Whispering Pines Church

In this final week before we launch back into the second half of the book of Romans, we take another look at one of the most distinctive characteristics of Christ - His unhurried nature. Jesus did many things over the course of His life, taught many incredible concepts, spent 3 years surrounded by 12 close disciples, healed people, delivered public discourses, etc. But Christ spent His life being available. He was available when opportunities arose to make an impact. He was available to those that many others would (and did) view as distractions, as unimportant, or as a “waste of time.” To be able to say “Yes” to important things, we must learn, like Jesus, to say “No” to other, lesser things. Join us as we take a look at this important word to live by.

This past week, we talked about Christian love, defining and distinguishing it from how we typically consider “love” within our society. Having a working understanding of love is foundational to Christian belief and practice. This week, we’ll discuss love as a command. In John 13:35, Jesus told His disciples: “By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another.” Love is not merely an aspirational Christian virtue; it is to be part of the definition for what a Christian is. It is part and parcel to our faith. What is incredible about Jesus is that He does not simply spur us on to take radical action, He models these actions for us. Join us as we explore love, not as a mere nicety, but as a word to live by.

As we prepare for the year to come, we take a look at one last word to live by. Love is a cardinal Christian value. Love is to be a defining characteristic. For followers of Christ, being known as a loving person is not meant to be aspirational, “something we’ll grow into someday.” It is meant to be the primary means by which another would know that we are followers of Christ (John 13:35). I’m breaking this talk up into two parts because there is simply too much to cover in a single week. Next week we will look at Christ’s command to love in John 13, but this week, we start with the foundation, what is love? What sort of love are we actually describing when we say we are to be loving? To do this, we’ll do a deep dive on the way Jesus speaks of love in the book of Matthew, and how Paul refers to it in his first letter to the Corinthians. Join us as we launch into the new year with a refined and definite vision for Christian love.

Join us this Sunday morning for the final sermon on our advent series – looking at the birth of Christ through the eyes of the prophets. This week we’ll look at the prophet Zechariah and what God communicated through him about the coming of a Savior. The book of Zechariah is filled with visions and wonderful metaphors that explained the world from God’s perspective, and looked to the future and how God would make right what had been broken. Then, on Christmas Eve at 6 p.m., please join us for our Christmas Eve Candlelight service. In this intimate service, we will reflect on the coming of Emmanuel – God with us. His coming was good news. Not just for the powerful, but, we’re told, “for all people.” Join us as we celebrate this great and glorious gift of God.

Living at the same time as the prophet Isaiah, Micah faced many of the same pressures and concerns. The Northern Kingdom of Israel had already fallen, and the people of Judah were caught between mighty powers of the earth. The book of Micah brings many of the same charges against the people as the book of Isaiah, but also a great deal of hope. In Micah 5, the prophet writes of one coming from Bethlehem who would be their peace. A remnant of Jacob who would be refreshing and powerful – the king that we need. Join us this Sunday as we discover more of the prophet Micah, what he saw and what he hoped from this One who would be our peace.

William Stafford was once asked in an interview, “When did you decide to be a poet?” He responded that the question was put wrongly: everyone is born a poet. I just kept on doing, he said, what everyone starts out doing. “The real question is why did all the other people stop?” Jeremiah kept on doing what he was created for, over the course of his life he continued to live out the meaning of his name. The exact meaning of Jeremiah is not certain: it may mean “the Lord exalts”; it may mean “the Lord hurls.” Both are true of Jeremiah, and what is most certain is that his life was spent as a messenger, and as the message, of the God after whom he was named. Join us this Sunday as we explore Jeremiah 23, but also the larger story of this man who foretold the coming of Christ.

Each week of this Advent season, we will be looking at Advent through the eyes of those who prophesied about the coming of Christ. In this first week, we are going to be looking at a couple of the key passages about Christ’s coming in the book of Isaiah, but also, we’ll be taking a larger look at the life of the prophet. The book of Isaiah was written in the last half of the eighth century BC by Isaiah, son of Amoz. The book is nearly like a miniature version of the Bible, with two halves: the first concerning judgment, and the second, hope. God is described both as the judge who decrees destruction on a rebellious people, and a compassionate redeemer who will not cast off a people in despair. Join us as we look at what this prophet has to contribute to our understanding of Advent!

