Second Evangelical Free Church

05/23/2026

Breaking Through Spiritually.
It was Pentecost (50 days after the Sunday following Passover - 50 days after Resurrection Sunday). In looking at Acts 2:1-21, we see something that is often mistaken for a paradigm of personal Christian experience rather than the redemptive-historical breakthrough that it is. Reading carefully, we find that because God has poured out his Spirit fully and powerfully (vv. 17-18), we are to make clear that everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved (v. 21). While we may wonder what the coming of the Spirit in power means (v. 12), we can tell from what is recorded that 1) salvation in the New Covenant is for all (vv. 6-11, 21) — not just those living near Jerusalem; and 2) The Spirit's coming marks the start of the last days (v. 17) — when promise and prophecy have been and are being fulfilled. As Justin Holcomb puts it: "The story in Acts is also our story, because we are participating in God's story. The descent of the Spirit on these apostles is really the birth story of all who are in Christ."

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04/05/2026

What Forms and Follows This

Christos anesti! For Resurrection Sunday, we're looking at the account of the Empty Tomb and then Mary Magdalene's encounter with the risen Jesus in John 20:1-18. When Jesus calls us by name (v. 16), we then are to go and tell somebody what has happened (vv. 17-18). Like the first witnesses, with us there can be uncertainty about the empty tomb (vv. 2,13), but we see the illumination that led to believing that Jesus rose bodily from the dead, and we heed the instruction given to Mary of Magdala upon recognizing the risen Messiah. After observing the Lord's Supper on Maundy Thursday (looking back on the events of Passion Week), we will again celebrate it this Sunday in light of what the Resurrection means for the future.

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03/26/2026

Might have Missed It.

For Palm Sunday, we will take a look at one of the accounts of the Triumphal Entry - Matthew 21:1-11. We are told that when Jesus entered Jerusalem, many were stirred but did not know who he was (v. 10). What did they miss? If they had not been following his ministry, maybe it was everything. But, even if they had been part of those welcoming him outside the city, they may have missed what Jesus manifested - humility, intentionality, and majesty - and the meaning of the moment - their own hosanna's, the incursion, and the sacrifice on the way. Indeed, As Paul Tripp puts it in Journey to the Cross, "This is perhaps one of the most layered passages in Scripture. So much more is happening than what appears on the surface. There is more going on than Jesus entering the final stage of his work on earth in humility and majesty. There is more going on than a multitude worshiping him as the Messiah King." Because Jesus came in the Name of the Lord, we must understand who he is (vv. 8-10). After our worship service, we will be baptizing two new brothers in Christ. You will not want to miss their testimonies.

For Passion Week, we will be having meetings at 7:30 p.m. at Second Evangelical Free Church from Holy Monday to Maundy Thursday. The speakers will be Pastors Vijay Solanki, Mike Sciara from Long Island, Stephen Leung, and Jason James from Harlem. On Good Friday, a combined service will be held at 7:30 p.m. at First Evangelical Free Church (66th Street) with 2EFC joining 1EFC, 59th Street Lutheran Brethren, and Iglesia Espiritu Santo. It will be special time in joint fellowship.

03/08/2026

Where Your Heart Is.

For the third Sunday of Lent we will be in the middle of the Sermon on the Mount (Matthew 6:19-25), where Jesus is essentially telling his disciples: because treasures in heaven are imperishable (v. 20), they (and we) are to serve God rather than earthly treasure (v. 24). We tend to store up treasures on earth (v. 19), but we must realize that our hearts are set on our treasures (v. 21); and our actions show what we truly treasure (vv. 24-25).

Note: as a small test, 1) this Sunday morning (at 2 a.m.) we set our clocks forward an hour; and 2) there will be a rescheduled Chinese New Year's celebration outside, with our sidewalks constricted. Access to our doors will be limited to the corner of 52nd St and 8th Ave, and for worshipers at 2EFC only. (Look for the signage.)

