Ordination

Henceforth I call you not servants; for the servant knoweth not what his lord doeth: but I have called you friends; for all things that I have heard of my Father I have made known unto you. Ye have not chosen Me, but I have chosen you, and ordained you, that ye should go and bring forth fruit, and that your fruit should remain: that whatsoever ye shall ask of the Father in My name, He may give it you.

-- John 15:15-16  (KJV)

On Sunday, December 6, 2009, I was ordained into the ministry of our risen Lord and Savior Jesus Christ at St. James Reformed Church in Mount Pleasant, NC. Presiding over the service was the Reverend John H. Bigelow, my sponsor and the Pastor of St. James. Delivering the message was the Reverend Dr. Steve Disher, Pastor of St. Paul's Reformed Church in Newton, NC, and Board member of the Evangelical Association of Reformed and Congregational Christian Churches. The following is a plain text version of the ordination paper I prepared and presented to the Ordination Board.

Ordination Paper Guidelines

The accompanying Ordination Paper should address the following points of discussion:

Introduction: A concise statement of your personal journey, Christian experience, and your call to the ministry. Explain why it is that you are pursuing ordination.

The World to which the Gospel Speaks: Your understanding of creation, nature, humanity, free will, sin and evil.

The Nature of the Gospel: What is the Good News? How do you understand the nature of revelation? How do you understand the authority of both the Old Testament and the New Testament?

How do you articulate the doctrines of the faith: God Jesus Christ, Holy Spirit, Providence, covenant, judgment and suffering, grace and salvation, hope and eschatology?

The Movement of the Gospel into the World: What is the mission of the Church? What is your understanding of the Church in its local, denominational, and ecumenical expressions? How do you understand the Lord’s Supper and Baptism? What are the social implications of your own history and beliefs and the Church’s mission? What are your primary religious, moral, and ethical concerns? Be explicit about your beliefs concerning ministry with both individuals and structures.

ORDINATION PAPER

For

Richard R. Moore

Prepared for

St. James Reformed Church

In the Beginning

Perhaps uncharacteristic of those who pursue the calling to enter pastoral ministry, my early childhood was not marked by devout training in nor adherence to a religious life. While my family occasionally attended Sunday services, it never seemed all that important, and would easily become a second option if another activity presented itself. Baptized in the Christian faith, I believed in God and knew about Jesus and heaven and hell, but the finer points eluded my grasp. The lack of emphasis placed upon the Church kept me blissfully ignorant, allowing me to enjoy a carefree childhood, oblivious to the concept of a personal Savior.

I first stepped onto the road I now travel in my early teens. The Pastor of the church I attended took particular notice of me, apparently seeing something in me that spurred him to ask if I would at least consider pursuing my higher education at a Divinity School. The last thing I thought about at that stage of my life was college, but I agreed when he offered to drive me to visit Bob Jones University, at his own expense. To say I felt unmoved would be an understatement. Two years later I chose Bible Studies as an elective in high school. My instructor seemed to see something in me that prompted him to ask if I had ever considered a life in the ministry. Yeah, right, me a minister. I should add at this point that I was somewhat of a handful as a youth, constantly getting myself into some sort of mischief or another. I did not exactly consider myself “preacher material”. I smiled politely at my instructor, grinning on the inside at the absurdity of the question, and finished the course with a solid “A”. During my senior year, my English teacher gave me a funny look, seeing something in me that caused her to wistfully say, “There's just something about you...”, as she tried to ignite my interest in creative writing. Her persuasions fell on deaf ears, for I had no desire to extend my education past high school.

Do you see a pattern in this brief history? It repeated over the years of my young adulthood, in lessening frequency, with other men and women of God seeming to see something within me that I did not see when studying the image in the mirror. I married, started a family, and lost my wife to cancer. I remarried too hastily and divorced nearly as quickly. I remarried once more, gained additions to my family, adopted an adult son, slowly drifted apart, and divorced yet again. Middle age settled in. Though accomplished in my career as a computer engineer, my life lay in ruins at my feet.

Slowly I began to realize that the lessons I failed to learn in childhood now haunted my days and stained my life. I knew of God and the Ten Commandments. I had read the Bible from cover to cover. I knew of Jesus and the straight and narrow path. But I did not know God, I did not know Jesus. I understood then just how far I had strayed from that path Jesus laid for us to follow. The laws of Moses had become nothing more than loose guidelines in my adherence to them. I had replaced God with the wonders of the world, the pleasures of the flesh. My sins were uncountable. And this Godless life I led had cost me dearly.

With this realization came a clarity of purpose, a determination to rebuild my life, but this time with God's help and a greater focus on Him. I prayed and gave my life to Him. I returned to the Bible, now to learn more about this man called Jesus. One night, with God's hand directing me, I finally looked up and saw the truth. I understood and accepted Jesus as the Christ, my Lord and personal Savior, and knew for certain that I could no longer live without Him. That night, now thoroughly humbled, I gave myself completely to Christ, His servant, to do as He might will.

And soon an old familiar pattern reemerged. First one then another and another, good people began to comment about something they could almost see within me, asking about my role in Christ's Church. It began to dawn on me, thanks to my renewed reading of the Scripture, that these seemingly random events all tied together in one source. What could all this be but a request from God, urgings by His Holy Spirit within me, compelling me in a direction He would have me take. He first asked when I was a child, and I ignored Him. Each time He prodded, I refused to budge. One evening with time to kill before a meeting, I picked up a little book from our church library, “The Christian Ministry” by Rev. C. W. Warlick. Reading while standing in front of the bookcase, Rev. Warlick grabbed my attention on page 19 when he asked, “And now, dear reader, this thought, you who have experienced His appearance, doubtless time and again, and who have heard His call to become His follower as a minister and as a witness, why the delay, why the indecision, why have you refused?” This book, written in 1910, spoke directly to me, and I had no answer. Maybe I just never understood the call. A few pages further on, Rev. Warlick continued, “Has Jesus never appeared to you, my reader, with the call to witness for Him behind the pulpit or in whatever sphere a minister may or does work?” Yes, I suppose He has in a way, but I ignored Him. “And if so, was there no motive on the part of Christ for appearing and laying before you the call?” God has a reason for everything, right? “Most assuredly there was, and the motive was simply this, to make you a minister of His salvation to others. What a glorious prospect!” Glorious indeed! I could ignore the call no longer, the time for hesitation long past. A little over two years ago, after our pastor and my own daughter echoed those words spoken so long before, I agreed to follow God's call, and enrolled in seminary classes. Like Moses and the children of Israel, I wandered aimlessly in a wilderness of my own making for over forty years before God led me to His river. In the darkness of my self-made misery, Jesus took pity. When presented with two small loaves of bread and five fishes that had moments before been lunch for a small boy, Jesus took the bread and, thanking the Father, broke it and fed over five thousand people. Just as He could not use the bread until He had broken it, He could not use me until I knelt broken at His feet.

My decision to enter seminary and seek the ministry did not come easily. Is this really what God would have me do? My answer comes from Jesus. He reassures me of this assignment when He says, “You did not choose Me. I chose you and sent you out to produce fruit, the kind of fruit that will last.” (John 15:16a CEV) I know of no greater service I can offer God or my fellow man than to spread the good news, to plant the seed that will bear eternal fruit.

God Created the Heavens and the Earth

When I tired of the nomadic life of driving a truck, I entered college where I studied the sciences and engineering, graduating with honors as an Electrical Engineer. Some ask how I can reconcile my training in the scientific approach with the Biblical story of Creation. For me the answer is simple: science offers no sufficient argument nor plausible explanation as to how the known universe came into being. The Big Bang Theory posits that an infinitesimal point contained all the mass of the universe that was released in an instant to form the ever expanding cosmos. It does not explain, though, from where that mass within that small dot originated, nor what caused the explosion. Such an unlikely event is far less believable than an intelligent, omnipotent Creator breathing life into all that is by uttering the words, “Let there be light.” The very creation of the natural world, by any method, requires the existence of a Creator before the act of creation. Such a Creator existed before time began and will exist after time ends. This Creator is God, the one and only true God.

Mankind is a part of this natural world, another creation of God. He was very careful in the making of man for He loves us as a Father loves His child, creating us in His own image, that of His spiritual being. God created the angels as well, very special creatures whose sole purpose is to worship God and serve Him. Man is also a special being, given the very Spirit of God when He breathes life into us. But God gave us a trait, a feature, denied even to the angels. He gave us free will. He gave us the choice to love Him in return, to worship and serve Him as do the angels, or to not love Him. Why? Because He loves us. And what better way to see if someone truly loves you than to allow them to not love you if that is their choice. Our Father gives us that choice: to love Him or not, to serve Him or not.

Since we are given that choice, it only follows that some will indeed love and follow God while some will not. Those who do not follow God may well be likely to resist His will, even to rebel against Him. An angel named Lucifer once managed to break from his mold and to think that he could be as good, as powerful, as all-knowing as God. He convinced others of his kind to follow him. God expelled these misguided angels from heaven, but decided to use Lucifer to provide mankind with a further choice for our free will. Given reign over the physical world, Satan and his minions prowl the depths of humankind, fomenting trouble, wreaking havoc at every turn, whispering into ears promises of worldly treasures, tempting souls, drawing God's beloved children further and further from the path of righteousness. Evil exists, even in a world created by a loving God. God is outside of the world, not of the world. It was created by Him and given to man as our garden. Lucifer was given rule over this natural world so that man could have a true choice, and by choosing God could show our true devotion and love to our heavenly Father and Creator. A loving parent will teach their child to ride a bicycle, knowing full well that the child will fall off and be injured at some point, because the parent knows that is the only way for the child to learn, to grow. In the same way, our heavenly Father allows us to do things that surely make Him cringe, acts He knows we will be hurt by or use to hurt others, acts including the most horrible evils imaginable, because by experiencing these we can learn, and grow, and better come to love Him. But we need not fear for more than this earthly life. God is in full control. Evil will be punished, and those who love Him will be rewarded. The words of the Revelation to John may frighten some, but they offer encouragement and assurance to those who believe in Jesus.

