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  Here are some resources that will add to your daily spiritual formation with the Everyday Wisdom Sermon Series: God's Wisdom For Navigating Live by Tim & Kathy Keller  -  CLICK HERE  for Amazon link to the book This one-year collection of daily devotions has provided the study outline for the Summer 2022 Harderwyk Sermon Series Everyday Wisdom.  The Kellers gather themes mainly from Proverbs, but also Ecclesiastes, Job and elsewhere and provide a daily reflection, question and prayer. The Gospel One Proverb At a Time - Paul Tripp's Bible Study  -  CLICK HERE  for free website with videos. Here is another trusted author for Harderwyk preachers.  Paul David Tripp is author of:  Lead  -  CLICK HERE  for Amazon link Do You Believe?  -  CLICK HERE  for Amazon link New Morning Mercies  -  CLICK HERE  for Amazon link This video series of 41 different 5 minute teachings through the Book of Prove...

Resources For "Enough" From Each Harderwyk Preacher I. New For This Week Ponder This: “An idol is whatever you look at and say, in your heart of hearts, ‘If I have that, then I’ll feel my life has meaning, then I’ll know I have value, then I’ll feel significant and secure.’” - Tim Keller, Counterfeit Gods  “If anything becomes more fundamental than God to your happiness, meaning in life, and identity, then it is an idol.” - Tim Keller, Counterfeit Gods “Worry about your character, not your reputation. Because, your character is who you are, and your reputation is what people think you are.” - John Wooden Celebration Sermon Outline - CLICK HERE for this Sunday's Sermon Outline. II. Ongoing Resources 1) Spiritual Formation Resources Page - CLICK HERE - This is still a work in progress, but be a part as we look to build 2) Scotty Smith’s Heavenward Daily Prayers - CLICK HERE - to see the daily prayer blog of Scotty Smith.  You will see an option to have them delivered to...

Resources For "Enough" From Each Harderwyk Preacher I. New For This Week Happy Tulip Time Folks!  We're taking a break. We expect to be back next week.  Grace and thanks.

Resources For "Enough" From Each Harderwyk Preacher I. New For This Week Look For Yourself - Two key words were pointed out in the passage for this week: "Contend" (1:28 & 2:1) and "Maturity" (1:28).  We have gathered every use of the Greek word group for each of these words in the English translation of the verse they are used in.  You can download each and look over them to get a better sense of how they are used in this passage.  If you have time, work through them using Lectio Divina - #3 below in Ongoing Resources below.  CLICK HERE for "Contend" (13 references) and CLICK HERE for "Maturity" (42 references) to view, download or print a copy. For Those Who Work AND Pray in Prayers In The Night by Tish Harrison Warren - CLICK HERE for the quotation from pp72-73.  This is a great book that will be featured soon in Harderwyk's Fear & Trembling Podcast.  CLICK HERE for the Amazon link. Why Compassion Is Divisive by Dav...

Resources For "Enough" From Each Harderwyk Preacher  I. New For This Week BibleProject Overview of Colossians  -  CLICK HERE  for their helpful online video. All Four Rooms: Reading Colossians Through Paul's Eyes - CLICK HERE for a blog post by Pastor Bill about Paul's nuanced view of reality and how it affects our own ability to read Colossians with understanding. Celebration Sermon Outline - CLICK HERE for this Sunday's Sermon Outline. II. From  NT Wright in his commentary Colossians and Philemon: An Introduction and Commentary on Colossians 1:15-23 Jesus and God Paul, then, does not in this poem abandon the Jewish doctrines of monotheism and election. He redefines them. But what, in that case, is he asserting about Jesus, in particular when he calls him ‘the image of God’ (v. 15)? There has been considerable debate about this from the first Christian centuries up to the present, and the answer offered below is an attempt to hold together the strong points ...

Resources For "Enough" From Each Harderwyk Preacher I. New For This Week BibleProject Overview of Colossians - CLICK HERE for their helpful online video. An Early Copy of the Book of Colossians - CLICK HERE to learn some about "P46" - a papyrus copy of Paul's epistles from about one century after Paul would have first written it.  Note: No dating can be exact, and there is often debate about just when a book of the Bible was written, and then again over the age of any given manuscript that we possess, so none of this can be exact.   CLICK HERE for some actual photographs of P46 and the page where Colossians actually begins!  Also of note: Half of P46 is housed at the University of Michigan library.  Unfortunately for this sermon series, Colossians is in the half housed at the Chester Beatty Library in Dublin, Ireland.  Celebration Sermon Outline - CLICK HERE for this Sunday's Sermon Outline. II. From The Commentaries On This Passage From The Gospel ...

Resources For Easter From Each Harderwyk Preacher I. New For This Week Everything must be fullfilled that is written about me in the Law of Moses, the Prophets and the Psalms - Jesus in Luke 24:44  - Jesus is the "True and Better" fulfillment of everything that the Old Testament characters, events and narratives point to.  CLICK HERE for a two-minute YouTube flyover of the Old Testament from Tim Keller  Ukraine’s Holy Week Like No Other - I (Pastor Bill of Celebration Community) have struggled to be informed and praying during the Russian war on Ukraine as Christ follower.  CLICK HERE for a blog post by Archbishop Borys Gudziak an American Archbishop of the  Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church, which I found insightful and helpful in my own prayers From Greg Gilbert in the Gospel Transformation Bible  on Ezekiel 37:11-14:  "Beginning in verse 11, God explains the vision of the dry bones. It is not simply that God gives physical life; it is that he...

Resources For "Enough" From Each Harderwyk Preacher I. New For This Week "Numbers" in the BibleProject's Torah Series -  Israel leaves Mount Sinai only to rebel against God again. But God responds with short-term severity and long-term generosity.   CLICK HERE for the video. Praying During The War In Ukraine - On Good Friday, April 15 you are invited to join us in prayer for the conflict in Ukraine by signing up for a 20 minute prayer time slot.  You can pray right where you are, or you may stop in to the sanctuary (open from 8am-6pm) to pray.  CLICK HERE to sign up for a time slot.  CLICK HERE for a blog post of several prayer resources on this issue. Celebration Sermon Outline - CLICK HERE for this Sunday's Sermon Outline. II. From The Commentaries On This Passage From Roy E. Gane in his commentary "The NIV Application Commentary: Leviticus, Numbers": "Epidemics of attitude. Just a short time before the scouts return to the main camp a...

Resources For "Enough" From Each Harderwyk Preacher I. New For This Week Character of God Word Study by Bible Project: This study we will dive into Exodus 34: 6-7.  Bibleproject did a 6 video word study on verse 6.  They are well done and insightful.  Again they also put together a study guide worth exploring.  For the ambitious you can also find 14 podcast episodes on the same verses.  God speed! Character of God Video Link : CLICK HERE to Watch: Visual Commentary of Exodus 34:6-7: The Character of God Video | BibleProject™  Character of God Study Guide: CLICK HERE for downloadable pdf document  Celebration Sermon Outline - CLICK HERE for this Sunday's Sermon Outline. II. From The Commentaries On This Passage From John Goldingay in “Exodus and Leviticus for Everyone”: “Exodus 34 gives us one clue why that it so. The Israelites have imperiled their relationship with God, with potentially fatal results. That is symbolized by Moses’ breaking the tab...

Resources For "Enough" From Each Harderwyk Preacher I. New For This Week "Three Uses of The Law" - So what use are the Ten Commandments - as well as ALL that law in the Old Testament! - in light of the Gospel of God's Grace?  CLICK HERE for a brief summary of John Calvin's classic summary of reasons from the Reformation Study Bible footnotes. Heldeberg  Catechism - On Obedience and the Ten Commandments: Q & A 114 Q. But can those converted to God obey these commandments perfectly? A. No.  In this life even the holiest have only a small beginning of this obedience.1 Nevertheless, with all seriousness of purpose, they do begin to live according to all, not only some, of God’s commandments.2 1 Eccles. 7:20; Rom. 7:14-15; 1 Cor. 13:9; 1 John 1:8-10 2 Ps. 1:1-2; Rom. 7:22-25; Phil. 3:12-16 Q & A 115 Q. Since no one in this life can obey the Ten Commandments perfectly, why does God want them preached so pointedly? A. First, so that the longer we live the...

