Flood Warning

As I sit to type up the weekly blog for the website, we are getting significant rainfall on top of the snow that we had on the weekend of January 6/7. Flood warnings are all over our area. While we pray against flooding that will cause damage to our houses, one thing that we can be certain of is that the rain will eventually stop, and the ground will dry.

We know this because in Genesis 6 we see the great flood in which God allowed it to rain for forty days and nights. The flood was permitted because, “The Lord saw how great the wickedness of the human race had become on the earth, and that every inclination of the thoughts of the human heart was only evil all the time.” God’s patience had run out and judgment would be carried out. We would agree that the world in which we live today is filled with as much if not more evil than it was in the days of the flood. People are continuing to rebel against God and want nothing to do with Him.

Just as His patience wore out and the flood came, so His patience will run out and judgment will once again be carried out. While God is just, He is also full of grace and we see this in the flood as well. While the intention was to destroy everything that had the breath of life in it, the Bible tells us that Noah found grace in the eyes of the Lord and so God would spare Noah and his family. We know the story of the ark and how God provided for Noah, his family, and the animals that they took with them.

God is still in the business of grace. He offers grace through the suffering, death, and resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ. All who put their faith in Him and believe in Him as their Lord and Savior receive this grace. Receiving the grace of God by receiving Jesus into your heart guarantees that, just like Noah, you can escape the judgment of God when it is rendered against those who continue to resist and reject Him.

Maybe you have been the recipient of the grace of God and your life has been changed by Christ. Who is someone with whom you can share your Jesus story and tell about the grace of God as it has been given to you? Have a blessed rest of your week and Lord willing, we will see you on Sunday morning.

Happy New Year

Well, it is hard to believe that we are at the beginning of a new year. What will the new year hold for us and our families? What will it hold for us as a congregation? Nobody really knows the answers to these questions, but we can be assured that regardless of what we experience in the new year, the Lord Jesus Christ will be faithful to lead us, to guide us, and to provide us with what we need, when we need it.

One of the things that we do each year is make resolutions. These are things that we hope to do throughout the year or stop doing. Many people resolve to live healthier lives by exercising more or eating better. Others resolve begin a new career or be a better overall person or begin a daily reading plan of the Bible or resolve to walk closer with the Lord. Inevitably, what always happens with our resolutions is that we hit a roadblock. We get tired of going to the gym or eating healthier or we just get bogged down by the daily routines of life. Before we know it, we have fallen from the wagon and we wonder what happened.

One of the things that I would like to try and do in the new year is to write a weekly blog. The idea behind it would be to try and encourage each of you as we seek to “work out our salvation” and grow closer to Jesus in this new year.

My prayer for each of you is that you and your families would be blessed and experience full measure of the blessing of God upon your lives. I will close this post with the priestly blessing from Numbers 6:23-26. “Then the Lord spoke to Moses, saying, ‘Speak to Aaron and to his sons, saying, ‘In this way you shall bless the sons of Israel. You are to say to them: “The Lord bless you and keep you; the Lord makes His face to shine on you and be gracious to you. The Lord lift up His face to you and give you peace.”

Thanksgiving

“What are you thankful for?” This is a common question that is asked around this time of year. Some people will use their social media pages to post one thing that they are thankful for each day for the month of November.

In 1 Thessalonians 5:16-18, the Apostle Paul says, “Rejoice always, pray continually, give thanks in all circumstances; for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus.” The command here seems like a tall order because the truth is that not all circumstances that we face move us toward thanksgiving. We might be thankful in some circumstances but all circumstances? That is tough ask. In the middle of a physical problem we are to be thankful? In the middle of a relationship issue we are to be thankful? As our life has fallen to pieces and those pieces are scattered at our feet we are to be thankful? Paul would say yes.

