Coming to the Still Waters

  Well, 2020 Christmas Eve was not what I expected.  Because of increased cases in our small community, it touched some who attended our church which put in motion our prepared ahead of time plan to "rest" a Sunday from in-person services and rely again on our online capabilities.  It just happened to occur over Christmas and therefore the Christmas Eve service had the attendance of 3 in-person but video views of over 700.  In-person, without COVID concerns, the sanctuary can probably hold 250+.  Which do I prefer?  It is the 250+ because you can see them engaging in the service and experiencing the wonder of God's love of sending His one and only Son to us.  You have instant contact and can experience in person the greetings of "Merry Christmas"  with each other and share that moment on Christmas Eve among the lights and decorations of Christmas.  COVID has definitely reduced the impact of physical contact with each other. These next though...

Back in Maine!  A few more weeks and I will see my first interim completed when I pass on this baton to the next pastor of Machias Valley Baptist Church.  My heart is full of joy to be speaking with him on a regular basis about the potential ministry opportunities in DownEast Maine.  My heart is also full of joy because we have seen God's hand at work bringing these two parties together to serve together with the gospel message to Machias and beyond.  God is good and I look forward to the next assignment He has for me. I am busy clearing out the office that has served me well over these 18 months.  It has been a great place to study God's word and work on my online masters classes.  I have been thankful for the space to meet with others, especially local pastors of this area.  I wonder what the next one will look like?  I have had the privilege of working through some more books of the Bible, chapter by chapter and verse by verse, at this des...

  I am taking a little break at our mobile home at Betmar Acres in Zephyrhills, Florida before finishing the work in Machias, Maine.  I will assume my normal chores when here of washing the mobile, servicing the car, and pruning the palm tree.  What I enjoy the most are my morning walks around the park in the mornings and our bike rides around the park in the evenings.  I don't think I have been here during the month of December so the park looks great with all of its Christmas lights.  You can tell those from Maine because instead of lighted reindeer they have lighted moose in the front yard! The sermon passage included the second sin that tried to creep into the 1st century church.  The first was the hypocritical lives represented by Ananias and Sapphira.  God dealt with this one swiftly with them walking into the assembly only to be carried out by others.  The second is the sin of prejudice which leads to division.  Someone had decided tha...

  As you travel through a book of the Bible you will start to collect some principles that emerge over and over again.  So it is with our study of the Acts of the Apostles.  This Sunday's sermon was Acts 5:17-42 and #11 in our time with this book.  I would like to share with you some of my common observations. Persecution is followed by bolder proclamation and praise. It seems when we feel a little pressure from the world pushing against the claims of Christ, we tend to go in the opposite direction than the 1st century church.  We look for a place to hide and protect ourselves or we resort to not doing what the angel told the apostles to do, "God and stand in the temple and speak to the people all the worlds of this Life" (Acts 5:20, ESV). The purging of sin from the church produced more faith. We would think it would be a downer  Sunday if some walked into the church physically alive only to be carried out of the church physically dead.  The oppos...

  I am grateful for many things and people and even during a year like 2020 but a reoccurring one is pictured above.  I can't think of going into a community and not making friends with the ministers of the Gospel.  I always wish I could spend more time with them but church demands on both sides keep all of us pretty busy.  A chat here, a message there, and sometimes a meal together are so precious to me.  These men hold down the fort in DownEast Maine.  I will miss them in the near future but may God bless them all as faithfully proclaim God's gospel. I thought I would share in this post what I delivered at the taping of gathering.  We gathered in a small church, the Holmes Bay Baptist Church, and dissected the fruit of the Spirit found in Galatians 5:22-23.  Ministers speaking to ministers needs to happen more often.  My charge was the fruit of self control. Self Control I was so thankful that I got the easy one!  (said with a lot...

  As we go through the Acts of the Apostles, I have been on the look out for the 4 pillars of the first century church and also those first converts to Christianity.  We are introduced to them in Acts 2:42.  The new converts and collective church were devoted to the:  1) teaching of the apostles, 2) fellowship of the family of God, 3) worship of God, and 4) prayers.  The by-product of the 4 pillars is service to one another.  These 4 pillars are actually stated again in Acts 2:46-47.   This response comes after Peter's opening sermon on the Day of Pentecost and it is in light of the new Christians and church "having favor with all the people." The next time they appear is in Acts 3:27-34.  The church is gathered for prayer; the prayer includes worship of God; it is stated they were of one heart and soul; and the testimony of the apostles was increasing in power.  The by-product of service is stated with "there was not a needy person amon...

