Moving Forward

[The following is a manuscript of my sermon delivered on Sunday morning, the 31st of July, 2016.  Look for the video on our Vimeo channel, http://vimeo.com/pilgrimreformedchurch.]

What is most important to us?  Whatever it is that we place the greatest value on, that is generally where we make our greatest investment.  That is what we give the most time and resources to.  That is where we start our list of priorities.  And sadly, that is why the church all across America is struggling so much - because more and more people place greater value on attaining wealth and popularity than on serving Jesus and God.

Not everyone follows this trend, though.  Many still understand what really matters in this life.  They try their best to pattern their lives based on the Apostle Paul’s teachings.

Listen and follow along as I read what Paul says about all this in his letter to the Philippians, chapter 3 verses 8 through 21, from The Living Bible…

8 Yes, everything else is worthless when compared with the priceless gain of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord.  I have put aside all else, counting it worth less than nothing, in order that I can have Christ, 9 and become one with Him, no longer counting on being saved by being good enough or by obeying God’s laws, but by trusting Christ to save me; for God’s way of making us right with Himself depends on faith — counting on Christ alone.  10 Now I have given up everything else — I have found it to be the only way to really know Christ and to experience the mighty power that brought Him back to life again, and to find out what it means to suffer and to die with Him.  11 So whatever it takes, I will be one who lives in the fresh newness of life of those who are alive from the dead.

12 I don’t mean to say I am perfect.  I haven’t learned all I should even yet, but I keep working toward that day when I will finally be all that Christ saved me for and wants me to be.

13 No, dear brothers, I am still not all I should be, but I am bringing all my energies to bear on this one thing:  Forgetting the past and looking forward to what lies ahead, 14 I strain to reach the end of the race and receive the prize for which God is calling us up to heaven because of what Christ Jesus did for us.

15 I hope all of you who are mature Christians will see eye-to-eye with me on these things, and if you disagree on some point, I believe that God will make it plain to you — 16 if you fully obey the truth you have.

17 Dear brothers, pattern your lives after mine, and notice who else lives up to my example.  18 For I have told you often before, and I say it again now with tears in my eyes, there are many who walk along the Christian road who are really enemies of the cross of Christ.  19 Their future is eternal loss, for their god is their appetite: they are proud of what they should be ashamed of; and all they think about is this life here on earth.  20 But our homeland is in heaven, where our Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ, is; and we are looking forward to His return from there.  21 When He comes back, He will take these dying bodies of ours and change them into glorious bodies like His own, using the same mighty power that He will use to conquer all else everywhere.

--Philippians 3:8-21 (TLB)

Let us pray…  Father God, You have provided us with a guide through this life by giving us Your word in our Holy Bible.  Help us, Father, to understand Your message and to apply it to our everyday life.  Open our eyes, our ears, our minds, and our hearts to Your Holy Spirit that He might speak to us today.  In the holy name of Your Son Jesus we pray.  Amen.


The Coat of Arms of Australia bears a picture of an emu and a kangaroo.  These animals were chosen because they share a characteristic that appealed to the Australian forefathers: both the emu and kangaroo can only move forward, not back.  The emu’s three-toed foot causes it to fall if it tries to go backwards, and the kangaroo is prevented from moving in reverse by its large tail.  Those who truly choose to follow Jesus become like the emu and the kangaroo, moving only forward, never back.


Rev. Paul Barreca of Faith Bible Church writes:

In today's world of Smart Phones, tablets and instant Internet access, there are many things that we can "know."  If someone asks the questions, "How long is the Verrazano Bridge," a nimble person with a 4G connection and an iPhone can repeat the question to Siri and they will get an almost instantaneous response.  But if we had sitting here an 85 year old retired construction worker who spent 2 years of his life in his 20s building the Verrazano bridge, we would get the correct information, but we would get it with great passion.

That's what it means to know Christ and the power of His resurrection.  It involves much more than repeating facts concerning Christ or the Bible.  Knowing Christ is an intimate relationship with Him that changes your life.


How well do we know our Christ?  How do we get to know anyone?  We spend time with them, right?  We talk to them and ask questions - we study them.  And if we consider them a friend, we build a good, solid relationship with them.

That’s all Jesus wants: a good, personal relationship with us.  He wants us to really know Him.  And when we do, we’ll understand that He does not want us to worry about yesterday.  He does not want us to look back, but to focus on what lies ahead.

We’re not like the emu or the kangaroo.  We’re perfectly capable of going backwards if we so choose.  But that’s not what our Lord wants.  In Proverbs chapter 4 verse 27 we receive a very important instruction…

27 Do not turn to the right or the left;
Remove your foot from evil.

--Proverbs 4:27 (NKJV)

Our Lord Jesus emphasized this point a number of times during His ministry.  Once, a man came up to Jesus and promised to follow Him, after first going back home to say his good-byes.  Listen to our Lord’s response, from the Gospel account of the Apostle Luke, chapter 9, verse 62…

62 But Jesus told him, “Anyone who lets himself be distracted from the work I plan for him is not fit for the Kingdom of God.”

--Luke 9:62 (TLB)

Now I know that sometimes we do look back, and often think fondly on how things were in the past and how much we wish they could still be like that now.  But looking back, fondly or otherwise, is a distraction.  If we’re looking back, or worse, if we’re moving backwards, then we’re allowing ourselves to be distracted from the work Jesus has for us.  Of course, there are other ways to be distracted.  We can get all caught up in maintaining the status quo that we lose sight of the instructions Jesus gave us.

We learned last week that our mission as a church is to go out into the world making disciples of Christ Jesus.  Are we, the church, moving forward... or standing still?  Are we making progress, or just treading water?


Of course, there is an aspect to moving forward that might be a little unsettling.  Because moving forward also involves stepping into a new, unknown world: tomorrow.  Tomorrow is a mysterious place, filled with all kinds of wonders, and all kinds of horrors.  No matter how well we might plan out our day, everything can change in the blink of an eye.  Tomorrow can be exciting, or scary.

People say we don’t know what the future holds, but in a way, we do.  Listen to what the Apostle John relates to us from his Book of Revelation, chapter 4, verse 1…

1 Then as I looked, I saw a door standing open in heaven, and the same voice I had heard before, which sounded like a mighty trumpet blast, spoke to me and said, “Come up here and I will show you what must happen in the future!”

--Revelation 4:1 (TLB)

Notice that the voice didn’t say he would tell us what might happen, but what must happen!  These things we read of in Jesus’ Revelation to John must happen because that is God’s plan, and indeed they will happen.  For those who don’t believe, who don’t put all their trust and faith and belief in the Lord Jesus, the worst is yet to come!  Revelation chapter 6 verse 17 shows us there will come a day after Jesus takes His church home when those left behind will finally understand what they’ve done to themselves, they will know God’s wrath, and they will shout out…

17 “That terrible day has come! God and the Lamb will show their anger, and who can face it?”

--Revelation 6:17 (CEV)

So yes, moving forward can be scary.  But that is what Jesus would have us do.  To “go and make disciples” is moving forward.  “Advancing God’s kingdom” is moving forward.  Leaving things behind, turning neither to the right nor to the left, but walking straight ahead toward Jesus is moving forward.  Going beyond where we’re at is moving forward.  As our choir sang, beyond the cross is a tomb that is empty.  Beyond the cross is life everlasting, and hope forever more.

Paul says that things don’t matter, money doesn’t matter, fame and popularity don’t matter.  The only thing that matters is having faith in Jesus, counting on Christ alone.  Forget the past, look forward to what lies ahead.  Strain ahead to reach the end of the race, for the prize we will receive from God is beyond our wildest imaginings.  Be like Paul.  Make him your personal role model.  Follow our Lord and continue moving forward.  All in the name of Jesus.

Amen.


Let us pray…  Father God, it’s so easy for us to stop and look back, too often wishing life could be like it once was rather than looking ahead and following Your Son to make life better than it ever was.  Father, in so many ways and in so many places in our Bible, You have provided a clear path for us to follow.  Help us, please Father, to not stray from that path.

Hear us now, Father, as we lift our personal prayers to You in the silence, coming straight from our hearts…

Lord Jesus, You have commissioned us to go into the world making disciples, baptizing them in Your name and teaching them all You have commanded.  You warn us not to turn from this goal, not to look back, not to allow ourselves to be distracted by anything in this life but to move forward and carry out our mission.  Help us do just that, please Jesus.  Help us rededicate ourselves to serving You and following Your will.  Help us run this race to the very end.  For we know that the day of God’s wrath, the day of Your return, is rapidly approaching, and we want to be safely at Your side when that day comes.  Help us, Lord Jesus.