The question that we might wrestle with is why or how is Paul able to answer this way and how might we get to that place in our life and relationship with the Lord Jesus Christ. I do not think an attitude of gratitude in all circumstances is something that we wake up one morning with. I believe that it is formed as we go through life and circumstances and experience the faithfulness and provision of the Lord in those circumstances. I believe it also happens as we learn to rejoice always. Joy is different than happiness and our ability to rejoice is not tied to our circumstances but tied to our relationship with the Lord Jesus Christ. The Bible tells us that the joy of the Lord is our strength. (Nehemiah 8:10) Getting to a point of giving thanks in all circumstances requires us to rejoice in all things. Not because of the circumstance but because of the presence of Christ with us in those circumstances as well as our standing in Him.

Rejoicing in all things leads us to praying continually. For many of us our prayer lives are on an as needed basis. If there is a specific need in our life we come to God in prayer. When things are good, however, our prayer life is non-existent. Praying continually is praying in all circumstances whether good or bad. As we pray in all circumstances and rejoice in all circumstances we learn to see God at work in all things. When we see God at work in all circumstances we can be thankful because we recognize that God is using all of our circumstances to shape and mold us into the image of Christ. He is preparing us for our eternal destiny and everything that we face is part of that preparation work.

Learn to rejoice in all things, pray in all things, and be thankful in all things. God is at work in everything and is helping us to look more like Jesus today than we did yesterday. What are you thankful for?

The Groaning of Creation

At the time of this writing, we are over a month into the stay at home order. Our family has been trying our best to make the most of the situation. Micah has learned to ride his bike by himself, Ellie turned 4 and has demonstrated the ability to be independent and strong-willed. Her mother says that she gets that from me. Tonya has been staying in contact with her case load from school as well as staff meetings and so remains as connected as she can be to her work. She is also the main teacher for Micah’s school work and demonstrates great patience with that.

While we are trying to make the best of a difficult situation we are trying to hold things in perspective as well. As frustrating as this situation is, we are reminded that it could be worse. We are healthy, we have a home, we have food and the means to continue to keep food on the table as Tonya and I are blessed to be receiving our income during this time. We are blessed.

The one feeling that I think is common to all of us is a desire or a longing to get back to what we used to do or a desire to get back to normal. The issue with that is that there will be a new normal. That can strike fear and uncertainty into people as we wonder what that new normal will look like.

The Bible tells us in Romans 8:18-23 that all of creation is groaning and longing to get back to what creation was supposed to be. When God created in the Garden of Eden it was perfect as God intended it to be. Sin, however, has marred that creation and since then God has been in the process of restoring. The restoring process can be painful and a struggle and this is what we see in our world right now. We see suffering, injustice, violence, hatred, disease, and death. All of these challenges are the direct result of sin. God is in the process of setting things right and restoring the creation to its original design and creation cannot wait for that process to be complete. We are also told in verse 23 that we as human beings created in the image of God are waiting for the adoption process to be complete when we receive our heavenly bodies free of sickness, death, and decay and when we live with our Father in Heaven and with our Savior the Lord Jesus Christ forever. When a child goes through the adoption process, the process is complete when the papers are signed and the child goes to live with his/her new family. The cross and resurrection were acts of God signing those papers taking us from where we were and our inheritance apart from Him and welcoming us into His family. That process is complete when Christ comes again and takes His people to live with Him forever. We are eagerly waiting for that day and groaning in this life. God is faithful and He will sustain us and increase our faith and our ability to trust Him. May we look to Him in these days and experience His presence and peace.

Please check out this song by Chris Tomlin and be blessed.

The Stillness

Up until a few days ago, we are all caught up in whatever our routines were. Get out of bed, shower, get kids up and ready, breakfast, send kids off to school and out the door to begin our day. Come home after work and school put something together for dinner, wash up, homework, and off to bed. Get up and do the same thing over again. We would have identified our lives as busy but we were comfortable in the routine and we almost welcomed the routine.

What might have been missing in our regular routines is quality time spent with people that we have relationships with. Did we really listen to our children tell us how their day was? Did we really listen to our spouse talk about a specific challenge that they faced? Did we take time to sit before the Lord, meditating on His word and listening for His voice?

