Sovereign Grace Community Church

05/21/2026

Building an Ark
Archaeologists recently claimed to have discovered Noah’s Ark in the mountains of Turkey. A distinctive land formation, indeed, looks something like a large boat.

Whether this formation is Noah’s Ark is a matter for debate – and there are strong reasons to doubt it. What we can say with confidence is that Scripture clearly presents the Ark as a historical fact. Consider Hebrews 11:7: “By faith Noah, being warned by God concerning events as yet unseen, in reverent fear constructed an ark for the saving of his household” (see Genesis 6-8 for the full account).

Why did Noah build an ark? To save his household. Noah alone found favor in God’s sight. The rest of the world stood under judgment: “The wickedness of man was great in the earth…and every intention of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually” (Genesis 6:5). The world deserved God’s judgment. But God showed grace to one man. By faith, Noah built the ark, “condemned the world,” and “became an heir of the righteousness that comes by faith” (Hebrews 11:7).

Are you building an ark for your household? While the world will never again face a flood like that of Noah’s day, we will all face God’s righteous judgment.

The good news is that God has provided an ark. That ark of refuge is Jesus Christ. Through his perfect life and death on the cross, He has become the only way of safety. He alone is the “way, the truth, and the life” (John 14:6). All that you must do is believe. Look to Jesus in faith, receive him as he is offered to you in the gospel, and follow him with all your might.

Just as the Lord shut Noah safely in the Ark, He will never let you go.

05/15/2026

True or false? “Individuals should be allowed to conduct life as they choose as long as it does not interfere with the lives of others.”

Think about it for a moment.

The question comes from a test developed by the Nehemiah Foundation, an organization designed to help Christians think more like Christians. The question asks us to consider what we believe to be sin. Is sin simply what hurts other people? Or (as is commonly thought in our day) is it to do something without the consent of another? consent?’”

“Consent” has now become the universal moral code. As long as two people consent, many behaviors once universally regarded as immoral are now celebrated. Even the age of consent is arbitrary and continually pushed lower. In Europe, for example, many countries put the age of consent for sexual activity at 14.

God’s word, the Bible, should make us reconsider. Sin, in the Bible, is any lack of conformity to, or transgression of God’s law (1 John 3:4). It is a failure to reflect the moral purity God. That means that all sin is primarily against God (Psalm 51:4). Two individuals could be consenting and yet their action be immoral. Instead of merely asking “Does he (or she) consent?” We should be asking, “What would God have me do?” Or (what amounts to the same thing), “What did Jesus say in the Bible?”

God’s way is the best way. After all, He made the world and all things in it. For us to follow God’s law is to put our lives on the railroad tracks of creation.

Consent or no consent, we ought to acknowledge sin as sin and -what’s more – rejoice that where sin abounds, grace abounds more (Romans 5:20). Jesus Christ loves to save all who put their trust in him.

05/07/2026

Paddle Your Own Canoe
J. Gresham Machen, a theologian, once said, “A person who can rattle his own rattle when he is a baby is very apt to be able to paddle his own canoe when he becomes a man.”

He makes an important point. Machen explains: “The average American, however, remains a baby all his life…he has to have somebody else amuse him all the time…turn off his radio even for a moment and the appalling emptiness of his life is at once revealed.”

Machen, a theologian, wrote this paragraph in 1934. One wonders what he would say today. If people in the 1930’s couldn’t endure the emptiness of their lives without the radio, how much more do we fill emptiness with constant noise!

Scripture tells us that if we are to approach God rightly, we must be prepared to listen. Ecclesiastes 5:1-2 says, “Guard your steps when you go to the house of God. To draw near to listen is better than to offer the sacrifice of fools…. Let your words be few.”

To speak constantly is to offer the “sacrifice of fools.” It is but a small step away to listen to other people speaking constantly. If we are to approach God rightly, we must put aside these distractions and come quietly, intently, and sincerely. There is nothing more important in life than hearing from God through the Bible and responding to His word in faith. Our Lord Jesus Christ himself took time alone to pray, and we do well to follow in His steps.

Let us commit to powering down our devices and spending time in worship. Pray sincerely: “Lord, teach me your ways. Show me your paths. Lead me in the way everlasting.” For in Him we have life abundantly (John 10:10).

05/06/2026

Sign up for the annual Memorial Day Camp of the Sierra Christian Conference Association! Details in the handout pictured.

05/06/2026

04/25/2026

2026 Fruit and Nut Festival outreach. Thanks to the volunteers who are helping out!

04/24/2026

Sink, Not Satisfy
“A man may have enough of the world to sink him, but he can never have enough to satisfy him.” So wrote Thomas Brooks wrote in his classic book, “Precious Remedies for Satan’s Devices.”

By the “world,” Brooks meant this created earth, and all things in it: things that are not necessarily bad in themselves, but things that, when idolized, draw our hearts away from God. Think of status, or money, or power. When our live is dominated by the search for these things, we will find that in the end they sink us. At the same time, we will find that they can never satisfy. We will feel as empty when we obtain them as in the pursuit of them.

