Where Satan Has His Throne

[The following is a manuscript of the message I delivered at Paul's Chapel Church in Lexington, NC at their revival service on Monday evening, the 25th of September, 2017.]

Brothers and sisters, family, we have gathered here tonight as the faithful.  We come seeking a revival in our lives, a revival of our spirits.  We ask to be made fresh again so that we might better serve our Lord.  And we also ask that this revival ripple out from here and into the greater community.  For that is where the work truly needs to be done.

Sadly, the people who most need to be “revived” will likely never set foot into this beautiful building.  They won’t come sit down with us to hear about the Lord.  They are lost, and don’t even know it.  They’ve either rejected Jesus outright, fell away by the wayside due to neglect or the busyness of life, or they’ve just plain never really heard or understood the Gospel, the Good News of salvation through Jesus Christ.  And they are all around us, just as is Satan and those who serve him.

Lest we think this is some new phenomenon, know that the church of our Lord has been surrounded by non-believers and by the devil’s forces from day one.  Listen and follow along as I read from the Revelation of Jesus Christ as shown to the Apostle John, chapter 2 verses 12 through 17, and I’ll be reading from the New Living Translation of our Holy Bible…

12 “Write this letter to the angel of the church in Pergamum. This is the message from the One with the sharp two-edged sword:

13 “I know that you live in the city where Satan has his throne, yet you have remained loyal to Me. You refused to deny Me even when Antipas, My faithful witness, was martyred among you there in Satan’s city.

14 “But I have a few complaints against you. You tolerate some among you whose teaching is like that of Balaam, who showed Balak how to trip up the people of Israel. He taught them to sin by eating food offered to idols and by committing sexual sin. 15 In a similar way, you have some Nicolaitans among you who follow the same teaching. 16 Repent of your sin, or I will come to you suddenly and fight against them with the sword of My mouth.

17 “Anyone with ears to hear must listen to the Spirit and understand what He is saying to the churches. To everyone who is victorious I will give some of the manna that has been hidden away in heaven. And I will give to each one a white stone, and on the stone will be engraved a new name that no one understands except the one who receives it."

--Revelation 2:12-17 (NLT)

Let us pray…  Father God, we have come together tonight to worship You and to seek a refreshing of our spirit by Your Holy Spirit.  Fill us anew, please Father.  Stoke the fire within us that we might be of more service to You and to Jesus, Your Son.  Speak to us now, Father, through Your Holy Spirit directly into our hearts, that we might better understand Your will for each of us.  Imprint Your message on our hearts so we never forget.  Prepare and enable us to carry our Your commands and our Lord’s great commission.  In the blessed name of Jesus we pray.   Amen.


During World War II, General Creighton Abrams found himself and his troops surrounded on all sides by enemy forces.  With optimism characteristic of the General, he told his officers, "For the first time in the history of this campaign, we are now in a position to attack the enemy in any direction."


Talk about putting a positive spin on what most would consider a dire situation!  The reports come in that the enemy is on all sides.  There’s no way out, no escape route left.  In that situation, some would raise the white flag and surrender.  Not General Abrams.  No, he looks out and sees that his men can strike at the enemy in any direction!

Family, it’s kind of like that today, for Christians.  I see three factions at work in this world.  There are those who believe in Jesus, those who don’t believe but don’t make any big deal out of it, and those who work fervently against Jesus, doing everything they can to keep the second group in disbelief and to shake the belief of the first group!  The second group has a chance of still being saved, if they can come to know our Lord and accept Him as their personal Savior and Master.  Those in the third group are pretty firmly in Satan’s camp, with hardened hearts and blinded eyes.  And they surround us on all sides.

But rather than surrender to what the world would say is the inevitable collapse of Christianity, we need to follow the example of General Abrams.  No matter which way we go, we can strike at the enemy and his forces in any direction.  And even though we sometimes get into heated and bitter arguments among ourselves within our churches, our true enemy is Satan, not other Christians.


Pergamum was already a fairly old and rather important city in Jesus’ day.  Located near the Aegean Sea in Greece, it reached its greatest heights under Roman rule.  The city had a long history of paganism, first under the Greeks and then the Romans.  The people worshiped all manner of gods, with temples and shrines everywhere.

And in this environment a Christian family took shape.  In this soil a church was planted.  How many of us would have given them a snowball’s chance on the sun of making it?  What odds do you think Las Vegas would have given?  Surrounded on all sides by one of Satan’s greatest inventions: idolatry, the worship of false gods.  The people even worshiped the Roman Emperor, with a temple to him erected there.

Surprisingly enough, though, the church was making it.  Jesus noted that even in the face of all the wickedness around them, the church managed to remain faithful and loyal to Him.  One of their own was executed, martyred, yet they refused to deny Jesus as Lord.  There in Satan’s city.


