Coming to the Still Waters

  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 ...

  I feel so privileged to be able to teach the Bible and on Sunday mornings to have completed 3 of the Gospels, Matthew, Mark and Luke.  What is posted below is the 110th sermon from the Gospel of Luke and it is a came about a little more than 3 years when I started.  I am going into the Acts of the Apostles for my time left in Machias but John will definitely be in my sights to complete the quartet.   My life has been turned upside down lately but not in a catastrophic way.  More responsibility requires more discipline to accomplish what is ahead of me but it also means dialing back on somethings I was doing for the sake of my sanity.  I thought I would never give up the radio ministry but it was time to let it go so I could pick up time for my online class.  I'm sure when I am done with my classes, hopefully by the fall of next year, I will be looking for something creative to do with the hole the class leaves.  It is just the transitions t...