Peninsula Christian Center of Pacific Grove
Good Friday, April 10, 2009
Pastor Carl Friedel
Rebirth
John 2
This afternoon let’s take a journey through the gospel of John. We often make the point that Jesus somehow gave his life freely as a sacrifice for mankind. CS Lewis childhood story of Aslan taking the place of the sons of Adam in the Chronicles of Narnia illustrates this sacrifice.
Narnia – video clip of Aslan approaching the stone table freely
Jesus had this conversation with Pilate once the Jewish people had made it clear that they wanted Jesus dead…
John 19:8-11 (NIV) 8 …Pilate…went back inside the palace. "Where do you come from?" he asked Jesus, but Jesus gave him no answer. 10 "Do you refuse to speak to me?" Pilate said. "Don't you realize I have power either to free you or to crucify you?" 11 Jesus answered, "You would have no power over me if it were not given to you from above. Therefore the one who handed me over to you is guilty of a greater sin."
Passion of the Christ – video clip after Jesus had been beaten
Jesus is purporting some kind of authority here in the face of what appeared to be His own death at the hands of these Jews and the Roman authority. He claims that it could not happen apart from His own will.
Did it really happen that way though?
What we find in studying the gospel is that Jesus understood this plan as a part of His mission early on and repeatedly revealed this plan throughout His earthly ministry. Looking at John alone this afternoon – let’s examine whether or not Jesus really laid down His life or whether it was taken from Him.
In John 2 we find Jesus early on in His ministry. He had just assembled His twelve disciples calling them to follow Him, by the chronology of this account He had just performed His first miracle, although it is possible that He had done more to this point as John is not an exact history, but rather a commentary of Jesus life. Jesus had found the temple being used as a common marketplace…
John 2:13-22 (NIV) 13 When it was almost time for the Jewish Passover, Jesus went up to Jerusalem. 14 In the temple courts he found men selling cattle, sheep and doves, and others sitting at tables exchanging money. 15 So he made a whip out of cords, and drove all from the temple area, both sheep and cattle; he scattered the coins of the money changers and overturned their tables. 16 To those who sold doves he said, "Get these out of here! How dare you turn my Father's house into a market!" 17 His disciples remembered that it is written: "Zeal for your house will consume me."
Jesus was not exhibiting great tact – He was no politician – He saw error and set out to correct it with the truth…
18 Then the Jews demanded of him, "What miraculous sign can you show us to prove your authority to do all this?" 19 Jesus answered them, "Destroy this temple, and I will raise it again in three days." 20 The Jews replied, "It has taken forty-six years to build this temple, and you are going to raise it in three days?" 21 But the temple he had spoken of was his body. 22 After he was raised from the dead, his disciples recalled what he had said. Then they believed the Scripture and the words that Jesus had spoken.
It is obvious by this gospel testimony, that although Jesus disciples and the Jewish people of that day had not the foggiest idea what Jesus was saying, Jesus clearly understood what lay ahead for Him saying, “Destroy this temple, and I will raise it again in three days.”
This is in the very beginning of His ministry, possibly 2.5 to 3 years prior to His crucifixion – Jesus prophecies to His own sacrifice.
Later in John 6 Jesus teaches a confusing message that only becomes clear as the focus is adjusted after the lens of the crucifixion and resurrection. Jesus tells the Jews…
John 6:48-59 (NIV) 48 I am the bread of life. 49 Your forefathers ate the manna in the desert, yet they died. 50 But here is the bread that comes down from heaven, which a man may eat and not die. 51 I am the living bread that came down from heaven. If anyone eats of this bread, he will live forever. This bread is my flesh, which I will give for the life of the world." 52 Then the Jews began to argue sharply among themselves, "How can this man give us his flesh to eat?" 53 Jesus said to them, "I tell you the truth, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you have no life in you. 54 Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life, and I will raise him up at the last day. 55 For my flesh is real food and my blood is real drink. 56 Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood remains in me, and I in him. 57 Just as the living Father sent me and I live because of the Father, so the one who feeds on me will live because of me. 58 This is the bread that came down from heaven. Your forefathers ate manna and died, but he who feeds on this bread will live forever." 59 He said this while teaching in the synagogue in Capernaum.