Family, think about where Christ’s church is today.  I don’t mean Paul’s Chapel or Pilgrim Reformed here in Lexington or Emanuel Reformed in Thomasville.  I mean the entire body of Jesus left on earth to continue His work here.  Where are we?  Doesn’t it sound kind of like we’re in Pergamum?

We’re surrounded on all sides by people who worship all manner of false gods, who practice idolatry daily.  They worship the gods of convenience, of self-centeredness, of wealth, of hatred, of lust, of sex.  They spend far more of their time and resources on entertainment than on Jesus or our Father God.  They make idols of sports and movie stars, of singers and politicians.  They make gods of themselves.

Family, the church is surrounded on all sides by the enemy’s forces.  We live where Satan has his throne.


Unfortunately, there’s one other point we share in common with the church in Pergamum.  We tolerate some among us who teach and practice committing all manner of sin.  It is, it would seem, very difficult to sit in the midst of the enemy, surrounded on all sides, and not have some slip in unnoticed from time to time.  Just as in Pergamum, the church has allowed the world in through its doors.

Now in all honesty, that is something we kind of want, isn’t it?  We want the worldly to come in, in the hopes and prayers that they might be saved.  But the problem is, rather than changing the worldly into more righteousness, we – the church - have adopted the ways of the world and become more wicked.

We don’t have to look too far to see this.  Watch TV a while, or browse a Christian bookstore.  You’ll see preachers and church leaders teaching apostate ways.  “There’s more than one way to heaven besides Jesus.”  “Just do good – that’s all that matters.”  “No one is going to hell – God loves us too much for that to ever happen.”

According to my understanding of our Bible, God’s words, those statements are blatantly false teachings, leading people to sin.  The result is that we too sin.  We too lust for the sinful pleasures this world offers.

The Apostle Paul understood this.  Listen to what he told the church of Ephesians, in chapter 4 of his letter, verses 17 through 24…

17 With the Lord’s authority I say this: Live no longer as the Gentiles do, for they are hopelessly confused. 18 Their minds are full of darkness; they wander far from the life God gives because they have closed their minds and hardened their hearts against Him. 19 They have no sense of shame. They live for lustful pleasure and eagerly practice every kind of impurity.

20 But that isn’t what you learned about Christ. 21 Since you have heard about Jesus and have learned the truth that comes from Him, 22 throw off your old sinful nature and your former way of life, which is corrupted by lust and deception. 23 Instead, let the Spirit renew your thoughts and attitudes. 24 Put on your new nature, created to be like God — truly righteous and holy.

--Ephesians 4:17-24 (NLT)

We must stop living as the Gentiles – the pagans – live.  They are confused.  They don’t understand what is truly important.  Their minds have been clouded by Satan and his endless temptations.  They have no shame.  They live only for the lustful pleasures this world offers and practice every imaginable kind of impurity, of sin.

Even we who are followers of Christ can fall prey to this lifestyle and wander far from our life with God.  But this isn’t what we learned from Jesus.  We have no excuse.  We know all about Jesus and what He did for us, and why, and we know the truth that comes from Him.

So we must throw off the sinful nature of the world.  We must resist those temptations that the world says is really OK to indulge in.  We need to get rid of that “everyone else is doing it so we can too” mentality.

This is not the way of Jesus!  This is not the way of God!  We must be careful of what we allow into our homes through our TVs and computers, in our books and magazines.  We must guard our hearts from the wants and desires of the worldly.

We live where Satan has his throne!  We must not let him into God’s home, the Holy Spirit’s home – our hearts, our lives.  We have no choice but to live in the world, but we can choose to not live worldly lives.


In the last two verses of what I just read from Ephesians, Paul reiterates why we are here tonight.  We are here to let God’s Holy Spirit renew and refresh our thoughts and attitudes.  We are here to be revived, to rededicate ourselves to serving Jesus.  If we remain faithful and loyal to Jesus, as was the church in Pergamum, and not stray from His teachings where they failed, we will be victorious with Christ when He returns to set the world aright.  And our rewards will be great, more wonderful than we could ever imagine.  We just need to stand strong, surrounded here as we are by Satan’s army.  Even as we open the doors to our buildings and invite the world in, we must bar the doors to our hearts and resist the world’s inroads into how we live our lives.

We’re surrounded, here in the city where Satan has his throne.  So it doesn’t matter which direction we take to attack our foe.  Let’s leave here tonight revived, reinvigorated, rededicated to the fight to win souls for Jesus.  Let’s go out and help save the world from itself.

