Be Holy

 

[The following is a manuscript of my message delivered at Pilgrim Reformed Church on Sunday morning, the 24th of May, 2026 - Pentecost Sunday.  If all went well, a recording of the service may be available on our YouTube streaming channel: 

https://www.youtube.com/@pilgrimreformedchurch1992/streams for the older services or https://www.youtube.com/@pilgrimreformedchurch3115/streams for later services.]

Today is Pentecost Sunday, when we celebrate the day when God made His own Holy Spirit available to all who will believe in His Son and follow Him.  By our belief, the Spirit makes His home within us and we are made holy.

That’s a word we hear and use a lot in our Christian faith: holy.  It’s most often applied to God and Jesus and, of course, the Holy Spirit.  The most saintliest of people may also be called holy.  And maybe because of this highest degree of use, we may be hesitant to apply the term to ourselves.  That might change, though, if we understand just what it means to be holy.

We just need to remember that from that first Pentecost on, God in His great grace made us holy.  We just need to stay holy.  The Apostle Peter, one of the recipients on that day of Pentecost, brings a little clarity in how we can stay holy.  Please listen and follow along to a passage in the opening chapter of Simon Peter’s 1st letter to the early church, verses 14 through 25, where he encourages us to obey God.  I’ll be reading from the Easy-to-Read version of our Holy Bible again this morning…

14 In the past you did not have the understanding you have now, so you did the evil things you wanted to do. But now you are children of God, so you should obey Him and not live the way you did before. 15 Be holy in everything you do, just as God is holy. He is the one who chose you. 16 In the Scriptures God says, “Be holy, because I am holy.”

17 You pray to God and call Him Father, but He will judge everyone the same way — by what they do. So while you are visiting here on earth, you should live with respect for God. 18 You know that in the past the way you were living was useless. It was a way of life you learned from those who lived before you. But you were saved from that way of living. You were bought, but not with things that ruin like gold or silver. 19 You were bought with the precious blood of Christ’s death. He was a pure and perfect sacrificial Lamb. 20 Christ was chosen before the world was made, but He was shown to the world in these last times for you. 21 You believe in God through Christ. God is the one who raised Him from death and gave honor to Him. So your faith and your hope are in God.

22 You have made yourselves pure by obeying the truth. Now you can have true love for your brothers and sisters. So love each other deeply — with all your heart. 23 You have been born again. This new life did not come from something that dies. It came from something that cannot die. You were born again through God’s life-giving message that lasts forever. 24 The Scriptures say,

“Our lives are like the grass of spring,

and any glory we enjoy is like the beauty of a wildflower.

The grass dries up and dies,

and the flower falls to the ground.

25 But the word of the Lord lasts forever.”

And that word is the Good News that was told to you.

--1 Peter 1:14-25 (ERV)

Let us pray…  Father God, thank You for giving us the faith to believe in and follow Your Son Jesus, and for sending Your Holy Spirit to live within us.  By Your grace and mercy, and by Jesus’ selfless sacrifice, we are forgiven and saved.  Thank You for helping us understand the wrongs we did in our past so we can keep from repeating them.  Please help us stay clean and holy.  Remind us of our real need to obey You and Your Son.  Help us be more like Jesus in all aspects of this life.  This we pray in the beautiful name of our Lord Jesus.   Amen.

John Brown, a nineteenth-century Scottish theologian, is quoted as saying, “Holiness does not consist in mystic speculations, enthusiastic fervours, or uncommanded austerities; it consists in thinking as God thinks, and willing as God wills.”

Now I dare say none of us can truly think as God thinks.  After all, His ways are higher than our ways and His thoughts are higher than our thoughts.  But we certainly can try to see things as He sees them, see people as He sees them, treat others as Jesus treated them.  And we can make God’s will our will, by obeying His word.

Evangelist D. L. Moody once noted that, “A holy life will make the deepest impression.  Lighthouses blow no horns, they just shine.”  When we do as God wills, when we follow the example Jesus set, when we are obedient to our Lord, it will show and other people will see it.  We don’t need to blow horns, or stand in the spotlight.  We just need to shine God’s love in our daily walk to make that deepest impression.  This little light of mine, I’m gonna let it shine.

Peter reminds us that now we are children of God.  Now we understand and know the evil things we have done and are capable of doing.  We humans truly are capable of incredible evil when we fall under Satan’s sway.  But now we are fully aware of this and it is more important than ever to obey God and His word.

It is of the utmost importance that we remain holy in everything we do.  As evil swirls and swells around us, we must remain holy.  God commands us to be holy because He is holy.  And He chose us to be holy.  So maybe we need to look a little more closely at just what it means to be holy, what is required of holiness.

As it turns out, being holy isn’t as tough or highfalutin as we sometimes make it out to be.  Don’t we usually associate the term as being morally flawless, morally and spiritually pure, saintly, something we lowly sinners could never attain?

Well, to be holy is simply to be set apart, separated from the common crowd for a special purpose.  Of all the people on this earth, God set us apart to believe in and follow His Son.  God made us holy.

Of course, it’s up to us to stay holy.  There are a few requirements that, while not easy, are quite doable.  We must try to be morally clean, pushing for goodness, the highest integrity and righteousness in all we do, and by this, reflect the character and actions of our Lord.  And oh by the way, righteousness is doing what is right in God’s eyes, doing His will, doing as He commands.

To be holy we must be wholeheartedly devoted to our God and His Son Jesus, showing their love in our interactions with others, humbly treating others with love and respect.  And we must be purposeful in following the guidance of God’s Holy Spirit as He leads us in the right direction, adhering to spiritual principles instead of selfish human, worldly desires.

I think the Apostle Paul summed all this up quite nicely in his 1st Letter to the Thessalonians when he wrote in the 4th chapter, the first part of verse 3 and verse 7…

3a God wants you to be holy.  7 God chose us to be holy. He does not want us to live in sin.

--1 Thessalonians 4:3a,7 (ERV)

God wants us to be holy so He chose us to be holy.  So we must stop living in sin.  I did say it wasn’t easy.

Paul follows this up in the 1st four verses of the 6th chapter of his letter to the church in Rome when he writes...

1 So do you think we should continue sinning so that God will give us more and more grace? 2 Of course not! Our old sinful life ended. It’s dead. So how can we continue living in sin? 3 Did you forget that all of us became part of Christ Jesus when we were baptized? In our baptism we shared in His death. 4 So when we were baptized, we were buried with Christ and took part in His death. And just as Christ was raised from death by the wonderful power of the Father, so we can now live a new life. 

--Romans 6:1-4 (ERV)

You’ve heard me speak of baptism before, and the symbolism of full immersion baptism.  When we are dunked under the water, we die and are buried with Jesus.  And then when we are raised up out of the water again, we are raised to new life in Jesus, we are raised from the dead just as Jesus was.

This is the analogy Paul uses to explain why we must not continue sinning if we are to remain holy.  We have died to our old, sinful life, and been reborn into this new holy life, the life God wills us to live.  We must repent, turn from our sinful ways and turn fully to God to remain holy.

Like I said – this being holy stuff isn’t easy, but it is doable, if we set our mind and our heart to it.  It requires a purposeful approach to living in this world without conforming to the world, as Paul puts it a little further on in that letter to the Romans.

Not continuing to live in sin is more difficult than one might think.  Sure, none of us is likely to murder anyone, nor are we likely to lie, unless it’s something like saying we’re fine when we really feel miserable.  But sometimes we get angry.  Sometimes we say things, hurtful things, without thinking first, without considering how it might impact anyone who hears us.  Sometimes we hold hurtful thoughts in our hearts just because someone doesn’t look like us or think like us or believe in and support the things we believe in and support.  Sometimes we hate the sinner as well as the sin.  Sometimes our moral compass slips a bit.

This is why I say we must be purposeful in everything we think, do, and say every second of our waking life.  We must strive to be morally pure at all times, being truly selfless, self-sacrificing, and unconditional in our love.  We were taught the Golden Rule early in life.  Now it’s time to apply that rule in our daily walk.

Take time to be holy.  In the blessed name of Christ Jesus our Lord.  Amen.

Let us pray…  Almighty God, thank You for making us holy.  And thank You for sending Your Holy Spirit to us to help us remain holy.  Sadly, Father, pure evil permeates this world we live in.  Satan holds sway over so many of the people we meet with, work with, come across in our daily walk.  Please give us the ability to better discern evil from good.  Please give us the courage to face each trying day.  Please remind us to take time to be holy.

