Glenburn Christian Fellowship

05/25/2026

We continue our series on Lamentations to look at the theological heart of this book. Sunday's sermon is available now on YouTube and our website.

We continue our series on Lamentations to look at the theological h...

05/23/2026

In Matthew 25, Jesus paints three pictures of different aspects of final judgment. The third is the story of the "sheep vs the goats," and recently we had a question about it.

In the parable/picture, Jesus Christ, sitting as judge, sends one group of people (whom he calls "the righteous") to the kingdom that he says was prepared for them before the world was even made. He says that when they saw him suffering, they cared for him.

The second group, Jesus Christ sends to the judgment that he says was prepared for the devil and his angels. He says that when this group saw him suffering, they did nothing.

Both groups are shocked: when did they ever see Jesus suffering? Jesus explains that as they did or did not do something to relieve the suffering of the least of his brothers and sisters, they did or did not do it for him.

The question is whether this passage is teaching that, ultimately, we'll get into God's kingdom (or not) based on our own works: specifically charity towards the poor, but possibly all good works if the ones cited in the story are a representative list rather than a comprehensive one. A follow-up question is whether Matthew (and Jesus here) is at odds with the Apostle Paul in his letters. Paul's letters seem to hit very hard on salvation by grace through faith alone, while Matthew in his gospel seems to hit very hard on the ethical requirements of the kingdom of God.

The good news is that this seeming disagreement is only on the surface. The whole New Testament – in fact, the entire Bible – is in agreement that humanity's only hope for salvation is the grace of God that leads and keeps us in faith: a faith that is not intellectual assent to facts but a living trust in Christ that inevitably results in becoming more and more like Jesus Christ, who self-sacrificially served those in need, all the way to the point of death.

Understanding this story in Matthew 25 requires learning a bit about the context of Matthew, the Old Testament ideas he's drawing from, and taking a careful look at what's really going on with the sheep and goats. You can explore it all in more depth here:

https://www.podbean.com/ep/pb-7sic5-1acd9ea

05/18/2026

In yesterday's sermon on Lamentations 2, we look for answers to some hard questions about why bad things happen at all, how a good God could judge in a way that brings such suffering, and the nature of sin.

Available on our YouTube channel and website.

Join us as we look at the difficult second chapter of Lamentations and ask some hard questions about why God judges and the true nature of suffering.

05/16/2026

See you tomorrow, May 17th, at 9:30am for Bible study and at 10:30 for worship!

05/05/2026

This past Sunday we started a short series on an oft-neglected book: Lamentations. In chapter 1, we explore what Judah has suffered and why, how she feels about it, why the judgment is as harsh as it is, and what all this tells us about God and for the Christian. Follow along on our website or YouTube channel.

Join us for a short series through the book of Lamentations. In chapter 1, we explore what Judah has suffered and why, how she feels about it, why the judgment is as harsh as it is, and what all this tells us about God and for the Christian.

05/02/2026

See you tomorrow at 9am for Bible study and at 10:30 for worship!

04/29/2026

Recently, someone asked a question about Judges 11, where we read the story of a man named Jephthah who made a vow to God that, if God would give him victory in battle, he would make a sacrifice. In the end, what he sacrifices is his own daughter.

The question is a good one:

"Why does God accept the human sacrifice made there when He elsewhere commands “thou shalt not kill” and stopped Abraham from sacrificing Isaac?"

The answer is that God doesn't accept this sacrifice at all. He didn't command it, or the vow of Jephthah, and he didn't reward that vow with victory in battle.

God is unusually silent in this episode of Judges, and Jephthah's behavior is meant to underline one of the key things the book is trying to teach: that humanity turned away from God is turned away from all that is good, just, and righteous, because the Creator is the source of those things. Jepththat is like the people he leads. He's manipulative, degenerate, and ignorant of what God really wants. He treats the true God like the pagans around him treat the gods they've created, and his story signals that the degeneration and fragmentation of Israel is reaching a crisis point. Something has to change, and the people are not willing to change, no matter how bad things get.

One of the points of Judges is to raise the question of how God can keep his promises to Abraham when Abraham's descendants are as wicked as they are. The good news is that God isn't constrained by people, and he is preparing to do something brand new very soon, which the book of 1 Samuel tells us all about.

God didn't save Jephthah from himself that day. He doesn't always choose to remove the consequences of humanity's sin, which is an expression of its hatred towards God and which is responsible for the brokenness of our world. But he did send his son into the world to do a new thing.

Dig deeper into the details in the two-part podcast here:

https://www.podbean.com/media/share/pb-8gcp6-1aa80f7 - A Leader the People Deserve
https://www.podbean.com/media/share/pb-e9vde-1aaf49c – A God the People Don't Deserve

In this two-part discussion on Judges 11, we answer a question raised about whether God is inconsistent in his teaching on the value of human life and how we can understand the sacrifice Jephthah makes as a result of his rash vow.

04/27/2026

Our final sermon on John 21 is available on on our YouTube channel and website. We hope it will be a blessing to you!

John 21: "Do You Truly Love Me?"

04/25/2026

Join us Sun, April 26 at 9am to continue in 1 Sam. At 10:30, we gather to worship and finish the book of John!

04/20/2026

Keep up with our sermon series through John with the next installment from John 20.

We finish up John 20's four vignettes of people who see Jesus.