Cutlerville East Christian Reformed Church
Episodes
584 episodes
Un-common Sense Wisdom – Ecclesiastes 7:1 – 8:1
Solomon hasn’t spoken much yet about wisdom, surprising given his notoriety for it and all his proverbs. But from this point on, we will hear the word “wisdom” 35 times. But it is a bit different than Proverbs; in Ecclesiastes he overtur...
Prepared through Prayer – Mark 14:27-42
Only Jesus knew what awaited these bold disciples of his. They sounded so confident, so assured when James and John said they could drink the cup Jesus would drink (10:38-40); when Peter, with the crucifixion only hours away, loudly state...
Injustice and God's Authority
Solomon now turns his attention to this sticky issue for believers and those who are not: injustice and tragedy in the world. When faced with injustice, our initial reaction is: who's in charge here? There is a natural l...
Sovereign Submission
In this passage, one might be tempted to focus on the hideous betrayal by Judas, looked on by some as the most horrible crime ever perpetrated. Or perhaps on the momentary courage of Peter in defending Jesus. Or even the odd mix of ...
Have a Blast While You Last
In Ecclesiastes, Solomon has been blasting away at “under the sun” lifestyles and philosophies: they sound good, but in the end they are meaningless, a chasing after the wind. Now he turns to the ultimate issues of life and death. Again, as we’...
The Two Rocks
Writing to suffering church in Rome, Mark pays special attention to these scenes at the high priest’s house. Here he contrasts the failure of one man, Peter, with the steadiness of the Son of Man, Jesus Christ, in order to teach the early churc...
Soaring with Wisdom
American Indian lore tells a story of an eagle raised as a prairie chicken and limited to a prairie chicken lifestyle instead of soaring as an eagle. Solomon, in Ecclesiastes, has been talking about a prairie chicken lifestyle, strictly “under ...
Rejection of the King
The Gospel of Mark is written to an authentic, countercultural, persecuted church in Rome. Mark’s intention is that the Roman church was to understand that they might undergo similar rejection to that of Jesus, and chapter 15 is his true-to-rea...
Remember Your Creator
Theologian Francis Schaeffer wrote an influential book a number of years ago entitled How Should We Live Then? After examining all the "under the sun" philosophies and lifestyles and finding them meaningless, Solomon answers that question...
Jesus' Triumphal Procession
Palm Sunday is known as Jesus’ triumphal entry. But Mark tells us the story of another triumphal march later in the week, not a triumphal entry but a triumphal procession, and that’s the focus of our attention today. Paul actually speaks ...
The Big Picture
Robert Short, in his book about Ecclesiastes, A Time to Be Born, A Time to Die, writes: “The author of the book of Job was a consummate dramatist. The psalmist was a lyrical poet. The author of Jonah knew how to tell a fascinating short story…....
Jesus Comes to Jerusalem
We have come to call the events described in Luke 19:28-44 (and parallels, such as Mark’s) Palm Sunday, and the event of the day “the triumphal entry.” But I think we’ve got the names wrong, both of them. Why Palm Sunday when palms were an inap...
A Call to Go and Tell
Matthew 28 If Jesus had remained in tomb, his call to comfort would have been shallow and baseless. If there was no Easter, the upper room would have merely been a death-bed scene with the dying man uttering his final, inspiring words:...
Easter: Fear and Joy
Mark 16:1-8 Easter: Fear and Joy? Certainly Easter is one of the most joyful days of the Christian Church, but what does fear have to do with it? Isn’t it about Good News?! Yes! Today we feel great joy, and well we should! Jesus is ris...
The Story of a Righteous Man – Luke 18:91-4
Jesus tells a story about someone who prays a shocking prayer. But, as with many parables, we have domesticated it. Since we know it so well, we have lost the shock factor Jesus brings to it. One way to recapture that is to substitute “Bi...
Why Forgive?
Why forgive? Does it ever seem unfair, unjust — like there has to be a limit? Most books on forgiveness are on how to forgive. Some get into why to forgive, but mostly from our perspective (it releases us from our pain, etc.). But there’s nothi...
How to Make Your Problems Worse
Often in Bible, we learn from the positive things people do; but sometimes we can learn from the negative. In this story, the disciples teach us how to make our problems worse than they are (a skill I’m sure everyone greatly desires!).
Forgiving Our Enemies
We’ve seen it time and again through the years. Whether Israelis and Palestinians in Israel, Republicans and Democrats in the USA, or Sunnis and Shiites in various middle eastern countries, there is a deep-seated division, hatred even, th...