Forgiveness for Partakers in Jesus' Sacrifice

In Matthew 26:17-30 Jesus' foretells of His betrayer while celebrating Passover with His disciples and He institutes the New Covenant ordinance of Communion. Throughout this passage the main point as I see it relating to us is that there is forgiveness for all who partake by faith in Jesus' work on the cross for sinners. If you would like to listen to this sermon, click here.

By God's Grace, Jeff

Communion and the Wedding Supper of Lamb

"We are not sharing a funeral meal together; we are having a dress rehersal for the wedding supper of the Lamb. This One who was crucified as a criminal will return as our Judge and King. That is what this Supper is all about."
- Mark Dever (Twelve Challenges Churches Face, p. 134)

Who Wants to be a Millionaire?

This Saturday my wife and I drove to Bismarck for a book sale at their Public Library. One of the features of the culture around here that I appreciate is the number of "Christian" books stocked by local libraries. I was able to pick up a copy of Richard Foster's "Celebration of Discipline" (there were actually three to choose from!), Hendrickson's "More than Conquerors" (commentary on Revelation) and a bible study guide for Romans...all for a couple of bucks (and that included the books that my wife picked up for the Underwood library!). You would be hard pressed to find another locale where you could discover such finds at a public library.

While we were in Bismarck we caught the 2009 Best Picture "Slumdog Millionare." It was entertaining and thought-provoking. Although the characters may be far from role models, you gain an insight into India's caste system and changes in that country over the last twenty years. As an editorial in this month's "Christianity Today" by Philip Yancey pointed out, America elected an African-American president within 250 years of instituting slavery but India is still struggling with the effects of 4000 years of their caste system.

I had a busy week of basketball as well. We had games on Tuesday, Thursday and Friday. We won our games on Tuesday and Friday but fell by three to Garrison, a team we had beaten earlier this season, on Thursday. We were short-handed (missing two starters) and have been battling the flu and cold bugs lately. Hopefully we can regain our health and be at full strength for the end of the season tournament this weekend. On a positive note, our seventh grade team (made up of more 6th than 7th graders) won for only the second time this season on Friday, which also happened to be their last game. I am glad they could finish on a positive note.

By God's Grace, Jeff

Local Flavor

For those of you who do not subscribe to the Bismarck Tribune or live outside of central/western North Dakota, I wanted to give you a little taste of the local flavor. In honor of having recently seen (and thoroughly enjoyed) "Marley & Me" based on the newspaper columns of a Florida writer, I want to let you in on a treasure buried in the Friday edition of the Bismarck Tribune; columnist Kelly Hagen. My wife and I look forward to reading his hilarious and culturally relevant snippets each week. This week Kelly ponders the "near" miss of the recent asteroid and its impact on his life, including his advice to the Defense Department on how to deal with a future potential cosmic collision. So, for a taste of Bismarck's hidden gem, click here.

By God's Grace, Jeff

Preparation for Jesus' Death Reflects Understanding

This Sunday I preached on the first sixteen verses of Matthew 26 and the main point that I saw relating to us today in this passage is, how we prepare for (or respond to) Jesus' death reflects our understanding of it. If you would like to hear the sermon click here.

By God's Grace, Jeff

Preaching Under-the-Weather

On Friday my throat starting feeling scratchy and dry. On Saturday my throat continued to bother me and I felt a lack of energy. On Sunday I woke up with a stuffy nose in addition to the previous symptoms. By God's grace this was the first Sunday that I have had to lead the service while feeling under-the-weather. I took some water with me to the pulpit and God provided me the strength to make it through the worship service, Sunday School and to make it back later that evening for our Elder meeting.

On Monday my wife and I drove down to Washburn to watch the high school boys' compete in their first-round game at the district tournament. They came in ranked fourth in the District (out of seven) having beat the fifth, six and seventh place teams this year but having lost to the higher ranked ones. They played the fifth seeded team, Garrison, in the first-round and pulled out a close victory. We kept turning the ball over against their press but they had a hard time putting the ball in the basket so it became a war of attrition and Underwood was able to squeak out the victory. On Saturday we played Turtle Lake (#1) and got destroyed. But that wasn't surprising as they're the fourth ranked team in the state and made it to the championship game last year with basically the same team. With one loss Underwood still has a chance to advance to regionals if we can take care of business tonight against Sheridan County.

Junior High basketball was pretty uneventful this week as we did not have any games. But this week we have practice on Monday and then three games in a row! We also found out that at our district tournament in a couple weeks we'll be facing Turtle Lake in the first round. If you've read my previous posts you might remember they're the only team we've lost to this season and we've also beaten then in an overtime thriller. There's no loser bracket in our tournament so whoever loses that game can finished no better than fifth.

Lastly, Netflix sent us "Flash of Genius" which we watched this weekend. This was a movie that I was really looking forward to seeing. It is based on a true story of the man who invented the intermittent wiper but had his idea stolen by Ford and endured through a 12 year legal battle to claim what was rightfully his. Now I am a big fan of justice so I enjoyed seeing the verdict go against the "mean" corporation and for the "little guy." However, going through this process ended up costing the main character his marriage. He got justice at the expense of his family. Reflecting on this after the movie my wife and I concluded that the Bible tells us to care for and preserve our marriages as a first priority and leave the vengeance for righting wrongs to God.

By God's Grace, Jeff

Holiness is the Goal of Marriage

"Will we approach marriage from a God-centered view or a man-centered view? In a man-centered view, we will maintain our marriage as long as our earthly comforts, desires, and expectations are met. In a God-centered view, we preserve our marriage because it brings glory to God and points a sinful world to a reconciling Creator."
- Gary Thomas ("Sacred Marriage" p. 32)