Lifelong Learners - ERC Confirmation Sunday 2026 (Psalm 92:12-14)

This is ERC Sundays, the messages from Emmaus Rd.

Church in DeWitt, Iowa. ERC is a Church of people

devoted to knowing Jesus and making him known to others

through our faith, words and actions.

Find out more about our church at emmausrdonline.org.

Here's this week's message well. First and foremost, Michaela

Plumley, everybody, why don't we welcome her?

So as a brief, as a brief kind of how did we get here today

with Michaela in particular confirmation at ERC, it looks

like 2 pretty intensive years. And so over these last two

years, Michaela has taken in 46 particular theological lessons

that all have a point. And the point of all those

theological lessons is to see a need and reliance for Jesus

Christ. Because if we are not teaching

that kind of theology, then I don't really know what we're

teaching. And so as Michaela has come to

this day all by her lonesome, it would seem, we are so incredibly

proud of her. Now I will say this, and this is

a a feather in your cap, I hope that if there was ever a good

year for her to only be one student, it might be this year.

Quite honestly, looking into next year, I think we have 7

students who will be likely confirmed next year, which it

put Michaela in a strange position because I had

originally told her, I said Michaela you have that preaching

half hour. Good luck.

It's going to go great. But then she in, in some ways I

wasn't surprised, but but, but in other ways, I was surprised

because Michaela has chosen a topic that I think speaks to

what she's learned and it speaks to the nature of how she

understands this Christian faith.

And she's just done such a wonderful job.

Now, I will say this, before we allow Michaela to take over a

little bit, I would like you guys to stand again.

And now you might say, why are we standing?

It's because we are going to confess again the faith into

which Michaela has been learning about and studying the last two

years. Now you might say to me, but

Pastor Chris, we've already done this today.

Sorry, friends, get used to it because quite frankly, we can

never set the foundation enough. When we talk about being great

at anything, I don't care what it is, whether it's a sport or

if it's a career thing or whatever that is, if we are not

set in the basics, if we are not settled in our foundation, we

will never succeed. So in addition to that, I'll

give you a preview come this summer, we are preaching through

the Apostles Creed and that will be a powerful, powerful sermon

series that I am really, really excited to to help lead us in.

But why don't we confess this faith, this foundation of what

we believe one more time that Michaela has studied so hard

over the last two years? I believe in God the Father

Almighty, Maker of heaven and earth, and in Jesus Christ, his

only Son, our Lord, who's conceived by the Holy Spirit,

born of the Virgin Mary, suffered under Pontius Pilate,

was crucified, died and buried. He descended into hell the third

day. He rose again from the dead.

He ascended into heaven and sits at the right hand of God the

Father Almighty. From there he will come to judge

the living and the dead. I believe in the Holy Spirit,

the Holy Christian Church, the communion of Saints, the

forgiveness of sins, the resurrection of the body, and

life everlasting. Amen.

You may be seated now, you might even ask me as an aside, why do

we stand when you say that? We stand on the confession of

our faith, right? We stand on the confessions of

our faith. And so quite literally, we have

you stand up, right? There might be other reasons for

that, but that's the reason that I think is most relevant.

So every year or every week we have what we affectionately call

the Catechism question of the week.

And it's really great. And I do it just like that every

single week. I really do because I'm kind of

strange. But I get excited about

catechism questions again because it is foundational truth

for what the Bible says. So Michaela has been asked to

choose a catechism question that she would like to answer.

And so Michaela's catechism question that she chose is what

kind of Redeemer is necessary to bring us back to God it.

Was it was Jesus because he is a 100% human and 100% God.

This is important because God understands our feelings and He,

and yet He has the power of resurrection.

Very good. 100% man, 100% God. Excellent.

Well, at this time, I am going to leave the floor to Michaela,

her topic that she chose because every conferment gets to choose

a topic that they found most interesting or most or most

moving to them. And as we talked about the

Apostle Paul, this is somebody and the topic that Michaela has

latched onto quite well. And so I would like to leave all

of you to her teaching. Thank you, Michaela.

