A Day of Rest

[The following is a manuscript of my sermon delivered on Sunday morning, the 27th of August, 2017.  Look for the video on our Vimeo channel:  http://vimeo.com/pilgrimreformedchurch.]

One of the things my pastor brothers and I always mention when the subject of sermons comes up is “just preach Jesus”.  Jesus Himself commands us to go into the world making disciples and teaching the Gospel to all peoples.  Well, the Gospel is the Good News, and salvation through Christ Jesus is that Good News.  So preaching Jesus is one way to carry out His commission to us.

This morning we have a lot going on and a meal will be ready for us soon, so I thought what better way is there to preach Jesus than to let Him do most of the talking.  And I’d like to begin with one of the many lessons He provided us.  This one centers around yet another attempt by the Pharisees to catch Jesus breaking the Law of Moses, the commands of God.  Listen and follow along as I read the Gospel account of the Apostle Mark from the New King James Version of our Holy Bible, beginning in chapter 2 verse 23 and going through chapter 3 verse 8…

2:23 Now it happened that He went through the grainfields on the Sabbath; and as they went His disciples began to pluck the heads of grain. 24 And the Pharisees said to Him, “Look, why do they do what is not lawful on the Sabbath?”

25 But He said to them, “Have you never read what David did when he was in need and hungry, he and those with him: 26 how he went into the house of God in the days of Abiathar the high priest, and ate the showbread, which is not lawful to eat except for the priests, and also gave some to those who were with him?”

27 And He said to them, “The Sabbath was made for man, and not man for the Sabbath. 28 Therefore the Son of Man is also Lord of the Sabbath.”

3:1 And He entered the synagogue again, and a man was there who had a withered hand. 2 So they watched Him closely, whether He would heal him on the Sabbath, so that they might accuse Him. 3 And He said to the man who had the withered hand, “Step forward.” 4 Then He said to them, “Is it lawful on the Sabbath to do good or to do evil, to save life or to kill?” But they kept silent. 5 And when He had looked around at them with anger, being grieved by the hardness of their hearts, He said to the man, “Stretch out your hand.” And he stretched it out, and his hand was restored as whole as the other. 6 Then the Pharisees went out and immediately plotted with the Herodians against Him, how they might destroy Him.

7 But Jesus withdrew with His disciples to the sea. And a great multitude from Galilee followed Him, and from Judea 8 and Jerusalem and Idumea and beyond the Jordan; and those from Tyre and Sidon, a great multitude, when they heard how many things He was doing, came to Him.

--Mark 2:23-3:8 (NKJV)

Let us pray…  Father God, You gave Your Son great authority on earth to work Your plan for mankind, yet those in positions of influence refused to accept Jesus’ authority or His holy birthright.  Speak to us now through Your Holy Spirit directly into our hearts, that we might receive and understand what the Pharisees would not.  Imprint Your message on our hearts that we, like Jesus, might better work Your will in our lives.  In the blessed name of Jesus we pray.   Amen.


In ancient Athens, a man once noticed the great storyteller Aesop playing childish games with some little boys.  The man laughed and jeered at Aesop, asking him why he wasted his time in such frivolous activity.

Aesop responded by picking up a bow, loosening its string, and placing it on the ground.  Then he said to the critical man, "Now, answer this riddle, if you can.  Tell us what the unstrung bows implies."

The man looked at it for several moments but had no idea what point Aesop was trying to make.  Aesop explained, "If you keep a bow always bent, it will break eventually; but if you let it go slack, it will be more fit for use when you need it."


This crazy world we live in delights in heaping loads of stress onto our backs.  Even those of us fortunate enough to be retired and no longer “working” easily get stressed out.  There is just so much going on, so many demands of our time and efforts, we simply can’t avoid stress.

We become like Aesop’s bow before he removed the string: overly taut with the tension of stress.  The more stress we endure, the tighter that string pulls.  Until finally, we break.

Like everything else in this life, God has an answer for this stress, for removing the string from the bow.  He gave us that answer right here in our Bible, our Basic Instructions Before Leaving Earth.  Rest.  Take a day each week and do nothing but rest.  In the Book of Exodus, chapter 20, verses 8 through 11, Moses recorded God’s words to His people when He commanded…

8 “Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy. 9 Six days you shall labor and do all your work, 10 but the seventh day is the Sabbath of the Lord your God. In it you shall do no work: you, nor your son, nor your daughter, nor your male servant, nor your female servant, nor your cattle, nor your stranger who is within your gates. 11 For in six days the Lord made the heavens and the earth, the sea, and all that is in them, and rested the seventh day. Therefore the Lord blessed the Sabbath day and hallowed it."

