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Overboard and Overwhelmed by Grace Prosper Christian Reformed Church Overboard and Overwhelmed by Grace Jonah Mitchell Leach Sunday, November 2, 2025 Audio Overboard and Overwhelmed by Grace Mitchell Leach 00:00 / 34:49 Sermon Transcript Good morning. I am Alex. I serve as a deacon currently, and my wife and I have been attending gospel church for almost three years now. This morning's scripture reading comes from Jonah 1: 1-17. Please turn with me in your Bibles as we hear God's word. Now the word of the Lord came to Jonah, the son 'Emma' of Amittai, saying, Arise, go to Nineveh, that great city, and call out against it, for their evil has come up before me. ' But Jonah rose to flee to Tarsish from the presence of the Lord. He went down to Jopah and found a ship going to Tarsish, so he paid the fare and went down into it to go with them to Tarsish, away from the presence of the Lord. But the Lord hurled a wind upon the sea, and there was a mighty tempest on the sea, so that the ship threatened to break up. Then the mariners were afraid, and each cried out to his God, and they hurled the cargo that was in the ship into the sea to lighten it for them. But Jonah had gone down into the inner part of the ship and had leaned and was fast asleep. So the captain came and said to him, What do you mean, you sleeper? Arise, call to your God. Perhaps the God will give a thought to us that we may not perish. And they said to one another, 'Come, let us cast lots that we may know on whose account this evil has come upon us. ' So they cast lots, and the lot fell on Jonah. They said to him, 'Tell us on whose account this evil has come upon us. What What is your occupation? And where do you come from? What is your country? And what people are you? And he said to them, I am a Hebrew, and I fear the Lord, the God of heaven who made the sea and the dry land. And then the men were exceedingly afraid and said to him, What is this that you have done? For the men knew that he was fleeing from the presence of the Lord because he had told them. Then And then they said to him, 'What shall we do to you that the sea may quiet down for us? ' For the sea grew more and more tempestuous. And he said to them, 'Pick me up and hurl me into the sea. Then the sea will quiet down for you, for I know it is because of me that this great tempest has come upon you. Nevertheless, the men rode hard to get back to dry land, but they could not, for the sea grew more and more tempestuous against them. Therefore, they called out to the Lord, 'Oh Lord, let us not perish for this man's life, and lay not on us innocent blood for you. 'Oh Lord, have done as it pleased you. ' So they picked up Jonah and hurled him into the sea, and the sea ceased from its raging. Then the men feared the Lord exceedingly, and they offered a sacrifice to the Lord and made vows. And the Lord appointed a great fish to swallow up Jonah, and Jonah was in the belly of the fish three days and three nights. This is the word of the Lord. What happens when we run from what we know we're meant to do? This is our big question for this morning. What happens when we run from what we know we're meant to do? Maybe it was forgiving someone. Maybe it was admitting that you were wrong. Maybe it was telling the truth when it would be easier to lie. Maybe it was answering a call from God that scared you. This issue is so pervasive in our human experience that it's been written about in nearly every culture throughout all time in history. One of the most famous examples of this is the play Hamlet. You're probably thinking, Man, I wish I would have read that in high school, too. Yeah, they're here with you. But the reason that we are supposed to read that is that this touches on some human experience that we all have See, in the play, Hamlet's father is murdered, and Hamlet knows who did it. He knows what he needs to do, but he spends most of the play putting it off. He at one point says this, O cursed spite, that I ever was born to set it right. And that, in modern English, means why me? Why this? Why now? We've all been there at the crossroads between, O obedience and comfort between trust and fear. We've all been there like Jonah, standing on the dock, ticket in hand, feeling the tug of the Holy spirit, begging us not to board the boat. And yet, time and time again, we find ourselves aboard. Like Hamlet, who knew what he needed to do but couldn't bring himself to it, Jonah knew exactly what God wanted and ran the other way. And that's the story we see in Jonah Chapter 1. So stay with me. Keep your Bibles open as we look at these three points in Jonah. We'll see that God calls, God corrects, and God appoints. In this