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Never Alone Marriage Conference Christmas Eve Times Come celebrate the birth of Christ with us at Prosper CRC’s Christmas Eve Candlelight Services! Services will be held on December 24th at 5 PM, & 7 PM . Nursery will be available for children birth-5 years old. We invite you and your family to join us for this special evening of worship and reflection. Breakout Speakers Name Name Name Name Name Name Frequently Asked Questions What is the theme of the 2025 Marriage Conference? “Never Alone” is the theme for the Peace Church 2025 Marriage Conference. We are never alone; we walk through life with our spouse, with our church, and with our Savior. How do I register? You can register for the 2025 Marriage Conference here . What is the conference schedule? Friday 5:30 PM | Doors open 6:00 PM | Session One & Worship Night 7:30 PM | Resource Shop Opens Saturday 8:00 AM | Check In, Breakfast, and Resource Shop 9:00 AM | Welcome and Worship 9:45 AM | Session Two 10:45 AM | Breakout #1 11:30 AM | Lunch + Resource Shop Open 12:30 PM | Breakout #2 1:30 PM | Session Three 2:30 PM | Q/A Session 3:00 PM | Concluding Worship 4:00 PM | Resource Shop Closes Can I bring my children? Childcare is offered only during the Friday night session. Will meals be provided? Breakfast and lunch will be provided as well as snacks throughout the day. Who can I contact for more information? Contact Nicole Baumann for more information. What if I have a food allergy? You can select your lunch choice in your registration. We will have dairy and gluten free options available! Does this conference celebrate same-sex "marriage"? No. Click here if you'd like to learn more about our biblical views on sexuality. Will we be in the new worship center? Most likely! Will this be live-streamed? No, however we will have the Keynote recordings available for a limited time after the conference to attendees. Can I attend this if I am engaged? Yes! Vision To see the Gospel embraced and passed on for generations of Kingdom impact. Mission At Peace Church, we are Gospel-Centered, Family-Focused, and Kingdom-Minded. Sponsors Sponsors 2024 Conference Messages

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Heirs of the Promise Prosper Christian Reformed Church Heirs of the Promise Christ Alone Mitchell Leach Sunday, February 22, 2026 Audio Heirs of the Promise Mitchell Leach 00:00 / 01:04 Sermon Transcript Introduction In 100 years, when we look back and look at what shaped our culture, what shaped our society, historians will look back and see one of the most powerful forces wasn't movies or music or books or TV shows, but it'll be advertising. Advertising has been one of the most formative things in our culture. It's shaped almost every facet of our society. It's totally remade and reformatted how we do social media, how we do the radio. All types of things are formatted by advertising because ads Ads don't just change what we buy or what we do. Ads aren't selling us simply products. They're selling us a new identity, a new person to become. A famous example of this is in 1920, Listerine ran a famous ad in newspapers around bad breath. Up until this point, most advertising, especially around things like Listerine, were about the medical benefits of it, the hygiene that you could get from Listerine. But this ad campaign was about the social implications that you get from using The stream. The message was basically this, you might be the person that people are avoiding. You might be the person that nobody chooses. You might not even know why, but it's your bad breath. I know in 1920, they were ruthless. They weren't just selling antiseptic, right? They were selling, don't be rejected. In the 1950s, the ads changed because we had televisions in almost every home. This was something that changed for us. We went from imagining a new life to being able to see it. And in the 1990s, that changed into not just identity branding or identity marketing. It went into lifestyle, right? Don't drink Pepsi because it's tasty, it's good, and you like it. Look at all these people who drink Pepsi. They're successful. They're cool. Don't you want to be like these people? It's why we have celebrities who endorse products, right? If my favorite athlete eats whatever cereal or some cereal, well, if he likes it, then I want to be like him, and therefore I'll buy what he is promoting. When you notice this, when you see this, you'll see it everywhere. The message isn't buy this, it's become this. It's not, here's what this does for you. Here are the features from it. Here's who you'll be after you buy it. The deeper effect on this is that it trains us to look at ourselves, whether we're in or out, mostly based on what we buy. But there is a validation system there, a sense of, am I okay? Am I in? Do I matter? That leads us to the big question beneath all of this. Big Question What defines you? What defines you? What are the things that set you apart? The things that make you, you? What is it about you that tells people who you truly are? Is it that you're affiliated with a political movement, whether you're progressive? Are you trying to be on the right side of history? Well, the drawback in that is that progressives today, or progressives 10 years ago, what they believed progressives today would call bigoted, and it's totally antiquated. Well, maybe you want to be conservative. You want to hold to good values. Well, Conservatives have moved farther left in the last 10 years than Liberals have. Conservatives are not further left today, but in terms of where they started and where they ended, Conservatives have moved the most in that time frame. Maybe your identity statement is you're self made. You've made it here by yourself. You're your own boss. The danger in believing that is there are circumstances outside of your control that can change that in the blink of an eye. We are not self made. There's no part of us that if we're honest with ourselves, we realize that, yeah, we might be hard workers, but there's been a lot of luck. There's been a lot of circumstances that have made us that way. Maybe our identity statement is that we're attractive. We want to be appealing to people. The truth is our looks will fade. We will get older. Things change on us. Maybe your identity statement is that you're a hard worker. But the truth is everyone needs rest. So either we'll lie about how much we work or we'll deny ourselves the rest that we need. And maybe you're one of those people that think that you're above all of this and you're like, you know what? I really don't care what people think. That might mean that you're the biggest liar of them all in this group. But the truth is, if you really get to that point where you don't care what people believe, you've done something really harmful to your own soul. To cut yourself out of community, to feel that loss of relationship is really a sad thing. But whatever it is, whatever it is we try to define ourselves with, that thing insists on us continuing to To prove ourselves by it. We have to keep earning the right for that thing to define us. And so our identity becomes a treadmill. No longer is it good enough just to be self made or your own boss. You have to earn more, conquer more. There is no end goal in your... If attractiveness is what you're going for. There's no end goal. You won't be able to get enough Botox, enough whatever in order to satisfy that. There are many things that we try to use to define ourselves, but I want to ask you this question, what is it about you that you say to yourself? Or what is it about you that you say to others? When you meet someone new, what do you hope people will ask you about