Our routines changed on Friday afternoon after the Governor announced that all schools in the commonwealth were to close down for at least two weeks. Suddenly, if it hadn’t already, the Chinese Corona Virus that we were hearing about on the news hit home and impacted our way of living. For the most part, we would say that this is an inconvenience and I do agree with that sentiment. However, I also believe that God is using this time to draw people who were far from Him closer to Him. Think about it. There really isn’t much on the TV anymore since sports have been cancelled. Most people are working from home which means the family units are being put together. As of yesterday, you can’t go out shopping except to the grocery store and you can’t go out to eat except to order take out and bring it home. We have been forced to slow down and focus on what is really important. I don’t believe that God caused Corona Virus but I do believe He is using it to restore the family and to call the church back to Him.

In 1 Kings 19, Elijah found himself on the mountain after defeating the prophets of Baal. Jezebel was hard on his tail and as he is finding shelter in the cave, the Lord asks him what he is doing there. After expressing to God how faithful he has been and how he is the only one left who had not bowed the knee to Baal, God invites Elijah to come to the mouth of the cave because He was about to pass by. The wind came and went and the Lord wasn’t in the wind. An earthquake came and went and the Lord was not in the earthquake. A fire came and went and the Lord was not in the fire. Finally a gentle whisper, and some scholars believe that the whisper was simply stillness or silence. Elijah experienced the presence of God in the gentle whisper. Our lives have slowed down dramatically and in my opinion that is not a bad thing.

May we use this time of stillness to listen to the voice of God in order to reconnect with Him and may we take advantage of the opportunities to reconnect with our families, focusing on what is truly important. May we be faithful to pray for those who are affected by this virus and the medical workers who are on the front line and may we pray that the Lord in His mercy will stop the spread of this virus and when He does we will give Him all the praise and all of the glory.

Denominational Statement on Coronavirus

Dear EC Family,

I am sure you are well aware of the impact that coronavirus is having on our world, country, and communities. One of the significant questions for us is how does the church respond?

I believe the best advice I can give you at this point is to pay attention to what your state, municipality, and school officials are saying. Obviously, if the government acts to order restrictions on large group meetings we will have to comply. At the present time the advisories I have seen are given as recommendations. In that case you and your congregational leaders will have to make decisions based on what is prudent in your local context.

One resource that is available to local churches can be accessed at www.ministrygrid.com/coronavirus. They are offering free, seriously – no strings attached, training and checklists to prepare your church for dealing with coronavirus. This training includes 7 checklists, 4 videos, and a sample pandemic policy for you to contextualize for your church. This information allows you and your leadership team to get out in front of this issue and make plans now, rather than having to react to it. All you need to do is to register for a free LifeWay account. The Centers of Disease Control has guidelines for various businesses and community groups. www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/downloads/community-mitigation-strategy.pdf?fbclid=IwAR2Fl4QSlaWN6WuOQDEymeu6XH9oyhwhbVTjW3OG78yyQevN2JvO9D0mqq4. These guidelines from the CDC are very practical and helpful. Page 7 is specific to faith communities. Other coronavirus information and resources are available through various national and local governmental websites.

On top of all of this, please remember your normal wintertime / flu season precautions – wash your hands a lot, have hand sanitizer available, and practice elbow bumps or just a good conversation rather than a handshake. EC Church Center will do our best to keep you informed, but encourage you to be very aware of what is happening in your local communities in order to take appropriate action and prevention measures.

In Christ’s Service,

In addition to the denominational response, I want to let you know that at this point there are no plans to cancel services this week or any upcoming Sundays. It is completely understandable should you choose not to attend but we will be there. Obviously we will continue to monitor the situation and keep you informed. May we all look to the Lord in faith and in complete trust in Him.

Crucified with Christ

The Season of Lent began on Ash Wednesday and is recognized as the period of forty days plus six Sundays leading up Resurrection Sunday. It is typically a time when people give up certain things that they identify as not being good for them. Some people give up fast food, chocolate, or ice cream. While there may be some physical benefit to not only giving these things up during lent but other times of the year, I am not sure that there is much if any spiritual benefit to such “sacrifices.”

