5/25/25 Worship Service & Sermon: Job Begs an Audience With God - Job 13-31

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5/25/2025 Worship Service & Sermon from Brick Lane Community Church in Elverson, PA.

Scripture: Job 13-31
Title: Job Begs an Audience With God
Worship leader: Tyler Estes
Speaker: Steve Estes

Job 13:3,13-14:22:

Job to his friends

I desire to speak to the Almighty and to argue my case with God. Keep silent and let me speak; then let come to me what may. Why do I put myself in jeopardy and take my life in my hands? Though he slay me, yet will I hope in him; I will surely defend my ways to his face. Indeed, this will turn out for my deliverance, for no godless man would dare come before him! Listen carefully to my words; let your ears take in what I say. Now that I have prepared my case, I know I will be vindicated. Can anyone bring charges against me? If so, I will be silent and die.

Job to God

Only grant me these two things, O God, and then I will not hide from you: withdraw your hand far from me, and stop frightening me with your terrors. Then summon me and I will answer, or let me speak, and you reply. How many wrongs and sins have I committed? Show me my offense and my sin. Why do you hide your face and consider me your enemy? Will you torment a windblown leaf? Will you chase after dry chaff? For you write down bitter things against me and make me inherit the sins of my youth. You fasten my feet in shackles; you keep close watch on all my paths by putting marks on the soles of my feet. So man wastes away like something rotten, like a garment eaten by moths.

Man born of woman is of few days and full of trouble. He springs up like a flower and withers away; like a fleeting shadow, he does not endure. Do you fix your eye on such a one? Will you bring him before you for judgment? Who can bring what is pure from the impure? No one! Man's days are determined; you have decreed the number of his months and have set limits he cannot exceed. So look away from him and let him alone, till he has put in his time like a hired man. At least there is hope for a tree: if it is cut down, it will sprout again, and its new shoots will not fail. Its roots may grow old in the ground and its stump die in the soil, yet at the scent of water it will bud and put forth shoots like a plant. But man dies and is laid low; he breathes his last and is no more. As water disappears from the sea or a riverbed becomes parched and dry, so man lies down and does not rise; til the heavens are no more, men will not awake or be roused from their sleep. If only you would hide me in the grave and conceal me till your anger has passed! If only you would set me a time and then remember me! If a man dies, will he live again? All the days of my hard service I will wait for my renewal to come. You will call and I will answer you; you will long for the creature your hands have made. Surely then you will count my steps but not keep track of my sin. My offenses will be sealed up in a bag; you will cover over my sin.

But as a mountain erodes and crumbles and as a rock is moved from its place, as water wears away stones and torrents wash away the soil, so you destroy man's hope. You overpower him once for all, and he is gone; you charge his countenance and send him away. If his sons are honored, he does not know it, if they are brought low, he does not see it. He feels but the pain of his own body and mourns only for himself.

Job 19:25-27: I know that my Redeemer lives, and that in the end, he will stand upon the earth. And after my skin has been destroyed, yet in my flesh I will see God; I myself will see him with my own eyes--I, and not another. How my heart yearns within me!

Job 31:35-37: Oh, that I had someone to hear me! I sign now my defense--let the Almighty answer me; let my accuser put his indictment in writing. Surely I would wear it on my shoulder, I would put it on like a crown. I would give him an account of my every step; like a prince I would approach him.

Notes:

1. Review

2. Job has reached an unbearable level of frustration
A. Conversations with his friends has gotten him nowhere
B. His complaints about God have gotten him nowhere
C. His complaints to God have gotten him nowhere
D. Yet through it all, through the tears and pain...

3. Job is about to request an actual encounter with God
A. Job is now on a mission to hear God's actual voice
B. Job knows his intent is dangerous
C. Despite the risk, Job believes he will be vindicated before God
D. As Job waits, he ponders death and sin

4. Job protests the seeming unfairness of it all
A. Job protests that God seems to think of nothing but sin, and sin leads to death
B. Job longs for a resurrection he thinks will never happen
C. Job needs a mediator to bring these matters to God

5. Lessons

5/11/25 Worship Service & Sermon: Jesus & the Children - Mark 10:13-16

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5/11/25 Worship Service & Sermon from Brick Lane Community Church in Elverson, PA.

Scripture: Mark 10:13-16
Title: Jesus & the Children
Worship Leader: Dave Stoltzfus
Speaker: Steve Estes

NIV: People were bringing little children to Jesus to have him touch them, but the disciples rebuked them. When Jesus saw this, he was indignant. He said to them, "Let the little children come to me, and do not hinder them, for the kingdom of God belongs to such as these. I tell you the truth, anyone who will not receive the kingdom of God like a little child will never enter it." And he took the children in his arms, put his hands on them and blessed them.