yourself? What is it about you that you wish you could just share with them to show them that you are a valuable person? Or in other words, what defines you? Fortunately, the Bible has answers for us. So keep your Bibles open to Galatians 3. Paul is going to ask us some questions in here. He's going to dig into some things. Really, what came first? Law or rules? Law or promise, really. What really defines God's people? The answer is that promise comes first. Christ fulfills the law, and faith receives it, and that reality creates a whole new identity. We're We're going to see two major movements in this section. Outline Before the Rules: The Promise (3:15–22) After the Rules: The Heirs (3:23-29) Paul is doing something surgical here to our heart, to every heart in the room. If we're saved by promise, why the law? Underneath that is an identity question. If we're saved by faith, if we're saved this way, what does it mean about who we belong to? How do people become children of God? Paul is going to get these two things, show us that promise is came first and can't be rewritten and that the law is temporary until Christ. A sentence that summarizes this passage, the content of what's going on in this passage would be this, God's saving promise to Abraham is fulfilled in Christ and received by faith, rendering the law temporary and establishing a new unified identity for all who believe in Christ Jesus. Before the Rules: The Promise (3:15–22) Paul starts with a human example here in verse 15, because everyone understands contracts to some extent. We understand that once they're signed, once the ink has dried, you don't go back and change them. Once they've been agreed upon, you can't add new things that nullify it. And that's what he's saying in verse 15. To give a human example, brothers, even with a manmade covenant, no one annulls or adds to it once it's been ratified. Paul understands that our heart loves adding to things. We love the fine print. This idea of Jesus being our savior is great and wonderful unless we want to rank ourselves against each other, which is the desire of all of our hearts. If we're saved by grace, if we're saved by the full work of Christ, well, I can't say that I'm better than so and so or that so and so is worse than me or maybe I see so and so, and they're doing so good. And if I could just try to be like them. If we're all saved by Christ, by grace, we're on the same level. If this is true of our human contracts that we can't go back and change them, how much more true is it with God? Once the terms are set, we don't get to add to the fine print later. We don't get to say, Okay, yeah, it's saved by Jesus, but it's also performance. God gave Israel the law. He did. And that was confusing for the Galatian churches, but Paul wants to make it clear. The promise to Abraham, the promise of salvation came first. The law came after. 430 years later, that's what he says, meaning the law is not the foundation, but the promise is. He made the promise to Abraham, and then he gave a law to Moses on Mount Sinai. And this is how God works. This is what Paul is trying to tease out. Anytime salvation happens, it's salvation first, it's saving work first, and then a A requirement of obedience. Look at this. Even in these two covenants, there's a promise, there's salvation, and then there's obey. Look at even in the Ten Commandments, the first line of the Ten Commandments is this. I'm the Lord your God who brought you out of the land of Egypt. It doesn't start with, Here's the first commandment. It is, I'm the God who saved you. Now, obey. Almost every book in the New Testament starts out that way. Here's the first half is how you're saved, and the second half is about how we're supposed to live. So what is this promise that Paul is talking about? Let's look at verse 16. Now, the promise is, We're made to Abraham and to his offspring. It does not say, and to offsprings, referring to many, but referring to one, and your offspring, who is Christ. Paul is not trying to play a word game with us here. He's trying to make a point about the gospel. He's trying to say that the promise is not ultimately It's certainly about ethnicity. It's not about the offsprings, the people who share the same DNA with Abraham. It is about who comes from Abraham, the Christ, the promise. It's about Jesus, the promise has a center. The promise is a person. It's not a group of people. Jesus is the offspring that everyone was waiting for. He was the one who is going to crush the head of the serpent. He's the one who's going to fulfill every promise. That's what 2 Corinthians 1:20 says, For all the promises of God find their yes in him, in Christ. That is why it is through him we utter our Amen to God for his glory. God wants us to see. He wants the early church to see that it's not about ethnic boundaries. It's not about the people group. It's about Christ. That is the offspring that matter who come from Abraham. It doesn't matter who the literal people who descend from Abraham were. It matters that Jesus came from this line. The family of God is not defined by a bloodline, not defined by DNA, but they are defined by, are you a part of Abraham's Christ. So then what is the purpose of the law? What should we do with this? Well, it's a great question because Paul asks it next in Galatians 3:19, why Why then the law? Because Paul is anticipating that we would wrestle with this because this is the human heart. Anytime we are introduced to these two ideas of either justification through works or through faith, we tend to screw it up one way or the other. When we receive the law, when we receive rules, we naturally want to be people who say, well, I'm going to be justified by these rules. I'm going to make more rules to add on top of it so that way I define who is a good person, who is a bad person. I can make sure that I'm one of the good people. If we're defined and if we're saved by faith, we ask the question, What in the world are these laws then here for? Is this total anarchy? Do we not need to follow the law at all? Is the law even a good thing? I'm really fortunate that I didn't have to come up with that answer, but Paul does. In Galatians 3:21, he says this, Is the law then contrary to the promises of God? Certainly not. For if the law had been given that could give life, then righteousness would be indeed through the law. Do we need to follow the law? Is the law a good thing? Yes. And yes, the reality is you cannot love God and hate his law. I feel like as Protestant Christians, we do such a bad job of embodying that and talking about that, that God's law is a good thing. We As protestants, we've nailed justification by faith alone. We know that. But we really struggle what to do with the law. Should we love it? Should it be a good thing? It absolutely should be. I mean, Psalm 1 says, blessed is the man who delights in the law of God, who meditates on it day and night. The law is something that we should write on our heart that we should love. The law is not our foundation, but it is the fruit of our salvation. It works like this, promise first, salvation first, and obedience out of love coming from that. The law is a good thing. It's a great thing. It has many purposes. I'm going to mention three right now. The law allows us to keep us from evil. When we get things screwed up in our hearts, when things go wonky with our desires, the law is a great safeguard for us to go, You know I feel this in my heart. I want to do this in my heart. And yet I know God's law says something different. It restrains evil in us and in the world. It acts as a mirror. It shows us that we can't obey every Everything that the law commands and that we need a savior. And