Sacrifice is a theme of the season. It is the time of year in the church year when we intentionally focus on the suffering, death, and resurrection of Jesus. Lent is a time that affords us the opportunity to evaluate our spiritual lives, to reflect on areas of our lives in which we have fell short of living up to the standard God has given to us in His word. It is the time when we come face to face with the ugliness of our sin and the sacrifice made by Jesus Christ to deal with the consequences of that sin once and for all.

Instead of being content to give up fast food, chocolate, or ice cream, perhaps, in sticking with the idea of sacrifice, we can take time, money, or other resources that we would have spent on ourselves and invest those resources in someone else. Perhaps we can consider developing a more disciplined prayer lives and even fasting from more than just food, but fasting from cell phones or other things that distract us from our relationships with others and with the Lord. Once we come to faith in Christ the process of becoming like Him begins. This process requires work and yes sacrifice. May we sacrifice for Christ as He sacrificed for us. May we live for Him as He has died for us.

The One Another's

Last Sunday, we began a sermon series entitled “The One Another’s”. The series is based off of the various one another commands that we have been given in the Bible. We will be focusing on six of these commands. Last week we began the series by talking about the command to forgive one another. From there we will be looking at the commands to love one another, encourage one another, teach and admonish one another, serve one another, and live in harmony with one another.

As I stated earlier, these are not suggestions but rather we are commanded, as followers of Jesus, to demonstrate these qualities in the relationships that we have with other people. When you think about these qualities we see all of them in the life and ministry of others.

As we study the gospels we see Jesus teaching and admonishing those that He encountered, whether it was the disciples or the crowds of people that gathered to hear Him teach. In Jesus, we see the ability and the desire to have peaceful relationships with those that He encountered and we see Him encouraging the lonely and the destitute, instantly restoring their hope and sense of purpose for their lives. As the life and ministry of Jesus shifts towards the cross, we see the servant nature of Jesus as He knelt and washed the feet of the disciples and Jesus Himself said that He did not come to be served but to serve and to give His life as a ransom for many. On the cross, we hear Jesus pray the words, “Father, forgive them. They don’t know what they are doing!” Forgiveness is found at the cross and in the blood of Jesus which was shed there. All of these characteristics evident in the life of Jesus fall under the umbrella of His deep, wide, and unconditional love for His people.

As we journey over the course of the next five weeks or so, may we seek to have these characteristics developed in our life. May they be developed so that by the end of the series we would look and act more like Jesus and so that people would see Christ in us, the hope of Glory. God bless you in every way.

New Year

The New Year is a wonderful time to take inventory of many things in our life especially our walk with the Lord. We are afforded the opportunity to see how we grown closer to Jesus or how we have drifted farther from Him. It is a time when we make resolutions with the best of intentions in keeping those resolutions only to see us fall off of the wagon by the middle of January.

Keeping resolutions is hard if we try to keep them on our own. If you have someone in your life who will help to maintain your diet or who will accompany you to the gym you are more likely to follow through with your resolution. Accountability is so important when it comes to keeping our resolutions or our commitments. The same is true as it relates to our walk with the Lord. If there are people in our lives who help us on our journey we are more inclined to stay the course and persevere regardless of what the devil throws at us. We need accountability to help us in our study and meditation of God’s Word which is still the best way in which God speaks because it is His very word to us.

I am inviting you into an accountability relationship as we would seek to gain a more disciplined approach to the Word of God. I have decided to follow a reading plan from bible.com entitled “Bible in One Year 2020”. It is written by Nicky Gumbel and provides Scripture reading for each day of the year with the end goal of reading through the entire Bible by the end of the year. I encourage you to look at this plan and consider starting it and perhaps we can hold each other accountable for how we are doing in following through with our readings.

In the meantime, I do pray for the Lord to bless you and keep you in the year 2020 and that you will experience His hand of blessing and provision throughout the year. God bless you.

Thanksgiving

At the time of this writing we are a day away from Thanksgiving. I have long felt that Thanksgiving has been reserved to a season of the year or a day of the year. This perspective came out in the theme that we have looked at during the three Sundays leading up to this day.

