Is there any doubt? (4/26/2020)

Is there any doubt?  The truthful answer is yes. There is an edge to our faith. We press it outward with experience and God graciously helps us with this process, because faith is a gift. 

Today we hear it during a very wet interaction between Peter and Christ. 

Matthew 14:31

Jesus immediately reached out his hand and took hold of him, saying to him, “O you of little faith, why did you doubt?”

Notice please that Jesus said to Peter in the past tense “why did you doubt?”.  At this point, Jesus had reached out and caught him so both of them were above the raging storm.  Neither of them were in the boat and Christ had to yet calm the storm (Read Matthew 14:32!).  Peter believed!  

His experience drove out that doubt and prepared him for what laid ahead. Would he doubt again?  Yes. Would he deny Christ?  Yes, three times. Each time by grace God gave him more faith. 

Lord, if you would, give us faith increasing all the more today.

Go to the Altar (4/20/2020)

Yesterday the call to worship was:

Psalms 43:3-4

Send out your light and your truth;

let them lead me;

let them bring me to your holy hill

and to your dwelling!

Then I will go to the altar of God,

to God my exceeding joy,

and I will praise you with the lyre,

O God, my God.

Notice for a moment, that David does not go to the throne of God to give Him praise. He goes to the altar. What sacrifice will you make this week?

Romans 12:1

I appeal to you therefore, brothers, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship.

What does that look like?  Let me leave that for you to look at. Read chapters 12-16 and look for how you are to offer yourself this week.  Notice too how many ways do not involve the tight finances of these days. 

He is Risen (4/12/2020)

Our scripture mediation today is the testimony of Job. 

• Struck by God. 
• Stripped of possessions.  
• Tormented by his “friends”. 
• And his legacy dead. 

He longed for . . . a pen!

Job 19:23-27

“Oh that my words were written!

Oh that they were inscribed in a book!

Oh that with an iron pen and lead

they were engraved in the rock forever!

For I know that my Redeemer lives,

and at the last he will stand upon the earth.

And after my skin has been thus destroyed,

yet in my flesh I shall see God,

whom I shall see for myself,

and my eyes shall behold, and not another.

My heart faints within me!

With it he recorded his testimony for us to read today!  For he had met the Redeemer that just a few chapters earlier seemed out of reach:

Job 9:29-35

Since I am already found guilty,

why should I struggle in vain?

Even if I washed myself with soap

and my hands with cleansing powder,

you would plunge me into a slime pit

so that even my clothes would detest me.

“He is not a mere mortal like me that I might answer him,

that we might confront each other in court.

If only there were someone to mediate between us,

someone to bring us together,

someone to remove God’s rod from me,

so that his terror would frighten me no more.

Then I would speak up without fear of him,

but as it now stands with me, I cannot.

Like Job, our Redeemer lives!

HE IS RISEN!

Jesus wept (4/5/2020)

Today is Palm Sunday. 

Remember the flannel-graphs of your youth? Shouts of joy. Palm branches. Jesus on the colt. Jesus was finally getting the praise He deserved. Everything about this day was happy.  

What did Jesus do next?  Jesus wept. 

Luke 19:38-42

saying, “Blessed is the King who comes in the name of the Lord! Peace in heaven and glory in the highest!” And some of the Pharisees in the crowd said to him, “Teacher, rebuke your disciples.” He answered, “I tell you, if these were silent, the very stones would cry out.”

And when he drew near and saw the city, he wept over it, saying, “Would that you, even you, had known on this day the things that make for peace! But now they are hidden from your eyes.

Why did he weep?  He wept because the people declared something that had yet to occur — “Peace in heaven”.  Peace in heaven could only come after a war. 

If you would, sometime this Holy Week, read Revelation 12:7-11 and take note of what weapons were used in this war to defeat Satan. 

But yes, today join with the shouts, because victory is about to be won.