chapter, we see a God who saves his disobedient prophet as he flees God's word. So let's look at that first point. God calls verses one through three. Last week, we said that asking good questions of the text is important, and there are some important questions that we need to ask this week as well in this chapter. First would be, who is Jonah? Jonah is our main character. In this story, he fulfills an important role. It's important to understand what he does. He is a prophet, and a prophet in the Old Testament fulfills a certain position in redemptive history. They They speak to people on behalf of God. They are the mouthpiece for God's word. And that's what Jonah is called to do. He is called to speak a prophetic word to Nineveh. And that begs the question, where is Nineveh? Where is Tarsish? Where is Japa? It's important for us to understand these things. It's more than just geography, but it shows the heart of Jonah. Nineveh is in modern day Turkey. Tarshish is in modern day Spain. And there's 2,500 miles that separate the two. Jonah, in running away, runs to the farthest point West in known existence at the time. This is the end of the known world. This is how far Jonah looks to run away. He's not running away to the city, the next door neighbor city. He is going as far away from God as he can. So why was Jonah running? Jonah likely saw Nineveh not just as a sinful city, but as a threat to his people's survival, to Israel's survival. Preaching repentance to the enemy felt like helping the oppressor. And remember, during this time in Israel's history, there's rampant idolatry. Oppression of the poor, people taking advantage of the least of these, and general disobedience to Yahweh. Nineveh would become the capital of Assyria. And later, just after Jonah would invade Israel and siege warfare against the Northern Kingdom. Another question that we need to ask is this. Let's go back. Why would the author say, Jonah fled from the presence of the Lord? ' This is an important question that we can probably ask of almost any text that we read. Why does the author say this in this way? Well, let's look at verse three. Why does he say, 'The presence of the Lord? ' Says this, But Jonah rose to flee to Tarsish from the presence of the Lord. He went down to Joppa and found a ship going to Tarsish. So he paid the affair and went down into it to go with them to Tarsish, away away from the presence of the Lord. It doesn't just say that Jonah fled what God wanted or even fled God. It says that Jonah fled the presence of the Lord. We know that we cannot get away from God's omnipresence. We can't run away from that. But we can resist intimacy with God. That's what Jonah is doing here. The reason that this word is used is because Jonah doesn't just dislike what God's asking him to do. Jonah doesn't want anything to do with God. Jonah hates God's heart. The main idea of this book that we talked about last week is Do you pursue God's Heart? Jonah isn't struggling whether or not God is real. He doesn't have doubts about his faith. He isn't questioning who he believes in. He hates who he knows. Jonah doesn't have a location problem. Jonah has a Lordship problem. And part of this problem is perspective. Jonah believes that he understands reality better than God does. So Jonah flees from God, from the presence of God. He gets in a boat and sails to the end of the known world. God called Jonah to Nineveh, a place that Jonah was saying, God, anywhere but there. Where is that for us? Where in your heart today might God be calling you to that you would say, God, anywhere but there? Maybe is it to a new job or to be honest with someone about something that might offend them, but it's important for them to hear. Maybe to confess a sin struggle you have or to serve people who annoy you or to be kind to people that you feel like you don't need to be kind to. Where would you say, Anywhere but there, God? Rather than running to God, Jonah runs away. Rather than trusting God. Jonah flees. Yet God isn't done with Jonah, and that's what we'll see in this next section, is a God who corrects. Verses 14 through 16. God's correction isn't not an act of anger, but an act of love. So let's see what happens in this section. God creates a storm so strong, it's looking to sink the ship. So the sailors or mariners start throwing cargo overboard. It says that the mariners were afraid. I was hoping that this was a prophetic word for the tigers this year, but that didn't seem to come true. Throwing the cargo overboard doesn't work. It doesn't stabilize the boat. And so they wake up everybody on board and they find out that Jonah has been sleeping, and so they wake him up and bring him on the main deck. And they cast lots, or this is an