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Believing Without Seeing

August 13, 2017

John 20:24-29

24 Now Thomas, one of the twelve, called the Twin, was not with them when Jesus came. 25 So the other disciples told him, “We have seen the Lord.” But he said to them, “Unless I see in his hands the mark of the nails, and place my finger into the mark of the nails, and place my hand into his side, I will never believe.” 26 Eight days later, his disciples were inside again, and Thomas was with them. Although the doors were locked, Jesus came and stood among them and said, “Peace be with you.” 27 Then he said to Thomas, “Put your finger here, and see my hands; and put out your hand, and place it in my side. Do not disbelieve, but believe.” 28 Thomas answered him, “My Lord and my God!” 29 Jesus said to him, “Have you believed because you have seen me? Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed.”

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You Can’t Be A Yertle And Serve

July 9, 2017

Mark 9:33-37

33 And they came to Capernaum. And when he was in the house he asked them, “What were you discussing on the way?” 34 But they kept silent, for on the way they had argued with one another about who was the greatest. 35 And he sat down and called the twelve. And he said to them, “If anyone would be first, he must be last of all and servant of all.”36 And he took a child and put him in the midst of them, and taking him in his arms, he said to them, 37 “Whoever receives one such child in my name receives me, and whoever receives me, receives not me but him who sent me.”

 

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Come and Die

June 4, 2017

Mark 8:34-38

34 And calling the crowd to him with his disciples, he said to them, “If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me. 35 For whoever would save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake and the gospel’s will save it. 36 For what does it profit a man to gain the whole world and forfeit his soul? 37 For what can a man give in return for his soul? 38 For whoever is ashamed of me and of my words in this adulterous and sinful generation, of him will the Son of Man also be ashamed when he comes in the glory of his Father with the holy angels.”

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A New Set of Clothes

I love the way kids can imagine things. Just yesterday, our kids were playing with one of their cousins, and their play turned to the imaginative type. For children, this happens far more often than it does in most adults, at least that’s what we’d like people to think. But the object of their imaginations was the ability to teleport to a different location. All they had to do in order to accomplish this long-sought after feat was to simply change their clothes. What has stumped astrophysicists for years had been solved by these kids: change your clothes, and you can change your location. And so they would act out these various locations- Haiti, Virginia Beach, Japan, the Carolinas- all wildly adventurous and each having its own subplot. And this got me thinking about a specific time in the not-so-distant future when each of us will have the opportunity to be in a different location, but not before we must have a “change of clothing.”

“I tell you this, brothers: flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God, nor does the perishable inherit the imperishable. Behold! I tell you a mystery. We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed, in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound, and the dead will be raised imperishable, and we shall be changed. For this perishable body must put on the imperishable, and this mortal body must put on immortality. When the perishable puts on the imperishable, and the mortal puts on immortality, then shall come to pass the saying that is written:

“Death is swallowed up in victory.” “O death, where is your victory?                                       O death, where is your sting?”

The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law. But thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.”  1 Corinthians 15:54

On that great and glorious day when Jesus Christ returns, we will “put on” that which we do not currently have. For what was secured for those who trust in the Lord Jesus Christ is the hope of everlasting life. We do not currently possess it, but when we are clothed in that way, and made like Him, we will be the recipients of that great inheritance: eternal life with the Lord, and residency with Him.

The kids weren’t so far off after all, were they? I don’t know about you, but I’m ready for that clothing change!

-Pastor Josh

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Sea Glass Sins

October 2, 2016

Micah 7:18-20

18 Who is a God like You, who pardons iniquity and passes over the rebellious act of the remnant of His possession? He does not retain His anger forever, because He delights in unchanging love. 19 He will again have compassion on us; He will tread our iniquities under foot. Yes, You will cast all their sins into the depths of the sea. 20 You will give truth to Jacob and unchanging love to Abraham, which You swore to our forefathers from the days of old.

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