I Bring You Good News of Great Joy

Satan wasted no time stalking God's most loved creation. The serpent whispered into Eve's ear, promising what he knew not to be true, tempting her to disobey the only thing God asked of them, goading her to take a bite of the fruit of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, convincing her to give Adam a bite. At that fateful moment, a great chasm opened between God and His creation. Sin entered the world and left a canyon so wide, nothing man could do could ever span the gap. Satan tasted victory. Had he managed to deny this supposed all-powerful God the love of His creation? Did he drive an immovable wedge between God and mankind? Did he pull man from his heavenly Father for all time? No, not at all. For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever will believe in Him will have everlasting life.

The original sin of Adam and Eve created a rift between man and God. No longer could man walk freely with God, nor talk with Him as with another man. No longer could they be in physical proximity as they were in the Garden. Man disobeyed God, and alone he could never repair the damage done. Ah, but God had a plan. For thousands of years man wandered through life, living and dying, sometimes steadfast in loving and obeying God's commands, more often not. Over the centuries, prophets of God spoke of a coming Messiah, one who would save us all and provide a way back to God. Then, when man least expected it, God sent His own Son into the world. Conceived by the Holy Spirit Himself and born unto a virgin, Mary, Jesus was both man and God, not a creation but one person of the Triune God.

While Jesus lived among us, He taught by example and by word. He healed those who suffered in body and in mind, performing miracles that would be unbelievable had they not been witnessed. He loved unconditionally. He expanded the boundaries of God's covenant community to include everyone, not just the children of Abraham, Issac, and Jacob. He asked only that we know and love God as the one true God, and that we love each other just as we love ourselves, just as He loves us. Love is the common theme of His life, of His teachings. Jesus was and is and ever will be Love. And for His love, Jesus was cursed, beaten, crucified. He died at the hands of those He sought to save.

The message Jesus shared represented a dramatic shift from the status quo of the culture of that day. The laws, He noted, while important, take a secondary role to loving God and loving your fellow man. All those in a position of authority over us should be given due respect, for they were put in those positions by God. Great wealth may be a blessing from God, but He wishes for you to use those riches to help the less fortunate, and to take up the cross alongside Jesus and follow Him. It is more important to serve rather than to be served. The last shall be first, and the first shall be last. Radical ideas such as these could not be allowed to spread any further. This man Jesus must be stopped! And so the Son of Man was put to death.

Had Jesus simply died, our tale would have closed then and there. His followers would have eventually all died off as well. The Way would have disappeared in the fog of time. The word “Christian” would perhaps never have been coined, or would be nothing more than a footnote in history books if it had. But the page bearing “The End” has yet to be written. For although Jesus did indeed die and descend into the depths of Hell, He defeated death and rose from the grave on the third day just as He had promised! His victory is one we can all share in. That is what He intended, that is what He died for, so that death no longer need hold us in its grasp for ever. And He promised to be our Advocate, to stand beside us when we face our heavenly Father and on that Day of Judgment, to attest that we have been washed clean by His precious blood so that we might face God and live at His side for all eternity. Jesus kept His promise to defeat death and rebuild the Temple on the third day, so we can be assured He will also keep His promise to represent us before God. The great chasm opened by the original sin is spanned only by the cross of Jesus Christ, allowing man to again be with God.

But that is still not all of the story. In his old age, our Lord came to John in his exile, to the one Jesus loved, and gave him a message to share with all mankind from that time forward. The main thrust of the message was simple: Jesus would come again, and would take His followers home to live with Him in heaven. But the message carried a dire warning: Be prepared! The Revelation to John can be confusing and seemingly contradictory, yet the important point should not be missed. Those who believe in Jesus as our Lord and Savior, who follow Him and the path He prepared for us, will be given life eternal and also rewarded for their service to God. Those who have failed to do so by the time Jesus comes again will suffer through seven long years of great tribulations. God is ever faithful and merciful, even at this time for the world, so He still gives man another chance. Those who have not yet fallen into Satan's camp will have seven years to choose sides, seven years of demonstrations of God's power, and His wrath. In the end, Jesus will return to defeat Satan and his followers, both human and spiritual, meting punishments to the purveyors of evil and rewards to those who followed God where and as deserved. This is as God has promised, and God has always kept His promises.

The field of Theology called Christian Apologetics provides a set of rational arguments in defense of the Christian faith and the validity of the Scripture. One such argument addresses the truth of the New Testament by asserting that the people who read the passages recorded by the Gospel writers were alive during that period of time being described in the words, and may well have witnessed the actual events as they occurred. Had these events not been recorded accurately, these witnesses would quickly have exposed the likes of Matthew and Luke as liars, or worse. As we know, that did not happen. The Gospel was not challenged during its day. Also, the translations of the Bible have remained true to form over the centuries, from one handwritten copy to the next. One can find very few errors or changes in translations from the earliest known text of John to the present day massed produced New International Version Bibles. There are many more examples, but all lead to the fact that we can trust the New Testament as presenting a true and accurate history of the events and lives of that time. What we read is real, it all really happened. God came down to earth to save us all. Jesus is that Savior. And when He bodily returned to heaven to be with our Father, He sent His Holy Spirit to dwell within us, to guide us through our lives just as Jesus guided the Disciples through theirs. This is the three persons of God: the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit.

Once we accept the truth of the New Testament, we can know with certainty that the texts of the Old Testament are just as accurate and valid. Jesus and His Disciples were practicing Jews. They knew the laws of Moses, they loved the poetry and prophesy of Isaiah, they understood the importance of the words of Ezra and Jeremiah and the warnings of Habakkuk, they looked ahead to the time described by Daniel. The Gospels often report Jesus quoting from the old texts, using the very words of the Jewish faith to teach them what they should already know. Paul frequently relates to Old Testament scripture in his letters. Since we know the New Testament accounts are accurate and true, and because those accounts attest to the truth of the older texts, we can also be assured of the validity of the Old Testament. All practicing Jews will speak to this truth as well. So the Christian Holy Bible, in both old and new parts, represents the true and inspired Word of God, recorded by man under the direction of God. Of this I have no doubt.

According to Your Faith

Two blind men came to Jesus, seeking to have their sight restored. Jesus asked, “Do you believe I can do this?” They responded, “Yes, Lord”. I imagine a warm smile spreading across His lips as Jesus touched their eyes and replied, “According to your faith, let it be to you.” And their eyes were opened.

Faith is defined in the dictionary as confidence in a person or thing, or a belief for which there is no proof. Paul defines faith as “being sure of what we hope for, and certain of what we do not see.” (Hebrews 11:1 NIV) Jesus said if you have faith even as small as a mustard seed, you can cause mountains to be moved (ref. Mark 11:22-24). Both the dictionary and the Bible point to the same conclusion: it is not the size of our faith, not some quantitative measure of how much we believe, all that matters is what we believe in, the subject of our faith. Paul knew our faith in God to be the foundation of our hopes, the certainty of our hearts, the truth of everything around us seen and unseen. Jesus knew that with God all things are possible, if we ground our faith on God.

My faith is rooted in God's Word, the Holy Bible. The best way to come to know God in His three persons is by knowing and studying His Word. This is how we build a relationship with anyone, by talking to them, asking questions, learning more about them. The same is true of God. The very word “theology” translates from the Greek as the study of God (actually, the study of the nature of god, but we know there is only One and He is God). My personal theology is centered upon growing my relationship with God, enriching the friendship between us. Just as God is the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, He is my Lord, my Savior, and my friend. I might add, He is my very best friend. Always faithful, I can count on Him at all times, for any need. When I am weakest, through Him I am strongest. I have put my life in His hands and I trust Him completely.

But what if there were no Bible, how then could I know God? I would like to take an ages old approach and answer that question with a question of my own. How can someone look at the world around them and not know God? His creative talent is on display twice a day with each sunrise and sunset. His hand paints the leaves in fall, strews shells along the shore, puffs up the clouds in the sky. His breath stirs the gentle, warm evening's breeze or whips up the raging storm. His eyes flash with lightning, or twinkle in the night sky. He set in motion the timeless surf, and created the most fragile, delicate flower that lives but a day. He engineered the absolute wonder of the human eye, and of a baby's hand. Science teaches us that the most likely answer to any question is the one which requires the least assumption, that provides the simplest answer. Did all around us happen by accident, and then continuously evolve to what has been in effect for a few thousand years now? Or did God create it all? Which answer requires the least assumption, which is simpler? God.