old-fashioned way of rolling dice, and it falls on Jonah. They ask, Jonah, who are you? Jonah says, 'I'm a Hebrew. I fear the Lord. My God controls the Earth and the sea. Jonah gets caught doing something as someone who follows the Lord that isn't very fearful of God. I don't know if you've ever been caught doing something as a Christian that wasn't so Christian-like. I, as a pastor, run into this maybe more than the average person. This typically comes out when I play sports. Sometimes I'm a little bit competitive. Whether it's cards or the World Series, I'm I'm pretty competitive. Sometimes I can smack talk and I'll play sports with someone and talk to them after the game. My friend will come out and rat me out and say something like, For a pastor, you played pretty good. They'll look at me like, Man, you said some stuff out there and I have to go, Yeah, you're right. I did. It's a little bit embarrassing. I don't know if you've ever been in that situation, but... Jonas in this situation. He looks foolish because he's acting foolish. The solution In verse 12, he says, To throw him overboard. So the mariners, they don't want to do this right away, so they try to row back to shore, but that doesn't work. So they know what they have to do. They know that throwing him overboard will stop the storm. So that's what they do. They throw him overboard. And as soon as Jonah enters into the water, the storm stops. And as soon as the storm stops, the mariners start to worship God. They offer sacrifices. This incident shows us where Jonah's heart is. Rather than repenting, rather than saying, God, I'm sorry. I get that if I don't turn back now, everyone If someone's going to die, he says, Throw me overboard. I'd rather drowned. I'd rather die than do what you want me to do. More than that, I'd rather die than be aligned with you, then be caught on your team. But like I said, God is correcting Jonah. God's correction, God correcting us, is there to save us from sin. See, sin matters to God. It's more than just breaking his rules. I think as parents, we can get these things convoluted because oftentimes our kids break rules, the rules that we make for them, and they can be frustrating to us. It can absolutely be frustrating. It is disobedient. It's wrong when they do that. But there's a difference between when kids disobey and when kids do something dangerous. The response can be different. You can be frustrated when your kid doesn't listen to you, when you ask them to stay in bed over and over and over. That doesn't happen in our house, but I can understand how that might be frustrating. But it's different than when your kid does something dangerous. If your kid climbs up on a ladder that they're not supposed to and slips. You don't run and scold them. You throw your arms around them and say, This is why we have a rule for this. There's a difference as parents between breaking a rule and doing something dangerous. But to God, these things are the same. To God, sin is dangerous. It's dangerous to our soul. God's correction isn't out of anger. It's not an act of anger. It's an act of love. Often when God creates a storm in our lives, it's an act of mercy, not an act of anger. And that's what we'll see in this next section. We see God's love, grace, and mercy as God appoints in verse 17, God sends a fish to swallow him, to swallow Jonah. And we need to see this here in this passage, that God God could have just not done anything. God could have left Jonah alone, and Jonah would have died. Jonah asked to be thrown overboard, not as some step out in faith, knowing, I know God's going to send me a big old fish that's going to save me? No. Jonah knew what he was doing, yet God wasn't done with him. The word 'appoint' will come up a couple of times in this story, mostly in chapter 4 after this, but it happens here in verse 17. It's important for us to understand this word, understand what it's trying to communicate. God wants us to see that he is in control, that he is sovereign over everything. The Heidelberg Catechism says it best, What do you understand by the providence of God? Providence is the Almighty and ever present power of God by which he upholds, as with his hand, heaven and earth and all creatures And so rules them that leaf and blade, rain and drought, fruitful and lean years, food and drink, health and sickness, prosperity and poverty, all things, in fact, come to us, not by chance, but by his fatherly hand. God wants us to see. God wants Jonah to see that he's the one who takes care of Jonah, that he's the one who sustains Jonah, he's the one who saves Jonah. God is reeling Jonah back in, out of his disobedience. Most of the time when you hear a sermon on this passage, we get to this