Not to make excuses, but in a way, our society conditions us to not be thankful because the society is always reminding us of what we don’t have or what we need to find satisfaction in our lives. The morning routine in our house is that when the children wake up, they need to eat breakfast, brush teeth, and get ready for the day. If they cooperate they are permitted to watch one of the children’s shows on television. Inevitably, what happens is a commercial comes on promoting to the newest toy. The immediate response from our children is, “I want that!” I immediately look at everything they already have and think they don’t need one more thing.

The challenge that we have as parents and as followers of Jesus is to instill a perspective of thankfulness into the lives of our children. We have to be intentional in reminding our children of all that they have been blessed with but also remind them that it is not about the toys. We must remind them of what is important which is a warm house, food on the table, clothing on their backs, a family that loves them and most importantly a God that loves them and has provided everything that they and all of us need in Jesus Christ.

A question to consider today is this. If God never gave you another thing for the rest of your life, would you have enough to give thanks to Him on everyday of the year? The answer to that question for all of us should be the same and it should be a resounding yes. He has given us everything that we need for an abundant life now and an eternal life spent with Him. He has rescued us from the consequences of our sin and from the eternal separation that each of us were destined for apart from Christ. This is reason enough to be thankful, not just during the month of November or the fourth Thursday of November, but every day of the year.

Happy Thanksgiving and may the Lord continue to lavish His love and blessings upon your life.

Baptism

On Sunday, August 11, Tonya and I are inviting people from the New Life congregation to our home for a service of baptism and fellowship following. This Sunday, I am going to be preaching on the exhortation of Peter to repent and be baptized to those who responded to his first sermon by asking the question, “What should we do?”

Baptism is an outward sign of an inward change that has taken place in the life of a believer who has come to a saving faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. It is a constant command given in the Bible to those who would turn to Christ and away from their life of sin. In Acts 2, as Peter concludes his powerful message, those who heard the message wondered what the next step for them was. Peter’s response was to repent and be baptized. When Cornelius and his family receive the gospel they are baptized as well as the Ethiopian Eunuch.

Baptism is symbolic in that as the believer is immersed in the waters of baptism, going down as the old man and coming out of the waters as a new person in the new life that Christ has given to them, there is representation of a clean slate in Jesus as well as the opportunity to publicly proclaim that you are deciding to follow Jesus wherever He will lead you.

Baptism is not necessary for salvation, Jesus has provided for that through His death and resurrection, however, baptism does afford the believer the opportunity to publicly declare where their allegiance lies as well as to publicly declare the difference that Christ has made in the life of the believer. Jesus commanded that the church was to make disciples of all nations, and to baptize them in the Name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Jesus Himself was baptized and even as John wanted to baptized by Jesus, Jesus told Him to do it so that all righteousness could be fulfilled. Jesus was baptized as an act of obedience to His Father and so those who truly follow the Lord Jesus Christ will follow Him through the waters of baptism.

Free Indeed

On July 4th we celebrate the birthday of America. We celebrate our freedom from the tyrannical government of England. The cause of freedom was born as a bunch of colonists began looking at how they were governed and saw many things wrong. They saw the concept of taxation without representation as unfair and unethical. Instead of sitting around and complaining about how bad things had become, the early leaders and founding fathers of our country decided to do something about it. The result was a war that saw many colonists lose their lives in defense of a cause that they never saw. Ultimately, however, the result was freedom and the Declaration of Independence declared our intent to be a free and self-governing nation under God.

We are still reaping the rewards of the courageous decision of our founding fathers as well as those who fought for freedom. The issue is that in some instances we take these freedoms for granted and sometimes we forget that people are still losing their lives in defense of freedom. Just as, throughout history, people have died in defense of freedom, someone also died to give us spiritual freedom.

