This sermon was preached by James Kaczor at River City Church on 6/22/2025.

Abortion is without a doubt the greatest evil in our day. Since 1973, the number of babies killed by abortion in the United States is over 65 million. That's more than 80x the population of North Dakota and 10 times the number of Jews believed to be killed in the Holocaust.

Even more tragic is how many abortions take place outside the United States. Some estimates say the U.S. accounts for as little as 3% of the world's abortions per year and a recent article by the World Health Organization stated that approximately 73 million abortions occur in the world every year. That's equivalent to the total deaths in World War II and it's happening every year.

In this episode, James Kaczor and I discuss what the Bible has to say about the issue of abortion, what role the church is called to play in confronting it, and what our own ministry at a local abortion facility looks like.

The concept of Covenants are very important in the Bible. They are central to the Bible's unfolding storyline, and they are central for a proper understanding of the relationship that exists between God and Man. Yet, in much of the church today, covenants are not often discussed and even less often understood.

In this episode, James Kaczor gives a brief overview of Covenant Theology. He touches on the Tri-covenantal Framework often espoused by Reformed Theologians (Summary Below)

Covenant of Redemption: This is the eternal agreement between the three Persons of the Trinity to redeem humanity.

Covenant of Works: This is the agreement God made with Adam, as the Head of the Human Race, that promised eternal life for perfect obedience and death for disobedience. All humans who are not "in Christ" are "in Adam" and still subject to the consequences of this covenant.

Covenant of Grace: This is the agreement between God the Father and Jesus Christ, along with all those who are "in Christ," whereby God offers eternal life and salvation to fallen sinners through faith in Jesus Christ. In this Covenant, God also gives to his people the gift of his Holy Spirit that makes them willing and able to believe. It is through the grace of this Covenant that all people, since the fall of Adam, must be saved.

In addition to this, James spends time unpacking the successive and related Covenants that advance the storyline of the Bible and the redemptive plan of God for the world.

Mainly in this order: Abrahamic Covenant -> Mosaic Covenant -> Davidic Covenant -> New Covenant

This message was first preached by James Kaczor on 6/26/2025 at River City's Thursday Morning Bible Study.

In the last few weeks in North Dakota we've seen some very destructive weather, including a once in a lifetime storm that resulted in some devastating fatalities. And in addition to the loss of human life, this storm left in its path the destruction of many people's homes and much other valuable property. In many ways and for many people, this event, in the truest sense of the word, was a tragedy.

Now oftentimes when we see tragedies in the world, they sort jolt us awake to certain realities and force us to ask certain questions about the world, about God, and about many other things. The same thing was true in Jesus' day, and in Luke 13:1-5, we see a crowd of people coming up to ask Jesus about one of the tragedies of their day. They want to know what Jesus thinks about this and how he will respond, and Jesus, as he often does, gives them an answer that is quite surprising.

In this sermon, I highlight two things in Jesus' response that teach us about how we should think about tragedies.

#1 - All Earthly Tragedies Point to a Greater Tragedy

#2 - The Right Response to Tragedy is Repentance

This sermon was preached on Sunday, June 29th, 2025 at First Lutheran Church, in Hunter, ND.

What is the role of good works in salvation?

This is a huge question, and one that has caused a great deal of controversy. All the religions in the world (and some who profess to be Christian) say that, at least in some sense, we are saved by good works. However, the Scriptures teach that God "Saved us, not because of works done by us in righteousness, but according to his own mercy, by the washing of regeneration and renewal of the Holy Spirit, whom he poured out on us richly through Jesus Christ our Savior." (Titus 3:5-6)

Now that's sometimes hard for us to believe isn't it? In fact, if that's true, then it seems that there is no need for good works at all... and maybe we should just "continue in sin that grace may abound." (Romans 6:1) But that is most certainly not what the Scriptures teach. Rather, a careful study of Scripture (and Ephesians 2:10) makes clear that good works are indeed part of our salvation. However, they are the fruit and not the root of our salvation. They are the effect and not the cause. Just as we read in Ephesians 2:10, in Christ Jesus, we have been created in Christ Jesus for good works, that He has prepared beforehand. Tune into this episode to hear more!

This sermon was first preached by Joshua Molden at River City Church on Thursday, June 12th, 2025.

Blaise Pascal once said: “All men seek happiness. This is without exception. Whatever different means they employ, they all tend to this end. The cause of some going to war, and of others avoiding it, is the same desire in both, attended with different views. The will never takes the least step but to this object. This is the motive of every action of every man, even of those who hang themselves.”

I think he is spot in saying this. We cannot escape the fact that we act according to what we desire and we can't escape the fact that we desire joy. However, once we recognize that, a significant question arises... How does our pursuit of joy fit with God's pursuit of his glory? On the one hand the Bible clearly teaches that the world is about the glory of God (all things are from him and through him and to him - Rom. 11:36) and that whatever we do, we are to "do all to the glory of God" (1 Cor. 10:31). Yet, we wonder, is there any room for our joy in this radically God-centered universe? And the answer of the Bible is yes!

These two great realities are intimately linked together because one of the ways that God intends to get glory for himself is by bringing great joy to his people. This is one of the realities that we see in Psalm 65 and that this sermon focuses on.

Here's a great quote from the famous Pastor Martyn Lloyd-Jones when asked to give a definition of a Christian:

“If you were to ask me to give a definition of a Christian I should say that he is one who, since believing in Christ, feels himself to be the happiest man in the world and longs for everybody else to be equally happy!”

This sermon was originally preached by Jackson Hankey at River City Church on Sunday, June 15th, 2025.

The most important question in the world is the question of how people get saved. The question of exactly how it is that sinful humans can become right with a holy God. On this question hangs the eternal destiny of every person. In this passage in Ephesians 2:8-9, the Apostle Paul lays out some of the most foundational truths of the gospel message that set Christianity apart from every other religion and belief system in the world. In every other religion and every false gospel man is saved by something that is in himself, but the true gospel is different. The true gospel is a gospel of salvation by grace through faith, which, "is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast."

The beautiful outcome of the true gospel message, which once again sets it apart from everything else, is that God has orchestrated in such a way that "no one may boast." That is, instead of salvation that is accomplished through human effort and and human merit, and that would result in the praise of humanity, the true Gospel brings a salvation that is entirely by the grace of God and so completely abounds for His glory. True salvation is accomplished by the grace of God alone and for the glory of God alone!

This message was originally preached by Jackson Hankey at River City Church on Thursday, 6/5/2025.

In Ephesians 2:1-3, the Apostle lays out the hopeless plight of fallen humanity. He says that fallen humanity is dead in trespasses and sins, following the course of this world, following the prince of the power of the air (Satan). He says that by nature we are children of wrath and that our lives were once dominated by the passions of our flesh (a reference to the destructive desires of our sinful nature). But then in v. 4 we find some of the greatest words in the Bible... "But God..." Just like the stars that shine the brightest on the darkest night, in this verse we see that gospel shines brightest against the black backdrop of human depravity. Right on the heels of this bleak description Paul says that God, "being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us, even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ..."

Our hope in this episode is similar to the Apostle Paul in Ephesians 3:18-19, that you "May have strength to comprehend with all the saints what is the breadth and length and height and depth, and to know the love of Christ that surpasses knowledge, that you may be filled with all the fullness of God."

This sermon was originally preached by James Kaczor at River City Church on Thursday, 5/5/2025.