point, and a pastor will say, This is God judging Jonah. This is God disciplining him, this is God bringing him back from his disobedience through punishment. And that's absolutely true, that this is discipline, this is judgment, but it's also saving. I don't think we talk about that as much. Jonah could have died. God didn't need to do anything. He saved Jonah by sending him this fish. And these two ideas, judgment and salvation go hand in hand throughout the entire biblical narrative, throughout the entire biblical story. God is glorified in salvation through judgment. Whenever there's salvation, God is judging. This happens in the Garden Eden. When Adam and Eve, they will surely die by eating the fruit of the knowledge of good and evil. And when they do this, God doesn't put them to death immediately. He saves them. Though he judges them, though he kicks them out of the Garden of Eden. Instead of getting what they deserved, God saved them because he wasn't done with them. And instead of getting what Jonah deserved, God saved him because he wasn't done with him. And that leads us into our main idea. Our main idea for this text is to fear God and to run to him. Fear God and run to him. Remember that we are supposed to do the opposite of what Jonah did. Jonah fled from the presence of the Lord. Jonah writes this book to plea with us, to beg us to run into it. We have to recognize Like I said before, that this problem with Jonah is a perspective one. We have to recognize that God's perspective is so much more infinite than ours. If we're lucky, we'll get 100 years on Earth. So far, I have 30 years of perspective on this Earth. I know a lot of you guys were wondering about my age. I wanted to slip that in there. I'm 30. I've got 30 years on this Earth, and yet I have the goal, Jonah has the gall, we have the gall to question God or to say to God, God, if you only gave me the chance, I think I could bring out a better outcome. God has seen eternity past. He was there eternally before he created anything. He's going to be there. He's seen eternity future. He's seen how the world ends. He's seen what happens next. God has seen every second of every minute of every day, of every month, of every year since creation. And we sit here and say, God, I think that with my limited perspective, I actually might have a chance to show you something here. No. This passage isn't just about being good because the consequences are bad. That's not the point of the sermon. That's not the point of this passage. It's not to obey because God might discipline you. He might send you a fish to swallow you if you're disobedient. That's not the point. The point of this passage is to fear God and to run to him, not from him. That leads us into our point of application, one of our two. This ought to change the reality of how we parent. We cannot parent children to obey just because the consequences are unpleasant or are harsh. We parent our children to obey because it's right and good for them to obey. We parent our children to love what is good, not just to love what is easy. It's easy to teach children the punishment game, right? And I was guilty of this for a long time until Elizabeth, my wife, helped me see the danger of it, right? The punishment game is teaching your children to obey because the punishment is going to be uncomfortable or it's going to not be fun for the kids. But if we do this, what we're doing is we're teaching our children to find the path of least resistance rather than the path of obedience. And this bleeds into our children's spiritual life. It bleeds into how they see God. If we just teach them to do the path of least resistance, that's why people come to church only when things are hard. That's why we turn to God in prayer only when things are hard. We don't come just because it's right. We don't go before him in prayer just because life is good. We go because we need something from him. It teaches our children to be sneaky, to get away with what you can get away with if no one's going to hold you accountable. That has devastating effects for our spiritual life. We obey because obedience is good. We obey because we love what's right Punishments are necessary. They are a necessary way to reinforce that belief. Don't get me wrong, I'm not a gentle parent at all. But discipline when punishments cannot be the primary motivator. Again, otherwise, we're teaching children to be sneaky. Jonah didn't like God's decision, and he threw a fit. God's here to show us in this book, to show Jonah that obedience in action isn't good enough. We need obedience in heart. We need a heart change. This has to be built on love and trust. God wants to show Jonah that he knows what's best for him. And we need to show