Sin

Why God, Why

/ The Pastor / 1 Comment

This pastor’s heart is heavy this morning after reading news about a reporter and her cameraman in Virginia being gunned down and killed on live TV this morning. I won’t go into details here as you can click the link above.

As I read this story, my heart broke and immediately send me into a series of questions, many consisting of: “Why God, why?” as I instinctively started looking for answers. It’s a natural response to a tragedy as one seeks consolation, comfort, hope and maybe even an explanation. Something, anything to help make sense of the evil and sin in the world. I hear this “Why” question a lot and ask it myself.

And there are no good answers to explain why this tragedy happened, but there IS hope. The hope? OUR hope?

OUR AWESOME GOD THROUGH CHRIST JESUS OUR LORD

[Isaiah 43:1] But now thus says the LORD, he who created you, O Jacob, he who formed you, O Israel: “Fear not, for I have redeemed you; I have called you by name, you are mine.

[1 Corinthians 15:55-57]  “O death, where is your victory? O death, where is your sting?” The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law. But thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.

[Romans 8:35-39, but really, read the WHOLE chapter] Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or danger, or sword? As it is written, “For your sake we are being killed all the day long; we are regarded as sheep to be slaughtered.” No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. For I am sure that neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers, nor height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord. 

[John 11:25-26]  Jesus said to her, “I am the resurrection and the life. Whoever believes in me, though he die, yet shall he live, and everyone who lives and believes in me shall never die. Do you believe this?“

…and there are many more, but hopefully this is a start for you. This world is nasty, sin-stained, filled with death, but…

Our God is love, pure and perfect, and filled with Life; a life that is your’s through faith in Jesus Christ. So as chaos reeks havoc in this world, cling to Jesus. May the only answer you search for and cling to be

JESUS.

Mighty and holy God, I lift up to You those affected by this tragic shooting. May family, friends and loved ones know Your love and the hope of the resurrection. Evil may have it’s day in this world but You have overcome this world. May we cling to THAT reality. All praise, glory and worship be to You, oh God, through Christ Jesus our Lord. Amen.

The Pastor -|—

Jesus Is

/ The Pastor / 1 Comment

Jesus is my Lord and Life;
Jesus makes my dark as light.

Jesus is my Savior now;
He’s the one to whom I bow.

Jesus blots out all my sin;
He’s the one my faith is in.

Jesus loves my dreary soul;
Jesus makes me feel so whole.

Jesus, you’re my all in all;
even when I feel so small.

So…

Jesus, this rhyme is for you;
for all my praise, is your due.

May you lift your praise and worship to God our Father each and every day, through Christ Jesus our Lord.

The Pastor -|—

Confession/Absolution ~ Hate Evil

/ The Pastor

The beauty of Charles Spurgeon’s faith, as expressed in his words, is something that never ceases to touch my heart and lead me deeper into God’s arms. I have enjoyed reading his sermons and taking a peak at his heart through some devotional reading.

This morning’s devotion was titled, Ye that love the Lord hate evil. Beautiful words that talk about the ugliness of sin in our lives and therefore the admonition to flee from it and hate it. So I took  some of these words (the ones italicized) and wrote a Confession/Absolution litany for worship this morning. Below is the product of the Spirit’s inspiration this morning. Feel free to use this as you will for the glory of God.

Confession
In the words of Charles Spurgeon ~ Thou hast good reason to “hate evil,” for only consider what harm it has already wrought thee. Oh, what a world of mischief sin has brought into thy heart! Sin blinded thee so that thou couldst not see the beauty of the Saviour; it made thee deaf so that thou couldst not hear the Redeemer’s tender invitations. Sin turned thy feet into the way of death, and poured poison into the very fountain of thy being; it tainted thy heart, and made it “deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked.”

My friends, forgiveness is at the heart of the Gospel, but to get there we first must admit and confess our sinfulness. Nothing is hidden from God so don’t even try, for we are indeed wicked. But also don’t be afraid but rather boldly go to our heavenly Father through faith in Jesus; confessing Your sins.

[Silent prayer and confession]

Holy God, the ugliness of sin draws us away from You. It stains our souls and causes us to run to that which is evil. But in the name of Jesus Christ we run to You with our confessions; seeking to be washed in the blood of the lamb. Make us whole again that our eyes may see Your awesome beauty. It’s in the name of Jesus Christ, our risen Lord and Savior I pray, Amen.

Absolution
Jesus Christ was given to die for you that your sins would be forgiven. So as a called and ordained minister of the Church of Christ and by his authority, I therefore boldly and confidently announce to you the complete forgiveness of all your sins in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen. So, Therefore “hate evil,” O Christians, unless you desire trouble. If you would strew your path with thorns, and plant nettles in your death-pillow, then neglect to “hate evil:” but if you would live a happy life, and die a peaceful death, then walk in all the ways of holiness, hating evil, even unto the end. If you truly love your Saviour, and would honour him, then “hate evil.” We know of no cure for the love of evil in a Christian like abundant communion with the Lord Jesus. Dwell much with him, and it is impossible for you to be at peace with sin.