Please hear us now, Father, as we pause for just a moment so that each of us can speak to You through Your Spirit within us, promising to be more obedient to Your and our Lord’s commands, and seeking Your help to do so…

Lord Jesus, thank You for showing us the will of God in how You lived Your mortal life among us.  And thank You for the path of righteousness You blazed for us to follow.  Sometimes, though Lord, we stumble and trip up over the blocks Satan placed in our way.  Sometimes we stray off the path, lured by the devil’s bright and shiny toys.  Please help us remember that our Father God set us apart to follow You and Your example.  Of all people, God made us holy.  Please help us stay holy.  Help us show Your love and God’s love as we reach out to others, sharing Your words and Your works, telling them all about You.  Help us carry out the mission You gave us, seeking the lost sheep and leading them to You.

Holy Spirit, please shield our minds and our hearts from Satan’s lies and the world’s empty promises.  Guide us around all the devil’s traps and snares.  Help us see though his temptations.  Help us keep our focus on the things of heaven and the needs of others rather than on anything this world might offer.  All this we pray in the blessed name of Christ Jesus our Lord.  Amen.

Who Are Our Mothers?

  

[The following is a manuscript of my message delivered at Pilgrim Reformed Church on Sunday morning, the 10th of May, 2026 - Mother's Day.  Today's service included a few extra events and was running a little long.  If all went well, a recording of the service may be available on our YouTube streaming channel: 

https://www.youtube.com/@pilgrimreformedchurch1992/streams for the older services or https://www.youtube.com/@pilgrimreformedchurch3115/streams for later services.]

This is a very special day, when we celebrate our mothers, even those who have gone on to their heavenly reward.  Some of you probably have lunch plans, and I don’t want to hold you up too much.  We’ve already had a busy morning and a longer than normal opening to our service.  So I going to keep this part shorter, letting God and our bible do most of the talking while celebrating motherhood.

And to get right to it, I want you to recall the wedding feast in Cana that our Lord Jesus and His disciples attended, the wedding of the son of friends of the family.  This is where Jesus somewhat reluctantly performed His first miracle of record.  Please listen and follow along to a short portion of what the Apostle John recorded of this event, leading up to the miracle itself.  This comes from the 2nd chapter of John’s Gospel account, verses 1 through 5, and I’ll be reading from the Easy-to-Read version of our Holy Bible this morning…

1 Two days later there was a wedding in the town of Cana in Galilee, and Jesus’ mother was there. 2 Jesus and His followers were also invited. 3 At the wedding there was not enough wine, so Jesus’ mother said to Him, “They have no more wine.”

4 Jesus answered, “Dear woman, why are you telling Me this? It is not yet time for Me to begin My work.”

5 His mother said to the servants, “Do what He tells you.”

--John 2:1-5 (ERV)

Let us pray…  Father God, the first thing You did after creating our world was to establish the institution of family.  You gave us a father and a mother, to protect us and nurture us when we are small and helpless.  Our mothers are reflections of You, with their faithfulness, selflessness, and unconditional and sacrificial love.  Since the fall of mankind, not all mothers have been good mothers, but all have tried the best they knew how.  Thank You for our mothers, Father.  Please help us to always remember their love, and to hold them lovingly in our hearts.  Remind us of how Jesus obeyed His mother, even when He didn’t really want to.  Help us be more like Him in all aspects of this life.  This we pray in the beautiful name of our Lord Jesus.   Amen.

Someone now unknown once noted that, “No one deserves a special day all to herself more than today's Mom.  A cartoon showed a psychologist talking to his patient, who was a mother:  ‘Let's see,’ he said, ‘you spend 50 percent of your energy on your job, 50 percent on your husband and 50 percent on your children.  I think I see your problem.’”

Like I said in my prayer, a good mother is a close reflection of God.  She loves unconditionally, sacrificially, selflessly.  She gives so much of herself to her family, there is usually nothing left over for herself.  Pray that our Father God give mothers everywhere the peace and rest to face each day.

I hope you were able to read between the lines a little bit in our short scripture passage.  As the wedding party progressed, the wine started running low.  Maybe more guests than expected arrived, or they drank more than usual, or the wedding party manger failed to order enough.  Whatever the reason, they were about to run dry.

Mary knew the family, and she knew how devastating it would be for them if the wine ran out before the feast ended.  I bet she was just a little frantic when she approached Jesus and said, “They have no more wine.”  Jesus sounds a little nonchalant and uncaring when He replies, “What is that to Me?  Why should I care?  It is not time yet for me to start showing who I am, what I am.”

Mary knew her son.  If you think about it, that is rather a profound statement, since Jesus is God and can anyone really know God?  Well Mary knew Jesus.  After all, she raised Him, taught Him, changed His messy diapers, bandaged His cuts and scrapes, consoled Him, loved Him through everything.  So like any good mother, Mary ignored her adult son's protests and instructed the servers to do whatever He told them, knowing He would go ahead and do what was right, what was needed.  We know the rest of the story.  Jesus turned some water into wine, the feast was saved, and the family was spared embarrassment.

You may wonder why I chose the title of today’s message as I did.  Why not something simple and appropriate to the day, like “In Celebration of Mothers”?

Well, leading up to the day, I was thinking about my daughter’s mother, who left this world far too early.  And that got me to remembering some of the women who helped me as I struggled to comfort and raise a twelve-year-old on my own.  They helped me mother my child.

Motherhood really can be a mixed bag.  For some women, motherhood is an accident, and not always a welcome one.  For some, biological motherhood isn’t possible.  For some, motherhood under the very best of circumstances is still less than a bed of roses or a primrose path.  For some folks, their mothers weren’t all that nice.  But if not for motherhood, none of us would be here.  And then there are those women, and some men, who provide a mother’s love to a child they did not give birth to.

Jesus was well aware of all this, and so much more.  He knew that not all of our “mothers” were the women how gave birth to us.  Please listen to a short exchange the Apostle Matthew recorded for us in the 12th chapter of his Gospel account, verses 46 through 50…

46 While Jesus was talking to the people, His mother and brothers stood outside. They wanted to talk to Him. 47 Someone told Him, “Your mother and brothers are waiting for You outside. They want to talk to You.”

48 Jesus answered, “Who is My mother? Who are My brothers?” 49 Then He pointed to His followers and said, “See! These people are My mother and My brothers. 50 Yes, anyone who does what My Father in heaven wants is My true brother and sister and mother.”

--Matthew 12:46-50 (ERV)

Who is my mother?  Anyone who does what our heavenly Father wants them to do.  You – any who do what God wants - are my brothers and sisters and mothers.  And some of you ladies mother me a lot.  I like that, even if I don’t always show it, or respond like you might want me to.  But I always try to do what is right.

There’s another time I’d like to look at, when Jesus let us know that non-traditional mother-child relationships are not only acceptable but also preferred.  Hear what the Apostle John saved for us in the 19th chapter of his Gospel account, verses 25 through 27, from the day Jesus clung to life while nailed to the cross, nearing His last breath...

25 Jesus’ mother stood near His cross. Her sister was also standing there with Mary the wife of Clopas, and Mary Magdalene. 26 Jesus saw His mother. He also saw the follower He loved very much standing there. He said to His mother, “Dear woman, here is your son.” 27 Then He said to the follower, “Here is your mother.” So after that, this follower took Jesus’ mother to live in his home.

--John 19:25-27 (ERV)

Now John already had a mother, who the Apostle Mark identified as Salome.  But Jesus was more concerned about His mother, already a widow and soon to lose a son.  And yes, it wouldn’t hurt for John to have someone to care for and see to, something to distract him from his own grief over losing his Master.  So this arrangement benefited both.

But it also tells us that there may be times when we need to look past normal familial bonds and bring others into the closeness of family.  We may need mothering, or we may need to mother someone else.  Or maybe a little of both, all at the same time.  And that will be OK.  We’ll be doing what God wants us to do, loving someone like He loves us.

So yes, today let’s celebrated our mothers by honoring them or their memory.  But let’s also think lovingly on those folks, women and men, who have loved us like mothers, or those we have loved like our own children.  And let us thank God for mothers and their love.  In the blessed name of Christ Jesus our Lord.  Amen.

Let us pray…  Almighty God, thank You for giving us the warmth and comfort of family.  Thank You for our mothers who reflect Your love.  And thank You for all those who have mothered us in this life.  Sadly, Father, we know that not all those who brought life into the world were good mothers.  And we know some mothers have suffered greatly, even while trying to do their best for their child.  But Father, we also know that some people have willingly, whole-heartedly, taken on the role of mother for someone who needed it the most.  So we thank You for the blessing of all mothers.  Please protect those who are still with us in this life, and richly reward those who are now with You.  Please help us stay true and faithful to our Lord so that we can all be reunited some sweet day.