--Exodus 20:8-11 (NKJV)

Now the Pharisees questioned Jesus about this, as we read in Mark’s Gospel account a few moments ago.  They thought that the Disciples plucking grain to eat as they walked along the road on the Sabbath to be doing work and breaking the Law of Moses.  And then they questioned if healing the man with a crippled hand wasn’t breaking the Law too.  In turn, Jesus asked His accusers if it is lawful to do good on the Sabbath, or to do evil, to save a life or to kill, and I think we’d all agree it should be lawful to do good on the Sabbath, especially if it would save a life.

But the clincher is Jesus’ response that mankind was not made for the benefit of the Sabbath, but that the Sabbath was given for the benefit of mankind!  The Sabbath doesn’t need us – we need the Sabbath!  We need that day of rest, that chance to unwind a bit, the opportunity to loosen the bowstring before the bow snaps, before we break.

Jesus clearly recognized this.  There was a time when He sent out His twelve original disciples, after giving them the power to heal and cast out unclean spirits, sending them to all the towns and villages throughout the region.  The Apostle Mark describes this in chapter 6 of his Gospel account, verses 7 through 13 and 30 through 32…

7 And He called the twelve to Himself, and began to send them out two by two, and gave them power over unclean spirits. 8 He commanded them to take nothing for the journey except a staff — no bag, no bread, no copper in their money belts — 9 but to wear sandals, and not to put on two tunics.

10 Also He said to them, “In whatever place you enter a house, stay there till you depart from that place. 11 And whoever will not receive you nor hear you, when you depart from there, shake off the dust under your feet as a testimony against them. Assuredly, I say to you, it will be more tolerable for Sodom and Gomorrah in the day of judgment than for that city!”

12 So they went out and preached that people should repent. 13 And they cast out many demons, and anointed with oil many who were sick, and healed them.

30 Then the apostles gathered to Jesus and told Him all things, both what they had done and what they had taught. 31 And He said to them, “Come aside by yourselves to a deserted place and rest a while.” For there were many coming and going, and they did not even have time to eat. 32 So they departed to a deserted place in the boat by themselves.

--Mark 6:7-13; 30-32 (NKJV)

When everyone got back, Jesus told them to go off for a while, get by themselves, and rest.  Rest, relax, unwind, loosen the bowstring.


You may be wondering why I am encouraging us to take a day of rest right as school is about to begin.  Well, that in itself is a very good reason for anyone involved with school in any way.  School can be a very stressful environment.  If we allow ourselves to become too tight from all the stress, we may snap at any little provocation.  We need to remember the Sabbath and keep it holy by doing as God commanded us to do and rest!

The other reason I am prescribing rest is because Labor Day is approaching.  Labor Day was originally set aside to honor the American worker and his contribution to our way of life, to allow him time off to rest and spend with family.  So take this time to rest!  I will be doing just that – resting, relaxing, unwinding.  And You should, too.


Everything God and Jesus command us to do is ultimately for our own good.  The command to rest should be the most easily seen of these, yet it is too often ignored, as are so many others of God’s commands.

Jesus is the Lord of the Sabbath and He commands us to rest!  Honor and obey that command.  Enjoy a day of rest.  In the blessed name of Jesus Christ, our Lord and Master.  Amen.


Let us pray…  Father God, everything You have ever commanded us has always been for our own good because You love us so much.  You know how fragile we are, and You know how easily we can snap and break when the stresses of life build up too heavily on us.  So You command us to rest, to honor the Sabbath day You gave us by resting.  All things need a time of rest, even the earth, so You showed us by Your own example in creating the universe, by resting on the seventh day.  Thank You, Father, for giving us the time and opportunity to rest.  Please help us put aside the busyness of our life long enough to take advantage of Your gift and to rest.

Please hear us now, Father, as we silently speak to You straight from our hearts, thanking You for Your grace and mercy, repenting of our disobedience and sin, and seeking Your forgiveness…

Lord Jesus, Your showed by Your own actions with Your closest followers the importance of resting.  You made sure we could understand that it is still OK to do good on the day of rest, but that we need to take that time and unwind.  Jesus, we recognize You as indeed being the Lord of the Sabbath and accept Your authority over that day and all that occurs during it.  Help us, please, to also accept and obey Your command to go off for a while and rest.  Help us to make the time to relax.  Help us keep ourselves from breaking under the pressure that life heaps upon us.

This we pray in Your glorious name, Lord Jesus Christ, our Master and our Savior, the one true Son of God, in whom we place all our hope, all our trust, all our faith.  Amen.

Ask Not

[The following is a manuscript of my sermon delivered on Sunday morning, the 20th of August, 2017.  Look for the video on our Vimeo channel:  http://vimeo.com/pilgrimreformedchurch.]

How many of you have or had brothers or sisters?  Did you ever disagree over anything, get into fights or squabbles?  Did you always believe everything your sibling told you?

