Coming to the Still Waters

https://pixexid.com/profile/cjxrsxsl7000008s6h21jecoe What a fantastic picture by this artist!  It is one of my favorite things to do at Christmas time is to sing the carols.  So...I added a whole sermon of carols this year to show the difference between the " red " songs, the " relax " songs, and the " religious " songs of Christmas.  I titled the sermon, " There's A Song In The Air! " We didn't touch the " red " songs about the plump man in a red suit.  I figured he has plenty of air time.  It is quite a shock to move from " I'm dreaming of a white Christmas... " to " O holy night, the stars are brightly shining ..."  You switch from songs that focus on you to carols that point you to the Kings of kings and the Lord of lords.  You move from a perfect setting of snow and everyone happy to being told of a world in sin and error pining and Satan's power which influences our going astray.  The " re...

  Another great photo from Wikipedia to help make a point.  When we think of fast, we think of the cheetah and sometimes we describe how they run is " as the wind. " It is an illustration of using one thing, the wind, to describe the other, how the cheetah runs.  We have that same principle in the Scripture passage today.  Paul uses one thing, a historical event found in the book of Genesis, to describe the difference between those who are still slaves to the law and those freed by the promise. Paul has now used 6 arguments to make his point that salvation in is Christ alone. The personal - "Did you receive the Spirit by...." The Scriptural - 6 Old Testament quotations - "The just shall live by faith..." The logical - " If you belong to Christ, then you are..." The historical - "The heir...until the time set by his father..." The sentimental - "I plead with you, brothers,...My dear children,..." The final illustration - ...

  I am sure I have written this before but I am my worst critic at times when it comes to my sermons and also my delivery of the material.  This Sunday was one of them that I am thankful I have the avenue of this blog to clarify somethings that came out of my mouth and those that got stuck in my brain.   Paul has given the personal argument of "Did you receive...?" Paul goes to the Scriptural argument and provides 6 Old Testament references. Paul moves onto the logical argument of "If this, then that." Paul introduces the historical argument of how a physical inheritance works to the heir. Paul finishes with the sentimental argument of "I plead with you..." and "My dear children,..." The final argument will be the allegorical argument using Hagar and Sarah, Ishmael and Isaac, and the old Jerusalem and the new Jerusalem. We find Christmas in Galatians in 4:4-5 (NIV, 1978). "But when the time had fully come, God sent His Son, (like John 3:16...

  What a great graphic to explain a word.  Knowing how to read music I loved to see the  cres.  signature between the staffs or to see the " less than " sign (<) in mathematics because is the just the opposite in music.  Usually you would also see the f or ff or better yet fff with the crescendo sign.  This was what every trumpet player was looking for.  I'm sure it was true also for those in the percussion section.  It is time to get loud about something. Paul builds to the great crescendo in our passage today.  He has taken the Gentile Galatian Christians through the personal and Scriptural arguments of their assurance of their God provided salvation through Christ alone.  Now he adds the logical argument, if that, then this. I love how Paul doesn't throw out the law, he just puts it back into perspective and gives us its purpose and limitations.  It is inferior to the promise.  It needs a mediator where the promise does...

  Hopefully this old photo grabs your attention.  The young lady on the far right is Fanny Crosby who is blind but wrote these beautiful words. Blessed assurance, Jesus is mine  Oh what a foretaste of glory divine E'er of salvation, purchase of blood  Born of His Spirit, washed in His blood This is my story, this is my song  Praising my Savior all the day long This is my story, this is my song  Praising my Savior all the day long Paul is in all out mode to help the Gentile Galatian Christians to be assured that their salvation in Christ alone as enough.  It is sufficient.  It is all that the Scriptures teach.  Anyone adding to this gospel is diminishing the gospel that they have heard.  I keep going back to Galatians 1:3-5 (LSB) for this simple description of the gospel and I have put in some parentheses of who, what, where, when, why and how. (What is the gospel) Grace to you and peace from   (Who gives it) God our Father and ...

