4/2/2023 Worship Service & Sermon: We Are Glad! - Psalm 126

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4/2/2023 Worship Service and Sermon from Brick Lane Community Church in Elverson, PA.

Scripture: Psalm 126
Title: We Are Glad!
Worship Leader: Mike Culbert
Speaker: Wendell Stoltzfus

Notes:

Introduction: "He never committed a pleasure"

A. Ellen Glasgow's father
B. Martin Luther's colleague

1. We are glad! (v. 3b)
A. Psalm 126 is a Luther-type psalm
B. In the Bible, the chief characteristic of the Christian pilgrimage is gladness and joy
i. Not the gladness of lightheartedness

2. Joy Past (vv. 1-3a)
A. In the OT, there are many times where God restored His people in hopeless situations
B. The ultimate fulfillment of these verses comes later, with Christ

3. Joy Future (vv. 4-6)
A. In this psalm, two images express the joy or anticipation in a seemingly hopeless situation
B. The joy of anticipating what God is going to do--based on what God has already done--comes in the context of the pain, suffering, loneliness, of life in this fallen world

Conclusion: Joy Present
A. First Application: Psalm 126 teaches us how to read the Bible
B. Second Application: A thought exercise
-Think of a giant scale
-On one side, put all of your stinking circumstances
-On the other side, put all that God has done for you in Jesus Christ
-See which side outweighs the other -Consider that all the stuff on the hardship side is part of your preparation for God's eternal kingdom
C. The Verdict found in God's Word: "For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worth comparing with the glory that is to be revealed to us." (Romans 8:18)

#Psalms #suffering #joy

3/26/2023 Worship Service and Sermon: The Boy with Seizures, the Disciples with Little Faith - Matthew 17:14-23

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3/26/2023 Worship Service and Sermon from Brick Lane Community Church in Elverson, PA.

Scripture: Matthew 17:14-23
Title: The Boy with Seizures, the Disciples with Little Faith
Worship Leader: Randy Hepler
Speaker: Steve Estes

Notes:

1. The awful situation

2. Who Matthew focuses on
A. Like other gospels, Matthew records Christ's frustration with an "unbelieving generation."
B. Unlike other gospels, Matthew focuses on Jesus' disciples in this regard.

3. Jesus' reply: "You of little faith"
A. Common theme in the gospels.

4. Lack of faith is no small matter
A. The disciples' unbelief caused Jesus frustration while He walked the earth.
B. Unbelief shows that one is affected by one's culture rather than by God's promises.
C. Unbelief hinders our usefulness in God's kingdom.
D. Thus, unbelief is perverse.

5. How Christ sought to stir their faith
A. Jesus taught how much can be accomplished when we believe.
B. Jesus taught how little faith it takes to move mountains.

#Matthew #faith

3/19/2023 Worship Service and Sermon: Navigating Damaged Relationships - Philemon 1:1-6

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3/19/2023 Worship Service and Sermon from Brick Lane Community Church in Elverson, PA.

Worship Leader: John Sletta
Speaker: Joe Whalen
Scripture: Philemon 1:1-6
Title: Navigating Damaged Relationships

Paul, a prisoner for Christ Jesus, and Timothy our brother, To Philemon our beloved fellow worker and Apphia our sister and Archippus our fellow soldier, and the church in your house: Grace to you, and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. I thank my God always when I remember you in my prayers, because I hear of your love and of the faith that you have toward the Lord Jesus and for all the saints, and I pray that the sharing of your faith may become effective for the full knowledge of every good thing that is in us for the sake of Christ.

Notes:

1. Three primary people in Philemon
A. Philemon
B. Paul
C. Onesimus

2. Three directions for those of us with damaged relationships
A. Focus on what you have...not on what you don't have
i. Jesus is enough
B. Keep serving...you'll learn much about Jesus
i. Serving Jesus doesn't exempt us from difficulty
C. Keep trusting...we don't know what God is doing in the lives of others
i. God, the greatest Author in existence, knows the best ending to the story

#Philemon #damagedrelationships

03/12/2023 Worship Service & Sermon: Elijah Comes First - Matthew 17:9-13

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3/12/2023 Worship Livestream from Brick Lane Community Church in Elverson, PA.