thirdly, I think we don't talk about this hardly at all. The law shows us who God is. If you look at the Ten Commandments, each and every one of those Ten Commandments is an identity statement about who God is. When God says, Do not commit adultery, what he's saying is, I am a faithful God. When he says, Do not murder, God is saying, I am the life. I am the life giver. Each and every one of those statements, we could go back and look that God is telling us something about who he is. God's rules can do many things, but one of the things that they cannot do is create life in a sinner. The law and faith, I think sometimes we think of as two ends of a spectrum, but they aren't. They're not opposed to each other. They're not two things that you could be on one side or the other of. The law and faith are both good, are both necessary, but they need to be in the right order. Galatians 3:22 says this, But the scriptures imprisoned everything under sin so that the promise by faith in Jesus might be given to those who believe. Paul gives us this picture of the law of a jail cell. The idea that Paul is setting out there is that this is supposed to imprison us. The law put us in a spot where we couldn't pick the lock, we couldn't get out, and it showed us that we only have one way for salvation, and that's by the promised faith in Jesus Christ. Every passage of scripture in the Old Testament leading up into this point was showing us, even with our own effort, that it only showed a deeper need for a savior. So the law was given to see our sin, and the law is not rival to the promise. It's a servant of the us. It hems us in until Christ comes and brings it out. And that's what we're going to see in this next section, After the Rules: The Heirs (3:23-29) Paul's picture is movement. It's moving from being a captive under the law into being guarded and then into being adopted. The law did not save God's people. The law held them until Christ came. The law is temporary. The law was not is temporary. The law was temporary custody, and that it exposed our sin until God's people were able to see Christ. Then law became the guardian. Galatians 3:24 says this, So then the law was our guardian until Christ came in order that we might be justified by faith. That word guardian, it's a hard word for us to understand. We don't have a concept for what this word was in first century Judaism and first century Israel in that area. What would happen is wealthy people or people who could afford it would hire a slave to instruct and to essentially, in some ways, parent their children. This master, this tutor, this guardian was not a babysitter. It was someone who would discipline the children. It supervised their behavior, restrict their freedom, transport them, teach them. That's what Paul is saying happened with the law. It taught us. It restricted them. It restricted us. It disciplined them. It was their guardian, but it was never their father. It was never their inheritance. Galatians 3:25 goes on to say this, But now that faith has come, we are no longer under a guardian, for in Christ Jesus, you are all sons of God through faith. Meaning that we don't live under the supervision of a guardian anymore. We live in sonship. That we are no longer held captive by some tyrannical master. The law, as a guardian, can only say you're wrong, you're screwing up, you're not there yet, you're guilty, you need to do more, you need to try harder. But when Christ comes. It's that Christ came to say, You're right, you're enough, you belong, and you're right because I was good for you. We are not punished by our tutor, our guardian anymore. Christ was punished for us on the cross. Because of that, we can be welcomed into this new family. So who can come And that's the question that Paul goes to. Remember the tension so far in this book. Paul's writing this book. Paul's explaining this because there's this rift. The Galatian church believed that there were these two sections, these two kinds of Christians. There were those who were fully Jewish, who really followed all the rules, who became circumcised, who did all the right things in order to become Jewish. And then there were these lower Christians, these Gentiles who didn't really fully obey everything. His question is this, who can come in? And his answer is anyone. Let's look at Galatians 3:28. This is the crescendo of this movement in in this book. There's neither Jew nor Greek. There's neither slave nor free. There is no male and female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus. Paul's building this point up. Guys, you have separated yourself. You have made distinctions among you. You've tried to sit with other people. You've tried to exclude people from when you eat lunch together. Guys are acting like middle schoolers at lunchtime. When Paul brings up this list of people in verse 28, what he's saying is, and this would have been clear and obvious to anyone reading this book in the first century who is Jewish, these were the gates in the temple. If you were a Gentile, you could only go so far. There was a gate that they said, No, you can't come in. If you were a slave, you could only go so far. And then there was a gate that said, No, you can't come in. And if you were a woman, there was a gate that said, You can only go so far, you can't come in. These were levels. The temple was the place where God's dwelling place rested. How you accessed God. The beautiful part of what Paul is telling us in Galatians is that there is no distinctions. It does not matter who you are, what person you are, where you come from, what background you are, what your socioeconomic status is. We all have the same access to God by faith. It is not what we do. Ephesians says this, Paul also wrote the Book of Ephesians. He says this, For he himself, Jesus, is our peace who has made us both one and has broken down in his flesh the dividing wall of hostility. This is a direct reference to these walls that were built in the temple to say, You can't come in. In his flesh, he broke down these dividing walls. Jesus has torn them down. Paul is calling this church out to say, You cannot build them back up. In Christ, you belong. You can have full access to God, no matter who you are. So who is part of God's family? Who is part of God's covenant people? It's anyone who hears and anyone who believes. Because of that, you are an heir. Paul is saying you wanted to restrict access to people that they could be truly part of God's chosen people. He's saying, you don't even understand what it means. You don't understand. If you're trying to restrict people based on whether they were a Jew or not, you don't really actually understand what it meant to be a Jew. These people, This promise was not based on their obedience to the law by doing certain things. Their acceptance into God's covenant people was always by faith. The real offspring has always been those who believe, and it's still true today. So the gospel isn't just there to forgive you. It absolutely does that, but it's there to adopt you. It doesn't just get you out of trouble. It brings you into a new family. Main Idea Live as an heir of God's promise in Christ Live as an heir of God's promise in Christ. This means that you are no longer defined by a record. You are defined by a promise. It's not by what you achieve. You don't have to audition. You belong because of what Christ has done for you. Do you see what this means? It's not just that you belong, but you get an inheritance. You You have the legal right. You have the promise of something to come. By being an heir, you are promised. You are promised access to him. You are promised the wealth from the Father. This is why it says that you are