  Ode to a man who this labor of love defined.  He had a love for his wife, his family, his country (see the flag up the drive), his church, and his Lord.  A father named Craig spent time with one of his daughters dragging around railroad ties to make a statement to those passing by this piece of property.  If you turn in, you are coming up a driveway were love reigns.  I am sure there are many who have stopped and will stop to have their photo taken by the "love sign."   The bit of "normalcy" in a year of uncertainty was realized by me standing by a grave yesterday.  Three saints of our congregation have passed away since COVID-19 has hit our country.  None died because of COVID-19 to my knowledge but the virus definitely affected this family affair when a loved one passes on.  We have adjusted our morning worship services to accommodate a remembrance of the brother or sister in Christ so people can reflect on their spiritual impa...

  This is the pile of paper and in the midst of those 94 resumes was the person that God wanted us to meet.  This stack represents a weekly meeting from late in February to last night, early in November.  It represents hours of listening to sermons, pouring over answers to doctrinal questions, and searching online connections.  Some moved on to different levels of engagement but one emerged to go through the whole process, #55.  His name is Zach Vaughn and he is the next pastor of the Machias Valley Baptist Church! He will be arriving with his beautiful family in January and I will be leaving the great state of Maine.  His heart for God and the Bible is evident and his love for God's people displays that he has the heart of a pastor.  He is a team player and the relationships he has already built with the elders will go far to advance the progress that has already been implemented through the transition team, elder team, and the members of this church....

  I had to admit this Sunday that part of the sermon was developed in my sleep the night before.  It happens sometimes.  I am sure I must not have been in a deep sleep but maybe in that twilight stage but I really wish I would have been like Daniel and got up and wrote down all the thoughts that were going on in my head.  I was able to retain the central thought the next morning and therefore it made it into the sermon.  What was it? This passage deals with another sermon of Peter's or maybe it is just an extension of the previous one.  Walking through the Scriptures, chapter by chapter and verse by verse, requires some walking backwards before moving forward with the congregation and it could feel like an extension from Sunday to Sunday.  I think this is a good thing.   Peter's preaching has some common themes like "this is part of God's redemption plan," "let me tell you about the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus," and "repent a...

  Remember "Big Wad?"  Not sponsored by them, but just remembering putting the whole pack in my mouth on numerous occasions as a kid.  First you experienced the burst of flavor which overwhelms your tastebuds but if you kept chewing that big wad your jaw started talking to you.  Why didn't I just take out half of the contents or maybe even just a quarter of the packet rather than stuffing the whole thing into my mouth? Maybe my thought was that I could throw the packaging away and I wouldn't have to carry it around in my pocket.   Sometimes I find myself preaching this way.  I definitely bit off more than I should have this Sunday.  I didn't just preach through a whole chapter of the Bible but then stretched into the next.  I have done this before.  I have emptied the whole contents onto the pulpit and then working through it my jaw starts telling my brain that this was way too much material to comprehend at one time.  What hap...

  Yes, that is a gum wall that you can find in Seattle, Washington.  It is now a tourist stop to the city.  You chew some gum and add it to all those who have come before.  They say it is a place to see and smell but watch where you walk! I am chewing some more about the sermon text from Sunday.  Specifically Acts 2:42-47 in which I have preached from many times and I usually pull out the true marks of a church.  A Christian church is devoted to... learning from God's word, Christian fellowship, worship of Jesus, and devoted to prayer.  The byproduct of this devotion is service of others.   This Sunday I take a step back to verse 41 and the definition of "they."   Who are "they?" "They"  are those who are true converts, the 3000 souls added to God's family that day.  The truly converted soul is described as someone who is devoted to God's word, Christian fellowship, worship of Jesus and prayer.  The byproduct of the truly ...