Worship Leader: Steve Boyer
Speaker: Steve Estes
Scripture: Matthew 17:9-13
Title: Elijah Comes First

As they were coming down the mountain, Jesus instructed them, "Don't tell anyone what you have seen, until the Son of Man has been raised from the dead." The disciples asked him, "Why then do the teachers of the law say that Elijah must come first?"

Jesus replied, "To be sure, Elijah comes and will restore all things. But I tell you, Elijah has already come, and they did not recognize him, but have done to him everything they wished. In the same way the Son of Man is going to suffer at their hands." Then the disciples understood that he was talking to them about John the Baptist.

Notes:

1. The hard thing Jesus commanded

2. The problems raised by His words (Malachi 4:5-6)
A. Malachi predicted: Elijah would precede the Messiah
B. Malachi predicted: Elijah would bring restoration to the world

3. How Jesus addresses these problems
A. Regarding Elijah coming before the Messiah
B. Regarding Elijah restoring all things
C. Regarding the disciples' view that Jesus' death was incompatible with Elijah coming
D. How this applies to Jesus as the Messiah

4. Lessons
A. The reliability of Scripture is not tied to our understanding it
B. Not all interpretation is literal
C. Jesus and His followers bring salvation through suffering

#Matthew #Elijah #Jesus

3/5/2023 Worship Service and Sermon: The Transfiguration - Matthew 17:1-13

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3/5/2023 Worship Service and Sermon from Brick Lane Community Church in Elverson, PA.

Scripture: Matthew 17:1-13
Title: The Transfiguration
Speaker: Steve Estes

Notes:

1. Emotional state of the disciples

2. What the disciples saw & heard
A. Jesus transfigured
B. Brief comment: How to read Bible stories
C. Two visitors appear
D. Something else unexpected appears
E. The voice of the Father from the cloud

3. How Jesus comforted them

4. What we learn
A. Ecstatic spiritual experiences are not the norm
B. A glimpse into life after death for believers
C. The Old Testament God is the same as the New Testament God
D. Jesus Christ has no equals
E. The need to listen #Matthew #transfiguration

2/19/2023 Worship Service & Sermon: Weeping Over Moab - Isaiah 15 & 16

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2/19/2023 Worship Service and Sermon from Brick Lane Community Church in Elverson, PA.

Scripture: Isaiah chapters 15 and 16
Worship Leader: Randy Hepler
Title: Weeping over Moab
Speaker: Steve Estes

Notes:

1. The certainty/sadness of God judging sin, illustrated by Moab's ruin (Isaiah 15:1-4)

"Ar in Moab is ruined, destroyed in a night! Kir in Moab is ruined, destroyed in a night! Dibon goes up to its temple, to its high place to weep; Moab wails over Nebo and Medeba. Every head is shaved and every beard cut off. In the streets they wear sackcloth; on the roofs and in the public squares they all wail, prostrate with weeping. Heshbon and Elealeh cry out, their voices are heard all the way to Jahaz. Therefore the armed men of Moab cry out, and their hearts are faint."

A. God judges sin
B. Assyrians were fierce
C. National mourning in Moab

2. The grief of God & his prophet over Moab's ruin (Isaiah 15:5-9)

"My heart cries out over Moab; her fugitives flee as Zoar, as far as Eglath Shelishiyah. They go up the way to Luhith, weeping as they go; on the road to Horonair they lament their destruction. The waters of Nimrim are dried up and the grass is withered; the vegetation is gone and nothing green is left. So the wealth they have acquired and stored up they carry away over the Ravine of the Poplars. Their outcry echoes along the border of Moab; their wailing reaches as far as Eglaim, their lamentation as far as Beer Elim. Dimon's waters are full of blood, but I will bring still more upon Dimon--a lion upon the fugitives of Moab and upon those who remain in the land."

A. Assyrian atrocities and Moabite mourning
B. God grieves for Moab as He judges their idolatry

3. The possible solution (Isaiah 16:1-4a)

"Send lambs as tribute to the ruler of the land, from Sela, across the desert, to the mount of the Daughter of Zion. Like fluttering birds pushed from the nest, so are the women of Moab at the fords of the Arnon. 'Give us counsel, render a decision. Make your shadow like night--at high noon. Let the Moabite fugitives stay with you; be their shelter from the destroyer.'"