our children that what we want for them is best. This book, God could have come down and just said, Jonah, I know what's right, and you need to listen. You need to do this. You have no reason to question who I am. You have no reason to disobey, and you're going to obey. He absolutely had every right to do that. And yet at the end of the book, we see God gently asking Jonah questions. We have every right as parents to come down hard, but that doesn't lead to true heart change. Being gentle with our children will. This leads us to our last point of application. It's this, that we need to trust Godly men and women in our lives around us. Too many times as a pastor, I see people making horrible choices with no input from the people that love them most. The reason that we do this, and the reason that we don't seek out people who love us, Godly men and women around us, is because we know what's wrong. We know what we're doing is wrong. We don't want someone to come and correct us. In my last church, part of my role was to to oversee the Benevolence Fund, which meant that at least twice a week people would come in to request benevolence, and 99% of the time, those people weren't in. They weren't a member of a church. They weren't in a church home. I wrestled with that. I was just baffled that that was the case. In the more and more cases that I saw, I had to come to the conclusion that being in a gospel community, being in a part of people who love you, who care for you, who can speak into your life, that that was a correlation for these people. These people didn't have people in their lives counseling them against horrific decisions that would lead them into terrible situations. That's one of the reasons that I'm asking you guys to have this, to have godly men and women in your life, around you. Find a friend who can offer you wise counsel. Or this is just a tip for men. Men, just ask your wives when you feel like you don't know. I know we say that as a joke, and sometimes we talk about our wives as nagging, But I think the reality is that as husband, sometimes we just don't want accountability. We don't want the wisdom that our wife has to offer us. If you don't have anyone, if you can't think of anyone in your life that can offer you Godly counsel, I want to take that away from you. You might have seen that in the newsletter, in the email that goes out in the last couple of weeks. But pastoral counseling is an offer that I offer to anyone here. It's something that's free. It's something that historically the church has done for 2,000 years. I think we're too fast sometimes to go to therapists or counselors when there are sometimes spiritual matters that we need to. I'm not saying that going to a counselor, going to a therapist is a bad thing. In fact, it's an important thing in different stages of our life. But some things can get handled by free counseling from a pastor. Not only is it a good thing that you'd get good biblical counsel, but maybe you'll save some money, too. I don't know. There's two for one there. As we come to a close, we talked about this this reality of salvation in judgment going hand in hand throughout the Bible. We see this all throughout God's word. This happened in the Garden of Eden. This happened to the Egyptians. They were judged through the Pharaoh's army. They were judged through the Red Sea to save Israel. We ultimately see this on the cross. We ultimately see this on the cross that judgment came down, not on us, but on Jesus, so that way we could be saved. We see this in this story. God hurled a great storm at Jonah. He hurled a great... He hurled his son at the cross. Jonah was thrown into a sea to calm a temporary storm, and Jesus was thrown into death to calm an eternal one. This is why we fear God. We We fear God because he has the power to crush us, and he doesn't. This is why we love him, because he's the only one powerful enough to save us. My question for you today is, where are you running? What are you running from? Where are you running from God in your life? I promise you, Prosper Church, the storm that you're fearing is the one that he wants to save you from. Fear God and run to him. Would you stand with me as we pray and we prepare our hearts for our closing songs? Father God, thank you for who you are, that you are the one who saves us, that you sent your son to be judged in our place, that we would not have to bear that, that we weren't the ones who were crushed for our iniquity, but you sent your son to be crushed for our iniquity. Father God, I pray as we respond in worship for who you are, that coming off of the heels of Reformation Day, that we would worship knowing that you are our only comfort in life and in death, and that we would proclaim that truth throughout all of our life. God, we love you. We love to do your will, so help us do that. It's in your name we pray. Amen. Facebook X (Twitter) WhatsApp LinkedIn Pinterest Copy link

