The knowledge of Christ’s work for us and in us through His death on the cross calls us to respond. For those of us in Christ, that response should be rejoicing. So often we try to find joy in the circumstances of our lives rather than the enduring joy that Jesus promises in His Gospel because, honestly, we just tend to value the happiness that certain circumstances give us more than we value the truth of transformational power and love displayed in the atoning sacrifice of the cross. We are given so many means of joy throughout our week and throughout our gatherings, but it’s whether or not we do those things joyfully that will actually show us if we wholly value the cross.

A sermon about sermons from the guy who typically gives our sermons each Sunday seems weird and a little self-serving, but why is that? Is it possibly because we don’t know how to listen to a sermon in the first place? The sermon is the preaching of God’s Word—God teaching us through the preaching of the Bible. We need to approach each sermon looking for Jesus and the transforming power of knowing Him, rather than looking for simple information from a public speaker. This requires a little bit of work on our part to be ready to have the Gospel preached and to then preach it ourselves.

Assurance is very difficult, yet also very simplistic. It’s simple in that the Bible clearly teaches that those who have trusted in Jesus as their Savior can be 100% sure that they are saved. Our salvation isn’t grounded in our own good works or ability to confess our sins, but it is in the finished work of Christ. The believer’s salvation is as secure as the Trinity, so there is nothing to fear. But, we must be vigilant in questioning our faith. The believer is assured of justification and sanctification. Do we see growth and maturity in our lives? Do others see it in us?

Repentance can mean a lot of different things to us today, and almost none of them have any good connotations. No one feels comfortable admitting sin, especially with the weight that Scripture puts on sin. We have to admit, as David did, that we have been sinners from the beginning and that our whole hearts need to be renewed. But when God convicts us of our sin, as He did when David was convicted of his lust followed by adultery followed by murder followed by deception, it is for our joy that we should run to Him instead trying to hide and cower away from Him.

This new sermon series examines why our worship gatherings are structured around the movements that we have and this week highlights the Call to Worship. Throughout the Psalms we see writers singing praises to God and in this psalm we see all of creation called to praise God. We also see that this call is initiated by God. We don’t ask God to come be with us so that we can worship Him, but He calls us to worship Himself and gives us a Mediator in His Son so that we are able to worship Him as He deserves. But how can we reflect this in our worship together on Sunday mornings?

It seems like so many people want to say that they love Jesus (or at the very least like the ideas associated with Jesus), but so few love the church. Even among Christians, so many want to devote themselves to Jesus, but not devote themselves to a local church. Why is that? It’s true that we shouldn’t put our faith in man; no pastor can save us. But Christ still refers to the church as His Bride that He died to redeem. We can’t claim to truly be devoted to Jesus if we hate—or are even simply apathetic toward—that which He loves unconditionally and emptied Himself to save.

In our section of Acts 2, we see an ideal Gospel community presented. At Veritas we try to live that out in Community Groups. However, throughout the rest of the New Testament we see these early church communities getting seemingly everything wrong. In one case, rather than breaking bread together, they’re just there to get drunk off of the wine! In our time, we encounter the same mess. We all bring sin into our communities, so we all contribute to the mess that we see and want to reject. But knowing that community without sin is impossible on this side of eternity, how do we see, feel, and experience our messy communities as fulfilling communities?

Why are we here? Why do we come to church on Sunday. The easy answer is to say that we go to church to worship, but what is distinctive about worship in a church instead downloading worship music and a podcast? The Sunday morning worship gathering is meaningful because it is the Bride of Christ coming together to worship in unity. It is from here that we can see the unifying power of the Gospel, the joy that the Gospel places within us, and the window open for the Gospel to bring others into the people that God is building for Himself.

We sometimes try to see Scripture as simply a handbook for life. If that’s so and the Bible just gives us to-do lists and advice columns, why would Jonah and Nahum end in questions? The story of Nineveh is about more than Nineveh. This is about us. This is about God’s will for us. But what do these seemingly opposite books tell us about God’s will? In Jonah, He displays radical grace to Nineveh through a disobedient prophet, but in Nahum God completely wipes the city off of the face of the earth. What’s the common factor? What is God’s revealed will?

This is where God’s wrath gets personal. We want to cheer on the destruction of these wicked people, but like when David condemned the man in Nathan’s parable (2 Samuel 12), we realize all too quickly that we, too, have set ourselves against God. God’s wrath provides comfort for the broken and beaten Jews as well as the broken and beaten among us that God will deliver justice because He cares about sin, but we cannot forget Nahum 2:13: “Behold, I am against you, declares the Lord of hosts…” Where is God loving everyone here? Where is loving the sinner and hating the sin here? If God sets Himself against people, how can anyone avoid destruction?