A. "Cabinet meeting" of Moabite leaders: Request asylum in Judah?

4. The even deeper solution (Isaiah 16:4b-5)

"The oppressor will come to an end, and destruction will cease; the aggressor will vanish from the land. In love a throne will be established; in faithfulness a man will sit on it--one from the house of David--one who in judging seeks justice and speeds the cause of righteousness."

A. Messianic prediction: "One from the house of David"
B. Implication: "Moab, you can share in this hope!"

5. Moab rejects the solution, God judges Moab in tears (Isaiah 16:6-14)

A. Moab chooses her false god over the one true God
B. More lamenting, grieving, and destruction are the result

6. Applications

A. God will judge sin
B. Ultimate rescue comes only through Great David's greater Son
C. God's people should "hide the refugees"
-Mission to the World (www.mtw.org)
-Samaritan's Purse (www.samaritanspurse.org)
D. Pride will keep us from His salvation
E. As we announce the consequence of rejecting Him, weep!

Benediction: May the Lord Jesus Christ who wept enable you to weep and to rejoice in His coming as Messiah

#Isaiah #Moab #judgment #whenGodweeps

2/12/2023 Worship Service, Sermon, and Lord's Supper: Living by Dying - Matthew 16:24-27

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2/12/2023 Worship Service, Sermon & Lord's Supper from Brick Lane Community Church in Elverson, PA.

Worship Leader: Tyler Estes
Sermon: Steve Estes
Lord's Supper: Rich Goswiller

Order of Worship:

- Call to Worship
- Congregational Song: "O Splendor of God's Glory Bright" #58
- Prayer of Confession
- Congregational Song "Lord, Have Mercy"
- Assurance of Pardon
- Congregational Song: "Before the Throne of God Above"
- Prayer of Thanksgiving
- Scripture
- Congregational Song: "A Mighty Fortress is our God"
- Prayer of Supplication
- Sermon
- The Lord's Supper: "Lord, Have Mercy"; "Rejoice, the Lord is King" #310

Scripture: Matthew 16:24-27
Title: Living By Dying
Speaker: Steve Estes

Then Jesus said to his disciples, "If anyone would come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross and follow me. For whoever wants to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for me will find it. What good will it be for a man if he gains the whole world, yet forfeits his soul? Or what can a man give in exchange for his soul? For the Son of Man is going to come in his Father's glory with his angels, and then he will reward each person according to what he has done."

Notes:

1. Christ invites people to follow him by suffering with him
A. An unusual sales job
B. "Deny himself"
C. Take up one's cross

2. What taking up our cross looks like
A. Lesser deaths
B. Greater deaths

3. By embracing Christ's cross, I will find my life
A. "Will find his life" in this world
B. Transition: But horrific things happen here on earth
C. "Will find his life" in the world to come

4. By refusing Christ's cross, I will lose my life
A. Great temptation to "save" it
B. "Will lose one's life" in this world
C. "Will lose one's life" in the world to come

1/29/23 Worship Service and Sermon: Sanctity of Human Life - Various Passages

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1/29/2023 Worship Service and Sermon from Brick Lane Community Church in Elverson, PA

Scripture: Romans 1:20a, Genesis 2:7, Psalm 139:13-16, Jeremiah 1:5, Ecclesiastes 11:5, and Ephesians 1:4.
Title: Sanctity of Human Life
Worship Leader: John Sletta
Speaker: Mike Rudolf

Romans 1:20a: For his invisible attributes, namely, his eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly perceived, ever since the creation of the world, in the things that have been made.

Genesis 2:7: then the LORD God formed the man of dust from the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and the man became a living creature.

Psalm 139:13-16: For you formed my inward parts; you knitted me together in my mother's womb. I praise you, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made. Wonderful are your works; my soul knows it very well. My frame was not hidden from you, when I was being made in secret, intricately woven in the depths of the earth. Your eyes saw my unformed substance; in your book were written, every one of them, the days that were formed for me, when as yet there was none of them.