  Sermon #5 from the Acts of the Apostles and actually sermon #2 from Peter's first sermon on the Day of Pentecost.  The devout (reverent of God) Jewish men from every nation are in Jerusalem and gathered up after they heard the sound from heaven.  They also hear the mighty acts of God spoken in their own language and even dialect by a group from northern Israel.  The question from some of them is, "What does this mean?"  Peter stands up to give an explanation from the Scriptures of what is happening.   He starts with the prophet Joel and explaining that what is happening is all part of God's plan.  He then moves to the Psalms and specifically the writings of King David.  King David is not writing about himself but the One who would come from his line promised by God in the Davidic Covenant.  The Messiah would come from King David's line but Peter helps us to see that David states that this Messiah's life would not result in body co...

  We have had the privilege to be in Maine for another fall season and more family has been able to visit us. Here we are with my older brother Matthew and his wife Patti.  We are at West Quoddy Head Lighthouse, the easternmost point of the United States.  It was truly a beautiful day.  This was a great place to climb out on the rocks, experience the incoming tide and its actions upon the rocks, and get another view of the lighthouse. My sister-in-law caught us 3 out on the rocks! One last picture of the trip and of my ever beautiful bride.    We ventured into the very first sermon of the Christian church given by Peter.  It is our fourth sermon in the study of Acts.  It gave me an opportunity to speak about the importance of the preaching of God's Word when the saints are gathered.  Preaching is highlighted all through the book of Acts.  I am able to take this one sermon and stretch it over 3 weeks to cover a major point each Sunday....

  Another sermon from the great book in the Bible we call The Acts of the Apostles.  We read of the birth of the church, the baptism of the Holy Spirit and the filling of the Holy Spirit.  Each topic is so important for us to understand at this point in the book and each topic is so important for us to allow them to expand as they unfold throughout the book of Acts.  Our appreciation for them should lead to action. The baptism of the Holy Spirit occurs when a sinner receives salvation from Christ and is baptized by the Holy Spirit into the family of God.  The sound from heaven filled the house and all had the cloven tongues upon their heads, no exceptions.  The obedient of Christ who were witnesses of the risen Lord received this baptism.  All who are obedient to Christ signified by responding to His sacrifice with repentance of sins, confession that Jesus is Lord, and belief that He rose from the dead are like those in the room and baptized by the ...

The Apostle Peter dealt with this issue too!  What is the issue?  What do we make of Judas Iscariot who was chosen by Jesus to walk with Him for 3 years and participate in the ministry but who also turned aside from Him and betrayed Him?  Peter tells us the Scriptures must be fulfilled which includes a Messiah who would be betrayed by one of His own which speaks of God as in control of the plan of the redemption via the cross and the empty grave, every part of it, even the betrayal.  Peter also tells us that Judas Iscariot made decisions which ended up with a botched suicide, yet fatal.     We have the plan of God and the response of man.  Some respond in repentance to God's plan of redemption and some respond with staying resistance.  Repentance leads to restoration and being re-tooled by God to take the message of the gospel back into our broken world.  We are set on a path to grow in Christ-likeness, go out in His name, and are given ...

I think I am going to transform Wednesday in the Word to write a little more about the previous Sunday's sermon and call it Still Chewing .  There is always something I forget to say.  So let's go back to this pivotal point of 40 days between Jesus' resurrection and His ascension.  The first chew is to go back a little further and see how Luke ties the start of his gospel account with the end of it.  In the beginning of the book, the angels announce to the shepherds in the fields watching their flocks by night, the birth of Jesus.  The shepherds make their way to the manger in Bethlehem, witness everything as the angels had said and then,  "The shepherds returned, glorifying and praising God for all the things they had seen and heard, which were just as they had been told"  (Luke 2:20, CSB). At the end of the book, the angels announce to the women who relay the message to the disciples, the re-birth or resurrection of Jesus.  The women and the di...

  Yesterday launched myself and the church into a new study on Sunday mornings in the Acts of the Apostles.  It seemed fitting to go from the author Luke's first book the Gospel According to Luke to his sequel, the Acts of the Apostles.  It answers the age old question, "What happened next?"   The author Luke follows the pattern of movie writers today to give a little trailer of more details of the last scene of the first movie and then give an outlook of what will be coming up in the sequel.  This is my assessment of Acts 1:1-11.   I have completed the 14th month of this assignment with progress toward seeing the ultimate goal of a permanent pastor to stand behind this pulpit that I have been serving.  It is a good charge.  The congregation is hungry for the word of God and praying for a pastor who has a passion to preach and share it with them.  We are operating on God's timing, which is always right, and striving to not step ahead of ...