Now, having faith rooted firmly in God and believing without a doubt His Word as recorded in the Old and New Testaments to be true and accurate, we can begin to understand why He would love us, and why His will must be carried out as He planned. His love is ever faithful, our ultimate well-being His primary concern. Because of this love He sacrificed His only Son. By His mercy and grace alone we are saved. Nothing we can ever do, nothing we can ever say, nothing we mortals alone can effect will ever pay our way to heaven. God alone is sufficient. It is through His Providence, His caring and guidance, that we can survive this life. It is by His grace and the covenant He forged with us through the blood of the Perfect Lamb, Jesus Christ our Lord, that we might be made clean enough to bow in His presence. We are allowed to suffer so that we might grow strong. We can feel loneliness so that we may never again want to be separated from God. We are broken and left hopeless so that we might realize our hope is built on nothing less than Jesus' blood and righteousness. Our good works are worthless without our belief in Jesus as Christ. On Him rests our hope of salvation.

I hold to the Biblical standards of a minister as described by the Apostle Paul in his first letter to Timothy, chapters three through five. With all my heart and being I affirm our statement of faith as recorded in the Constitution and By-Laws of St. James Reformed Church and hold firmly to the mission of our local congregation and the greater Church community. I also affirm my understanding of and belief in the purpose, organization and statement of faith of the Evangelical Association, with which we are affiliated. The Apostles' Creed states my full belief from my heart, while the hymn “Amazing Grace” so clearly reflects my soul's amazement and thanks at the awesome mercy, love, and grace of our Savior, our Lord.

Feed My Lambs, Tend My Sheep

When Jesus ascended into heaven after His resurrection, He left His followers to continue His work as His Church, the body of Christ on earth. And here I draw a distinction between the “Church” as defined as the entire body of Christ and the “church” as an individual congregation or the building in which they worship. I believe that the fundamental role of the Church, as well as one reason I seek ordination, is best summed up in Romans 10:14-15 (here in the NLT): “But how can they call on him to save them unless they believe in him? And how can they believe in him if they have never heard about him? And how can they hear about him unless someone tells them? And how will anyone go and tell them without being sent? That is why the Scriptures say, 'How beautiful are the feet of messengers who bring good news!'” For people to come to accept Jesus as their personal Savior, they must first know of Him and His life. Paul, the original church planter, focused on this goal of spreading the Gospel, the Good News, of Jesus Christ. Jesus said that just as God the Father had sent Him into the world, so He was sending His Disciples into the world (ref. John 20:21). He also said that He was not sent from heaven to do His will, but the will of the One who sent Him, the will of the Father (ref. John 6:38). Now if Jesus sent His followers, including us, into the world to continue His work, and He Himself was sent to do His Father's will, then the mission of the Church is to do the Father's will, exemplified in the teachings and life of Christ as contained in the Gospels and explained in the many letters recorded in the Bible. This role is the same today as when Jesus first commissioned His Church.

One aspect of this mission is clear: to spread the good news that Jesus has paid the price of our salvation, that through Him and by the grace of our heavenly Father, we may have eternal life. This must be the primary focus, but more can be found in the Scriptures. Jesus described Himself as the Good Shepherd, even at one point instructing Peter, and by extension the entire Church, to “feed My lambs” and “tend My sheep”. Just as sheep without a shepherd, we would be lost without Jesus. (Mark also drew this analogy for us in his sixth chapter verse 34.) In that vein, the Church should also serve as a shepherd, seeking out those who may have strayed from the path and are lost, caring for those unable to care for themselves, standing guard against the inroads of the fiercest predator Satan.

Along those lines, the Church must help see to the needs of widows and orphans, among the most vulnerable of those not fully able to care for themselves. In Matthew 25:31-40, we are charged to feed the hungry, provide drink for the stranger, offer shelter and sustenance to the foreigner and traveler, clothe the naked, visit the sick, visit the imprisoned. “Tend My sheep”, our Lord instructs, “Feed My lambs.” This involves more than seeing after the physical needs, although that is a large part. Their spiritual needs must be seen to as well. Sometimes those two needs combine nicely, such as when someone just really needs a good hug, or a warm blanket. Both offer solace to the body and the soul. And when we tend to the physical needs of others, we are given the opportunity to share with them the Gospel of our Lord and Savior, to witness to them the difference He has made in our lives, even if only silently by our actions, to spread His love as He commissioned us to do. And the truly amazing thing about this is that we, the members of Christ's Church, gain as much if not more from these activities as do those we serve. God, in His awesome wisdom, provides reward for our efforts, and usually immediate reward. We feel good when we serve others, and that is wealth beyond measure.

Of necessity, the early church adhered to these principles. There being no state funded welfare system nor unemployment benefits, the church was expected to see to the needs of those who could not provide for themselves, and of those who spread the Gospel among them. Many of the early churches were small and met in homes or hidden in caves or other less visible locations, again out of need since early Christians were hunted as prey for the pleasure of Nero. So the Church has its roots in small groups. It is in this small group setting that I feel most comfortable and perhaps most effective at sharing God's word, whether through Bible studies with fellow believers or in jail ministries with those who want to believe or any other venue where two or more can gather in our Lord Jesus' name.

In my life I have witnessed lives ravaged by illness and death. I have seen families shattered by addictions to alcohol, drugs, gambling, sex. I have seen hungry children, barefoot, faces without a trace of hope. War and rumors of war walk the earth. We live in the end times, after Christ's resurrection but before the Tribulation and His second coming, as evidenced by Biblical predictions finding life in the world around us. We sit stunned by the latest atrocity on the evening news. Decaying morals, abounding disrespect for life, God's laws broken on all sides. There is so much that the Church can work on, and should be involved with, that we slide into a state of shock, nearly unable to move from the weight of all that needs to be done. With God's help, the Church can stand and tackle these problems. It must, for without the Church the world is lost. Individual churches cannot even contemplate taking on a project of this magnitude. But they can pick an area where they feel they can make an impact and begin there. The Church must leave the safety of the church walls and go into the greater community, where the need lives. That is not to say that it should neglect its own, for needs are great within the Christian community as well. A balance must be determined and met, so that God's hand can touch all those in need. That is the role of the Church: doing God's will.

Within the Christian community we have those who believe, who attend church services regularly, who contribute to the church monetarily. By all outward appearances, these are good Christians, following the Way our Lord set out. But some are missing something, they fail to truly understand what Christ would have them do. They sometimes put other pursuits before God, such as the opportunity to attend an event rather than worship together with their brothers and sisters. They think of themselves and their families first, and others, if at all, much later. They prefer to be served, unless they can receive recognition for serving. Their corporate prayers shake the rafters so that everyone can hear how pious they are. Their hearts do not fully belong to God. Yet it is not our place to judge. We cannot know God's heart other than what He has given us insight to with His Holy Word. If they truly believe, their place in heaven is assured. But if they truly believe, how closely would they try to live their lives as Christ taught, as He lived His? How closely would they listen to what He said and strive to follow His example? I worry that many may find themselves like Bruce Barnes, the fictional assistant pastor of the New Hope Village Church in the “Left Behind” series by Tim LaHaye and Jerry B. Jenkins. Left behind after the Rapture, Bruce realized that even though he thought all along that he was a good Christian, he just didn't get it, he did not truly understand. How many of our friends sitting in the pew beside us Sunday mornings might be left behind if Christ called us home today? How many of our neighbors might awaken to find their spouse or children missing? How many might the Church miss simply because they aren't our kind of people or don't dress very well or smell funny?

It concerns me when parts of the Church seem to forget what Jesus taught and preached. They fail to remember how He expanded the faith community to include all manner of people. Throughout history the Church has grappled with issues of admission, questioning whether Gentiles, women, people of color, or homosexuals should be allowed in the sanctuary to worship. Why is it alright to greet and welcome the unmarried couple living together to attend worship, but not the African-American? Why are the terminally ill shunned and forgotten after saying a few prayers over them? Where is it written that everyone stepping into a Sunday service must be wearing fancy clothes? Jesus did not command us to love our neighbor as we love ourselves as long as our neighbor is just like us. He did not say to clothe only the working man and his family, to feed only those who are temporarily down on their luck. Jesus put no conditions on who we are to love, no restrictions on how we are to serve. Christ did not seem to expect much real justice in this world, social or otherwise. Look at how He was treated as a clue to that. But He does expect much of us in our interactions with others. Do we live up to those expectations?

I love my Lord and Savior with all my heart and soul. A great passion burns within me to serve Him in any way He leads me. Jesus said “Follow Me”, and I intend to do so for my remaining days.

Grace to All Who Love Our Lord

My being ordained into the ministry of our Lord would serve two purposes. For one, it would show that my brothers and sisters in Christ deem me worthy and competent to represent our Savior as a shepherd of His flock, that I will rise capable to the responsibilities of the position, that I love God and that I love them. This aspect of ordination would be personally satisfying and tremendously humbling. But of greater importance in my mind, ordination will be my signature on a promise I made to God a few years ago. When I gave my life to Jesus, I promised to serve Him to the best of my abilities, in any way He saw fit to use me, for whatever purpose and to what end He desired. Ordination will be the seal on that promise, and will mark my commitment to my personal covenant with our Lord. God made a covenant with mankind, paid for by the sacrifice of His Son, sealed with the blood of Jesus. I cannot begin to fathom so great a love. But I can show God my love for Him. Ordained, I can perform functions in His name to honor Him, to remember His devotion and sacrifice, certain rites not allowed a lay leader. Whether ordained or not, I will keep my promise, for I love my Savior. When I gave my life to Jesus, a deep, calming peace washed over me. When I committed to seeking the pastoral ministry, I sensed a smile upon His face. Maybe it was just wishful thinking. But I fully believe this is the path my Lord wishes and intends for me to walk. Where Jesus leads me, I will follow.

Amen.

Trust in the Lord

Trust in the Lord with all your heart; do not depend on your own understanding. Seek his will in all you do, and he will show you which path to take.