Jeremiah 1:5: Before I formed you in the womb, I knew you, and before you were born, I consecrated you; I appointed you a prophet to the nations.

Ecclesiastes 11:5: As you do not know the path of the wind, or how the body is formed in a mother's womb, so you cannot understand the work of God, the Maker of all things.

Ephesians 1:4: Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing the the heavenly places, even as he chose us in him before the foundation of the world.

Notes:

1. Human life is sacred because it is God-created

2. Human life is sacred because it is made in God's image
A. Male and female
B. Eternal souls
C. More valuable than many sparrows

3a. Human life is sacred because God loves life
A. The right to life takes precedence over every other human right
B. God takes special care to craft each human life
C. Woe to those who call evil good and good evil.

3b. Human life is sacred because God sent His Son to die on a cross to redeem it
A. Jesus, the Lamb of God, willingly went to Calvary
B. All of heaven celebrates when a sinner repents
C. Human life is made for God's glory
D. God lives human life beyond measure, born and unborn

4. Applications
A. Wake up if you've been napping on this issue
B. Imitate Jesus in humility and service
C. Keep on!

Summary:

1. Life is sacred because it is God created.
2. Life is sacred because life is in the image of the creator God.
3. Life is sacred because God loves life and sent his son to redeem it.

1/22/23 Worship Service and Sermon

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Worship Leader: Dave Stoltzfus

Sermon: Steve Estes

Order of Worship:

• Call to Worship: Luke 15: 11-14, 17, 20-24; Luke 18:35-43

• Prayer

• Hymn #460 "Amazing Grace"

• Call to Confession: Isaiah 43; Prayer

• The Gospel: Isaiah 43; Song "His Mercy is More"; Hymn #82 "Great God of Wonders"; Prayer

• Our Gospel Response: Hymn #345 "Glorious Things of Thee are Spoken"; Song "Christ Our Hope in Life and Death"; Song "Amazing Grace"

• Sermon Grace Upon Grace: John 1:16-18

And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen his glory, the glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth...From his fullness we have all received, grace upon grace. For the law was given through Moses; grace and truth came through Jesus Christ. No one has ever seen God; the only God who is at the Father's side, he has made him known.

Notes:

1. We can love Jesus because we've all received "grace upon grace" (Jn 1:16)
A. Literally "grace instead of grace"
B. Two ideas of grace
C. Think of your life

2. We can love Jesus because we've received grace from His fullness
A. Illustration: Engine trouble on the road
B. Jesus has infinite fullness

3. We can love Jesus because what He brought us far exceeds what former believers experienced
A. Nothing wrong with the Law given through Moses
B. What Jesus taught and did is vastly superior
C. "Grace and truth came through Jesus Christ"

4. We should love Jesus because He alone can make the Father known to us
A. Jesus is "at the Father's side" (Jn 1:18)
B. Jesus is called "The only GOD who is at the Father's side"
C. Jesus is called "the only God

Benediction:

Now to Him who loved us and washed us with His blood be eternal praise, and to you who believe be eternal grace and joy. Amen.

1/15/23 Worship Service and Sermon: Children Born of God - John 1:12-13

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1/15/2023 Worship Service and Sermon from Brick Lane Community Church in Elverson, PA.

Scripture: John 1:12-13
Title: Children Born of God
Worship Leader: Mike Culbert
Speaker: Steve Estes

But to all who did receive him, who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God, who were born, not of blood nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God.

Notes:

1. People became children of God by believing in his Son

2. Believing is more than a feeling
A. To describe becoming a child of God, John uses an action word
B. (With fellow apostles) John coins a new expression to describe the activeness of faith in Christ
C. J.C. Ryle on the need to believe

3. Believing means trusting in a person, not just acknowledging a set of doctrines
A. John shows the personal nature of believing by the phrase "believed in his name"
B. John shows the personal nature of believing by adding a parallel word
C. Illustration: Steve the summer youth director

4. How people do not become children of God
A. Natural descent
B. Human decision
C. Husband's will

5. How people do become children of God

Benediction: "Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest." (Matthew 11:28)

May the saving grace of the Lord Jesus be with you.

#John #believing #childrenofGod