May God bless your day as you live as forgiven sinners.

All praise be to God!

The Pastor -|—

GOD IS GREAT!

/ The Pastor / 1 Comment

image

How does one not shout, “GOD IS GREAT!”, when one contemplates God’s salvation? I suppose the person who looks at salvation as a theological concept or myth to be studied. But if God’s salvation is your salvation through faith in Jesus Christ, then, “GOD IS GREAT!”, just flows out of your mouth. If it doesn’t, then maybe you don’t realize what this salvation really means.

You are a sinner condemned to hell.
You can not save yourself no matter how hard you try.
God’s wrath is something you can not escape.
You are worthy of judgement.
You have no logical defense against God.

That right there is damning. Even for this sinner, when I contemplate my rightful place before God I shudder and shake. But enter Jesus…

JESUS was born unto you.
JESUS was unjustly judged, convicted and condemned.
JESUS was sinless.
JESUS was punished, beaten and tortured.
JESUS was mocked, spit upon and sentenced to death.
JESUS crucified.
JESUS suffered greatly.
JESUS died,

for you.

But…

…JESUS rose from the dead,

for you.

Now, think about all of that. That is salvation for you. That is life for you. And if that does not bring out a shout of,”GOD IS GREAT!”, then you have no idea the gravity of your terminal disease (sin). If you are not entering worship with joy then you really don’t know this awesome God of ours. If you are not seeking God on a daily basis then you are lost; seeking for the wrong things/people.

Stop and reflect on your terminal disease.
Stop and reflect on the awesome love of God.
Stop and give thanks to Jesus.
Stop and worship.
Stop and praise God.

Stop and shout, “GOD IS GREAT!”, for the whole world to hear.

Awesome God, when I stop and reflect on my sinfulness I am in awe of the salvation Jesus won for me. I shudder to think what I am worthy of but leap for joy what you have decreed for me through faith in Jesus. Oh God, you are indeed GREAT! All praise and worship and honor and glory be to You, through Jesus Christ, Amen.

The Pastor -|—

Worship prayers for 05-03-15

/ The Pastor

Below are some more prayers I prepared for worship tomorrow (I posted the opening prayer yesterday). The text for preaching is Mark 9:42-50. This is the text of Jesus talking about the seriousness of sin. “If your hand causes you to sin, cut it off…” For the sermon, I begin with some opening words from Jonathan Edward’s sermon from 1741 titled, Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God. It’s definitely one of those “fire and brimstone” type of sermons. I wish I had more time to share more from that sermon. If you haven’t read it, simply Google that sermon and you can find a copy to read. I would suggest finding an audio version to listen to.

So with that context I commend these prayers to you. May God bless your Sabbath day as you worship and praise our awesome God.

Prayer before the sermon
Oh God of power and might; worthy and righteous; holy and awesome. You hold our lives precariously in Your holy hands, and as sinners this should cause us to pause and shutter, because really, we are deserving to be dropped into the fires of hell. But You are also a God of compassion and mercy; love and forgiveness; A just God who sees our fallen-ness and our need for a Savior. So it is through Jesus Christ that we worship You and give You thanks.

Oh God, send Your Spirit that those who are here gathered, listening to Your words, may come to a holy fear of You but yet also run to You for mercy and know Your holy love. May sin be adhorant to us and may repentance be our daily worship of You. Through Jesus’ most holy name I pray, Amen.

Offering prayer
This offering here is an extension of our worship of You, oh God; as we place our lives into Your gracious and holy hands. We don’t give these gifts as an investment program; hoping to receive even more from You. We give these gifts because You are worthy and we give them as a matter of trust that You will continue to bless us to be a blessing to others. And so may these gifts bring glory to You, oh God, as we continue to share the love of Christ in this mission field. In Jesus name we pray, Amen.

Post-communion prayer
Holy Father, You have fed us with Your holy Word and now You have fed us with this holy food. And so with these may Your Spirit drive us to our Savior, Jesus Christ, as we humble ourselves with the fact that we are sinners worthy of hell. But through Christ’s redeeming work, You have shown amazing mercy. Send us forth, now, to live lives of worship and praise of You. In Jesus name I pray, Amen.

The Pastor -|—

Holy Friday ~ Good Friday

/ The Pastor

image

It’s Good Friday, a day that has always been very power for me as I contemplate why Jesus did what he did for me. Last night was Maundy Thursday when we traditionally strip the altar at the end of the service. That always get me, too, not just seeing the naked altar and chancel area but being the one who is doing the stripping. It almost feels like I am the one involved in mocking Jesus. And in way, that’s what we do when we sin; we mock God and nail Jesus to the cross.