Ready for battle? (3/29/2020)

This morning we are asked to meditate on:

2 Samuel 22:31 ESV

This God—his way is perfect;

the word of the LORD proves true;

he is a shield for all those who take refuge in him.

A shield is not a defensive weapon. You only strap on a shield when going into battle. Especially the type mentioned here which in the KJV is called a buckler.  It was small for hand-to-hand combat.

I prefer the KJV and the Septuagint rendering of “trust” rather than “refuge”. Refuge, as we learned last week happens in the “keep”.  The keep is no place for a battle shield!

2 Samuel 22:31 KJV

As for God, his way is perfect;

the word of the LORD is tried:

he is a buckler to all them that trust in him.

Let’s ready ourselves for battle as Kevin unpacks Ephesians 6:14–17.

Week 2 of Quarantine (3/27/2020)

You can hear it in the subject of the email. You know what people are starting to ask. When will it be over?

Well today, our verse for meditation calls us to . . . Wait!

Psalms 27:14

Wait for the LORD;

be strong, and let your heart take courage;

wait for the LORD!

Let’s dive into the second phrase. What happens when we wait?  We become strong.  But how?

The cause of our strength is courage to wait. And that faith we know is a gift. What David describes is God’s wonderful supply of courage and strength as we wait on Him.  The KJV says it this way:

Psalms 27:14

Wait on the LORD:

be of good courage, and he shall strengthen thine heart: wait, I say, on the LORD.

Looking forward to Kevin cracking open Ephesians 6:10–11.   

The Keep (3/15/2020)

We are waking up to a differrent type of Sunday.  Social distancing is becoming a reality, because the virus is a reality. We exponentially slightly behind the rest of the world and taking the appropriate steps to halt the disease.  We had a case uptown that has probably triggered community spread. 

Do not take this lightly, but understand what we are about to meditate upon is very true:

Psalm 59:16

But I will sing of your strength;    I will sing aloud of your steadfast love in the morning.
For you have been to me a fortress
    and a refuge in the day of my distress.

God is both our high tower of strength and our place of retreat. 

Castles were designed with two sections. The outer walled section from which the battle was initially fraught and an impenetrable inner core called the “Keep” to which retreat could be made. 

What do you think was at the bottom of the Keep?  It was the castle’s well. A castle would fall if the water source failed.  A simple technique to capture a castle was to poison the surrounding water. Only a castle with a deep well survived. 

Today, dig your well deeper. Because there will be days when kinks in your armor will let Satan’s arrows through. And retreat will be necesssary. 

Strive Together (2/15/2020)

Tomorrow is missions Sunday with a Joint Sunday School class where we will hear from five supported workers from around the globe.

When we get to worship, we will then be asked to meditate on 

Romans 15:30

I appeal to you, brothers, by our Lord Jesus Christ and by the love of the Spirit, to strive together with me in your prayers to God on my behalf,

For me the word that leaps off the page is “strive together”. It is one word in Greek.  Paul is asking for them to be on the same team with him.  But note which team.  He is not asking them to get into the boat, to travel to foreign lands, or to preach the Word.

He is asking them to pray.

As you attend Sunday School, as you hear of the efforts of our supported workers, listen for what they would have you pray.  In that way we will be striving together.  Then let's expectantly watch for what God will do.

Waiting all-around (1/29/2020)

Tomorrow, we will be told to wait, to wait for the promise of the Father. 

And while staying with them he ordered them not to depart from Jerusalem, but to wait for the promise of the Father, which, he said, “you heard from me; for John baptized with water, but you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit not many days from now.”

Acts 1:4-5 English Standard Version (ESV)

The word perimenó is only used here. It has two parts -- the command "wait" and the adverb "all-around".  A watchman looks in a direction.  They man a station of the wall and scan the horizon for danger.  

But they were being told to wait while being surrounded.  Cowering in a locked room, they would receive the promise of the Father and the world would never be the same.

I could wish nothing better for you.