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


Let us pray…  Lord Jesus, the world hates You.  Satan hates You and is doing everything he can to hurt You.  He knows You cannot be overcome, so he attacks Your people instead, Your body left here on earth, Your faithful.  He lures the weak into his service by offering temptations they cannot resist.  He uses the weak to attack the strong, to persecute the faithful, all the while tempting Your followers in the most cunning ways, that they might slowly stray from Your side until they, too, become lost.  Lord Jesus, we live where Satan has his throne.  His forces completely surround us, his armies batter at our defenses without ceasing.  Strengthen us, Lord, to stand in Your name.  Embolden us to strike out against the enemy, against Satan, even where he lives.  Show us the weak and the lost and help us bring them back to Your loving arms.

Father God, Satan’s onslaught is relentless.  He batters us constantly, and from all directions.  He uses everything this world has to offer in his attempts to pull us away from Your Son Jesus.  He has even infiltrated our churches – our houses of worship are no longer safe havens.  Help us, please Father.  Forgive us our disobediences.  Strengthen us to stand.  Refresh us with Your own Holy Spirit that we might be revived and reinvigorated to continue doing the work of our Lord, here where Satan has his throne.

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

Word!

[The following is a manuscript of my sermon delivered on Sunday morning, the 24th of September, 2017.  Look for the video on our Vimeo channel:  http://vimeo.com/pilgrimreformedchurch.]

In his old age, nearing his final days, separated from his friends but not from God, the Apostle John is visited by Jesus in a vision where He reveals what is to come.  Parts of this vision are warmly reassuring.  Parts are horrifically frightening.  I can only imagine that much of what John was shown could not be described in a way that most people could understand.  But John wrote these scenes down the best he could, as he was instructed to do, putting everything he saw into words that might make some sense to us.  These words of God were saved for us so that we might benefit and learn from what John alone witnessed.

Listen and follow along as I read from the Revelation of Jesus Christ to His beloved Apostle John, chapter 19 verses 11 through 16, and I’ll be reading from the New King James Version of our Holy Bible…

11 Now I saw heaven opened, and behold, a white horse. And He who sat on him was called Faithful and True, and in righteousness He judges and makes war. 12 His eyes were like a flame of fire, and on His head were many crowns. He had a name written that no one knew except Himself. 13 He was clothed with a robe dipped in blood, and His name is called The Word of God. 14 And the armies in heaven, clothed in fine linen, white and clean, followed Him on white horses. 15 Now out of His mouth goes a sharp sword, that with it He should strike the nations. And He Himself will rule them with a rod of iron. He Himself treads the winepress of the fierceness and wrath of Almighty God. 16 And He has on His robe and on His thigh a name written: 

KING OF KINGS AND

LORD OF LORDS.

--Revelation 19:11-16 (NKJV)

Let us pray…  Father God, there may be no book in Your Holy Bible that fills us with more fear and greater hope than Revelation, when Your Son Jesus revealed to His Apostle John and to all of us what must take place.  You have had it all planned out from the beginning, Father.  But we have resisted Your plan all along.  Forgive us, please Father, for our disbelief and disobedience.  Help us to understand what Your will involves so that we might better accept it and bend our will to it.  Speak to us now through Your Holy Spirit directly into our hearts, and tell us what we must do.  Give us greater insight into Your will for each of us.  Help us find and walk the path that leads us directly to our King of kings, our Lord of lords.  In the blessed name of Your Son Jesus we pray.   Amen.


A husband read an article to his wife about how women speak 30,000 words a day while a man only utters 15,000.  The wife indignantly replied, “That’s because we have to repeat everything we say to you men.” The husband turned, looked at his wife and said… “What?”


How many of you husbands use your wife as a translator?  And how many of you have been told you have selective hearing?  I definitely have fallen in both categories over the years.  I do have a physical hearing problem, but I am pretty sure I also engaged in a bit of selective listening from time to time in my past.

And sadly, for too large a portion of my earlier life, that selectiveness also applied to what God was trying to tell me.  For too many years, I did not even want to hear His word.  Now I cherish it.  The word of God.  The Word.


Have you ever seen on TV or in a movie where two guys will meet and say “Word!” to each other?  Or maybe one will say something and the other will reply, “Word!”?  Did you wonder what they meant?

I sure did!  It seemed a funny greeting or statement response to me.  In effect, when someone simply said the word, “Word”, it meant that they were in agreement.  It’s like a short form of stating that what is said is true.

So I think that is a most appropriate way of describing our Bible, too.  Because what it says is definitely true, and it is, after all, the word of God.  That’s what we call the Bible: the word of God.

John calls Jesus the “Word of God”, both in the Book of Revelation passage I just read, and also in his Gospel account, such as in chapter 1, verses 1 through 5…

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. 4 In Him was life, and the life was the light of men. 5 And the light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not comprehend it.