ESV: And they were bringing little children to him that he might touch them, and the disciples rebuked them. But when Jesus saw it, he was indignant and said to them, "Let the little children come to me; do not hinder them, for to such belongs the kingdom of God. Truly, I say to you, whoever does not receive the kingdom of God like a child shall not enter it." And he took them in his arms and blessed them, laying his hands on them.

Notes:

1. The story
A. The setting is unclear
B. What age were these children?
C. Why were the disciples rebuked?

2. Jesus rebuked disciples who kept children from Him
A. Parents become angry when they think their child has been wronged
B. How might adults today hinder children from coming to Jesus?
C. Jesus praises parents who do the opposite

3. Jesus blessed the children who were brought to Him
A. Consider what it means to bless someone
B. What sort of blessing were the parents seeking?
C. Consider the manner in which Jesus blessed them
D. What exactly was the result?

4. Accepting the kingdom of God like a little child
A. What Jesus doesn't mean
B. What Jesus does mean

#Jesus #children

3/30/25 Worship Service & Sermon: Job’s Lament - Job 2:11-13, Job 3

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3/30/25 Worship Service & Sermon from Brick Lane Community Church in Elverson, PA.

Scripture: Job 2:11-13, Job 3
Title: Job's Lament
Speaker: Steve Estes

When Job's three friends, Eliphaz the Temanite, Bildad the Shuhite and Zophar the Naamathite, heard about all the troubles that had come upon him, they set out from their homes and met together by agreement to go and sympathize with him and comfort him. When they saw him from a distance, they could hardly recognize him; they began to weep aloud, and they tore their robes and sprinkled dust on their heads. Then they sat on the ground with him for seven days and seven nights. No one said a word to him, because they saw how great his suffering was.

Notes:

1. Introduction
A. Review
B. Job's friends arrive

2. Job begins his lament

3. Job utters a series of curses
A. A curse
B. "May God not care about that day"
C. "May that day be shrouded in darkness

4. "Why?"
A. The universally spoken three-letter word
B. How Job imagines the grave
C. The final "why"
D. Summary

5. Applications
A. God sometimes lets the righteous suffer terribly
B. It is important for believers to acknowledge another's suffering before explaining it
C. It is appropriate for a Christian to groan, sometimes long and loudly

After this, Job opened his mouth and cursed the day of his birth. 2 He said:

3 “May the day of my birth perish, and the night that said, ‘A boy is conceived!’

4 That day—may it turn to darkness; may God above not care about it; may no light shine on it.

5 May gloom and utter darkness claim it once more; may a cloud settle over it; may blackness overwhelm it.

6 That night—may thick darkness seize it; may it not be included among the days of the year nor be entered in any of the months.

7 May that night be barren; may no shout of joy be heard in it.

8 May those who curse days[a] curse that day, those who are ready to rouse Leviathan.

9 May its morning stars become dark; may it wait for daylight in vain and not see the first rays of dawn,

10 for it did not shut the doors of the womb on me to hide trouble from my eyes.

11 “Why did I not perish at birth, and die as I came from the womb?

12 Why were there knees to receive me and breasts that I might be nursed?

13 For now I would be lying down in peace; I would be asleep and at rest

14 with kings and rulers of the earth, who built for themselves places now lying in ruins,

15 with princes who had gold, who filled their houses with silver.

16 Or why was I not hidden away in the ground like a stillborn child, like an infant who never saw the light of day?

17 There the wicked cease from turmoil, and there the weary are at rest.

18 Captives also enjoy their ease; they no longer hear the slave driver’s shout.

19 The small and the great are there, and the slaves are freed from their owners.

20 “Why is light given to those in misery, and life to the bitter of soul,

21 to those who long for death that does not come, who search for it more than for hidden treasure,

22 who are filled with gladness and rejoice when they reach the grave?

