Buffalo City Church

Caleb Drahosh \\ God's strength does not fail, it does not run out. Will His strength fail when He sets out to deliver, redeem, and comfort His people? God commands His people to put on His strength and to rejoice because their deliverance is near. God is preparing to bring them out of their captivity back to their home.

Caleb Drahosh \\ Israel abandoned their God in their sin and their sin became the reason they were carried off into exile; they preferred their sin over God. But God did not put them away. God comes for His people by sending His servant who would deliver Israel through His suffering. Jesus Christ is the suffering servant sent by God to deliver God’s people and give them ears so that He may be heard and obeyed.

Blaze Culliton \\ In the second servant song of Isaiah, the Lord reveals attributes of His Chosen Servant Jesus Christ. The Chosen Servant will be made as a light for the nations that His salvation may reach to the end of the earth and comfort & compassion for His people. While the response of God’s people is unbelief and questioning, His response is assured by the truth of His word as Savior and Redeemer.

Caleb Drahosh \\ God's unwavering commitment to His people, despite their waywardness, serves as proof that He is the true God. God is gracious and patient toward His children for the sake of His name. He is the true God because His actions aren't contingent on human action, they are aimed at His glory and that always results in the good of His people.

Caleb Drahosh \\ As the gospel made its way to the ends of the earth, Paul writes to Timothy, who is pastoring in Ephesus, about the correct approach to implementing a deacon ministry. He tells him to look for individuals who are exemplary servants, but even more than that, who model godly character and doctrinal fidelity.

Caleb Drahosh \\ As the gospel took hold and the church in Jerusalem continued to grow, a challenge presented itself. The newly-converted Gentiles made it known that the widows weren't being properly taken care of. The Apostles knew that the charge given to them was to focus on the word and prayer. And so they had the Gentiles choose seven qualified men to take care of the practical needs. These seven were the first deacons of the church.

Philip Reeves \\ The death and resurrection of Jesus Christ are not reactionary events to the deceitful plots of men. Matthew’s Gospel demonstrates that God is in perfect control over everything that leads to Jesus’ crucifixion. Those who have placed their faith in Christ can trust that God’s redemptive purposes cannot and will not fail.

Caleb Drahosh \\ In the garden, sin opened the door to death. Death spread to all men. Death ruled unopposed. Death swallowed up everyone, but Christ swallowed up death according to the promise in Isaiah. The undefeated was defeated. In these things, Jesus brings His people out of darkness and neutralizes their greatest enemy. All who are in Christ walk through death into eternal life.

John Baumgartner \\ God's people in exile are going to be tempted to believe that the gods of Babylon–Bel, Nebo, and others–are mightier than the Lord. The Lord reminds His people that unlike the idols of the nations that must be carried about by their worshippers, He has carried them like a father. Just as He carried them out of slavery and put Egypt to shame, so shall the Lord now carry them out of exile and put Babylon to shame.

Kalen Heller \\ The people of God don’t simply need things patched up, they need a complete overhaul. Their exile has left them in desperate straits. But God is in control of their situation and He will, even through the most unexpected means, bring them into abundant life.

Caleb Drahosh \\ Isaiah goes into detail on how idols are made; he takes us inside of the idol factory and inside the heads of those who worship them. The absurdity of the whole situation is that the same wood that a man uses to kindle a fire to cook over, he also fashions into an idol and worships. God's good gifts are given to us not for us to worship them, but to point us to Him that we might worship the only true God.

Caleb Drahosh \\ God's people grew tired of God. They ignored His Word in weariness, claiming to be burdened, all while it was Israel who burdened God with their sins. But God is merciful and blots out the sin of His people. He extends the grace needed to return to worship that flows from the heart instead of the rote pacification of an impersonal deity.

Caleb Drahosh \\ The people of God grow insensitive to God's purposes for them and resist His discipline. But God is rich in mercy. He graciously intervenes on behalf of His people, paying a great price and going to great lengths to accomplish the redemption of His wayward people.

Blaze Culliton \\ In lieu of the foretelling of sending His chosen servant, the Lord through the prophet Isaiah commands His people to sing to the Lord a new song, lift up their voice, sing for joy and declare His praise. The Lord will redeem His people, stopping at nothing to destroy sin and death and restore them - for He does not forsake His people and faithfully delivers them.

Caleb Drahosh \\ God turns the attention away from the cheap substitute of idolatry and toward His plan. Here He introduces His servant. But this isn't one who will rise to prominence through political and military conquest like Cyrus. Instead the Lord's servant will come gently, not trampling on rulers as on mortar, but tending to the bruised reed and reigniting the faintly burning wick. Jesus Christ will disrupt the wisdom of the world and restore God's people through His own sacrifice and suffering.

Caleb Drahosh \\ God tells the idols to speak, to make a case. He tells them to speak about the future. But they can't. God pursues His people with simple reason: there is no substitute for Him. Nothing or no one can speak in the way that He speaks; nothing or no one can do the things that He does.

John Baumgartner \\ God continues to lift up valleys and bring down mountains. He contends with the nations to bring down their pride, and He comforts His people to lift them up again from their humiliation. God promises His humble people that He will use them for this work. God miraculously refreshes His people as they wait for Him to accomplish His purpose.

Caleb Drahosh \\ After clearing away the obstacles that stand in the way of His people seeing Him clearly, God challenges the comparisons that His people rebelliously make. Nations and nature and idols cannot compare to God. And for His people who are wondering where He is, God reminds them that He didn't get tired or fail to understand their situation. Rather, He reminds them to patiently wait for the renewal that He has promised.

Caleb Drahosh \\ By disciplining His people through exile, God removes obstacles for His people to behold their God. He levels out all earthly positions and highlights the fallibility and fickleness of men. God’s Word endures forever and we behold the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ; Christ alone is our confidence. Those who behold their God, herald their God.

Caleb Drahosh \\ In Isaiah 40-55, Israel has been carried off to exile in Babylon. They broke covenant with the Lord and God used the hand of their enemies to bring discipline upon them. But now that Jerusalem had been emptied, God speaks comfort to His people. True and lasting comfort can only come from God; peace and security may be temporarily lost, but the comfort of the Lord remains for His people because He is with them.