The Bible tells us that the wages of sin is death and while the wages are that, they are also guilt and condemnation and sin that is in our life can make us feel as if we are in a prison that we cannot get out of. While the Bible reminds us of the wages of sin, we are also told of the gift of God which is eternal life in Jesus Christ. In John 8 Jesus is speaking of the issue of knowing the truth of His word and how that truth will set you free. Later in the passage, Jesus speaks of those who engage in sin are slaves of sin. He then talks about how He sets us free and we are free indeed. True spiritual freedom is found through a relationship with the Lord Jesus Christ. In Christ we are free of guilt, of condemnation, and the power of sin has no control over us.

We give thanks for those who have given their lives in defense of freedom and we give thanks for the freedoms that we have as Americans. We must also, and perhaps more importantly, remember that true freedom is found in Christ and freedom is not free as it cost Jesus His very life. May we live for Him as He has died for us.

What is the Condition of Your Heart

In ancient thinking, the “heart” was considered a person’s core—the source from which flowed all thoughts, words, and actions. In Matthew 5, Jesus emphasizes that life in God’s kingdom requires radical transformation and continual reshaping of our hearts so that we cultivate a profoundly different way of life—one that’s invitational and beneficial to the world (vv. 14–16).

Some of us would consider some of the commandments and conclude that we have never been guilty of committing such offenses against God and against our fellow man. Certainly, we could conclude that we have never killed anyone or that we have always been faithful to our spouse. However, when we consider what Jesus says about the condition of the heart and that if we have even harbored anger or hatred towards another person than we have essentially murdered them, and if we have even looked at another person with lust in our heart for them, we have committed adultery, now we are not as innocent as we once thought.

Too many times, when it comes to our shortcomings, we feel that if we never act on the thoughts that enter our heart and our mind that we are then without sin. What we must understand is that every thought and word said under our breath is known to God and is an offense to Him. As long as we harbor these things and never come clean with them there is a barrier between us and God, therefore the sooner we confess these things, both to God and to the person that we have offended, the sooner we can experience the grace and forgiveness of God at work in our lives.

Scripture reference is Matthew 5:21-30

Time for Devotions

Yesterday morning, the pastors of the Anthracite District met for our monthly meeting and we are currently working through a discussion of the book “A Dangerous Calling” by David Tripp. We discussed the portion of his book where he talks about the condition of the heart of pastors and how often times what is lacking is a strong devotional life as well as a lack of personalizing the Scriptures. I brought up how many times in my life the only time I open the Bible in a week is to prepare for a message or a Bible Study. We quickly recognized that this is not just a pastors problem but a Christian problem.

Many of us are engaged in the process of running the rat race that is life. We have demands to meet, schedules to keep, and the next event to get to or to plan. In such a fast paced existence it is becoming increasingly more difficult to spend time in isolation with just a Bible, a cup of coffee, a notepad, and a pen, listening and journaling what the Lord might be saying to us. It is increasingly more difficult to sit at the feet of Jesus and listen. Yet, this is necessary if we want to live the kind of life that God is calling us to live and if we want to hear God’s direction for our lives. We see this practiced in the life of Jesus as He would often withdraw from the crowds to spend time with His Father. We also see it in the life of Mary as she sat at the feet of Jesus while Martha was busy preparing. As Martha asks Jesus to tell Mary to help her, Jesus responds with challenging Martha on what she is so worried about and that Mary has chosen the better part which would not be taken away from her.

Let us all hurry up and wait, let us silence ourselves long enough to sit at the feet of Jesus, and may we hear His voice and be challenged and inspired by what it is He says to us. May we spend time in isolation with His word and personalize His word so that we might continue to grow into the likeness of Jesus.

First World Problems

We are people who tend to take various things for granted. Some of the things that we take for granted are large such as the time that we have for loved ones or the freedoms that we have as a nation. Other things are of the smaller variety. How many of us take for granted the simple task of turning on a switch and having light throughout our house.

Yesterday, during the storms we lost power and as of the time of this writing we are still without power. Having two kids and a sump pump required that we purchase a generator. We use the generator to run the bare minimum such as the sump pump, the refrigerator, the internet, and the TV. This morning the TV and internet went out as well and suddenly I found myself in a quiet house. After complaining to myself for a bit, I suddenly realized the opportunity that was presented to me. The opportunity was to spend some time in the quiet to pray and communicate with the Lord.