23 Why is life given to a man whose way is hidden, whom God has hedged in?

24 For sighing has become my daily food; my groans pour out like water.

25 What I feared has come upon me; what I dreaded has happened to me.

26 I have no peace, no quietness; I have no rest, but only turmoil.” #job #lament #curse

Additional Notes:

Job utters a series of curses

1. A curse

2. “God may not care about the day of his birth”

3. “May that day be shrouded in Darkness”

“Why” questions

1. The universally spoken 3-letter word

2. How He imagines the grave

3. Final "“Why”

4. summary

Principle: God sometimes Lets the RIGHTEOUS suffer terribly

1. Yet God himself affirmed Job as righteous

Principle: It is important for believers to acknowledge another’s suffering before explaining it

It is appropriate for a Christian to groan, sometimes long and loudly

CONCLUSION

02/23/25 Worship Service & Sermon: Love in Heaven - 1 Corinthians 13:8-13

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2/23/25 Worship Service & Sermon from Brick Lane Community Church in Elverson, PA.

Scripture: 1 Corinthians 13:8-13
Title: Love in Heaven
Worship Leader: Tyler Estes
Speaker: Steve Estes

Love never fails. But where there are prophecies, they will cease; where there are tongues, they will be stilled; where there is knowledge, it will pass away. For we know in part and we prophesy in part, but when perfection comes, the imperfect disappears. When I was a child, I reasoned like a child, I talked like a child, I thought like a child. When I became a man, I put childish things behind me. Now we see but a poor reflection as in a mirror; then we shall see face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I am fully known. And now these three remain: faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is love.

Notes:

1. Wrong idea of spirituality
A. Tongues
B. Same wrong idea with Prophesy
C. What the chapter has said

2. Summary of this passage

3. Three temporary gifts of ministry
A. Prophecy
B. Tongues
C. Knowledge

4. Two figures of speech and a clear statement
A. Contrast between childhood and adulthood
B. Contrast between reflection and face-to-face
C. The clear statement

5. On verse 13
A. "These three remain"
B. "But the greatest of these is love"

6. Jonathan Edwards on love
A. The cause and fountain of love
B. The objects of love
C. The beings who will love
D. Some aspects of love

#prophecies #tongues #knowledge #faith #hope #love

2/9/25 Worship Service & Sermon: What Love Looks Like - 1 Corinthians 13:4-7

2/9/25 Worship Service & Sermon from Brick Lane Community Church in Elverson, PA.

Scripture: 1 Corinthians 13:4-7
Title: What Love Looks Like
Worship Leader: Dawson Estes
Speaker: Steve Estes

NIV: Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It is not rude, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres.

ESV: Love is patient and kind; love does not envy or boast; it is not arrogant or rude. It does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful; it does not rejoice at wrongdoing, but rejoices with the truth. Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.

Notes:

1. Fifteen verbs

2. First: Two positives about love
A. "Love is patient"
B. "Love is kind"
C. Combination reflects God

3. Seven negatives about love
A. "Does not envy"
B. "Does not boast"
C. "Is not proud"
D. "Is not rude"
E. "Is not self-seeking
F. "Is not easily angered"
G. "Keeps no record of wrongs"
H. "Does not delight in evil

4. Four zippy little phrases about love
A. NIV translation
B. ESV translation
C. Answering objections
D. Steve's Uncle Tom

#love #whatislove

2/2/25 Worship Service & Sermon: Love: Graces Better Than Gifts - 1 Corinthians 13:1-13

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2/2/25 Worship Service & Sermon from Brick Lane Community Church in Elverson, PA.

Scripture: 1 Corinthians 13:1-13
Title: Love: Graces Better Than Gifts
Worship Leader: Matt Griffith
Speaker: Steve Estes

If I speak in the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I am only a resounding gong or a clanging cymbal. If I have the gift of prophecy and can fathom all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have a faith that can move mountains, but have not love, I am nothing. If I give all I possess to the poor and surrender my body to the flames, but have not love, I gain nothing.

Notes:

1. Introduction
A. Challenges facing the earliest Christians
B. How God equipped them

2. Love is more important than gifted speaking and teaching
A. The gift of tongues
B. The problem
C. The application

3. Love is much more important than mere religious activity
A. "If I have the gift of prophecy..."
B. "If I can fathom all mysteries and all knowledge..."
C. "If I have a faith that can move mountains..."

4. Love is more important than even acts of personal sacrifice
A. "If I give all I possess to the poor..."
B. "...and surrender my body to the flames..."

5. The result of no love
A. "I gain nothing"
B. "I am nothing"

6. Three closing thoughts

Benediction: (From Psalm 28) Praise be to the Lord, for he has heard our cry for mercy. Our hearts trust in him, and we are helped. Save your people and bless your inheritance, be our shepherd and carry us forever. Amen

#love #graces #gifts #nothing

1/26/25 Worship Service & Sermon: A Fine Wife - Proverbs 31:10-31

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1/26/25 Worship Service & Sermon from Brick Lane Community Church in Elverson, PA.

