A Picture of Grace

The event. Three men hanging from rough wooden crosses on a hill above Jerusalem, one with a sign over his head, King of the Jews. A crowd surrounding them hurling insults and spitting on them. The two thieves hanging on either side; both ridiculing the man in the middle. “Aren’t you the Messiah? Save yourself and us,” they both gasp with the air they have. Then, the man in the middle, Jesus of Nazareth, does something amazing. He cries out, Father, forgive them for they know not what they do. At that moment, one of the thieves comes to himself. He tells the other, “Don’t you fear God,” he said, “since you are under the same sentence? We are punished justly, for we are getting what our deeds deserve. But this man has done nothing wrong.” Then he said, “Jesus, remember me when you come into your kingdom.” Jesus answered him, “Truly I tell you, today you will be with me in paradise.” And here you see a perfect example of grace. The one thief admitted to himself and confessed before men he was deserving of the punishment he was receiving, asked for forgiveness and mercy, and showed faith that Jesus was the Christ whom could give life after death. And Jesus, seeing his change of heart and faith, gives mercy and promises him life eternal with him in Heaven. We have come to our time of communion. Our communion is open to all who have come to yourselves and admitted they are a lost sinners in need of a perfect savior and have given your faith and life to the Lordship of Jesus Christ who has risen from the dead and will bring you to live with him in paradise when you die. As the trays are passed, you take the bread and eat it and drink the juice and pass the tray to the next person.

Common Unity

We come together each Sunday to share in community, in oneness in faith in our salvation through one savior, Jesus Christ. We share this common unity in that we have been adopted into one family, brothers and sisters, sharing one belief, that Jesus, God in flesh, born of a virgin, came here to walk among us and live a sinless life so he could be a sinless sacrifice to pay for our sinful nature. When we accepted his grace through faith in Him as our one savior, we became part of this family who gathers weekly around this table to remember Jesus’s love for us and his taking our sins upon him on a rough Roman cross. We share in a mercy unheard of in any other belief. We share in a love that is based not on what we have done, but on what Jesus did. We also share in a common unity that will extend beyond the bounds of this lifetime into eternity, because of a promise of Jesus, “because I live, you also shall live. We shall share in that eternity, because we will be covered by the righteousness of Jesus which will allow us to be in the presence of a Holy God. One belief in common, in one God, one way, one salvation, through one savior, Jesus Christ. If you have accepted King Jesus’ grace through faith, we ask that you join us in this time of communion as we share in remembrance of Jesus’ sacrificial love. As the trays are passed, take the bread and juice and pass it to the next person. Would you pray with me.

Simeon Meets His Deliverer

In Jerusalem lived a righteous and devout man by the name of Simeon. His name meant God Receiver. He knew the prophesies of the Law, the Psalms, and the Prophets and was expecting a Messiah, a deliverer. Simeon was waiting for the Consolation of Israel. The Holy Spirit visited him and informed him he would not see death before he witnessed the coming of Christ, the Lord. It was about a week after the birth of Jesus and as custom, the child was being taken to the temple to fulfill the customs of the law. When Simeon saw the child, he took Jesus in his arms and as it is written in the second chapter of Luke stated “Lord, now you are letting your servant depart in peace, according to your word; for my eyes have seen your salvation that you have prepared in the presence of all peoples, a light for revelation to the Gentiles, and for glory to your people Israel." And his father and his mother marveled at what was said about him. And Simeon blessed them and said to Mary his mother, "Behold, this child is appointed for the fall and rising of many in Israel, and for a sign that is opposed (and a sword will pierce through your own soul also), so that thoughts from many hearts may be revealed. How those words must have echoed in Mary’s memory as she saw her son hanging from a cross. As his side was pierce, she probably felt it pierce her very soul. She had raised her son, followed his ministry, then, witness her miraculous son beaten and hung on a cross, ridiculed, and his clothes gambled for. Through this, he had forgiven those who had crucified him, encouraged a thief on the cross next to him, sacrificed himself for the sins of the world and then took time to encourage his mother by asking John to watch over her in his absence. Not one detail missed. From the beginning of creation, God knew that man given the gift of free will would choose to sin and would need a savior. From the beginning, the Law and the Prophets proclaimed there would be a Messiah who would deliver them from sin. That he would be a perfect sacrifice for us and would come back from the dead to redeem us from our sin. We come together during communion to remember and give praise to God who provides us in our sinfulness a way into his Holy Presence. We take and eat the bread to remember his beaten body and the juice to remember his shed blood. Please pray with me.

The LORD'S Supper is the Gospel

This is a great part of our worship. This is when, on a weekly basis, we proclaim the Gospel. No matter what the message is, we take time to proclaim of the Kingdom to come. That Jesus, God in flesh, came to give up HIS life as a sacrifice for our sins so that we could be made righteous by Him and have the promise that we could be in the presence of God when that Kingdom comes when Jesus returns. It is that Gospel that separates Christianity from all other religions. We do not claw our way to God by what we do, but he comes down to us. It is not what we do for God, but what God has done for us. Jesus, on the last evening he had with his disciples, took on the character of a servant, washed their feet. And then as Paul writes in the first letter to the Corinthians, The Lord Jesus, on the night he was betrayed, took bread, 24 and when he had given thanks, he broke it and said, “This is my body, which is for you; do this in remembrance of me.” 25 In the same way, after supper he took the cup, saying, “This cup is the new covenant in my blood; do this, whenever you drink it, in remembrance of me.” 26 For whenever you eat this bread and drink this cup, you proclaim the Lord’s death until he comes. You proclaim the good news, the Gospel. That though we were sinners, Christ died for us. Tim Keller said, “this is the Gospel, You are more sinful then you ever believed, and you are more loved than you can ever hope. We live in a broken world, and it is not getting any better. And that is why the good news is so important. That no matter what happens, we know there is a Kingdom to come that not even death can keep us from if we have made Jesus Christ the Lord of our lives. We will be taken into his presence and enjoy eternity with him. That is some good news. If you have accepted Jesus as Lord, would you join me in remembering the Gospel in this time of Communion.

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.