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Midlane Park Associate Reformed Presbyterian Church, 6209 Six Mile Lane, Louisville, KY (2026)

06/01/2026

SUNDAY SERMON NOTES | Jake Hovis, M Div, PhD | Mar 4:35-41 | Calming the Storm

In a Rembrandt painting, there are 14 men aboard the ship that nearly capsized during a tremendous storm. The 12 disciples and Jesus adds to 13, and the 14th was Rembrandt himself looking at the viewer. It is the only seascape he ever painted and was also a self-portrait. Let's picture ourselves in that boat, as Rembrandt did.

In this passage, the disciples find themselves in a living parable. The lesson was that God is not uncaring though he seems to be asleep in our crisis.

Following a day of teaching multitudes at the seaside, at evening the Lord said, "Let us pass over unto the other side." Perhaps the ship was one belonging to a disciple, and knowledgeable seamen were aboard. Yet, when the great storm arose and water filled the boat, they understood themselves to be perishing.

Jesus slept through his, so they awoke him: "Master, carest thou not that we perish?" Did they think his silence was indifference? The hard truth is that the Lord does not behave as you would like in all situations.

He awoke and rebuked the storm and there came a great calm. Then he asked: "Why are ye so fearful? how is it that ye have no faith?"

The disciples then showed 'exceeding' fear and marveled that their Master not only healed and fed multitudes, but was in control of nature and weather.

If we had been in the boat, it would be a right response to repent. We need to turn from disobedience and unbelief.

One good thing the disciples did was to go to Jesus and wake him in their despair.
Img: Public domain.

05/25/2026

SUNDAY SERMON NOTES | Evan Patriatan | 1 John 1:4 | Joy

Have you ever seen a miserable clown? Clowns are supposed to shown happy faces and be funny, but many have sorrowful painted faces showing fear and misery—The sorrowful clown is an oxymoron.

Have you ever seen a joyless Christian? That, too, is a walking contradiction. Christians have every reason to be joyful.

Joy begins with God, not with anything in ourselves.

God became man so we can have fellowship with him. We are saved to have this fellowship, this relationship, that invigorates in us true joy.

John wrote to the church to describe his experience with the living Lord whom the apostles saw with their own eyes and handled as one who is like us. This he shares so that his readers may have fellowship with him and with the Lord, so that their joy may be full.

If Christians forget they are in Christ, and that we are saved by his death, and that we are loved so much that God sent his Son to die for us, then we have no joy in our hearts. Salvation means we are reconciled with God and have eternal life—if we believe this, we will have full joy!

We must at times be reminded that we are sons and daughters in Jesus Christ, heirs of the Kingdom of God.

Do you KNOW that nothing can separate you from the Love of God that is in Christ Jesus?

Share your joy!

Joy in Christ cannot be manufactured; it is a natural response. Never think that God will love you more if you have joy. It is not a means of salvation but an outgrowth of our life in Christ who is the object, subject and source of joy. Pursue fellowship with the Lord so that your joy may be full.

Img: wikimedia, A Joyful Christmas -Joy to the World!

05/18/2026

Sunday Sermon Notes | Bobby Conti, M.Div, SBTS | Gal 3:15-27, "The Law Is Fulfilled in Christ"

The Judaizing Heresy had confused the Galatians; Paul wrote to explain how the Old Testament laws were to be applied to Christians.

In vss 15-18 we see Paul's explanation of the law's recipients; in 19-22 we learn the purpose of the law, and in 23-27 we are taught to live in Christ's grace.

There are conditional and unconditional promises. God's promise to Abraham that all nations would be blessed through him was unconditional. (Gen 22) God's covenant with Abraham was that of a greater with a lesser person which we might best understand as a contract. The law that was given 430 yeas later did not nullify the contract. God's promise to Abraham was not accomplished by works but through faith.

The law was added for transgressions; it is a benefit to us. It is our tutor to help us learn what pleases God, so that we might become past masters of his sanctifying work in our lives. It was given until Christ came to save us by grace through faith. We still need it but we are not under it. The remnants of the ceremonial law or dress code would only be to guide us in modern applications and point us to Christ.