Please hear us now, Father, as we pause for just a moment so that each of us can speak to You through Your Spirit within us, promising to be more obedient to Your and our Lord’s commands, and seeking Your help to do so…

Lord Jesus, thank You for showing us Your human side in Your relationship with Your own mother.  And thank You for also showing us that there can be many and various different mother-child relationships in this life.  Sometimes we just need someone to mother us, to hold us when we’re sad, to rejoice with us when we’re happy.  Please help us remember that all mothers are a reflection of God and His love.  And that all people – all of us – are created in God’s image.  Help us show Your love and His love as we reach out to others, sharing Your words and Your works, telling them all about You.  Help us carry out the mission You gave us, seeking the lost sheep and leading them to You.

Holy Spirit, please shield our minds and our hearts from Satan’s lies and the world’s empty promises.  Guide us around all the devil’s traps and snares.  Help us see though his temptations.  Help us keep our focus on the things of heaven and the needs of others rather than on anything this world might offer.  All this we pray in the blessed name of Christ Jesus our Lord.  Amen.

The Way Is Ready

 

[The following is a manuscript of my message delivered at Pilgrim Reformed Church on Sunday morning, the 3rd of May, 2026.  If all went well, a recording of the service may be available on our YouTube streaming channel: 

https://www.youtube.com/@pilgrimreformedchurch1992/streams for the older services or https://www.youtube.com/@pilgrimreformedchurch3115/streams for later services.]

Family, we observe the sacred rite of Holy Communion six or seven times a year, depending on which Sunday Easter falls.  We take Communion on the first Sunday of each quarter, on Maundy Thursday, on Easter Sunday, and on Christmas Eve.  Sometimes, like this year, Easter Sunday falls on the first Sunday of the quarter, so we only have six times those years.

We observe Holy Communion to remind us of the sacrifice Jesus made on our behalf.  We eat the bread, His body beaten and broken for us.  We drink from the cop of the new covenant, sealed by His blood.

You know all this – it’s nothing new.  But did you know that our observance of Holy Communion has its origins in the last supper Jesus enjoyed on this earth with His chosen disciples?  Maybe you remember me beginning the rite by saying, “On the same night in which Jesus was betrayed…”.  It was at that supper that Jesus broke the bread and shared it with His friends, commanding them to eat in remembrance of Him.  It was just after they ate that Jesus passed the cop of the covenant, again so that they might remember Him.  And it was after that meal that Jesus was betrayed by Judas, denied by Peter, arrested, tried, and crucified.  We are also commanded to remember Him.

No, we’re not going to have Communion today.  I just want us to remember that night, so long ago, that night when Jesus observed the Passover meal with His friends.  All four of the Gospel writers gave us an account of that night, but the Apostle John saved the most extensive record of the events of that evening.  His is also the most detailed account, focusing not only on the bread and wine part, but also on the foot washing and the general discourse and conversation of the evening.

I’d like to read just a little from John’s account as Jesus speaks with His friends for the last time in His mortal life before His resurrection.  He knows His time on earth is at an end, and He wants to soften the blow a little for them, letting them, and us, know that the way is now ready, the way we can follow.  Please listen and follow along to what the Apostle John recorded of the conversation between Jesus and His disciples, in the 14th chapter of his Gospel account, verses 1 through 15, and I’ll be reading from the New Life Version of our Holy Bible this morning…

1 “Do not let your heart be troubled. You have put your trust in God, put your trust in Me also. 2 There are many rooms in My Father’s house. If it were not so, I would have told you. I am going away to make a place for you. 3 After I go and make a place for you, I will come back and take you with Me. Then you may be where I am. 4 You know where I am going and you know how to get there.”

5 Thomas said to Jesus, “Lord, we do not know where You are going. How can we know the way to get there?” 6 Jesus said, “I am the Way and the Truth and the Life. No one can go to the Father except by Me. 7 If you had known Me, you would know My Father also. From now on you know Him and have seen Him.”

8 Philip said to Jesus, “Lord, show us the Father. That is all we ask.” 9 Jesus said to him, “Have I been with you all this time and you do not know Me yet? Whoever has seen Me, has seen the Father. How can you say, ‘Show us the Father’? 10 Do you not believe that I am in the Father and that the Father is in Me? What I say to you, I do not say by My own power. The Father Who lives in Me does His work through Me.

11 “Believe Me that I am in the Father and that the Father is in Me. Or else believe Me because of the things I do. 12 For sure, I tell you, whoever puts his trust in Me can do the things I am doing. He will do even greater things than these because I am going to the Father. 13 Whatever you ask in My name, I will do it so the shining-greatness of the Father may be seen in the Son. 14 Yes, if you ask anything in My name, I will do it.

15 “If you love Me, you will do what I say.”

--John 14:1-15 (NLV)

Let us pray…  Father God, You sent Your Son, Your Christ, to carry out Your plan for the reconciliation of mankind.  You and He both knew how it would all come down, how it would play out, how much He would have to suffer.  And You had to stand by and watch, a father watching his only son beaten and executed – how horrible!  And it was all for us, so that our sins would be forgiven and that we might receive salvation if we only follow Your Son, honor Him, obey Him.  Sadly, Father, we don’t always give enough consideration to just what He went through for us.  We struggle to carry out the mission He gave us, to obey those simple commands.  Please help us be more obedient, Father, and more appreciative of His sacrifice.  Remind us that we would be eternally lost had He not given of Himself for us.  Help us never forget.  And please help us be more like Jesus as we walk through this life.  This we pray in the beautiful name of our Lord Jesus.   Amen.

In November of 1975, 75 convicts started digging a secret tunnel designed to bring them up at the other side of the wall of Saltillo Prison in northern Mexico.  On April 18, 1976, guided by pure genius, they tunneled up into the nearby courtroom in which many of them had been sentenced.  The surprised judges returned all 75 to jail.

Also in 1976, a man on a flight across America rose from his seat, drew a gun, and took the stewardess hostage.  "Take me to Detroit," he demanded.  "We're already going to Detroit," she replied.  "Oh... Good", he said and sat down again.

Sometimes our sense of direction can get a tad bit skewed, a little off.  Maybe that's why Jesus felt it important to let us know that He is the way.  He is the direction we must go.  He is the path we must follow.  Otherwise, we might get lost and end up in someplace far worst that jail or prison.

Our scripture passage opens with Jesus reminding His disciples that they have trusted God, trusted in His word and promises, all their lives, so they should trust Him as well.  Now we today know that Jesus is God, one of the three persons of God, but His followers were still grappling a little with that concept.

“Trust Me”, He told them, “when I tell you that I am going away soon, but I’m going so I can get things ready for you to come join Me.  You know where I’m going, and You know how to get there – I’ve been telling you for quite some time now.”  And of course it was Thomas who needed more detail.  Leading Jesus to give the great statement of promise: “I am the Way, and the Truth, and the Life.”  Jesus is the way and He has made the way ready for us to be with Him forever.

And can’t you just feel His frustration when Philip blurts out, “Show us the Father”?  After all this time, after all they’ve been through together, all they’ve seen Him do, all He’s told them, they still don’t quite get it.  “If you’ve seen Me, you’ve seen the Father.”

No one can see God.  God is spirit.  He has no physical presence, unless He want to take one on at any given time. But people could see Jesus, touch Him, hear His voice, walk with Him, eat with Him.  Jesus came to us so that we could see God.  Of course, we today haven’t seen Him, not with our eyes, but we have the eyewitness accounts and we have faith, so we can believe without seeing.

And in believing, we love our Lord, so we do what He says.  Right?  Well, at least we try to.  Don’t we?

About six months before Jesus was born into the world, another baby was born, and this one to parents well past their childbearing years.  This baby was ordained and sanctified by God with a special calling in life, a very special mission.  John, the Baptizer, came into this world to make the way ready for Jesus.  Jesus came to make the way available to us.

Zacharias spoke to his infant son John and to those gathered at John's bris, his naming ceremony.  The Apostle Luke saved for us what Zacharias said that day, in the 1st chapter of his Gospel account, verse 67 and verses 75 through 79...

67 Zacharias, the father of John, was filled with the Holy Spirit. He told what was going to happen, saying, 75 “We can be holy and right with God all the days of our life.

76 “And you, my son, will be the one who speaks for the Most High. For you will go before the Lord to make the way ready for Him. 77 You will tell His people how to be saved from the punishment of sin by being forgiven of their sins. 78 Because the heart of our God is full of loving-kindness for us, a light from heaven will shine on us. 79 It will give light to those who live in darkness and are under the shadow of death. It will lead our feet in the way of peace.”

--Luke 1:67, 75-79 (NLV)

I think that short passage contains one of the more beautiful lines in our bible.  The heart of our God is full of loving-kindness for us.  God loves us.  He loves us so much, He wants us to be with Him forever.  So He sent His Son to atone for our sin.  And He sent John to prepare the way for His Son, to make the way ready.