James was the brother of Jesus.  We may know very little about Jesus’ youth and early years, but James grew up with Him!  Do you think they fought and argued?  Maybe – we have no way to tell.  But one thing we can be sure of: James believed in Jesus.  He opens his letter to the Jewish Christians that had fled Jerusalem after Jesus’ death by introducing himself as, “James, a bondservant of God and of the Lord Jesus Christ”.

James believed in Jesus as the true Son of the living God, the Messiah, the Christ.  Not only did he believe, James learned and understood what Jesus was trying to tell us, especially as it relates to God.  Listen and follow along as I read from the New Living Translation of our Holy Bible from chapter 4 verses 1 through 10 of the letter the Apostle James wrote…

1 What is causing the quarrels and fights among you? Don’t they come from the evil desires at war within you? 2 You want what you don’t have, so you scheme and kill to get it. You are jealous of what others have, but you can’t get it, so you fight and wage war to take it away from them. Yet you don’t have what you want because you don’t ask God for it. 3 And even when you ask, you don’t get it because your motives are all wrong — you want only what will give you pleasure.

4 You adulterers! Don’t you realize that friendship with the world makes you an enemy of God? I say it again: If you want to be a friend of the world, you make yourself an enemy of God. 5 Do you think the Scriptures have no meaning? They say that God is passionate that the Spirit He has placed within us should be faithful to Him. 6 And He gives grace generously. As the Scriptures say,

“God opposes the proud
but gives grace to the humble.”

7 So humble yourselves before God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you. 8 Come close to God, and God will come close to you. Wash your hands, you sinners; purify your hearts, for your loyalty is divided between God and the world. 9 Let there be tears for what you have done. Let there be sorrow and deep grief. Let there be sadness instead of laughter, and gloom instead of joy. 10 Humble yourselves before the Lord, and He will lift you up in honor.

--James 4:1-10 (NLT)

Let us pray…  Father God, James grew up alongside Jesus and knew Him as a brother and as a growing boy.  Yet James clearly understood why Jesus came to us and the role He played in Your great plan for humanity.  Speak to us now, Father, through Your Holy Spirit directly into our hearts, that we might gain from Your wisdom as did James.  Show us Your will in Your message this morning.  In the blessed name of Jesus we pray.   Amen.


Even if you don't have an iPhone or a Mac computer, you may have heard of Siri, the artificial intelligence Apple programs into their devices to act as a personal assistant.  You can ask Siri a question, like "Is it raining outside?" and she will check the local weather forecast and answer.  Well, there are a number of questions you probably shouldn't ask Siri that are either silly or have no definite answer, but if you do ask you may get a humorous response. If you ask, "Siri?  What is zero divided by zero?", she'll respond, "Imagine that you have zero cookies and you split them evenly among zero friends. How many cookies does each person get? See? It doesn’t make sense. And Cookie Monster is sad that there are no cookies, and you are sad that you have no friends."  Or ask Siri if she has a boyfriend and you'll get questions back in her response: "Why?  So we can get ice cream together, and listen to music, and travel across galaxies, only to have it end in slammed doors, heartbreak and loneliness?  Sure!  W
here do I sign up?"

But ask, "Siri?  Do you believe in God?", and she might respond, "Humans have religion. I just have silicon," or more to the point "I’m really not equipped to answer such questions."  For Siri, and apparently for her programmers, that question cannot be answered.  Or perhaps they're afraid of offending someone with their answer.  Maybe Siri and her programmers need more proof of God's existence before they'll believe.  As Christians, we need no proof.  That's what faith is all about.  We don't even have to ask.  In Siri’s case, it’s better to ask not.


I think James is very insightful in his opening of chapter 4.  He notes that the underlying cause of all our fights and quarrels is the war that is waging within ourselves, a war rooted in our unrighteous desires.  We want things we don’t have or can’t have or shouldn’t have, so we set out to get them in any way we can.  If someone else owns what we want, we just take it from them.  If someone else gets hurt in the process, that’s tough.

This makes sense, doesn’t it?  Just about every war started because some person in a leadership role desired the lands or wealth or resources of another people.  We are jealous of what other people have.  Things, possessions, worldly goods…  we want all that the world values.  James reminds us that if we stand on the side of the world, we become an enemy of God.  We looked at this just last week, when Jesus told us we are either on His side or we are against Him.

James tells us to humble ourselves before God, and to ask Him for what we need.  He says we don’t have what we want because we don’t ask God for it.  But then he cautions that even if we do ask God to fill our desires, we still won’t get them because our motives are all wrong.  We’re asking for the wrong things and for the wrong reasons!  If we humble ourselves and seek God’s will in our lives, then we will be asking for what would please Him, and He will grant our request!