-- Proverbs 3:5-6 (NLT)

I just don't know what's going on here. I don't understand why this is happening. What have we done to deserve this? What could possibly have brought this on? I just don't understand!

I feel pretty safe in saying that almost every person in this wide world has stated words to this effect, uttering them from the darkness of our anguish and despair. "How could this possibly be happening?!", we scream, perhaps silently, perhaps to the wind and rain that hides our tears. Even when we know from the very heart of our faith that Satan has brought this evil event about, not God, we turn to God in our sorrow and seek the answer to that toughest of questions: "Why?"

Solomon, son of David, is portrayed as being exceedingly wise. As King of Israel, he has great wealth and power, but it is his wisdom for which he is best known far and wide, so much so that even the Queen of Sheba visited and brought gifts just for the opportunity of meeting this most wise man. Solomon, like so many prominent figures in the Bible, was not without his faults and his sin ultimately led to the rending of the united kingdom of Israel into two: the northern and southern kingdoms of Israel and Judah. Long before then, though, Solomon realized the tremendous task ahead of him, the daunting responsibility of ruling over all the children of Israel, so he prayed to God and asked for discernment. "'And here I am in the midst of your own chosen people, a nation so great and numerous they cannot be counted! Give me an understanding heart so that I can govern your people well and know the difference between right and wrong. For who by himself is able to govern this great people of yours?'” (1 Kings 3:8-9 NLT) In response to this plea for help, one that acknowledges humility from arguably the wealthiest and most powerful man in the land, we are told that "The Lord was pleased that Solomon had asked for wisdom." (1 Kings 3:10 NLT), and so granted the request.

Yet even Solomon, perhaps because of his God-given wisdom, recognized that we cannot depend solely upon our own understanding. One aspect of this is that there are certain things in this life that we simply will not be able to understand, certain events will occur that just make no sense. Some people will seem to reap undeserved rewards while others will suffer needlessly, or so it would seem to us. Crises will come when least expected, as will signs of grace and kindness from strangers. It quite easily may be that most of what goes on in this life will lie well beyond our ability to grasp and understand. Solomon says that's OK, don't depend on being able to understand. But he also warns us not to even try. He not only tells us we will not be able to comprehend the true meaning behind most of what goes on around us, he tells he we should not even try. Instead, we are to trust in God, assured that He knows the meaning behind every event that occurs. We are to turn to God in prayer and ask what He would have us do, how we should respond to whatever happens. And when we do so, He will show us the path to take. How? Jesus explains: "When Jesus spoke again to the people, he said, 'I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will never walk in darkness, but will have the light of life.'" (John 8:11-13 NIV)

Depending on where you are in your life, that "explanation" may be either confusing or an oversimplification. If you are not sure about this man named Jesus, and certainly not ready to call Him God, then saying that by following Jesus we can find how God would have us react to a given situation might easily come across as being overly simple-minded, an easy way out of explaining a great mystery. Or it might simply confuse you, especially if you question the existence of God in the first place. In that case, this could be considered a circular argument with no true answer. At the other extreme, if you are firmly on the path Jesus laid for us, then you realize that the best way to discern what God would have you do is by prayerfully studying that very path and how Jesus prepared it for us. Since most of us are probably somewhere in the middle, we can strive to determine God's will for us by carefully reading the Bible to see how others have responded when life overtook them.

Take Paul, for instance. Saul was a Pharisee, and a great persecutor of the early church. He sought out Christians and hauled them off to be tried, many to be put to death. Then Jesus came to him on the road to Damascus and turned his life completely around, even gave him a new name. From that point on, Paul began a life of suffering. He was scorned, shipwrecked, beaten, imprisoned, and finally executed, all because of his belief in Jesus Christ. Apparently, Paul could have avoided most, if not all, of this pain had he simply rejected Jesus as the Messiah, the Risen Savior. Instead, he praised God at every turn, even thanking him for the suffering he endured. The best example of this is given in Paul's second letter to the church in Corinth: "To keep me from becoming conceited because of these surpassingly great revelations, there was given me a thorn in my flesh, a messenger of Satan, to torment me. Three times I pleaded with the Lord to take it away from me. But he said to me, 'My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.' Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ's power may rest on me. That is why, for Christ's sake, I delight in weaknesses, in insults, in hardships, in persecutions, in difficulties. For when I am weak, then I am strong." (2 Corinthians 12:7-10 NIV) There's one clue to know God's response to our seeking His will: when we are weak, He is strong. His loving grace is all we need to get us through this life and on to the rewards of the next. When we are suffering, the power and might of Jesus Christ are resting upon us, protecting us, strengthening us. Paul relates this as a seeming contradiction, yet when we are at our weakest point, that is when God is with us the most, and that is when we are strongest.

Of course the surest way for us to see what Jesus thinks we should do when circumstances overtake us is to study the lessons He taught in the form of parables. The Parable of the Weeds, as related in Matthew 13:24-30, is not just about agriculture or gardening. It tells us what we can look forward to later on. Consider a follower of Christ to be the wheat in the story. The weeds represent those who do not believe, and those who follow Satan. They grow together, alongside each other. At times, it may even look like the weeds are getting more than their share of the riches of the field. But in the end, after the harvest, the wheat is taken into the Master's barn while the weeds are collected, tied into bundles, and burned. That serves as a vivid picture of what awaits us in heaven, or in the lake of fire. So even though it can at times appear that those who break all the rules, who ridicule God, or who pretend to believe in Christ yet act in ways contrary to how Christ would have us act may be getting the better things in life, their gain is short-lived and their penalty is eternal life in torment and agony. But those who truly believe and follow Christ in their belief will be safe and secure for eternity, sharing a home with God.

Consider the short Parable of the Hidden Treasure in the field, and its twin, the Parable of the Pearl. In both cases, a man found a treasure of immense, incomparable worth. So great and wonderful was the treasure, he went and sold everything he had just so he could purchase it and make it his own. The treasure is heaven, an eternity with God. Jesus wants you to know that your reward for believing in Him and following Him will be so great, you should be willing to give up anything and everything in this life in order to secure it. If you must suffer for your belief, it will well be worth the cost. Sell everything you own? Once a rich man approached Jesus, asking what he could do to gain eternal life. He told Jesus he had always followed all the laws of Moses and believed in God. Jesus responded that there was one thing the man lacked, one thing he needed. He must sell all he owns and give it to the poor, then "take up the cross, and follow Me." (Mark 10:17-22) No matter how great we may think the cost is in this life to take up the cross and follow Jesus, the reward for doing so is beyond our wildest imaginings.

Or the Parable of the Unforgiving Servant, as recorded in Matthew 18:21-35. The servant owes the king a large sum of money. He begs for more time, promising to pay the king back. The king, in his mercy and compassion, forgives the servant his debt, wiping the slate clean. On his way out, the servant comes across another servant who owes him some small sum. He demands payment. When the second man falls at the first's feet, begging for more time and promising to repay, the first servant is unforgiving and will hear none of it. He has the second man thrown into prison until he can pay. Others witnessed this little episode and reported it to their king, knowing how merciful he had treated the first servant. Upon hearing this story, the king raged at the one whose debt he had forgiven, wondering why he had not forgiven the small debt owned him. In his anger, he had the man turned over to the jailers to be tortured until he repaid his own debt. With this little tale, Jesus tells us that when we are wronged, we should forgive those who have harmed us, just as our Master and King forgives us. If we fail to follow this example, we can expect to pay a much higher price later.

Or look to the story of the prodigal son (Luke 15:11-32), that teaches us, among other things, to accept others with open arms when they return to us, no matter what they may have done to us before, just as our Father accepts us with open arms even though we have sinned against him. Or the Parable of the Good Samaritan (Luke 10:25-37), that instructs us to help those in need and to not judge others because of their race or background or heritage or for any outward reason, but to look to their heart and their belief. Or think of what Jesus said at the big party the Pharisee put on and invited Jesus to attend (Luke 14:1-24). Noting people maneuvering for the best seats, He cautioned them to take those further back and the less comfortable seats, so that they not be asked to move by the Lord of the house unless it be to a better place. He also suggested the host not just invite those who would return the favor by inviting him to their feasts, but to also invite those who could never repay. This is a picture of us, of how we can never repay God for the invitation to heaven He offers. It is only through His love and grace and mercy that we may enter His gates. Jesus paid the price for us that we could never be able to pay.

As a final lesson, consider the Parable of the Workers in the Vineyard (Matthew 20:1-16). The landowner needed men to work in his vineyard. He went out early in the morning and hired some, offering one denarius for the day's labors. Three other times during the day, including up to the eleventh hour, or near the end of the work day with but one hour to go, he went out and hired more hands, offering each the same wage of one denarius. When the day was finally done and it came time to pay, those hired first noticed that the landowner paid the last people hired, those who worked merely an hour, the same wage they were being paid! They were upset that they had worked all day for one denarius while others only worked an hour. The landowner replied that he had paid them what he promised, the rate they had agreed to work for. What he paid the other workers was no one's business but his own. Jesus summed this story up by saying, "So the last will be first, and the first will be last." (Matthew 20:16 (NIV)). But there's more to this message, and it is of critical importance that we understand it. Jesus is saying that no matter when in our lives we come to recognize Him as the Son of God and our Redeemer, no matter how late in life we come to believe in Him, we will receive the same gift of salvation and eternal life as everyone else who believes. If we have doubted for so long, if we have questioned whether God exists or that Jesus is His Son, once we accept that Truth we are assured of our promised wage. Heaven is ours.