Well Family, John did his job.  Jesus set the way.  Jesus is the way.  Follow Him.  Obey Him.  In the blessed name of Christ Jesus our Lord.  Amen.

Let us pray…  Almighty God, thank You for all that You set in play to reconcile us back to You.  Thank You for giving us the faith to believe in Jesus as Your Son and to accept Him as our Lord.  And thank You for our bible that has all the details for us.  But sometimes, Father, we tend to take Your loving kindness, Your many blessings, for granted.  Too often we don’t truly appreciate what You did for us, what Your Son went through for us.  Please forgive us these times, Father.  Please strengthen us to stay on the path Jesus set.

Please hear us now, Father, as we pause for just a moment so that each of us can speak to You through Your Spirit within us, promising to be more obedient to Your and our Lord’s commands, and seeking Your help to do so…

Lord Jesus, thank You for giving Your all so that we could be forgiven of our sins and be granted eternal life by our belief and obedience.  Thank You for establishing the rite of Holy Communion so that we are regularly reminded of Your sacrifice on our behalf.  Please help us be more observant of Your sacrifice.  Help us show our love for You by doing as You command, reaching out to others as You did, sharing Your words and Your works, offering Your love.  Help us carry out the mission You gave us, seeking the lost sheep and leading them to You.

Holy Spirit, please shield our minds and our hearts from Satan’s lies and the world’s empty promises.  Guide us around all the devil’s traps and snares.  Help us see though his temptations.  Help us keep our focus on the things of heaven and the needs of others rather than on anything this world might offer.  All this we pray in the blessed name of Christ Jesus our Lord.  Amen.

Obedience

 

[The following is a manuscript of my message delivered at Pilgrim Reformed Church on Sunday morning, the 26th of April, 2026.  If all went well, a recording of the service may be available on our YouTube streaming channel: 

https://www.youtube.com/@pilgrimreformedchurch1992/streams for the older services or https://www.youtube.com/@pilgrimreformedchurch3115/streams for later services.]

One of the definitions of the word “obedience” is “the act or practice of obeying; dutiful or submissive compliance”.  And being obedient means “complying with or submissive to authority”.  Interestingly enough, “compliance” is defined as “the act of yielding”.  So we can say that being obedient is to be dutifully or submissively yielding to authority.

When we accept Jesus as our Lord, our Master, we should be obedient to Him.  We should dutifully, and submissively, yield to His authority, obeying His commands.  But do we?

Sometimes obedience can bring about hardship.  One example we can all relate to is paying taxes.  If we are obedient to the laws of the land, we will pay taxes imposed upon us by the various governmental entities, even though we’d rather not comply, and even though doing so may cause financial hardship.

The apostles certainly knew about hardships that can follow obedience, especially when they were still obedient to Jesus after He returned to heaven.  And of course, Jesus, being ever obedient to His Father God, suffered greatly at the hands of those He came to save.  Please listen and follow along to what the Apostle Peter wrote about obedience and hardship, in the 2nd chapter of his 1st letter to the early church, verses 13 through 25, and I’ll be reading from The Living Bible translation of our Holy Bible this morning…

13 For the Lord’s sake, obey every law of your government: those of the king as head of the state, 14 and those of the king’s officers, for he has sent them to punish all who do wrong, and to honor those who do right.

15 It is God’s will that your good lives should silence those who foolishly condemn the Gospel without knowing what it can do for them, having never experienced its power. 16 You are free from the law, but that doesn’t mean you are free to do wrong. Live as those who are free to do only God’s will at all times.

17 Show respect for everyone. Love Christians everywhere. Fear God and honor the government.

18 Servants, you must respect your masters and do whatever they tell you — not only if they are kind and reasonable, but even if they are tough and cruel. 19 Praise the Lord if you are punished for doing right! 20 Of course, you get no credit for being patient if you are beaten for doing wrong; but if you do right and suffer for it, and are patient beneath the blows, God is well pleased.

21 This suffering is all part of the work God has given you. Christ, who suffered for you, is your example. Follow in His steps: 22 He never sinned, never told a lie, 23 never answered back when insulted; when He suffered He did not threaten to get even; He left His case in the hands of God who always judges fairly. 24 He personally carried the load of our sins in His own body when He died on the cross so that we can be finished with sin and live a good life from now on. For His wounds have healed ours! 25 Like sheep you wandered away from God, but now you have returned to your Shepherd, the Guardian of your souls who keeps you safe from all attacks.

--1 Peter 2:13-25 (TLB)

Let us go to God in prayer…  Father, You handed down ten commandments through Your servant Moses, ten commandments – Your law - that mankind should follow to live good lives and be righteous in Your eyes.  But knowing that we are incapable of completely obeying Your law, You sent Your Son Jesus to fulfill Your law and to give us a new commandment: to love one another.  Sadly, Father, we seem to have trouble even doing that sometimes.  Please help us be more obedient, Father.  Remind us that Your Son gave His mortal life to redeem us of our sin, leaving us with a debt we can never repay.  Help us honor Jesus by doing as He commands.  Please help us be more like Him as we walk through this life.  This we pray in the beautiful name of our Lord Jesus.   Amen.

The popular Our Daily Bread periodical once printed this little story:

"Every conscientious parent recognizes how difficult it is to exercise his God-given authority over his children.  The delicate balance of being tough yet tender is not easy to maintain.  Many parents intensify a rebellious spirit by being dictatorial and harsh.  Others yield when their authority is tested.  When a strong-willed child resists, the pressure to give in for the sake of peace and harmony can become overpowering.  I am reminded of the mother who wanted to have the last word but couldn't handle the hassle that resulted whenever she said no to her young son.  After an especially trying day, she finally flung up her hands and shouted, 'All right, Billy, do whatever you want! Now let me see you disobey THAT!'"

I think most parents can relate to that kind of experience when dealing with a somewhat rebellious child.  And maybe this can give us just a small glimpse into what it must feel like for God, when we rebel a little against His authority, when we are disobedient children.

Perhaps more relevant to our spiritual condition is this quote from Christian monk and author Thomas a Kempis:

"Instant obedience is the only kind of obedience there is; delayed obedience is disobedience. Whoever strives to withdraw from obedience, withdraws from Grace."

Instant obedience – without hesitation, not taking time to think about it or consider alternatives.  This is the kind of obedience our military expects, but it is usually enforced by the threat of harsh punishment if not met.  And I’m not sure most folk are capable of it.

Jesus once told the parable of a father who asked his son to go work in the fields and the son said no, he would not go, but later on he did go and work as his father asked.  When the first son said no, the father asked his second son to go work in the fields, and this son said yes, I will go and work, but he did not follow through.  So Jesus asked, which son actually obeyed his father and did as he asked, and of course the answer is the first son, but he only did so after thinking about it for a little while.  I believe most of us are more like that first son, wanting time to think and consider alternatives.

Peter says be obedient to God, and to those He places in authority over us.  That last part might be tough to handle for many, especially in our society where we vote for some people in authority, or for those who appoint people in authority over us.  If it’s not someone we voted for or want to see in office, we might not be overly enthusiastic about obeying them or their proxies.

Peter also tells us to be obedient even when doing so might cause suffering or hardship, as I mentioned earlier, before the scripture reading.  Jesus warned us that following Him could indeed bring great hardship – just read the Book of Acts to see the truth of this.

And then Peter speaks of servants and master.  Contrary to what may be popular belief, we are all servants to some master, whether it is our employer or a government official or a law enforcement officer, for example.  All of us are under some human authority, some master that we serve in some capacity.  So we should obey that master, that authority, even if it hurts to do so.

Jesus also speaks to this.  In His Sermon on the Mount, recorded by the Apostle Matthew in the 5th chapter of his Gospel account, verses 10 through 12, Jesus said...

10 “Happy are those who are persecuted because they are good, for the Kingdom of Heaven is theirs.

11 “When you are reviled and persecuted and lied about because you are My followers - wonderful! 12 Be happy about it! Be very glad! For a tremendous reward awaits you up in heaven. And remember, the ancient prophets were persecuted too.”

--Matthew 5:10-12 (TLB)

We know these better as part of the Beatitudes, with all beginning "Blessed are you".  And indeed we are happy when we are blessed by God.  If we truly are Jesus’ followers, then we are following His commands, obeying Him, even if we have to suffer for it, being persecuted, reviled, lied about.  For we are promised that our rewards for obedience are being laid up in heaven, awaiting our arrival there.

Of course, the one most familiar with suffering because of obedience is Jesus Himself.  He obeyed God even at great personal, physical and emotional cost.