02/22/2026

As we have entered Lent, for the first Sunday, we will consider Romans 6:1-14. Both our Bible Studies and our sermons in the run up to Easter will align with material in Paul Tripp's Journey to the Cross, available at: https://store.paultripp.com/products/journey-to-the-cross-ebook. Because we have been united with Christ in his death (v. 5), we are to count ourselves dead to sin (v. 11). We can fall into the thinking that God's grace means we can simply live in sin (vv. 1-2) - that it makes for more grace. But, in truth, we see that sin is a slave master that we ought to drop (vv. 6 and 14) and not feed. And, in Christ, we have been brought from death to life (v. 13), and so we offer ourselves to God. The wages of sin is death. But, even when justified by faith and receiving life, sin in our lives still debilitates and destroys. As such, these realities, for us in union with Christ in his death and resurrection, should set the stage for our repentance and reliance upon God, a Lenten focus that should also be a regular practice. Snow, sleet, or rain, we'll be there Sunday.

11/29/2025

Ready or Not.

As we enter into Advent, we begin by remembering what Jesus said about the return of the Son in Matthew 24:36-44. Because we do not know when the Son is coming (v. 36), we must be ready (v. 44), even if we carry on as those in the days of Noah (vv. 37-38). From what Christ said to his disciples we see that: (1) we are to remain vigilant (vv. 42-43); and (2) we are to recognize outcomes will be different (vv. 40-41).
The question may arise as to what Jesus was alluding to in Matthew 24:40-41. Why leave it at describing the differing outcomes of those who are ready for his coming and those who are not? (The following will not be detailed this Sunday.)

1. Differing Views on the End Times and Key Texts
Among faithful, Bible-believing Christians there are multiple views on the end times, on the second coming of Christ, and on how to read major passages such as Matthew 24–25, Revelation 20, and 1 Thessalonians 4–5.

The EFCA Statement of Faith, Article 9 affirms the essential truth that “we believe in the personal, bodily and glorious return of our Lord Jesus Christ”, and it deliberately allows for a variety of eschatological viewpoints within that core. However, it does not permit a fully realized (full Preterist) view, which claims that all of Jesus’ prophetic words in Matthew 24 and all of Revelation have already occurred in the first century in such a way that there is no future second coming. Such a denial contradicts the EFCA’s foundational confession of a future, personal return.

Within that boundary, Christians hold several legitimate approaches to interpreting the crucial passages:
1) Futurist (most common in Dispensational eschatology)
Reads most of Matthew 24–25 and Revelation as future events.
Revelation 20’s 1,000 years (the Millennium) is taken literally.

2) Historicist
Sees many details in Revelation as corresponding to events in church history.

3) Idealist
Understands much of Revelation as symbolic, portraying the ongoing spiritual conflict between Christ and evil throughout the church age.

2. The Millennial Views Arising from Revelation 20
Because Revelation 20 describes a 1,000-year reign, different eschatological views arise:
Dispensational, Premillennial, Pre-tribulation
Christ returns before the 1,000 years.
Believers are “raptured” prior to a seven-year tribulation.
Holds to a literal 1,000-year earthly reign.

Historic Premillennialism (Post-tribulation)
Affirms a future Millennium but sees the Church enduring the tribulation.

Supports a reading of Matthew 24 in which Christians experience the tribulation.

Mid-tribulation Premillennialism
Similar to above, but the “rapture” occurs midway through the tribulation.
Passages such as 2 Thessalonians 2:7–12 and Daniel 7:21–25 are often used to argue that believers will see the revealing of the “man of lawlessness” and conflict with oppressive powers before Christ gathers His people.

Postmillennialism
The 1,000 years precede Christ’s return.
The gospel advances powerfully in history, leading to an extended period of blessing before Christ comes.

Amillennialism (Inaugurated Millennial View)
The 1,000 years are symbolic, not literal.
Christ now reigns from heaven; the saints’ reigning in Revelation 20 is heavenly, not earthly.
The apocalyptic battle with Gog and Magog is read symbolically in light of Ezekiel 38–39.

3. Who Is “Taken”?
Matthew 24:40–41 in Comparison with Luke 17:35–37
Premillennial readings often understand Matthew 24:40–41 (“one will be taken and one left”) as referring to the Rapture of believers.
But the text itself is ambiguous. In Luke 17:35–37, those “taken” are associated with a fate clarified by the disciples’ question, “Where, Lord?”—to which Jesus replies, “Where the vultures are gathered.” This suggests judgment, not rescue.
Thus:
Amillennial and Postmillennial interpreters may read Matthew 24:40–41 as describing the final gathering of believers corresponding to 1 Thessalonians 4:16–17, but not as a removal from the world before tribulation.
Rather, believers form a welcome party receiving the returning King, not a church raptured away to wait for a later consummation.