sons of God, that you will get something. It's actually interesting here that it doesn't say sons and daughters, but it says sons. And Paul is using that language on purpose. And I want to clarify something in the language that we use here. Paul is not saying that to be sexist. The Bible isn't antiquated. What Paul was saying is that you become a son. Because in this time, who was it who got the inheritance? It was the son. Paul is actually saying something profoundly progressive for this time. He's saying, Anyone, whether you are a slave or you're free, whether you're a Jew or a Gentile, whether you're a man or woman, you are a son now. You are fully an heir. You have legal right to what the Father has to give you. The wealth that the Father has, you get to be a recipient of, which means that you get God. The wealth, the inheritance, isn't that we just get to be in heaven with God someday. I think too many of us think that that's the goal, as long as I get to heaven. But I think that if that's our only goal, we'll get to heaven and hate the God that we meet there. The whole inheritance is that we get God. Getting to heaven, the peace that we get from our salvation, those are fringe benefits. The whole thing is that we get God. Our great privilege of the gospel, the great privilege of the gospel, is our communion. That's what John Owen says, Communion with God is the great privilege of the gospel. Our Our inheritance is the promise that God is going to fulfill every desire of our heart, every true longing that we have. If you want true safety, God is your mighty fortress. Do you want to feel joy? He is our joy. Do you want to be loved? God is love. Do you need rest? God is our rest, our peace. Do you want to be enough? God declares you righteous. He says, Son or daughter, you are enough. So the question is, are you living like an heir? Or are you living like an orphan? Are you still praying like you have access, or are you still trying to earn an appointment with God. Application Stop living like sonship is an audition. If you're in Christ, you're not on trial. You haven't earned a spot in the family, you have been brought in. You already have been marked with the family name. You are in Christ. You are a Christian. When we audition for Christianity, it sounds like this. If I'm consistent, then God will be close. If I'm clean, then I can belong. If I do enough, then I'll be safe. But Paul's point is the opposite. You are sons through faith. You have put on Christ. You are heirs according to the promise. And so your obedience To God is not an audition. It is a response. You're not working for adoption. You are working from adoption. So here's a mini diagnostic for you this week. When you sin, Do you run to God or do you avoid him until you've cleaned yourself up, until you feel worthy again? That avoidance is orphan thinking. The gospel makes you a son, so stop trying to impress your heavenly Father who loves you. Start being honest with yourself and run to him. Heirs pray with access, not distance. A child does not schedule an appointment to ask for their father's help. Tim Keller has this quote. He says this, The only person who dares to wake up a king at 3: 00 AM for a glass of water is a child. We have that access to the Father. A child comes close. The law keeps us distant. When we try to use the law as a way to gain access to God, it keeps us separated from him. But in Christ, we are no longer under a guardian. We don't have to ask for permission to go to God anymore. In Christ, you have sonship. That's why I love praying. And then starting my prayer was saying, Let's pray to our heavenly Father who loves to hear our prayer. Your Father loves to hear when you go before him. So pray like you belong. When you believe this, your prayers will sound like, Father, I need mercy. I need wisdom. I need strength. Not, God, I'm sorry to bother you. I know that I've been a mess. I know that I've screwed this up. I know I'm not worthy. The truth is, we know that we're not worthy. But that's why it's called a promise. That's why it's called grace. Real practices for yourself this week is when you have an option to pray in a group, pray first, not last. Pray honest, not performatively. And pray in the moment that you're tempted, not afterwards, not after you've already lost. Heirs serve One of the easiest ways to tell whether we are living like an heir or not is how we treat the church. Whether we come as people who are spectators, whether we come as consumers, or whether we come as sons, as a family. A consumer will ask, did I like it? Was the worship good? Did I feel inspired? Did I feel motivated? Did I feel refreshed and rejuvenated like it's a spa? Did it meet my needs? Was it worth my time? But if it's a family, when you meet with a family, you ask things like this, where am I needed? Who can I help? How can I carry the load? If you're an heir and you see yourself, you see this as your family, you don't come here to earn a place. You already belong. So you don't have to need to be served. You don't have to look at church as some value statement. Was this a good return on my investment? Did I get out of it what I put in? No, you are free to serve. Orphan thinking says this, I'll help when it fits my schedule. I'll help when I feel appreciated. I'll help when it benefits me. When you see yourself as a son, when you see yourself as an heir, your thinking transforms to this. I received the promise, everything by the promise. So I can give without keeping score. This is what verse 28 does in a church. There's no VIPs, no spectators, no consumers, no second-class Christians. One body, one family. Family. If we are all one in Christ Jesus, then ministry is not just my job. It is a shared joy that we all participate in. So here's the concrete challenge for you guys. Here's the call for you guys. Pick one place in our church to serve in the next three months. There is a place to serve for every person, for every stage of life. Not because we're trying to prove something. Don't serve because you think it's just the right thing to do. Serve because you're already an heir, and this is a family. Serve where it's unseen. Serve with children in the sound booth or the slides or meals or visiting someone. The goal is not just filling holes. We don't have a crisis. We're not short on volunteers right now. This is good for our soul. This is good for us. So don't ask, do I have to? Heirs ask, how couldn't I do this? Landing As we come to a close, most of us don't like to think about death, not because we're afraid of death, but we're afraid of being alone. We're afraid of being unwanted. That's why we hate the idea of being in isolation. That's why in prison, being in isolation is one of the worst things. This is why inheritance matters, because inheritance means you have a name, you have a home, you have a father. The gospel says that inheritance is not primarily an object, primarily a thing that you can hoard, the thing that you can have. It is a person. You don't just get peace, you get God. Revelation 21 says this, And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, 'Behold, the dwelling place of God is with man, and he will dwell with them, and they will be his people. ' And God himself will be with them as their God, and he will wipe away every tear from their eye. And death shall be no more, neither shall there be mourning, nor crying, nor pain anymore, for the former things have passed away. Verse 7 says this, The one who conquers will have his heritage, and I will be his God, and he will be my son. Heritage, sonship, not visitors, but children. That's what Galatians 3 tells you. It tells you how to get, not by performing, not by adding fine print, not by adding more requirements onto what Christ has already accomplished perfectly on the cross, but by faith in Christ. In Christ, Jesus, you are all sons through faith. So there's no second class Christians. There's no inner circle. If you have Christ, then you have the inheritance, and he will wipe away every tear from your eye. Hear this, live as heirs of God's promise in Christ. Prayer Let's stand and pray as we prepare our hearts for worship and to respond in worship. Let's pray to our heavenly Father, who loves to hear our prayer. Father, we love you. We thank you that we do not have to work harder to save ourselves, that there isn't one shred, there isn't one small piece of this that is on us. God, I praise you that we are your children, that you see us as your son. God, help us to live as heirs this week, free from the guilt, free from the temptation to try to prove ourselves, to try to rank ourselves. But help us to live in the freedom that you give us. Help us to believe that we are your sons and daughters who you are well-pleased with. It's in your name we pray. Amen. Facebook X (Twitter) WhatsApp LinkedIn Pinterest Copy link