--John 1:1-5 (NKJV)

Jesus has many titles, including the Light of man, the Light that shines in the darkness and cannot be overcome.  If we go back to the slang use of “Word!” as being in agreement, then Jesus definitely is the “Word” of God, for He is in perfect agreement with our Father God.  As is our Bible, our Basic Instructions Before Leaving Earth, our user’s manual – it too is in perfect agreement with God.  So calling Jesus the Word of God and referring to our Bible as the word of God are both correct.

Let me give you another example.  Listen to what the author of the letter to the Hebrews writes in chapter 4, verses 12 and 13…

12 For the word of God is living and powerful, and sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing even to the division of soul and spirit, and of joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart. 13 And there is no creature hidden from His sight, but all things are naked and open to the eyes of Him to whom we must give account.

--Hebrews 4:12-13 (NKJV)

Both Jesus and our Bible are living and powerful.  Even if our Bible just sets on the coffee table or bookshelf or dresser collecting dust, it still has a strong, steady pulse as it waits for us to open it so God can reveal His word to us, His Word to us.

And notice the imagery of the sword again, like we saw in the passage from Revelation.  Jesus, the Word, comes speaking the word, and it is if He wields the sharpest two-edged sword possible.  And nothing, no one, can hide from His sight, for He sees all things.


I have to ask the question, and I want you to answer truthfully, to yourself, inside yourself…  Just how important is the word of God to us?

I think we would all agree that Jesus is very important, to us and to the world.  But what about God’s other word, our Holy Bible?  Does it indeed just sit around the house collecting dust?  Is it nothing more than a place where we keep the names and dates associated with our children and grandchildren?  Do we find it too boring or too difficult to understand when we do try to read it?  What keeps us from opening that book and reading from it at least a little every day?

We have Bible Study every Tuesday evening, yet we do good to have 10 or 11 people present.  I know many of us have commitments and things to do, but isn’t the word of God important to us too?

What if the word were taken away from us?  What if we could no longer hear or read the word of God?  Never happen?  Listen to the warning God gives us through His prophet Amos, in chapter 8 verses 11 of his book…

11 “Behold, the days are coming,” says the Lord God,
“That I will send a famine on the land,
Not a famine of bread,
Nor a thirst for water,
But of hearing the words of the Lord.”

--Amos 8:11 (NKJV)

The days are coming, says God, when His word will be shut off from us.  The world already tried to take His Word – Jesus – away from us, but thanks to God’s great mercy, our Lord was resurrected and lives still today.  But our Bibles could indeed be taken away, as they have in some parts of the world.  What will we do then, if we don’t know what God says, if we aren’t already very familiar with His word?


Nothing of this world lasts.  Everything rots, withers, fades away.  The prophet Isaiah, in one of his moments of beautiful poetry, from chapter 40 of his book, verses 6 through 8, speaks for God when he writes…

6 The voice said, “Cry out!”
And he said, “What shall I cry?”
“All flesh is grass,
And all its loveliness is like the flower of the field.
7 The grass withers, the flower fades,
Because the breath of the Lord blows upon it;
Surely the people are grass.
8 The grass withers, the flower fades,
But the word of our God stands forever.”

--Isaiah 40:6-8 (NKJV)

The grass withers, the flower fades away.  We are like grass – we wither and fade away.  But the word of God lasts forever, in both senses!  Jesus always was and always will be.  Our Bible is an earthly construct and will eventually rot and return to dust.  But the truths it contains, the wisdom of God, the instructions we need to live by, will last forever.  Nothing, no force in heaven or on earth, can destroy the Word of God!


Get familiar with God’s Word.  Build a closer relationship with Jesus.  Read, study, and understand the Bible.  Because our Bible is God’s word and it is how we can learn more about His Son, His Word from the very beginning.  Hear God’s word while we still can, for someday it will be too late.

Word!

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


Let us pray…  Father God, You gave Your word for Your prophets to repeat, for Your servants to write down and preserve for us, just so we could have Your truth always at our fingertips.   And You gave us Your Word, Jesus, so that we might find salvation through Him if we only believe, and in believing repent and follow His commands.  Your word, Father, is a lamp unto our feet and a light unto our path.  If we would only allow it, Your word will guide us safely through this earthly life and into the greater heavenly life You have planned for us.  Help us, please Father, to believe in Your Word Jesus with all our heart.  Help us to read and better understand Your word in our Bible so we can live as You want us to live.  Forgive us, please God, when we are too busy to give of ourselves and our time to Your Word.

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

Lord Jesus, from even before the beginning, You have been with God as His Word.  While You lived and walked this earth, You spoke His word to us so that we might understand and obey.  When You return You will again speak His word, but this time it will cut His enemies like the sharpest sword, leaving none standing.  Help us, Lord Jesus, to heed God’s word contained in our Bible so that we do not have to fear His Word when You return.