I mentioned to the kids that King Solomon’s request pleased God.  Listen to the passage from the 1st book of the Kings of Israel, chapter 3, verses 5 through 14 where Solomon asks the Lord for what he desires…

5 At Gibeon the Lord appeared to Solomon in a dream by night; and God said, “Ask! What shall I give you?”

6 And Solomon said: “You have shown great mercy to Your servant David my father, because he walked before You in truth, in righteousness, and in uprightness of heart with You; You have continued this great kindness for him, and You have given him a son to sit on his throne, as it is this day. 7 Now, O Lord my God, You have made Your servant king instead of my father David, but I am a little child; I do not know how to go out or come in. 8 And Your servant is in the midst of Your people whom You have chosen, a great people, too numerous to be numbered or counted. 9 Therefore give to Your servant an understanding heart to judge Your people, that I may discern between good and evil. For who is able to judge this great people of Yours?”

10 The speech pleased the Lord, that Solomon had asked this thing. 11 Then God said to him: “Because you have asked this thing, and have not asked long life for yourself, nor have asked riches for yourself, nor have asked the life of your enemies, but have asked for yourself understanding to discern justice, 12 behold, I have done according to your words; see, I have given you a wise and understanding heart, so that there has not been anyone like you before you, nor shall any like you arise after you. 13 And I have also given you what you have not asked: both riches and honor, so that there shall not be anyone like you among the kings all your days. 14 So if you walk in My ways, to keep My statutes and My commandments, as your father David walked, then I will lengthen your days.”

--1 Kings 3:5-14 (NKJV)

As the son of David and in the direct line of God’s own Son Jesus, Solomon could have asked for pretty much anything he wanted, and God would likely have granted it.  Yet Solomon humbled himself and asked only that he be given the wisdom to rule his people, God’s own chosen people, with justice and mercy.  His heart was right with God, he sought to do God’s will over the people entrusted to him, and not only did the Lord grant his request for wisdom, God also gave him the worldly riches and power he did not ask for.


In a famous speech, President John F. Kennedy once quoted Oliver Wendell Holmes when he said, “Ask not what your country can do for you; ask what you can do for your country.”  Taking my cue from James and Solomon, I’d like to reword that a bit.  Ask not what the Lord can do for you; ask what you can do for the Lord.

If we humble ourselves, push aside those waring desires within us, ignore what the world values, and seek only God’s will in our lives, then He will give us what we ask for.  He will give us what we ask for because what we ask for will please Him.  He will give us what we ask for because we will be asking only for what we need to carry out and accomplish His will.

When our heart is right with God, we will only seek what pleases Him.  And when we do, He will give us not only what we ask of Him, but also much, much more.


In our responsive reading of Psalm 32 this morning, we read that judgment will not touch us if we confess our sins before God while there is still time to be forgiven.  We saw that our Lord will instruct us and guide us along the best pathway for our life, if we let Him.  He will advise us and watch our progress.

Family, our loving Father God is advising us this morning, through the words of James and the request of Solomon.  We must humble ourselves, seeking only to do God’s will.  God finds little value in what the world thinks is important, so we must extinguish our worldly desires, desiring instead only to please our Lord.  If we resist the devil, he will flee from us.  If we come close to God, He will come near to us.

We need to take a close look at ourselves; give ourselves a thorough self-examination.  Are our desires for what we don’t have waring within us?  Is our loyalty divided between God and the world?  Then let us humble ourselves before our Lord.  Let us seek His face.  Let us strive to do only His will in all we do.  Let us ask not what the Lord can do for us, but instead ask what we can do for the Lord.

In the blessed name of Jesus Christ, our Master and our Savior.  Amen.


Let us pray…  Father God, throughout our Bible we can see countless times when You reward those who humble themselves and follow Your will.  You provide not only for our needs, but You give what we ask for when our request helps us accomplish Your will in our lives and the lives of others.  And You reward us with riches the world simply cannot understand.  Thank You, Father, for looking after us, for taking care of us, for loving us this much.  Please help us to humble ourselves before You, to remember our place in Your creation, to play our role in Your great master plan.  Please forgive us for our disobedience, for our divided loyalty, for our worldly nature.

Please hear us now, Father, as we silently speak to You straight from our hearts, thankful for Your grace and mercy, repenting of our sin, and seeking Your assurance of our pardon…

Lord Jesus, Your own earthly brother James tells us that the many conflicts in this world all arise from the warring of unrighteous desires within us.  He cautions us that our divided loyalty makes us Your enemy, for if we don’t completely stand with You, we work against You.  Help us, please Jesus, to call a halt to the wars within us, to ignore the world and all its lustful desires and pleasures, to humble ourselves before You and our Father God, to turn our hearts solely to God’s will, to carry out the mission You assigned us.  Help us share the Good News of salvation with the world.  Help us teach others what You have taught us.  Help us make more disciples of the world so that more will stand with You and fewer will be against You.  Help us, dear Jesus, to do our Father’s will.