Foreverwiser, CC BY-SA 3.0 <https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0>, via Wikimedia Commons The picture above is a church named after Peter and Paul.  Actually there are many of these all over the world.  It is a testament to these two men's love of proclaiming the gospel.  It is also a testament that the correction in today's passage didn't end their relationship.  This church is in Bramble, Minnesota. This is a catch-up blog post so I am including material from 2 sermons in the book of Galatians and they will both be posted below. In way of review, Paul's soap box is "Christ alone!" He wants to bring assurance to the new Christians in the new churches of the region of Galatia of their salvation in the simple gospel found in Galatians 1:3-5.  The problem is that there are those who are trying to add to the gospel message to be Jesus + and Paul will have none of this. Paul has met with the apostles privately and shared the gospel message he is sha...

  Paul Harvey, an Army veteran of WWII and ABC radio commentary, would start off his program with " Hello Americans " and would end with " Good Day ."  His most popular version of his radio program was the Saturday edition titled " The Rest Of The Story. "  You received the front half of the story and then after the commercial break you would receive the back half of the story.  I relate this to our passage as Paul is giving us the rest of the story around his conversion to Christianity to help the Christians of the Galatia churches to see and understand the simple and genuine gospel presented to them. Paul is making the gospel the focal point of every section.  In the first section it is the explanation of what the gospel is and in a way, what the gospel is not.  In the next section he stresses the importance of holding to the gospel as presented to them.  In this section, Paul will relate the gospel to his very life and also share with his ...

  Paul has something he is very passionate about.  He is on his soap box about the clarity of the gospel as Jesus and nothing more.  I remember the story about R.C. Sproul and the discussions about justification by faith alone that took place in late nineties in Florida.  His friend John MacArthur, who was also at the private summit, said of him, "At one point he became so passionate in making his argument that he literally climbed on the table, making the plea on his hands and knees from the tabletop until each person on the other side of the table had made direct eye contact with him. There wasn't a hint of malice in the gesture, and everyone in the room understood that. The passion that motivated R. C. was his love of the gospel and his zeal for making sure that the message is proclaimed without compromise or confusion." Paul speaks so strongly about those who would add to the gospel therefore making what Christ's sacrifice on the cross and His resurrection  ...

https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:A_galloping_horse_and_rider._Wellcome_V0048753.jpg I have the privilege to " gallop " through the book of Galatians, which is a letter to the churches in the region of Galatia (Asia Minor), with the church were I am serving as an interim pastor.  Each book of the Bible I preach I like to start with the 3 a's: author, audience, and autographed.  The letter points to Paul as the author and the churches of Galatia as the audience.  Historical events point to an autographed date of 48 to 52 A.D., not long after the life, death and resurrection of Jesus in the early 30's A.D. This letter from Paul is very different from his other letters.  It gets right to the point.  It shares more details about what happened to him after he met the Lord on the Damascus Road.  Galatians outlines nicely into 3 sections over the 6 chapters.  Chapters 1 & 2 are about the man, Paul and it is personal .  Chapters 3 & 4 a...

  By Patisserie - Own work, CC BY-SA 3.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=25849465 Nobody loves confrontation but can we back it off to conflict resolution?  Conflict resolution within a body of believers is so important to have in place.  Jesus gives His disciples the guideline of how to proceed forward in Matthew 18:15-20.  Jesus gives us the steps but He doesn't give us the time frame between each of the steps.  I am going to gather that it is longer because of grace than our instant culture demands at times. In the context of the passage Jesus is presenting a flip flopping of thinking to His disciples about their view of who is the greatest among other things that have taken the religious world in the wrong direction.  Jesus also stresses the seriousness of sin and being in " search " mode rather than " stab " mode.  As the shepherd searching for his lost sheep there is an " if " to actually retrieving the lost one.  In regards...

  The passage covered this Sunday had another tough saying by Jesus.  Matthew 15:11 (LSB) says, "It is not what enters into the mouth that defiles the man,  but what proceeds out of the mouth, this defiles the man." --Jesus-- This verse should be for myself a gauge or indicator of when I am not in alignment with God's words for me.  It makes me evaluate what has been coming out of my mouth lately that indicates the condition of my heart because later in verse 18 (LSB) it says, "But the things that proceed out of the mouth come from the heart,  and those defile the man." --Jesus-- Another verse that I relate to this one is 1 John 4:20 (LSB) which says, If someone says, "I love God," and hates his brother, he is a liar; for the one who does not love his brother whom he has seen, cannot love God whom he has not seen. Taking this verse apart from the beginning, If someone says, "I love God," ... but notice I am the one saying this.  It is not o...

