The Third of July

Tomorrow is the Fourth of July where we remember our Declaration of Independence from England. We declared that we were given rights by our Creator, not by government. July 3rd, had a different significance. We fought a Civil War to preserve that government. It is the day in 1863 where Lee was defeated in Gettysburg and where the tide of the Civil War turned and the die was cast that the south would lose. It was only a matter of time. A song became an anthem during the Civil War written by Julia Ward Howe. We all know the first verse which begins, Mine eyes have seen the glory of the coming of the LORD….but how often do we sing the last two verses? I have read a fiery gospel writ in burnished rows of steel: "As ye deal with my contemners, so with you my grace shall deal"; Let the Hero, born of woman, crush the serpent with his heel, Since God is marching on. He has sounded forth the trumpet that shall never call retreat; He is sifting out the hearts of men before His judgment-seat; Oh, be swift, my soul, to answer Him! Be jubilant, my feet! Our God is marching on. Glory hallelujah! The song encouraged the union, but it underscored the battle between Satan and all that is good that God created. At the time of the fall, Satan, the serpent, went to war to divide us from God and God told him that an offspring of a woman would crush the head of the serpent with his heal. In this ongoing battle for the hearts of mankind Satan believed he would have a great victory at the cross, but it became his ultimate defeat as Jesus conquered death and seal Satan’s fate in a battle which shall continue till judgement day. If your soul has been swift to answer Jesus call to salvation we ask you to join us in communion.

While We Were Still Sinners

We come to a special time of worship, and it should be very special. We worship God for loving us when we were unlovable. Christ made himself a sacrifice for our sin because….because of something we did? Because we are so wonderful? Because of all our great works he wanted us on his team? Yah, that’s it. God wants me because I am a big deal. No, that is not it. The apostle Paul writes in the book of Romans 5: 6 For while we were still helpless, at the appointed moment, Christ died for the ungodly. 7 For rarely will someone die for a just person—though for a good person perhaps someone might even dare to die. 8 But God proves His own love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us! 9 Much more then, since we have now been declared righteous by His blood, we will be saved through Him from wrath. We do not come to salvation in our strength, but in our humble weakness. Jesus gives this illustration in Luke 18:9 To some who were confident of their own righteousness and looked down on everyone else, Jesus told this parable: 10 “Two men went up to the temple to pray, one a Pharisee and the other a tax collector. 11 The Pharisee stood by himself and prayed: ‘God, I thank you that I am not like other people—robbers, evildoers, adulterers—or even like this tax collector. 12 I fast twice a week and give a tenth of all I get.’13 “But the tax collector stood at a distance. He would not even look up to heaven, but beat his breast and said, ‘God, have mercy on me, a sinner.’14 “I tell you that this man, rather than the other, went home justified before God. For all those who exalt themselves will be humbled, and those who humble themselves will be exalted.” Christ sacrificed himself on the cross for those who know they need a savior. We do not come to him in our strength, but in our humility. If you have come to worship with a humble heart thankful that we have been given the gift of eternal life through the grace of a sacrificing savior, we ask you to join us in our time of communion.

Memorial Day 2016

We are in the midst of another Memorial Day Weekend. Memorial Day commemorates those who lost their lives in the service of their country. The young men and women we honor gave up their Earthly tomorrows with their families and loved ones so those they loved most dearly would be safe from slavery and tyranny. They went to foreign lands to die so we could live. Memorial Day was set aside to allow time to decorate the graves of the fallen and to remember their sacrifice. We also visit memorials that have been erected to their memory. Some of these, such as the Vietnam Memorial have inscribed on it the names of those who gave up their lives. We have these memorials so that we may never forget the service of those who have died. We have a weekly memorial service here Sunday. We take time to remember during communion the sacrifice of Christ Jesus who left his Heavenly home to go to a world full of tyranny and sin to give us hope for peace in eternity. He sacrificed his life so that we could live with the hope and assurance of life eternal with Him. Unlike the memorials we have where we list the names of the many that died for our sakes, the memorial we have is a cross that represents one perfect sacrifice. Inscribed in that memorial, the Lambs Book of life, are the names of those who live eternally because of the perfect sacrifice of the one who was without sin rescuing us from our sin. If you have accepted Christ Jesus’ gift of grace and life, we ask you to join us in our time of remembrance of Jesus’ death as a sacrifice for our forgiveness and His resurrection providing us with the hope of life eternal as we pass the trays with the bread and the juice.

How Disappointing

The scene. A man hanging nailed to a wooden cross between a couple of thieves also hanging on crosses. Above his head is a sign, “King of the Jews. How ironic. Just a week earlier this man was being celebrated and cheered as he triumphantly and humbly entered into Jerusalem. The people who had cheered him on that day, a week later were calling out for him to be crucified. What was the heinous act this man had perpetrated to warrant such a change in opinion in one week? He committed the crime of disappointing them. The people had watched his ministry for several years, seen his miracles, and heard his words of love. They had been promised a Messiah, a savior and now he had proclaimed himself. The promise had been fulfilled. They were going to have the kingdom re-established through the line of David and Judea would again have a king who would lead them, Rome would be expelled, and they would be saved from a time of oppression and tribulation. But, that was not what was happening. He had not expelled Rome and those who celebrated him had now gone from celebration to dissolution to disappointment to utter hatred. That is the problem. They did not understand you do not get to pick your savior and that can be very disappointing. We want to be in charge of selecting the person who will be our Lord. We do not have multiple saviors to choose from. Fortunately Jesus chose us before the beginning of time. He sacrificed himself for our sins. He will accept us into his eternal kingdom if we choose to follow him where he leads. This is our time of communion where we reflect on a God who became flesh and walked among us and died so that we may live eternally with him in paradise.