Please do not ever forget that good works, and good intentions, alone will not give us a pass into heaven. Jesus said, "I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me." (John 14:6 (NKJV)) Jesus paid the price of admission for us. All we need do is believe in Him. But we show our belief by our acts, our deeds. We admit our belief by following His example. We learn to do so by studying His word and how He and those close to Him reacted to events in their lives. Thank God for His wonderful Word, our users manual for those things in life we simply cannot understand.

Amen.

I Don't Want To Do What I Want To Do

[The following was delivered at St. James Reformed Church, Mt. Pleasant, NC, on Sunday, September 20, 2009.]

"I don't understand why I act the way I do. I don't do what I know is right. I do the things I hate. I know that my selfish desires won't let me do anything that is good. Even when I want to do right, I cannot. Instead of doing what I know is right, I do wrong. And so, if I don't do what I know is right, I am no longer the one doing these evil things. The sin that lives in me is what does them. But in every part of me I discover something fighting against my mind, and it makes me a prisoner of sin that controls everything I do. What a miserable person I am. Who will rescue me from this body that is doomed to die? Thank God! Jesus Christ will rescue me.”

-- Romans 7:15; 18-20; 23-25a (CEV)

Too often I find that I want to do what I really don't want to do. So as it turns out, I don't really want to do what I want to do. Confused? So am I. And so was Paul, when he wrote to the Christians in Rome. "I don't understand why I act the way I do", he said. "I do the things I hate." Does that make sense, to do something we hate? And how could I possibly not want to do something I want to do?

Paul described this as something within every part of his very being fighting against his mind. His words paint a picture of constant conflict: his body in perpetual battle with his brain. He knows what he should do, in his thinking, but his body seems to have a life all its own, a non-thinking mind just trying to do what it wants to do. His body wants to do one thing, but his brain knows it would be better, would be right, to do another.

So while my body, and even my heart, may be screaming, shouting, begging, pleading for something it wants and desires, my head tells me no, that is not for you. What your body asks for is not what it really needs. Trying out those roller blades may look like a lot of fun to your inner child, but your older body will ache and cry tomorrow morning. Your taste buds and salivary glands may be going into overdrive at the sight and smell of that thick juicy steak, but your arteries are already narrowed and you don't really want them completely clogged. What your heart desires today could well lead you on a path leading to the lake of fire come the day of final judgment. And your brain knows that.

What is this affliction that can cause such confusion and ultimate harm? What brings about this combative division between heart and mind? Paul suffered from it, and I admit to being inflicted myself. Have you experienced this? It can be quite painful. What is it? In a word: temptation.

In Genesis we read of the first temptation, as the serpent whispers into Eve's ear. "Go ahead, Dear, eat this fruit. It is so delicious. Besides, the only reason God doesn't want you to eat it is because, if you do, then you will be just like Him, you will know everything He knows, and He couldn't stand to let that happen. Go ahead, take a bite. You'll see." And the serpent deceived Eve, and she ate. She fed some to Adam, and he ate. The knowledge they gained made them feel naked and ashamed. And the chasm between God and His creation opened.

Temptation. Eve and Adam yielded to temptation, and original sin resulted. If we yield, the consequences may not be quite so dire for the entire human race, but they certainly can be for us individually. Each time we give in to a temptation, no matter how small or innocent it may seem, we take a step off the straight and narrow path. The more often we yield, the more difficult it becomes to stay on that path. We make it just a little easier for Satan to tempt us again. We make the next temptation that much easier to rationalize and accept. The further we go, the easier it becomes for the devil to pull us in the direction he wants us to go. Like puppets dancing on the end of strings, he guides our lives further and further from what God would have for us. And somewhere along the line, if we have any free will left, we may realize that we are lost, maybe hopelessly so. We can be drawn so far afield, we may never find our way back.

You need a pen? Take one from work. The company can afford it. Everybody does it. Go ahead, it's just one little pen... mmmmm... Doesn't that huge slice of cake look good! So rich and sweet. You're only a few pounds over your optimal weight, your heart can handle that. Besides, you'll lose that much easily next week. Go ahead, take a bite... Why that so and so! How dare he talk about me like that! I'll just tell everyone how I saw him out drinking and carousing. It's the truth, kind of. They don't have to know I was out with him... I wonder what it would be like to ...

After a while, we can no longer hear the devil's voice in our ear, only our own thoughts posing possibilities and what ifs in our heads. What if I stuffed this sweater in my shopping bag and ran? Would I get caught? What if I kissed that person I have such a crush on, that I know really likes me too? Would my spouse ever know? What if I cheated a little on my taxes and claimed exemptions I don't really have? Would they catch it? What if I eventually turned my back on God? Will it really matter when I die?

Temptation. So easy to fall victim.

Is anyone safe? No, sadly, we are all subject to temptation. Jesus tells us, in Matthew chapter 18 verse 7, "What sorrow awaits the world, because it tempts people to sin. Temptations are inevitable, but what sorrow awaits the person who does the tempting." (Matthew 18:7 (NLT)) In this one verse of scripture, Matthew at least offers a little comfort in that we are not alone. Temptation is inevitable; it cannot be escaped; everyone is subject to it. The world tempts people and the world will pay a price for doing so. Of course, in this regard, the world is ruled by the Evil One and he is the one that will pay. Paul confirms this when he tells the church at Corinth, "The temptations in your life are no different from what others experience." (1 Corinthians 10:13a (NLT)) But Jesus goes on to sternly caution that any person who causes others to fall under temptation's spell will also pay a price in the end; and we can only assume the same cost will be exacted of them as of Satan, and his punishment is to be cast into the lake of fire for eternity. So just a word of warning: while you can expect to be tempted, you had better not be the one found guilty of tempting others!

Much of the temptation we face today is brought about by societal pressure. Our culture has gradually shifted more toward a self-centered attitude, with greater and greater demands upon and expectations of instant gratification. I want it bigger and better and I want it now! Rather than deferring a desire for a time when we can better afford it, and in that regard I don't just mean financially, we seek to receive the coveted prize immediately, whether we can afford it yet or deserve it yet or even if we shouldn't really have it at all. Our older generation knows the value of deferred gratification. It allows us to do things in their proper order, at their proper time. And it gives us the opportunity to stop and think about whether we truly should have what we so desperately want. An underlying attitude of entitled instant gratification provides a fertile ground in which to sew seeds of temptation.

Every Sunday we pray to our Father in heaven, "Lead us not into temptation". But God does not lead us astray. God does not tempt us. If our own common sense did not reassure us of this, the Bible does. In his first chapter, verses 12 through 14, James tells us, "God blesses those who patiently endure testing and temptation. Afterward they will receive the crown of life that God has promised to those who love Him. And remember, when you are being tempted, do not say, 'God is tempting me.' God is never tempted to do wrong, and He never tempts anyone else. Temptation comes from our own desires, which entice us and drag us away." (James 1:12-14 (NLT)) Did you notice the deferred gratification there, the reward? "Afterward", James says, after they have endured temptation, "they will receive the crown of life".

Many may remember Flip Wilson, a very funny and very popular comedian back in the 60's and 70's. One of Flip's most loved and most often used lines was "The devil made me do it!". Anything his character did wrong, the devil was to blame. It turns out this is closer to the truth than we may have thought. While Flip's comedic treatment of sin gave us something to laugh at, it can also serve as a warning to us still today.

Temptation comes from Satan, who wishes nothing more than to entice us and drag us away from God. Just as he tempted Eve and Adam and succeeded, he tried to tempt Jesus, but failed. "Turn these stones into bread. Throw Yourself from the heights so the angels will swoop down to save You. Prove you are the Son of God. Better yet, bow down and worship me and I will give You the world!" Such enticements, who could refuse the offer of the world? Jesus could, and did. Three times Satan tempted Jesus, and three times he failed. Matthew reports quite simply that after the third attempt, "Then the devil left Him." We can expect to be tempted far more than three times. Nor should we think the devil will ever leave us alone, not as long as we draw breath.

But there is hope, there is promise. Paul gave us the answer in the same breath as the diagnosis. Jesus is the answer! He will rescue us. The cross upon which He died became the bridge spanning the chasm that opened on that fateful day when Eve and Adam fell prey to temptation. Finishing verse 13 of chapter 10 in his first letter to the church at Corinth, begun above and repeated here, Paul assures us that, "The temptations in your life are no different from what others experience. And God is faithful. He will not allow the temptation to be more than you can stand. When you are tempted, He will show you a way out so that you can endure." (1 Corinthians 10:13 (NLT)) What is that way out? Jesus Himself told us, as recorded by Matthew: "'Keep watch and pray, so that you will not give in to temptation. For the spirit is willing, but the body is weak.'" (Matthew 26:41 (NLT))

When you hear Satan's voice, stop and pray. If you feel a temptation coming, ask God for strength to resist. God knows we will be tempted, every one of us. Jesus knows that even if our spirit is willing, our flesh is weak. Paul realized that while he knows in his mind what is right, his flesh screams for him to do what is wrong. We know for certain that there are, and that there always will be, times when we just don't want to do what we want to do. Prayer and trust in God will get us through those times.


Thank God! Jesus Christ will rescue us.

Amen.

Hope

"What strength do I have, that I should hope? And what is my end, that I should prolong my life?”