The Apostle Paul was a Pharisee who God changed in many ways

because at first he was either killing or putting Christians in

jail. And here's why he and here's why

he did that. Paul believed he was a believed

Jesus was a fraud. And like other religious

leaders, he felt threatened by Jesus and his followers.

He believed the church, the church community, was preaching

a false mess, false message, and so he felt justified to

persecute them. But he wasn't the first one to

make a mistake and harm someone. For example, Moses thought he

was doing the right thing killing the Egyptian who was

harming one of the Israelites. Paul thought he was doing the

right thing by imprisoning Christians.

If we read Acts 9 one through 9, we see Paul's conversion moment.

Meanwhile, Saul was still breathing out murderous threats

against Lord's disciples. He went to the high priest and

asked for asked him for letters to the synagogue's and in

Damascus, so that if he found any there who belonged to the

way, whether men or women, he might take them as prisoners to

Jerusalem. As he neared Damascus on his

journey, suddenly a light from heaven flashed around him.

He fell to the ground and heard a voice say to him, Saul, Saul,

why do you persecute me? Who are you, Lord?

He asked. I am Jesus whom you are

persecuting, He replied. Now get up and go to the city,

and you will be told what you must do.

The men travelling with Saul stood there speechless.

They heard the sound, but did not see them any did not see

anyone. Saul got up from the ground and

when he opened his eyes he could see nothing.

So they led him by the hand to Damascus.

For three days he was blind and he did not eat or drink

anything. Essentially Jesus was saying,

why are you hurting me? Jesus means that he can feel

what we all are feeling and he understands because he is one of

us. He was one of us, fully human

and fully God. And that makes sense.

And here's why we should We could understand that when your

friend is getting bullied, you also feel a hurt.

When you love someone who was sick, you feel the pain with

them because we love them in the same way with Jesus.

He loves us so he feels that way too.

But Paul. But God helped Paul do a 180 in

his life. Paul then Paul then felt the the

Paul then felt what the Christians were feeling when he

was imprisoning and was threatening them because that's

what was happening now to see to him when he since he changed.

Some examples are Paul. Paul survived A shipwreck, then

washed up on an island and then then made a fire.

When the flame was getting bigger a snake came out and Paul

got bitten by the poisonous snake and the native people

thought he deserved that. They were saying, oh he must be

a murderer, he will die. But when he never died, the

natives thought, oh he must be a God since he never died.

You can find that in Acts 28. Paul was also thrown into prison

and after being bit beaten he was put in chains.

But when an earthquake came and the prison well shook,

everyone's chains were broken. But Paul stayed in his cell and

the prison guard was going to take his own life since he since

he wasn't just going to lose his job, he would be killed for the

prisoners escaping, Paul sent Paul saved his life and his

attorney as he gave him the good news of the gospel.

He and his household were baptized, finding faith in Jesus

Christ. This moment was right.

This moment was recorded in Acts 16.

Another interesting moment in Paul's life was when he was

preaching for hours on end, maybe just slightly longer than

Pastor Chris talks and a kid fell asleep.

When Paul was was preaching and he fell out of three story

building. Although he died, Paul went down

and bent over him taking him in his arms.

He said do not be alarmed, his life is in him.

So although Paul started as a murderer of Christians, he was

now bringing them back to life. That moment was recorded in Acts

20. There are many other interesting

moments in Paul's life, but we know.

But we know at the end of his life he was convinced that

gospel was real, he was doing God's mission, and he was OK

with his fate. And Second Timothy 468, 6

through 8, he says, For I am already being poured out at pour

out as a drink offering, and at the time of my departure has

come, I have fought the good fight, I finished the race, I've

kept the faith. Henceforth there is laid up for

me the throne of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous

Judge, will award to me on that day, and not only to me, but

also to all who have loved his appearing.

This all proves that God can change people's lives and even

when he sin, when we sin, he still forgives us and loves us.

God can help guide us to do a 180 in our lives and He proved

that with Paul. All this means that God can

strengthen our faith, change our minds, and change our hearts.

His life proves that Jesus will pick people we would never have

expected, like Paul or even Mary Magdalene, who was the first

witness to his resurrection. Wow, so well done truly hearing

from Michaela today. I'm very proud of her and I'm

sure her family is too, and I hope our entire church family is

as well. Her presentation of Paul's 180,

as Michaela said, it's remarkable.