This we pray in Your glorious name, Lord Jesus Christ, our Master and our Savior, the one true Son of God, in whom we place all our hope, all our trust, all our faith.  Amen.

A House Divided

[The following is a manuscript of my sermon delivered on Sunday morning, the 13th of August, 2017.  Look for the video on our Vimeo channel:  http://vimeo.com/pilgrimreformedchurch.]

Even before being elected President, Abraham Lincoln wanted his divided nation to be reunited once again.  In a speech in 1858, Mr. Lincoln paraphrased the Bible when he asserted, “A house divided against itself cannot stand.”  Throughout history, many leaders have paraphrased another Bible verse in this same passage when they said, “You’re either with me or against me.”

Our Lord Jesus is the Author of both these concepts, and they both come to us from an incident where the Pharisees had once again tried to disparage our Lord and make trouble for Him.  Listen and follow along as I read from the New King James Version of our Holy Bible this incident that the Apostle Matthew recorded in his Gospel account, in chapter 12 verses 22 through 30…

22 Then one was brought to Him who was demon-possessed, blind and mute; and He healed him, so that the blind and mute man both spoke and saw. 23 And all the multitudes were amazed and said, “Could this be the Son of David?”

24 Now when the Pharisees heard it they said, “This fellow does not cast out demons except by Beelzebub, the ruler of the demons.”

25 But Jesus knew their thoughts, and said to them: “Every kingdom divided against itself is brought to desolation, and every city or house divided against itself will not stand. 26 If Satan casts out Satan, he is divided against himself. How then will his kingdom stand? 27 And if I cast out demons by Beelzebub, by whom do your sons cast them out? Therefore they shall be your judges. 28 But if I cast out demons by the Spirit of God, surely the kingdom of God has come upon you. 29 Or how can one enter a strong man’s house and plunder his goods, unless he first binds the strong man? And then he will plunder his house. 30 He who is not with Me is against Me, and he who does not gather with Me scatters abroad."

--Matthew 12:22-30 (NKJV)

Let us pray…  Father God, Your Son Jesus worked under Your authority and with the great power of Your Holy Spirit to do wondrous things.  Speak to us now, Father, through Your strong Holy Spirit directly into our hearts, that we might better understand Your will for us.  Let us hear Your voice in Your message this morning.  In the blessed name of Jesus we pray.   Amen.


Throughout life we find ourselves in a position of needing to make a decision.  We must choose between two or more options, each having its own pros and cons, its own benefits and detractors.  It can often be tough to choose, and sometimes we simply don’t.  American philosopher William James noted that, “When you have to make a choice and don't make it, that is in itself a choice.”

Our decisions very often center around which side we will take in a given situation, which again can present a difficult choice where we might prefer to just go down the middle and not have to choose.  Holocaust survivor, author, and human rights activist Elie Wiesel once said, "We must take sides. Neutrality helps the oppressor, never the victim. Silence encourages the tormentor, never the tormented."

James and Wiesel are saying we have to make a choice, we are morally bound to do so.  Why is it so important to choose sides?  Author C. S. Lewis tells of Jesus' return:

"This time it will be God without disguise; something so overwhelming that it will strike either irresistible love or irresistible horror into every creature. It will be too late then to choose your side. That will not be the time for choosing; It will be the time when we discover which side we really have chosen, whether we realized it before or not. Now, today, this moment, is our chance to choose the right side."


Jesus said, “Choose – choose which side you want to be on.”  He didn’t say it exactly like that, though.  But it was pretty much like, “You’re either with me or against me.  There’s no middle of the road to walk down, no fence to sit on.  Choose a side.”

The Pharisees accused Jesus of being on Satan’s side.  They said He was doing all those wondrous things by the power and authority of Beelzebub, better known by us as Satan.  And of course Jesus rebuked them by pointing out that Satan would never allow anyone to cast out his own demons.  If he did, his power would be eroded, his “house” divided, and his reign destroyed.  A house divided against itself cannot stand, but will be destroyed.  If Satan casts out Satan, he is divided against himself and his kingdom cannot stand.

No, Jesus did all His miraculous acts and signs under the authority of God in heaven and in the power of God’s Holy Spirit.  And that shows us there are only two sides to choose from.  We can stand on the side of Jesus, or of Satan.  Which side do we really choose?


Mr. Lincoln saw how difficult it was becoming for a divided nation to continue to stand.  And still today, we can see forces at work trying to tear apart this great nation, dividing states, communities, even families down ideological lines.  We once considered ourselves one nation under God.  The devil couldn’t allow that, so now more and more seem to choose to stand with Satan rather than Jesus.