Crowned with Purpose Prosper Christian Reformed Church Crowned with Purpose Crowned Mitchell Leach Sunday, March 22, 2026 Audio Crowned with Purpose Mitchell Leach 00:00 / 39:47 Sermon Transcript In 1519, Hernán Cortés set sail to the coast of Mexico with 500 soldiers and 11 ships in an almost impossible mission. And before the first battle, he ordered that every ship be burned. We tend, as historians tend to romanticize this story as this act of confidence, this act of complete and total, like a visionary leader eliminating retreat, looking at his men and seeing this supernatural confidence in these men. But Cortés didn't burn these ships because he knew that these men were going to stand beside him no matter what. It's actually the opposite. He could look at his men and see in his men everything that's in all of us. We have a tendency to have a hard time to commit fully to something. Cortés burned the ship so there was no way for retreat. There's no way out. The men had to commit fully. There wasn't another option. He didn't inspire commitment, he engineered it because he understood something about human nature that we don't often like to admit. We, left to ourselves, always hold for another option, another way out. We say yes but keep an exit door open. We make promises with our fingers half crossed. We follow until following gets expensive. Big Question What does it cost to be fully committed to anything? We live in a culture that repackages half-commitment as wisdom. Keeping your options open, not putting all your eggs in one basket, never losing yourself in someone else. We have engineered entire industries so you never have to choose fully. There are dating apps now that always show you someone new. Career culture that says never stop looking. We call it freedom. But the person who keeps every option open in front of them usually ends up with nothing real. A life with no anchor, with no roots, no ships burned. And the folly of this, the foolishness of this, is that we know it's not working. Half-committed marriages are miserable for everyone involved. Half-committed friendships feel hollow. Half-committed careers leave us empty. We were not made for partial allegiances and yet, here we are, knowing the full cost of commitment and keeping the exit door open. What does it cost to be fully committed to anything? Fortunately, the Bible has an answer for us. So keep your Bibles open to Luke 9 as we'll see an answer here for us. But before we get into that, we're starting a new Easter series. Just in a couple weeks, Easter is going to be upon us. And Easter is, by and large, the most significant holiday in the Christian calendar. Far and above even Christmas. Historically, Easter was the church event, the church holiday of the year. Without the resurrection, Christianity would become like every other world religion. It would leave us with a teacher. You look at any of the other world religions — Muhammad, Buddha, Confucius — they were surrounded by their followers when they got old and they died. They were buried. And yet, Christianity is different. Jesus is a teacher, but he's not just a teacher. He's a man, but not just a man. Jesus is alive. The last week of his life shows us who Jesus is. And that's what we're going to be looking at starting today, going into Easter Sunday. If you look at the gospels, half of the gospels — or more than half — cover the last week of Jesus' life. Where Jesus did ministry for 3 years, and yet half is consumed with the last week. What happens here from now until Easter Sunday is going to show us who Jesus is — that Jesus was not just merely a good example, but Jesus of Nazareth is God made flesh. These passages will implore us to behold the crucified and risen King and follow in humble and joyful allegiance. Outline A Face Set Forward (Luke 9:51) No Fire from Heaven (Luke 9:52-56) No Looking Back (Luke 9:57-62) A Face Set Forward (Luke 9:51) Luke 9:51 is a landmark verse in the book of Luke. This really divides the book of Luke into two different sections: the section about Jesus' ministry and then the section about Jesus' life in the last week of what he does here on earth. Jesus, up until this point, came to show the Jewish people first and then the whole world that he was the Messiah and that he had a way for eternal life. He had done this through a variety of different things in his ministry, through teaching and preaching, through miracles, and through loving and having compassion on the poor, the lost, and the sick. But now in this verse, his ministry is going to change. Luke 9:51 says this: 'When the days drew near for him to be taken up, he set his face to go to Jerusalem.' One of the major themes in Jesus' ministry is this almost mystery, this secret timing. If you've read the Gospel of Mark, over and over, once Jesus does something, he commands his disciples or whoever he helped not to tell anybody. In John, the theme is time. John 2:4, the famous passage where Jesus is being asked to make water into wine, Jesus answered and said, 'Woman, what does this have to do with me? My hour has not yet come.' When Jesus says 'My hour' in the book of John, he is talking about his death and resurrection. He is saying it is not time for me to be crucified yet. And then Jesus' focus changes. You can see that even later in John: 'The hour has come for the Son of Man to be glorified.' Jesus said this after our passage, after Luke 9:51. Jesus is setting his face towards Jerusalem. What that means literally is that he firmed his face. Setting his face means it was an idiom for unflinching determination. That phrase 'being taken up' is not just talking about Jesus being put on the cross. It is talking about him being raised from the dead and his ascension into heaven. Think about your wedding. There is a ton of planning that goes along — finding a venue, a reception, figuring out dinner, the right invitations, who you are and aren't going to invite. You do the cake tasting, you do the premarital counseling, all of that. As a pastor, I get to do a lot of these weddings and I get to see this kind of journey that couples go through. And there's something that changes at the rehearsal. The night before, there's all this planning that happens. It's almost as if it's not real yet, and then you go through the rehearsal and I can see it on the look on the bride and groom's eyes. Something has changed. It's real for them. They can see it. They set their face towards the ceremony, the thing that they've been planning for. The ceremony is what makes a wedding a wedding. That's