Working or Discipling

Paul, while under house arrest, wrote a letter to the church at Ephesus. A church he had pastored for a while. He gave them praise. Paul writes, For this reason, because I have heard of your faith in the Lord Jesus and your love toward all the saints, I do not cease to give thanks for you, remembering you in my prayers. Paul goes on later to say, For it is by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast. In a very pagan culture, the church in Ephesus was reaching out, it was bearing fruit, it was creating disciples. They were sharing the gospel in a dark land that Christ died for their sins and was raised from the dead and was now at the right hand of God. How different things were 30 years later when John wrote to the church in Ephesus as recorded in the Revelation. John speaks to a church that is busy working, working, working, but they have no heart. They are just busy. They are doing a lot of work among the pagans but they are not sharing the gospel and they are not disciplining. It is good that we are in this series on discipleship. We need to know that at the end of the day, feeding the lost just keeps them healthy till the day of judgement. We need to always share the gospel. We need to be the church that Paul was writing to. Because…Even though I was a sinner, Christ died for me. If I was the only sinner on Earth, Christ would have humiliated himself on the cross taking my sins on his shoulders to provide me a way to be with him in eternity. It is also good that we remember that each week in our time of communion. We take time to recall how Jesus broke the bread and shared the cup with his disciples and told them how as often as they eat the bread and drink of the cup, they proclaim his death till Christ comes again. He is coming again and we need to be sharing and disciplining.

Prodigal Grace

As we have been studying Luke 15 and the parable of the Prodigal Son, there was an element that stood out to me. The son found himself destitute and came to himself. He tells himself, 'How many of my father's hired servants have more than enough bread, but I perish here with hunger! I will arise and go to my father, and I will say to him, "Father, I have sinned against heaven and before you. I am no longer worthy to be called your son. Treat me as one of your hired servants." Listen to what the son is saying. He has a plan to work himself into the father’s presence. The son is willing to confess what he has done, but also has set the conditions of his acceptance into the household. If I serve you, you will provide for me again. I will earn my keep and have a place in your house. Maybe you will even forgive me someday. It’s a plan. See this young man in his soiled tatters walking along the path; rehearsing over and over the speech which he hopes will get him a place in the father’s house. When his father sees him and runs to embrace him, the son starts to give his rehearsed speech. "Father, I have sinned against heaven and before you. I am no longer worthy to be called your son. But, before the son can utter what he will do to fix this, how he will be a servant, his father embraces him and calls for a robe, sandals, and the symbol of his son ship, the ring. The father allowed the son to confess his transgression and repent, but prevents him from making it about what his child will do for him, but instead made it about the father’s forgiveness. This Prodigal had a debt too big to pay himself. It was forgiven at a cost to the father. Our debt is sin and it is a debt we cannot pay. But, our sins were forgiven at a cost. They were paid on a rough wooden cross. The blood of a sinless savior washed away our debt. Our salvation does not come from our work, but from grace. Jesus died to pay our debt so we could be in his father’s presence. We are restored by what Jesus has done and not because of what we have done. We give thanks for that gift of grace when we come together to worship around the Lord’s Table of communion.

Person Fear

I have had some fears in my life. When I was younger, I had a fear of loosing my hair. As I got older, I became afraid I would loose my trim, manly physique.(see profile picture) And as I was going through health issues that were making it hard for me to stand and were risking my ability to work, I was afraid of loosing my job. As I would see people in those motorized scooters, I would become morbidly afraid I would loose the ability to walk and have to use one. Well, anyone who has known me for over ten years knows that I did loose my job and during that time I received medical help I needed which caused me to be in a wheel chair for several months. During that time I realized something. The things I had feared most in my life had happened. God had showed me I could deal with my fears. I will admit I quit adding things to my fear list. No reason to test what can be dealt with. Also, in helping me deal with my own fears, Christ showed me how to have compassion for others that are hurting; something I sorely lacked at one time in my life. Maybe that is why the job I have now is working with people coming to grips with their greatest fears. I may not be able to solve their problems, but I can help them come to grips with them. You see, when you look at Jesus among other gods, he is unique. He does not sit in the lofty heights and wag a finger at us. He came and experienced our troubles and temptations personally. In his ministry, he never had a place to call home. He would find himself surrounded by people all the time and would go through times of exhaustion. Ultimately, he was lied about and slandered to the point of execution on the cross. The cross was a feared thing and he feared going through it, but he overcame his fears and because of his sacrifice, gave us a way to salvation. That is why I sometimes see Christ, not only as the great I AM, but the Great Been There, Done That, OVERCAME. I won’t tell you I never have concerns in my life anymore, but with the eternity Christ promised at the cross, I know I can give thanks gladly daily, even during times of great trouble, because of the salvation I received from the foot of the cross. We have come to that portion of the service…..