The Apostle Paul said something similar, if not as memorable. He said, “Those who desire to be rich fall into temptation, into a snare, into many senseless and harmful desires that plunge people into ruin and destruction. For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evils. It is through this craving that some have wandered away from the faith and pierced themselves with many pangs” (1 Timothy 6:9-10).

That’s not to say riches are harmful in themselves – no. It is the inordinate desire after riches that is harmful to the soul.

Are you seeking satisfaction in the things of this world? You will never find it. You may, however, find that those very things will sink you eternally. Place your trust instead in the infinite, eternal, personal God, who made all things, and who cares for His creation. Repent of idolizing created things, and worship instead the Creator: Jesus Christ, “by whom all things were made” (Colossians 1:16).

Our hearts will be restless until they rest in Him.

04/17/2026

Enjoying Your Inheritance
Fourteen years ago, in the middle of winter, several children were sledding under a railroad overpass in Evanston, Wyoming. At the bottom, they discovered a man frozen to death with hypothermia. The man was Timothy Henry Gray, age 60. After authorities began an investigation, it was discovered that Mr. Gray was a homeless man, the half-great-nephew of a New York copper mining heiress, Huguette Clark. Ms. Clark had also passed away, leaving an estate valued at $300 million. Timothy Gray was entitled to $19 million of that amount. Tragically, he died before ever learning of his great fortune.

How many Christians go through life scarcely thinking of their spiritual inheritance?

Scripture tells us that the Father chose us in Christ before the foundation of the world (Ephesians 1:4). In the fullness of time, Christ came to redeem us from the curse of the law (Galatians 4:4). Now the Holy Spirit is given us as our Comforter, to be with us until Christ returns in glory (John 14:16). Philippians 2:1-4 says that we enjoy “encouragement” in Christ, “comfort” from the love of God the Father, and “fellowship” in the Spirit, along with the affection and sympathy of God for all our need in sin and misery.

I could go on. Have you stopped to ponder this great inheritance that is yours in Christ?

It is only when we understand, embrace, and celebrate our privileges in Christ that we can really fulfill our callings as Christians. It is only as we understand the vast inheritance given us in Christ that we can be enabled to live the Christian life: to live with faith, hope, and love.

The truth is, the newest believer in Christ is richer than the greatest men and women of this world. Praise God for His marvelous grace!

04/07/2026

Focus
Your life is the sum total of what you focus on. So argues Winifred Gallagher in her 2010 book, Rapt: Attention and the Focused Life. These words invite us to ask: what are we focusing on? What does it reveal about our lives?

In John 6:38, our Lord Jesus Christ revealed His focus. He said, “I have come down from heaven, not to do my own will but the will of Him who sent me.” Jesus was on a mission from His Father. His mission was to redeem sinners by giving His life a ransom for many (Mark 10:45).

Only Jesus could do this. Only He - God the Son, come in the flesh - could live a righteous life. Only He could pay the cost of sins against God’s infinite holiness, satisfy the justice of God, and bear up under the wrath of God. Only He could bring His people everlasting salvation.

Jesus let nothing distract Him from this mission. He focused, and He succeeded. Praise God! Apart from Him, there could be no salvation.

What, then, is to be our focus? Nothing less than to glorify God and enjoy Him forever. 1 Corinthians 10:31 declares, “Whether you eat or drink, or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God.” We are to glorify God in all we think, say, and do. This is possible only through Christ, by the power of His Spirit, as we live according to His Word.

Indeed, our lives are the sum total of what we focus on. May we reflect our Savior by seeking to do the Father’s will day by day, in every passing moment. Then, like Paul, we will be able to say with confidence: ‘To live is Christ, and to die is gain’ (Philippians 1:21).

04/03/2026

All Creatures Great and Small

NASA’s recent launch of the Artemis II mission has many of us looking once again toward the heavens. How vast their immensity! How beautiful their complexity! The further our telescopes peer into the universe, the more stars and planets we discover.

What do we learn from gazing at the heavens? The Belgic Confession, a sixteenth-century Christian document, expresses it beautifully: “The universe is before our eyes like a beautiful book, in which all creatures, great and small, are as letters to make us ponder the invisible things of God.”

All creation serves as “letters” inviting us to ponder the invisible things of God. That means that as we look at the stars and planets, the moon, and indeed the grass, the trees, and every human being, we are called to reflect on the wisdom, power, and goodness of God. Creation reveals God’s attributes so clearly that we are without excuse when we fail to worship Him. As Romans 1:20 declares, God’s “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. So they [we] are without excuse.”

Creation cannot tell us how to be saved from our sins, but it does reveal that there is a God to whom we are accountable. God’s law, written on our hearts, convicts us that this is true. Only Scripture can tell us what creation cannot: that Jesus—God the Son, by whom all things were made—came down to us for our salvation and, through His body and blood, opened the way to everlasting life for all who believe in Him.

All creatures, great and small, owe worship to their Maker. May we all, with fresh humility, bow before Him—lost in wonder, love, and praise.