Welcome to Kalamazoo Reformed Church

    The most important questions in life are "Who am I?", "Why am I here?" and “What happens after I die? Many people have tried to answer these questions. The best answer is given by God.  He is the one who made us and put us on this earth. He knows! He knows us and knows why He made us. We are no cosmic accident. There is a purpose and a plan.

    This God has told us in His own words, the Bible, that He is the Creator of the Universe. He has always been and will always be. He existed before time itself. He has revealed Himself to us as the Triune God, who exists in three Persons - the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. These three Persons are one God, equal in power and glory.

• In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth (Genesis 1:1).
• In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God (John 1:1)
• Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit (Matthew 28: 19).

    The Bible also tells us that at the beginning of time, God made us in His very own image. We are a special part of His creation. He made us to live in a perfect love relationship with Him. We were made to know God and enjoy perfect fellowship with Him -- to love Him with our whole self, and to worship and serve Him in perfect happiness forever. To put it simply: He made us to know, love, and serve Him forever!

• And God said, Let us make man in our image after our likeness (Genesis 1:26)
• And truly our fellowship is with the Father and with His Son Jesus Christ (1 John 1:3)

    God wanted our lives to be filled with joy and peace. He gave us laws that would permit us to live lives of true freedom and perfect peace. He commanded us to love Him first, and then to love our fellow humans as much as we love ourselves.

• Great peace have they which love thy law: and nothing shall offend them. I have longed for thy salvation, O LORD; and thy law is my delight (Psa. 119:165,174).
• Jesus said unto him, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind. This is the first and great commandment: And the second is like unto it, Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself, On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets (Matthew 22:37-40).

    Tragically, we humans turned away from this perfect relationship. We divorced ourselves from God. We rejected all the gifts and privileges of obedience that we had. We became sinners and live in rebellion toward God. God is now justly angry with us. We are cursed, and broken, and doomed to death.

• And unto Adam he said, Because thou hast hearkened unto the voice of thy wife, and hast eaten of the tree, of which I commanded thee. saying, Thou shalt not eat of it: cursed is the ground for thy sake; in sorrow shalt thou eat of it all the days of thy life (Genesis 3:17).
• For as many as are of the works of the law are under the curse: for it is written, Cursed is every one that continues not in all things which are written in the book of the law to do them (Galatians 3:10).
• For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who hold the truth in unrighteousness (Romans 1:18).

    The world is now broken and dying. We all know this. We are reminded of it in all the pain and hurt we feel in ourselves and see in others. Our relationships are broken. We no longer love God and our neighbor. We are corrupt and selfish at our core and often act this out. We have pushed away the rules and freedom that God lovingly gave us. Every person has turned to their own ways and their own rules. We rejected God as judge and set up ourselves to be the judge and standard of right and wrong. The evil and pain that we see all around us are the results of our rebellion. We have destroyed ourselves and are unwilling to turn back to God.

• And God saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every imagination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually (Genesis 6:5).
• The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked: who can know it? (Jeremiah 17:9)
• As it is written, There is none righteous, no, not one: There is none that understands, there is none that seeks after God (Romans 3:10-11).

    However, not only are we rebels, but as sinners we are also failures. God would be just and fair to destroy us because we do not serve the purpose for which He made us. God’s holiness cannot allow rebels to remain unpunished. That wouldn’t be justice. The guilty must pay. But God, in His mercy, devised a way to bring Himself, a just God, and us, guilty sinners, back together. Instead of destroying the world, He Himself would pay the penalty. God the Father sent God the Son, Jesus Christ. When Jesus was born in Bethlehem, He remained fully God, but also became fully human. He took on our humanity in order that in Him God and human beings could be reunited—and that as the God-man He could stand between an offended God and guilty sinners. As Mediator, He came to fix the ruined relationship by saving sinners from their sins.

• All we like sheep have gone astray, we have turned everyone to his own way; and the LORD hath laid on him the iniquity of us all (Isaiah 53:6).
• That in the ages to come he might show the exceeding riches of his grace in his kindness toward us through Christ Jesus. For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God (Ephesians 2:7-8).

    Jesus Christ lived in perfect obedience to God’s law, just as we should have done. He also took the punishment that sinners deserve by dying on the cross. After His death, Jesus rose from the grave the third day. This proved that God accepted His work. As the crowning achievement of His work, He then ascended up to the Father in heaven.

• For we have not an high priest which cannot be touched with the feeling of our infirmities; but was in all points tempted like as we are, yet without sin (Hebrews 4:15)
• For he hath made him to be sin for us, who knew no sin; that we might be made the righteousness of God in him (2 Corinthians 5:21).
• And declared to be the Son of God with power, according to the spirit of holiness, by the resurrection from the dead (Romans 1:4).