4. Living in Light of Christ’s Return
Despite interpretive differences, Scripture emphasizes the ethical and missional implications of the Lord’s return.
1 Thessalonians 5:9–11 and 5:14–15 call believers to:
live with hope,
encourage and build up one another,
admonish the idle,
comfort the discouraged,
help the weak,
pursue good for all.

This aligns perfectly with the EFCA affirmation:
“The coming of Christ, at a time known only to God, demands constant expectancy and… motivates the believer to godly living, sacrificial service and energetic mission.”

No matter the millennial view, the Church’s unified calling is readiness, holiness, faithfulness, and mission, as we await the personal, bodily, and glorious return of our Lord Jesus Christ.

11/15/2025

Everything Changes

Ephesians 6:1-9 continues the discussion of submitting to one another out of reverence for Christ. It may continue to disturb us because these days, in our context, we not only dislike the idea of submission and recognition of authority, but some things just seem different now — about sons and daughters, but especially regarding slaves. But, because of the covenantal view of households, Paul extends the matter of rightly relating to everyone to sons and daughters, which many of us still have, and slaves, which none of us have any longer. Again, we note that our relationships do not always reflect that we are in Christ (Ephesians 5:21). Nonetheless, we still see that Christ is our Master and shows no favoritism (Ephesians 6:9), and, therefore, we are to serve the Lord and do the will of God from the heart (Ephesians 6:6-7). As such we observe that (1) Children are to obey in the Lord and Parents are to discipline and instruct in the Lord (Ephesians 6:1-4); and (2) As subordinate or supervisor, we are to recognize everyone's position in the Lord (Ephesians 6:5-9). We will also briefly address the questions of whether the Bible condones slavery, or why Paul did not simply abolish the institution. Rather than insisting on abolition in his context, Paul, establishes the startling new Gospel principles that eventually undermined the institution of slavery, and led to the abolition of slavery. This may not be something regularly covered by today's churches but join us to further consider what Scripture actually says.

11/08/2025

More than Marriage Mechanics.

Of the list of expressions of being filled with the Holy Spirit is a final item concerning submitting to one another out of reverence for Christ. This introduces several passages to follow. And we examine what is said about husbands and wives in Ephesians 5:21-33 this Sunday. We do not always properly regard and serve one another. However, because Christ loved the church sacrificially that he might sanctify her (vv. 25-26), husbands and wives are to express the mystery of Christ and the church in marriage (vv. 32-33). This means that wives are to submit respectfully to their husbands (v. 22), but husbands are to love their wives as their bodies just as Christ loved the church (v. 25). These are not easy and we're not always ready to hear this, but I pray that reverence for Christ is our attitude.

This side topic will not be delved into on Sunday, but something that is brought up in support of a complementarian view of wives and husbands should be addressed. We hold that men and women are not inherently superior or inferior by nature. The submission of wives is “functional” as part of marriage expressing the mystery of Christ and the church. At times, this is compared to how Jesus, the Son, was not inferior to the Father. In the Trinity, all three persons of the Godhead are of the same essence and substance. But, then there is the teaching held by some prominent and popular theologians today that go too far.
Eternal Submission of the Son (ESS) and even Eternal Functional Subordination (EFS) contradict the Covenant of Redemption, which portrays not an eternal hierarchy within the Godhead, but a unified divine purpose in which the Son voluntarily undertook the work of redemption.
Psalm 2:7–9 (CSB) declares:
“You are my Son; today I have become your Father. Ask of me, and I will make the nations your inheritance, and the ends of the earth your possession.”
This indicates a covenantal agreement and commissioning, not eternal subordination.
Micah 5:4 (CSB) says of the Messiah:
“He will stand and shepherd them in the strength of the Lord, in the majestic name of the Lord his God.”
While this will be fulfilled in his second coming, the Son rules in the strength of the Lord, sharing divine majesty, not submitting eternally under it.
Zechariah 6:13 (CSB) reveals:
“Yes, he will build the Lord’s temple; he will be clothed in splendor and will sit and rule on his throne. There will be a priest on his throne, and there will be peaceful counsel between the two of them.”