But I believe there is a greater risk than seeing our nation divided and being destroyed.  That risk has been witnessed and exemplified right here in this Pilgrim family, and not that long ago.  There is an increasing risk of the very body of Jesus Christ being divided, being pulled apart, being brought to desolation.  Once the center and heart of the local community, the church today is losing influence in the modern world.  And I feel we are rapidly approaching a crossroads where there will only be two choices.

Who do we serve?  There are still many church families like Pilgrim that stay true to God’s word, that follow and adhere to scripture, that understand we are here to serve God and His Son Jesus our Christ, to worship Him.  We’re not here to be entertained or to be seen by others or to put on a false face and a nice show.

And Satan hates us!  He will do anything he can to drive a wedge between us, knowing that even this house cannot stand if it becomes divided against itself.  Had it not been for the Spirit of God working mightily through some good men and women, this house would have fallen.

And family, those forces are still at work, even here as well as elsewhere in Jesus’ church.  There are still those who would plant and water the seeds of dissention and distrust, rather than of love and cooperation.  They very likely don’t see it this way, though.  They probably think they are working for Jesus.  The Apostle Paul tells us that as Saul, he was a very good and righteous Jew, doing the work of God as he persecuted and chased down these rebellious Christians.  He did not realize he was doing Satan’s work until Jesus showed him the truth.

Family, we need to see the truth!  We need to choose who we will serve.  For Joshua, there really was no choice.  Listen to what he instructs his fellow Jews, and us today,  in chapter 24, verses 14 and 15 of his book…

14 “Now therefore, fear the Lord, serve Him in sincerity and in truth, and put away the gods which your fathers served on the other side of the River and in Egypt. Serve the Lord! 15 And if it seems evil to you to serve the Lord, choose for yourselves this day whom you will serve, whether the gods which your fathers served that were on the other side of the River, or the gods of the Amorites, in whose land you dwell. But as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord.”

--Joshua 24:14-15 (NKJV)

Who will we serve?  Who will this house, this family of Pilgrim, serve?  Jesus was quite clear on the consequences of our choice.  Listen to what He tells us in the Gospel account of the Apostle Luke, chapter 12, verses 8 and 9...

8 “Also I say to you, whoever confesses Me before men, him the Son of Man also will confess before the angels of God. 9 But he who denies Me before men will be denied before the angels of God."

--Luke 12:8-9 (NKJV)

At some point in our lives, if we consider ourselves to be a follower of Jesus, we made that choice.  We frequently confess Jesus as our Lord before others, such as when we reaffirm our faith through the Apostles’ Creed or the Nicene Creed.  We would never deny Christ before men, would we!?  We stand with Jesus, right? - not with Satan!


Sadly, we might not even realize when we are making the wrong choice.  Like Paul, we might even think we are doing God’s work while at that same moment driving another nail into Christ’s hands, striking at the very foundation of His body left here on earth.  We confess Jesus as Lord with our lips, but what is in our heart?

Before every decision, with every word that leaves our mouth, we must make sure we are supporting the body of Christ, not trying to pull it down.  We must work to build up the church, not destroy it.  Even right here, in this little church family known as Pilgrim.  God has a plan for us, for each of us.  He put us all here for a reason – every one of us has a role to play, a task to fill, in this great plan.  It is up to us to choose to serve Jesus and strengthen His body, or to serve Satan and weaken it.

This is the time to serve our Lord in sincerity and truth, putting away the false gods of convenience and entertainment that the self-serving world worships.  This is the time to gather up the wayward and the lost of Jesus’ flock and bring them home, not scatter them around the countryside.  This is the time to stand up and say…  As for me and my house, we will serve the Lord!

Stand with Christ.  In the blessed name of Jesus Christ, our Lord and Savior.  Amen.


Let us pray…  Father God, Joshua had great faith in You and in what You promised.  Even when his peers doubted Your word and looked only to their own strength and found themselves lacking, Joshua trusted You completely and was ready to move at Your command.  And You rewarded Joshua by making him the leader of Your chosen people as they finally crossed into the land You promised them.  Thank You, Father, for giving us faith, and for Your great faithfulness.  Please help us put all our trust in You.  Please help us serve only You.

Please hear us now, Father, as we silently speak to You straight from our hearts, thankful for Your grace and mercy, repenting of our sin, and seeking Your assurance of our pardon…

Lord Jesus, You offer us all two choices.  We can stand with You and serve God our Father, or we can stand with Satan and serve the forces of evil that want nothing more than to tear the world apart.  You make it clear to us, Lord, that these is no middle ground.  We can’t just sit on the fence and watch to see what happens next.  If we don’t get up and stand with You, then we are working against You.  And Jesus, since we know that Your church is Your body left on earth, that we must also stand with Your church as well, looking to You for guidance, serving only You and God.  We must remain united, as one people under our Father God, or else Satan will surely divide us and scatter us to the four winds.  Thank You, Jesus, for showing us what we must do, and for so clearly showing us the consequences of our actions, or inaction.  Forgive us, Lord, when we fail to fully trust You, when we hesitate to confess You before our fellow man, when we doubt You.  Help us to follow Your lead in all we do.  Give us the strength to stand at Your side even as the world tries to rip us away.  Support us with Your strong, steady hand when we tremble from fatigue or fear.  Help us always and only serve You and our Father God.

