Jason Donaldson

The Grace of Futility

Ecclesiastes 3:1-15

The observable facts about the world, and our desires concerning it, open up questions about the meaning of life – is there meaning? Why is there pain? Why can we not make pleasure and goodness last? What, ultimately, is the point of it all? While many schools of thought have arisen to attempt to address it, the outlook of Ecclesiastes (and, ultimately of all of God’s word) stands uniquely in the face of evil, the attractiveness of good, and the ultimate futility of it all. The outlook given here points past the futility to the very purpose it serves in the awesome, gracious plans of God for our good and His glory.

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Mary and Elizabeth: Confirming Faith and Proclaiming Christ

Luke 1:39-56

Mary and Elizabeth had both received divine revelation about their respective miraculous pregnancies. When Mary went to visit Elizabeth, we see how God acted in them to further strengthen each other’s faith, and, by extension, ours today.

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Pray Then Like This… (Part 2)

Matthew 6:9-13

In the second half of the Lord’s Prayer, Jesus turns our attention from God (how he makes himself known, his moral rule, and his purposes) to our own needs, material, moral, and spiritual. This continuing pattern for our own prayer remind us regularly of the extent to which we depend upon the Lord for every aspect of our life, and the extent of his grace in those whom he holds as his children

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Baptism

1 Corinthians 1:10-18

The Bible makes is clear that baptism is important, and a right view on baptism is also important. This raises, therefore several pertinent questions. Why do Christians baptize? Why do Christians get baptized? And why baptism specifically? Why, of all things, did the Lord mandate this particular activity as his chosen way for Christians to welcome new Christians into the church? In this sermon, given for a baptismal service, we examine the answers to these questions, and draw out the impact and implications of this basic practice of Christ’s people.

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Gospel Goodbyes

Acts 20:17-38

Saying goodbye is a sad and painful part of life for everyone. In fact, the only way to avoid having to say goodbye to anyone is to die very young yourself. Looking at Paul’s third and final goodbye to the believers in Ephesus, we see how, while believers are not exempt from the same sorrows of saying goodbye as everyone else, nevertheless the Gospel radically changes even this aspect of life, reflecting the glory of the gospel of God’s grace.

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Impediments to Evangelism

2 Corinthians 2:12-16

Continuing our series in personal evangelism, we turn to a passage of Paul’s that brings to light three common elements in life that work against God’s people sharing the good news of Christ. We not only recognize these impediments, but also look at what means God has ordained to combat them, and how all these things fit into the fact of God’s plans and purposes for His people.

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Calling Sheep to Love and Goats to Turn

Matthew 25:31-46
In the parables previous to this, Jesus has said much about how His followers are to wait for His return, always ready, prepared to wait, and making use of His resources for His purposes. Now, in the concluding section of the Olivet Discourse, Jesus describes what His followers look like as they wait: Jesus’s disciples love those Jesus loves, not out of seeking reward (though there will be reward for his people) or out of fear of punishment (though there will be punishment for those who are not), but in accordance with their new nature.

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What are We Burying?

Matthew 25:14-30
The Parable of the Talents is in many ways a culmination of Jesus describing how his disciples are to wait for his return. Having told us to be ready at any time, and to be ready to wait longer than we expect, he goes on to describe his expectations of specifically how we are to wait. These expectations are exacting, but encouraging, as they hold out hope of great reward for faithful servants.

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Envy and Escape

Psalm 73
While the book of Proverbs is the classic example of wisdom literature in the Bible, forms of the genre actually appear in other parts, as well. Here, we examine some of these themes in one of the psalms, where the psalmist recounts his struggle with the problem of evil, in the fact that the wicked often prosper in this life. In relating his struggle, the psalmist reveals the ugliness and peril at the heart of envying the wicked, and we are invited to share in his experiences, first of the humbling truth about ourselves, and ultimately of the astonishing grace of God.

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Difficulties in Fulfillment

Matthew 2
The second chapter of Matthew’s account presents some challenges in understanding the concept of fulfillment of Scripture. The apparent difficulties of the four fulfillments Matthew records force us to take a look at how to read our Bibles, and moreover bring us face to face with a very difficult question indeed about how and why God acts in history – a question that brings us ultimately to one of the most basic and astounding truths in the whole of God’s revealed word for His people.

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