From Pastor Andrew’s Desk
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Greetings First Church!
The cold is upon us and that is no fun….but the love of the Lord warms our hearts! Speaking of warming hearts, all of us have received great encouragement from our beloved sister in the Lord, Doffy Falk. And so I am happy to report that Doffy will be leading Sunday School this Sunday at 9:00 am in the Coggin Room on “Conversational Prayer with God”, so you won’t want to miss it! Doffy is a woman of prayer and it will be a blessing to learn from her journey this Sunday.
Also, it was a joy to have Steve Kercher leading us in contemporary worship last Sunday. Steve shares with us…”This Sunday we’ll be singing Great Are You Lord and 10,000 Reasons as we consider Christ as the way, the truth, and the life, and the only source of everlasting joy.” As an FYI, Steve will be leading worship solo for awhile as he gets acclimated to the church and worship flow. In the meantime, he’ll also be working on a process with James and Abby, myself and other leaders as we develop a worship team plan. We’ll keep you posted on this process as it develops and as the Lord leads.
This Sunday I am back in the pulpit and continuing the six week series on ‘Worship’, preaching on Acts 7:33-43; 48-60. This passage contains the famous speech by Stephen, a faithful disciple of the Lord Jesus, right before he was stoned to death. Chapter 6 describes how Stephen, “a man full of God’s grace and power, performed great wonders and signs amongst the people” (Acts 6:8). However, the Sanhedrin (the Jewish ruling council) believed that he spoke blasphemy about Moses and Jesus and so they wanted to kill him. The high priest of the Sanhedrin asked Stephen “are these charges true?” (7:1). And in response to this question, Stephen went on to share the Good News of the Gospel and power of God through His workings in history. We pick up on this powerful speech about midway through in v. 33 as Stephen is describing the Lord’s interaction with Moses: “then the Lord said to Him, “take off your sandals, for the place where you are standing is holy ground.” (v. 33). This statement from the Lord to Moses is pointed out by Stephen, because the Jewish people/leaders were very prideful in the temple. Now certainly the temple had moments of true worship, but also idolatry. Stephen is pointing out that the presence of God and worship is not confined to a temple….God spoke this words to Moses in the wilderness!! “The earth is the Lord’s and everything in it.” Psalm 24:1. It is not about some “sacred place,” but rather it is about the presence of God, wherever the Lord dwells!! Then v. 33-34 speak of the Lord hearing the groans of the people and seeing their suffering and wanting to set them free.
The Judeo-Christian theological system is the only belief structure that reconciles suffering with a deity’s involvement in the suffering. Other religious systems either describe suffering as an illusion (Buddhism/Hinduism) or a deity that cannot look upon it (Islam). We as Christians understand the Lord suffered Himself, is empathetic to our pain and consequently enters in to bring healing. He cares and doesn’t want us to live in bondage to sin and suffering. He wants to free us! Do we really believe that? Take an inventory and pray to the Lord for His strengthening to overcome the battles that you may face today either internally or externally.
Then Stephen describes how the people rejected Moses…. “who made you ruler and judge?” v. 35. Get ready for rejection if you want to serve the Lord. The world does not applaud those who walk with God. In fact it’s bent is to oppose. Humanity is in rebellion towards God and hates the Word of the Lord, outside of His regenerating work. Many did not see Moses as sent by God, but the reality was that God had sent him on mission in v. 35-36. You may have been mocked by others, or some may question you. But remember what preacher Sam Alberry said. “He is the only One who can tell me who I really am.” We need to live for an Audience of One and to hear His voice as primary – otherwise we’ll be looking everywhere else for validation or will shrink back. What if Moses shrank back? Thank God he listened to the Lord! Stephen speaks of Moses, also in pointing to Christ, reminding us that our Lord faced that same opposition and more (v. 7:37). The people refused to obey Moses (v. 39) and turned back to Egypt). They wanted to go back to slavery in Egypt than to be freed by the Lord! Sounds crazy, but sadly this happens all the time. People often choose false comfort and sin rather than to follow Christ, even it is slowly killing them or keeping them in bondage . Following Christ means surrendering,
following Christ means trusting in the unknown,
following Christ means acknowledging He is in control and we are not.
Humbling and hard, but amazing! The Israelites decided to make a golden calf – truly a low point in their history. They wanted a ‘god’ they could control and reveled in what their hands had made (v. 40-41). Well, at least we can say we don’t make golden calves! Probably true, but where do we want God to be a “genie in the bottle” and where do we want to “bow down” at altars of our own making and our sin? Not fun to think about. But remember that the Lord wants to free us by His love into the fullness of His presence and joy! There is so much more in these passages, but for the sake of your time and mine, I will wrap it up :)! Please read the rest of the verses. Notice Saul (Paul) in the story and reflect on God’s amazing grace. Ultimately, Stephen made the Sanhedrin furious with his speech and was stoned to death. But this martyr of the faith, stood strong in the Lord to the very end and preached boldly with love. His last words were, “Lord, do not hold this sin against him.” Unreal. May the Lord give us wisdom into these things. See you Sunday! Blessings, Pastor Andrew |