The result: many labeled this a hard teaching and many of His disciples left Him, and it is a hard teaching, when you are on the other side of the cross.
Have you ever gone though something in life and wondered to yourself, “God why are you allowing this to happen – often once time has past and more history has been made between that event and the present, God’s plan becomes more and more clear.
Jesus is not talking about eating His skin and blood as cannibals – He is referencing His sacrifice saying, “I am the living bread that came down from heaven. If anyone eats of this bread, he will live forever. This bread is my flesh, which I will give for the life of the world." In other words it is His own flesh that He will give to beaten and broken in order that we may experience life – only as we accept His sacrifice – His gift. This imagery is repeated in the Last Supper when Jesus tells His disciples to eat the bread – His flesh - and drink the wine – His blood – and to do this in remembrance of Him. Even at the time of that final supper – the disciples did not clue in to what Jesus was talking about.
Time and again Jesus referenced His future sacrifice…
John 7:33-36 (NIV) 33 Jesus said, "I am with you for only a short time, and then I go to the one who sent me. 34 You will look for me, but you will not find me; and where I am, you cannot come."
John 8:21-22 (NIV) 21 Once more Jesus said to them, "I am going away, and you will look for me, and you will die in your sin. Where I go, you cannot come." 22 This made the Jews ask, "Will he kill himself? Is that why he says, 'Where I go, you cannot come'?"
John 13:33-38 (NIV) 33 "My children, I will be with you only a little longer. You will look for me, and just as I told the Jews, so I tell you now: Where I am going, you cannot come. 34 "A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another. 35 By this all men will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another." 36 Simon Peter asked him, "Lord, where are you going?" Jesus replied, "Where I am going, you cannot follow now, but you will follow later."
John 16:16-22 (NIV) 16 "In a little while you will see me no more, and then after a little while you will see me." 17 Some of his disciples said to one another, "What does he mean by saying, 'In a little while you will see me no more, and then after a little while you will see me,' and 'Because I am going to the Father'?" 18 They kept asking, "What does he mean by 'a little while'? We don't understand what he is saying." 19 Jesus saw that they wanted to ask him about this, so he said to them, "Are you asking one another what I meant when I said, 'In a little while you will see me no more, and then after a little while you will see me'? 20 I tell you the truth, you will weep and mourn while the world rejoices. You will grieve, but your grief will turn to joy. 21 A woman giving birth to a child has pain because her time has come; but when her baby is born she forgets the anguish because of her joy that a child is born into the world. 22 So with you: Now is your time of grief, but I will see you again and you will rejoice, and no one will take away your joy.
One day when Jesus was having dinner with His friends, Mary, the sister of Martha and Lazarus whom Jesus had raised from the dead, took a bottle of expensive perfume and poured it on Jesus feet…
John 12:1-8 (NIV) 3 Then Mary took about a pint of pure nard, an expensive perfume; she poured it on Jesus' feet and wiped his feet with her hair. And the house was filled with the fragrance of the perfume. 4 But one of his disciples, Judas Iscariot, who was later to betray him, objected, 5 "Why wasn't this perfume sold and the money given to the poor? It was worth a year's wages." 6 He did not say this because he cared about the poor but because he was a thief; as keeper of the money bag, he used to help himself to what was put into it. 7 "Leave her alone," Jesus replied. "[It was intended] that she should save this perfume for the day of my burial. 8 You will always have the poor among you, but you will not always have me."