what is happening here. Jesus is saying the time for planning is over. The wedding is here and all I can focus on is that. At this point, Jesus could have walked away. Jesus could have said, 'Father, this is too much. I'm not able to do this and I'm walking away.' But he doesn't. He knows what's going to happen and he doesn't walk away. Sometimes people talk about Jesus being murdered and it's theologically not correct. Jesus says, 'No one takes my life from me.' When Jesus sets his face towards Jerusalem, he knows what's going to happen. No one's forcing him to do something that he doesn't want to do. Hebrews actually tells us that he goes with a joy set before him. He went to the cross in joy. The cross was not a surprise. He set his face towards his own death for people who would keep an exit plan open for them. The fully committed had to die for those who were half committed. That is what Jesus is going to tease out in this next section. No Fire from Heaven (Luke 9:52-56) This next passage is kind of strange — Luke 9:52-56. But it would have made sense for any first century Jew or first century reader in this area. Jesus sends his disciples ahead into a town to make sure that there is a place for them to stay. An inn in the first century, even when you think of the birth story of Jesus where there was no room in the inn, would have been somebody who had in their home an extra bed or room or two. It would have been like a bad Airbnb where the host stays right with you. They didn't have hotels. So Jesus gets there and Luke 9:53 says this: 'But the people did not receive him because his face was set towards Jerusalem.' These are Samaritans that are rejecting him. In 1 and 2 Kings, there was a divided kingdom and there was a rift. The Samaritans were separated from Jews and were looked at after that separation as kind of a lower species of people. They worshipped on a different mountain. And that's why Jesus was rejected — because Jesus was going to Jerusalem where the Jewish people believed God's presence dwelled and the Samaritans didn't. Luke 9:54 says this: 'When the disciples, James and John, saw it, they said, "Lord, do you want us to tell fire to come down from heaven and consume them?"' What happened was probably blatant disrespect to Jesus or at least to the Jewish faith. James and John could not handle it. They were furious. They believed they knew what needed to happen. They knew that they were right and they knew exactly what they needed to do. And so they asked Jesus if he could call down fire. Jesus rebukes them. He tells them that they're wrong in their approach partially because Jesus has set his face towards Jerusalem. At this point in Jesus' ministry, judgment will only fall on him from this point forward. He doesn't call down fire from heaven because judgment falls on him and not on anyone else. Also, the Bible is clear that God is the God of vengeance. Deuteronomy says, 'Vengeance is mine and recompense for all time when their foot shall slip, for the day of their calamity is at hand and their doom comes swiftly.' It is not for James and John to be the judge. It's easy for us to look at those two brothers, James and John, as just knuckleheads who didn't understand what they were talking about — as long as we don't look at ourselves too deeply. I think it's kind of funny when I hear people say, 'I have such a strong sense of justice.' I've never heard anyone say the opposite — 'Well, you know, I morally, I'm kind of all over the map. I actually really don't know what's right and wrong.' The truth is innately, whether we are actually right or wrong, we have a deep feeling of what is right or wrong. We're kind of born with that. If you've ever been around any young kids, there is a clear sense of right and wrong. It's skewed, to be sure, but you can see it when a toy is taken away, when punishment is handed down by a parent. There is this sense of, 'I'm being wronged.' We have that built into us whether it is right or wrong. James and John thought they did too. But notice, Jesus does not rebuke them that the Samaritans were wrong. The Samaritans are wrong about this and the disrespect was not okay. Jesus is saying he has to be the one to bring it. The problem with our sense of justice is it always seems to point outward towards others, never inward. The Samaritans deserved fire from heaven — that's what James and John thought. Never us. That's how we feel. But Jesus is walking towards Jerusalem because we do. We deserve the fire from heaven. That's what we'll see Jesus tease out in the next section. No Looking Back (Luke 9:57-62) Jesus wants his true followers to value what he does. This is because God is a jealous God. God wants them to love him. God loves himself. He's the only being on earth that can do that without it being prideful or egomaniacal. He can be all about himself, all about his own glory, because there's no one other to give glory to. God is saying that we cannot have competing things in our heart. Luke 9:57-58 say this: 'As they were going along the road, someone said to him, "I will follow you wherever you go." And Jesus said to him, "Foxes have holes and birds of the air have nests, but the Son of Man has nowhere to lay his head."' If you've ever gone to a pro sporting event, as you get closer to the stadium you start to see more stickers, more team colors, and there's something kind of fun about that — you're with your people, almost caravaning down together. This is what's happening with Jesus on the road to Jerusalem. The crucifixion actually happens over Passover weekend. Passover weekend is the most significant holiday — that's their Easter, their Christmas, their greatest holiday. If you had enough money, if you were able to do it, you made the pilgrimage to Jerusalem for Passover. So all of these people are coming to the biggest city in Israel, coming from wherever they were, meeting up on similar roads and traveling together, talking, camping out together. Somebody along the way says, 'I will follow you.' Pledges their unfettering, unwavering loyalty to Jesus. And Jesus' response is something that would confound anyone who's ever written a book on evangelism. All of our worldly wisdom tries to convince people, to market to people, to try to bring people in. I've heard pastors say, 'Try Jesus out for one week and if not, you can return him.' Jesus says to someone who's seemingly trying to follow him: it is not going to be easy. Almost, 'Are you sure you have what it takes? This will not be fun. This will not be glamorous. In fact, it will be humiliating. Don't do this. If I can talk you out of this, you shouldn't do this.' He then moves on to another person. Luke 9:59-60: He says to another person, 'Follow me.' But the man said, 'Lord, let me first go bury my father.' And Jesus said to him, 'Leave the dead to bury their own dead. But as for you, go and proclaim the kingdom of God.' This seems like a strange thing for Jesus to say, right? Almost anti-family. Is Jesus anti-family? He's not. He's the one who invented family. But this seems really strange, almost offensive. The point that Jesus is trying to make is that those who have a new life in Christ, family has to be — your allegiance to family has to be a distant second to him. Asking someone to miss their father's funeral would be one of the most disrespectful things you could ask someone. Jesus intends for this to be offensive. Either you will see Jesus and the sweetness of freedom that comes from him, or you will hear what Jesus says here as foolishness. Jesus is saying, if you truly treasure me, if I ask you to miss your cousin's wedding, your sister's wedding, a funeral in your family — you say, 'Absolutely, Jesus. The freedom, the