As for salvation, there are no barriers for anyone to come to Christ; Jew and gentile are one in Him. Christ is the seed of Abraham and all who are in him are the recipients of the unconditional promises of God to Abraham.

'Now to Abraham and his seed were the promises made. He saith not, And to seeds, as of many; but as of one, And to thy seed, which is Christ.' vs 16
'But the scripture hath concluded all under sin, that the promise by faith of Jesus Christ might be given to them that believe.' vs 22
Img: The Sacrifice of Isaac in Gen 22 (where God's promise cited in Gal 3:8 was made), Saint-Jean-d'Acre, Wikimedia Commons

05/11/2026

SUNDAY SERMON NOTES - C**t Howell | Daniel 1 | "Sovereign in the Shadows: Staying Faithful When the World Moves In"

Daniel was a young man who was among the first and most excellent youth to be exiled from Jerusalem. At that time, Jeremiah and Ezekiel were prophesying. Daniel arrived at the Royal Court in Babylon and was immediately challenged to merge his identity with the pagan culture. The outline of this chapter is
1 How Daniel became an exile; God's sovereignty in this circumstance.
2 Daniel's faithfulness when pressured to become dependent on the King's 'table'- his rich delicacies and wines.
3 God's faithfulness to honor Daniel’s determination to be upright and on guard.

The exile of God's people from Jerusalem had three stages. The first was in 605 BC, a verifiable historic fact. Nebuchadnezzar wanted his new arrivals to assimilate and tried to erase their Jewish identities by giving them Babylonian names.

The Lord also would give King Jehoiakim into his hands and many of the temple vessels. It was a purposeful exile to show the wrath of God on the disobedient Jews.

God crushed Jesus, not as a victim of circumstance in the Roman world of the time, but our sins held him on the cross to satisfy God's justice. The sovereignty of God is always true.

Does God seem absent from you in your trials? If so, know that he has not abandoned you. All things are under his sovereign power.

Daniel kept himself apart- he refused to be unchristian! He sought resolve to be faithful, but silently, without show. We, too, must at times show fortitude in a quiet way. The Lord will be with us in the hour of trial.

God honored his deep desire to remain true to his faith by persevering dietary rules that differentiated the elect Jewish youth from the rich selections at the King's table.
img: wikimedia commons- Daniel in the Augsburg Cathedral

05/04/2026

SUNDAY SERMON NOTES - Josh Headrick | Job 38-42 | "The Lord Answers"

Job believes he has done no wrong, but God won't answer him. Will we find that God tells him to 'hush'!? Do these chapters reveal that Job has been 'called on the carpet'?

The Lord will question Job but not answer his heartfelt questions nor acknowledge his suffering. He will make Job aware of the limits of his wisdom and Job will learn to trust God.

'Who is this that darkeneth counsel by words without knowledge? ...Where wast thou when I laid the foundations of the earth? declare, if thou hast understanding.'

'Where is the way where light dwelleth? and as for darkness, where is the place thereof,...Knowest thou it, because thou wast then born? or because the number of thy days is great?'

'Canst thou send lightnings, that they may go, and say unto thee, Here we are?' Chapter 38 continues with revelations about the animal kingdom—God is the One who hunts pray for the lion's cubs and provides food for the raven...

In Chapter 39 He continues, 'Canst thou bind the unicorn with his band in the furrow? or will he harrow the valleys after thee?... Gavest thou the goodly wings unto the peacocks? or wings and feathers unto the ostrich? ...Doth the eagle mount up at thy command, and make her nest on high?'

In Chapter 41, the leviathan, representative of Satan, is described as one who cannot be approached or subdued except by God. 'Upon earth there is not his like, who is made without fear. He beholdeth all high things: he is a king over all the children of pride.'

God startles Job to understand that He is never to be 'called on the carpet.' Job then answers the Lord, ...'I have heard of thee by the hearing of the ear: but now mine eye seeth thee.'

When we understand that God desires our worship from a heart that sees Him and his glory, then he has accomplished his work in our inner being. When we understand who God is, we will trust Him and his work in our lives.