And so tonight we are going to get involved in contemplating our sinfulness by placing these nails (pictured below) at the foot of the cross (pictured above):

image

Throughout the worship service (as we hold these nails) we are going to be hearing about the various ways we “nail Jesus to the cross” through our sin. Then there will be a time of prayer and confession where people are going to be invited to come up, when they’re ready, and place these at the base of the cross. Following worship and as people leave, they will be invited to take another nail but this one they keep. People will be invited to place this nail in their pocket as a reminder of their sinfulness but also of where these nails belong and what they point to:

You are a sinner
Jesus was nailed to a cross
Jesus suffered and died
FOR YOU
Jesus was buried

And then…

…well, the rest of the story (THE Good News) will be coming on the 3rd day 🙂

Praise be to God!

Merciful God, we are sinners worthy of condemnation but Jesus died on the cross for the forgiveness of sins. Wow! Now, there is hope. Wow! Thank you, oh God, thank you. In Jesus name I pray, Amen

The Pastor -|—

Strong tower (Proverbs 18:10)

/ The Pastor

The name of the Lord is a strong tower; the righteous man runs into it and is safe. [Proverbs 18:10]

Strong towers:
~ Money
~ Friends
~ Home
~ Career success
~ Children
~ Intellect
~ Humor
~ Sarcasm
~Drugs/alcohol
~ Sex
~ Bible knowledge
~ Jesus knowledge

And the list goes on. Which ones here are your “strong towers”? Did I fail to mention yours? Basically, where do you run when the pressure is on? Where do you go when you need to feel safe? What defense mechanism do you activate to shield you from this world? Where is your safe haven; your fortress of solitude; your happy place?

We all have them. We all have strong towers. And I say “towers”, plural, because one is never enough it seems. Sometimes a situation calls for a different tower to run into. But the problem with strong towers here is that they really aren’t strong. They look good and impressive and powerful, but they can not deliver what you perceive that they promise. Strong towers here are really just towers of straw.

But notice where a righteous man goes; his strong tower is the name of the Lord:[9] Therefore God has highly exalted him and bestowed on him the name that is above every name, [10] so that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, [11] and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father. [Philippians 2:9-11 ESV]

The name of Jesus is exalted and therefore THE strong tower at which every knee shall bow someday. It is through the name of Jesus that you are saved from sin, death and the power of Satan. It is through the name of Jesus that you can have confidence in the face of death. It is through the name of Jesus that we can have hope and peace.

But be careful, the name of Jesus does not promise the easy way; rather the name of Jesus promises a cross. No where in scripture does it say that the name of Jesus promises a safe haven here in this life. It doesn’t promise success or riches or fame or prosperity; no matter what the property theologians say.

The name of Jesus is a strong tower because through faith in Jesus it promises eternal life; free from death, sin and Satan. And that is a Strong Tower.

Run to that
Cling to that
Dwell in that

The name of Jesus is to be exalted
The name of Jesus is to be praised
The name of Jesus is my strong tower

Praise be to God, always and forever, let’s pray…

Oh God, my Strong Tower through Jesus Christ, grant your children eyes to see the name of Jesus as THE strong tower. May we turn away from the straw towers of this world and run to you. We praise you that our safe haven in this world of evil and sin is the hope of the resurrection, and that we can have a name to cling to when death comes knocking. Oh God, my Strong Tower, may your name be praised and lifted high for all to see and run to. In Jesus name I pray, Amen.

The Pastor -|—

Much Sin. Much Love

/ The Pastor

Therefore I tell you, her sins, which are many, are forgiven—for she loved much. But he who is forgiven little, loves little.” [Luke 7:47]

Your love of God is proportional to the sin that has been forgiven you.

If you believe your sins are not that bad or that someone else is a worse sinner; if you believe you are doing fine, then your love of God will be reflected in your faulty view of reality.

Very little love.

You will not obey as you should and you will not worship as you should. And it makes sense, if you think you’re not that bad then why would you need Jesus. Your thankfulness will be empty and your praise will be shallow and your worship will be silent.

But if you believe you have been forgiven much; that your sins are many; that you deserve the worse place in hell (if there is such a thing) then your love of God will be reflected as such.

Very much love

You will then be driven to obey and worship God. You will be driven to glorify God’s name and honor it. You will be driven to proclaim the name of Jesus through your words and actions. Which makes sense. If you believe you have received the best gift of all time, then there is no way you are going to keep it quiet AND there’s no way you’re going to turn your back on the giver.

But we do.

We turn our backs on God.
We don’t worship as we ought.
We don’t obey as we should.
We don’t proclaim the name of Jesus loud enough.
We don’t love much.