This we pray in the name of Him who gave His all for us, the precious name of Jesus Christ, our Lord and Savior, the one true Son of God.  Amen.

Our Mission...

[The following is a manuscript of my sermon delivered on Sunday morning, the 24th of July, 2016.  Look for the video on our Vimeo channel, http://vimeo.com/pilgrimreformedchurch.]

What is the purpose of the church?  Have you ever given that any thought?  Rick Warren wrote a whole book on what our purpose is, as individuals, but what about the church itself?

Our scripture passage this morning is one you’ve heard me read before, and one I’ll very likely read again.  Because it carries a critically important message, for us as individuals but more for the church family – for the body of Christ.  It’s the last thing Jesus said to us before ascending into heaven, according to Matthew’s Gospel account.  And it addresses that question of the church’s purpose.

Listen and follow along as I read the ending of the Gospel account of the Apostle Matthew, chapter 28 verses 16 through 20, from The Living Bible…

16 Then the eleven disciples left for Galilee, going to the mountain where Jesus had said they would find Him.  17 There they met Him and worshiped Him — but some of them weren’t sure it really was Jesus!

18 He told His disciples, “I have been given all authority in heaven and earth.  19 Therefore go and make disciples in all the nations, baptizing them into the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, 20 and then teach these new disciples to obey all the commands I have given you; and be sure of this — that I am with you always, even to the end of the world.”

--Matthew 28:16-20 (TLB)

Let us pray…  Father God, we come before You this morning to hear Your word and listen for Your voice to guide us.  Speak to us that we might understand what You have to tell us today.  Help us better discern Your will for each of us.  In the holy name of Your Son Jesus we pray.  Amen.


A man is walking his dog along a beach when they come upon another visitor to the shore.  The dog’s owner is proud of a new trick his pup had learned and was eager to show him off.  So he tells the other man, “Watch this!”, and tosses a piece of driftwood as far out into the ocean as he can.  Immediately, the dog jumps up and runs across the top of the waves to fetch the stick, and then runs back on top of the water to bring it to his owner.  The observer merely shakes his head in disbelief.  Smiling, the owner repeats this performance two more times.  Finally, he dryly asks the other man, “Did you notice anything unusual there?”  The observer responds, “Your dog can’t swim, can he?”


Some anonymous person who either had a very dry sense of humor or an extremely keen insight into the current state of the church, or perhaps a bit of both, once observed that the church today is raising a whole generation of mules.  They know how to sweat and to work, but they don’t know how to reproduce themselves.


That’s quite humorous, but also quite true, isn’t it.  We know how to work, here in this Pilgrim family.  We’re no strangers to labors and sweat.  But we don’t seem to have a clue as to how to make more members just like us, more good, hard-working believers of Jesus Christ.  We don’t know how to reproduce.  And we’re not alone.  Churches all across our nation share this affliction.  That’s why our numbers are dwindling, the church shrinking.

I can’t help but wonder if we’re not like the man watching the dog run on top of the water and surmising only that the pooch can’t swim.  Are we missing a blatantly obvious truth?


Last week I mentioned that I was kind of picking up where I’d left off the week before.  Well, I’m doing it again this week.  I didn’t mean for this to become a mini-series, but it looks like maybe God had other ideas.

We began by recognizing and admitting that without God, we can do nothing.  Then realizing that simple truth, we decided that we needed to work on our prayer life, to spend more time with our Father God and our Savior Jesus, to build a closer relationship with them.  And that leads us to what I think is the next natural step: helping others do the same things.

First we help them understand that none of us amount to a hill of beans without God.  Without Him we would have nothing, we could do nothing, we would be nothing.  Then we impress upon them the need to build a close, personal relationship with God and with Jesus.  We work with them, nourishing them, praying with them, sharing with them, showing them Jesus at every step along the way.  And then someday, we show them how to do the same things we just did.

This is called discipleship.  And this is our mission, should we choose to accept it.  This is what the church is called to do.  This is our Great Commission, given by Jesus before He left this earth.  And this is what we are to carry out until He returns to call His church home.

Family, this is the purpose of the church, what we are charged to do: to go into the world making disciples.  If we do as Jesus commanded, we will no longer have to worry about raising a generation of mules!


Now this passage from the end of Matthew’s Gospel isn’t the first time Jesus called us to discipleship.  It all began at the start of His ministry on earth, when He personally chose and called those who would follow Him in that ministry.  In chapter 4 of Matthew’s book, verse 19, Jesus walked up to Simon and Andrew, tending to their fishing nets…

19 Then He said to them, “Follow Me, and I will make you fishers of men.”

--Matthew 4:19 (NKJV)

The next verse tells us they immediately left everything behind and followed Him.  But the last part of verse 19 is the important piece for us.  “I will make you fishers of men.”  Jesus established the model for making disciples.  He took these men and made disciples of them, so that they could go out and make disciples of others!

Fishers of men, bringing more people to Jesus!  It’s a self-perpetuating process.  Kind of like a pyramid scheme, except that it actually does good and it truly pays off in the end.  Following this model of a disciple making disciples will allow the truth and the Good News to eventually spread all across the face of the earth, just as Jesus wanted!


Of course, as with any time we try to do what is good and right in this world, discipleship won’t be easy – neither for us or for those we are trying to mentor.  There is a cost to discipleship, to following Jesus.  Our Lord even warned His followers of this, such as in the 16th chapter of Matthew, verses 24 through 27…

24 Then Jesus said to His disciples, “If anyone desires to come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow Me.  25 For whoever desires to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for My sake will find it.  26 For what profit is it to a man if he gains the whole world, and loses his own soul?  Or what will a man give in exchange for his soul?  27 For the Son of Man will come in the glory of His Father with His angels, and then He will reward each according to his works.”

--Matthew 16:24-27 (NKJV)

We need to understand that Jesus isn’t talking about a physical cross, or necessarily our physical lives.  The crosses we may have to bear could include public ridicule for our belief, or worse.  We may lose some friends even as we gain others.  Some of our own family may shun us.

And that leads into the part about losing our life and finding it.  Again, this is not necessarily about our physical life, our mortal life.  This is more about our spiritual life, our soul.  It’s getting back to what Paul says about giving up the old person, our old way of life, and becoming the new person through Jesus.

The thrust of this is that discipleship is not going to be easy, and could indeed be physically dangerous as well as emotionally so.  But, if we stay the course, if we do as Jesus commands, the benefits will far outweigh the costs!  “For the Son of Man will come in the glory of His Father with His angels, and then He will reward each according to his works.”  There’s your profit, and it has nothing to do with earthly gains.


Jesus invited His disciples by saying, “Follow Me, and I will make you fishers of men.”  We can issue our own invitation by saying, “Follow me, and I will help you follow Him.”

Does that scare you?  It should.  How many of us would be comfortable having someone else follow us so that they can learn about Christ?  How many of us are perfect and can be the example Jesus was?  I don’t know about you, but I’m sure not!  Yet if you are willing to follow me, I will show you how to not only be a disciple, but also to make disciples.  And together we will follow Him.

It’s not so much what we say that people will remember.  It’s what we do.  In all things, give God the glory and honor and praise.  Spend time with Him by studying His word and in prayer.  Love unconditionally, remembering that our enemy is not made of flesh and blood, but is Satan, Lucifer, the devil.

Yes, there are evils and sins committed in this world, but those are done by Satan through people who are simply too weak in spirit to resist his temptations.  Those are the ones we need to reach.  Those are folks we need to bring to Jesus and make His disciples.  And we can’t do that by hating them or screaming at them or cursing them or calling them names.  We can only do it by loving them and showing them the love of Christ Jesus.


Follow Him, and become a fisher of men.  Our mission is to go and make disciples for Jesus, teaching them all about Him and to obey His commands by word and by example.  Just remember: we are not alone in this.  Jesus is with us and will remain with us, even to the end of the world.

Amen.


Let us pray…  Father God, by Your great grace and love, You sent Your only Son to earth to offer us salvation and eternal life.  We understand and acknowledge that only through Him, only with Him at our side, can we enter the gates of heaven.  Jesus came and invited us to follow Him as He led us to You.  Thank You, Father, for having mercy on us, for loving us this much.

Hear us now, please Father, as we pause for a moment in the silence of this place and speak to You individually, directly, crying out from our hearts…

Lord Jesus, You invited us to follow You along the path of righteousness.  You promise to stand beside us at our last when we face our Father God, and to claim us as Your own.  Lord, please give us the strength and the courage to help bring others to You.  Help us live Your commandment, Your commission, and to go into the world and make more disciples for You.  Help us help them find the path to salvation.  It is in Your blessed name, Christ Jesus, we pray.  Amen.