Gospel In Three Words Sermon Series Description What is the gospel—really? In a culture filled with spiritual confusion and shallow answers, this three-week series clearly and faithfully explains the core of the Christian faith through three essential words: God, Sin, and Christ . We begin with God , whose holiness, righteousness, and justice establish a perfect standard no one can meet. From there, we confront Sin , not as a surface problem but as a deep condition of the human heart that leaves us desperate for mercy and renewal. Finally, we behold Christ , the supreme and sufficient Savior, who reconciles sinners to God through His death and resurrection. This series is designed to help believers articulate the gospel with clarity and confidence, and to invite skeptics and seekers to see the beauty, seriousness, and hope of Christianity. As we move from God’s holiness, to our need, to Christ’s saving work, we are called to trust God’s justice, confess our sin honestly, and remain steadfast in the gospel that truly saves. The gospel begins with God’s holiness, confronts us with our sin, and offers reconciliation through Christ alone. Christ Colossians 1 Watch Sin Psalm 51 Watch God Habakkuk 1 Watch

Come Thou Long Expected Sermon Series Description When we think of Christmas, we usually think of shepherds, wise men, and angels — and we’ll get there. But Christmas didn’t begin in Bethlehem. It started in the garden when God made a promise that one day someone would come to crush the serpent, restore what was lost, and bring us back to Himself. This Advent, we’re going to walk through that promise, from the garden to the manger, and see how all of history has been pointing us to Jesus. From the ruins of the fall to the birth of the King, God weaves a story of judgment, mercy, and promise—fulfilled in Jesus, the long-expected Savior. The Child Who Fulfills Every Promise Luke 2 Watch Judgement and Mercy Genesis 6, Genesis 7, Genesis 8 Watch Blood on the Ground Genesis 4 Watch The Promise in the Ruins Genesis 3 Watch The Blessing of Abraham Genesis 12 Watch

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Upcoming Events Stay Connected Subscribe to our weekly newsletter and follow us on social media for the latest ministry updates. Newsletter Sign Up Contact Us Go Interested in Serving? Go Stay Connected Subscribe to our weekly newsletter and follow us on social media for the latest ministry updates. Newsletter Sign Up Interested in Serving? Go Go Stay Connected Subscribe to our weekly newsletter and follow us on social media for the latest ministry updates.

Upcoming Events Stay Connected Subscribe to our weekly newsletter and follow us on social media for the latest ministry updates. Newsletter Sign Up Contact Us Go Interested in Serving? Go Stay Connected Subscribe to our weekly newsletter and follow us on social media for the latest ministry updates. Newsletter Sign Up Interested in Serving? Go Go Stay Connected Subscribe to our weekly newsletter and follow us on social media for the latest ministry updates.

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Thankfullness Sermon Series Description This one week sermon on thanksgiving day of 2025 was Pastor Mitchell's first thanksgiving service at Prosper. He preached on Psalm 100. Enter into God’s presence with thanksgiving Thanksgiving Psalm 100 Watch

Infant Baptism At Prosper CRC, we baptize infants because we believe baptism is a sign of God’s covenant, just as circumcision was in the Old Testament. Throughout Scripture, God’s promises extend not just to individuals but to households (Genesis 17:7, Acts 2:39). Just as Israelite children were marked as belonging to God, we believe the children of believers should receive the sign of baptism, recognizing them as part of the covenant community. Baptism doesn’t save—only faith in Christ does—but it is a visible declaration that God claims us as His own. It reminds us that salvation is by grace, not by our own efforts, and that God’s promises extend to the next generation. Jesus welcomed children and declared that the Kingdom of God belongs to them (Luke 18:16), and the early church baptized entire households, suggesting that children were included (Acts 16:15, 33). In baptizing infants, we affirm that God’s grace comes before our response, just as He loved us before we loved Him (1 John 4:19). This practice is not about what we do for God, but about what He has done for us. It’s an invitation for parents and the church to raise these children in the faith, pointing them to Jesus as the only source of salvation. Baptism is not the finish line—it’s the starting point of a life lived in response to God’s grace. Infant Baptism Process To schedule an infant baptism at Prosper CRC, please fill out the form, and a staff member will be in touch with you. Infant Baptism Form