We are forgetters. I know that’s probably not a word, but it’s true. We are people in constant need of reminders, lest we wander off and lose sight of what we’re living for. One of the great tools of combating our forgetfulness and tendency to drift off – is to tell stories. We love stories, real and imagined. Our homes are cluttered with books. My office certainly is. Every month we gather at the communion table to recall to our minds the most impactful story we have ever taken in. The reality of Christ’s sacrifice for us is told again, and again. We remember. Rarely do the actions of another so completely define us. We may be influenced by the faith of a grandparent, the steadfastness of a friend. But what Christ accomplished for us on that cross ought to change everything about us – our motivations, where we place our concerns, our hope. Join us this communion Sunday as we remember together why Jesus came to us.

Whispering Pines Church invites you to join us for our Community Thanksgiving Service! The service will be a time of praise and reflection on the goodness of God. After the service we will enjoy a time of fellowship and share a wonderful Thanksgiving meal together. Please join us! This week we will be reflecting on the final exhortations of Paul’s letter to the church in Philippi. Paul’s encouragements here are not dissimilar from his encouragements in his other letters, but Paul does place emphasis on his desire for this church to embody one thing in particular: Gratitude. Rejoicing is not meant only for songs sung once a week at church. Rejoicing is to be a way of life for those who follow Christ. Rejoice! I will say it again: Rejoice! Join us as we explore a foundation of gratitude that gives all glory to God!

Last week Paul told his readers “...we are released from the law, having died to that which held us captive, so that we serve in the new way of the Spirit and not in the old way of the written code.” (Romans 7:6) This is a bold statement, and now he has some explaining to do. This week we look at Romans 7:7-25. Paul tells his readers that the law is good, but it inflames sin. What does that even mean? Paul also shares his personal struggle with sin, his frustration with himself, and how to rectify the tension we all experience between serving the law of God with our minds, yet serving the law sin in our flesh (7:25). Join us this Sunday as we get to the bottom of what Paul is saying to his readers in Rome.

This second segment of chapter 6 describes the new servanthood of believers to righteousness. Christians are freed from sin’s power for a reason, to serve righteousness. They have been brought from death to life, brought on by their new master. Followers of Christ have been given their own agency (as well as dignity) under their new master because they were given life. All Christians are now slaves, voluntarily, to God. They can reap holiness and eternal life as a benefit of this new relationship. The Pyramid of Honor is disassembled in this new metaphor. Those who previously were dishonored, the lower classes of the Roman world, are given new insight into their relationship with God that all believers can glean from. Join us as we continue through the book of Romans!

In Romans 6, Paul uses a human argument to convey the message that Christians are free from the bondage to sin. Many members of the Roman congregation, statistically, would have been slaves or former slaves. Paul does not avoid this issue but uses it to make his point about Christians’ standing with God. The chapter is broken into two main segments. In the first, which we’ll be covering this week, Paul explains that Christians are dead to sin. Paul confronts those who believe that sin no longer matters because their faith has saved them. Paul teaches that Christians are baptized into Christ’s death in order to live a new life (6:3). Those who have died with Christ are set free from sin (6:7). Sin is still wicked, and a sign of life in Christ is to offer oneself to God as an instrument of righteousness (6:13). Ultimately, for believers, sin is longer their master because they are no longer under the law, but under grace (6:14). Join us this week as we continue our study through the book of Romans!

In the second half of Romans 5, Paul discusses the reign of death brought about by the sin of Adam and all human beings from Adam until Christ. All people have sinned and face death as a result. But now, the grace of God has come to believers by the grace of Christ (5:15). The reign of life has come for those who receive the gift of righteousness because of one man, Jesus Christ (5:17). The obedience of Christ stands in direct contrast to the disobedience of Adam (5:18). The disobedience of Adam made many sinners, but the obedience of Christ enables all those who believe to be made righteous (5:19). The law was given to humanity to make their trespasses evident and unmistakable. Through Christ, the trespasses of humankind are met with incredible and unmistakable grace. Sin detracts from humanity, while Christ is the perfect human. To err is not human. To be more like Christ is to approach true humanity. Join us this Sunday as we continue in the book of Romans!

