by Derek Fekkes | Aug 15, 2017 | Uncategorized
This past Sunday’s sermon considered Jesus’ command, “Do not resist an evil person.” The big idea of His teaching here is that the people of God should be the kind of people who refuse personal revenge and retribution, both in their actions and...
by Derek Fekkes | Jul 27, 2017 | Uncategorized
Many voices today, religious or otherwise, push us to see ourselves as basically good people. We are told to believe in ourselves, get rid of any negativity in our lives, and only put ourselves around those who affirm us just as we are. Against this widespread belief,...
by Derek Fekkes | Jul 6, 2017 | Uncategorized
Here is where we are currently as a church and what is coming in the next few months. If all the nitty-gritty details don’t really interest you, just skim over the bolded summary statements below. We are launching on September 10! What does this mean? It means that...
by Derek Fekkes | May 10, 2017 | Uncategorized
I used to work in the marketing department for a Bible software and Christian e-book company. In our efforts to “market” our products to people, we would often say things like, “Discover new biblical insights!” or “Go deeper in your Bible study!” And we used phrases...
by Derek Fekkes | May 3, 2017 | Uncategorized
Over the last two Sundays, we’ve been saying that there are two equally-unbiblical views of how salvation works: legalism and cheap grace. Legalism says, “Everything is dependent on what I do. I must earn and keep up my salvation.” Cheap grace says, “It doesn’t matter...
by Derek Fekkes | Apr 13, 2017 | Uncategorized
One aspect of Roots’ worship services that will be new to some people is the corporate confession. What do we mean by corporate confession? This is an act whereby the whole church reads a written confession in unity. For our purposes, this will either be a confession...
by Derek Fekkes | Mar 30, 2017 | Uncategorized
There was this great meme I saw recently that portrayed Christians who evangelize to a polar bear chasing a guy around his car. It’s funny because most of us have encountered Christians who want to “push their religion down your throat,” who...
by Derek Fekkes | Mar 23, 2017 | Uncategorized
Sunday services at Roots are intended to refocus and realign our lives to God’s story, his work to reconcile humanity to himself and be the center of our lives. And one of the ways this is done is through the expository preaching of the Bible, i.e. preaching that...
by Derek Fekkes | Mar 9, 2017 | Uncategorized
One of the things that I’ve appreciated most from the various pastors I’ve had is the taking of time to explain why the church does the things they do. Specifically in regards to Sunday gatherings, many churches have similar liturgies, or “forms of...
by Derek Fekkes | Mar 1, 2017 | Uncategorized
I mentioned in a recent post that for years I’ve kept a sheet of paper in the front of my Bible with verses about God’s Word: it’s truthfulness, power, sufficiency, etc. Whenever doubts and questions about the value and necessity of God’s Word...
