Coming to the Still Waters

  Funny but true.  Honestly, sometimes it has come back to bite me.  I would like it to be that I am always looking for the good and not noticing so much the bad.  In Gaylord, Michigan, I gave out pineapples to people who I caught doing something that was kinda hidden from others but not from my eyes.  That was a pretty public acknowledgement of it but how we need to show appreciation on the private level like the guy behind the counter at the coffee shop who remembered my name.   This week we find ourselves focusing on Herod the Great, the religious leaders, and the wise men from the East.   Herod is antagonist toward this Baby born King of the Jews.   The religious leaders are apathetic to the Baby's birth as old news.  They already knew His birthplace, Bethlehem. The wise men from the East are in adoration to find the Baby.  A God-made star led them from the East to bow down and worship Him. We see these three today.  We find those antagonist or against anything that has to d

  I look for crosses everywhere.  I saw one on the side of a mountain the other day.  I should have taken a picture of that.  This cross is behind the church I am serving in Colorado.  I look forward to sitting beneath this cross and spending some time in prayer after a little more snow melts.  I will have to take a picture of what I see from that vantage point.  I can guarantee you there will be some mountains. Our study of the Gospel of Matthew will take us to the most important cross, the one Jesus hung on, the one that really matters.  We are at the start of that journey.  Jesus is coming in this passage by divine intervention, " of the Holy Spirit ."  Joseph accepts the explanation and fulfills the commands Father God gave to him through the angel who met him in the dream.  It is an important point that Joseph is described prior to this big news from the angel as a " just " man, a " righteous " man, " an observer of divine laws. "  Joseph wa

  Here is a chart hanging in the foyer/lobby/entrance of the Stillwater Community Chapel that I serve at as pastor.  It is a genealogy from God to Jesus and very detailed.   The bold statement of Matthew is of course, under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit.  All of God's word is God breathed (2 Timothy 3:16).  God is speaking through Matthew to let us know who His Son is.  The genealogy is only the start to show that Jesus is the Christ, the Messiah, the Chosen One, the Anointed One of God, and many other titles found in His word.  The genealogy starts this gospel off with a bang! Matthew doesn't erase or modify history but rather exposes and uses history to make the point that Jesus is the fulfiller of the Davidic and Abrahamic Covenants.  Jesus is the everlasting King of the line of David and also the Blessing to all the nations.  Matthew shows us Jesus' very messy family tree.   Point 1:  Our messes don't thwart God's plan and do not disqualify us of being used

  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 the Sunday morning worshi

  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 everything was quite a bit dirtier when

  This is a week of lasts.  The last day in the office, the last full sermon to the WCC congregation, the last Tuesday morning men's group, the last fish on Little Hills Lake, the last WCC staff meeting, and the one that hits probably the hardest is the last coach call with the man who has walked with me through these 3 intentional interims, Lynn Kent.  I know that I will be in contact with Lynn in the future but his counsel has been priceless over these 5 years and 3 interims.  I wish I had taken a picture of us both but we have actually only met in person 2 times over the 5 years.  The role of a coach is so important to fulfilling a demanding task.  At times I truly felt like the player on the bench being sent into the game by my coach standing at the end of the bench but this coach many times was kneeling in prayer on my behalf.  A huge thanks to Lynn! The top picture tells the story of this blog post.  A new name is on the sign for WCC!  God has provided another shepherd to joi

  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 earlier in  Ga

  I sometimes can't believe I get to help in such ways in a local church.  The picture above is my opportunity to walk with this church and this man, an associate pastor of the church for 24 years, to receive his ministry license from the denomination.  Many autonomous churches don't realize the freedom and the opportunity they have to train, evaluate and launch people into ministry under the authority of the local church.  More of this should be happening in the local church.  We gave Robert his ministry license certificate; a new Bible with a commitment to continue to teach and preach with clarity, conviction, and a call to Jesus; a basin and towel with at commitment to continue to serve the flock with his very example; and a shepherd's staff with the commitment to continue to tend the flock with leading them to green pastures and still waters of God. We are nearing the end of our study of Galatians.  We started the first Sunday of October and we will end the last Sunday

  This was our one verse this Sunday.  It was also a Sunday to prepare for a candidate weekend of a possible next teaching pastor at the church where I am an intentional interim pastor.  If you listen to the second half of this sermon/talk you can get a glimpse of what I have been doing for the last 5 years.  It is humbling to be used of God in this way to walk with part of God's family through a transition. The verse above begs of application.  How do we fulfill this command?  Again we have two parties represented, the one who has received the instruction from the word and the one who has given the instruction from the word.  The one is sharing and the other needs to receive to fulfill this verse.  Both can have their difficulties. For a start we can be in attendance on a more regular basis when the instructor is teaching us the word.  We can also make sure our attention is given to the instructor whether it is a Sunday morning gathering or some other type of communication he give

  Brothers, if someone is caught in a sin, you who are spiritual should restore him gently. But watch yourself, or you also may be tempted. Galatians 6:1 (NIV, 1978) If you have an opportunity to listen to this sermon, you will not only hear me with a very raspy voice from recovery of the Rhinovirus and acute bronchitis but you will also hear the overlay of some other Scriptures onto this verse.  I take the Parable of the Good Samaritan of Luke 10, the woman caught in adultery of John 8, the Galatian account of being caught between Peter and Paul of Galatian 2, and the passage about church discipline from Jesus of Matthew 18.  It was a great exercise to take the principles of this one verse and see it played out many times. 2 people are involved here.  The one caught in a sin and the one who is spiritual.  Interestingly, the bulk of the instruction in this verse and the following ones is for the one who is spiritual.  Paul is instructing those who are walking with, being led by, and ke

  Paul is pointing the way for the Galatian Gentile Christians to live.  This is a two-fer post because of being under the weather.  The common cold morphed into something else that took my mind away from functioning properly to type out a blog post.  On the mend enough to catch us up on our trek through the book of Galatians. Galatians has basically 3 parts.  Chapters 1 & 2 are about the man, Paul.  Chapters 3 & 4 are about the message, the Gospel.  Chapters 5 & 6 are about the manner, the manner of life.  We have started this 3rd part. How then shall we live as Christians?  What does a Christian's life look like?  How do we navigate as "free in Christ fully justified by Him" in a world that is in "slave to the curse of the law and unjustified by works?" The first illustration is found in 5.7 (NIV, 1978) - "You were running a good race.  Who cut in on you and kept you from obeying the truth?"   We,  freed in Christ, have a lane we are ru