This “peaceful counsel” between the two implies mutual agreement within the Godhead.
Even Isaiah 53:10–12 (CSB) presents the Son’s suffering as the fulfillment of the Father’s will within a covenant:
“Yet the Lord was pleased to crush him... My righteous servant will justify many... Therefore I will give him the many as a portion.”
Here the Father rewards the Son, confirming a covenantal arrangement. These passages indicate a mutual agreement and shared authority between the Father and the Son in redemption, not eternal subordination. The Son’s submission was temporal and missional, not eternal and ontological.
During the incarnation, the Son humbled himself to accomplish redemption:
Philippians 2:5–11 (CSB)
Adopt the same attitude as that of Christ Jesus,
who, existing in the form of God, did not consider equality with God as something to be exploited.
Instead, he emptied himself by assuming the form of a servant, taking on the likeness of humanity.
And when he had come as a man, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death— even to death on a cross.
For this reason God highly exalted him and gave him the name that is above every name,
so that at the name of Jesus every knee will bow— in heaven and on earth and under the earth—
and every tongue will confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.
This functional subordination was bound to his redemptive mission, not his eternal relation.
Hebrews 10:5–10 (CSB)
Therefore, as he was coming into the world, he said:
You did not desire sacrifice and offering, but you prepared a body for me;
you did not delight in whole burnt offerings and sin offerings.
Then I said, “See— it is written about me in the scroll— I have come to do your will, God.”
After he says above, You did not desire or delight in sacrifices and offerings... which are offered according to the law,
he then says, See, I have come to do your will.
He takes away the first to establish the second.
By this will, we have been sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all.
This doing of the Father’s will fulfills a pre-temporal covenant within the Godhead, hinted at in the oath of priesthood:
Hebrews 7:20–22 (CSB)
None of this happened without an oath. For others became priests without an oath,
but he became a priest with an oath made by the one who said to him:
The Lord has sworn and will not change his mind, “You are a priest forever.”
Because of this oath, Jesus has also become the guarantee of a better covenant.
(Quoting Psalm 110:4 [CSB] — “The Lord has sworn an oath and will not take it back: ‘You are a priest forever according to the pattern of Melchizedek.’”)
Thus, Scripture presents the Son as coequal in glory, purpose, and power with the Father. His subordination pertains to the incarnate mission within time, not to an eternal structure of authority within the Trinity.

11/02/2025

Dos and Don'ts with a Difference

The instructions for Christian living given to the Ephesian believers, and us by extension, extends to many things that we are not to do and things that we are to do in the fifth chapter of Ephesians. In taking to heart what Paul writes in Ephesians 5:1-20, we discover that because we have been brought out of darkness, we are to walk as children of light (v. 8). While we may be deceived into remaining in the disobedience and deeds of darkness (vv. 6,11), we are really to walk 1) in keeping with our identity as dearly loved children (vv. 1-2), and in view of reality -- evil days, darkness, and the need to be filled by the Spirit, with the benefits of speaking to each other, worshiping God, and giving thanks (vv. 14-20). Join us as we consider the motivation and means of the way we should walk. We will also be celebrating the Lord's Supper this Sunday.

10/15/2025

Unity in the Body

Ephesians 4 represents the shift from an emphasis on what is true to what we are to do. As we enter this shift and have to admit that the way we live our lives does not always fit the calling we have received (v. 1), we still see that 1) we are to keep the unity of the Spirit despite our diversity in gifts given to us by God (vv. 3, 7-8); and 2) we will reach unity when our maturity attains the fullness of Christ (v. 13). There is a unity that is a reality that we need to reflect. But there is a unity of faith that is still being realized for which we need to keep reaching. The summary of Ephesians 4:1-16 is: because we are called to one hope as one body, we are to grow as each part does its work. As is put in Evangelical Convictions, 2nd ed. (p. 139): "This is a wonderful body, a body full of variety, with people of all sorts, differing in their interests and skills and gifts, but each playing a vital part in the well-being of the whole."

From Da Vinci anatomy drawings: