What comes to mind when I mention salvation? What comes to mind when I mention the cross? Most likely like me, you have some sanitized thought that comes to mind. We sing upbeat songs with joy about the fact that Jesus died. And we ought to sing with joy. But often, we miss the heinous nature of the cross. We don’t see our sin for what it is. As a result, we don’t truly understand the suffering that Jesus faced. To compound matters, if we don’t understand the suffering that Jesus faced, we will ...
Aug 31, 2020•41 min
They didn’t know it yet, but their world was about to spin out of control. What they had trusted would happen would be ripped away from them. All hope would be stolen from them. Chaos would reign. In a few hours they would move from complete comfort to running for their lives. Within 24 hours, their leader would be dead. The disciples had no idea what the next day would bring. But Jesus did. So, over the day on Thursday, prior to His death, Jesus prepared the disciples for what they would face. ...
Aug 24, 2020•41 min
Due to a technical difficulty with our recording yesterday we are unable to provide yesterday's sermon. So we would like to present this message from February 3, 2019 for your edification. More in our foundations series can be found on our website https://www.cambriabaptist.org/foundations/
Aug 17, 2020•37 min
The end times is a preoccupation we all love. When I was growing up, it was the film Thief in the Night . Later it was the Left Behind series by Tim Lahay that dominated the church. We love the charts and the signs and the speculation. Everyone’s favorite series is end times study. Over and over I hear believers state that this or that is a sign of the end times. Wars, persecutions, coin shortages, viruses, riots are all stated as signs of the end times. But are they really? In our text today, t...
Aug 10, 2020•40 min
Guest Speaker Dave Deets (Vice-President of the Institute of Biblical Leadership) walks us through Psalm 23. He reminds us that God is our Shepherd, we shall not want, we shall not fear, and we shall be blessed forever.
Aug 03, 2020•43 min
What is God like and how do we please Him? If I asked you that, how would you answer? There are a multitude of views about God, from a doting grandpa to a blacksmith ready to smash us with a hammer. But your view of God dictates your view of life. For how you view God determines how you believe you can please God. Further, your view of God determines your view of everything around you: You possessions, your circumstances, your trials, your blessings, and even yourself. After sparring with the Je...
Jul 27, 2020•35 min
We need not look far to discover Biblical ignorance in our world or in our church today. We quickly discover a gross misuse of Scripture, making it say what it never meant. We see some using Matthew 7:1 as a statement that we have no place to pass judgement on the sinful acts of others. We see some using 1 Corinthians 9:20 to justify sinful actions in the name of evangelism. We see the misuse of texts to justify not wearing masks or to dictate the use of them. We see the misuse of Scripture to j...
Jul 20, 2020•40 min
Would you agree or disagree with this statement? Nothing is more nauseating to contemporary youth than hypocrisy, and nothing more attractive than sincerity. … Young people hate our adult shams and subterfuges. They have a very sensitive nose with which they can smell the faintest odor of religious humbug from a considerable distance. (Stott, Between Two Worlds, 203). People hate hypocrisy. Often when asked why someone won’t go to church, they reply, “Because of all the hypocrites.” While we mig...
Jul 13, 2020•41 min
We all love a good story. Whether it’s a love story, an action story, a historical narrative, or a good bit of fiction, our lives are surrounded by stories. But sometimes these stories are meant to teach us something. And some stories, from the nursery rhymes of our childhood to some fantasy allegories today, use word pictures to teach us those lessons. Jesus was a master storyteller. Throughout his ministry, he used story telling as a common method of teaching. We call these stories parables. T...
Jul 06, 2020•40 min
We live in a day when one can determine their gender regardless of their biology and it is considered normal. A day when one can be accused of racism simply because of the melatonin or lack thereof in their skin and no one can argue. When the reigning ideology is tolerance, except to those you perceive as intolerant. And when everyone gets to determine truth for themselves, as long as it lines up with the values of current culture. How did we get here? What impact does this have on the believers...
Jun 29, 2020•37 min
In the 1500s there was a notable English seaman and privateer who made three voyages to the new world by the name of Martin Frobisher. His goal was to find a northwest passage to Asia. He spent the majority of his time searching the St Lawrence River and the areas north. On his second voyage, he made an amazing discovery. He discovered a huge deposit of what he thought was gold ore. He loaded 200 tons of it on his three ships and sailed back to England. Where he dropped it off and promptly retur...
Jun 22, 2020•41 min
Guest speaker, Pastor Wayne Muri, presented the four tests believers must face from John 21.
Jun 15, 2020•35 min
In our final outdoor service, we looked at the events of Palm Sunday: I have come to the point where I have no desire to turn on the news. I hate social media more and more every day. 2020 has given us a worldwide pandemic, crushing economic struggles, murder hornets, and now anarchy in the streets (not just of major cities, but even smaller towns). I waffle between consternation and hopelessness. If Jesus is in control, how can these things continue to happen? But I am reminded that Jesus is st...
Jun 08, 2020•33 min
Wearing masks is really important, everyone should do it when in indoor public spaces. Wearing masks is worthless and stupid. It is simply another way the state is trying to control us. We need to open the economy up today. If we don’t many will lose everything and then the death due to suicide will be numerous. If we open the economy up now more people will die, don’t you care about life? The church should never have closed. They responded in fear and lack of trust in God. The church should not...
Jun 01, 2020•39 min
For many of us there came a time when we had to acknowledge that we could no longer see the way that we used to see. We were going blind. Perhaps the chalkboard began to get blurry, or we struggled to see the words on the page, or maybe we took the eye test at the DMV and didn’t pass, or we went to a routine eye examine and were informed there was a problem. For whatever reason we needed corrective lenses so that we could see again. But when we put them on, we were reminded of colors we forgot e...