Here again Jesus points toward his upcoming death as this woman in her expression of love unknowingly was used to anoint Him in advance for His funeral. Jesus said…
John 15:12-14 (NIV) 12 My command is this: Love each other as I have loved you. 13 Greater love has no one than this, that he lay down his life for his friends. 14 You are my friends if you do what I command.
Jesus knew His mission toward sacrifice and He pursue it out of His great motivation of love for us. Jesus revealed His heart toward us…
John 10:10-11, 14-18 (NIV) 10 The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full. 11 "I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep. 14 "I am the good shepherd; I know my sheep and my sheep know me-- 15 just as the Father knows me and I know the Father--and I lay down my life for the sheep. 16 I have other sheep that are not of this sheep pen. I must bring them also. They too will listen to my voice, and there shall be one flock and one shepherd. 17 The reason my Father loves me is that I lay down my life--only to take it up again. 18 No one takes it from me, but I lay it down of my own accord. I have authority to lay it down and authority to take it up again. This command I received from my Father."
John 12:23-33 (NIV) 23 Jesus replied, "The hour has come for the Son of Man to be glorified. 24 I tell you the truth, unless a kernel of wheat falls to the ground and dies, it remains only a single seed. But if it dies, it produces many seeds. 25 The man who loves his life will lose it, while the man who hates his life in this world will keep it for eternal life. 26 Whoever serves me must follow me; and where I am, my servant also will be. My Father will honor the one who serves me. 27 "Now my heart is troubled, and what shall I say? 'Father, save me from this hour'? No, it was for this very reason I came to this hour. 28 Father, glorify your name!" Then a voice came from heaven, "I have glorified it, and will glorify it again." 29 The crowd that was there and heard it said it had thundered; others said an angel had spoken to him. 30 Jesus said, "This voice was for your benefit, not mine. 31 Now is the time for judgment on this world; now the prince of this world will be driven out. 32 But I, when I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all men to myself." 33 He said this to show the kind of death he was going to die.
So Jesus clearly knew His mission and knew that He would die. Other great leaders have had this kind of premonition. Martin Luther King Jr., John F Kennedy and Abraham Lincoln are often quoted as knowing that they would die an early death at the hands of a murderer. Is it possible that Jesus had a similar premonition that someone would take His life. We believe that Jesus freely sacrificed His life for us – it was not taken from Him and the gospels support this important distinction between Jesus and other leaders.
When soldiers came in the middle of the night for Jesus here is what took place…
John 18:2-11 (NIV) 2 Now Judas, who betrayed him, knew the place, because Jesus had often met there with his disciples. 3 So Judas came to the grove, guiding a detachment of soldiers and some officials from the chief priests and Pharisees. They were carrying torches, lanterns and weapons. 4 Jesus, knowing all that was going to happen to him, went out and asked them, "Who is it you want?" 5 "Jesus of Nazareth," they replied. "I am he," Jesus said. (And Judas the traitor was standing there with them.) 6 When Jesus said, "I am he," they drew back and fell to the ground. 7 Again he asked them, "Who is it you want?" And they said, "Jesus of Nazareth." 8 "I told you that I am he,"…
This full detachment of soldiers were made powerless by the very words of Jesus proclamation, “I am, he.” It says that, “…they drew back and fell to the ground.”
What an amazing picture of Jesus power – Here these men were made powerless before Him and yet He places Himself in their custody. Countless times before the Jewish leaders tried to seize Jesus, but were unable to, because as Jesus said it was not yet His time to die. The time had now come and Jesus freely submits to their chains. He attends their kangaroo court and does not raise an objection to their false claims. He surrenders Himself to the whip, to the humiliation of being stripped before everyone, spit upon and ridiculed, nailed to a criminal’s cross – a tool were countless executions of murderers, thiefs and traitors had been placed before Him. He did this willingly to provide for us new life.
