Come Sojourn with Us
This is where you will find sermons and updates for our church. Our mission is to preach expository sermons focusing on the gospel of Christ. We are a church that is tied to the reformed tradition and seeks to submit to the scriptures so we walk in the Lord’s wisdom rather than our own.
We would love to have you join us on our Christian sojourn if you are in the Belgrade, MT area. If you are not in area then join us by listening to our bi weekly free sermon podcast.
Stay informed by following us on Facebook, YouTube, Apple Podcasts, or through our RSS feed. We would love for you to join us for worship every Sunday at 10 am and 6 pm. If you cannot join us in person then tune into our YouTube livestream.
The Apostle Paul is in a position to defend his faith once again. He has an opportunity to defend his faith, and so what does Paul say? Where does Paul put his assurance and confidence that the word of God is true? What is our assurance and confidence as we live out the gospel in Christ?
Christ is clear that life in the Kingdom is not always going to be easy. In fact, we will face trials, struggles, and hardships. The promise is that there is going to be a day when those hardships come to a conclusion, and Christ will come again. How do we know when Christ returns? Will this be something that is visible and public?
We can think that the concept of of a Christian sojourn starts in the New Testament, but we find this is not the case. In fact, we can see that this pilgrimage will not make sense unless we place man in the original creation story. How does the Garden of Eden set the context for man’s sojourn under the sun?
Christ continues to teach about Jerusalem's coming demise. He uses the language of Daniel to describe the downfall of this city. Why does Christ refer back to Daniel? What do we learn about the "strong covenant" in the 70th week? Why does the temple need to be destroyed?
The word of God is the power and means God uses to call his people. If this scripture is written by men and inspired by the Spirit how do we know that the books of the Bible we have are true? Our confession says that we do not embrace the apocrypha, but it does not forbid us from reading it. How do we view these apocryphal writings, how do we know that they are not inspired?
We summarize what we learned from Romans 12. We reconsider Bavinck's quote regarding introspection and Christian growth. We consider this quote in light of Paul's exhortation not to be overcome with evil. How do we live this out? If we are to live as the Lord's servants how can we find joy, comfort, or even any freedom under such limitation?
The apostle Paul is one who goes from place to place preaching the word of God or to be precise the canon of Scripture. As he preaches from place to place he encounters various agitators. Agitators in Paul's context are people who deny that Christ is the messiah. How can we be confident that Paul is really an apostle sent from God? How can we be confident that Christ is the Messiah? How do we know that his words are the words from God?
Christ is done interacting with the leaders of Israel. Christ returns at the end of the day to Bethany and stops at the Mount of Olives. Christ takes the time to instruct his disciples regarding future events. Some of these events will be in the immediate future and other events are those that are yet to come. What is the significance of Christ predicting the destruction of the temple? What does this tell us about his ministry? Where is our hope to be? Are we to hope in this world or the kingdom that Christ brings?
It may seem like that Romans 12 is teaching us that Christian life is taking hit after smack in the face without any reprieve. The thing to remember is that the Apostle Paul wants us to look at the big picture. We need to be assured that servanthood is not just meaningless suffering, but that our king does notice injustice. How can seeing the big picture encourage us in the midst of persecution and strife?
We need to remember that Christ's rebuke is not just an Israelite problem, but a human problem. Humans are broken, humans need grace, humans need the regenerative power of the Spirit. Christ is addressing a problem with people who do not think they need to be cleans from the inside out. In their mind they are moral enough. God wants us to obey his commandments and so why is Christ not complimenting people for taking his commandments seriously? Is Christ being picky? What is the Lord’s intention for his people?
The Lord is invisible, but he has not hidden himself. The Lord shows himself by His self revelation. The Lord leaves his signature in this creation, and the Lord gives us his word. While we as humans can never know God exhaustively we can still know God, and more importantly God knows us. So, if the Lord gives us his word how do we know that his word is certain? How do we know that the Lord can use the gifts of the man without contaminating his word?
It is challenging to live out the gospel in a world that is not sympathetic to the gospel message. It is easy to cry out for justice now, but honestly where would we be without grace? If we are redeemed by grace, called to be the Lord's servants, then how do we live before the world?
The mission set before Christ in Matthew’s Gospel is to fulfill Israel’s history or to fulfill the goal of humanity: to honor the Lord. Christ does this perfectly, but in order for Christ to fulfill his mission to save his people from their sins he has to go to the cross. The leaders of Israel deny Christ’s messianic claims because Christ does not fit their mold. Christ interacts with the leaders giving them complete and severe warnings about their spiritual destiny. What is their problem? Is this just an Israelite problem? What do these woes teach us about our potential spiritual pitfalls?
I marvel at how the Lord works through various men in history. Consider the sermon preached by Jonathon Edwards titled “Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God.” Jonathon Edwards supposedly preached that sermon in a monotone fashion, but it sparks the great awakening. John Owen is not someone known for a lot of contemporary rhetoric or contemporary oratory winsomeness, but yet the Gospel went out in power. Many today would say Owen is complicated, technical, and maybe even boring. You think of Calvin being sickly, technical at times, and yet the Gospel goes out. The Lord still uses these men despite contemporary advancements in our human wisdom. What is the power behind this message? Is it the man or is it the message? What about this message is so powerful?
We have a human tendency where we would rather rejoice when we see people suffer and weep when we see people get ahead of us. We might say that this is not our struggle, but then why does Paul exhort us to weep with those who weep and rejoice with those who rejoice? The reason is because this is not natural, but something we do in the Spirit. How does this type of empathy become part of of who we are? How does this mindset cultivate a Christ like humility?
(I uploaded a poor quality audio file, and just fixed it)
The Belgic confession begins with the truth that our God is one God. Is this something that is just important for Guido De Bres, the writer of the confession, or is this important for us today? Is this an essential truth for us as Christians to embrace? How can this truth truly impact our lives and orient us through this age?
Christ is no longer answering questions from the current leadership, and no he prosecutes his concerns regarding the current leadership. Is Christ teaching against religion claiming that we embrace Christ, but deny Christianity? Is Christ saying that religion is the problem? Is Christ identifying the problem as something else?
It is easy to be nice to those who are nice to us. It is easy to be encouraging to those who encourage us. However, how do we interact with those that we deem unworthy of any compassion?
The leaders continue to attack Christ rather than to learn from Christ. The Saduccess and the Pharisees compete in a godless campaign to undermine Christ. How does Christ put them on edge? How does Christ silence their scoffing from the Psalms?
John has a majestic vision of us entering into the Lord’s rest. We might wonder how many casualties of war will there be? Are we going to be triumphant when we consider our current circumstances? It seems that there are a lot of forces that come against the saints, but how do we know that we will enter into the holy city of God?
We are a bible believing church in the Belgrade, MT. We are a Reformed Protestant church who desire to build one another up in love as we sojourn under the sun.