Long before His birth into flesh, Isaiah wrote of the coming of the Christ.  Please hear what the great prophet says about Jesus, in chapter 11, verses 2 through 5 of his book of prophecy…

2 And the Spirit of the Lord shall rest upon him, the Spirit of wisdom, understanding, counsel, and might; the Spirit of knowledge and of the fear of the Lord. 3 His delight will be obedience to the Lord. He will not judge by appearance, false evidence, or hearsay, 4 but will defend the poor and the exploited. He will rule against the wicked who oppress them. 5 For he will be clothed with fairness and with truth.

--Isaiah 11:2-5 (TLB)

Jesus took delight in obeying His Father God, even though His obedience resulted in excruciating torture and execution, terrible pain and suffering.  He’s gone home to heaven now, and His own reward of glory, but someday   He will return, and we will be judged on how well we obeyed God.  Will we be seen as having delighted in our obedience?

Like I said, I’m not sure immediate obedience is in our nature, but we are given only two commands and we shouldn’t have to spend a lot of time thinking about it.  Jesus commands us to love one another, just as we love ourselves, and to go into the world making disciples of the nations, telling everyone all about Him, about what He taught and what He did.  Neither one of those should be that tough, they shouldn’t require a whole lot of thought, and yet we hesitate to carry them out.  We’re afraid, we’re worried, we’re shy… or maybe we just can’t be bothered to do it.

Each of us needs to look deep inside, at our will and our motivations, and see if we are truly being obedient to the one we call Lord.  Are we obeying our Master’s commands?  Are we kind of like the first son?  Even after a little hesitation, which is OK, are we going ahead and doing what He told us to do?  Let’s certainly not be like the second son, giving lip service but not doing as we’re told.

Obey God, obey His Son, and our reward will be great.  In the blessed name of Christ Jesus our Lord.  Amen.

Let us pray…  Almighty God, thank You for inspiring the men and women who authored the books of our bible, and thank You especially for Your Son’s disciples who saved the Gospel accounts for us and who wrote letters to the early church.  The words they penned are critical in describing how we should live our lives to be seen as righteous by You.  They tell us of the great importance of being obedient to Your commandments and our Lord’s commands.  But sometimes, Father, we do things we know we shouldn’t do, and we don’t do things we know we should do.  Too often we ignore Your law.  Please forgive us these times, Father.  Please strengthen us to do as You will us.

Please hear us now, Father, as we pause for just a moment so that each of us can speak to You through Your Spirit within us, promising to be more obedient to Your and our Lord’s commands, and seeking Your help to do so…

Lord Jesus, thank You for encouraging us to be obedient to our Father in heaven, telling us we are blessed for doing so, reminding us of the rewards that await us.  Thank You for setting the example of how we should live.  Please help us be more obedient to You and God.  Help us do as You command, reaching out to others as You did, sharing Your words and Your works, offering Your love.  Help us carry out the mission You gave us to bring others to You.

Holy Spirit, please shield our minds and our hearts from Satan’s lies and the world’s empty promises.  Guide us around all the devil’s traps and snares.  Help us see though his temptations.  Help us keep our focus on the things of heaven and the needs of others rather than on anything this world might offer.  All this we pray in the blessed name of Christ Jesus our Lord.  Amen.

Faith, Grace, and Salvation

 

[The following is a manuscript of my message delivered at Pilgrim Reformed Church on Sunday morning, the 19th of April, 2026, and our 5th blended service.  There was a power outage at the start of our service this morning, and our internet service may not have revived.  But if all went well, a recording of the service may be available on our YouTube streaming channel: 

https://www.youtube.com/@pilgrimreformedchurch1992/streams for the older services or https://www.youtube.com/@pilgrimreformedchurch3115/streams for later services.]

We opened our service this morning by singing our reason for being here: to worship God.  And then we rejoiced over God’s amazing grace and the unfailing love of our Lord Jesus.  With our responsive reading, we acknowledged that it is by our faith and through Jesus that we have entered this state of amazing grace.  Through Jesus’ selfless act and our belief in Him as the Christ, we receive salvation.  By our faith and God’s grace, we will share in Jesus’ victory over death.

Faith, grace, and salvation.  God is certainly worthy of our worship.

The Apostle Peter, in his letter to the early church, encourages us to keep trusting in God's promise of salvation, reinforced by Jesus' resurrection, no matter what we go through.  And this might be a problem for many.  When adversity rears its ugly head, our faith may begin to fade.  When things are going really great, we may take God’s wonderful grace for granted.  We may forget God’s great goodness as each mundane day drags on and on, with life’s busyness pushing faith off to the side.  To keep on doing anything can be a challenge for us, especially in our world where new and different is what so many seek.

But Peter tells us to keep on trusting God’s goodness, for He will show us even greater kindness when Jesus returns.  After all, what is faith but trust – trusting in what we may have no proof of, trusting in what we believe.  Please listen and follow along to what Peter wrote in the 1st chapter of his 1st letter to the early church, verses 3 through 13...

3 All honor to God, the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ; for it is His boundless mercy that has given us the privilege of being born again so that we are now members of God’s own family. Now we live in the hope of eternal life because Christ rose again from the dead. 4 And God has reserved for His children the priceless gift of eternal life; it is kept in heaven for you, pure and undefiled, beyond the reach of change and decay. 5 And God, in His mighty power, will make sure that you get there safely to receive it because you are trusting Him. It will be yours in that coming last day for all to see. 6 So be truly glad! There is wonderful joy ahead, even though the going is rough for a while down here.

7 These trials are only to test your faith, to see whether or not it is strong and pure. It is being tested as fire tests gold and purifies it — and your faith is far more precious to God than mere gold; so if your faith remains strong after being tried in the test tube of fiery trials, it will bring you much praise and glory and honor on the day of His return.

8 You love Him even though you have never seen Him; though not seeing Him, you trust Him; and even now you are happy with the inexpressible joy that comes from heaven itself. 9 And your further reward for trusting Him will be the salvation of your souls.

10 This salvation was something the prophets did not fully understand. Though they wrote about it, they had many questions as to what it all could mean. 11 They wondered what the Spirit of Christ within them was talking about, for He told them to write down the events which, since then, have happened to Christ: His suffering, and His great glory afterwards. And they wondered when and to whom all this would happen.

12 They were finally told that these things would not occur during their lifetime, but long years later, during yours. And now at last this Good News has been plainly announced to all of us. It was preached to us in the power of the same heaven-sent Holy Spirit who spoke to them; and it is all so strange and wonderful that even the angels in heaven would give a great deal to know more about it.

13 So now you can look forward soberly and intelligently to more of God’s kindness to you when Jesus Christ returns.

--1 Peter 1:3-13 (TLB)

Let us honor God now as we pray…  Father God, You have given each of us a measure of faith to believe that Jesus is Your Son and our Redeemer.  He is Your Christ, sent to atone for our sin.  This is the full measure of our faith, that we put all our trust in You.  You have promised us life eternal if we would only follow Your Son, accepting Him as our Lord.  And we do believe, we do trust in Your promises.  But Father, we tend to be a little weak in our determination sometimes.  We often have trouble holding true to our commitments even during the best of times, let alone during adversity.  Please help us remain strong and true to our convictions.  Remind us of Your promises, backed up by Jesus’ words and deeds.  Help us keep our faith fresh by exercising it daily, loving all others, helping them in their times of need.  This is what Jesus expects of us, what He did while He walked among us, showing Your love through our love.  Please help us be more like Him.  This we pray in the beautiful name of our Lord Jesus.   Amen.

During the Spanish-American War, Clara Barton was overseeing the work of the Red Cross in Cuba.  One day Colonel Theodore Roosevelt came to her, wanting to buy food for his sick and wounded Rough Riders.  But she refused to sell him any.  Roosevelt was perplexed.  His men needed the help and he was prepared to pay out of his own funds.  When he asked someone why he could not buy the supplies, he was told, “Colonel, just ask for it!”  A smile broke over Roosevelt's face.  Now he understood.  The provisions were not for sale. All he had to do was simply ask and they would be given freely.

Jesus said "Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you."  (Matthew 7:7 (NKJV))  Roosevelt couldn’t buy the supplies, even though he and his men desperately needed them.  We cannot buy our salvation.  Fortunately for us, it is freely given because of our faith.

Our passage opens with Peter giving all honor to God, whom he acknowledges being the Father of Jesus.  This is the same as saying that Jesus is the Son of God, a fact that so many of his Jewish fellows refused to admit or believe.  Peter goes on to affirm that it is only by God’s boundless mercy that we are born again into His family, as God’s children.  Only by God’s amazing grace do we live in the hope of eternal life, founded by Jesus rising from the dead.

