Coming to the Still Waters

  This is a picture of a well near Nazareth, the town that Joseph and Mary came from and also the town they ultimately returned to with the baby Jesus.  It has been our journey this Advent season to experience Christmas through the eyes of the gospel writer Matthew.  I want to share a few things I will take away from this deep dive into Matthew chapters 1 and 2.   First - the first recording below is just part of the message on Christmas Eve.  We had some audio problems on this sermon called "The Dark Side Of Christmas" which covered Matthew 2:13-18.  Thankfully the second recording includes some recap of the Christmas Eve material on a Christmas Day service covering Matthew 2:19-23. Here is my list. Matthew wanted his Jewish readers to see Jesus as their King who had come.  1) He shows Jesus not only of the kingly line of David in the genealogy but also the fulfiller of the blessing to the nations tied to Abraham.  2) Matthew identifies Jose...

  Matthew starts out his gospel with Jesus' genealogy that includes some of the different nations indicated by selected names included and he ends his gospel with, " Go therefore and makes disciples of all nations. "(Matthew 28:18)  Matthew starts out his gospel with Jesus being called Immanuel meaning " God with us " and he ends his gospel with " And lo I will be with you always even to the end of the age. " (Matthew 28:20)  Matthew starts out his gospel with all of Jerusalem stirred by the magi's question " Where is He who is born King of the Jews? " (Matthew 2:2) and he ends his gospel with a Palm Sunday entry of Jesus on a donkey and all of Jerusalem stirred asking " Who is this Man? " (Matthew 21:10)   A revealing genealogy ,  (Matthew 1:1-17) a general man (Joseph),  (Matthew 1:18-25) giving worshippers (the magi),  (Matthew 2:1-12) an infant genocide ,  (Matthew 2:13-18) and a Galilean  destination.  (Matthew 2:19-23) T...

  Joseph was a righteous man, a man who observed divine laws, and it is evident by his decision to put Mary away secretly by a certificate of divorce rather than the more harsher punishment for being unfaithful to him during the betrothal period.  Joseph's plan was following what God's word said to do. Joseph has a dream with instruction from an angel.  Angels carry the words of God and so God is instructing Joseph to alter his plan based on God's word to follow God's plan also found in His word.   Joseph is to take Mary physically as his wife in the condition she is in (v.20, 24); Joseph is to call the Child within her by the name of Jesus, meaning God is salvation (v.21, 25); and Joseph is to fulfill the scripture, Isaiah 7:14, that she would be a virgin bringing forth this Child, by keeping her a virgin until the Child is born (v.22, 25).  From " take " to " took ;" from " call " to " called ;" and from " fulfill " to...

  Wow!  Found this great chart of Jesus' genealogy and the split to show the difference between Matthew's record and Luke's record.  A vacation post as we are in Colorado with Child #2 and his family.  What a great week it is turning out to be for a late Thanksgiving and early Christmas with them.  Thanksmas or Thristmas or Christgiving or Chranksgiving! I am excited about diving deeper into Matthew 1 & 2 for the Advent season.  Last year we went through Luke & 2.  We start with Jesus' genealogy in Matthew 1:1-17.  Matthew makes a very bold claim in the very first verse.  My rendition is, "I am going to set the record straight of the genesis of the One who saves, named Jesus, and Him as the Anointed One of God, the Messiah, the Son of God who fulfills the Davidic Covenant and the Abrahamic Covenant!"   A tall order to fill. Matthew gets his audience's attention by adding in 5 women, 4 named directly and 1 referred to.  What ...

  I realized that I posted Part 3 before I had made a post about Part 2!  It happens when I sometimes preach more than once in a week.  I do miss those days when I was preaching/teaching a Sunday School class, a Sunday sermon, a Sunday night message, and a Wednesday Prayer Meeting devotional.  I would sometimes put on top of that a midweek home group, daily email devotionals and a weekly 5 minute radio spot.  I was thankful because it was a time for me to be immersed in God's word on many fronts.   Last Sunday we ventured into Part 2 of our mini-series " Am I A Church Member, Biblically. "    We wandered from looking at the global, universal family of God to the local gatherings of His body.  I want to stress again that these Biblical principles are for us to grasp and display no matter the formalness or in-formalness of a local church's membership procedures.  So let's review. 1).  I am a Christian.  I own the statement t...