This we pray in Your glorious name, Lord Jesus Christ, our Master and our Savior, the one true Son of God, in whom we place all our hope, all our trust, all our faith.  Amen.

O Happy Day

[The following is a manuscript of my sermon delivered on Sunday morning, the 6th of August, 2017.  Look for the video on our Vimeo channel:  http://vimeo.com/pilgrimreformedchurch.]

I want you to think for just a moment to what was the happiest day of your life.  The answer to that might depend on how old one is.  Many of us might say our happiest moment was at the birth of our child.  Some might say when they paid off their mortgage.  For others it may be graduating school or landing a job.  But pretty much, all those answers will be from events that happened in the past, maybe even long ago.

The Apostle John tells us of a time yet to come that will be a very happy day for those who accept Jesus as Lord.  Listen and follow along to the beginning of what Jesus revealed to John, in his book of Revelation, chapter 1 verses 1 through 8, reading from the New King James Version of our Holy Bible…

1 The Revelation of Jesus Christ, which God gave Him to show His servants—things which must shortly take place. And He sent and signified it by His angel to His servant John, 2 who bore witness to the word of God, and to the testimony of Jesus Christ, to all things that he saw. 3 Blessed is he who reads and those who hear the words of this prophecy, and keep those things which are written in it; for the time is near.

4 John, to the seven churches which are in Asia:

Grace to you and peace from Him who is and who was and who is to come, and from the seven Spirits who are before His throne, 5 and from Jesus Christ, the faithful witness, the firstborn from the dead, and the ruler over the kings of the earth.

To Him who loved us and washed us from our sins in His own blood, 6 and has made us kings and priests to His God and Father, to Him be glory and dominion forever and ever. Amen.

7 Behold, He is coming with clouds, and every eye will see Him, even they who pierced Him. And all the tribes of the earth will mourn because of Him. Even so, Amen.

8 “I am the Alpha and the Omega, the Beginning and the End,” says the Lord, “who is and who was and who is to come, the Almighty.”

--Revelation 1:1-8 (NKJV)

Let us pray…  Father God, You are the one true God, who is and who was and who is to come.  You sent Your own Son to wash us clean of our sins by His own blood, shed on our behalf.  Speak to us now, Father, through Your Holy Spirit directly into our hearts, that we might receive, understand, and follow Your message this morning.  In the blessed name of Jesus we pray.   Amen.


A husband and wife recently enjoyed a meal at their favorite Oriental restaurant.  After finishing their dinner, they cracked open their fortune cookies.  The wife’s fortune slip read, “Be quiet for a little while.”  The husband’s contained this sage piece of advice: “Talk while you have a chance.”


What are the odds that two fortune cookies picked basically at random from a box of many could contain such closely matching messages?  While anything is possible – with God – I not sure just how accurate a cookie’s forecasting ability might be.

But I am reminded of Psalm 46 verse 10:  “Be still, and know that I am God”.  Be quiet for a little while, and let God speak.  And God, while we’re quiet in our hearts, please speak to us there while You have a chance.


O happy day – when Jesus washed my sins away!  Our scripture reminds me of that great old song.  Jesus loves us and He washes us of our sins in His own blood!  He made us kings and priests to His God and Father!

Did you catch that?  Jesus made us priests – all of us who believe – priests to our Father God.  That means we each have a ministry to share with the world for God.

And lest we forget, Jesus is coming again.  O happy day!  Every eye will see Him, even those who pierced His flesh and those who pierce Him still today with their disbelief and disobedience.  So very many people from all over the earth will mourn because of His coming, for they have not been washed clean.

Are all of us here today washed in the blood?  King David had reason to worry if he was clean.  Nathan the prophet came to him one night and reproached him for his sin of committing adultery with Bathsheba.  David is desperate for forgiveness, as seen in the 1st 3 verses of Psalm 51…

1 Have mercy upon me, O God,
According to Your lovingkindness;
According to the multitude of Your tender mercies,
Blot out my transgressions.
2 Wash me thoroughly from my iniquity,
And cleanse me from my sin.
3 For I acknowledge my transgressions,
And my sin is always before me.

--Psalm 51:1-3 (NKJV)

David admitted his sin and asked to be washed clean, begging for mercy.  He knew his sins, and saw how they stood in the way of his relationship with God.  David did not have the blood of Jesus to wash him clean, so he called upon God’s lovingkindness and tender mercies.