Peter says that God has reserved everlasting life for us in heaven, and then the apostle makes a remarkable statement.  God will make sure we safely get there, to heaven, to receive eternal life because we trust Him, we have faith in Him.

Peter also kind of paraphrases the author of the Letter to the Hebrews when he states that we love Jesus even though we have never seen Him.  Which is just another way of saying we have faith in Jesus, for we wouldn’t love Him if we didn’t believe in Him, even though we’ve never seen Him.  This love and our promise of life in heaven makes us happy, and a greater joy awaits us because we trust in Jesus and in God for our salvation.  So we can look forward to even more of God’s kindness when Jesus returns.

Peter, first known as Simon, walked with Jesus from the very start of our Lord’s ministry up in Capernaum, on the shore of Galilee.  The Apostle John was also one of the first Jesus called to follow Him.  The Apostle Luke, however, did not walk with Jesus at any time.  But Luke was a learned man, disciplined in making notes and keeping accurate records because of his profession as a physician.  So although he never knew Jesus as a man, he knew Him by faith.

His Gospel account, written as his first letter to a man named Theophilus, is based on interviews of the people who walked with Jesus and those who witnessed His mighty works.  And his account is incredible, such as the time when Jesus appeared to His disciples along the Sea of Galilee, after His resurrection.  Please hear what occurred after they had eaten breakfast, that Luke saved for us in the 24th chapter of his Gospel account, verses 44 through 48…

44 Then [Jesus] said, “When I was with you before, don’t you remember My telling you that everything written about Me by Moses and the prophets and in the Psalms must all come true?” 45 Then He opened their minds to understand at last these many Scriptures! 46 And He said, “Yes, it was written long ago that the Messiah must suffer and die and rise again from the dead on the third day; 47 and that this message of salvation should be taken from Jerusalem to all the nations: There is forgiveness of sins for all who turn to Me. 48 You have seen these prophecies come true."

--Luke 24:44-48 (TLB)

You know, Family, so many times we forget what our bible has told us, what Jesus told us.  We bemoan that the world seems to be going crazy.  We lament the terrible things that happen, now more and more frequently.  We wonder why God doesn’t do something about it all.

Just as Jesus had to remind His disciples all that was written about Him and what would be done to Him, I too often find myself reminding folks that everything that is happening has to happen.  All of this, and more, has to take place before Jesus returns.  It’s all right there in our bibles.  And yes, this is terribly sad to hear.  So Jesus gave us a message of salvation to share with all people: there is forgiveness of sins for all who turn to Him, who follow Him.

Like the disciples, we have also seen the prophecies and promises Jesus spoke of come true, and we’ve seen many more fulfilled since.  Now we anxiously await our Lord’s return and complete fulfillment at last.  So let us keep our faith in the promises of God and His wonderful grace.  And let us share the message of salvation with all we encounter in our daily walk.  In the blessed name of Christ Jesus our Lord.  Amen.

Let us pray…  Almighty God, thank You for giving us the faith to believe in and follow Your Son Jesus, whose resurrection serves as the promise of our own eternal life.  By Your great grace we receive salvation.  But sometimes, Father, we have trouble maintaining our trust and faith in You.  All the madness going on around us takes our attention away from You, takes our focus off the things of heaven, takes our eyes off Jesus.  Please forgive us these times, Father.  Please strengthen us to put our faith into action and carry out our mission while we draw breath.

Please hear us now, Father, as we pause for just a moment so that each of us can speak to You through Your Spirit within us, promising to be more obedient to Your and our Lord’s commands, and seeking Your help to do so…

Lord Jesus, thank You for so selflessly giving of Yourself for our sake.  Thank You for Your unconditional, sacrificial love, and for loving us to the very end.  Please help us strengthen our faith by following Your word.  Help us reach out to others and be more open in showing our faith, in sharing Your words and Your works, in repeating Your message of salvation and the promise of life everlasting.  Help us carry out the mission You gave us to bring others to You.

Holy Spirit, please shield our minds and our hearts from Satan’s lies and the world’s empty promises.  Guide us around all the devil’s traps and snares.  Help us see though his temptations.  Help us keep our focus on the things of heaven and the needs of others rather than on anything this world might offer.  All this we pray in the blessed name of Christ Jesus our Lord.  Amen.

Believing Without Seeing

 

[The following is a manuscript of my message delivered at Pilgrim Reformed Church on Sunday morning, the 12th of April, 2026 - the first Sunday after Easter.  If all went well, a recording of the service may be available on our YouTube streaming channel: 

https://www.youtube.com/@pilgrimreformedchurch1992/streams for the older services or https://www.youtube.com/@pilgrimreformedchurch3115/streams for later services.]

I sometimes like to ask the question: What if we’re wrong?  Life after death has always been a rather contentious topic of discussion.  Many people believe in some form of life after death, although not necessarily bodily life, including Christians, Muslims, Hindus, and adherents of the Asian belief systems, even atheists.  In Jesus’ day, the Sadducees did not believe in resurrection, but most Jews did.

We believe in eternal life because of our faith and the promise of Jesus.  But we know there are many people who do not believe.  They don’t believe in God or Jesus and they don’t believe there is anything after death – just nothingness.

What if they're right and we're wrong?  What if there is no God, no Jesus, no life after this one?  Won't we feel foolish when we die and find out we were wrong all along?  Well, if they're right, we won't feel anything, because there will be nothing.  We will have lived a reasonably happy and useful life, though, living for and serving Jesus, while non-believers tend to be more miserable, more unhappy, less content with life.  But family, if we're right and they're wrong, things won't go very well for them.

Speaking of life after death…  Last Sunday, we celebrated the Easter story at our Sunrise Service, and then examined the resurrection of Jesus from a slightly different angle than usual during our morning worship service, gaining a little more insight into what it means to us, the impact it has on all of mankind.  Today I’d like to return to that first Easter so long ago, and look at what happened when Jesus started showing Himself, in His body, alive and well, after His resurrection from the dead.

Please listen and follow along to what the Apostle John  recorded of the events later that day, in the 20th chapter of his Gospel account, verses 19 through 31, and I’ll be reading from the fairly new Easy English Bible this morning…

19 On the evening of that same day, the first day of the week, the disciples were meeting together. They had locked the doors of the room because they were afraid of the Jewish leaders. Then Jesus came and He stood among them. He said to them, "Peace be with you." 20 After He had said this, He showed them His hands and His side. The disciples were very, very happy when they saw the Lord. 21 Jesus said again, "Peace be with you. As the Father has sent Me, in the same way I am now sending you." 22 When He had said this, He breathed on them. He said, "Receive God's Holy Spirit. 23 If you forgive a person's sins, God will forgive them too. If you do not forgive them, God will not forgive them."

24 One of the 12 disciples was called Thomas. (He was also called ‘the Twin’.) He was not with the other disciples when Jesus came to them. 25 So the other disciples told him, "We have seen the Lord." But Thomas said to them, "I will never believe that He is alive again unless I myself see Him. I want to see the marks of the nails in His hands. I want to touch where the nails were with my finger. I want to put my hand into His side where the spear went in. If I cannot do that, I will not believe."

26 Eight days after that, the disciples were in the house again. This time Thomas was with them. They had locked the door. But Jesus came and He stood among them. He said to them, "Peace be with you." 27 Then He said to Thomas, "Put your finger in here. Look at My hands. Put your hand here, in My side. Do not refuse to believe what is true. Now, believe." 28 Thomas answered Him, "My Lord, and my God!" 29 Jesus said to him, "You believe because you have seen Me. Other people have not seen Me, but they do believe in Me. God is really happy with those people."

30 Jesus did many other miracles while the disciples were with Him. I have not written about all of them in this book. 31 But I have written about these things, so that you will be able to believe the truth. You will believe that Jesus is the Messiah, the Son of God. Because you believe in Him, you will have life with God.

--John 20:19-31 (EASY)

Just a quick note: In the last part of verse 29, the New King James Version of our bible has Jesus saying “Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed.”  God indeed blesses us when He is really happy with us.

Let us pray…  Heavenly Father, Your Son Jesus came to earth to carry out Your plan to reconcile mankind back to You.  To accomplish this, He allowed Himself to be beaten, tortured, and crucified, for only His blood could atone for our sin, making us clean in Your sight.  Thank You, Father God, for having mercy on us.  Thank You for giving us the faith to believe in Jesus and for adopting us as Your children when we do.  Father, sometimes we forget just how much we are impacted by the death and resurrection of Jesus.  We admit that we might not give much thought to how Your great plan worked out, and all for our benefit.  Please forgive us, Father, when we don’t spend enough time in study and contemplation over Your word.  Please help us be more righteous and obedient in our daily walk.