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While creeds/confessions/catechisms are not the Bible, they are helpful resources to help us explain and teach what the Bible says. Prosper CRC holds to what has been called the Three Forms of Unity, the historic Christian creeds of the Belgic Confession, the Heidelberg Catechism, and the Canons of Dort. What We Believe Our Theology Inerrancy We affirm that the whole of Scripture and all its parts, down to the very words of the original, were given by divine inspiration (2 Timothy 3:16-17 ; 2 Peter 1:20-21 ). We affirm that Scripture in its entirety is inerrant, being free from all falsehood, fraud, or deceit (Proverbs 30:5 ; John 10:35 ). We affirm that the Holy Spirit bears witness to the Scriptures, assuring believers of the truthfulness of God's written Word (John 14:26 ; 1 Corinthians 2:12-13 ). We hold to the doctrine of verbal plenary inspiration, meaning that every word of Scripture is God-breathed (2 Timothy 3:16-17 ; 2 Peter 1:20-21 ). The Bible, therefore, is not just true but the highest authority for life and faith, a sacred and awe-inspiring gift from God (Psalm 119:160 ; John 17:17 ). Prosper CRC formally affirms the Chicago Statement on Biblical Inerrancy (1978) as a faithful expression of the doctrine of Scripture taught in the Bible and confessed in the Three Forms of Unity. You can read the full statement here. Article The Gospel We believe that human beings are born into sin, fall short of God’s perfect standard (Romans 3:23), and that this sin is deserving of eternal death (Romans 6:23). Central to our faith is the belief that Jesus Christ came to live the perfect life of righteousness that we couldn’t live (2 Corinthians 5:21), die the death for sin that we deserved to die (1 Peter 3:18), and rose to new life so that all who put their faith in Him can have new life as well (Romans 6:4). We believe in penal substitutionary atonement, meaning that Jesus bore our penalty as our substitute to atone for our sin (Isaiah 53:5-6). Article Baptism We believe that Jesus has commanded all those who are His to be baptized with pure water "in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost” (Matthew 28:19). This sacrament signifies our reception into the Church of God, which separates us from all other religions and dedicates us wholly to Him (Galatians 3:27). Yet, we deny that baptism is necessary for salvation (Ephesians 2:8-9; Luke 23:42-43, Romans 3:28, Romans 4:5, Galatians 2:16, Titus 3:5). We believe and confess that Jesus Christ, by His sacrificial death and the shedding of His blood, has fulfilled and abolished the old covenant practice of circumcision, instituting instead the sacrament of baptism (Colossians 2:11-12). Therefore, we believe in the baptism of infants, as it aligns with the biblical precedent of including children in the covenant community, much like the practice of circumcision under the old covenant (Genesis 17:10-12; Acts 2:38-39). Christ's redemptive work extends to the children of believers, and they, too, should receive the sign and sacrament of baptism, affirming that Jesus shed His blood for them as well (Luke 18:15-17; Acts 16:31-33). This practice underscores the continuity of God’s covenant promises, ensuring that our children are marked by the covenant from the earliest moments of their lives (Acts 16:15, 33; 1 Corinthians 7:14). We hold firmly that this sacrament, once administered, is sufficient for the entirety of one's life, symbolizing both our initiation into the faith and God's enduring grace towards us (Ephesians 4:5; Romans 6:3-4). For a fuller treatment of our position on baptism — including why we do not practice rebaptism and how this conviction is rooted in Scripture, the early church, and the Reformed confessions — see our position paper, Rebaptism." Article Sexuality We believe God designed marriage to be between one man and one woman for life and for sex to remain within such a marriage (Genesis 2:24; Matthew 19:4-6). Although there are many temptations in this world, we believe sex outside of such a marriage to be sin (Hebrews 13:4). Those living in sin should turn to Christ with faith and repentance, receive God’s forgiveness, and come to live according to God’s good design (1 Corinthians 6:9-11; Acts 3:19). We believe God created man in his own image, male and female in knowledge righteousness and holiness with dominion over the creatures (Genesis 1:27). Reformed We