  A little fun from someone in the last row!  I made a joke about being the one on the whiteboard with the halo and therefore he supplied me this picture after the service.  It was a great Thanksgiving Eve service and the message of " us " came together at just the right time.  It is amazing to see God's hand working before your very eyes.  I speak so much to lead others in hopefully the right godly direction and then God steps in and I don't have to speak anymore.  His children fill in the words and actions.  That is what started to happen on Wednesday night. I concluded the " Am I A Church Member, Biblically? " mini-series with a whiteboard session of the final 6 points.  We who are redeemed are saved into God's family.  The family of God is so intertwined and so much on purpose for God's glory and our benefit. 1) The provided spiritual leadership to the flock restores any wandering sheep.  Galatians 6:1 2) The sheep share with ...

  It has started.  Do you see the icicle from the eave?  Stephanie said it is not ripe enough to pick yet!  The seasons of central Wisconsin are changing and adjustments are being made to operate in colder climates.  Stephanie is also counting down the days to her trip to Florida in January!  This ministry puts me in places to experience things I haven't done in a while so I have been fishing with a man named George pulling in some gills and crappies and Saturday I will be hunting with a man named Scott to see if I can process some more meat for the freezer.  I am realizing how important it is for me to sit and converse as much as I sit and study. We finished 1 Peter 4 and there will be a break until the 1st of the year to go into 1 Peter 5.  I am going back to some sermons about 7 years ago and re-tooling them for a mini-series I have titled "Am I A Church Member, Biblically" patterned after a Thom Rainer book titled I Am A Church Member . ...

  This handsome fellow is Matthew Henry.  He is described as a non-conformist minister who was born in Wales on October 18, 1662.  He is most known today for his commentaries.  As a traveling minister all over England he had a mugging incident that made it into his daily diary.  I make mention of this in the sermon this week as an example of suffering for doing good rather than doing evil.  Rev. Henry seeking to be thankful in all situations prayed this prayer as he proceeded onto his next preaching engagement. “I thank Thee. First, because I was never robbed before Second, because altho’ they took my belongings, they did not take my life. Third, altho’ they took everything I had, it was not much. And fourth, because it was I who was robbed, not I who robbed.” Peter tells the beloved not to be surprised but to rejoice and be glad.   Peter tells the beloved that while insulted to be blessed (happy).   Peter tells the beloved to suffe...

  I used a couple of illustrations this Sunday to explain what Peter was saying to the 1st century Gentile Christians who were being heavily persecuted.  The first was the  "red zone" of football.  There is a whole different mindset on either side of the football when you get in either "red zone" of the field.  You could be on defense and defending your goal and therefore determined to stop forward progress.  You could be on offense and implementing special plays to get into the end zone for a touchdown.  You could be on offense in the wrong "red zone" and trying to get out of it and down the field.  You could be on defense in the "red zone" where you want the offense to maybe get a "safety."   Either way, your mindset and intensity rises when you are in the "red zone." Remember this guy and his famous word "engage?"  Peter gives us 4 things to engage in this passage of scripture realizing we are in the "red...

  Little Hills Lake in Waushara County, Wisconsin on a very still and unseasonably warm October evening.  No fish this evening but so thankful to be on the water in this borrowed row boat with my " navigator ."  Not sure about my expression at the moment but it was not a representation of the my mood on this beautiful little lake.   Here is another from that night. Before heading into something about Sunday's sermon in 1 Peter 4, I want to post a link to a great playlist to copy and paste somewhere for future listening.  It is the newest "Together for the Gospel Live V."  Some great songs to listen to and ponder over the words of these songs so God-centered.   https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=OLAK5uy_kWzstsR_0JnABrvVA_74pnoPTgCSymE8s Peter keeps pouring it on to these 1st century Christians who are being heavily persecuted.  He is speaking to those who are still alive but most likely have seen some of their Christians friends a...

  It has happened to me before.  I have attempted something worthy of effort but then some opposition arose that caused me to abandon the worthy task.  I put down my tools or use them for something else (usually something more of a selfish manner) and walk away.  The longer I am away from the task the easier it gets to live with this being just the way it is.  I could make excuses why I put my tools down.  It was someone else's fault.  It wasn't the right time.  It doesn't matter much anymore.  I do some verbal and mental gymnastics to justify my inactivity. Then something or someone brings up the need to accomplish what was started worthy of effort.  It is so persistent that I finally pick up my tools again and start again on the task that is worthy of effort.  I am making progress with this new encouragement to press on but another opposition arises that could halt the process.  But, this time I do not.  Why? ...

  This has been my view from the deck as I watch the colors " pop " across central Wisconsin.  We have also been experiencing some " frosty " mornings. Here is the start of one evening in the deer blind and then comes the close of the evening with Mr. Moon making his appearance.  It was a beautiful couple of hours to be still in the sometimes hectic world that we live in.  One more picture before the sermon recap to make you smile.  Here is little Roy! Peter gives us the greatest example as he directs his readers, the 1st century Gentile Christians who are being heavily persecuted, to Jesus' very example of suffering for doing good in following His Father's will in regard to our salvation.  He then directs them to the example "way back" of Noah and the days prior to the flood.   Some say that verse 19 "...in which He went and proclaimed to the spirits in prison,..." is one of the hardest verses in the New Testament to interpret.  I foun...

