Tuesday, November 29, 2011
Someting to Think About
"We are continually faced by great opportunities brilliantly disguised as insoluble problems."
Pastor's Corner
for Sunday Dec 4th
God forbid that I should boast except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ . . . —Galatians 6:14 When a person is newly born again, he seems inconsistent due to his unrelated emotions and the state of the external things or circumstances in his life. The apostle Paul had a strong and steady underlying consistency in his life. Consequently, he could let his external life change without internal distress because he was rooted and grounded in God. Most of us are not consistent spiritually because we are more concerned about being consistent externally. In the external expression of things, Paul lived in the basement, while his critics lived on the upper level. And these two levels do not begin to touch each other. But Paul’s consistency was down deep in the fundamentals. The great basis of his consistency was the agony of God in the redemption of the world, namely, the Cross of Christ. State your beliefs to yourself again. Get back to the foundation of the Cross of Christ, doing away with any belief not based on it. In secular history the Cross is an infinitesimally small thing, but from the biblical perspective it is of more importance than all the empires of the world. If we get away from dwelling on the tragedy of God on the Cross in our preaching, our preaching produces nothing. It will not transmit the energy of God to man; it may be interesting, but it will have no power. However, when we preach the Cross, the energy of God is released. “. . . it pleased God through the foolishness of the message preached to save those who believe. . . . we preach Christ crucified . . .” (1 Corinthians 1:21, 23).
God forbid that I should boast except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ . . . —Galatians 6:14 When a person is newly born again, he seems inconsistent due to his unrelated emotions and the state of the external things or circumstances in his life. The apostle Paul had a strong and steady underlying consistency in his life. Consequently, he could let his external life change without internal distress because he was rooted and grounded in God. Most of us are not consistent spiritually because we are more concerned about being consistent externally. In the external expression of things, Paul lived in the basement, while his critics lived on the upper level. And these two levels do not begin to touch each other. But Paul’s consistency was down deep in the fundamentals. The great basis of his consistency was the agony of God in the redemption of the world, namely, the Cross of Christ. State your beliefs to yourself again. Get back to the foundation of the Cross of Christ, doing away with any belief not based on it. In secular history the Cross is an infinitesimally small thing, but from the biblical perspective it is of more importance than all the empires of the world. If we get away from dwelling on the tragedy of God on the Cross in our preaching, our preaching produces nothing. It will not transmit the energy of God to man; it may be interesting, but it will have no power. However, when we preach the Cross, the energy of God is released. “. . . it pleased God through the foolishness of the message preached to save those who believe. . . . we preach Christ crucified . . .” (1 Corinthians 1:21, 23).
Wednesday, November 23, 2011
Something to Think About
You have made us for Yourself, and therefore our hearts are restless until we find our rest in Thee. (Augustine)
Thursday, November 17, 2011
Pastor's Corner
for Sunday Nov 20th
Church is a community thing.
What does the church mean to you? Why do you go to church? What do you like about church? Is the church an indispensable part of your life? The answers to these questions are relevant because I think many go to church out of "me" centered reasons. Without realizing it, church can become just another place where it's all about me. We live in a culture that exalts the individual. This is seen clearly in our entertainment, education, economics, domestic patterns and religion which are all geared toward the idolatry of self. Phrases are frequently heard like, "celebrate yourself", "you must first love yourself"; "you deserve to spoil yourself", and relationships are often jettisoned in order to go off and "find ourselves". Without realizing it, we believe that it's all about me and so we go to church IF I need it. And if "church" doesn't "pump me up" then I feel like I wasted my time and if it happens often enough I start looking for another church where my needs will be met. However, Jesus brings us into a community that scripture describes as a "body" - each part serving the rest of the body. Jesus places us in a community where you must die to self and deny yourself. The church is where we as individuals learn to love others; we learn to put others first; we love them because Jesus loves them. Another important function of the church is that in the church we are held accountable. If the church is truly living as a community it's not a place where you can hide but where the Holy Spirit will challenge you and convict you through that brother or sister that comes alongside you and encourages you and, if necessary, gently but firmly challenges you. Our narcissistic culture is slowly killing us but God will bring real life through this community we call church (if you stick around) - He will take your eyes off yourself and focus them on others and that is a very healthy thing.
Pastor Don.
Church is a community thing.
What does the church mean to you? Why do you go to church? What do you like about church? Is the church an indispensable part of your life? The answers to these questions are relevant because I think many go to church out of "me" centered reasons. Without realizing it, church can become just another place where it's all about me. We live in a culture that exalts the individual. This is seen clearly in our entertainment, education, economics, domestic patterns and religion which are all geared toward the idolatry of self. Phrases are frequently heard like, "celebrate yourself", "you must first love yourself"; "you deserve to spoil yourself", and relationships are often jettisoned in order to go off and "find ourselves". Without realizing it, we believe that it's all about me and so we go to church IF I need it. And if "church" doesn't "pump me up" then I feel like I wasted my time and if it happens often enough I start looking for another church where my needs will be met. However, Jesus brings us into a community that scripture describes as a "body" - each part serving the rest of the body. Jesus places us in a community where you must die to self and deny yourself. The church is where we as individuals learn to love others; we learn to put others first; we love them because Jesus loves them. Another important function of the church is that in the church we are held accountable. If the church is truly living as a community it's not a place where you can hide but where the Holy Spirit will challenge you and convict you through that brother or sister that comes alongside you and encourages you and, if necessary, gently but firmly challenges you. Our narcissistic culture is slowly killing us but God will bring real life through this community we call church (if you stick around) - He will take your eyes off yourself and focus them on others and that is a very healthy thing.
Pastor Don.
Wednesday, November 9, 2011
Something to think about
It is impossible to reach and stretch for the future when we live in the pain of the past.
Wednesday, November 2, 2011
Something to Think About
“When you trust in God, pain is an opportunity for progress.” (from Our Daily Bread)
Pastor's Corner
for Sunday Nov. 6th
“I saw the angel in the marble and chiseled until I set him free.” Michelangelo gave this answer to someone when they asked him how he was able to carve such beautiful statues out of marble. The angel wasn’t really inside the marble; Michelangelo had a vision of what he wanted and then transferred that vision to the rock and created a beautiful work of art! So too is this true of you in the hands of God; he has a vision of what He wants to make you and is chiseling to accomplish the reality of that vision. However, bringing out the man or woman God wants you to be is not going to come without pain, God’s chisel often hurts as it removes the parts that must go. Too often we hold tenaciously to those parts that God sees are holding us back from becoming the person He wants us to be. God’s ways are not our ways, and His thoughts are not our thoughts and so most times we don’t see what God sees and that’s when we have trust the hand of the sculptor; trust his hand to set the angel free and become the man or woman He wants you to be!
Pastor Don
“I saw the angel in the marble and chiseled until I set him free.” Michelangelo gave this answer to someone when they asked him how he was able to carve such beautiful statues out of marble. The angel wasn’t really inside the marble; Michelangelo had a vision of what he wanted and then transferred that vision to the rock and created a beautiful work of art! So too is this true of you in the hands of God; he has a vision of what He wants to make you and is chiseling to accomplish the reality of that vision. However, bringing out the man or woman God wants you to be is not going to come without pain, God’s chisel often hurts as it removes the parts that must go. Too often we hold tenaciously to those parts that God sees are holding us back from becoming the person He wants us to be. God’s ways are not our ways, and His thoughts are not our thoughts and so most times we don’t see what God sees and that’s when we have trust the hand of the sculptor; trust his hand to set the angel free and become the man or woman He wants you to be!
Pastor Don
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