A man named Saul was shown his sin by being blinded while he traveled to Damascus.  Jesus Himself took mercy, showed Saul what he had done, gave him a special insight that even the original disciples marveled at, renamed him Paul, and assigned him a critical mission to carry out.  Hear how Paul describes the moment his sight was returned in the presence of a true servant of Jesus, as recorded in the Apostle Luke’s Book of the Acts of the Apostles, chapter 22, verses 12 through 16…

12 “Then a certain Ananias, a devout man according to the law, having a good testimony with all the Jews who dwelt there, 13 came to me; and he stood and said to me, 'Brother Saul, receive your sight.' And at that same hour I looked up at him. 14 Then he said, 'The God of our fathers has chosen you that you should know His will, and see the Just One, and hear the voice of His mouth. 15 For you will be His witness to all men of what you have seen and heard. 16 And now why are you waiting? Arise and be baptized, and wash away your sins, calling on the name of the Lord.'"

--Acts 22:12-16 (NKJV)

Paul would later characterize himself as the greatest sinner of all.  Yet he was baptized after his revelation from Jesus, and his sins, his great sins, were all washed away.  And he called on the name of the Lord Jesus everywhere he traveled.  O happy day!


I love John’s Book of Revelation.  It has a lot of scary stuff in it, especially when it speaks of the Great Tribulation.  But the reason I love it is because it also tells us what happens in the end.  When all is said and done, when all the trials and tribulations have ended, when the great battle has been fought…  we win!  Jesus returns and triumphs completely and overwhelmingly over evil, and we share in the victory!

And all the scary stuff?  Well, it has to happen.  Some of what we read of in our papers and see on the TV news is foretold in this book.  And while we worry about what the world is coming to, Jesus, through John, tells us this is the way it must be.  He tells us this will happen because it must happen.

But even through all this, people can and will still be saved!  A little further on in his Book of Revelation, in chapter 7 verses 13 and 14, John writes…

13 Then one of the elders answered, saying to me, “Who are these arrayed in white robes, and where did they come from?”

14 And I said to him, “Sir, you know.”

So he said to me, “These are the ones who come out of the great tribulation, and washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb."

--Revelation 7:13-14 (NKJV)

Even in the very worst times that will ever befall the human race, Jesus will continue to wash us clean by His blood, spilt once for all time!  Those who believe will be made white in the blood of the Lamb.  O happy day!


The greatest news we could ever receive is that we have been washed clean of our sins by the blood of Jesus – the blood He shed, the life He gave up there on that cruel cross, just so we could be saved.  David’s prayer should be our prayer – O God, have mercy upon me!  But we know that prayer will be answered if we believe in Jesus and obey His commands.  If even a sinner such as Paul could be washed clean, then we also can be cleansed by the blood of our Lord.

Someday soon the Great Tribulation will begin, yet even throughout that horrible time, many will be washed clean of their sins by the blood of the Lamb once they accept Jesus as Lord.

O happy day…
O happy day…
When Jesus washed…
When Jesus washed…
When Jesus washed…
He washed my sins away.
O happy day!

In the blessed name of Jesus Christ, our Lord and Savior.  Amen.


Let us pray…  Father God, David was dear to Your heart, yet he needed to ask for Your mercy, he needed to beg You to wash him clean of his sins.  You looked down from Your throne and saw the blighted condition of the world and knew only one thing could possibly save mankind, only one thing could atone us of our great sin: a blood sacrifice.  You sent Your own Son, Your only Son, Jesus, to offer that sacrifice on our behalf.  Now, and for all time hence, we no longer have to pray as David prayed, once we accept Jesus as our Lord, our Master, believing in Him as Your Son, our Savior, our only hope.  Thank You, Father, for loving us this much.

Please hear us now, Father, as we silently speak to You straight from our hearts, thankful for Your grace and mercy, repenting of our sin, and seeking Your assurance of our pardon…

Lord Jesus, You came to earth to do our heavenly Father’s bidding.  You accepted Your role – the most critical role – in His great plan for humanity.  You gave of Yourself for us, for all mankind.  You offer to wash us clean of our sins in that blood You shed, if we only believe in You and accept You.  Thank You, Jesus, for so great a sacrifice.  Thank You for bringing the greatest news the world has ever heard.  Thank You for providing us with the happiest day of our life, the day when You washed our sins away.  O happy day!  Forgive us, Lord, when we hesitate to go out and share this Good News.  Forgive us when life bears too heavily upon us and we begin to doubt that anything good can ever come again to this world.  Help us to stay strong and faithful to You, to the very end.

This we pray in Your glorious name, Lord Jesus Christ, our Master and our Savior, the one true Son of God, in whom we place all our hope, all our trust, all our faith.  Amen.