Resources For "Enough" From Each Harderwyk Preacher I. New For This Week Holy Uncertainity - At Fusion we will talk some about the struggle of uncertainty.  Pastor John Mark Comer wrote an excellent ebook toward the beginning of the pandemic on this topic titled, “We Don’t know What’s Going to Happen and That’s Okay: Living in Holy Uncertainty.” (September 2020) Here is a helpful quote on this idea of holy uncertainty. "Holy Uncertainty Holy uncertainty is the capacity to live with a very loose grip – or no grip at all – on our plans and, more important, on the outcomes of our plans, because our security is rooted in a relational connection to God, not in a false sense of control.  Apprentices of Jesus who develop his capacity for holy uncertainty still make plans, but they are free – at an emotional level – from the need for those plans to come to pass. They don’t need to know what will happen, or not happen, or how long it will all take, because they are happy in God....

Resources For "Enough" From Each Harderwyk Preacher I. New For This Week When Pharaoh’s Heart Grew Harder - How does God relate to evil?   CLICK HERE for a Bible Project blog post that digs into the hardening of Pharoh's heart. Celebration Sermon Outline - CLICK HERE for this Sunday's Sermon Outline. II. From The Commentaries On This Passage From Tim Chester on Exodus 14 in Exodus For You "The conflict between God and Pharaoh has continued. God has pulled apart his creation around Pharaoh. Through the plagues, Egypt has returned to a primordial chaos, darkness and death. And yet still Pharaoh has not learned the lesson. So we come to chapter 14. Once again, Pharaoh is trying to exert his authority over God’s people. Once again, we have a showdown between God and Pharaoh. Once again, God determines to gain glory by demonstrating that he alone is Lord: “I will harden Pharaoh’s heart, and he will pursue them. But I will gain glory for myself through Pharaoh and a...

Resources For "Enough" From Each Harderwyk Preacher I. New For This Week Bible Project Background for Our New Series in Exodus I have ordered these from broad to focused. See the big sweeping movement of the OT.  Check out a beautiful theme video on the Law and how this theme works its way throughout the scriptures and in Jesus' life and ministry.  Then see more detail in the Torah with 7 episodes on the first 5 books – link to the home of that series. Finally, the Exodus overview in two parts that works through the bible poster of Exodus. Here are the links.  Happy exploring! TaNaK / OT Summary Watch: TaNaK / Old Testament / Hebrew Bible Overview Video | BibleProject™ Torah Summary Video – the Law through OT to Jesus Watch: The Law Biblical Theme Video | BibleProject™ The Torah Series (7 Episodes) from Book Collections Watch: Torah Book Collection Video Series | BibleProject™ Exodus Summary Videos Watch: Exodus 1-18 Bible Book Overview Video | BibleProject™ Watch: Exo...

Resources For "Scandal of Grace" From Each Harderwyk Preacher I. New For This Week Tim Mackie -  This week’s resource comes from Tim Mackie who is one of the founders and primary contributors to the Bible Project. Several years ago he did a teaching series through the book of Matthew.  He does an incredible job digging into the context of Matthew 24 that really sets the stage for this Sunday’s parable in Matthew 25.  It is a long video (~50 min) but I pass it along for those interested.  We will touch on some of it on Sunday but if you want more feel free to watch.  CLICK HERE for this link. Also, here is Tim’s teaching on Matthew 25.  He does not actually get into the Sheep and the Goats (our parable this week) but instead focuses most of his time on the Parable of the Talents (bags of gold).  It is still helpful as he shows his method of interpretation and how he uses context to get at layers of meaning.    CLICK HERE for that link. ...

Resources For "Scandal of Grace" From Each Harderwyk Preacher I. New For This Week Time Keller on The Parable of Two Sons - CLICK HERE for a 37-min video of Tim Keller on this parable.  It is the center point of his book The Prodigal God and an 8-week discussion group based on it.  This is a classic gospel-centered look at this story that is worth setting time aside and concentrating on. Brad Gray Video - Once again Brad Gray does an excellent job walking through a parable that has become quite familiar to many of us.  Feel free to browse his videos at Walking the Text as he expands on this week’s parable – the Parable of the Lost Son. Again, you will notice Brad does 6 episodes so there is so much more to uncover in this beautiful and powerful parable of Jesus!  And I have not been able to watch them all yet!  CLICK HERE Celebration Sermon Outline - CLICK HERE for this Sunday's Sermon Outline. II. Ongoing Resources 1) Spiritual Formation Resources Page - CL...