joy, the treasure that I have in you is infinitely more valuable than anything, than any experience I could have with a family member.' If you think I'm taking this verse out of context, let's look at some other ones. Matthew 10:37 says this: 'Whoever loves father or mother more than me is not worthy of me, and whoever loves son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me.' Luke 14 says, 'If anyone comes to me and does not hate his own father and mother and wife and children and brothers and sisters, yes, even his own life, he cannot be my disciple.' Mark 3:33-35, after being asked about his mom and brothers who are right in front of him, he says, 'Who are my mother and my brothers?' And Luke 12:51-53 says: 'Do you think that I have come to give peace on earth? No, I tell you, but rather division. For from now on in one house there will be five divided, three against two and two against three. They will be divided, father against son and son against father, mother against daughter and daughter against mother, mother-in-law against her daughter-in-law and daughter-in-law against mother-in-law.' Jesus is emphatically clear. We cannot have competing allegiances here on earth. Family is one of the most important things in our life. It truly is. Don't hear me as saying you get to leave your family, you get to walk away from them whenever you want as long as you say it's in the name of Jesus. That is absolutely not what I'm saying. It's also not permission or license to neglect your family. But if your family becomes something in your heart that you love even remotely close to Jesus, Jesus is saying you have your allegiances wholly and totally screwed up. What would it profit you to gain the love of your family and lose your soul? That's the question Jesus is asking here. Lastly, in Luke 9:61-62, he says this: 'Yet another said, "I will follow you, Lord, but first let me say farewell to those at my home." Jesus said to him, "No one who puts his hand on the plow and looks back is fit for the kingdom of God."' What Jesus is saying is that if you're going to plow a field and you look back at what's being plowed, it's going to get all screwed up. It's kind of hard for farmers today — usually we've got GPS and auto-steer. But it's the same with driving a car. If you look to the side, you're going to swerve a little bit. Jesus is saying if you look back, it's going to pull you away. He's saying we've set our face towards Jerusalem, towards the cross. We cannot turn around now. John Bunyan understood this. In The Pilgrim's Progress, he paints a picture of Christian, the man who finally makes it to heaven, the man who follows Christ faithfully. As he runs, this happens: 'Now he had not run far from his own door, but his wife and children, perceiving that he was about to leave, began to cry after him to return. But the man put his fingers in his ears and ran on crying, "Life! Life! Eternal life!"' His family calling him back and he put his fingers in his ears. Life, life, eternal life. That's what undivided allegiance looks like. Not cold duty, not gritted teeth, but a man who sees something so glorious, something so worthwhile, that his family, his children pale in comparison to the joy that he sees. It's the same thing that the 3 people on the road to Jerusalem were missing. These 3 people on the road all had something that they loved more than Christ or that competed with their love for Christ. And Jesus did not argue with them. He simply kept walking towards Jerusalem, walking towards the cross, towards death — a death he would die for them. A king who marched towards his own death for half-committed people deserves more than our half-committed heart. Main Idea Forsake lesser loyalties and follow the King who marched toward Jerusalem for our salvation It comes down to our identity. There will be two teams at the end of all things, there will only be two things that matter. Are you in Christ or are you in Adam? You cannot be half in or half out. You can't play on both teams. If you've watched any of March Madness, you take one step out of bounds — you're not even fully out of bounds — and it's like your whole body is out of bounds. You can't be half out and half in and play the game. Jesus says, 'Whoever is not with me is against me, and whoever does not gather with me scatters.' There are times when Jesus is gentle, and this is not one of them. When it comes to our identity, when it comes to our loyalty, Jesus is as firm as he can be. Because you cannot have Jesus as an option amidst other options. Jesus either changes everything about you or you're fully committed to being on Team Adam. Jesus is not a theory. He's not a philosophy that we can try on. He's not one way amidst a bunch of other ways. Jesus is the way, the truth, and the life. Following him means burning the boats behind you. Don't leave an option. Don't leave an exit, an escape into your old life, into old sins, into another way of trying to save yourself. Burn the boats. Application Criticism is not judgment One of our favorite verses in America is when Jesus says, 'Do not judge lest you be judged.' We love talking about that because we do not like to be confronted on anything. We live in a culture that has no immunity to criticism. It is easier for us to cut people out of our life than it is to have people in our life who tell us things that we don't want to hear. But we need that. What Jesus is doing here is direct. It is confrontational. The biblical word for this would be admonishment. Jesus is admonishing both the people in this traveling party with him and also his disciples. And yet, this isn't rude. It's not judgment. You need to be able to hear people in your life tell you things that you don't want to hear. The Bible says, 'Faithful are the wounds of a friend.' Sanctification starts from Christ being wounded and continues by ourselves being wounded daily. If we cannot hear the truth of God's word, if it hurts and we can't stick around and hear and change, what we're saying is really, I'm God. I get to decide who gets to offend me and nobody gets to offend me. Being drawn closer and closer to God means that we are wounded and we accept that. We die to ourself more and more each and every day. I've read a lot of old pastors about a lot of different things, but one of them being church discipline. They would confront sin head-on. Not because they were trying to be mean or judgmental or to humiliate people. Churches would do this because sin is bad. It is actually bad in our life. I remember reading at one church where there was a very minor sin issue — one instance of gossip — and they were put under formal church discipline for that because they saw their sin as actually dangerous for their soul and wanted to crucify it. And they needed help. If we did this today, people would just leave. We'd go to another church and say, 'Man, that church is like Pharisees. They're too judgmental.' We have no immunity for this kind of stuff in our culture. In fact, it is more likely that you have cut people out of your life who were trying to tell you something devastating they saw in your life. Confronting people is hard. When you do this, you know that what you are about to say is confrontational because it is best for them. Faithful are the wounds of a friend. When someone comes and tells you something hard, know that it sucks for them probably even more than it sucks for you to hear. Be people who can hear criticism not as judgment. Christ must be our greatest loyalty One of the greatest sin struggles in rural areas — not just at Prosper, in any rural area I have ever been a part of — is family loyalty. This becomes an allegiance that can almost trump anything, including