Sunday reflections...a bit of normalcy...sermon post


Not trying to promote one coffee shop or another or sponsored in any way by this one but this is just a shot of a little bit of more normalcy coming back into my life.  So small but is so big to have a time to be with some guys early in the morning around a "cup of joe."  Granted we will be outside the establishment at a picnic table in the brisk air of Maine but none the less, we will start our work week catching up on each others lives and telling our favorite stories from the weekend.  The whole idea seems small.  A small group, a small event, and a small preparation routine (setting the alarm the night before so I don't miss it) seen on the outside but in the life of a church, this type of fellowship among God's family is huge!  

 Maybe this is one of the lessons learned from COVID-19.  The fellowship of the body of Christ is something to be cherished.  It is not only something to be cherished but a tool that God gave us to show His love to one another and the world.  As a Christian, the local church is essential to your spiritual growth to be more Christ-like.  Interactions with "the saints" ranks up there with your daily prayer and Bible reading.  Let us not take for granted our opportunities to gather together because we now see it can be disrupted for a time and it does effect us in some way.  

 We are on the way to the cross with Jesus in the Gospel of Luke and Sunday's sermon put us on the road between the judgment seat of Pilate and the hill called Golgotha.  Jesus never stops ministering.  Up all night, beaten and flogged, mocked and spit upon and He still is preaching and teaching and warning while completing the task of carrying His own cross.  I get tired sometimes and think about just slacking off for a bit and making some pretty good excuses for doing so and then I look at Jesus.  He doesn't make excuses but uses the few hundred yards to reach out to a few more people.  

 Adam
A simple man serving a great God and the local pastor of Stillwater Community Chapel (stillwater-chapel.org). We are in our 38th year of full time ministry. God directed us to this local body of believers on the Western Range of the Rockies to grow with them in mission and mindedness of Christ.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Galatians #15 - Galatians 6:11-18 - "On The Road Again..."

Image
  Another week closer and it involves some more travel for the Wolfgangs.  I feel like the Willy Nelson song, " On the road again... "  I don't know if I agree with the next line though. " ...I can't wait to get on the road again. " One of the members of the church in Wisconsin calculated that I will travel well over 10,000 miles to make this transition.  Traveling mercies prayers please. Last Sunday we will look at Paul's final words to the churches in Galatia.  He brought them the gospel (good news) message of Jesus and what resulted were churches forming throughout the region.  The letter is to defend that message that our salvation comes from and is in Christ alone.  Christ's sacrifice on the cross was sufficient for the forgiveness of our sins.  The summary statement of the letter is found in  Galatians 6:15 (LSB) .  " For neither is circumcision anything, nor uncircumcision, but a new creation. "  Translated another way earlie...
Read more

God gave us a good weather window to travel...yeah God!!!

Image
  Berthoud Pass Here we are at the top of Berthoud Pass.  It was a whirlwind week to conduct a " hand off " service in Wisconsin on 3/17 and then preach a Palm Sunday sermon in Colorado on 3/24.  We give God all the glory for this happening.  So there are two video links at the bottom of this blog.  One is for the Wisconsin service and the other is for the Colorado service.  I racked up over 12,000 in the last 7 weeks.   I love to take these pictures sitting from the front row of chairs and listening to the one God has provided for the church I had been serving for 20 months.  I now have 3 and I am so thankful for the opportunity God gave us to serve Him in this type of ministry over the last 5 years.  It has been great to add to our daily prayer list Zach in Maine, Chris in Ohio and now Stephen in Wisconsin. This was our set up for the 2000+ mile trip.  No " hiccups " except for the strong eastern winds in Kansas.  Of course e...
Read more

Resurrection Sunday in a new space...Matthew 27.62-28.20

Image
  Resurrection Sunday has come and gone but it was a sweet day to be with the gathered saints of the Stillwater Community Chapel .  We are venturing through the Gospel of Matthew and this Sunday will take us back to Matthew 1.1 but last Sunday we were in Matthew 27.62-28.20.  It was a lot to cover so the white board was truly a help to keep me on track.  This year in my Resurrection Sunday message, I focused on the contrast of the cover-up story of the disciples stealing the body of Jesus fueled by a bride and the commission of speaking of a risen Lord fueled by boldness . After the service upstairs, we ventured downstairs to the lower level and had a great meal together.  The conversations around the tables allowed us to continue to talk about the passage of Scripture we covered upstairs.  Maybe this is a very informal picture of what happens at the  Waushara Community Church called the " Going Deeper " classes of the Come For More hour following t...
Read more