Img: Wikimedia Commons. John Linnell- Behemoth (Job 40:15-24) and Leviathan (Job 41)

04/27/2026

SUNDAY SERMON NOTES | Evan Patriatan began a series in 1 John, 'Fellowship with God' | 1 John 1:1-4

This book by Jesus’ young disciple was written later in his life and has a different style. It answers the questions of how to live, who God is, and why we worship him. We understand how because we have seen God in Christ.

A Jew who had become a Christian would have considered it inappropriate to think of fellowship with God. Pagans, too, would fear to approach God as though in friendship. Reverent fear or superstitions urged against this concept. But God had changed all the rules by his grace and mercy to make it possible for men to have fellowship with him through Christ when his death opened heaven for believers.

John had seen the Lord, been close to him—the very Word of Life. He wanted to declare all that he had known so that those he wrote to could have fellowship with him and with the Lord. He was writing so that their joy could be full.

The Christian faith is not essentially a matter of principles and ideology but it centers on a person. Doctrine and proper understanding are very important but it is our personal relationship with Christ that defines the faith.

The Lord has revealed himself in his Word and we grow in our knowledge of him through reading the Bible. As we mediate on it and pray, we draw closer in fellowship with him.

Is your day permeated with the Word of God? Are you meditating on it? Is your life characterized by your love of God?

Img: Wikimedia commons Last Supper by Kremilov

04/20/2026

SUNDAY SERMON NOTES - Josh Headrick | Job 4-5 - 'When All Comforts Fail'

In the initial chapters of Job, we read of his immense losses and that he kept his faith. Even when his health failed he did not curse God, and was instead more grieved that he seemed to have lost God's friendship. His friends arrive to comfort him.

Friendship is a gift. Numerous passages in Scripture speak of how friendship strengthens our hearts and enables us to make progress in our lives. Yet friends can hurt us the worst, and when we would help them in their losses we may later regret how our help was hurtful.

Job's friends say many useful and right things in the course of the 27 chapters of their back and forth debate with him about the cause and remedy for his suffering. They are convinced he needs to repent for God does not permit such disasters to affect godly men. Yet Job insists he did not deserve his steep fall. In the end, though his friends were correct in many of their observations, God was angry with them for they had not spoken of Him the thing that was right (Job 42:7).

The Holy Spirit is teaching us in trials. Ask: What is the wisdom of the Cross? Yes, men can experience terrifying reversals for wonderful purposes. God is in perfect control at all times and always blesses the righteous.

Job never abandons hope that God will set things right. He sees that he needs someone to be his advocate. He knows that God is his only hope in his dark night.

With our friends who suffer terrible traumas, we may think we can fix their needs with our words, but 'I don't know' is usually the best answer as to why the thing happened, and 'God loves you' is important to say also.
Img: Job and his friends, public domain by Blagoveshenskiy

04/13/2026

Sunday Sermon Notes | Timothy Seminoff, M.Div, SBTS | Galatians 1:11-2:14, "The Gospel Is from God"

How do you determine whether a news story is authentic? Perhaps you consider the source, or whether the writer has an agenda, or if others have stated the same things. It's important to be discerning. Fake news abounds.

Paul wrote to the Galatians about the True Gospel. Could they believe him?

Paul carefully laid out why he knew that he knew. He had received the revelation from Jesus Christ; he was not educated by the inner circle, the Apostles. He himself was an Apostle, defined as one who learned the Gospel from Jesus himself.

Paul had been a well-educated, young and successful Jew. (v 14) Colloquially we would say he was a young tycoon on Wall Street. But God had set him apart from his mother's womb and by His grace called him to preach among the Gentiles.

His immediate response was not to consult any human but he went to Arabia and then to Damascus, and after three years to Jerusalem where he stayed with Peter 15 days. He saw no other apostles, only James, the brother of Jesus. He then went to Syria and Cilicia but returned to Jerusalem after 14 years to consult with the esteemed leaders, and to be sure they agreed with his understanding of the gospel. They did. And Titus, a Greek who was with him, was not required to be circumcised.