Get Up and Pray

[The following is a manuscript of my sermon delivered on Sunday morning, the 17th of July, 2016.  Look for the video on our Vimeo channel, http://vimeo.com/pilgrimreformedchurch.]

In our anthem this morning, our choir encouraged us to take time to be holy.  Speak often with God, feed on His word.  By looking to Jesus, like Him we will be.

Speaking with God is simply praying, talking to Him and listening for His response.  Feeding on His word is accomplished by reading our Holy Bible.  Looking to Jesus is studying His life, His words, His teachings, so that we can get to know Him better and become more and more like Him.

And it all takes time.  It takes time to be holy.  Sadly, we’re not always willing to give up that time.  Not even Jesus’ dearest disciples would always give up the time for something Jesus considered critically important: prayer.  Listen and follow along to one incident when Jesus asked His closest friends to stop and pray, from the Gospel account of the Apostle Luke, chapter 22 verses 39 through 46, from the New Living Translation…

39 Then, accompanied by the disciples, Jesus left the upstairs room and went as usual to the Mount of Olives. 40 There He told them, “Pray that you will not give in to temptation.”

41 He walked away, about a stone’s throw, and knelt down and prayed, 42 “Father, if You are willing, please take this cup of suffering away from Me. Yet I want Your will to be done, not Mine.” 43 Then an angel from heaven appeared and strengthened Him. 44 He prayed more fervently, and He was in such agony of spirit that His sweat fell to the ground like great drops of blood.

45 At last He stood up again and returned to the disciples, only to find them asleep, exhausted from grief. 46 “Why are you sleeping?” He asked them. “Get up and pray, so that you will not give in to temptation.”

--Luke 22:39-46 (NLT)

Let us pray…  Father God, we come before You this morning to worship You and to learn from You and Your word.  Speak to us that we might understand the message You have for us and allow us to better discern Your will.  In the holy name of Your Son Jesus we pray.  Amen.


A man took his small son with him to town one day to run some errands.  When lunch time arrived, the pair went to a diner for a sandwich.  The father sat down on one of the stools at the counter and lifted the boy up to the seat beside him.  They ordered lunch, and when the waiter brought the food, the father said, "Son, we'll just have a silent prayer."  Dad got through praying first and waited for the boy to finish his prayer, but the lad just sat with his head bowed for an unusually long time.  When he finally looked up, his father asked him, "What in the world were you praying about all that time?"  With the innocence and honesty of a child, his son replied, "How do I know?  It was a silent prayer."

When Robert Louis Stevenson was a boy, he once told his mother matter-of-factly, "Momma, you can't be good without praying."  "How do you know, Robert?" she asked.  "Because I've tried!" he answered.

This is like the young lad who was sent to his room because he’d been bad.  After a short time he came out and said to his mother, "I've been thinking about what I did and I said a prayer."  "I’m glad", she said.  "If you ask God to make you behave, He will help you."  "Oh, I didn't ask Him to help me be good," the boy replied.  "I asked Him to help you put up with me."


That’s the thing about prayers…  Sometimes we just don’t ask for the right thing.  We think we know what we want, but God always knows what we need.  When we ask for something, do we give any thought to how it might affect others?  Do we think we can get by without His help, being good on our own?  Should we ask God to help us be less sinful, or should we just pray that He be more forgiving of our sins?

How many of us truly believe in the power of prayer?  How many believe that God not only still listens, but also answers our prayers?  How many are sure that anything we ask in Jesus’ name, He will do for us, if we only truly and fully believe He will?  How many of us can walk on water?

I’d bet most of us would answer in the positive to the first three of those questions, but I’m equally sure we’d say “no can do” to the fourth.


I’m kind of picking up today where I left off last week.  Without God, we are nothing, we can do nothing, we would have nothing.  If we fully comprehend and admit that simple concept, then wouldn’t it be in our best interests to try to get and stay within God’s good graces?  Wouldn’t it make sense for us to be His friend, to stay on His good side?

Why, then, do not more of us try to get to know Him better and build a better, closer relationship with Him and with His Son, Jesus?  Do we think that just because God is a spiritual being that we can’t have a one-on-one connection with Him?  Since Jesus no longer walks the earth, have we no recourse left to get to know Him better?


Family, there are many ways to grow closer to God, to learn more about our Savior Jesus.  One of the best is to study His word – to not just read but really study our Bible.  On Tuesday evenings, we’ll have between 6 to 12 participants in our weekly Bible Study.  Why don’t we have 50, or 100?  Does everyone else already know God well enough, already understand everything Jesus has to teach us?

No, I think it’s more that this particular activity – studying the Bible – takes time, and a good bit of time if we really dig in with both hands.  And you know…  it takes time to be holy.

Fortunately, there is another way to get closer to God, one that doesn’t require a whole lot of time for study.  The simplest thing in the world we can do is pray.  It’s nothing more than talking to God, talking to Jesus.  We know how to talk.  Some of us are very good at it.

But how often do we just take a few moments out of our day to have a good conversation with our heavenly Father or with our Lord and Savior?  If we can spend 30 minutes telling our best friend about the trip we just took, why can’t we do the same with Jesus?  Sure He already knows everything that happened, but He wants to hear our version.  Because He wants to spend time with us.  He loves us and wants to be with us as much as we’ll let Him.


Most folks usually reserve prayer time just for asking for God’s help.  And there’s nothing wrong with that.  Jesus encouraged us to do so and we do just that right here every week.  There are things that will happen to us in this life that only God can help with.  And Jesus assures us that when we call on our heavenly Father for help, He will answer.

Now He might not always answer the way we would want Him to.  He knows what’s best, even if we don’t have a clue.  He knows what we need.  But Jesus made us a promise, as recorded by the Apostle Matthew in chapter 21 verse 22 of his Gospel account…

22 "And whatever things you ask in prayer, believing, you will receive."

--Matthew 21:22 (NKJV)

Jesus formed a two part equation in that simple verse: pray, and believe.  First we have to pray.  We have to have a conversation with God and ask for what we want or need.  And then we have to believe that it will be provided.  We must have faith that what we ask will indeed be granted.  And that is a pretty good definition of faith: fully trusting that what we ask for will be granted.


My brothers and sisters, God is good.  He listens to our prayers, and He answers them, although not always in a way we would prefer, or even recognize.  Jesus tried to get His closest friends to stay awake for just a short time and to pray.  He knew that they were mere weak humans who can and do easily fall prey to Satan and his many temptations.  So before He went off to be alone with His Father, He told them to pray to God that they not fall victim to Satan’s traps.  But when He came back, He found them asleep.  They wouldn’t give up those precious few moments to seek God’s help – they wanted to sleep.  “Wake up!”, Jesus probably shouted at them.  “Get up and pray!”

Well, family, it’s time for us to wake up!  It’s time for us to get up and pray!  Pray to God for His help in resisting temptation.  Pray for the well-being of others.  Pray for His divine intervention in a world that seems to be falling apart.  Pray for yourself, for each other, for our loved ones.  And pray…  pray because God loves us and wants to spend some good personal time with us.

Just pray – just get up and pray.

Amen.


Let us pray…  Father God, You do so much for us, and ask for so little in return.  You ask that we believe in Jesus as Your Son, our Christ and Savior.  And You ask that we spend a little time in prayer, talking to You, sharing our love with You.  It is just one way that we can grow closer to You each day, and the simplest way we have to interact with You, as often as we wish.  Forgive us, please Father, when we don’t think we can spare the time to spend with You.

Listen now, please Father, as we cry out to You from our hearts in the silence, speaking directly to You without words, giving You our thanks and seeking Your forgiveness, spending just a few moments getting closer to You…

Lord Jesus, You’ve said to us that all we have to do is ask in Your name and have faith that our plea will be answered, and our Father will hear and respond.  You also tell us that we need to wake up from this Satan-induced slumber and pray - pray for God’s help to resist the devil’s temptations.  Forgive us, Lord, when we can’t or won’t take the time to do so.  Help us, please Lord, to make time, to take time to be holy.  Thy will be done, Lord.  Thy will be done.  It is in Your blessed name, Christ Jesus, we pray.  Amen.

Without Him

[The following is a manuscript of my sermon delivered on Sunday morning, the 10th of July, 2016.  Look for the video on our Vimeo channel, http://vimeo.com/pilgrimreformedchurch.]

What do you think when you watch the nightly news on TV or read about current events in our paper or online?  What crosses your mind as the images of horrific violence flash across the screen or through your brain, from places all around the globe and even right here at home?