  This image is from GotQuestions.org and here is an article and video from them that expound on the topic of authentic worship.  https://www.gotquestions.org/worship-spirit-truth.html We have finished our month of looking at the Jesus' discipleship practice of authentic worship.  This narrative of Jesus and the Samaritan woman at the well bring worship front and center.  The conversation goes the route we tend to think of worship as something that happens at a " where ."  The church becomes the building and worship becomes our singing.  We know it is more than that but our vocabulary many times limits worship to a place and a specific activity.  1 Corinthians 3:16-17 (LSB) challenges this practice. Do you not know that you are a sanctuary of God and that the Spirit of God dwells in you? If any man destroys the sanctuary of God, God will destroy him, for the sanctuary of God is holy, and that is what you are. As I shared on Sunday, when the people of G...

  In the Bible, some numbers are very significant.  7 as the number for perfection or completion.  12 as the number of the tribes of Israel or the disciples of Jesus.  40 as days and nights or 40 as years in the wilderness or the length of a generation.  This Sunday I used the number 2 for its significance is found throughout the Bible.  We have it here in the opening chapters of Genesis and we also find it in the closing chapters of Revelation.   In our Genesis passage we have 2 sons, occupations, offerings, responses, questions, paths, sins, voices, wives and people.  The one I want to focus on is the 2 paths.  There is the wide road and the narrow path; there are the sheep and the goats; there are the wheat and the tares; and the list goes on.  Today we have the way of Cain or the way of Abel. We start off the passage with a worship experience.  Both boys brought an offering to God.  Abel's was a blood sacrifice of the ...

  A couple weeks ago I told the joke about the chicken and the pig in my sermon.  They were going into business together and the pig asked the chicken what kind of business.  "Ham and Eggs" was the chicken's response.  The pig responded, "What a minute, you are only giving a contribution but I am making a sacrifice."  Last weekend a lady in the congregation brought me this plate that she found at a flea market.  Now I have a prop to tell my joke! July has 5 Sundays so I have the opportunity to speak about humble service and generous lifestyle one more time.  Jesus speaks of this often to His disciples because they and we are steep into a culture that emphasizes pride and selfishness.  The disciples were always arguing about who was the greatest and we are continuing trying to figure out who is the GOAT (greatest of all time) of our time.  In the midst of that, Jesus is calling His disciples and us to be humble and selfless. We were able to i...

  My dear cousin passed away last week.  It was a fun trip to head to Oscoda to see this part of the family when I was a kid.  Also, this dear one would spend time with us in the summer when my mom was on summer break from school.  I learned a lot from this dear one.  She even made it into some of my sermons!  She kept me grounded to the expansion of grace both common (to all) and saving (to God's children).  Much more could be said here but I will leave it that her passing was a diversion I needed this week. We are getting to the end of our focus on humble service and generous lifestyle.  July gives us an extra Sunday this year to wrap it up with a little different type of service.  We are back in Mark with Jesus again addressing His disciples with what is going to happen and answering their insertion that " they " are in control rather than a full surrender to Jesus truly as the Christ! The main illustration this week I heard first from Ali...

  Our church has a pantry and these are a couple of the pantry team members posing for a picture for me.  Thank you ladies and also for all the work you and the team do twice a month for those needing assistance.  It is an act of humble service and displaying a generous lifestyle.  The shelves behind them represent many of the church who donate on a regular basis to help those in need.  The title of the sermon this Sunday is " Beware & Be Aware! "  Both of these commands require our attention.  Beware of religious leaders who are putting on a show and following after them.  Be aware of those who are displaying true faith and also for ways to serve them.   The first beware deals with salvation or goodness or my ticket to paradise tied to anything I say or do or wear.  There are definite changes in my life since I responded to Jesus with repentance and with faith of Him being the One who rose from the grave.  Some of these ...