    Because of Jesus Christ's work, there is a way to come back to God. The way is open. Jesus Himself is the wayback to God. God is willing to forgive sinful and rebellious humans if they repent and believe in His Son. He is willing to fully forgive those worthy of eternal punishment. God invites all sinners to come to Him, just as they are, and to give up their sins and themselves to Him. Only by believing in Jesus can we be right with God and look forward to eternal life. God has promised that He will never refuse anyone who comes to Him through faith in His Son and turns from their sins.

• Come unto me, all ye that labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. (Matthew 11:28)
• Jesus saith unto him, I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me. (John 14:6)
• But he was wounded for our transgressions, he was bruised for our iniquities: the chastisement of our peace was upon him; and with his stripes we are healed. (Isaiah 53:5)
• For whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved. (Romans 10:13)

    So, our problem is not that God isn’t willing to forgive.  Rather, our problem is that we refuse His terms.  We refuse to repent and believe. We want to hold on to our identity and dignity and, like Adam and Eve, refuse to submit everything to God. God teaches in the Bible that sinners are so blinded by their sin that they refuse to come to Him to be rescued. Knowing our desperate plight, God comes even closer and, by His Holy Spirit, changes such radically sinful hearts. He will show us by means of His Word how empty and broken lives our lives are, and our need of a Savior to save us and change our hearts.

• And ye will not come to me, that ye might have life (John 5:40).
• And when he is come, he will reprove the world of sin, and of righteousness, and of judgment (John 16:8).

    When the Holy Spirit opens our eyes to see this, He will show us that God, through Jesus Christ, is willing to heal our broken lives, and to be our faithful God and loving Father. The Holy Spirit will convince us to turn to God for the forgiveness of our sins and the renewal of our lives. God will accept every sinner who turns to Him by believing in His Son.

• Thy people shall be willing in the day of thy power (Psalms 110:3)
• And they shall be my people and will be their God: And will give them one heart, and one way that they may fear me for ever for the good of them. And of their children after them: And I will make an everlasting covenant with them, that I will not turn away from them, to do them good; but I will put my fear in their hearts, that they shall not depart from me (Jeremiah 32:38-40)

   This world will end. Jesus Christ will come back to this earth to judge every person. Those who believe in Him and have lived for Him will be taken up to Heaven. There God will take away all pain and suffering, and they will live with Him forever in perfect joy and peace.

• But the day of the Lord will come as a thief in the night; in the which the heavens shall pass away with a great noise, works that are therein shall be burned up (2 Peter 3:10).
• Then shall the King say unto them his right on hand, Come, ye blessed of my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world (Matthew 25:34).

    Everyone who refused to believe God's Word, and who chose sin instead of obedience, will be forever separated from God—and thus from all that is good—in Hell. There they will forever experience God’s wrath, suffering unbearable pain as the punishment for their sin and their rejection of God's way of peace.

• Again, the kingdom of heaven is like unto a net, that was cast into the sea, and gathered of every kind: Which, when it was full, they drew to shore, and sat down, and gathered the good into vessels, but cast the bad away. So shall it be at the end of the world: the angels shall come forth, and sever the wicked from among the just, And shall cast them into the furnace of fire: there shall be wailing and gnashing of teeth (Matthew 13:47-50).
• He that believes on the Son hath everlasting life: and he that believes not the Son shall not see life; but the wrath of God abides on him (John 3:36).
• And whosoever was not found written in the book of life was cast into the lake of fire. (Revelation 20:15).

    God has sworn by His own name that every knee will bow, and every tongue will confess that Jesus Christ is Lord (Isaiah 45:23, Philippians 2:9-11). 

You also will bow before Him and submit to His Lordship. Will you bow now and be saved? Or will you bow in complete terror when it is too late?

    Hear God's word, "Come, now, let us reason together; though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be whiter than snow" (Isaiah 1:18), Repent Today. While you hear His voice and while He offers peace and pardon to you, you may come to Him at once and without any strings attached. Freely confess your sins and surrender yourself fully to Jesus Christ. In Him, God offers you His forgiving love and a new life. Will you hear His voice?

    Coming to Jesus means leaving everything else behind. You will not be saved on our own terms. You will only be saved by forsaking all your own value and self-worth and by trusting only in God’s free gift—by believing in His Son, Jesus Christ. There is no negotiation. God will save us His way or not at all. There is no back door to God. The way is open, but He demands unconditional surrender. Clutching to one sin is one too many. The way to God is through the cross of Jesus Christ. Let go of all your attempts to save yourself. Let go of your self-worth. God only recognizes the value of His Son and what He has accomplished on the cross. Therefore, by faith, cling to Jesus Christ and you will be made perfectly whole!

• This is a faithful saying and worthy of all acceptation that Christ Jesus came in to the world to save sinners!" 1 Timothy 1:15