It's remarkable. And that's the thing.

God allows us through his Son Jesus Christ to do that exact

same 180 that we might go from sinners, broken and lost in our

sin, often times unwilling to repent, often times just holding

on so tightly to our pride to become people like Paul who end

up working and giving their lives for the very thing that

they once hated. This is exceptional.

And again, Michaela, you've done an exceptional job.

The hit on me was nice too. That was nice.

But then again, you know, if if I had listened to me for two

years throughout confirmation on any given Sunday, I might say

the same thing. So whatever, I don't have to

listen to me. I just have to say the things,

right. But thank you, that's so well

done. And The thing is, we are right.

We are right in congratulating Michaela today.

We are right in celebrating Michaela today.

Michaela is doing something different, though, that maybe we

haven't totally thought about. Often times within the church

capital C, we see confirmation as not just a moment to kind of

mark, but we see it as a graduation from church, a

graduation from needing to continue to learn.

That couldn't be further from the truth.

Michaela is just getting started.

Because you see, from the day that we were born until we draw

our very last breath, God is calling us to grow in His grace

and grow in His Word and through His community.

God calls us into a lifetime, an entire lifetime of learning and

growing in all of the ways that only He can do.

I remember when I finished my master's degree in seminary, I

had worked harder than I ever had before.

Three years of just grinding and studying and trying to pronounce

Hebrew words that I still can't pronounce.

Three years of that. And when I finally came to

graduation, you know what they told me?

Good job, you're just getting started.

That's what they said, honestly. And they were right.

That's the thing, they were right.

We are to never stop growing or learning about our Lord and

Savior Jesus Christ, not ever, not ever.

So church, before we come to the Lord's Table today, we get to

receive His body and blood through communion.

But before we do that, I want to share just a few verses with you

And Michaela, I promise I won't talk too long.

I promise I'll try. But I would like to share just a

few verses with you from Psalm 9212 through 15 and it goes like

this. The righteous flourish like the

palm tree and grow like a cedar in Lebanon.

They are planted in the House of the Lord.

They flourish in the courts of our God.

They still bear fruit in old age.

They are ever full of SAP and green to declare that the Lord

is upright. He is my rock and there is no

unrighteousness in him. Here in this reading of God's

Word again, you see, the psalmist says that we will

flourish and grow, flourish and grow.

This is not an accident of of words.

We flourish and grow because, as the Psalm says, we are planted

in the House of the Lord. And that also means something

very important. If, friends, we are not growing,

if we are not growing in our faith and knowledge and

understanding and grace of Jesus Christ and love for Him.

If we're not growing, it means we're planted in the wrong

place. We have put down our roots in

the wrong place, and we are trying to take nourishment from

soil that ultimately will not grow us but kill us.

Because here's the thing about our Lord, as Michaela so clearly

put it. He will rightly save us wherever

we are, even if we're like the Apostle Paul.

But He never wants us to stay where we started.

That is not what He wants. That is not what He hopes for

for us. His desires that we would grow

in His grace and His truth for the rest of our lives being

shaped into His image more and more every single day as we dive

deep into the Word of God. In this Psalms metaphor, the

roots of the tree, you know what they do?

They stretch far and they stretch wide, seeking out that

which will grow it. Well, in the same way, every

single day of our lives, we are called to stretch wide and we

are called to stretch far into God's Word every single day so

that we might grow, so we might flourish, so we might come into

a mature relationship with Him and bear really good fruit,

really godly fruit. And here's the great thing about

this fruit. Here's the most interesting

part, I suspect. This fruit that God grows in and

through us, it's not for us. Did you know that?

It's not for our good, it's for other people that they might

pluck it out of our lives, that we might give away grace, that

we might give away forgiveness, that we might give away the

gospel that is so sweet to the taste that people cannot find

anything else like it in the entire world, because there is

nothing else like the gospel in the whole world.

Therefore, as God grows us through His Word in His

community, He fills us with more and more grace, more and more

fruit that we might bear that and give that away freely.

That's what He does. Now the last thing I'll say here

before we come to the table is this.