This was His mission – He fulfilled it perfectly – He never lost control – He had full power and yet He gave Himself up passionately to this purpose…
John 19:28-30 (NIV) 28 Later, knowing that all was now completed, and so that the Scripture would be fulfilled, Jesus said, "I am thirsty." 29 A jar of wine vinegar was there, so they soaked a sponge in it, put the sponge on a stalk of the hyssop plant, and lifted it to Jesus' lips. 30 When he had received the drink, Jesus said, "It is finished." With that, he bowed his head and gave up his spirit.
Communion:
Jesus extended Himself on our behalf. He offered Himself freely. He repeatedly foreshadowed His sacrifice, unveiling the truth to His followers. He sat around a Passover meal with His Disciples. He knew that in a matter of hours, He would be bound and beaten, tried and crucified. The disciples were clueless, despite His constant preparation. Hindsight is always 20/20 isn’t it. Today Jesus would remind us that He has a plan. What needs rebirth in your life? What needs to be revived in the power of Jesus’ sacrifice? Perhaps you have sin that needs to be redeemed? You have made mistakes that are weighing on you in unrelenting guilt and a wake of damage. Maybe you have been beaten down by life’s circumstances? Allow Jesus sacrifice to bring to you new life, today. Have you been hurt? Have you been focused on the insatiable, unquenchable desires of what this world has to offer? Be reborn today in Jesus offering for you!
Jesus said…
John 6:48-59 (NIV) 48 I am the bread of life. 49 Your forefathers ate the manna in the desert, yet they died. 50 But here is the bread that comes down from heaven, which a man may eat and not die. 51 I am the living bread that came down from heaven. If anyone eats of this bread, he will live forever. This bread is my flesh, which I will give for the life of the world." 53 Jesus said… "I tell you the truth, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you have no life in you. 54 Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life, and I will raise him up at the last day. 55 For my flesh is real food and my blood is real drink. 56 Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood remains in me, and I in him. 57 Just as the living Father sent me and I live because of the Father, so the one who feeds on me will live because of me. 58 This is the bread that came down from heaven. Your forefathers ate manna and died, but he who feeds on this bread will live forever." 59 He said this while teaching in the synagogue in Capernaum.
Jesus gave us Himself – Died in our place –
Let’s take and eat the bread together – in remembrance of Jesus sacrifice – His broken body for you and me.
Let’s drink this juice together – in remembrance of Jesus sacrifice – His spilled blood for you and me.
Thank you, Jesus.
Thursday, April 9, 2009
Community
I serve as a Pastor with my wife Sarah in Pacific Grove, CA but reside in the nearby Salinas Valley. We were able to buy a home recently in S. Salinas, due to the influx of forclosures and the stress of this Great Recession that we are in. Somehow all of this mess has benefited some of us.
Pacific Grove is a beautiful coastal town. This past weekend we were involved in a city-wide festival here called Good Old Days. The entire weekend we experienced temperatures in the high 70's and the sun shined bright against the backdrop of the crystal blue bay with the occasional refreshing breeze. It was a gorgeous display of the towns quaint character and the bays grandeur. Meanwhile in the news once again I heard about the violence exploding on the streets of my new hometown Salinas, an agricultural hub of California just a 30 minute drive away from PG.
PG is known as the last American Hometown. The streets are quiet after 6 PM. Crime-rates are practically non-existent or at least kept quiet, yet often people can be so wrapped up in their lives that deep relationships are hard to be had. In Salinas we just came off of a year that had the highest homicide rate in its history and this year we have already seen 12 killings take place in our city at the hands of Gang Violence, yet I find that people are warm and considerate as a rule in the day-to-day marketplace, and despite the violence people are hopeful and prayerful for a new day.
