Pastor Notes

What would it look like if God was running the world? In answer to that we might think of the new heaven and earth where evil has been eliminated, there is no more violence, where the lion lays down with the lamb. When Jesus came he came saying that the kingdom of God, the rule of God, was at hand, that is, coming into view. The people already knew what an earthly king could be like from centuries of misrule and corruption and the harsh and cruel rule of Herod and the Roman Empire. The Jews envisioned that God’s rule would come with final judgment upon such imposters. The kingdom of God had to be like Solomon’s kingdom when all the earthly kings bowed before the throne and all nations submit to His rule just like Psalm 72 portrayed. Jesus spoke about the...

We followed Luke’s first account the first part of last year and now we will be following the second part. Acts has been popularly considered as the history of the early church, or the story of the ministries of Peter and Paul, or a model for church expansion and development. Acts certainly does give us a reliable record. Luke takes pains to log names of rulers and their titles, along with verifiable place names. He has compiled sermons and events from eyewitnesses, and sometimes his own experience. The expansion and development of the church is a key feature of the story he tells. Yet there are larger themes running throughout this book. Luke notes that the resurrected Jesus gave orders to His disciples by the Holy Spirit. Excuse me!? Glorified Jesus is still...

Last month my wife went through one of our closets and began to get rid of items that were no longer useful. It’s amazing how much stuff we can accumulate. Stuff builds up! Sometimes you have to stop and consider what is useful in the house and what’s in the way. That is why I am calling for 40 days of fasting and prayer. Throughout the year we build up “stuff” that needs to be evaluated. What are my relationships like? Do I have destructive habits? Am I wasting time on things that do not add value? Fasting is the discipline of going without to help determine what is really necessary. Forty days is a long time for a regular fast, so ask the Lord to guide you in what and how long you fast. If you have health issues that prevent you from fasting food, pick...

Last year political unrest swept through the Middle East and continues today. Crowds of people thronged through the streets of Tunisia, Egypt, Libya, Syria, Yemen, Bahrain, Iran and others. They wanted something different and saw no hope in their current system, so they demanded a new government. Today some have new governments and others are under even more oppression, but the new governments have not proven to be what the protesters had hoped. More protests have broken out in Egypt to call for more change. People want something different. Something, rather, somebody is at work in the earth: the Holy Spirit. Jesus said that when the Spirit comes He “will convict the world concerning sin and righteousness, and judgment.” (John 16:8) The Spirit has come into...

Christmas evokes images of beautifully decorated trees, neighborhoods awash with lights, festive family gatherings, gala Christmas programs, opening presents-it’s a festive time, a celebration. It is a beautiful time of year, and we work hard to make it just that because we marvel at God’s incredible plan to become one of us. His gracious gift inspires us to make Christmas a celebration of generosity. (And you are very generous having given $22,000 towards lights and another $8,000 last Sunday towards a variety of benevolence and mission projects.) Yet the birth of Jesus was not marked by festive family gatherings or beautiful lighting displays. Jesus was born virtually unnoticed in less than an ideal setting. His birth was announced to a few men of...

For centuries the faithful had awaited this moment—the day the Messiah would come. They lived in anticipation of the fulfillment of the promised seed of Abraham. Through many disasters and disappointments, generation after generation of faithful Jews held on to the conviction that God was keeping His promises, that the unfaithfulness and wickedness of men could not invalidate what God said he would do. They ordered the way they lived according to a future that they could not see, but that they firmly believed was coming, maybe not in their lifetime, but coming nonetheless. In the eyes of the world they were a strange lot. They did not integrate into the larger society very well, stubbornly hanging on to their own customs in foreign lands and under oppressive...