Do you wonder what in the world is going on?  Do you suppose that maybe God has now abandoned this land He once smiled upon, has now forsaken us?  Has God left us?  Or did we leave Him?

An Old Testament prophet most folks have never heard of, or don’t remember, answered some of these questions thousands of years ago.  Listen and follow along to a brief account of Azariah, the son of Oded, as recorded by the scribe Ezra in the 2nd Book of Chronicles, chapter 15, verses 1 through 8, from the New Living Translation…

1 Then the Spirit of God came upon Azariah son of Oded, 2 and he went out to meet King Asa as he was returning from the battle.  “Listen to me, Asa!” he shouted.  “Listen, all you people of Judah and Benjamin!  The Lord will stay with you as long as you stay with Him!  Whenever you seek Him, you will find Him.  But if you abandon Him, He will abandon you.  3 For a long time Israel was without the true God, without a priest to teach them, and without the Law to instruct them.  4 But whenever they were in trouble and turned to the Lord, the God of Israel, and sought Him out, they found Him.

5 “During those dark times, it was not safe to travel.  Problems troubled the people of every land.  6 Nation fought against nation, and city against city, for God was troubling them with every kind of problem.  7 But as for you, be strong and courageous, for your work will be rewarded.”

8 When Asa heard this message from Azariah the prophet, he took courage and removed all the detestable idols from the land of Judah and Benjamin and in the towns he had captured in the hill country of Ephraim.  And he repaired the altar of the Lord, which stood in front of the entry room of the Lord’s Temple.

--2 Chronicles 15:1-8 (NLT)

Let us pray…  Father God, we come before You this morning to worship You and to listen to Your word.  Speak to our spirits that we might receive and understand the message You have for us to carry us through the week ahead.  In the holy name of Your Son Jesus we pray.  Amen.


On many levels, the scripture I just read is one of revival.  The Holy Spirit of God came upon Azariah, who went out and effectively shared that Spirit with King Asa.  Asa was so moved that he began taking the land of Judah back for God.  He was revived by the Holy Spirit and he made things happen.

Revival.  A Lutheran bishop once told of visiting a parish church in California and finding a bright red and orange banner on the wall with the inviting words, "Come Holy Spirit.  Hallelujah!"  Above those words was the image of a burning fire. The bishop was somewhat taken aback by a sign posted directly beneath the banner which read, "Fire Extinguisher".  So much for that church's commitment to spiritual renewal.

A lady once asked Evangelist Billy Sunday, "Why do you keep having revivals when it doesn't last?"  Billy responded by asking her, "Why do you keep taking baths?"

The truth is, we need constant revival.  We need to be reminded everyday of just what we have with Jesus, and how lost we would be without Him.  There are fire extinguishers everywhere we look.  So we need to keep Jesus in our sight at all times.  We must not abandon God, for without Him we are nothing.


In our Responsive Reading this morning, we affirmed that we are all weakness, but God is our eternal strength.  And with Him we can walk through this life today and every day.  In our anthem, the choir declared that without Him we could do nothing.  We’d simply be drifting along, like a ship without a sail.  We’d be lost – completely, utterly lost.

The Apostle Paul understood this concept of being lost all too well.  Here’s what he told the Ephesians, in chapter 2 verses 12 and 13, when he describes our time before accepting Jesus as Lord…

12 At that time you did not know about Christ.  You were foreigners to the people of Israel, and you had no part in the promises that God had made to them.  You were living in this world without hope and without God, 13 and you were far from God.  But Christ offered His life’s blood as a sacrifice and brought you near God.

--Ephesians 2:12-13 (CEV)

We were far from God – He was not far from us, but we were far from Him.  Then Jesus brought us near to God once again by His sacrifice on the cross and our acceptance of Him as our Lord and Master.

But just as Azariah alluded to, it is up to us to stay with Jesus.  In the Gospel account of the Apostle John, chapter 15 verses 4 and 5, Jesus cautions us to…

4 “Remain in Me, and I in you. Just as a branch is unable to produce fruit by itself unless it remains on the vine, so neither can you unless you remain in Me.

5 “I am the vine; you are the branches. The one who remains in Me and I in him produces much fruit, because you can do nothing without Me.”

--John 15:4-5 (HCSB)

Without Him we can do nothing!  John the Baptist even took that a step further, as he answered an accusatory question from the Pharisees about Jesus that the Apostle John recorded in his Gospel account, chapter 3 verse 27…

27 John answered and said, “A man can receive nothing unless it has been given to him from heaven."

--John 3:27 (NKJV)

Not only can we do nothing without Christ, we can get nothing if it hasn’t been given from heaven!  And that makes sense, when we take this all together with what the Apostle John tells us in the opening verses of his Gospel…

1 In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. 2 He was in the beginning with God. 3 All things were made through Him, and without Him nothing was made that was made.

--John 1:1-3 (NKJV)

Without Jesus, we can do nothing, we can receive nothing, and nothing was even made!  But with Jesus - staying in Him, remaining in Him, abiding with Him – we have everything!  My personal life verse, Philippians 4:13, proclaims…

13 I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.

--Philippians 4:13 (NKJV)

I can do nothing without Jesus, but through Him and the strength He gives me, I can do anything!  If I had enough faith, I could even walk on water.


So yes, we look around the world and we have to shake our heads and wonder what is going to become of us all.  Even those of us that have accepted Jesus as Lord and who try our best to follow Him and obey His voice, we still worry about what is going to happen next.

Well, family, we have good reason to worry.  Not about ourselves, unless we are only pretending to be faithful to Jesus.  No, we’re covered by the shadow of the cross and the blood of the Lamb shed on our behalf.

But what of the rest of the world?  What of all those who refuse Jesus as Master, who deny Him as the Son of God?  What of those who only give lip service to being a Christian but live their lives contrary to His commands and teachings?

We see the awful violence everywhere and wonder where will it strike next, who will be its next victim?  A long time ago, the prophet Isaiah tried to warn us, in the 10th chapter of his book of prophecy, verses 1 through 4…

1 You people are in for trouble! You have made cruel and unfair laws 2 that let you cheat the poor and needy and rob widows and orphans. 3 But what will you do when you are fiercely attacked and punished by foreigners? Where will you run for help? Where will you hide your valuables? 4 How will you escape being captured or killed? The Lord is still angry, and he isn’t through with you yet!

--Isaiah 10:1-4 (CEV)

We - the human race – we’re in trouble.  We’ve passed cruel and unfair laws that cheat the poor and needy, robbing from what should go to widows and orphans.  What will we do if God punishes us for our actions and our inactions?  Where can we turn if God is against us, where can we hide that He cannot find us?

Family, the Lord is still angry!  And He’s not done with us yet!


I know I’ve thrown a lot at you this morning.  Only you and God know which parts apply specifically to you.  I’ve quoted more scripture than usual because my words may be meaningless, but the word of God is inerrant and true.  With Jesus, by remaining true and faithful to Him and obeying His voice, we have everything, we can do anything, we are given everlasting life.  Without Him, we’re in deep trouble.

That isn’t to say we will escape all of life’s tribulations and troubles if we stay with Jesus.  There’s no promise of that in this life.  Just because we have to still live in this world, we may fall victim to some of what Isaiah warns us.  We may get caught in a rampage of violence.  Even the innocent still suffer.  But with Jesus, and only with Jesus, we have the promise of unimaginable treasures and everlasting life with God in heaven once our life on this ball of dirt closes and the next begins.

Without Jesus, we have nothing.  With Him, we have everything.  Keep your faith strong, and share the Gospel of Jesus with others so that they too may share in God’s glory.

Amen.


Let us pray…  Father God, if we only stop a moment to realize, we know within our heart of hearts that You are our everything.  We know that all things come from heaven and we would have nothing without You.  Father, please forgive us when we fail to acknowledge this, when we take for granted all that You bestow upon us.  Forgive us especially, Father, when we forget how much Jesus gave us, there upon that cross at Calvary.

Hear us now, Father, as we reaffirm our belief in Your Son, as we speak to You from our hearts in the silence, seeking Your forgiveness and Your help…

Lord Jesus, without You, life would be unbearable.  Without You, we would have no hope.  Without You, we would have no reason to take even one more step.  But with You, Lord Jesus, with You we have everything.  Through You we receive the strength to carry on.  Through You we may come to our Father God, who grants us eternal life by His amazing grace.  Thank You, Lord!  It is in Your precious, blessed name, dear Jesus, we pray.  Amen.

Let Freedom Ring

[The following is a full manuscript of my sermon delivered on Sunday morning, the 3rd of July, 2016, as we celebrated Independence Day.  Look for the video on our Vimeo channel, http://vimeo.com/pilgrimreformedchurch.]