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

The Lord Brings a Charge

[The following is a manuscript of my sermon delivered on Sunday morning, the 17th of September, 2017.  Look for the video on our Vimeo channel:  http://vimeo.com/pilgrimreformedchurch.]

Hosea is considered one of the minor prophets in our Bible, and is sometimes called the “prophet of doom” because of his dire warnings of destruction.  But his very name, Hosea, means “salvation”, and underneath his message of doom is the promise of restoration.  In effect, the entire Book of Hosea was a stern warning to the northern kingdom of Israel against the growing idolatry of the people.  But it also contained the promise that God would not abandon them if they would only repent – turn from their sinful worship of idols and come back to God.

This message still holds true to us today.  We may not worship graven images or false gods like Zeus or Jupiter, but too often we give more of our time and resources to our modern “gods” of convenience and entertainment, to our gods of self.  We give less and less to Jesus.

So listen and follow along as I read from the New King James Version of our Holy Bible part of Hosea’s warning I think we need to hear, from chapter 4 verses 1 through 10 of the book that bears his name…

1 Hear the word of the Lord,
You children of Israel,
For the Lord brings a charge against the inhabitants of the land:

“There is no truth or mercy
Or knowledge of God in the land.
2 By swearing and lying,
Killing and stealing and committing adultery,
They break all restraint,
With bloodshed upon bloodshed.
3 Therefore the land will mourn;
And everyone who dwells there will waste away
With the beasts of the field
And the birds of the air;
Even the fish of the sea will be taken away.

4 “Now let no man contend, or rebuke another;
For your people are like those who contend with the priest.
5 Therefore you shall stumble in the day;
The prophet also shall stumble with you in the night;
And I will destroy your mother.
6 My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge.
Because you have rejected knowledge,
I also will reject you from being priest for Me;
Because you have forgotten the law of your God,
I also will forget your children.

7 “The more they increased,
The more they sinned against Me;
I will change their glory into shame.
8 They eat up the sin of My people;
They set their heart on their iniquity.
9 And it shall be: like people, like priest.
So I will punish them for their ways,
And reward them for their deeds.
10 For they shall eat, but not have enough;
They shall commit harlotry, but not increase;
Because they have ceased obeying the Lord."

--Hosea 4:1-10 (NKJV)

Let us pray…  Father God, when You created mankind, You told us to “be fruitful and multiply”.  But as we increased, the more we sinned against You.  Forgive us, please Father.  Help us hear Your warning.  Help us repent.  Speak to us now through Your Holy Spirit directly into our hearts, that we might better understand what we must do.  Give us greater insight into Your will for each of us.  Help us find and walk the path that leads away from destruction.  In the blessed name of Your Son Jesus we pray.   Amen.


Bruce Goodrich was being initiated into the cadet corps at Texas A & M University.  One night, Bruce was forced to run until he dropped -- but he never got up.  Bruce Goodrich died before he even entered college.

A short time after the tragedy, Bruce's father wrote this letter to the administration, faculty, student body, and the corps of cadets:  "I would like to take this opportunity to express the appreciation of my family for the great outpouring of concern and sympathy from Texas A & M University and the college community over the loss of our son Bruce.  We were deeply touched by the tribute paid to him in the battalion.  We were particularly pleased to note that his Christian witness did not go unnoticed during his brief time on campus."

Mr. Goodrich went on:  "I hope it will be some comfort to know that we harbor no ill will in the matter.  We know our God makes no mistakes.  Bruce had an appointment with his Lord and is now secure in his celestial home.  When the question is asked, 'Why did this happen?', perhaps one answer will be, 'So that many will consider where they will spend eternity.'"


Where will we spend eternity?  That’s quite a long time, isn’t it?  This life on earth is less than a blink of an eye in comparison, yet we spend so much of our time dwelling on it, fretting over it, rushing from one place to another in an effort to get it all in before we die.

But when we die, that’s when true life begins.  That’s when eternity begins.  Where will we spend it?


Hosea is like the prosecutor in God’s courtroom.  He stands before us and announces: “The Lord brings a charge against you!”  Since this message was saved in God’s Holy Word for all ages to see and hear, it speaks to all of us today and not just those of Hosea’s time.

And it doesn’t take a lot of thought to understand that, beginning with the opening comments in this trial.  There is no truth or mercy or knowledge of God in this land.  Instead, we go through this life swearing and lying, killing and stealing and committing adultery.  We can’t restrain ourselves, and indeed, personal responsibility has become a thing of the past.

And God warns there will be a price to pay, even for the very land itself and all that dwell in it, even the beasts of the field and the birds of the air will suffer for our sin and disobedience.  I bet most of us never thought about it in this manner - that everyone and everything will ultimately pay the price of our sins.