In 1 Kings 19:11-13, we find Elijah running from Jezebel and dealing with depression, wishing that his life would end. In the midst of this situation, Elijah is wanting to hear from God. The Lord speaks to him and tells him to go out of the cave to the mountain. Elijah does that and he experiences rock splitting wind, a powerful earthquake, and fire. Each of these loud events, Elijah surely thought he would have heard from the Lord and yet he didn’t. Elijah does hear the Lord in a gentle whisper and some scholars actually agree that what Elijah experienced was simply silence.

We all desire to hear from God but do we put ourselves in situations to hear from Him? We live in a world that is filled with a great deal of noise and all of the noises are vying for our attention. In the midst of all of the noise, how are we supposed to hear from God. We must resolve to put ourselves in situations where we experience silence and are in a better position to hear what it is that God is saying to us.

When the Lord speaks to Elijah he changes his perspective. Elijah felt that he was the only one left who worshiped the Lord and God reminds him that He had left a remnant of some seven thousand that hadn’t bowed the knee to Baal. As we experience silence and hear from the Lord, our perspective changes too and sometimes that is all that is needed in our lives.

Memorial Day

Memorial Day, originally known as Decoration Day, originated in the years following the Civil War and became an official federal holiday in 1971. Many Americans observe Memorial Day by visiting cemeteries or memorials, holding family gatherings and participating in parades. Unofficially, it marks the beginning of the summer season.

Memorial Day is an opportunity to give thanks and remember family members or others who made the ultimate sacrifice in defense of the freedoms that we often take for granted. It is not just an opportunity to gather with family and friends for the unofficial start of summer. It is an opportunity to give thanks for those whose lives are lost. This is what Memorial Day is for families who have lost loved ones.

When we talk about sacrifice, not only do we think of those who gave their lives in service to our country. We also think about the sacrifice that was made for us and for our salvation through the suffering, death, and resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ. While American soldiers who gave their lives did so in defense of physical freedom, Jesus gave His life so that we might experience spiritual freedom from guilt, condemnation, and the consequences of sin which was an eternal separation from God the Father. John 15:13, the words of Jesus says, “Greater love has no one than this but to lay down one’s life for his friends.” This is what Jesus has done for us.

While we remember American soldiers who died to preserve our freedom, let us remember them and give thanks for them and their sacrifice. However, let us also give thanks to the Lord Jesus Christ in remembrance of what He has done for us and for our salvation.

Spirit Effect

In John 3 we find the interaction between Jesus and Nicodemus. Nicodemus is confused recognizing that Jesus has come from God but not fully understanding some of the things He has said and done. Jesus says that Nicodemus and all people have to be born again. Nicodemus is thinking physically and thinking of how impossible that it is but Jesus is focused spiritually. As Nicodemus continues pondering, Jesus points to the wind. He says that you can’t see the wind and you don’t always know where it starts or where it is going. You can, however, feel and see the effects of the wind and in the same way, you can see and feel the effects of the Holy Spirit at work in the life of a believer.

In Acts 2, we see the disciples sitting in the room when the Holy Spirit falls on them. The Bible tells us that they began speaking in foreign languages as the Spirit enabled them. If we are going to be about the work of Christ in our community we must remember that it is in the power and enabling of the Holy Spirit that we will be effective in carrying out the mission and message of Jesus Christ. We can’t see the Holy Spirit but we can see the effects of Him in the life of individual Christians and Body of Christ as a whole. The people who heard the message were amazed and transformed while others were skeptical, thinking that the disciples were drunk. Still others were cut to the heart and the Lord added daily those who were being saved. We can see and experience the same results today if we are faithful and obedient to what the Lord Jesus Christ gives us to do.

The Power of Prayer

This week I am day late but thankfully not a dollar short with the blog.

Yesterday was recognized as the National Day of Prayer. The theme for this year was “Love One Another”. The theme is in response to the commandment of Jesus which He gives in John 13:34 when He says, “A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you so you must love one another.