July the 4th, Independence Day, what many consider to be the birthday of this nation.  On July 4th, 1776, we declared our freedom from English rule.  The concept of freedom is not new, of course.  Jesus Himself addressed the issue long ago.

Listen and follow along to a brief discussion He had with some of His Jewish believers as recorded by the Apostle John in the 8th chapter of his Gospel account, verses 31 through 36, from the New King James Version of our Bible…

31 Then Jesus said to those Jews who believed Him, “If you abide in My word, you are My disciples indeed. 32 And you shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free.”

33 They answered Him, “We are Abraham’s descendants, and have never been in bondage to anyone. How can You say, ‘You will be made free’?”

34 Jesus answered them, “Most assuredly, I say to you, whoever commits sin is a slave of sin. 35 And a slave does not abide in the house forever, but a son abides forever. 36 Therefore if the Son makes you free, you shall be free indeed.”

--John 8:31-36 (NKJV)

Let us pray…  Father God, we come before You this morning to worship You and to listen to Your word.  Speak to our spirits that we might receive and understand the message You have for us today.  In the holy name of Your Son Jesus we pray.  Amen.


Rev. Frederick Baker once wrote that Satan was on the side of life’s road with a very large cage.  A man coming towards him noticed that the cage was crammed full of people of every kind – young and old, from every race and every nation.

“Where did you get these people?" the man asked.  “Oh, from all over the world,” Satan replied.  “I lure them with drinking, drugs, lust, lies, anger, hate, love of money, and all manner of things.  I pretend I’m their friend, out to give them a good time, then when I’ve hooked them, into the cage they go.”  “And what are you going to do with them now?”, asked the man.

Satan grinned.  “I’m going to prod them, provoke them, get them to hate and destroy each other; I’ll stir up racial hatred, defiance of law and order; I’ll make people bored, lonely, dissatisfied, confused and restless.  It’s easy.  People will always listen to what I offer them and what’s better, they’ll blame God for the outcome!”  “And then what?”, the man asked.  “Those who do not destroy themselves, I will destroy. None will escape me.”, Satan replied.

The man stepped forward.  “Can I buy these people from you?”, he asked.

Satan snarled, “Yes, but it will cost you your life.”

So Jesus Christ, the Son of God, paid for our release, our freedom from Satan’s trap, with His own life, on the cross at Calvary.  The door is open, and anyone that Satan has deceived and caged can be set free.


Those of us who have been released from that cage understand the full depth of God’s wonderful grace.  Those still trapped in the cage are in desperate need of hearing and accepting the Gospel.  Only then can they receive true freedom.


Tomorrow, we, as a nation, will celebrate our independence from foreign tyranny.  And it is right that we should do so.  In the Book of Leviticus, Moses tells us to “proclaim liberty throughout all the land to all its inhabitants”.  In other words… let freedom ring.

But we must never forget how our liberty was gained.  We fought a long war against incredible odds, doing battle with the greatest military power in the world at that time.  They were well trained and disciplined; we were a ragtag group of poorly armed farmers and clerks.  Anyone who studies this period in our history can only conclude, as did George Washington and others of our forefathers, that we succeeded only by the help of God.

July 4th marks the signing of our Declaration of Independence from England.  And the real purpose of that document was to proclaim to the world our belief in a personal, all-powerful God, who endowed us with certain inalienable rights.  In it we stated truths we hold to be self-evident.  But what is truth?  In our scripture reading Jesus says if we follow His teachings and obey His word then we will know the truth, and it will set us free.

Again, what is truth?  The answer is in our Bible, in the Gospel according to John, chapter 14, verse 6…

6 Jesus said to him, “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me.”

--John 14:6 (NKJV)

Jesus is the Son and the Truth, and it is only through Him that we are truly set free.  Understand, though, that the freedom Jesus offers is from the chains of sin.  As the Apostle Paul wrote to the Romans, in chapter 8, verses 1 and 2…

8 There is therefore now no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus, who do not walk according to the flesh, but according to the Spirit. 2 For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has made me free from the law of sin and death.

--Romans 8:1-2 (NKJV)

Now this doesn’t relieve us of worldly responsibilities.  The Apostle Peter reminds us of our obligations in his 1st letter, chapter 2, verses 13 through 17…

13 Therefore submit yourselves to every ordinance of man for the Lord’s sake, whether to the king as supreme, 14 or to governors, as to those who are sent by him for the punishment of evildoers and for the praise of those who do good. 15 For this is the will of God, that by doing good you may put to silence the ignorance of foolish men — 16 as free, yet not using liberty as a cloak for vice, but as bondservants of God. 17 Honor all people. Love the brotherhood. Fear God. Honor the king.

--1 Peter 2:13-17 (NKJV)

Notice that Peter cautions us to not use our liberty, our freedom, as some sort of cloak to continue sinning.  Paul reinforces this warning, in his letter to the Galatians, chapter 5 verse 1…

1 Stand fast therefore in the liberty by which Christ has made us free, and do not be entangled again with a yoke of bondage.

--Galatians 5:1 (NKJV)

Stay free in Jesus and don’t put on that yoke of slavery to sin ever again!

Our independence as a nation is not a coincidence, in my opinion.  It derives solely from our dependence on God.  But I fear we, as a nation, have not listened to the warnings of Peter and Paul.  We no longer honor all people, or fear God.  Too many Christians hide under the cover of the freedom Jesus provides only to continue their sinful ways.  We have failed to stand fast in our liberty, becoming entangled yet again in the traps Satan constantly sets.

What can we do about this?  The answer is again found in our Bible.  In the 2nd Book of the Chronicles, chapter 7 verse 14, the scribe Ezra writes…

14 If My people who are called by My name will humble themselves, and pray and seek My face, and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin and heal their land.

--2 Chronicles 7:14 (NKJV)

As a nation, we need to humble ourselves before God.  We need to repent, turning away from our sinful nature and turning toward Jesus - seeking His ways, following His voice.

If we are truly free then we must be careful not to become entangled once again by Satan’s handiwork.  And we must help others become free by showing them Jesus and sharing His Good News with them.

This is liberty, through Jesus!  This is freedom!

Let freedom ring!

Amen.


Let us pray…  Father God, 240 years ago You stood beside the peoples of this great land and helped them gain their freedom from foreign rule.  2000 years ago You sent to us Your own Son who gives us true freedom from sin and death.  Thank You, Father.  May we never forget all that You have done for us!

Hear us now, Father, as we give You thanks personally and speak to You from our hearts what words cannot express…

Lord Jesus, through You we are set free from the chains of sin and death.  Without You we can do nothing, but through You we can do anything.  Thank You, Lord, for freeing us – please help us remain free.  It is in Your holy name, dear Jesus, we pray.  Amen.

Time to Pray

[The following is a full manuscript of my sermon delivered on Sunday morning, the 26th of June, 2016.  Look for the video on our Vimeo channel, http://vimeo.com/pilgrimreformedchurch.]

James was the half-brother of Jesus, born of Mary and Joseph.  It’s understandable that at first he had a little trouble believing that the boy he had grown up with was actually the Son of God.  But he eventually came to realize that Jesus was indeed the Messiah, the Christ.  In fact, he opened his letter to the now scattered 12 tribes of Israel by identifying himself as, “James, a bondservant of God and of the Lord Jesus Christ”

In that letter, James tries to exhort his fellow Jews to persevere as they endure trying times.  He gives them examples of how they should live, often getting very specific.  And he closes with an encouragement to prayer.

Listen and follow along to the instructions James gives us in closing his letter, chapter 5 verses 13 through 20, and I’ll be reading from The Living Bible…

13 Is anyone among you suffering? He should keep on praying about it. And those who have reason to be thankful should continually be singing praises to the Lord.

14 Is anyone sick? He should call for the elders of the church and they should pray over him and pour a little oil upon him, calling on the Lord to heal him. 15 And their prayer, if offered in faith, will heal him, for the Lord will make him well; and if his sickness was caused by some sin, the Lord will forgive him.

16 Admit your faults to one another and pray for each other so that you may be healed. The earnest prayer of a righteous man has great power and wonderful results. 17 Elijah was as completely human as we are, and yet when he prayed earnestly that no rain would fall, none fell for the next three and a half years! 18 Then he prayed again, this time that it would rain, and down it poured, and the grass turned green and the gardens began to grow again.

19 Dear brothers, if anyone has slipped away from God and no longer trusts the Lord and someone helps him understand the Truth again, 20 that person who brings him back to God will have saved a wandering soul from death, bringing about the forgiveness of his many sins.

