, “This is very hard to understand. How can anyone accept it?” Jesus was aware that his disciples were complaining, so he said to them, “Does this offend you?"
Part of our disapointment with God comes from a mis-understanding of what God is up to in this world. Pastor Dirk examines a time when Jesus disappointed both the crowds and his new disciples - because they were expecting the wrong things.
The work and mission of Emmanuel Reformed Church should be lined up with what God is doing in the world, and helping people participate in eternal life starting now. Clarity about what God wants and the strength to see it through is a gift of prayer. Prayer and purpose are tied together - listen to learn how.
Mark 1:38 And [Jesus] said to them, “Let us go on to the neighboring towns, that I may preach there also, for that is why I came.”
Everyone has eternity written in their hearts. We sense there is more - and we long for it. That "more" is eternal life, but we don't have to wait! Through belief we can participate in eternal life now. One of the elders of Emmanuel Reformed Church, Rhonda Van De Wal, shares from the story of Lazarus. Listen as she gets to the heart of the matter.
John 11:25-26 Jesus said to her, “I am the resurrection and the life. Whoever believes in me, though he die, yet shall he live, and everyone who lives and believes in me shall never die. Do you believe this?”
We read about the amazing miracles of Jesus and they can seem so far removed from our daily lives. What is the purpose of miracles? What can we learn from them, and how can they give us hope? Guest Pastor Tom McCrossan from Schenectady City Mission shares an important message of how miracles of signs of God's true intentions -and some very good news.
Important to understanding Jesus - is understanding what he means when he talks about the Kingdom of Heaven and the Kingdom of God. Not only is God's kingdom something we should care about, it is something which is changing the world.
The Kingdom of Heaven:
Where Jesus is
What God wants
Where we should be heading
Matthew 13:31-36, 44-53 The kingdom of heaven is like; a mustard seed, yeast, a treasure, a pearl, a fishing net....
Sometimes we ask the wrong questions. We want God to tell us what we should "go and do." So we ask, what must I do? But that isn't the question Jesus really wants to answer. Rather than stand and ask Jesus what's on our mind, there is great wisdom in changing our approach.
Only 'go and do" after you "sit and listen."
Luke 10:25-37 One day an expert in religious law stood up to test Jesus by asking him this question: "Teacher, what should I do to inherit eternal life?"
When we hear stories of Jesus we hear wisdom, we hear power, we hear love. As Jesus began his ministry on earth the account says that the Holy Spirit was with Jesus. Amazingly, Jesus promises the same power to those who believe in him and seek to follow him. I encourage you to listen to this sermon by Linda Baker (ERC staff), and consider how you can open yourself up to the power God offers.
Luke 4:1-2 Jesus, full of the Holy Spirit, returned from the Jordan and was led by the Spirit in the desert, where for forty days he was tempted by the devil. He ate nothing during those days, and at the end of them he was hungry.
There are some messages which can't be easy be shared in the holiday season of Christmas. The birth of Jesus is so filled with tradition, to think of what might have actually happened based on Middle Eastern culture and the writings of the Bible, can be hard.
In this message some of your traditional images of Christmas will be challenged, but hopefully it will open you up to what God is doing in the world. What's wrong with the way you think about Christmas?
Luke 2:7 And [Mary] gave birth to her firstborn son and wrapped him in bands of cloth, and laid him in a manger, because there was no place for them in the inn.
Unfortunately this week you can only listen to half the message - but half a message is better than none. 700 years before Jesus was born in a stable, Isaiah shared a message of both judgment and hope to the people of Israel. Woven throughout his message are countless prophecies about the coming Messiah.
Not only do we gain clarity about the role of the Messiah in chapter 42; those who are seeking to follow Jesus can gain clarity in regard to our work in this world. As the body of Christ, we are to bring both justice and instruction to the world (that's the punch-line that didn't get recorded).
Isaiah 42:4 He will not falter or lose heart until justice prevails throughout the earth. Even distant lands beyond the sea will wait for his instruction.