-- Job 6:11 (NKJV)

Darkness enfolds me like a cold, damp blanket. Despair settles in. I can see no way out, no means of escape. No matter what I try, things only get worse. Injury is heaped upon injury, illness upon illness, disaster follows disaster. Each turn presents a new wall to surmount, each twist a different blocked alley to confuse my way. My strength fails me. No one understands, no one cares. My friends left my side, one by one. I feel betrayed. Lost, cold, alone, I blindly stumble through each day as if walking through a dense fog, simply waiting for the next trip and fall, having forgotten even the sense of dread. Hopelessness overwhelms me as if waves crashing over my head. I awake each morning to the desolate landscape of my spirit. Where is my rest, where is my relief? Why won't the end just hurry up and come?

Job knew this feeling well. Satan pointed to Job as an example of the kind of fair-weather worshipper mankind is. As long as everything was going good for him, as it was for Job at that time, then man would worship God and praise Him. But man is only driven by self-interest, Satan says. Let things suddenly go sour, let him lose all that is important to him, and man will turn from God and curse Him. Satan dared God to let him carry Job off into the darkness of despair and see just how quickly he abandons God. God accepted the challenge, and so began perhaps the most remarkable experiment recorded in the Bible.

Job literally became the battleground for this conflict between God and Satan. Satan started stripping Job of everything he had accumulated over the years. All of his livestock are taken or destroyed in a drawn out series of events. All of his children are killed in one stroke. Job pretty much accepts all of this in stride, knowing he brought nothing into this world and would carry nothing out of it. In Job 1:21 he says that the Lord gives and the Lord takes away. This reaction is not what Satan expected, or wanted, so he pressed God to allow him to go further in his torment of Job, inflicting physical pain and suffering to go along with the emotional distress and loss of possessions. Boils cover Job from head to foot. Miserable, confused, Job waits them out, still holding fast to his trust in God. His wife loses her faith finally and asks why doesn't he just go ahead and curse God and die, to get out of the agony. Job now has to stand alone, but remains faithful to God.

Then come three friends, determined to talk some sense into Job. Their intent is to examine and answer the question, "Why do senseless tragedies afflict men?". Most of the book centers on this discourse. They sit back and smugly address Job and his woes, assured that Job's problems all arose because he had committed some awful sin. They compared their own cleanliness to his afflictions. They noted how none of them had lost livestock or children, none of their wives had turned on them. They had not sinned, so God was still good to them. Since God was treating Job so horribly, he must have sinned in some terrible way. They argue that if God is indeed just, then the righteous are always blessed and the wicked always suffer.

Job's despair deepens. He does not know what to think or do, for it seems God no longer hears his pleas, his prayers. Confusion, bewilderment, anger, hurt, frustration all play within him in turn. Yet throughout it all he remains honest, he blurts out what is in him, the truth that he knows. He refuses to admit to what he cannot accept. Even as he feels God has abandoned him, he never loses his faith in God. This is clearly evident in chapter 19, verse 25, when he proclaims, "For I know that my Redeemer lives". He cries out for someone to mediate for him, to go to God on his behalf. In this bitter, blackest hour, Job sees a point of light far off in the unknown future. He has no name for this Light, but we know that Job sees the coming of Jesus Christ (Job 19:25-26). In this he takes his hope and his comfort. Jesus is that Mediator Job pleaded for, the only One who can stand beside us, stand for us, when we face God.

And finally, God answers Job, responds to his prayers. God takes Job on a grand tour of creation, showing Job just how unqualified he is to debate God on any subject, let alone on why God would do this or not do that. As the overwhelming wisdom and power of God becomes more and more evident, Job falls on his face and begs forgiveness. Basically, God is saying that life is far to complicated for simple answers. Man is not capable of dealing with the complex issues that Job is raising. Bluntly, God's message is that only God has the right to use His creation for whatever reason or purpose he desires. Man was created by God, not the other way around. God does not exist for man, man exists for and because of God. Only God has the wisdom necessary to the task of running all of creation, and God is always in control. We must trust God to work out these complicated problems of life, knowing that He will keep all in balance, and in the end our wonderful Savior will mediate our case for us.

And then God did a remarkable thing: He showed Job His grace. First He asked Job to pray for his friends, that their hearts might be softened and opened to the truth. And then God returned to Job twice what was taken from him. God doubled the livestock lost, and gave Job seven more sons and three more daughters to match the seven sons and three daughters now living in heaven. But perhaps the greatest gift was that glimpse into the future, where Job could see his and our Salvation.

So what about that question of why do senseless tragedies befall men? It is answered fairly early in the book of Job. All human suffering can be traced back to Satan constantly challenging the authority of God. God may not always answer our questions, primarily because we may not be able to grasp His response. But He is always in charge, He is always in control. And in the end Satan will no longer be around, but God will remain at our side.

Job asked "What strength do I have, that I should hope?". God answered by showing him the coming of Jesus our Mediator, the One of whom the Apostle Paul speaks when he proclaims, "I can do all things through Christ, who strengthens me." (Philippians 4:13) In Christ we gain strength, in Christ we have hope. Job wonders "What is my end, that I should prolong my life?". He was shown that end: being with God and Christ. It is by God's hands we are brought into this world, it must be by God's hands we are taken from it, not by our own. Glory awaits us.

In the blackest night, in the depths of despair, when strength fails and hope flees, look for that pinpoint of Light gleaming through the darkness. Look to the Lamb who washed you clean of your sins. Reach out for the Mediator who will stand in your defense when you face the ultimate Judge. Look to Christ, and know that our Redeemer lives.

Amen.

Washed in the Blood

Then one of the elders spoke to me. "Who are these people dressed in white robes?" he asked. "Where did they come from?" I answered, "Sir, you know." He said, "They are the ones who have come out of the time of terrible suffering. They have washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb."

-- Revelation 7:13-14 (NIRV)

The old hymn swept into my head and played there, filling my mind with vivid imagery, reminding me of why our Lord Savior allowed Himself to be beaten and hung upon a cross...

Would you be whiter, much whiter than snow?
There’s power in the blood, power in the blood;
Sin stains are lost in its life giving flow.
There’s wonderful power in the blood.

There is power, power, wonder working power
In the blood of the Lamb;
There is power, power, wonder working power
In the precious blood of the Lamb.

John experienced vivid imagery also, while exiled there on the isle of Patmos. The Lord came to John and showed him the future, the time when Jesus would come again to claim His church. John saw horrible events and unspeakable creatures tormenting those walking the earth during the days before Christ's return. Earthquakes, fire from the sky, unworldly warriors striking people down left and right. He stood as the stuff of nightmares unfolded around him. As the devastation began and the horsemen were loosed upon the world, he listened as one angel warned others, "Do not harm the land or the sea or trees" until 144,000 that serve God were marked with seals upon their foreheads, 12,000 from each of the twelve tribes of Israel, the twelve sons of Jacob.

But then he looked and in front of him appeared a huge crowd of people, so many that no one could count them, from every nation, tribe, people and language of the earth. They were all wearing white robes, much whiter than snow.

Not just 144,000, not just from the sons of Jacob, not just the children of Abraham, but more people than can be counted and from all corners of the earth they came. All washed white in the blood of the Lamb. All washed clean of their sins by the wonder working power in the blood of the Lamb. You and I, all of us can be part of that mighty throng.

Only one question remains. Our hymn asks it of us all...

Would you do service for Jesus your King?
There’s power in the blood, power in the blood;
Would you live daily His praises to sing?
There’s wonderful power in the blood.

Do we serve Jesus? It seems so little to ask for what we are given, but do we even sing His praises so that others may hear and know how great is our Lord? We serve our Savior by following His teachings, by loving each other as He loves us, as God loves Him. We sing His praises by living our lives as an open example of how He lived, of how He would have us live. We serve and we sing by sharing His word, by spreading the Gospel of our risen King. We serve and we sing by helping others wash their robes in the precious blood of the spotless Lamb.

There is power, power, wonder working power, for you and for me, in the precious blood of the Lamb.

Amen.

We Plead With You

We then, as workers together with Him also plead with you not to receive the grace of God in vain.

-- 2 Corinthians 6:1

Paul packed a huge amount of information in that one short sentence. It contains an overall plea not take lightly the wonderful gift God has given us, but also several other messages of equal importance. Let's take this apart and try to get all the goodness out of it we can.

Although this verse comes to us from Second Corinthians, many Bible scholars consider this to actually be Paul's third letter to the church in Corinth, the second being long since lost and not included in the scriptures. Remember that Paul started the church in Corinth and stayed there for nearly two years, eventually turning it over to the young disciple Timothy. The first letter addressed issues Paul saw arise in the church after he left it. The second is suspected to be a scathing reply to the church as they failed to heed Paul's cautionary message in the first letter. Perhaps this message carried a little too much emotion or fire, or maybe it was too narrowly focused so as not to be suited for the universal audience that the Bible was intended, and that is why it has been lost to us. Whatever the reason, the text of Second Corinthians seems to indicate a previous letter was delivered, received, and acted upon by the church members and that they now were following Paul's instructions. This third letter was then to let them know they were doing the right thing but that they should now forgive the offender that caused so much trouble before and allow him back into the church.

In this verse, when Paul uses the word "we", he could be directly referring to himself and Timothy, and possibly including Titus, another disciple who served as messenger in carrying these letters, or he could be implying all of us, the entire body of Christ left on earth, His whole church. In either case, it is clear he considers this message important enough that he shows that others are in agreement with the plea, that others share the concern of the message. We plead with you, not just myself but my friends and colleagues also, and maybe the entire church. We all care about you and want you to be pleasing to God.