Scripture: Proverbs 31:10-31
Title: A Fine Wife
Worship Leader: Matt Carter
Speaker: Steve Estes

Notes:

1. A wife of noble character
A. Who is the passage speaking of?
B. What if I'm not a wife or a mother?
C. A woman of noble character

2. First area of her attention: her husband
A. A helper suitable for him
B. "clothed in fine linen and purple"

3. Second area of her attention: her children
A. Basic needs
B. Involved in their lives
C. All this takes energy!

4. Third area of her attention: outside her home
A. Finances (for her home)
B. The needy

5. Near the end: "Who can find?!"

6. Applications

#wife #noble #noblecharacter

1/12/25 Worship Service & Sermon: Human Suffering & The Sovereignty of God - Various Scripture

1/12/25 Worship Service & Sermon from Brick Lane Community Church in Elverson, PA.

Scripture: Various
Title: Human Suffering & The Sovereignty of God
Speaker: Steve Estes
Worship Leader: Steve Boyer

Notes:

1. Introduction
A. Where is God when we suffer?
B. The story of Rabbi Harold Kushner
C. Many evangelicals are like Rabbi Kushner
D. Some people take the opposite view

2. The causes behind suffering in the Book of Job
A. What caused Job's troubles?
B. God governs nature and its laws
C. God governs both intentional and unintentional actions of people
D. God governs Satan and demons

3. An objection...and two answers
A. The objection
B. God is drawn to suffering people
C. God's motives for decreeing evil are good

4. Summary
A. What about suffering is God sovereign over?
B. For what purpose?

#suffering #sovereignty #God

1/5/25 Worship Service & Sermon: The Christians Eternal Rest - Hebrews 4:9-10

1/5/25 Worship Service & Sermon from Brick Lane Community Church in Elverson, PA.

Scripture: Hebrews 4:9-10
Title: The Christians Eternal Rest
Speaker: Steve Estes
Worship Leader: John Sletta

There remains, then, a Sabbath-rest for the people of God; for anyone who enters God's rest also rests from their works, just as God did from his.

Notes:

1. Introduction
A. Baxter's life/illnesses
B. Old Testament saints in the desert were promised rest
C. Christians have hard lives, but God has promised eternal rest

2. Our eternal rest
A. Our eternal rest means the end of tiring effort
B. Our eternal rest means we will experience perfect love
C. Our eternal rest means we'll have the capacity for all heaven's delights

3. How our souls will respond to all this in heaven

#eternalrest #richardbaxter

12/22/24 Worship Service & Sermon: An Angel, A Virgin - Luke 1:26-38

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12/22/24 Worship Service & Sermon from Brick Lane Community Church in Elverson, PA.

Scripture: Luke 1:26-38
Title: An Angel, A Virgin
Speaker: Steve Estes
Worship Leader: TJ Waldy

26 In the sixth month of Elizabeth’s pregnancy, God sent the angel Gabriel to Nazareth, a town in Galilee,

27 to a virgin pledged to be married to a man named Joseph, a descendant of David. The virgin’s name was Mary.

28 The angel went to her and said, “Greetings, you who are highly favored! The Lord is with you.”

29 Mary was greatly troubled at his words and wondered what kind of greeting this might be.

30 But the angel said to her, “Do not be afraid, Mary; you have found favor with God.

31 You will conceive and give birth to a son, and you are to call him Jesus.

32 He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High. The Lord God will give him the throne of his father David,

33 and he will reign over Jacob’s descendants forever; his kingdom will never end.”

34 “How will this be,” Mary asked the angel, “since I am a virgin?”

35 The angel answered, “The Holy Spirit will come on you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you. So the holy one to be born will be called[a] the Son of God.

36 Even Elizabeth your relative is going to have a child in her old age, and she who was said to be unable to conceive is in her sixth month.

37 For no word from God will ever fail.”

38 “I am the Lord’s servant,” Mary answered. “May your word to me be fulfilled.” Then the angel left her.

Notes:

1. The angel

2. The place
A. Far from Jerusalem
B. Of "inferior Jewishness"
C. The town of Nazareth

3. The time

4. The virgin
A. Her need for a Savior
B. Her modest role
C. Her godliness

5. The conversation
A. Gabriel's graciousness and Mary's fear
B. Gabriel's reassuring message
C. Mary requests an explanation
D. Gabriel's astounding, mysterious answer
E. Gabriel's help to Mary's faith
F. Mary's courageous, submissive reply

6. The applications

#God #Jesus #time #gabriel #mary