Apologia Church

We are continuing our exposition of the Gospel According to Matthew. We call this series: The Kingdom of God. Matthew's Gospel contains the repeated affirmation of the rule and kingship of the Lord Jesus Christ. Jesus comes on time and as planned. His coming is not a "plan B" in the redemptive purposes of God within history. With that said, we must remember that the Old Testament promised that God was going to do something in history that changed the shape of history, people, and the world... forever. The Messiah was to rule in history. This rule would be redemptive in nature: it was about salvation. This salvation would extend to the ends of the earth and would bring forth the light of God, justice, and the law of God (Isaiah 2, 9, 11, & 42). The Lord Jesus sits upon the Mount and begins to pronounce His blessings of divine happiness upon His people. The Beatitudes wrap up with something that ought to give us a moment or two of meditation and thoughtful reflection. We are the preservative of the world. We are the means of God's grace for the darkness scattering and fleeing once and for all from the world. This is big. This little section says something about God's purpose for the people of God in the world. He means to use us for something. The truth that Jesus saves sinners must never been relinquished or abandoned. However, the lie that Jesus simply saves sinners must be repudiated and rejected with horror. God is remaking the world in Jesus Christ. Jesus is the beginning of the New Creation. We are all new creations in Jesus Christ. God intends on reshaping the world through the means of His people: the church. How? Let's open His Word. Soli Deo Gloria! Jeff Durbin Lead Pastor/Elder Sunday, August 30, 2015

We are continuing our exposition of the Gospel According to Matthew. We call this series: The Kingdom of God. Matthew's Gospel contains the repeated affirmation of the rule and kingship of the Lord Jesus Christ. Jesus comes on time and as planned. His coming is not a "plan B" in the redemptive purposes of God within history. With that said, we must remember that the Old Testament promised that God was going to do something in history that changed the shape of history, people, and the world... forever. The Messiah was to rule in history. This rule would be redemptive in nature: it was about salvation. This salvation would extend to the ends of the earth and would bring forth the light of God, justice, and the law of God (Isaiah 2, 9, 11, & 42). The Lord Jesus sits upon the Mount and begins to pronounce His blessings of divine happiness upon His people. The Beatitudes wrap up with something that ought to give us a moment or two of meditation and thoughtful reflection. We are the preservative of the world. We are the means of God's grace for the darkness scattering and fleeing once and for all from the world. This is big. This little section says something about God's purpose for the people of God in the world. He means to use us for something. The truth that Jesus saves sinners must never been relinquished or abandoned. However, the lie that Jesus simply saves sinners must be repudiated and rejected with horror. God is remaking the world in Jesus Christ. Jesus is the beginning of the New Creation. We are all new creations in Jesus Christ. God intends on reshaping the world through the means of His people: the church. How? Let's open His Word. Soli Deo Gloria! Jeff Durbin Lead Pastor/Elder Sunday, August 23, 2015

Today we are going to unpack the truths surrounding the Lord Jesus' promise of blessing upon those who hunger and thirst for righteousness. Over the last couple of weeks I attempted to faithfully handle the biblical possibilities and meaning of the term righteousness in this verse. It seems unavoidably clear that the Lord Jesus' is speaking here of hungering and thirsting for true 'uprightness' or the righteousness that comes from a pure heart. How do we live in light of this blessing? Have you ever struggled with doubt, discouragement, and depression in your walk with the Lord? How do you maintain a hunger and thirst when we often feel conflicted and even defeated? Open the Word of the Living God. Let's seek His promises. Soli Deo Gloria! Jeff Durbin Lead Pastor/Elder

Isaac Banegas

The Sermon on the Mount is the most popular sermon in the history of the world. In the beginning of the sermon, the Lord Jesus pronounces divine happiness (blessings) upon His people. He promises blessings upon His people for things that seem upside-down. Blessed are those who mourn? Blessed are the meek? Blessed are the persecuted? And in today's message: Blessed are the merciful. Seems out of place for many. What if we are wounded? What if we are abused? Doesn't God care about justice? Isn't God concerned with truth? How can Jesus pronounce divine blessedness upon those who are merciful and tell us that the mercy-ing ones are the ones who receive mercy? Open your Bibles and ask God to open your hearts and minds to this glorious truth. Soli Deo Gloria! Jeff Durbin Lead Pastor/Elder Sunday, May 3, 2015

This Lord's Day, we are going to explore God's Word about the subject of suffering for the cause of the Gospel. God calls us out of darkness and into His light. He then empowers us to live lives of obedience and delight in Him. The great joy we have set before us is to know God and to make Him known. I want to emphasize that: Joy. However, as we get on our beautiful feet to proclaim the Good News to the world we will inevitably be confronted with difficulty, persecution, and at times very serious suffering. How are we to walk through these moments? Let's get into His Word. Soli Deo Gloria! Jeff Durbin Lead Pastor/Elder Sunday, March 8, 2015

Gospel means "Good-news". In the Scriptures, it is referred to as Good-news of the Kingdom (Matthew 4) and God's Good-news (Romans 1). God is sovereign over salvation; down to every nut and every bolt of its accomplishment and its application. However, it's vitally important for us to remember that God uses the proclamation of the Gospel to bring His elect to Himself. We are the means of the grace of the Gospel when we proclaim it to the lost. God calls us, all of us, each and every one of us (Yes, you.), to bring the message of salvation in Christ into the very fabric of our daily lives. But, how do we do it? What do we say? Let's dig-in. No King but Christ! Jeff Durbin Lead Pastor/Elder Sunday, February 8, 2015

In the Lord Jesus' famous sermon on the mount, we have the promises of divine happiness upon the most unlikely (humanly speaking) of candidates. The poor, the mourners, and now, the meek. The promise of divine happiness upon the meek extends to a point that is very easy to miss. It's not that it is hard to miss. The Lord was not unclear or hiding His statements. We don't have to spend a few months in a seminary course learning how to translate Greek or about fancy systems of Biblical interpretation: Thank you, Professor Herman Newticks. That was a theological nerd joke for those of you paying attention. Jesus' statement was, and is, straightforward: "Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth." Inherit the earth. Did you catch it? Doesn't sound like what we're accustomed to hear- ing in our current context. That's why it's easy to miss. We can be so focused on es- caping this world, so focused on the evils around us, and so focused on what seems to be defeat all around us, that we can miss what is a clear and direct promise from the lips of our Savior: God's people will inherit the earth; not the wicked. Close your eyes. Take a breath. Meditate on that. Fix your eyes upon the Sovereign God Who controls the future and trust in His promises. The earth is the Lord's. No King but Christ! Jeff Durbin Lead Pastor/Elder Sunday, January 11, 2015

This week let us ponder the words of Jesus' Sermon. These are the blessings: Matt 5:1-12 Soli Deo Gloria!

(Apologies for the poor audio quality of the original recording) After spending a few days in Philadelphia at the Herald Society, I thought it would be a blessing to our community to share the message I preached at the conference. The men and women in attendance were bringing glory to God and testifying to how they were challenged by it. Note: the first 10-minutes of this message are missing. That does not detract from the sermon. Also, the audio itself is not superb, but, is still worthy to post. By God's grace, I pray that God stirs us. Jeff Durbin Lead Pastor/Elder Sunday, October 26, 2014