We live in a world where there is so much division. Republicans vs. democrats, black vs. white, and Christians vs. Christians. The root cause of division is an inability to love one another. One side wants the other side to fail and in the case of Christians vs. Christians they want to advance their own agendas instead of the agenda of God. Jesus said that a kingdom divided against itself will fall and this is the prospect that faces our nation, the church, and in some cases our families.

The opposite of division is unity and unity is so important that in John 17 we are told that Jesus prayed for unity. What enables us to work together in a spirit of unity is our ability to love one another, our ability to put aside what divides and focus on what brings us together. What brings us together is the fact that we are all sinners and Jesus died for each and every one of us. This is the message that we have been called to share and if we are to be effective in the spreading of this message we need each other, we need to work in a spirit of unity, and in order to work in a spirit of unity, we need to love one another. May we learn to follow this important command of Jesus and express our love for one another each day.

Now What?

John 21:1-4 “Afterward Jesus appeared again to His disciples by the Sea of Tiberias. It happened this way: Simon Peter, Thomas, Nathanel from Cana in Galilee, the sons of Zebedee, and two other disciples were together. “I’m going out to fish,” Simon Peter told them, and they said, “We’ll go with you.” So they went out and got into the boat, but they caught nothing. Early in the morning, Jesus stood on the shore, but the disciples did not realize that it was Jesus.”

What strikes me about this text is that Jesus had already appeared to the disciples after the resurrection and what we see out of Peter is a desire to go back to what he knew. Verse three tells us that Peter said he was going to go fishing. Certainly Peter had to have known that his life would never be the same because of the resurrection and yet there seems to be a reluctance to embrace the new life that Jesus gave to Him.

I wonder if that is our response to the resurrection? We celebrated Resurrection Sunday last week and we tend to do things a little different. The question remains, however, of what are you going to do with the wonderful news that Jesus died on the cross for our sins and rose again from the dead so that our hope could be restored. Jesus has a wonderful plan for your life and mine, just as He did for Peter. Will we embrace that new life and the new thing that Christ wants to do through His Spirit, or will we simply go back to what we know and what we are comfortable with? You cannot encounter the Risen Christ and be unchanged. May we embrace the new life and the new thing that Christ has come to give us and live in faithfulness and obedience to that which He has called us to.

Maundy Thursday

The word “Maundy” comes to us as an Anglo-French word derived from the Latin “mandatum,” which means “commandment.” As we look back in the Scriptures surrounding the Lord’s Supper that Jesus shared with His disciples there are two commandments that were given to the disciples. The first one is found in Luke’s gospel account when Jesus instructs His disciples to eat the bread and to drink the cup in remembrance of Him and what He was about to do for them. There was a lot of what Jesus spoke of which the disciples didn’t understand. One of the things that they didn’t understand was what Jesus told them about His suffering, death, and resurrection. What Jesus was about to do was to lay down His life for them and for us and in so doing He would secure our salvation and right standing before God. I believe the point of Jesus commanding us to eat the bread and drink the cup in remembrance of Him is so that we wouldn’t forget the price that Jesus paid for us and for our salvation. While we may not readily admit that we have forgotten what Christ has done our actions prove otherwise. We engage in lifestyles that are not compatible with Scripture, we are critical of others, we lie and deceive others and are unwilling to repent of these and other sins. We must remember that the price of our sins was the suffering and death of Jesus Christ and we should live for Him as He has died for us.

The second commandment we see comes to us from the Gospel of John after Jesus washed the feet of the disciples. He sat back and asked if they had known what He had done for them? What He did was he had demonstrated an expression of the love that He has for them and for all people. The ultimate expression of His love was when Jesus hung on the cross for us and for our salvation. His command was for us to demonstrate that same kind of love to those that we encounter. This is something that is missing in our society today. We are very good at expressing the love that we have for others. We tell them we love them but we don’t demonstrate it. Let us follow the example of Jesus and show those around us that we love them by serving them and thus demonstrating the love of Christ.