Resources For "Scandal of Grace" From Each Harderwyk Preacher I. New For This Week Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr - Five-Minute Excerpt from Sermon On The Good Samaritan - Dr King draws together solid biblical exegesis, real-life application as he reflects on the deaths of two Memphis sanitation workers and prepares to lead a strike for safer working conditions - all delivered in classic African-American preaching style delivered two days prior to his assassination.  CLICK HERE for the sermon audio.  CLICK HERE for the same audio with the next minute of the sermon and interpretative photos and video. Dr. Amy-Jill Levine in 6-minute video on the Good Samaritan - including her reflection on Dr. King's sermon.  CLICK HERE Walking the Text -  Bray Gray is a pastor and biblical teacher who used to preach at Central Wesleyan here in Holland.  Now he focused on conferences, biblical study trips and some free online resources.  Also, Brad and Pastor JB went to semi...

Resources For "Scandal of Grace" From Each Harderwyk Preacher I. New For This Week From Scandalous Stories – Daniel Emery Price & Erick Sorensen “The biblical reality is that sometimes weeds become wheat. In fact, all wheat were formerly weeds. This transformation doesn’t happen through weeds trying harder to be like wheat. It doesn’t happen by weeds shaping up, acting better, or being more devoted. And it most certainly doesn’t happen by cutting them down and casting them out. So we can put away our judgmental evaluation of the person in the pew across from us and our critical assessment of all our neighbors. It seems we are in need of constant reminding that this transformation happens by the grace of God. It happens through the good news that because of the finished work of Christ, all may come and be part of the good master’s harvest, just as they are. To become wheat, you must come as a weed.” Consider Joining A Scandalous Stories Discussion Group - Wednesday Night ...

Resources For "Scandal of Grace" From Each Harderwyk Preacher I. New For This Week Our focus on Sunday will primarily be the parable of the sower but stuck between is a somewhat confusion word from Jesus where he quotes Isaiah 6.  Capon explains this text in a helpful way distinguishing between prescriptive and descriptive meanings. “Then follow two startling statements.  The first is ‘for to him who has, more will be given; and from him who has not, even what he has will be taken away.’ This seems to me to be one of those hard sayings of Jesus that cries out, not for a prescriptive interpretation, but for a descriptive one.  Jesus, though he could be taken as issuing a statement about what God will do to reward or punish those who hear the parables, seems to be more reasonably understood as giving a simple description of the way things are. ‘If you grasp the fact that the kingdom works in a mystery,’ he seems to say, ‘then that very grip will give you more and more under...

Resources For the "Scandal of Grace" Series From Each Harderwyk Preacher I. New For This Week From Stories with Intent: A Comprehensive Guide to the Parables of Jesus (2nd edition) by Klyne Snodgrass On the Mustard Seed - "This parable is less direct in its application than some because it is so focused on addressing the doubts of Jesus’ contemporaries about the nature of his ministry. Its most important point is that the kingdom is indeed present in his ministry, and, if that is so, the obvious import and next question are about one’s stance toward the kingdom. If the Mustard Seed similitude is an apologetic that the kingdom has come, it is also comfort and exhortation with regard to one’s identity. It is wrong to think this parable is about the spiritual growth of the individual; it is not wrong to understand the dynamic of God’s working and apply it to the individual or to other circumstances. It is not only with Jesus’ ministry that things may look small and insignif...

Resources For "Scandal of Grace" From Each Harderwyk Preacher I. New For This Week Jesus' Parables – Scandal of Grace This Sunday we will kick off a new series on the parables of Jesus we are calling Scandal of Grace.  Our companion for the series is, “Scandalous Stories” by Price and Sorensen and we will have copies of the book on Sunday.  We are jumping right into the parables with a brief introduction to the parables, but honestly we could have given that introduction a Sunday of its own.  We come to the parables with many assumptions and sometimes we try to do more or less than they were intended to do.   Scandalous Stories  is a great book that the three preachers are using together as well.   CLICK HERE  for Amazon link to purchase you own copy for about $10.   Scandalous Stories Discussion Group  - Will use the book and previous Sunday Sermon to follow on with a Discussion G roup on Wednesday evenings at Harderwyk follow...