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 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?
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?
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?
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?
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?
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?
The leaders of Israel are trying as hard as they can to silence Christ. They perceive Christ to be a trouble maker rather than the Lord of life. They do not see the kingdom and all they want to do is undermine Christ. The pharisees send their disciples to do their dirty work only to further expose themselves as hypocrites. The Sadducees try to finish the job only to expose their ignorance. How does one view the mission and ministry of Christ? Where is the hope of the gospel?
The Thessalonians wondered if they missed the second coming of Christ. They perceive that Christ will return soon, but as far as they can tell Christ is still in heaven. Did Christ already come? What about their loved ones who have died? Will those loved ones experience glory? How will we know when Christ returns? Is it going to be secret, public, and what happens when Christ returns?
The ultimate destiny is for God’s people to dine in the Lord’s presence. I hope that when that glorious day comes we would be joyful and feel privileged to dine with the great king. However, we find that there are people who would rather not go to the king’s banquet. Why do they not want to go? Why is this such a problem?
The thought of the anti-Christ coming to power sounds pretty frightening. This is a man who is doing the work of Satan to challenge the Lord, to challenge God, and to come as a rival to the Lord’s kingdom. Is this something that should terrify us? Why would God allow such a thing to happen? Will the church be able to survive such a horrible assault? How can we be sure that our Lord is sovereign enough to overcome this power?
How does one enter the Lord's kingdom? This is a very important question. We can fall into an American trap and assume that we are worthy because we have done enough to pull ourselves up by our boot straps. This is contrary to what Christ is teaching in his parable. He is teaching us something about the tragedy of Israel’s history that communicates a tragedy about humanity: we do not want God. However, God comes to His people. How does this give us assurance that we can draw near to our God?
When we talk about the doctrine of eschatology we can think that this is just something that scholars talk about. So, is there a place where the rubber meets the road? Is there a place where the events in history that determine our future orientation give us hope today? Why is Christ’s work in history so important in determining the outcome of history and our power today in Christ?
The apostle Paul calls us to be a transformed people. How do we undergo such a transformation and how does this transformation impact our lives?
Here is the playlist to Romans 12.
Christ returns to Jerusalem after cleansing the temple and cursing a tree. He is going to face the leaders of Israel and we can imagine that this is going to be tense. Christ tells them that it is the prostitutes and the tax collectors who enter into the kingdom of heaven. Does this mean that in order for us to gain entrance into the temple that we have to be a tax collector or a prostitute? What is the point of Christ calling this to the leader’s attention?
Daniel is in exile and desires to return to the Lord. He is at the timing for the fulfillment of Jeremiah's 70 year prophecy. While he is praying he receives a vision from Gabriel regarding 70 weeks. Do we take these weeks literally or do the weeks communicate a bigger picture?
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.