our Christian calling. Three generations at the same church. I grew up in a church like that where your family name means something. And quietly, slowly, family loyalty becomes the highest priority, becomes your highest loyalty. We don't have to follow where Jesus leads. We follow him as long as it's close to home, as long as it's within what our family deems appropriate. We do not forsake lesser loyalties. What we do is we just baptize them. We repackage them and call them faithfulness. But Jesus was not subtle about this. Jesus was not gentle about this. He said, 'If anyone loves father or mother more than me, they are not worthy of following me.' He would rather offend you than you lose your life to something smaller than him. So how do we leave these lesser loyalties behind? We cannot shame ourselves into leaving them. We can't create enough willpower into following a new one. There is only one way to have this kind of allegiance. You have to see something more glorious. That's what Christian saw in The Pilgrim's Progress. He saw something more glorious. He ran toward eternal life. He didn't run from his family — he ran towards eternal life. The difference in that makes all the difference. When Christ becomes your treasure, lesser loyalties don't get ripped away, they just loosen their grip. Prosper Church, hear this: forsake lesser loyalties and follow the King who marched toward Jerusalem for your salvation. Closing Prayer Father God, we thank you for who you are. We praise you that you alone are worthy to be praised. God, I pray that we would crucify any idol that we have in our heart, anything that comes close to competing with you. God, help us to see, to taste and see that you are good, that you are greater than anything this world can offer. God, you are glorious. Let us glorify you in our worship here and now. It's in your name we pray. Amen. Facebook X (Twitter) WhatsApp LinkedIn Pinterest Copy link

Join us for Easter at Prosper Christian Reformed Church in Falmouth, MI. Celebrate the resurrection of Jesus with worship, Scripture, and a welcoming community. Never Alone Marriage Conference Easter At Prosper Easter Service Times Sermon Series Sermon Series What We Believe Our Staff Our History Watch Sermon Series Crowned: with Purpose with Praise with Humility with thorns with glory Crowned follows Jesus on the road to Jerusalem and through the events of Holy Week, showing that his kingship is unlike every worldly vision of power. He does not seize a throne by force, flatter the crowds, or preserve himself from suffering. He reigns by obedience. He is praised by the people, rejected by sinners, humbled unto death, and then vindicated by the Father in resurrection glory. This series helps the church see that Easter is not merely the happy ending to a tragic story. It is the public revelation that Jesus truly is King. From his resolute march toward Jerusalem to the empty tomb, every scene reveals a King who rules with purpose, receives praise, embraces humility, bears shame, and triumphs in glory. As we walk through these passages, we are confronted with a searching question: what kind of King do we want? A King who serves our expectations, or the King who saves through sacrifice? Crowned calls us to bow before Jesus as he truly is—the crucified and risen Lord—and to follow him on the path of obedient discipleship. Easter Events Breakout Speakers Name Name Name Name Name Name Frequently Asked Questions What is the theme of the 2025 Marriage Conference? “Never Alone” is the theme for the Peace Church 2025 Marriage Conference. We are never alone; we walk through life with our spouse, with our church, and with our Savior. How do I register? You can register for the 2025 Marriage Conference here . What is the conference schedule? Friday 5:30 PM | Doors open 6:00 PM | Session One & Worship Night 7:30 PM | Resource Shop Opens Saturday 8:00 AM | Check In, Breakfast, and Resource Shop 9:00 AM | Welcome and Worship 9:45 AM | Session Two 10:45 AM | Breakout #1 11:30 AM | Lunch + Resource Shop Open 12:30 PM | Breakout #2 1:30 PM | Session Three 2:30 PM | Q/A Session 3:00 PM | Concluding Worship 4:00 PM | Resource Shop Closes Can I bring my children? Childcare is offered only during the Friday night session. Will meals be provided? Breakfast and lunch will be provided as well as snacks throughout the day. Who can I contact for more information? Contact Nicole Baumann for more information. What if I have a food allergy? You can select your lunch choice in your registration. We will have dairy and gluten free options available! Does this conference celebrate same-sex "marriage"? No. Click here if you'd like to learn more about our biblical views on sexuality. Will we be in the new worship center? Most likely! Will this be live-streamed? No, however we will have the Keynote recordings available for a limited time after the conference to attendees. Can I attend this if I am engaged? Yes! Vision To see the Gospel embraced and passed on for generations of Kingdom impact. Mission At Peace Church, we are Gospel-Centered, Family-Focused, and Kingdom-Minded. Sponsors Sponsors 2024 Conference Messages Maundy Thursday At 6:30 PM "Maundy" comes from the Latin word meaning "mandate. "At the Last Supper, Jesus gave His disciples a simple, yet powerful mandate: to love one another. In this special communion service, we will see how, during the Last Supper, Jesus brings about the great reversal, turning the law into love. We’ll reflect on how Christ fulfills His own commandment through His sacrificial death. Children are welcome to worship in the sanctuary. Easter Sunday At 9:30 AM Easter is the great reversal—when Jesus went from death to life! The Gospel is our promise, and the Resurrection of Jesus is our guarantee that we can have not only salvation but eternal life. As we celebrate Jesus' victory over Satan, sin, and death, you are invited to join us this Easter to hear about and celebrate the Risen King, as we see how the Gospel bring us back to everything good. We will have programming available for kids birth through age 4 Good Friday At 5:30 PM Many would consider it horribly ironic that the day Jesus Christ was crucified is called Good Friday, but it is truly good because Christ's sacrifice makes our salvation not just possible, but secure. On Good Friday, we witness an incredible reversal: When many would see Jesus willingly dying on the cross as a surrender, it was actually an eternal victory over sin when He cries out, “It is finished.” Children are welcome to worship in the sanctuary.

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Paniba Paniba Prosper CRC Paniba Paniba La Romana, Dominican Republic PANIBA is a Christian ministry committed to feeding the hungry, sharing the love of Jesus, and strengthening vulnerable communities in the Dominican Republic. Their heart is especially for children and families living in economically disadvantaged areas, where access to nutritious food is limited and basic needs often go unmet. Through weekly feeding programs, PANIBA provides nutritious meals to children to help them grow, learn, and thrive physically, mentally, and spiritually. These gatherings aren’t just about food — they include worship, Bible teaching, games, and intentional time to share the hope of Christ with young lives. In addition to nourishing children, PANIBA extends care to elderly and disadvantaged adults, offering monthly grocery support for those who otherwise have no safety net. The ministry partners with local churches and volunteers to meet both practical needs and spiritual hunger, demonstrating God’s love with compassion, dignity, and respect. Support Paniba

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