According to Hosea, the biggest reason for all this, the root cause of our destruction, is that we have no knowledge of God.  We don’t know God.  Why?  Because we have rejected knowledge of God!  All along, from the beginning of time, we have been shown who and what God is, but we have rejected Him and His law.  Like Adam and Eve, we would prefer to make gods of ourselves, be our own god so that everything and anything we do is good and righteous.

But even now, God will not abandon us.  To give us a chance to have the charges against us dropped, God sent His only Son into the world to offer us salvation if we would only believe and repent.  And we rejected knowing Jesus, too.


So Jesus offered up His own warning, but it also carries a promise of restoration, just as does God’s warning through Hosea.  Listen to what our Lord tells us in the Gospel account of the Apostle Luke, from chapter 21, verses 25 through 28…

25 “And there will be signs in the sun, in the moon, and in the stars; and on the earth distress of nations, with perplexity, the sea and the waves roaring; 26 men’s hearts failing them from fear and the expectation of those things which are coming on the earth, for the powers of the heavens will be shaken. 27 Then they will see the Son of Man coming in a cloud with power and great glory. 28 Now when these things begin to happen, look up and lift up your heads, because your redemption draws near.”

--Luke 21:25-28 (NKJV)

Does any of that sound familiar?  It should, if you’ve been watching the news at all.  Family, we are seeing the very signs that Jesus and God’s prophets warned us would come!  God’s warnings are being played out on the world stage this very day!

Four major hurricanes followed each other to our continent, two of them huge and making landfall on our shores.  The destruction is horrific.  Even the land, the beasts of the fields, and the birds of the air are being destroyed, just as God promised.  For God brings a charge against us.  How much longer do you think it will be before the Son of Man returns in a cloud, with power and great glory, to execute those charges God has brought?


But there’s also that promise of restoration, there at the end of what Jesus said.  Look up, Christians; lift up your heads, because our redemption draws near.  Jesus draws near, and if we believe, we will be saved.

In the Gospel account of the Apostle John, chapter 3 verses 34 through 36, John the Baptist says these words in defining just who Jesus is…

34 "For He whom God has sent speaks the words of God, for God does not give the Spirit by measure. 35 The Father loves the Son, and has given all things into His hand. 36 He who believes in the Son has everlasting life; and he who does not believe the Son shall not see life, but the wrath of God abides on him."

--John 3:34-36 (NKJV)

God the Father has given all thing – all things – into the nail-scarred hands of His Son Jesus, including carrying out His judgments, His charges.  If we believe in the Son, we will repent of our wicked ways and will receive everlasting life with our Father God in heaven.  If we don’t believe, we will not see that life, but instead will suffer the wrath of God.

Eternity – such a very long time.  How will we spend it?  In heaven with God?  Or forever separated from Him and His love, suffering forever in the lake of fire?


The Lord brings a charge against us.  How do we plead?  We have no choice but to say, “Guilty”.  For we are, all of us, guilty.

We are guilty of ignoring the warnings of the Creator of all things.  We are guilty of rejecting His law, His commandments.  We are guilty of turning our backs on His Son.  We are guilty of disobeying the only commands Jesus gave us: to go into the world spreading the Gospel and making disciples, to love one another unconditionally.  We are guilty as charged.

But we are not condemned, not yet.  We still have a very capable defense attorney standing by our side, if we believe in Him.  Jesus washed us clean of our sin with His own blood and promises to intercede on our behalf when we stand before God to face our charges.

But we must first believe in Him as God’s Son, the true Christ, who lived and died for us.  And we must repent, turn away from our wickedness, start repairing our relationship with God and with Jesus, get to know them better, while we still can.  For the time is drawing near when Jesus will return in His full power and glory to set the world aright.

Believe and repent, and the charges will be dropped.  In the blessed name of Jesus Christ, our Master and our Savior.  Amen.


Let us pray…  Father God, You love us so much when there is no real reason to.  We break Your laws, we ignore knowing You better, we even reject Your only Son who You sent just to save us from ourselves.  Forgive us, Father, for our disobedience.  Forgive us for our wicked ways.  Thank You for loving us enough to give us another chance at redemption.  Please help us to follow the path Jesus laid for us, to turn from our sin and remain ever true and faithful to You.

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

Lord Jesus, You came and gave of Yourself so that we might be saved from eternal torment.  Eternity is such a long time, Lord, and You give us the means to live it with You in paradise.  Help us, please Jesus, to turn away from our sinful ways and obey Your and our Father’s commands.  Help us get the charges against us dropped.

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

Restoration

[The following is a manuscript of my sermon delivered on Homecoming Sunday morning, the 10th of September, 2017.  Look for the video on our Vimeo channel:  http://vimeo.com/pilgrimreformedchurch.]