Speak to us now, Father, that we might hear Your voice through Your Spirit within us and better understand our message today.  This we humbly pray in the precious name of Your Son, Christ Jesus our Lord.   Amen.

The little Bits & Pieces magazine, back in 1992, reported that an American scientist once visited the offices of the great Nobel-prize-winning physicist, Niels Bohr, in Copenhagen.  He was amazed to find that over Bohr's desk was a horseshoe, securely mailed to the wall, with the open end up in the usual manner (so it would catch the good luck and not let it spill out).  The American said with a nervous laugh, "Surely you don't believe that horseshoe will bring you good luck, do you, Professor Bohr?  After all, as a scientist..."  Bohr chuckled, "I believe no such thing, my good friend.  Not at all.  I am scarcely likely to believe in such foolish nonsense.  However, I am told that a horseshoe will bring you good luck whether you believe in it or not." 

I don't remember where I heard it or who spoke the words, or maybe I’m the one who said it, but somewhere along the line someone said, "It doesn't matter if you believe in God or not.  He believes in you."  That's a great - and true - statement.  God believes in and cares about all of His creation.  He believes in us whether we believe in Him or not.  But when it comes to Jesus, belief in Him definitely matters.  It makes all the difference between eternal life in paradise and everlasting torment.

In the Apostle John’s account of the Easter story, Mary Magdalene went to the tomb alone that morning.  Seeing the stone rolled away, she ran back to the upper room to get Peter and John, telling them that someone had taken the body of their Lord.  Peter and John raced to the tomb and, going inside, found it to be empty.  The two went back but Mary stayed at the tomb alone, weeping, and that’s when Jesus appeared to her.

Note that John makes no mention of an angel at the tomb or of any instructions to the disciples to meet Jesus later along the Galilee shore.  He just reported that Mary returned and told the disciples what had just happened.  But at this point, Mary was the only one who had seen the risen Jesus, according to John.

Now, Jesus still wanted to show Himself to the others.  He did that in a remarkable way: by suddenly appearing right there amongst them while they hid behind closed and locked doors.  He breathed God’s Holy Spirit into them and let them know that from now on, if they forgave anyone’s sins, God would forgive them too, but if they do not forgive someone, God will also not forgive them.  In my opinion, that’s a pretty heavy responsibility.

But unfortunately, Thomas was not among them that evening, so he did not see Jesus, now alive again.  He stubbornly refused to believe what the others told him about Jesus until he saw the Lord Himself.  So Jesus came back, eight days later, in the same way as before, just popping in even though they had locked the doors.  Thomas was there this time, so Jesus invited him to closely examine and touch the wounds from the nails and the spear.  And Thomas believed.

Jesus kind of rebuked Thomas by saying, “You believe because You have seen Me.  Others will believe even though they haven’t seen Me.  That will make God very happy and He will bless them.”  Of course, this statement could have applied to all those present that day, for they all saw Him.  But they were eyewitnesses, and because of their reports, others believed, and believe to this day.

The author of the Letter to the Hebrews gave us the definitive statement on faith, noting that it is what comprises our hope, it is the indication of the things we cannot see.  In the first three verses of chapter 11 of his letter to the Jewish converts, the author says…

11 This is what it means to trust God: We will be sure about the things that we hope for. We will be sure in our minds about things that we cannot even see. 2 It was because of their faith that God said good things about the people of long ago. 3 Because of faith, we understand about how God made the universe. He spoke His word to make it happen. In that way, God made all the things that we can see. He made them from things that nobody could see.

--Hebrews 11:1-3 (EASY)

We believe because of the faith God gave us.  By our belief, we put our trust in Him.  We believe in Jesus even though we’ve never seen Him in the flesh, with our own eyes.  And we believe in life after death because of His resurrection, and the promise that He was simply the first to be raised from the dead, that many more will follow.

Let’s keep exercising our faith.  Let’s keep believing, even without seeing.  Our faith gives us all the proof we need.

In the blessed name of Christ Jesus our Lord, who set the example for us to follow.  Amen.

Let us pray…  Almighty God, thank You for having mercy on us poor sinners.  Even though we are disobedient, rebellious children, You forgive us and forget we sinned.  Thank You , Father, for loving us this much.  Thank You for caring enough about all of Your creation that You want us all to be reconciled back to You, as we were in the very beginning before we sinned.  Father, we know that too often we take Your love and mercy for granted.  Sometimes we think that just being good or doing good things is enough to earn our way into heaven.  We forget it is a gift freely given by You if we follow Your Son.  Please forgive us these times, Father.  And forgive us when we hesitate to help expand Your kingdom across the face of the earth.  Please help us do a better job of sharing our Lord Jesus with others so that they too may be saved by Your mercy and Jesus’ sacrifice.  

Please hear us now, Father, as we pause for just a moment to speak to You through Your Spirit within us, promising to be more obedient to Your word, and seeking Your help to do so…

Lord Jesus, You gave Your all for us, and You loved us to the end.  After You were dead and buried, our Father God raised You from the grave.  You walked among us and were witnessed by over 500 people.  And we were promised that You were only the first of many to be raised back to life, that Your followers would share in Your victory over death.  But Lord, sometimes we still wonder, sometimes we still worry, sometimes we fear death when in our heart of hearts we know that death to this life is only the beginning of the next life with You in heaven.  Please forgive us our doubts and insecurities, Lord.  Please strengthen us to carry out the mission You gave us.  Help us reach out to the non-believing world, sharing the Gospel message, showing Your love through our love.  Help us, guide us in our attempts to bring the lost to You.

Holy Spirit, please shield our minds and our hearts from Satan’s lies and the world’s empty promises.  Guide us around all the devil’s traps and snares.  Help us see though his temptations.  Help us keep our focus on the things of heaven and the needs of others rather than on anything this world might offer.  All this we pray in the blessed name of Christ Jesus our Lord.  Amen.

The Resurrection

 

[The following is a manuscript of my message delivered at Pilgrim Reformed Church on Sunday morning, the 5th of April, 2026 - Easter Sunday.  This service included Holy Communion with our Lord.  If all went well, a recording of the service may be available on our YouTube streaming channel: 

https://www.youtube.com/@pilgrimreformedchurch1992/streams for the older services or https://www.youtube.com/@pilgrimreformedchurch3115/streams for later services.]

Our bible has many passages that hinge on something happening in three days.  One of the more familiar references is Jonah in the belly of the great fish for three days.  Jesus mentioned this one time when the people asked for a sign.  He responded, “The only sign will be the miracle that happened to the prophet Jonah.  Jonah was in the stomach of the big fish for three days and three nights. In the same way, the Son of Man will be in the grave three days and three nights.”  There were quite a few times when Jesus spoke of His impending death and resurrection, such as when He said, “Destroy this temple and I will build it again in three days.”

Three days.  Three is the number of God – the Triune God, God in Three Persons, the Holy Trinity.  And in three days the Temple was indeed rebuilt.  Today we celebrate that third day, and Jesus’ victory over the grave.

We celebrate Christmas because it commemorates the birth of Jesus into this world on His mission to bring us forgiveness and offer us eternal life.  And while that is extremely important, the foundation of our faith comes now, today, on Easter Sunday.  For it is the resurrection of the body that we are promised, and that promise is proven by the resurrection of Jesus.  Had Jesus not been raised from the dead, Christianity very likely would have faded and died as an ideology.

The resurrection is so important to us, that all four Gospel writers recorded it.  And the Apostle Luke’s Book of Acts mentions it often as a main theme of the Apostles’ preachings.  One of those mentioned was the Apostle Paul and the messages he delivered during his missionary journeys.  And of course Paul included this topic in some of his letters, including one to the church family in Corinth.

Please listen and follow along as the Apostle Paul gives us better insight into what the resurrection means to us, as he wrote in the 15th chapter of his 1st Letter to the Corinthians, verses 1 through 8 and 12 through 26, and I’ll be reading from the Easy-to-Read Version of our Holy Bible this morning…

1 Now, brothers and sisters, I want you to remember the Good News I told you. You received that Good News message, and you continue to base your life on it. 2 That Good News, the message you heard from me, is God’s way to save you. But you must continue believing it. If you don’t, you believed for nothing.

3 I gave you the message that I received. I told you the most important truths: that Christ died for our sins, as the Scriptures say; 4 that He was buried and was raised to life on the third day, as the Scriptures say; 5 and that He appeared to Peter and then to the twelve apostles. 6 After that Christ appeared to more than 500 other believers at the same time. Most of them are still living today, but some have died. 7 Then He appeared to James and later to all the apostles. 8 Last of all, He appeared to me. I was different, like a baby born before the normal time.

