by Derek Fekkes | Nov 15, 2017 | Uncategorized
The gospel is a very simple message: “God saves sinners” (as J.I. Packer puts it). And in one sense, our response to the gospel is also a very simple thing: confess your sins and your need for a Savior and embrace Jesus as your sufficient Savior. This isn’t...
by Derek Fekkes | Nov 1, 2017 | Uncategorized
In preparation for a recent sermon, I did some reading up on the self-care movement. As with many movements, there is good and there is bad. To that end, I thought I’d take some of the advice or sayings of this movement and hold them up to the light of biblical truth....
by Derek Fekkes | Sep 19, 2017 | Uncategorized
In yesterday’s sermon, we spent some time talking about “the problem of evil.” If God is really good and sovereign over all that goes on in this world (as the Bible repeatedly tells us He is), why is there so much evil, pain, and suffering in the world? This is...
by Derek Fekkes | Sep 6, 2017 | Uncategorized
This Sunday Roots Church officially launches. All are welcome to join us at 5 p.m. at Stanwood United Methodist Church. Afterwards, we will celebrate with lasagna, bread, salad, and dessert (provided by Roots). If you plan on coming, could you let me (Derek) know so...
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...