Jesus was arrested and hauled off to face the Jewish religious leaders and the Roman governor. When challenged, Simon Peter three times denied even knowing Jesus, let alone being a follower. At their last meal together, mere hours before the arrest, Peter had sworn he would never deny his Master! But just as Jesus foretold, the former fisherman did exactly that.

The realization of what he had done broke Peter’s heart. But Jesus had great compassion for Peter. After His resurrection from death but before ascending back into heaven, Jesus kindly restored Peter. He gave the rock of His church a chance to atone and regain the role and position Christ intended for him all along.

Listen and follow along as I read from the Gospel account of the beloved Apostle John, from the New King James Version of our Holy Bible, from chapter 21 verses 15 through 19…

15 So when they had eaten breakfast, Jesus said to Simon Peter, “Simon, son of Jonah, do you love Me more than these?”

He said to Him, “Yes, Lord; You know that I love You.”

He said to him, “Feed My lambs.”

16 He said to him again a second time, “Simon, son of Jonah, do you love Me?”

He said to Him, “Yes, Lord; You know that I love You.”

He said to him, “Tend My sheep.”

17 He said to him the third time, “Simon, son of Jonah, do you love Me?”  Peter was grieved because He said to him the third time, “Do you love Me?”

And he said to Him, “Lord, You know all things; You know that I love You.”

Jesus said to him, “Feed My sheep. 18 Most assuredly, I say to you, when you were younger, you girded yourself and walked where you wished; but when you are old, you will stretch out your hands, and another will gird you and carry you where you do not wish.” 19 This He spoke, signifying by what death he would glorify God. And when He had spoken this, He said to him, “Follow Me.”

--John 21:15-19 (NKJV)

Let us pray…  Father God, You are a God of second chances.  Just as Your Son Jesus gave Peter the chance to atone and repent of his sin and be restored, You offer us the same opportunity time after time.  Speak to us now through Your Holy Spirit directly into our hearts, that we might better understand how merciful You are.  Give us greater insight into Your will for each of us as Jesus showed Peter.  Imprint Your message on our hearts that we, like Peter, might go confidently into the world to do the work Jesus assigned us.  In the blessed name of Jesus we pray.   Amen.


I read of a circus in England many years ago that was run by a very greedy owner.  One of his most prized attractions was an elephant named Bozo.  Bozo was very popular, especially among the children who liked to crowd around his pen and toss him peanuts.  One day, though, Bozo's personality abruptly changed.  He attacked his trainer and tried to charge at the children around his pen.  The owner decided Bozo would have to be destroyed, but because he was greedy, he planned a dramatic public execution that he could sell tickets to.

On the day of the execution, a firing squad stood before a sold-out crowd facing Bozo.  Just as the owner was about to give the order to "Fire!", a small man shouted "Wait!" from the audience.  He walked up to the owner and asked permission to go in and simply talk to the elephant, that there was no need to kill him.  The owner thought the man crazy, but figured more drama would be good for future ticket sales so he agreed to let the man try if he would first sign a release stating he would not hold the circus responsible for any harm that may befall him.  The man signed the release and entered the cage, as a hushed crowd watched.

Bozo lifted his head and roared and appeared ready to charge at the man, who simply spoke quietly to the huge animal.  Those seated nearby who could hear could not understand the words, as if the man were speaking a foreign language.  Bozo lifted his head again, but this time only a plaintive whimper was heard.  The man walked over to the beast, still quietly speaking.  Bozo lowered his head and gently wrapped his trunk around the man in a loving hug.

After a few more minutes the man left the cage, to thunderous applause and cheers from the crowd.  He walked over to the owner and said, "Sir, this is an Indian elephant, and none of you speak the language he grew up hearing, Hindustani.  I spoke to him in that tongue and he calmed.  For you see, he was simply homesick - he just needed the sounds of home."  With that, the man turned and walked off.  The owner looked down at the release form in his hands and saw the signature:  Rudyard Kipling.


Have you ever been homesick?  Have you been away so long that the pull of home and hearth makes you do unusual things?

My mother was feeling homesick, and now she has finally gone home, to the home we all long to return to.  And when we do get home, what a homecoming that will be.


Today we celebrate an earthly version of our heavenly homecoming, as the Pilgrim family gathers once again.  We joyfully welcome those who have been away from the church home for a while, and we long for those unable to join us.  Homecoming - a time for family, for love, and usually for a big meal.  We'll have all that today, and then tonight we will put out a call and a prayer for revival.

And we need spiritual revival, not so much here in the family of Pilgrim but all across our world in general.  Too many people don't understand this, they don't think they can be revived, they don't know how our Lord works.  They don't realize that they can be restored, and then personal revival can truly set in.  Jesus will restore us, if we would only let Him.