In chapter 5, Paul begins to tease out the implications of the fact that we are justified by faith in Christ. Sunday, we’ll take a look at what this beautiful reality means for us. -Daniel Martinez

Romans: In View of God’s Mercy 4:1-25 One of the great mysteries of the Christian faith is this: we are at the same time in the eyes of God, sinful and righteous. We are both worthy and unworthy. Both need to be held in tension. Without remembering that Christ has made us worthy, we will sulk in our sin and live in despair. Without remembering that we are unworthy, we will become arrogant and proud. In chapter 4, Paul uses as example two men who are heroes of the Jewish faith, Abraham and David. Their faith, Paul says, was credited to them as righteousness. This bestowing of righteousness from God is a gift. It is not earned. God is not obligated to give us this standing, it is a gift. There is no one who can stand proudly before God and say “I earned good standing with you.” All of us stand humbled before God, worthy and unworthy, sinful and righteous. Join us this Sunday as we continue in the book of Romans! Pastor Nate Roschen

Romans: In View of God’s Mercy 3:21-31 God is not fickle. He doesn’t change his mind. In the time leading up to Christ, He made His desires for His people clear – they should live with faithful obedience. This hasn’t changed. The requirements are still the same. The problem is, we could never meet the standards, the requirements that God desired. But Christ did. It is the work of Christ – His perfect obedience, submission, death and resurrection that saves. Faith is the vehicle by which we cling to Christ’s work. It is “received by faith” (Romans 3:25). We should see this for what it is – a blessing! We can’t earn our salvation anyway. But it also ought to cause us to slow ourselves down. To keep others in view of God’s mercy. By understanding our own salvation more deeply, we ought to be led to extend the gospel to others more freely. Join us this Sunday as we explore the role of faith in our lives! Pastor Nate Roschen

Romans: In View of God’s Mercy 3:1-20 It is a shame that we are not all asked more often, “Where do you place your hope?” If only to give us the opportunity to affirm that our hope is not in who we are, what our title is, the things we have done, or what other people say about us. So, let me ask you, dear friend, “Where do you place your hope?” For the Jewish Christians living in first-century Rome, their hope was found in Christ… and in their Jewishness. Their possession of the law and their circumcision were marks that they were God’s special possession, and their hope rested, at least in part, on these distinctives.  Our hope today must not be in ourselves, for, there is no one who does good, not even one (Rom. 3:12). Our hope must not merely be in our possession of a Bible, or our attendance to the church. Our hope is in Jesus Christ. He alone can unite us. He alone can save us. It is His righteousness, His work, that liberates us! Join us this Sunday as we continue to grow in the foundations of our fa

Romans: In View of God’s Mercy 2:17-29 Growing up it was easy to think that Scripture was mainly written for other people. As I read the stories of the lepers Jesus touched and healed, prostitutes He sat with and forgave of their sins, and the thief hanging next to Him on the cross, I thought my main takeaway was that I ought to be compassionate toward the same. While this is certainly true, and an important aspect of the narrative that we must apply to ourselves, Romans reminds us that we must apply Scripture one step further. I am the leper. I am the immoral one. I am the thief. I am the one who has needed forgiveness. Scripture must first be applied to ourselves. If we forget this, true compassion and Christ-likeness is impossible. Join us as we continue to apply and embody this letter to the Christians in Rome. -Pastor Nate Roschen

Romans: In View of God’s Mercy 2:1-16 For the Jewish Christian living in Rome, Romans 1 would have been an anthem they could fully get behind. The Gentile world is sinful! We agree! In Romans 2, Paul turns the tables to reveal their own sinfulness and judgmental attitudes. Who needs the gospel? We often think that those outside of the church, the rebels, the prodigals, need to hear the good news of Jesus and be transformed by it! Romans 2 tells us that the religious need the gospel too. We need to be ever-aware of our own dependence upon God, and to be awakened to the heart of the Father. He is merciful when we are not. He is like a rose, offering its fragrance to the good and the bad. Join us as we learn more about the heart of God! -Pastor Nate Roschen

Romans: In View of God’s Mercy 1:18-32 In this second half of Romans 1, Paul sounds like the psalmist, wondering why there is such evil and sin in the world. We look for God to make right what has been so wrong. Paul is honest about sin, holding nothing back. God’s punishment for people who crave what is so self-destructive? He gives it to them. He allows them to have what will ultimately destroy them. God is fair in this way. Like any good exposition on the gospel, the story must begin with our sin. In order to have a full view of God’s mercy, we must know what He has forgiven us of. Join us this Sunday as we continue this journey with Paul, and see even the sinfulness of humanity in view of God’s mercy. Pastor Nate Roschen