align with the Reformation theology, holding to salvation by grace alone, through Christ alone, by faith alone, to the glory of God alone, and the ultimate authority of Scripture alone (Ephesians 2:8-9; John 14:6; Romans 1:17; 1 Corinthians 10:31; 2 Timothy 3:16-17). We also affirm God's sovereignty over all things in creation and salvation (Romans 8:28-30). We affirm the five points of Calvinism (outlined in the Canons of Dort) (John 6:37; John 10:29; Ephesians 1:4-5). Complementarity We believe God created human beings, male and female, and that God made men and women equal in value yet distinct in role (Genesis 1:27; Galatians 3:28). God has given both men and women extraordinary gifts for ministry but has called men into unique roles of Christ-like leadership in the home and in the church (1 Timothy 2:12; Titus 1:5-9). Specifically — within the church — we believe God calls men exclusively to be pastors and elders (1 Timothy 3:1-7). Within the home, we believe that God calls men to love their wives like Christ loves the church (his bride), and wives are called to submit to their husbands like the church does to Christ (Ephesians 5:22-25). Creation We believe that God created Adam and Eve in His own image as the first humans on earth, from whom all other humans have descended (Genesis 1:26-28; Genesis 2:7, 21-22; 1 Corinthians 15:45). We affirm that Satan tempted Adam and Eve, disobeyed God, and thus brought sin into the world, causing all humanity to be born into sin and in need of a savior (Genesis 3:1-6; Romans 5:12; 1 Corinthians 15:22). We affirm the literal, historical existence of Adam and Eve and assert that God was actively and sovereignly involved in creation (Acts 17:24-26; Isaiah 45:12). We believe that God created the world in six days and that He created it good (Exodus 20:11; Genesis 1:31). End-times We believe the millennium began with Jesus Christ's resurrection and will continue until His second coming. This is also called amillennialism. This eschatological view interprets the "thousand years" mentioned in Revelation 20 symbolically rather than literally. During this period, deceased believers reign spiritually with Christ in heaven, awaiting their physical resurrection and the renewal of all things (Revelation 20:4-6). We believe this holds that Satan is bound in a limited sense, having been defeated at the cross, allowing the gospel to spread throughout the nations (Revelation 20:2-3; Matthew 28:18-20). Covenantal Theology We believe that God works through one unified plan of redemption across the whole of Scripture, revealed and administered through his covenants. From the covenant of works given to Adam in the garden (Genesis 2:15–17) to the covenant of grace inaugurated after the fall (Genesis 3:15), every covenant God makes — with Noah, Abraham, Moses, David, and ultimately in Christ — moves redemptive history toward a single goal: the salvation of God's people through his Son. There are not multiple plans for multiple peoples, but one covenant of grace, differently administered across the ages, finding its fulfillment in Jesus Christ, who is "the same yesterday and today and forever" (Hebrews 13:8; Westminster Confession 7.6). We confess with the Belgic Confession that "this church has existed from the beginning of the world and will last until the end" (Article 27), and with the Heidelberg Catechism that the Son of God gathers, defends, and preserves his church "from the beginning to the end of the world" (Q&A 54). The people of God are one people — not two peoples on parallel tracks — grafted into one olive tree (Romans 11:17–24), united in one body where the dividing wall between Jew and Gentile has been broken down through the cross (Ephesians 2:14–16). God's immutable character guarantees his immutable promises: "For I the LORD do not change; therefore you, O children of Jacob, are not consumed" (Malachi 3:6). Because of these convictions, Prosper CRC rejects dispensationalism as an erroneous framework that divides what God has united and obscures the centrality of Christ's finished work. For a full treatment of our position — including the historical origins of dispensationalism, its errors of interpretation, and the Reformed alternative rooted in Scripture and our confessions — see our position paper, Dispensationalism and Covenant Theology. Article Distinctions Three Forms of Unity While creeds/confessions/catechisms are not the Bible, they are helpful resources to help us explain and teach what the Bible says. Prosper CRC holds to what has been called the Three Forms of Unity, the historic Christian creeds of the Belgic Confession, the Heidelberg Catechism, and the Canons of Dort. Belgic Confession Go Heidelberg Catechism Go The Canons of Dort Go