This is the picture that people have of these two towns. In one we imagine our kids riding bikes through the neighborhoods and in the other we have the impression that there is a war exploding on the other side of our front doors. neither is completely accurate
Let me share with you a story. A few weeks ago I lost my wedding ring. I have been working really hard these first few months of 2009 to lose weight (24 pounds so far). On a Saturday afternoon my wife and I took our kids to a park near our house (Mission Park). We played with our kids on the slides and pushed them on the swings. I wouldn't realize it till Sunday morning when I was getting ready for church that I had lost my ring. I was out of the house very early so I just trusted that it somehow ended up on my dresser or nightstand. Not wanting to disturb my wife's last minutes of sleep I saved my search for that afternoon. When afternoon came and I was back at home after a great morning worshipping together with my church, I tore my house apart looking for my ring with no luck.
I retraced our steps the day earlier. Sarah and I and the kids went to Starbucks in the morning, a class at the Quadrangle Building on Main Street in Salinas, lunch at Chevy's and the park. I drove to the park and searched around the swings. One lady pushing her daughter on a swing looked on at this man searching frantically in the dirt. I was thinking this looked odd and to put her concerns at ease, I told her that I had lost my ring the day earlier and thought it might be here. She sympathetically said, "oh, I am sorry." I left the park empty-handed, ring finger still barren. That night at a prayer meeting I told one lady from our church about my lost ring and asked her to pray that I would find this treasure once again. She agreed she would.
On Monday morning I called Chevy's, Starbucks and the instructor of our class to ask if my ring had turned up in any of those places. No one had turned it in. I was depressed. This ring has donned my finger for 13 years and now it was gone. I checked back at those numbers on Tuesday. Nothing turned up. Wednesday went by. My wife told me, "Don't worry about it, it is just a thing. We can get you another ring. This doesn't change our love for each other." These were words I knew to be true, yet this was still heavy on my heart. I exchanged vows with my wife and this ring was a part of that ceremony. This ring although just an object stood for something to me. It represented those vows and the love and life that I share with my wonderful wife. On Thursday morning, having given up all hope, once again I prayed to God, "Lord, I know it is improbable that I will ever see my ring again, but if it is Your will would you please bring it back to me somehow!"
That night I received an e-mail from the lady in my church who I had asked to pray with me that I would find my ring. In her e-mail she asked if I had found my ring and then asked, "Did you go to Mission Park this weekend, there is a lost and found ad in the paper for a man's ring found at Mission Park." I quickly e-mailed the lady in our church back and then called her trying to get the number. Sarah, my wife, jumped online perusing the Herald's lost and found ads. Finding the number I placed the call, despite the fact that it was after 9 PM. I left a frantic message.
10 minutes later the person who left the ad called back. She asked, "Are you the man that I talked to at the park on Sunday afternoon?" I started putting two and two together. this was the lady who was pushing her daughter on the swing. She was the only one that I had talked to in the park that day. 15 minutes after I had left the park she found my ring. She drove around the neighborhood looking for my white van, because she didn't know my name or my phone number, but she saw me leave in my white Sienna. She called the police, but did not want to relinquish it to them for fear that it would wind up being sold at an auction. It became her mission to get this ring back to the man that was desperately looking for his wedding memento in the park on Sunday.
The only person I talked to in the park that day was this woman who "coincidentally" stepped on my ring and placed that ad looking for me, it's owner.
The woman that I had asked to pray for me, was the only person in our church who I had talked to that Sunday night about my ring, and she prayerfully found that ad burried in the back of the Herald.
That Thursday night at 10:30 PM the woman who had found my ring pulled up to my driveway and handed me my wedding ring. I was in awe. Both of these ladies were my heroes. They are both a part of my community. One lady a native of Pacific Grove and faithful prayer warrior in our church, the other a concerned neighbor who took on the desperate mission to return my ring.
I love my community, where I work and where I reside. My community is where I live my life. The good and the bad, and these elements exist in both locales. Beyond that my community is my family. My wife was so gracious to me that I had lost this token of her love for me, which she had placed on my finger.
Finally my community is God Himself. He had the whole thing under control. How does a ring find its owner? God my advocate, my friend, my fellow church member, my neighbor, my family - He had the steps for my ring's return lined out for me.