Miserable sinners that we are.

Oh God, forgive me.

Our sin is ever before us, our condemnation is just but God’s mercy and grace and compassion is endless.

Praise be to God!

We are in the midst of Lent; a season of reflection and self-examination. A season of remembering and contemplating our sinfulness. A season of repentance and drawing closer to God. So I urge you, brothers and sisters, to reflect on your sinfulness and the fact that you deserve hell. Reflect on your mortality and the fact that your bodies are decaying until death.

from dust you came and to dust you shall return. (Genesis 3:19)

Remember your sin and then contemplate the cross; that Jesus died there and then rose from the grave that your sins would be forgiven. Accept the fact that you have sinned much but through faith in Jesus you have been forgiven much. Try to wrap your brain and heart around that and then worship and praise this awesome God of ours.

You are a sinner, but God our Father is our redeemer through Jesus Christ. Turn to Him and love much and praise much and worship much.

What an awesome God!

May you see your sin as filthy and therefore your sentence of death. May you see Jesus as your Savior. May your love overflow for the God of creation.

Have a great day worshiping God in every second of your life.

The Pastor -|—

The Curse and The Victory

/ The Pastor

Many Christian churches around the world will be recognizing Ash Wednesday tomorrow (Feb 18). This is the beginning of the 40 day season of Lent (40 days not including Sundays) culminating in the vigil of Easter and then Easter itself the next day celebrating the resurrection of Jesus.

The season of Lent is one when we remember our mortality and to focus on our sinfulness. Reminders are placed on foreheads as people are marked with ashes; signifying the curse of sin which was pronounced to Adam and Eve (and all humanity) in Genesis 3, “from dust you came and to dust you shall return”. Through our willful disobedience to God we have incurred the penalty of death. Our bodies are subject to decay and thus will perish someday.

But this is not the end…

The mark of the curse is made in the form of the cross signifying our redemption through the death and resurrection of Jesus. Earlier in Genesis 3, when God was cursing the serpent for his actions; ones that drew Adam and Eve into temptation; God announced his plan of redemption:

[15] I will put enmity between you (the serpent) and the woman, and between your offspring and her offspring (Jesus); he shall bruise your head, and you shall bruise his heel.”

The offspring of the woman is Jesus.
The heel bruising is Jesus being crucified.
But the head bruising is Jesus defeating death through his resurrection.

The serpent, Satan, will be destroyed for his part in corrupting God’s beautiful and perfect creation. In the mean time, we will be subject to death and the rule of Satan, but through faith in Jesus, we will taste victory.

So Lent begins with a curse but ends with victory; but in order to know this victory we need to accept our fallen sinfulness and Lent is a time to focus on that. So remember who you are AND know who Jesus his. The curse of death is not forever. The victory has been won and has been given to you.

Praise be to God and Amen!

The Pastor -|—

Morning devotions ~ THE War on Terror

/ The Pastor

But I say, walk by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the flesh. For the desires of the flesh are against the Spirit, and the desires of the Spirit are against the flesh, for these are opposed to each other, to keep you from doing the things you want to do. [Galatians 5:16-17]

We are at war.

No, I am not talking about the war on terror but it is close. This is the war against the flesh; sinful desires. And this is a war that has been going on since Adam and Eve disobeyed God in the garden in Genesis 3. And it is a war in which Satan is relentless for he knows what he is up against: Weak human beings.

The problem for many is that they don’t realize they are at war. It is hard to fight a battle if you don’t arm yourself. But worse yet, you are not going to fight a war unless you first declare war. You need to be ready and that means knowing who your opponent is, where the war is being fought, what is at stake and what your assets are.

Opponent ~ Satan
Location ~ The flesh
What’s at stake ~ Your soul
Assets ~ Jesus

Your biggest weapon in this “war on terror” is walking in the Spirit; staying close to God in Jesus Christ. That means staying in scripture; being in prayer; living a life of worship; studying the Word; having regular fellowship with believers. If you arm yourself in such a way, you are giving yourself the upper hand, not because you are so smart or strong but rather, through faith, you are submitting to the one who already fought the battle and won the war.

That’s right, the war has already been won, but the battle still goes on. It’s a backwards way of doing things but Satan is still trying to take down as many people as he can before Jesus comes again to claim his prize once and for all. But don’t despair, God is not throwing you to the wolves in the interim. You are here to glorify God in this life and bring others to him. You’re not alone.

Fight this battle with the flesh as you walk along side the one who has won the war for you: Jesus Christ. Declare war on Satan and realize temptation is all around you. Stand strong and hold firm to hope of the resurrection.

So go into battle today, ready and willing to fight, all to the glory of God.

Praise be to God and Amen!

The Pastor -|—