Cutlerville East Christian Reformed Church
Episodes
584 episodes
Heir to the Vineyard
Jesus was engaged in a terminal conflict. He had entered Jerusalem as Messiah, cursed a fig tree— which subsequently withered, a symbol of the fruitlessness of Israel,—angrily cleansed Temple. Now he is surrounded by, in effect, the Sanhe...
Loving by the Spirit
The gifts of the Spirit are fascinating and exciting; to be a gifted person means to receive accolades. Perhaps for these reasons, the gifts of the Spirit often receive far more attention than the fruit of the Spirit. Yet it is the eviden...
Spiritual Fruit: JOY – Philippians 1:12-26, 4:4-7
Christians aren’t always portrayed as joyful people. Yet, of all people, we should be the most joyful: we were created for joy. The Westminster Catechism asks: “What is the chief end of man? To glorify God and enjoy Him forever.” It’s TC,...
Can People Be Raised? - Mark 12:18-27
As Christians, we are sometimes insecure about the biblical idea of how we get to heaven, live on eternally—through resurrection from death! It is not scientifically verifiable; we don’t know any resurrected people. So it is easy to be in...
Peace
We’ve been looking at fruit that the Holy Spirit produces in our lives. The Spirit is kind of a mysterious part of the Godhead and, because we cannot nail him down, we speak of him in terms of names & descriptions given in the Bible. In tal...
The Measure of Giving
“It is more blessed to give than to receive.” Perhaps it is at Christmas time that we most try to instill that idea into our children. Either we find out the truth of that anew, or battle again our insatiable greed. Christmas giving versus rece...
Spiritual Fruit: PATIENCE
We live in an instant world: we can get instant food, instant banking, an instant oil change, instant credit, want to be an instant success. The American’s prayer is “Lord, give me patience … and I want it right now!” But God says through Paul,...
The Signs of the Times
The Temple was one of the wonders of the ancient world. People came to Jerusalem from all over the Roman Empire to see it. Here the disciples are “oohing” and “aahing” over the huge stones and massive building of the Temple. Jesus says: “Don’t ...
Spiritual Fruit: KINDNESS
As we come to the middle of the list of the fruit of the Spirit, we find a series ofwords that are often interchangeable in the Bible: kindness, goodness, and faithfulness, in particular, seem to be connotations of several Hebrew andGre...
Worthy Is the Lamb
Having just looked at the “signs of the times,” it is somewhat natural to step into the book of Revelation for a few weeks. John is on the isle of Patmos and sees a vision of an exalted, allpowerful Christ, standing among the churches: he ...
Spiritual Fruit: GOODNESS – 1 Samuel 16:1-14
David is one of the most enigmatic characters inthe Bible. He is honored as the ideal king of Israel,the builder of an empire, a great father to hispeople, the root from whom the Messiah wouldcome, and the key to Jesus’ ancestry...
A Kingdom of Priests
Priesthood was one of the fighting words of Reformation. The Reformers recognizedthat the priesthood had become a barricade to God, rather than a bridge. So the Reformers called every believer to the awareness of his/her own priestly role b...
Spiritual Fruit: FAITHFULNESS
When Paul was writing to the church in Galatia, he found himself wrestling with their attitude of works-righteousness. As part of his teaching them about faith, he used the Old Testament example of Abraham. Not only does Paul find in Abraham th...
The Lamb and the Four Horsemen
Last week we saw the Lamb given "all authority in heaven and on earth” in the formof a scroll. The scroll, which only he has the authority to open, is symbolic of the destiny of humanity. We noted how this fits with the statement of our fai...
An Organ Thanksgiving
A program of organ music, played on the instrument at Cutlerville East Christian Reformed Church in thanks for the organ and the people who made it possible.Organists Raymond Haan and Kathleen Herrema
Spiritual Fruit: GENTLENESS
While the Greek world viewed gentleness or meekness almost as an ethical vice (likecowardice), Christians see it as an important ethical virtue and a fruit of the Spirit. We still battle those differences today, when we hear our world say “...
Justice and Judgment
Revelation 20 deals with judgment and justice, and it is important to see that the two are tied together: our vindication or justice comes in connection with the judgment of Satan and unbelievers. As with almost all of Revelati...