And who are we? We are workers, together, with Him. Those four words, workers together with Him, should make everyone who tries to follow Christ's example fall humbled to their knees and swell up with pride both at the same time! We are workers. We don't simply sit on the sidelines watching, we don't lean on a shovel while others toil, we don't sit at the table waiting to be fed while others toil in the field. We are workers. We work together. Two can accomplish more together than they could ever effect alone, and many working together, united as one, with one common goal, can show truly wondrous results from their efforts. We not only work together, friends side by side, but we also work with Him, with Christ, with God. We don't work _for_ Christ, we work _with_ Him. He toils right alongside us. Doesn't that fill you with pride, that the God of all creation would be willing to work right beside you in the fields of humanity to harvest souls? But doesn't that also humble you, to know that our risen Savior would so lower Himself to labor with you?

Paul cared so much about the church in Corinth that it was important to him that they not think he was trying to tell them what to do, even though he was. Too much was at stake for them to turn a deaf ear. Too great was his love for the people, the congregation, that they ignore advice. So what could he do but beg them to listen? When we pray, we should always remember to thank God for all He gives us, but we also almost always ask for something we or our loved ones need. We plead with Him, please Father help us in this trial. It was in this manner that Paul addressed the church in his letter: he wanted them to understand he was praying, that he was pleading with them. By extension, he and the other disciples and all of the church of our Lord are pleading with all of us to heed this message, to pay attention to these words.

And that message is to caution us not to receive the grace of God in vain. How can we receive God's grace in vain? Everyone who has ever given a gift to an unappreciative recipient can answer this. Have you known someone who takes the gift and squanders or wastes it to where they get little or nothing from it in the end? They have received that gift in vain, for it did them no good. God's grace is the most wonderful, beautiful gift anyone could ever receive. It is given freely to everyone, yet deserved by none. Nothing we could possibly do would ever merit such a gift, no amount of gold could ever equal its worth. The price of the gift has already been paid, at horrendous cost: the blood of our pure and living Savior. This is a gift not to be taken lightly, a treasure not to be squandered wastefully, but one to be savored and rejoiced over, one to be shared with everyone we come across, one made perfect on the cross. That gift is our salvation, our freedom from death, a life of eternity spent at the foot of our Lord.

Thank Paul for his insistent warning. Thank God for His grace and faithfulness. Amen.

Your Servant Hears

Now the Lord came and stood and called as at other times, “Samuel! Samuel!” And Samuel answered, “Speak, for Your servant hears.”

-- 1 Samuel 3:10

When Samuel was a young man, he studied under Eli, an established prophet and teacher among the Israelites. God seldom spoke directly to people in this period. In fact, the third chapter of First Samuel starts out by saying that "the word of the Lord was rare in those days; there was no widespread revelation." (1 Samuel 3:1b) So when God called out to Samuel in the night, he mistook the voice as being that of his teacher Eli summoning him. So he got up and ran to Eli, eagerly saying "Here I am, for you called me." (1 Samuel 3:5b) Of course it was not Eli that called, and he told Samuel so. After repeating this little performance three times, Eli finally realized that it was God calling Samuel, so he instructed the boy in what to say if he should hear the voice again. Sure enough, God called Samuel yet again, and more insistently. This time Samuel knew it was the Lord thanks to Eli and answered "Speak, for Your servant hears." (1 Samuel 3:10c)

We again find ourselves in a period in history where God seldom speaks directly to His people. Since God came down to earth to walk among us as Jesus Christ then ascended once again into heaven, we have little written record of authority of anyone hearing God's voice after the Apostles. Saul clearly heard God when struck blind on the road to Damascus. And John was "in the Spirit" on the Lord's Day while in exile on the island of Patmos when he heard a loud voice that related to him the Revelation of Jesus Christ. But generally we tend to question the sanity of anyone who claims that God had spoken to them, especially if they accompany that claim with some act they were instructed to carry out.

Yet how many of us have not felt as if God indeed talked to us? This sensation comes not necessarily in a voice one can hear with their ears, with sound waves compressing the air and carrying their message to and through our eardrums. Do we not have a fairly common saying in our culture about "our calling", often as regards "fulfilling our calling" or "practicing our calling" or the like? Do we not talk to God each time we pray?

But talking is not quite the same as communicating. Good communication requires that we talk and then listen for a response. When we pray, do we really expect an answer? We should, but we must listen for God's reply. We should remain still and silent so we can sense God's voice, His call. When God speaks to us, He waits for our response, for our answer.

God may not shout our names out loud in the middle of the night (although He certainly might). He may simply whisper to us in the rustle of leaves, the soft murmur of a baby, the constant beat of waves upon the shore. Whenever the time, whatever the purpose, whichever the means, our God and Master will call out to us. Will we ignore His pleadings for our attention, or will we humbly respond as Eli instructed Samuel?

Speak, Lord, for Your servant hears.

Amen.

Give Unto the Lord

"Give unto the Lord, O you mighty ones, give unto the Lord glory and strength."

-- Psalm 29:1 (NKJV)

David first came onto the Biblical scene as a young lad who looked after the family's sheep. God looked into his heart and commanded Samuel to anoint him as a chosen of God. Shortly afterwards, God used David and the skill with a sling he learned while watching over the sheep to slay the giant Goliath and free the Israelites from a great threat. David grew, learned many things, increased in power and influence, strayed from the Lord's side, eventually found his way back to God, and eventually became the greatest king of the descendants of Abraham and a direct ancestor of our risen Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. Warrior, poet, king. When he penned this chapter in his book of Psalms, none were more mighty than he.

Perhaps it was through his trials and travails, because of his straying from God before realizing his great mistake and returning to bow at our Father's feet, that he came to understand that even the mightiest man is still just that: a man. No matter what he could accomplish, no matter how many armies he could defeat, no matter how eloquent the words he could pass down for the ages, he could never come close to matching the power of God, and he knew this with certainty. He had fallen and only God's wonderful grace and mercy had picked him up and allowed him to stand once again.

David is accustomed to having his commands obeyed without question, but here you can almost hear him beseeching us to listen to his words, to follow his advice. He pleads with us to give to God all glory.

But who does David address this command, this plea? He says it clearly: "O you mighty ones". The meek, the humble, those who are used to having little voice in the matters of the world tend to already heed this call. They understand that God is the greatest power and they readily bow down to Him. They know how good and gracious He is, for without His mercy they would perish. But the mighty ones, the powerful rulers of the earth, too often forget just where their power originates. They credit themselves and their own efforts with their successes. They feel that the might of their arms give them the right of rule. Who should they bow before? No one! David cautions them to think otherwise. His words shout, "Look at me, the mightiest king you have ever known! Yet even I sing praises to our Lord on high. Even I bow before God."

David also tells us to give not only all glory to God, but our strength as well. Again, he directs this primarily to the mighty ones, for the weak of his day, and ours as well, have little strength to share. But the mighty have much strength that they can bring to bear in any given situation. David admonishes them to use that strength in service to our Lord. Rather than use their might in gaining dominion over men, they should turn that power they wield into service to God.

What great things could be accomplished today if the mighty were simply to follow David's command? What if the political and economic rulers all gave God the glory and used their strengths to serve Him? It is easy for us to sit back and think these powerful and rich men should do more. But today, and especially in the free world, many of us have more power and wealth than our counterparts in David's time could have even imagined. How do we use our influence, where do we pour our dollars, on what do we exert our efforts, how do we share our talents?

David assures us that even if we fail to give God what is due Him, he will not fail us. He finishes this Psalm with a promise: "The Lord will give strength to His people; the Lord will bless His people with peace." (Psalm 29:11) God is ever faithful to us no matter what we do, because His love for us is deep and abiding.

To God be all glory and all strength. Amen.

According to Your Faith

[The following was delivered at St. James Reformed Church, Mt. Pleasant, NC, on Sunday, April 19, 2009.]

So He got into a boat, crossed over, and came to His own city. Then behold, they brought to Him a paralytic lying on a bed. When Jesus saw their faith, He said to the paralytic, "Son, be of good cheer; your sins are forgiven you." And at once some of the scribes said within themselves, "This Man blasphemes!" But Jesus, knowing their thoughts, said, "Why do you think evil in your hearts? For which is easier, to say, 'Your sins are forgiven you,' or to say, 'Arise and walk'? But that you may know that the Son of Man has power on earth to forgive sins" — then He said to the paralytic, "Arise, take up your bed, and go to your house." And he arose and departed to his house. Now when the multitudes saw it, they marveled and glorified God, who had given such power to men.

While He spoke these things to them, behold, a ruler came and worshiped Him, saying, "My daughter has just died, but come and lay Your hand on her and she will live." So Jesus arose and followed him, and so did His disciples. And suddenly, a woman who had a flow of blood for twelve years came from behind and touched the hem of His garment. For she said to herself, "If only I may touch His garment, I shall be made well." But Jesus turned around, and when He saw her He said, "Be of good cheer, daughter; your faith has made you well." And the woman was made well from that hour. When Jesus came into the ruler's house, and saw the flute players and the noisy crowd wailing, He said to them, "Make room, for the girl is not dead, but sleeping." And they ridiculed Him. But when the crowd was put outside, He went in and took her by the hand, and the girl arose. And the report of this went out into all that land.