--James 5:13-20 (TLB)

Let us pray…  Father God, we come before You this morning to worship You and to listen to Your word.  Speak to our spirits that we might receive and understand the message You have for us, and let it see us through the week ahead.  In the holy name of Your Son Jesus we pray.  Amen.


When it comes to prayer, some unknown wag once rhymed:

"The proper way for man to pray," said Deacon Lemuel Keyes; "the only proper attitude, is down upon his knees."

"Nay, I should say the way to pray," said Reverend Doctor Wise, "is standing straight with outstretched arms, with rapt and upturned eyes."

"Oh, no, no, no," said Elder Snow, "such posture is too proud. A man should pray with eyes fast-closed and head contritely bowed."

"It seems to me his hands should be austerely clasped in front, with both thumbs pointing to the ground," said Reverend Doctor Blunt."

"Last year I fell in Hodgkin's well headfirst," said Cyril Brown. "With both my heels a-stickin' up, my head a-pointin' down; and I done prayed right then and there; best prayer I ever said, the prayin'est prayer I ever prayed, a-standin' on my head."


I believe this points out that it isn’t so important what position we take when we pray as it is how earnest we are in our prayer.  I can only imagine Mr. Brown’s prayer was very earnest indeed, stuck there on his head in that well.


How is your prayer life?  A few years back when I was doing pulpit supply, a gentleman at one of the churches I often preached at remarked to his youth group, “If you don’t have a public prayer life, you probably don’t have a private prayer life either.”  There may well be some truth in that.

How many of us are uncomfortable praying in public?  Now I don’t necessarily mean standing up in front of a bunch of strangers or even friends and holding forth in prayer.  But how many of us even pause a moment to bow our heads and give thanks for our meal when dining in a restaurant?

James makes some very good points regarding our need to pray in his letter.  Are we suffering, for whatever reason?  Then pray about it.  And notice James doesn’t say to just pray once and hope for the best.  He encourages us to keep on praying about it.

If anyone is sick, they can all on the elders to anoint them and pray over them, asking the Lord to heal them.  We should pray for each other so that we in turn can be healed!  And here James isn’t speaking about just our physical bodies, but also our spirits.  Notice that he says our prayers can lead to sins being forgiven, and any sickness caused by those sins – of mind or body or spirit – being cured.

The Apostle Paul backs up James’ points and adds one more benefit to prayer.  In his letter to the Philippians, chapter 4, verses 6 and 7, Paul says…

6 Don’t worry about anything; instead, pray about everything; tell God your needs, and don’t forget to thank Him for His answers. 7 If you do this, you will experience God’s peace, which is far more wonderful than the human mind can understand. His peace will keep your thoughts and your hearts quiet and at rest as you trust in Christ Jesus.

--Philippians 4:6-7 (TLB)

Don’t worry so much.  Instead, pray about anything and everything.  And God will spread His great and wonderful peace over us, the peace that will quieten and rest our thoughts and hearts as we trust in Jesus.

But Paul also tells us to be sure to give God thanks for His answers to our prayers.  I think sometimes we’re quick to ask for His help, but then forget to thank God for His response.  Or maybe we don’t always recognize what happens next as His response.

This past Wednesday, the weatherman was calling for the possibility of afternoon showers.  We had a funeral service that day with a graveside service following.  I prayed and asked God to please hold off the rains until we could get finished with the service.  A couple hours later, I realized He had done just that; he had answered my prayer and I had not thanked Him!  So I did.  But it’s just that easy to forget to thank God for what He does for us.

The Apostle Peter also provides us with reasons not to be worried or ashamed or afraid to pray in public.  Listen to the instructions Peter left us in his 1st letter, chapter 3, verses 12 through 15…

12 "The Lord watches over
everyone who obeys Him,
and He listens
to their prayers.
But He opposes everyone
who does evil.”

13 Can anyone really harm you for being eager to do good deeds? 14 Even if you have to suffer for doing good things, God will bless you. So stop being afraid and don’t worry about what people might do. 15 Honor Christ and let Him be the Lord of your life.

Always be ready to give an answer when someone asks you about your hope.

--1 Peter 3:12-15 (CEV)

The Lord listens to our prayers.  And while we might consider it unthinkable that anyone would harm us just for doing good, if they do and we have to suffer for it in any way, then God will bless us.  Don’t be afraid.  Don’t worry about what other people might say or do.  Honor Jesus Christ and make Him the one true Lord and Master of your life!

And Peter encourages us to always be ready with an answer if anyone should question our hope and faith.  If you need a ready answer, try this:  My hope and trust is in Jesus, because it is only through Him that I will have everlasting life with God in heaven.

Jesus Himself provided a model for all of this, for our prayer life.  When our Lord Jesus prayed to His Father, in what we call the Holy of Holies as recorded in chapter 17 of the Apostle John’s Gospel, Jesus began by praying a little for Himself.  But then He turned His attention toward His Disciples and for all believers, praying for them at length.  This is the example He set for us.  He wants us to pray for ourselves, sure.  But He also wants us to pray for others, and especially for those who believe in Him and follow His voice.


Now I know a lot of folks are uncomfortable praying, because they think they don’t know how to pray.  They worry that they’re not praying right, not saying the right words, not putting forth the best appeal.  Family, there is nothing all that special about how we pray – just that we pray.  Prayer is simply talking to God – asking for His help, thanking Him for our blessings, or even just telling Him how life is going for us at the moment.

And we don’t have to muddle through this prayer business on our own.  Paul tells us we have some help in this department.  In his letter to the Romans, chapter 8, verse 26, Paul says…

26 And in the same way - by our faith - the Holy Spirit helps us with our daily problems and in our praying. For we don’t even know what we should pray for nor how to pray as we should, but the Holy Spirit prays for us with such feeling that it cannot be expressed in words.

--Romans 8:26 (TLB)

The Holy Spirit will help us, not only with our daily problems but also with our daily prayer life!  If we think we don’t know how to pray, the Holy Spirit will take over for us and pray with such great feeling that words cannot even express!


So you can see, we have no reason not to pray.  Nor to give thanks for answered prayers and our many blessings.  But let me give you just one more reason to pray.  And it comes again from Peter’s 1st letter to the far-flung early church, from chapter 4, verse 7…

7 But the end of all things is at hand; therefore be serious and watchful in your prayers.

--1 Peter 4:7 (NKJV)

Whenever my brother pastors and I gather to study and pray, we always feel a great sense of urgency.  Our newspapers and nightly broadcasts on TV report some of the very things we can read about in our Bible, when it speaks of the approach of the end of time.  The end of all things, as Peter puts it, is near.

Whether it happens tomorrow or next year or before I can finish this sentence, we simply don’t know.  So we need to be watchful.  We need to get serious in our prayer life.  The time to pray is now, while we still draw breath.  The time to pray is now, because later may be too late.  Pray for yourself, pray for others, pray for us all.

It’s time.

Amen.


Let us pray…  Father God, we come to You because we are suffering and we ask for Your healing.  We come to You because we are thankful and we sing Your praises.  We come to You giving our thanks and seeking Your help, because Father we know we cannot get through this life on our own.  We offer our prayers in faith, Lord God, knowing that You will respond to our earnest pleas.  Incline Your ear to us, dear Lord, and listen as we pray.

Hear us now, Father, as we speak to You in the silence, crying out directly from our hearts, using the voice of Your most Holy Spirit to plead for us…

Lord Jesus, You taught us a way to pray to our Father by Your own example.  You showed us how to give our Father thanks for His many blessings, and how to ask for His help with our needs.  But Jesus, You also emphasized how important it is for us to pray for the welfare of others, and especially of other believers who are enduring trials.  Thank You, Lord, for showing us the best way to talk with our Father.  It is in Your holy name, dear Jesus, we pray.  Amen.

Nobody's Perfect

[The following is a full manuscript of my sermon delivered on Father's Day, Sunday morning the 19th of June, 2016.  Look for the video on our Vimeo channel, http://vimeo.com/pilgrimreformedchurch.]

Today is Father’s Day, but sadly, there are too many people who can’t or won’t celebrate their fathers.  Too many don’t even know who their fathers are.  Too many biological fathers are absent from their children’s lives by choice.  Society places less and less importance on an ever diminishing role of parenthood in general, handing over more and more of those duties to government.

But still, even today in the midst of this parental mess, there are fathers who care deeply about their children, who foster and nourish their lives, who look out for them and love them and do their best by them.  Sure, they make mistakes.  Nobody’s perfect.  And Jesus understood this.  Listen and follow along to the words Jesus spoke as recorded in the Gospel account of the Apostle Luke, chapter 11 verses 9 through 13, and I’ll be reading from the Modern English Version of our Holy Bible…

9 “And I tell you, ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you. 10 For everyone who asks receives, and he who seeks finds, and to him who knocks it will be opened.