  Hearing this word over the last couple of years brought about many different emotions and actions.  As more mandates came, it was soon hard to follow which mandates where in effect.  Is this mandate to replace the last mandate?  Is this a mandate to add to the other mandates?   For many of us, our information bank in our minds reached the point of overflowing and some of those mandates probably got lost in the spillover.   It has been a risk to use this word in our study of 1 Peter.  Peter is giving the 1st century Gentile Christians who are being heavily persecuted some mandates for those who believe Jesus is the Cornerstone that God has placed in Zion, Chosen and Precious, as the Messiah even though man rejected Him as so.  The mandates are building with a count of 4 at this point with probably a couple more in chapters 4 and 5 but these are mandates that don't negate other previous mandates.  The mandates Peter gives build upon each...

Here is a picture for some beauty around our house.  Some great new friends purchased 6 of these mums which are opening more blossoms each day.  Here are the other two! But " mum " is not the word for what happened to me this last week.  This is an FYI for anyone who it might benefit.  Some people were getting texts saying it was me and asking for help in the form of gift cards.  The person saying they were me would only continue to talk via text if the conversation continued.  At first I thought I was being hacked and so I went about changing all of my passwords but then my investigating mind went into overdrive.  Those contacted were only of a certain group.  Some of those contacted I did not have their contact information.  What was common with those being contacted? What happened was someone went onto the church website and pulled my name as the pastor of this church.  Next, they proceeded to text every number that was on the website...

  Our passage today deals with the relationship created by God that shows to our world a picture of God's love for us.  This relationship can be a picture to others of the type of love Christians should be displaying to each other.  The marriage relationship following God's instruction is a powerful witness of God's love for us through His Son Jesus Christ.  Strong marriages based off of following God's instruction transforms home environments, affects church dynamics, and impacts community stability.  This might sound pretty grand but God puts a lot of weight on this relationship He has created to the impact it can have on others. Peter keeps digging deeper into the command to "love one another earnestly from a pure heart." (1 Peter 1.22b)  All of us are to be subject to for the Lord's sake (God focus).  Servants are to be subject to with all respect (God focus).  Wives are to be subject to with a respectful and pure conduct (God focus).  Hu...

  "The Church is not supposed to be a substitute   but rather a supplement   to the home substance ." This was the basis for the sermon this Sunday speaking about the Christian education mandate found in the Scriptures.  The mandate is directed not at the church but rather the home environment.  Hopefully the encouragement was given to continue on, re-start, or start following the instructions to impress and teach our children and grandchildren about our great God. It is important to see in the mandates that 3 generations are mentioned.  You, your children and their children are listed so we see that our scope of this responsibility starts before there are children in the home, while there are children in the home, and after the children have left the home and bring now into the home our grandchildren.  To impress is to have action-oriented ways of teaching about God.  To talk is to have vocal instruction-oriented ways to teaching about God....

  This is a sermon that I have given about 5 times and I keep tweaking it.  I am so thankful for the worship director at the church I am serving who helped me to bring the congregation along with singing the different types of songs we have and putting them side by side to hear the differences.  The internet connection was not optimum this week so the recording is just in audio form and it a little distorted but not beyond the listening ability.   My prayer is always that two points would come across beyond the understanding of these musical terms that Paul gives us in the Scriptures.   The first would be that we would speak, teach, and encourage each other in the contexts of these types of songs.  We would speak psalms to each other with using God's words rather than our own; we would speaks hymns to each other by reminding each other of God's greatness; and we would speak spiritual songs as we convey how our great God has touched our lives....

  I love roads like this that have an ample shoulder for the cyclist.  I also like it when the wind is at my back and I am heading home.  The roads of central Wisconsin have been beautiful this summer and I look for windows in my schedule to strap on the helmet and hit the road to a new location to explore.  I know this will end sometime soon but I'm going to enjoy watching the colors change this fall as I ride the road and trails of Waushara County. We finished chapter 2 of 1 Peter this Sunday.  That means that this coming Sunday will be a stand-alone sermon.  I will be doing another the next Sunday and then a Sunday off to get Stephanie and Buddy and then back to chapter 3 which starts with, "Likewise, wives, be subject to your own husbands,..." (1 Peter 3:1a, ESV).  I figure I needed my wife here when I speak on such things. What is the report or rumor if you do wrong and get just punishment and remain versus the report or rumor if you do right and ...