Three times Peter denied being with Jesus.  He was afraid the authorities would learn he was part of Jesus' group and would arrest him as well.  Peter, the man who Christ sanctified to be the very foundation of His church, denied even knowing Him when faced with possible persecution.  And yet, Jesus forgave him.

Not only that, our Lord gave Peter the chance of restoration, to be united once again with Him and to do as He commands.  Three times, Jesus asked, "Peter, do you love Me?"  Three times, Peter responded, "Yes, Lord, You know I love You."  Three times, Jesus commanded, "Feed my sheep."  Three times - once for each time Peter denied Jesus.  And we know Peter did as commanded, and was restored to his rightful place in God's eyes.


How does restoration begin?  First by understanding what we did wrong, and then repenting of it.  Peter himself tells us what we need to do, as he preached in the temple after Pentecost.  The Apostle Luke recorded Peter's words for us, in his Book of Acts, chapter 3, verses 18 through 21…

18 “But those things which God foretold by the mouth of all His prophets, that the Christ would suffer, He has thus fulfilled. 19 Repent therefore and be converted, that your sins may be blotted out, so that times of refreshing may come from the presence of the Lord, 20 and that He may send Jesus Christ, who was preached to you before, 21 whom heaven must receive until the times of restoration of all things, which God has spoken by the mouth of all His holy prophets since the world began.”

--Acts 3:18-21 (NKJV)

Repent, so that a refreshing may come, a restoring of God's Holy Spirit within us.  For the time is coming when Jesus will return to restore all things, the time foretold since the very beginning of the world.  The Apostle Paul understood this as well, and carried it one step further based on Peter's own response to Jesus' command.  In his letter to the Romans, chapter 12 verses 1 and 2, Paul instructs us…

1 I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that you present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable to God, which is your reasonable service. 2 And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God.

--Romans 12:1-2 (NKJV)

We are to make of ourselves a living sacrifice.  Jesus sacrificed Himself once for all time so we no longer need to offer up blood sacrifices to God to atone for our sins.  But we can offer ourselves daily as a living sacrifice.

How do we do that?  By doing just as Jesus commanded Peter - we feed His lambs, we tend His sheep.  We allow Him to restore us by refreshing God's Holy Spirit within us.


Restoration leads to revival, and restoration begins by doing as Jesus commands us and making of ourselves a living sacrifice to His service.  And it all hinges on the last thing Jesus said to Peter in our scripture reading this morning: "Follow Me."

To properly feed our Lord's lambs, to tend His sheep, we must follow Him.  And if we follow Jesus and His teachings, our service in His name will be righteous and good in God's eyes.  We will be restored, we will be revived, and some sweet day, when we are finally called home and can join that great homecoming in heaven, God will welcome us with open arms and say, "Well done, good and faithful servant!"

Until that time, ward off the effects of homesickness by listening to our native language that Jesus speaks, and follow His voice and His commands.  Feed His sheep, follow Him, and be restored.

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


Let us pray…  Father God, You show us Your love in so many ways.  You provide so much beauty all around us just for our enjoyment.  But most of all, You showed Your love by giving us Your own Son Jesus, that through Him we might be restored and saved.  Thank You, Father, for loving us that much.  Thank You for having mercy on us and restoring us to a place of righteousness in Your eyes by our repentance and acceptance of Your Son.  Please help us remain ever true and steadfast to You.

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

Lord Jesus, even though he denied You when it truly mattered, You gave Peter a chance to redeem himself.  You clearly showed him Your love and compassion and told him what he needed to do for his full restoration.  And Jesus, You give us the same chance.  Help us, please, to remember that we deny You too when we don’t do as You command.  We deny You to others when we do not act very much like Christians, when we don’t follow Your example, when we don’t share Your Good News, when we don’t love others as You love us.  Restore us, Lord, that we might be fully revived by God’s Holy Spirit to go into the world once again, renewed and strengthened to make disciples and spread Your Gospel.

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

A Day of Rest

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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


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

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

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


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

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

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

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

--Exodus 20:8-11 (NKJV)

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

--Mark 6:7-13; 30-32 (NKJV)

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


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

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


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

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


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

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

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

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

Ask Not

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

--James 4:1-10 (NLT)

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


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

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


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

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

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

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

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

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

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

--1 Kings 3:5-14 (NKJV)

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


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

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

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


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

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

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

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


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

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

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

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

A House Divided

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

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

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

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

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

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

--Matthew 12:22-30 (NKJV)

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


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

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

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

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


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

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

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


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

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

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

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

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

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

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

--Joshua 24:14-15 (NKJV)

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

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

--Luke 12:8-9 (NKJV)

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


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

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

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

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


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

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

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

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