11 “If a son asks for bread from any of you who is a father, will you give him a stone? Or if he asks for a fish, will you give him a serpent instead of a fish? 12 Or if he asks for an egg, will you offer him a scorpion? 13 If you then, being evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask Him?”

--Luke 11:9-13 (MEV)

Let us pray…  Father God, we come into your presence this morning with great rejoicing as we celebrate the day set aside for our Fathers.  With our Brother and Lord Jesus Christ we sing praises to You, and with Him we glorify Your holy name.  Open our hearts and our minds to receive the message You need for us to hear.  Happy Father’s Day, God!  In the precious name of Jesus we pray.  Amen.


Author and humorist Erma Bombeck once wrote of her confusion over just what fathers do:

One morning my father didn't get up and go to work.  He went to the hospital and died the next day.  I hadn't thought that much about him before.  He was just someone who left and came home and seemed glad to see everyone at night.  He opened the jar of pickles when no one else could.  He was the only one in the house who wasn't afraid to go into the basement by himself.

He cut himself shaving, but no one kissed it or got excited about it.  It was understood when it rained, he got the car and brought it around to the door.  When anyone was sick, he went out to get the prescription filled.  He took lots of pictures… but he was never in them.

Whenever I played house, the mother doll had a lot to do.  I never knew what to do with the daddy doll, so I had him say, "I'm going off to work now," and threw him under the bed.  The funeral was in our living room and a lot of people came and brought all kinds of good food and cakes.  We had never had so much company before.  I went to my room and felt under the bed for the daddy doll.  When I found him, I dusted him off and put him on my bed.  He never did anything.  I didn't know his leaving would hurt so much.


Those of us whose fathers have gone on home to be with God know just how much their leaving hurts.  Those whose fathers are still with us: cherish them and enjoy every minute you have with them.


We all remember the story of Abraham and Isaac.  Abraham was 100 years old when God gave him and Sarah a son, Isaac, promised to them because of their great faith.  While Isaac was still a boy, God ordered Abraham to take the lad and sacrifice him as a burnt offering.  With no hesitation of protestations recorded in Genesis, Abraham started out to do as commanded.  Just as he raised the knife to take Isaac’s life - the son he had waited a hundred years for - the angel of the Lord stopped him, saying:  “Now I know that you fear God, because you have not withheld from Me your son, your only son.”

So was Abraham a good father?  There can be no doubt that he loved Isaac, but he was willing to kill his son, without any questions or protest.  How many of us fathers, if we heard a voice say, “Kill your child.”, would simply reply, “OK”, and go about the business of doing just that, no questions asked?  But you see, Abraham loved God even more than his own son.


The Old Testament relates many stories of men whose paternal skills leave a bit to be desired.  Isaac fathered twins and let the younger one fool him into giving him the blessing and birthright that should have gone to the older.  That wily son, Jacob, fathered twelve sons of his own.  He favored Joseph over the others so much that they turned on the him and sold him into slavery, breaking old Jacob's heart.  And two of King David's sons tried to take the throne a little early, one by force and the other by scheming.

Fathers fare a little better in the New Testament, where they are often shown trying to get help for their children, taking them to Christ for healing.  The little we know about Jesus' earthly father, Joseph, indicates he was a good father, teaching Jesus the law and the scripture as well as a trade.  Joseph loved God and served well as Jesus' Dad.


We can all relate to these Biblical fathers, because we have all seen or heard of similar examples in our own experiences, and because… well… nobody’s perfect.  Being a father is a tough job, one filled with many dangers and bearing tremendous responsibility.  A father is supposed to be a provider, a protector, a leader, a guide, a teacher, a role model, and the Biblical foundation for the family, among other things.

But a father must not be prideful or pretentious.  His leadership must be one of sacrifice, not of force.  He must know when to be gentle and when to be firm.  He must be able to deal with small, developing children without being condescending or hurtful.  And like mothers, he must be able to figure all this out on his own because there are no instructions manuals.

We know of great fathers and those that are downright terrible.  Some may dote too much over their offspring; others walked out of their child's life at a very early age and never looked back.  While not all fathers care what might happen to their progeny, most of us, even if we aren't perfect Dads, only want what is best for our children and will make any sacrifice to ensure their lives are better than ours.

In verse 13 of our scripture reading this morning, Jesus shows us He understands this when He tells us, “Even though you are bad, you still know how to give good gifts to your children.  How much more will your heavenly Father give His Holy Spirit to those who ask Him?”.  In his letter to the church in Rome, the Apostle Paul assures us that whether our earthly father has been present and active in our life or completely absent, we all have a Father in heaven who has willingly adopted us and calls us His children.  Listen to what Paul tells us in the first 4 verses of the 8th chapter of Romans…

1 So now there is no condemnation for those who belong to Christ Jesus.  2 And because you belong to Him, the power of the life-giving Spirit has freed you from the power of sin that leads to death.  3 The Law of Moses was unable to save us because of the weakness of our sinful nature.  So God did what the law could not do.  He sent His own Son in a body like the bodies we sinners have.  And in that body God declared an end to sin’s control over us by giving His Son as a sacrifice for our sins.  4 He did this so that the just requirement of the law would be fully satisfied for us, who no longer follow our sinful nature but instead follow the Spirit.

--Romans 8:1-4 (NLT)

Paul says that the law handed down through Moses could not save us from our own sinful nature, so God did what the law could not do.  He sent His Son to save us.  We all know John 3:16, but do you remember the next verse in the Apostle John’s Gospel…

17 For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through Him might be saved.

--John 3:17 (NKJV)

God’s plan to save mankind and the world involved sending His Son not as some invincible warrior, not as God Himself, in all His radiant glory, but as a man, in the fragile, destructible body of a man, a body just like the one that you and I wear.  Jesus was one of us.  He knew all about growing pains, indigestion, insomnia, even heartbreak.  God did this so that His law could still be fulfilled for us, if not by us.


A little further on in Romans chapter 8, Paul assures us that if we follow the lead of God’s Holy Spirit, then we are the children of God - the adoption is complete.  Now we can call God “Abba”, which is the familiar form of “father” in the Aramaic language of that day.  It is like our endearments of Daddy, Pop, Poppa, Dad.  I personally have a little trouble thinking of the Lord of all creation, the Maker of the universe and everything in it, as “Daddy”, but that is exactly what He wants.

Why?  Because He loves us, and wants us to love Him in return.  He wants us to be comfortable with Him, to realize that He cares for us as His own.  Like any good father, God just wants us to talk to Him, to build a relationship with Him, to spend time with Him, to get to know and understand Him better.

God doesn't need us to tell Him anything; He already knows.  The need to pray to God isn't His, it’s ours.  We need to talk to Him, to share our daily lives with Him, to grow in our love for Him.  Unlike many earthly fathers, our heavenly Father is never too busy to stop and listen to our problems, our cares, our concerns.  He wants nothing more than to hear about our triumphs and our defeats, our gains and our losses, our loves and our heartbreaks.  And unlike what earthly fathers may do, our heavenly Father will never abandon us or leave us orphaned.


Every child needs love.  Every child longs for the love of their father.  Great fathers love their children without reservation, under any and all circumstances, regardless of what the child does or turns out to be.  Unconditional love is a mark of a great father.

Our heavenly Father is a great father.  He loves us even when we ignore him, turn against Him, sin against Him.  All He asks in return is that we love Him and Jesus and each other.  What greater reward than to be loved by God.

Happy Father's Day, God!  Happy Father's Day!

Amen.


Let us pray…  Father God, Daddy, even though this is the day we set aside to honor our earthly fathers, we also recognize You as our heavenly Father.  You love us so much, You gave up Your only Son that we might be granted eternal life with You if we only believe in Him.  Thank You, Father, for giving us so much.  You are truly a great Dad!

Hear us now, Father, as we come to You in the silence, as we lift up to You our praise and our prayers spoken directly from our hearts…

Lord Jesus, You showed us just how good a father God is, and how many wonderful things He still has in store for us.  Thank You so much for asking Him to adopt us, for Your sake, so that we can share in His glory forever.  It is in Your blessed name, dear Jesus, we pray.  Amen.

Faith Wins Out

[The following is a full manuscript of my sermon delivered on Sunday morning, the 5th of June, 2016.  Look for the video on our Vimeo channel, http://vimeo.com/pilgrimreformedchurch.]

I think even a casual visitor to our service could tell from our prayer needs that we are a family that has been through a lot.  Maybe each of us, on an individual basis, has not faced a terrible ordeal lately, but we know someone who has.  Many in this church family are suffering still - many sitting here this morning.