These leaders recognized he was entrusted with preaching to the gentiles just as Peter was charged to preach to the circumcised. James, Peter and John gave their approval. They only asked that Paul remember the poor.

Peter's betrayal of the gospel had damaging effect on both the circumcised and the gentiles. Paul refuted Peter's false gospel. Only the true Gospel has transformative power. Jesus calls us to Awaken and Come Alive, as he called Lazarus forth from the grave. Gospel power to save is beyond all else and empowers us to be new creatures.

Let us lean on one another and confirm the Gospel and the Bible every week!

Statue of Saint Paul at Bab Kisan, Damascus, Syria. Statue of Paul as he was struck down by the light, on the road to Damascus (Acts 9:3). The beginning of the conversion of Paul.

04/06/2026

SERMON NOTES | Pastor David Dively | Christ, Our Brother and Savior | Heb 12:1-2, Ps 122:1

Hebrews is a book to help the Jews understand their law and faith in light of Christ’s life, death and resurrection. The examples of the faithful in Hebrews 11 ends with the thought: 'And these all, having obtained a good report through faith, received not the promise: God having provided some better thing for us, that they without us should not be made perfect.' (vss 39-40) The saved Jews had advanced from waiting for their Messiah to knowing Him as their Lord and Savior. All aspects of their beliefs were fitted together in Him.

Jesus was the Son in the Covenant of Redemption that defines the eternal agreement within the Trinity to redeem God's people. As the Son of Man he was tempted, yet lived a sinless life. As a man, he struggled with life's experiences and sorrows as we do. This is shown in his crucifixion when he cried in a loud voice, "My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?" (Ps 22:1) He endured the cross, despising the shame, for the joy set before him. (Heb 12:2) He knew he was the author and finisher of our faith.

We now run the race set before us, as we are lifted by the knowledge of the great cloud of witnesses memorialized in Hebrews 11. The Lord is our example in perseverance and endurance. As we push back against the world, the flesh and the devil, we learn obedience and are disciplined when we truly are his sons.

Christ learned obedience though he was God's son, through suffering, and became the source of eternal salvation. 'For whom the Lord loveth he chasteneth, and scourgeth every son whom he receiveth.' (Heb 12:6) Christ identifies with our struggle against evil, first-hand. As the risen Lord, he is our high priest and the sacrifice presented to atone for our sins.
Img from Wikimedia

03/30/2026

Sunday Sermon Notes | Dale Kleinjan, Midlane elder, stepped in to preach for us after Timothy Seminoff became ill late in the week. Dale’s sermon was from Matthew 21:1-11 | "Guess Who Just Rode into Town!"

The story of Palm Sunday is one of only several that are found in all four Gospels. Each mention brings out particular facts. In John we learn that the crowd was large because they knew the Lord had raised Lazarus from the dead. Reading each account is a good Sunday evening activity.

In Matthew the text stating that the Lord rode into Jerusalem references a prophecy from Zechariah: "Tell ye the daughter of Sion, Behold, thy King cometh unto thee, meek, and sitting upon an ass, and a c**t the foal of an ass." (Zech 9:9) The other gospels make clear that Jesus rode on the c**t, not the ass. We learn that those who went to get the c**t were to tell the owner, if asked, that the Lord had need of him.

It is not in an animal's nature to allow a human to ride upon it. Any horse or donkey would naturally buck and try to throw off the rider. This did not happen; God supernaturally prepared the c**t to be ridden by His Son. God was in complete control of all the events of the week.

Matthew tells us that a very great multitude spread their garments in the way; others cut down branches from the trees, and strawed them in the way (vs 8), and John notes that they were Palm branches.

The crowd cried, "Hosanna!" This means, "Save us, please!" The humble Lord came as a suffering servant for a world of sinners. Though the triumphal entry to Jerusalem was joyous, the cries soon turned to "Crucify him!" He did not do what they wanted, so they rejected him.

Let us keep the faith, walk the walk, and ask ourselves, "Do I have something the Lord has need of?" Be ready to share the Gospel. Hosanna!
img: Scipione Compagno. Entry of Christ into Jerusalem. Wikimedia.org

Midlane Park Associate Reformed Presbyterian Church

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