This is a snapshot of community. I love mine.
Pacific Grove is a beautiful coastal town. This past weekend we were involved in a city-wide festival here called Good Old Days. The entire weekend we experienced temperatures in the high 70's and the sun shined bright against the backdrop of the crystal blue bay with the occasional refreshing breeze. It was a gorgeous display of the towns quaint character and the bays grandeur. Meanwhile in the news once again I heard about the violence exploding on the streets of my new hometown Salinas, an agricultural hub of California just a 30 minute drive away from PG.
PG is known as the last American Hometown. The streets are quiet after 6 PM. Crime-rates are practically non-existent or at least kept quiet, yet often people can be so wrapped up in their lives that deep relationships are hard to be had. In Salinas we just came off of a year that had the highest homicide rate in its history and this year we have already seen 12 killings take place in our city at the hands of Gang Violence, yet I find that people are warm and considerate as a rule in the day-to-day marketplace, and despite the violence people are hopeful and prayerful for a new day.
This is the picture that people have of these two towns. In one we imagine our kids riding bikes through the neighborhoods and in the other we have the impression that there is a war exploding on the other side of our front doors. neither is completely accurate
Let me share with you a story. A few weeks ago I lost my wedding ring. I have been working really hard these first few months of 2009 to lose weight (24 pounds so far). On a Saturday afternoon my wife and I took our kids to a park near our house (Mission Park). We played with our kids on the slides and pushed them on the swings. I wouldn't realize it till Sunday morning when I was getting ready for church that I had lost my ring. I was out of the house very early so I just trusted that it somehow ended up on my dresser or nightstand. Not wanting to disturb my wife's last minutes of sleep I saved my search for that afternoon. When afternoon came and I was back at home after a great morning worshipping together with my church, I tore my house apart looking for my ring with no luck.
I retraced our steps the day earlier. Sarah and I and the kids went to Starbucks in the morning, a class at the Quadrangle Building on Main Street in Salinas, lunch at Chevy's and the park. I drove to the park and searched around the swings. One lady pushing her daughter on a swing looked on at this man searching frantically in the dirt. I was thinking this looked odd and to put her concerns at ease, I told her that I had lost my ring the day earlier and thought it might be here. She sympathetically said, "oh, I am sorry." I left the park empty-handed, ring finger still barren. That night at a prayer meeting I told one lady from our church about my lost ring and asked her to pray that I would find this treasure once again. She agreed she would.
On Monday morning I called Chevy's, Starbucks and the instructor of our class to ask if my ring had turned up in any of those places. No one had turned it in. I was depressed. This ring has donned my finger for 13 years and now it was gone. I checked back at those numbers on Tuesday. Nothing turned up. Wednesday went by. My wife told me, "Don't worry about it, it is just a thing. We can get you another ring. This doesn't change our love for each other." These were words I knew to be true, yet this was still heavy on my heart. I exchanged vows with my wife and this ring was a part of that ceremony. This ring although just an object stood for something to me. It represented those vows and the love and life that I share with my wonderful wife. On Thursday morning, having given up all hope, once again I prayed to God, "Lord, I know it is improbable that I will ever see my ring again, but if it is Your will would you please bring it back to me somehow!"
That night I received an e-mail from the lady in my church who I had asked to pray with me that I would find my ring. In her e-mail she asked if I had found my ring and then asked, "Did you go to Mission Park this weekend, there is a lost and found ad in the paper for a man's ring found at Mission Park." I quickly e-mailed the lady in our church back and then called her trying to get the number. Sarah, my wife, jumped online perusing the Herald's lost and found ads. Finding the number I placed the call, despite the fact that it was after 9 PM. I left a frantic message.