May 25, 2020•39 min
In 1776, on July 4th, the Continental Congress released a Declaration to the King of England declaring the 13 American Colonies to be free and independent. Every year we joyously celebrate the freedoms that we enjoy because of these men. In that text, the deist Thomas Jefferson wrote, “We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.” If...
May 18, 2020•41 min
In this Drive in Service, Pastor Dave expounds Mark 10:13-31 For years, in the early exploration of North America, the Spanish sought for the fabled fountain of youth. They searched in vain for this fabled spring whose waters created eternal life. Today we recognize this as a fable, but we seek other forms of delaying death. We live in a day that is keenly aware of death. We are taking all measures possible to prevent it. Arguments for opening the economy often center on the emotional toll of th...
May 11, 2020•37 min
Thursday, the Wall Street Journal published an article which revealed that the marriage rate has plunged to its lowest point since the government started tracking it in the 1860’s. This cannot be explained away as an economic issue, this is at its core a moral issue. We live in a society that no longer sees the purpose of marriage. When people “love” each other, they simply live with one another. There is seen no need for a piece of paper stating that it is legal. This rate comes with devastatin...
May 04, 2020•49 min
Recently we celebrated two monumentous anniversaries. At the end of December, we celebrated Harold and Geneva’s 70th wedding anniversary. And just a couple of weeks ago, we congratulated as best we could during this time, Chuck and Barb’s 64th wedding anniversary. That means that for the majority of most of the lives of the members of this congregation, these two couples have been married. These are monumentous anniversaries, in large part, due to the high divorce rates we have seen over the pas...
Apr 27, 2020•46 min
What is the one issue that divides churches more than any other? What is the one issue that splinters friendships and relationships more than any other? The answer is without question, “pride!” Our natural sinful tendency is to seek our own elevation even at the expense of others. Our natural sinful tendency is to elevate our opinions and thoughts above others. We naturally demand our own way. We naturally seek recognition. In short, we struggle with pride. Our society promotes pride, not as a v...
Apr 20, 2020•46 min
A walk through the Easter narrative and a discussion of its importance.
Apr 13, 2020•44 min
In the midst of a confused age, one of the challenges for Christians is the idea of faith. What exactly is faith? What does it look like? We know that 2 Corinthians 5:7 states … 2 Corinthians 5:7 – 7 for we walk by faith, not by sight. But how exactly does that work. Does that mean that we throw off all precautions and jump into any unknown? Does this mean that we drive without our seatbelts on trusting that God will preserve our lives? Does this mean that in this time we act as though nothing i...
Apr 06, 2020•47 min
As the realities of the current situation continue to set in, many of us have begun to feel the impacts. Some of you have lost jobs. Some of you are facing deep loneliness. Now all of us are stuck at home. For many, this is just another challenge on top of deep life challenges you are already facing. Congress can’t seem to make up their mind. The press conferences from our leaders many times feel unhelpful. For many, we cannot see the light at the end of the tunnel. Where does this end? When doe...
Mar 30, 2020•44 min
This is an unusual time. I hope that you miss gathering with the body like I do. That you recognize what we are doing here is a poor substitute for the gathering of the body together. And in these times, it is easy to lose sight of God himself. It is easy to forget that the sovereign God reigns. We see a rogue virus wreaking havoc on the world. And we wonder if God is still in control. We see decision makers (government, business, and church leaders) making decisions that we may not agree with. ...
Mar 23, 2020•49 min
What is a Christian? How would you answer that question if you were asked? Perhaps you would say something like, “Someone who believes in God.” Or maybe you would say, “Someone who has been saved.” Perhaps even simply, “Someone who goes to church.” For some time now, American churches and therefore the rest of culture has gotten the answer to this question wrong. The view has been one of moral people who do some God stuff, just not the uncomfortable God stuff. They go to church, they stay out of...
Mar 15, 2020•40 min
The following statement was made today by Pastor Dave regarding the COVID-19 pandemic
Mar 15, 2020•8 min
We have all had those moments in life when the light bulb goes on for us. You know what I am talking about. Times like when a baby figures out that they can walk. Or when they try ice cream for the first time. Times like when you learned to ride a bike without training wheels. We have all had those time. Something happens and now what didn’t make sense before, what seemed impossible before, now makes sense. Over the last two weeks we discussed the reality that our view of God dictates our view o...
Mar 09, 2020•34 min
Are you struggling right now in life? Are you burdened by worry? Why is it that we are not marked by joy? Your view of God dictates your view of life. The answer comes back to the fact that we are blind in our view of God. In the narratives we began last week, Mark challenges us to open our eyes and see Jesus for who he really is, God the Creator the Sufficient Savior. In this section there appear to be four different narratives. The feeding of the 4,000, the conflict with the Pharisees, the dis...
Mar 02, 2020•43 min
Why don’t people see Jesus for who he is? Why don’t I often see Jesus working in my life? Why is it that sometimes it just feels as though this is all just a show? The reality is that often we share the Gospel and the ones with whom we share it fail to grasp the significance of Jesus. Sometimes we walk through the course of our lives and it feels as though Jesus isn’t real at all. If God is so great and Jesus is so marvelous, why doesn’t everyone run to God? Mark 8 serves a pivotal text in the G...
Feb 24, 2020•39 min
What happens when we have been cleansed by Christ? What are the marks of a person who has a relationship with God? Are there things that should happen when we have confessed Christ as our Lord? Ephesians 2:8-9 inform us that salvation is by grace through faith. But then verse 10 informs us that we have been predestined to good works. So what are these works? In the narrative this morning, we discover that one of the works that mark a true believer is the desire to share the good news of Christ w...
Feb 17, 2020•36 min