When Jesus departed from there, two blind men followed Him, crying out and saying, "Son of David, have mercy on us!" And when He had come into the house, the blind men came to Him. And Jesus said to them, "Do you believe that I am able to do this?" They said to Him, "Yes, Lord." Then He touched their eyes, saying, "According to your faith let it be to you." And their eyes were opened. And Jesus sternly warned them, saying, "See that no one knows it." But when they had departed, they spread the news about Him in all that country.

Then Jesus went about all the cities and villages, teaching in their synagogues, preaching the gospel of the kingdom, and healing every sickness and every disease among the people. But when He saw the multitudes, He was moved with compassion for them, because they were weary and scattered, like sheep having no shepherd. Then He said to His disciples, "The harvest truly is plentiful, but the laborers are few. Therefore pray the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into His harvest."

-- Matthew 9:1-8, 18-31, 35-38 [NKJV]

The dictionary defines "faith" as confidence or trust in a person or thing, such as faith in another person's ability; belief that is not based on proof; belief in anything; an obligation of loyalty or fidelity to a person, promise, or engagement and the observance of such an obligation; fidelity to one's promise, oath, or allegiance; the trust in God and in His promises as made through Christ and the Scriptures by which humans are justified or saved. The Bible also has a definition of faith. In the eleventh chapter of his letter to the Hebrews, verses one through three, Paul wrote, "Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen. For by it the elders obtained a good testimony. By faith we understand that the worlds were framed by the word of God, so that the things which are seen were not made of things which are visible." (This last verse is a remarkable sentence. God did not scoop up a double handful of something and use it to bring all of existence into being. No, He simply spoke the word, and the heavens and the earth were created. So everything that is, all that we see, had its origins as a word from God.) In this chapter, Paul was writing a commentary on an even older message, one delivered by Habakkuk in his Chapter 2, verse 4: "Behold the proud, his soul is not upright in him; but the just shall live by his faith." "The just shall live by his faith." It is believed that this short verse lit a fire in the heart of Martin Luther, leading to the great Protestant Reformation. Paul further expanded and amplified it in the books of Romans, which looks at "the just", or the justified, in Ephesians, which takes up "shall live", and here in Hebrews, where Paul addresses the last two words, "by faith".

But just what do we mean by "faith"? I remember from the hippie days of the '60s and '70s, people would say "Keep the faith, man." And in the '80s, one of the slogans in vogue during the United States hockey team's improbable run to an Olympic gold medal was "You gotta have faith." But neither case had any religious overtones. One referred to the fact that the war in Vietnam could be brought to an end and the other gave us hope in a group of men achieving a previously unattainable goal. But I would prefer to talk about that last dictionary definition, and the one Paul gives us in his letter. I want to talk about our faith in God.

I think faith can sometimes be a confusing subject. We hear people say "if I only had enough faith" as they try to explain what they could do if only their faith were stronger. But faith does not come from anything within itself. It isn't some thing that can be amassed and added on to if needed. You can't just run out to the corner store and buy some extra faith if your stock suddenly runs low. As it turns out, that's OK, because the quantity of faith one has is not nearly as important as the quality of faith. Matthew and Luke both recorded an exchange Jesus had with some disciples who were unable to call a demon from a young boy. The father had brought the boy to the disciples saying that he had seizures and often fell into the fire or the water. The father feared for his son's life. But the disciples were unable to help. In Chapter 17, verse 20, Matthew records how Jesus responded when they asked why could they not draw out the demon: "So Jesus said to them, 'Because of your unbelief; for assuredly, I say to you, if you have faith as a mustard seed, you will say to this mountain, "Move from here to there," and it will move; and nothing will be impossible for you.'" We know from another parable Jesus used just how small a mustard seed is: barely visible. Could faith that small really cause a mountain to move?

Yes, because our strength of faith comes from the very object in which we place it. What you put your faith in makes all the difference in the world. What if we were in a burning building and I pulled out a spool of thread and started tying it around your waist while saying "I'll lower you to safety."? How much faith do you think you would put in that length of thread? Now what if I pulled out a good long length of one-inch diameter rope, and tied that around you? Would you have a little more faith in my being able to lower you safely to the ground? Would you have more faith in the thread being able to support your weight, or the rope?

Since faith is tied directly to belief, we need to frequently ask ourselves what do we believe in. We believe the rope is stronger than the thread, so we put our faith in it. We believe the churchgoing politician so we put our faith in them and give them our vote. We believe our car is safe and sound so we have faith in it to carry ourselves and our loved ones down the highway. In some cases, we have enough faith in some thing or some one to stake our lives on it. But would we stake our eternal lives on any of these, on any material object or any human being or other creature? Anything man makes is subject to fail. The strongest rope can suddenly snap. The best made and maintained car can still malfunction. Our household pet can turn on us and bite us given the right circumstances. Man himself is fallible. We were not created that way. We became flawed of our own will and action. You could say that Adam and Eve did not believe entirely in God when He told them not to eat from the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil or they would surely die. We humans can and do fail. How many times have you put your faith and trust in someone, only to have them let you down, hurt you, betray your trust?

So we are often quite willing to put our faith, our very lives and the lives of the ones we love most, into something or someone that in all probability may fail us. Sure, we may have no other choice. And we might stack the odds in our favor as much as possible, like keeping good tires on the car all the time. But we are still putting some level of faith into something that can and will fail us given the correct set of conditions. How strong can such a faith truly be?

That leaves but one place where we should place our faith without hesitation and without fear of betrayal: in God. If we freely and fully put our faith in God the Father, the Son, the Holy Spirit, then our faith will be as large and strong and ample as it could possibly be, for God will not fail us. He never has and never will. He has always kept His every promise. The Bible is full of examples and every time, every single time, God has kept His promise to us, His children. Think about it: He looked down and said "I'm going to clean up this mess but I'm not going to destroy everything", so He told Noah to build a boat. Sure enough, the world was flooded, His creation was cleaned but not destroyed. A promise made, a promise kept. He told Moses "Go back and tell that king in Egypt to let My children go. Don't worry... I'll give you the words to say and some tricks to back it all up", and that He indeed did, including the staff that could turn into a snake and back into a staff again. A promise made, a promise kept. He told the Israelites they had better turn back to Him or there would be a great price to pay. They didn't, and there was. He brought down the armies of Assyria and Babylon to defeat the Jews and carry them off into slavery, dispersing some of the tribes forever. God has also kept His word on the good stuff as well as the warnings. He said He would give us a great gift, the ultimate sacrifice, so that we could believe in Him and have eternal life with Him. And He gave us Jesus Christ. A promise made, a promise kept.

Everywhere you look in the Bible, God has kept His promises to us. In 1 John 1:9, John tells us that God is faithful and just. Deuteronomy chapter 7 verse 9 speaks of "the faithful God who keeps covenant and mercy for a thousand generations with those who love Him and keep His commandments". In chapter 9 verse 33, Nehemiah admits that God is "just in all that has befallen us; for You have dealt faithfully, but we have done wickedly." The beautiful Psalms nearly overflow with praises and songs to God's faithfulness. In First Corinthians chapter 1 verse 9, Paul assures us "God is faithful, by whom you were called into the fellowship of His Son, Jesus Christ our Lord." And again in Second Thesalonians chapter 3 verse 3: "But the Lord is faithful, who will establish you and guard you from the evil one." Over and over, again and again, in verse after verse, in Old Testament and New, we are assured of God's faithfulness to us more times than we can number.

In an unattributed quote, Ray Stedman, one of the foremost pastors and biblical expositors of the twentieth century, once said: "Even the weakest believer holds in his hands all that the mightiest saint ever possessed." He was talking about faith, and the faithfulness of God. It gets back to that mustard seed Jesus told us about. The only thing that really matters is what you put your faith in. If you put your faith in God, you can do anything.

And if we want examples from outside the Bible, all we need do is look around us today. Spring marks rebirth of the earth. Flowers blossom, leaves pop out on tree limbs, birds sing, and the world awakens from its winter nap. Just as Christ was resurrected from the grave, the earth is resurrected from the cold of winter and given new life. Summer finds us toiling to coax as much production out of the ground as possible, just in time for the grand harvest in fall before the winter rest. And then the cycle repeats with rebirth in spring. Since God willed it, season has followed season and forever will until He comes again for one final, eternal spring. Day follows night. Birth follows death. The grand cycle of the universe follows God's will as testimony to His faithfulness.

I am reminded of the hymn:

Great is Thy faithfulness, O God my Father;
There is no shadow of turning with Thee;
Thou changest not, Thy compassions, they fail not;
As Thou hast been, Thou forever will be.

Great is Thy faithfulness!
Great is Thy faithfulness!
Morning by morning new mercies I see.
All I have needed Thy hand hath provided;
Great is Thy faithfulness, Lord, unto me!

But what does God's faithfulness to us mean? It means God has faith in us. He knows we are flawed, but He knows when we are really trying hard not to be. He has faith that we will do the right thing, even when we let him down time after time after time. He has faith in us because we are His children. Just as any parent loves and has faith in their child, God's undying and unconditional love for us translates into an unshakable faith in us.

In Luke chapter 18, verses 7 and 8, Jesus offers yet one more assurance of our Savior's faithfulness, then asks a frightening question. "And shall God not avenge His own elect who cry out day and night to Him, though He bears long with them? I tell you that He will avenge them speedily. Nevertheless, when the Son of Man comes, will He really find faith on the earth?"

We have a Father who loves us, unconditionally and without hesitation. He always has been faithful to us and always will be. He has always kept His promises and provided for all our needs. There is no more powerful force in all of existence than He, nor will there ever be. Place your faith in God, and He will never fail you.

Have faith.

Amen.