This growth is meant to happen for our entire lifetime.

Michaela did something pretty amazing today.

I suspect for most of us it would be more than nerve racking

to stand up here and present much of anything, let alone a

truth so powerful it can change your life.

That is a nerve wracking experience.

It truly is, even if you've been up here a lot of times.

But we are meant to grow our entire lifetime.

Verse 14 says that they still, that is our more veteran

believers. Let's say they still bear fruit

in old age. They're ever full of SAP.

And they are green. In other words, at no point in

time should you ever stop being sappy.

Yes, I said that and I did it on purpose to get that just sad

groan of a dad joke giggle. That's why I do those things,

actually. But no, it's true.

We are called to be sappy and green forever, so full of the

gospel that it overflows and it pours out of our lives, out of

our out of our soul. And so here's the point.

Retirement from God's word, from God's community should not be on

any Christians bingo card. That's not how that works.

You might be able to retire from a job.

You might be able to retire from all that kind of stuff, but we

are never called to retire from growing in God's word and

growing in and through his community.

Not ever. Not ever.

So whether you're Michaela's age or you're my age or you're

Richard Walker's age, no matter what age you are, there is.

Yeah. Hi, see, I can call people out

too. That's fun, isn't it?

But no matter what our age, we are never called to stop

seeking, stop growing, stop flourishing inside of God's

Word, because God's Word holds the truth not only for today,

but it holds the grace that we need to live in eternity with

Jesus Christ forever. So that brings us to our Lord's

Supper, the communion table, because based on this Psalm, if

we are in fact trees planted in the House of the Lord, this

table is what waters us, this table is what nourishes us.

And here this nourishment is the body and blood of Jesus Christ

and nothing less. So the Bible tells us this, what

Jesus tells us when he gives the first communion meal.

He says this is my body, this is my blood.

Now to give you a confirmation lesson, very briefly, we hold

that intention, don't we? Because as we receive this

little wafer and as we drink the juice, we go, how is that

possible? How is it possible that this is

the body of Christ in the blood of Christ?

Friends, as a good confirmation teacher, I will tell you the

truth. I don't know.

I don't know, but he said it and therefore we believe it.

We live in some level of tension of that, but that's OK, because

if we could figure out God, he would be too small to worship,

wouldn't He? That's right.

So communion then reminds us that we don't grow by our own

strength, but by his grace. So we come to the communion

table with joy, with humility, hopefully also in repentance of

our sins that we know cause us to fall short of God's perfect

righteousness and His standard. But in all these things, we are

released as we believe in Jesus Christ.

We are released back into freedom.

Amen. I'd like to invite Miss Michaela

back up once again to pray with us to help lead us in the Lord's

Prayer as He taught us. Our Father, who art in heaven,

hallowed be thy name, thy Kingdom come, Thy will be done

on earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day Our Daily

Bread, and forgive us our trespasses, as we forgive those

who have trespassed against us. And lead us not into temptation,

but deliver us from evil. For thine is the Kingdom and the

power and the glory forever and ever.

Amen. Thank you, Michaela.

God graciously invites us to his table.

In fact, he says, come to me all you who are weary and burdened,

and I will give you rest. And then famously John 316 and

17 says, For God so love the world that he gave his one and

only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish, but

have eternal life. For God did not send His Son

into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world

through Him. And the Bible also teaches us

that if we confess important word, if we confess our sins, He

is faithful and just and will forgive us of all of our sins

and cleanse us from all unrighteousness.

So, friends, before we come to the table, the elements will be

passed out momentarily. I would ask you to hold on to

those. But as the band is playing, this

is a great time maybe not to sing.

Sorry, Matt. Maybe not, because maybe as as

our worship team plays, maybe we have some business to do with

God. Maybe there's some real

confessing that needs to be done.

We ought not to be afraid of that.

We ought not to be afraid to expose the deepest, darkest

corners of our hearts, because God already knows them.

He wants us to leave those things at the foot of the cross

and not look back, not pick them back up again.

So as we receive the elements, pray, confess, make your heart

ready to receive the body and blood of Jesus Christ.

Thanks for listening to ERC Sundays.

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Church, visit emmausrdonline.org/giveme.