Sermons on Isaac And Rebekah:

Jealous For The Name

Contributed by Isaac Butterworth on May 29, 2018

Jesus teaches to long for the name of God to be held in esteem.

I THINK I MUST HAVE BEEN in the fourth or fifth grade, and I’d come into the proud ownership of a brand new baseball. I mean, it was the real deal. The core was firm, the skin was tight, the threads were prominent and taut. It even had the word “Official” on it. It was a gem. So I got up a game ...read more

Scripture: 1 Timothy 6:13-16

Denomination: Presbyterian/Reformed

Thy Will Be Done Series

Contributed by Isaac Butterworth on Jun 9, 2018

When we pray, "Thy will be done," we are committing ourselves to desire, discover, and do the will of God with grateful hearts.

Warren Wiersbe says that, from time to time, he has counseled with people who were actually afraid of the will of God. They were terrified at the thought of surrendering themselves completely to him. The idea disturbed them because they had concluded that the will of God was something painful and ...read more

Scripture: Colossians 1:9-14

Denomination: Presbyterian/Reformed

Whose Story Is It?

Contributed by Isaac Butterworth on Jun 9, 2018

Are the star of your own story with God playing a supporting role, or are you in a story that’s bigger than you, with God in the lead and you in the supporting role?

Bill Clem opens his book, Disciple, with two scenarios. One has to do with a couple of guys who are theater majors in college, and they grow impatient with all the hoops they have to jump through to finish their degree. They just want to be producing plays and directing and acting in them. So, one ...read more

Denomination: Presbyterian/Reformed

God's Covenant With Abraham

Contributed by Isaac Butterworth on Jun 9, 2018

God's promises don’t rest on your faith. They rest on his faithfulness. But how can you not have faith in One so faithful?

TODAY I WANT TO TALK WITH YOU about faithfulness—not yours, but God’s God is a promise-making God, but he is also a promise-keeping God. He is faithful in keeping his Word. Now, admittedly, it is sometimes hard to believe that. Our faith falters when it looks like God has forgotten what he ...read more

Scripture: Genesis 15:1-18

Denomination: Presbyterian/Reformed

Postscript: Thine Is The Kingdom

Contributed by Isaac Butterworth on Jul 7, 2018

The Lord’s Prayer is not just something you say to God. When you pray it, it says something about you.

We come at last to the postscript of the Lord’s Prayer. And while these words do not appear in the best manuscripts of the New Testament, they surely belong in the prayer. They are in any case biblical. I hope you noticed that as we read the Old Testament lesson from 1 Chronicles 29. How can you ...read more

Scripture: Matthew 6:9-13, Romans 11:33-36, 1 Chronicles 29:10-13

Denomination: Presbyterian/Reformed

A Mother's Legacy

Contributed by Isaac Butterworth on May 11, 2018

God placed your mom in your life to guide you to Him.

I was probably about thirteen or fourteen when I began work on my cooking merit badge. I was in Scouts, and one of the ways you advance is by earning merit badges. So, I set out to get my cooking merit badge. Now, when I worked on my hiking merit badge or my camping skills—that sort of thing—it ...read more

Scripture: 2 Timothy 1:3-7, Proverbs 23:22-25

Denomination: Presbyterian/Reformed

The Sun, The Moon, And The Stars

Contributed by Isaac Butterworth on May 11, 2018

We are to be a light shining in a dark place.

WHEN OUR DAUGHTER was in Junior High, she became friends with some girls who lived in a little town about an hour’s drive from here. On occasion, these girls would invite her to an activity at their church or their school or even ask her to come to their house. So, I would drive her there, come ...read more

Scripture: Matthew 5:13-16

Denomination: Presbyterian/Reformed

Radical Self-Interest Series

Contributed by Isaac Butterworth on Mar 19, 2010

In the Lord's Prayer, Jesus connects God's forgiveness of us with our forgiveness of others. To forgive is, then, "an act of radical self-interest."

RADICAL SELF-INTEREST Matthew 6:9-15 (NRSV) 9 "Pray then in this way: Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name. 10 Your kingdom come. Your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven. 11 Give us this day our daily bread. 12 And forgive us our ...read more

Scripture: Matthew 5:9-15

Denomination: Presbyterian/Reformed

The Word On The Street

Contributed by Isaac Butterworth on Jun 2, 2015

Our true vocation in life is to bear witness to the light, to reflect the glory of God, to mirror His majesty, to glorify Him.

Jesus is called many things in Scripture. In the Gospel of John alone, he is called the Lamb of God, the light of the world, the bread of life, the gate of the sheep. He is even called a Vine. But here in chapter 1 he is called “the Word.” And there’s a reason for that. In Jesus, ...read more

Scripture: John 1:1-18

Denomination: Presbyterian/Reformed

Soil Samples

Contributed by Isaac Butterworth on Jun 2, 2015

There’s a condition of the heart that is necessary if the Word of God is to have a lasting effect on any of us.

This little parable of Jesus got me thinking about taking soil samples. You know, with all its talk about different kinds of soil. So, what I did is: I logged on to YouTube and did a search. And, sure enough, there was a video on how to do it, how to take a soil sample. As you might guess, as ...read more

Scripture: Matthew 13:1-9

Denomination: Presbyterian/Reformed

Beyond Our Strength Series

Contributed by Isaac Butterworth on Jun 16, 2015

When you undergo afflictions, go over your convictions.

JOSEPH BAYLY ONCE SAID, “Never doubt in the dark what you learned in the light.” But we do, don’t we? When we go through times of trial, we lose sight of what we believe. We have a tendency to see only the bad our afflictions. For example, when the heat’s on, we may assume ...read more

Scripture: 2 Corinthians 1:3-11

Denomination: Presbyterian/Reformed

With His Coming

Contributed by Isaac Butterworth on Mar 30, 2015

Jesus became vulnerable so that we might become victorious. He put himself in harm's way to drive all harm away from us.

THERE’S A STORY in the Bible about King Jehoshaphat and how, one day, he was given some distressing news. Messengers came, and they told him that the massive armies of three – not one or two, but three – nations were coming against him. “A great multitude,” they ...read more

Scripture: Mark 11:1-11

Denomination: Presbyterian/Reformed

Easter Reservations

Contributed by Isaac Butterworth on Apr 9, 2015

Our risen Lord thrusts us into a future we’d never choose but we’d hate to lose.

THE FAMILY I GREW UP IN was highly conflicted. You would think that, for all the fighting we did, we would have gotten good at it – or, at least, that we would have seen something constructive come out of it. But the incessant bickering never seemed to bring about change; we just grew ...read more

Scripture: Mark 16:1-20

Denomination: Presbyterian/Reformed

Vital Christianity

Contributed by Isaac Butterworth on Apr 13, 2015

Only a vital Christianity creates vital Christians.

Without Jesus at the center of our faith and life, what are we left with? As far as our Christianity goes, it’s going to be nothing more than some form of bland moralism, religious formalism, or an anemic spirituality that neither motivates us nor appeals to others. We must have a ...read more

Scripture: John 20:19-23

Denomination: Presbyterian/Reformed

Dispelling The Darkness

Contributed by Isaac Butterworth on Apr 23, 2015

What we’re trying to do is push back the darkness.

So, Matthew says that, “when Jesus heard that John [the Baptist] had been arrested, he withdrew….” What does that tell us? It tells us – doesn’t it? – that there is a force of darkness at work in this world. And we know what that means, of course. It means there ...read more

Scripture: Matthew 4:12-23

Denomination: Presbyterian/Reformed