12 We tell everyone that Christ was raised from death. So why do some of you say that people will not be raised from death? 13 If no one will ever be raised from death, then Christ has never been raised. 14 And if Christ has never been raised, then the message we tell is worth nothing. And your faith is worth nothing. 15 And we will also be guilty of lying about God, because we have told people about Him, saying that He raised Christ from death. And if no one is raised from death, then God never raised Christ from death. 16 If those who have died are not raised, then Christ has not been raised either. 17 And if Christ has not been raised from death, then your faith is for nothing; you are still guilty of your sins. 18 And those in Christ who have already died are lost. 19 If our hope in Christ is only for this life here on earth, then people should feel more sorry for us than for anyone else.

20 But Christ really has been raised from death — the first one of all those who will be raised. 21 Death comes to people because of what one man did. But now there is resurrection from death because of another man. 22 I mean that in Adam all of us die. And in the same way, in Christ all of us will be made alive again. 23 But everyone will be raised to life in the right order. Christ was first to be raised. Then, when Christ comes again, those who belong to Him will be raised to life. 24 Then the end will come. Christ will destroy all rulers, authorities, and powers. Then He will give the kingdom to God the Father.

25 Christ must rule until God puts all enemies under His feet. 26 The last enemy to be destroyed will be death.

--1 Corinthians 15:1-8, 12-26 (ERV)

Let us pray…  Heavenly Father, thank You for sending Your Christ to free us from the bonds of sin!  Jesus came to offer salvation to all the world because You love us all.  And He commands us to go and make disciples of all the world.  Sadly, Father, not everyone believes in Jesus as Your Son, they refuse to accept Him as their Lord.  There are many who don’t even know about Jesus, about what He taught and did.  Please help us reach out to the non-believers of the world, Father, sharing the Good News and showing Your love.  Help us spread the message that Jesus has risen from the dead and lives again, the first of many.  And please forgive us when we hesitate to do Your will and as our Lord Jesus commands us.

Speak to us now, Father, that we might hear Your voice through Your Spirit within us and better understand Your message today.  Thank You for raising Jesus from the dead to show that we too will be raised to eternal life if we just follow Him.  Help us keep the joy of His resurrection in our heart and our actions as we go about each day doing Your will.  This we pray in the precious name of Your Son, Christ Jesus our Lord.   Amen.

A person reported waking up from a code only to find themselves speaking Italian - a language they did not know - and then immediately flatlined again.  After being revived, they later joked, “I’d come back to the wrong body.”

A 72-year-old Indian man named Deepak Singh suddenly awoke atop a funeral pyre just before his cremation.  Declared dead after collapsing, he came to, thoroughly shocking his gathered family.  He later joked that he hoped they would wait until he was actually dead next time. 

There have been many, many instances of people being brought back to life, especially in hospital environments or under emergency medical conditions.  We even have AEDs here in the church that can help restore a person’s pulse, and anyone trained in CPR can help revive someone.  But I've only heard of two instances where a person had been dead and buried for three days and then brought back to life.  The first was Lazarus, raised from the grave by Jesus.  And the second was Jesus, raised back first to physical life and then eternal life by God.

Every Easter we celebrate that Jesus was raised from the dead.  Easter and Christmas are the most joyous days for Christians.  Jesus died for our sins, and then defeated death.  The resurrection story, the empty tomb, was looked at this morning during our Sunrise Service.  Now, in Paul’s letter, we look at what the resurrection means to us, to mankind.

Paul begins this passage by reminding us of the Good News, of how important it is for us to remember the Gospel message because it is God’s way to save us.  And he encourages us to keep holding on to this message, to keep believing, or our faith would be for naught.  Then Paul boils that message down to the most important truths: that the Christ died for our sins; that He was buried but was then raised to life on the third day; and that He appeared to Peter, and then to the twelve, and then to over 500 other believers, then to James and the other apostles, and finally to Paul himself.  That last occurred when Jesus struck him blind on the road to Damascus.

Paul then goes on to defend the resurrection of the dead, something the Sadducees did not accept or believe in.  And he was very direct in his statement to us Christians.  If there was no resurrection, if Jesus was not raised from the dead, then our faith is worthless, pointless.  Not only that, but we are still guilty of our sins and will have to answer to them before God.

If our hope, our faith in Christ, is only good for this earthly life, then there really is no reason to go on living.  But Jesus was raised from the dead, and we will be, too.

A little earlier, I mentioned that something happening in three days is a recurrent theme in our bible.  The two examples I gave were both from the New Testament, although the incident of Jonah that Jesus spoke of actually occurred in Old Testament times.

There’s another Old Testament reference I’d like to look at, where the prophet Hosea claims that resurrection will occur for all who walk with the Lord.  By the way, Hosea wrote this over 700 years before Jesus was born into this world.  Oh, and this resurrection will come on the third day, too.

Please hear the words of the prophet Hosea, from the first two verses of the 6th chapter of the book bearing his name…

1 Come, let’s go back to the Lord.

He hurt us, but He will heal us.

He wounded us, but He will put bandages on us.

2 After two days He will bring us back to life.

He will raise us up on the third day.

Then we can live near Him.

--Hosea 6:1-2 (ERV)

The prophets spoke for God.  Their words came from God.  He used them to speak to mankind.  And He promises to bring us back to life and raise us up on the third day.  Jesus was just the first.  In verse 20 of our scripture reading, Paul proclaims that Jesus is “the first one of all those who will be raised”.

Paul goes on to say that death entered this world due to the sin of Adam, but then salvation came to the world because of the righteous act of Jesus.  Paul specifically says, “in Christ all of us will be made alive again”.  The key is “in Christ”.  By our belief in Jesus as the Christ, the Son of God, and by following Him as our Lord, we remain in Him, and we will be raised to new life, eternal life with Him.

This is the promise of the resurrection.  This is the foundation of our faith.  This is our hope.

In just a few moments we will come to the table of our Lord to share His last meal with Him.  The Apostle Paul warns that we must be right with God before doing so.  Otherwise, we share the guilt of His execution, of His death, with those who committed the act.

Now is the time to get right with God.  If you are feeling convicted by the Holy Spirit, if you are weighed down by the guilt of disobedience, if you are holding a grudge against a fellow believer, if there is anything in your life that God would see as sinful, lay it all at the foot of our Lord’s cross, repent, and seek forgiveness.  Get right with God.

In the blessed name of Christ Jesus our Lord, the Son of God, who came in the flesh to redeem us, who was raised from the dead into flesh and returned to heaven, and who is coming again to judge us all.  Amen.

Let us pray…  Almighty God, thank You for raising Your Son Jesus from the dead!  He gave up His mortal life to atone us of our sin so that we could always be with You, and then You resurrected Him in the body to show that we too will be resurrected in the body when our mortal life is finished.  You will give us a new, incorruptible body that will last for all eternity.  Thank You, Father, for such wonderful gifts, for having mercy on us.  Sometimes, Father, we don’t understand everything that has been saved for us in our Bible.  Sometimes we don’t understand because we don’t spend enough time in study and reflection.  Please forgive us these times, Father.  Help us better grasp all that Jesus taught us, and all that the prophets wrote about Him.  Give us greater insight and visibility into all You have promised.  And Father, guide us around any pitfalls in this life and strengthen our spirits to do Your will.  And please help us do a better job of sharing Jesus with others so that they too may be saved by Your mercy and His sacrifice.  

Father, please shield us from Satan as he attacks our faith, trying to make us his own.  Help us be better servants, glorifying You in all we do so that the world can see You in us, through our deeds, in how we live.  And help us remain strong, faithful, and true to You in all things, no matter what the world throws at us or holds out before us.

Please hear us now, Father, as we pause for just a moment to speak to You through Your Spirit within us, promising to be more obedient to Your commands, and seeking Your help to do so…

Lord Jesus, on this day – the third day - so long ago You left an empty tomb behind as You were raised to renewed life by our Father God, just as You said You would be.  So many had trouble believing this, even those who walked with You.  So You showed Yourself to them, in the flesh, and we have their reports and witnessing so that we can believe.  Thank You, Jesus, for taking our sin upon Yourself, leaving our sin in the grave, and walking forth into a new day.  Please help us follow Your example and pattern our life after Yours.  Help us see through Your eyes.  Help us be more understanding, more merciful, more forgiving, remembering that we are all created in our Triune God’s image and that You came to save us all.  And Lord, please help us reach out to the non-believing world with the Gospel message, showing Your love through our love.  Give us the words to say, show us what to do to help bring the lost to You.  Please help us be faithful and true to You, putting all our trust in You, all our hope in You.  Heal the hurts that separate and divide us one from another.  Help us keep our focus on the things of heaven and the needs of others rather than on anything this life might offer.  This we pray in Your blessed name, Christ Jesus our Lord and our Savior.  Amen.