10 minutes later the person who left the ad called back. She asked, "Are you the man that I talked to at the park on Sunday afternoon?" I started putting two and two together. this was the lady who was pushing her daughter on the swing. She was the only one that I had talked to in the park that day. 15 minutes after I had left the park she found my ring. She drove around the neighborhood looking for my white van, because she didn't know my name or my phone number, but she saw me leave in my white Sienna. She called the police, but did not want to relinquish it to them for fear that it would wind up being sold at an auction. It became her mission to get this ring back to the man that was desperately looking for his wedding memento in the park on Sunday.
The only person I talked to in the park that day was this woman who "coincidentally" stepped on my ring and placed that ad looking for me, it's owner.
The woman that I had asked to pray for me, was the only person in our church who I had talked to that Sunday night about my ring, and she prayerfully found that ad burried in the back of the Herald.
That Thursday night at 10:30 PM the woman who had found my ring pulled up to my driveway and handed me my wedding ring. I was in awe. Both of these ladies were my heroes. They are both a part of my community. One lady a native of Pacific Grove and faithful prayer warrior in our church, the other a concerned neighbor who took on the desperate mission to return my ring.
I love my community, where I work and where I reside. My community is where I live my life. The good and the bad, and these elements exist in both locales. Beyond that my community is my family. My wife was so gracious to me that I had lost this token of her love for me, which she had placed on my finger.
Finally my community is God Himself. He had the whole thing under control. How does a ring find its owner? God my advocate, my friend, my fellow church member, my neighbor, my family - He had the steps for my ring's return lined out for me.
This is a snapshot of community. I love mine.
Wednesday, April 8, 2009
Beginnings
Hey I am finally trying my wings on the blogosphere. I am an amateur at a lot of stuff.
This period of my life is full of new beginning. Our church is experiencing new beginnings. We had a Grand Reopening just six weeks ago. I have been preaching about Rebirth and how when God interacts with our broken and often dead selves we experience transformative rebirth in Him. Along the path we see the effects of that not only in our personal existence, but in new life all around us. It is exciting, fresh, organic and freeing. Seeing a church that was ready to close its doors having a newfound impact on a community is evidence of this work of God being real. This is what I am experiencing and it is changing me. Seeing new friends of mine becoming new in Christ is further evidence. baptized not only in water some of these are bathing in the promises and mission of Christ. This is changing me.
As a Christian I am an amateur. As a pastor I am an amateur. As a person I am an amateaur. The longer I live and breathe and work the more I realize this. The world is old and has been spinning long before me. The world continues today and will be moving rapidly well past my brief seconds here. When I am grey headed I will still be experiencing new beginnings, rebirth - I will still be an amateur. I hope I will be able to recognize that.
In this blog I will document from time to time the thoughts, events and musings of life and ministry in a little church on the coast. I will also submit sermons I have preached and interesting things that I have comeby in my new beginings -each day.
Thanks for listening to an amateur.
This period of my life is full of new beginning. Our church is experiencing new beginnings. We had a Grand Reopening just six weeks ago. I have been preaching about Rebirth and how when God interacts with our broken and often dead selves we experience transformative rebirth in Him. Along the path we see the effects of that not only in our personal existence, but in new life all around us. It is exciting, fresh, organic and freeing. Seeing a church that was ready to close its doors having a newfound impact on a community is evidence of this work of God being real. This is what I am experiencing and it is changing me. Seeing new friends of mine becoming new in Christ is further evidence. baptized not only in water some of these are bathing in the promises and mission of Christ. This is changing me.
As a Christian I am an amateur. As a pastor I am an amateur. As a person I am an amateaur. The longer I live and breathe and work the more I realize this. The world is old and has been spinning long before me. The world continues today and will be moving rapidly well past my brief seconds here. When I am grey headed I will still be experiencing new beginnings, rebirth - I will still be an amateur. I hope I will be able to recognize that.
In this blog I will document from time to time the thoughts, events and musings of life and ministry in a little church on the coast. I will also submit sermons I have preached and interesting things that I have comeby in my new beginings -each day.
Thanks for listening to an amateur.
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