And sometimes we just can’t help but wonder why.  Sometimes we sink into that deep, dark pit of despair.


The Apostle Paul understood trials and tribulations as well as anyone in our Bible, for he faced so many in his service to our Lord Jesus.  Listen and follow along as I read to you from his letter to the Romans, chapter 5 verses 1 through 6, from the New Living Translation, as Paul offers us assurance and gives us hope…

1 Therefore, since we have been made right in God’s sight by faith, we have peace with God because of what Jesus Christ our Lord has done for us. 2 Because of our faith, Christ has brought us into this place of undeserved privilege where we now stand, and we confidently and joyfully look forward to sharing God’s glory. 

3 We can rejoice, too, when we run into problems and trials, for we know that they help us develop endurance. 4 And endurance develops strength of character, and character strengthens our confident hope of salvation. 5 And this hope will not lead to disappointment. For we know how dearly God loves us, because He has given us the Holy Spirit to fill our hearts with His love. 

6 When we were utterly helpless, Christ came at just the right time and died for us sinners.

--Romans 5:1-6 (NLT)

Let us pray…  Father God, we come into Your presence this morning to worship You and to pay heed to Your word.  Please help us receive and understand the message You have for us, that we might better discern Your will and Your blessings in our lives.  In the glorious name of Your Son Jesus we pray.  Amen.


Many years ago Dr. A. Parnell Bailey wrote a religious column for the Goldsboro News-Argus in Goldsboro, NC.  Dr. Bailey once included this little story in one of his columns:

"I once visited an orange grove where an irrigation pump had broken down.  The season was unusually dry and some of the trees were beginning to die for lack of water.  The man giving the tour then took me to his own orchard where irrigation was used sparingly.  'These trees could go without rain for another two weeks,' he said.  'You see, when they were young, I frequently kept water from them.  This hardship caused them to send their roots deeper into the soil in search of moisture.  Now mine are the deepest-rooted trees in the area.  While others are being scorched by the sun, these are finding moisture at a greater depth.'"


The trees Dr. Bailey described had been deprived of water in their developmental stage on purpose.  This was not an act of cruelty or some punishment.  It was done knowing that harsh times would come when water would be scarce.  It was done so the trees would push their roots deeper into the soil, seeking out the precious water of life.  It was done so that they might survive.


Paul talks about problems and trials and great tribulations because he personally knew all about problems and trials and great tribulations!  He experienced them first hand.  He was tortured, beaten, stoned, flogged, shipwrecked, imprisoned, chained to guards night and day…  Paul knew trials!  Yet he endured to the very end; his faith never wavered.

In my research for today’s message, I found a very interesting piece of information.  The Nicene Council was an important meeting held in the 4th century that was crucial not only to the early church but even to the church today.  At this meeting, of the 318 delegates in attendance, less than 12 had not lost an eye, or lost a hand, or walked with a limp on a leg that had been lamed from torture for their Christian faith!  Fewer than 12 out of 318 had not suffered some horrible cruelty simply because of their faith in Jesus Christ as Lord!  Yet their faith did not waver.

In an article, “You Gotta Keep Dancin’” published by David C. Cook back in 1985, Tim Hansel wrote:

“Most of the Psalms were born in difficulty.  Most of the Epistles were written in prisons.  Most of the greatest thoughts of the greatest thinkers of all time had to pass through the fire.  Bunyan wrote Pilgrim's Progress from jail.  Florence Nightingale, too ill to move from her bed, reorganized the hospitals of England.  Semi-paralyzed and under the constant menace of apoplexy, Pasteur was tireless in his attack on disease.  During the greater part of his life, American historian Francis Parkman suffered so acutely that he could not work for more than five minutes as a time.  His eyesight was so wretched that he could scrawl only a few gigantic words on a manuscript, yet he contrived to write twenty magnificent volumes of history.

“Sometimes it seems that when God is about to make preeminent use of a man, He puts him through the fire.”

Sometimes God puts us through the fire before He can use us for His purposes.  And the thing about fire is… it purifies, it strengthens.  Gold and silver are made purer and more precious by fire.  Iron is made stronger in the flame.  But all that is hard to remember when the bottom falls out and life starts circling the drain.


King David was certainly no stranger to tribulation, and I think he speaks for all of us in our times of trial when he says, in his 6th Psalm, verse 2…

2 Be gracious to me, O Lord, for I am languishing;
heal me, O Lord, for my bones are troubled.

--Psalm 6:2 (ESV)

O God, I am languishing - I’m too weak to go on.  Help me, Lord, for I am troubled all the way down to my very bones.  David knew tribulation.

But God assured us long ago that even during out darkest times, our greatest trials, we are not alone.  Our Father spoke to us through His prophet Isaiah, in the 41st chapter of his book, verse 19, when He said…

10 Don’t be afraid, for I am with you.
Don’t be discouraged, for I am your God.
I will strengthen you and help you.
I will hold you up with My victorious right hand.

--Isaiah 41:10 (NLT)

A little trouble pops up and we think we can stand against it or wait it out, and come out OK in the end.  We don’t remember that assurance from Isaiah’s prophecy - we think we can get by without God’s help.  But when everything seems to come against us, when the rain won’t stop, when one trial is followed by another like waves on an angry sea, then we need to call upon the Lord for help.

I believe the author of the Book of Lamentations clearly understood this.  I believe he might have been going through something very similar to us when he wrote this from chapter 3, verses 21 through 25…

21 But this I call to mind,
and therefore I have hope:
22 The steadfast love of the Lord never ceases;
His mercies never come to an end;
23 they are new every morning;
great is Your faithfulness.
24 “The Lord is my portion,” says my soul,
“therefore I will hope in Him.”
25 The Lord is good to those who wait for Him,
to the soul who seeks Him.

--Lamentations 3:21-25 (ESV)

The steadfast love of God never ceases.  His mercies never end.  Great is His faithfulness to us!

How true is ours to Him?


Paul tells us to thank God and praise Him and rejoice even when we are going through those terrible times!  Even when our body is wracked by disease or the treatments to combat the disease.  Even when our hearts and spirits are broken because a loved one has gone home to be with God.

Rejoice, because all these hardships build up our endurance!  And endurance develops strength, not only in our bodies but in our character, too.  And that character strengthens our confident hope of salvation, in Christ Jesus our Lord.

For you see, faith wins out!  By faith, we have been made right in the eyes of God.  We have peace with God because of what Jesus did for us.  And by that act of our Lord and by our faith, we stand here now in a place of undeserved privilege, in God’s great and wonderful grace.  And we stand confidently and joyfully, looking forward to sharing in God’s glory.

King David fully understood this, too – not only the hardships but also the undeserved privilege, the expectancy of sharing God’s glory.  That is why in his 103rd Psalm, verses 1 through 4, he proclaims…

1 Let all that I am praise the Lord;
with my whole heart, I will praise His holy name.
2 Let all that I am praise the Lord;
may I never forget the good things He does for me.
3 He forgives all my sins
and heals all my diseases.
4 He redeems me from death
and crowns me with love and tender mercies.

--Psalm 103:1-4 (NLT)

Let us rejoice in our trials.  Let us praise the Lord with all our hearts and never forget all the good things He does for us.  He forgives our sins.  He heals our diseases.  He saves us from everlasting death and pours out His love and tender mercies upon us.

And yes, sometimes He forces us to push our roots deeper and deeper into the soil.  But it’s just so we’ll find the true Water of Life, the Living Water that is our Lord and Savior Jesus.


As Paul said, when we were utterly helpless, when there was no other hope left to us, Christ came at just the right time, and died for us sinners.

Rejoice, and praise the Lord.  For faith wins out in the end.

Amen.


Let us pray…  Father God, faith is one of the many gifts You have given us, but it is up to us to nourish and exercise that gift.  You tell us so many times in our Bible that if we just keep our faith and hold onto it, that we will be so richly rewarded beyond all imaginings in the end.  A huge part of keeping our faith,  Father, is remembering that You are always by our side, through the good times and the bad, knowing that those bad times strengthen us and give us confident hope of our salvation.

Hear us now, Father, as we come to You in the silence, as we lift up to You our prayers spoken directly from our hearts…

Lord Jesus, it is only because of Your selfless act on the cross that we stand now in this state of grace, of undeserved privilege.  Because of You, we confidently and joyfully look forward to sharing God’s wonderful glory.  For when we were completely and utterly without hope, You came and atoned for our sins with Your precious blood.  Thank You, O Lord.  It is in Your blessed name, dear Jesus, we pray.  Amen.