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A Point to Ponder (from the February 5 2012 Bulletin) February 12 is our next “Communion Sunday”, so this week is one of spiritual reflection and self-examination. Paul explains how God “made us alive with Christ even when we were dead in transgressions” (Ephesians 2:5). Dr R C Sproul notes: “God just doesn't throw a life preserver to a drowning person. He goes to the bottom of the sea, and pulls a corpse from the bottom of the sea, takes him up on the bank, breathes into him the breath of life and makes him alive.” If we confess and repent of our sins, and trust Jesus as our Savior, we may come “with full expectation to God’s open house of mercy”. The life that is truly life (I Timothy 6:19) is a result of God’s grace in Christ. Pastor Jim. A Point to Ponder (from the January 29 2012 Bulletin) Recently I read these words on a plaque outside an apartment door: “Although you’ll find our house a mess: come in, sit down, converse. It doesn’t always look like this, some days it’s even worse.” Life can be very messy too. Schedules are often disrupted. Plans are frequently changed. Emotions may vary from day to day or even from hour to hour. At times trouble invades our normal routine. We disappoint ourselves, our Lord, and other people. We are disappointed by others. We sin, again and again. Life is not neat, tidy, and predictable. At a dark hour in history, Joseph H. Gilmore, author of the classic hymn He Leadeth Me, wrote: “God’s leadership is the one significant fact in human experience…It makes no difference how we are led, or whither we are led, so long as we are sure God is leading us.” God’s providence, God’s loving leadership, is a source of great comfort. Jesus is the same faithful Savior yesterday and today and forever (Hebrews 13:8). We may say to Him: ‘Although you’ll (often) find my heart a mess: come in, sit down, converse…’. Then we too will be able to affirm, with Joseph Gilmore: “He leadeth me: O blessed thought…Content, whatever lot I see, since ‘tis my God that leadeth me”. Pastor Jim. A Point to Ponder (from the January 15 2012 Bulletin) Have you ever felt discouraged or downhearted? The author of Psalm 42 wrote: "My soul is downcast within me". He also instructed his soul, and his readers: "Put your hope in God, for I will yet praise Him, my Savior and my God". In fact, he repeats that statement three times in Psalms 42 and 43. He may have been downcast, but was not without hope. In the New Testament, the apostle Paul pointed out that, although Christians experience sorrow and sadness, they do not grieve as those who have no hope (I Thessalonians 4:13). According to Dr. R.C. Sproul: “The presence of faith gives no guarantee of the absence of spiritual depression; however, the dark night of the soul always gives way to the brightness of the noonday light of the presence of God.” So, when the darkness deepens, let us say with faith and hope: “Shine, Jesus, shine. Let the light of Your love shine on me.” To quote Dr. Sproul again: “A Christian can have joy in his heart while there is still spiritual depression in his head…The joy of the Christian is one that survives all downturns in life.” Let us put our hope in God, and praise the Lord! Pastor Jim. A Point to Ponder (from the January 8 2012 Bulletin) "In Him (God) we live and move and have our being." These words from Acts 17:28 remind us that God is not remote; He is near. He lives in a high and holy place, but also with those who are contrite and lowly in spirit (Isaiah 57:15). A.W. Tozer wrote: “We need never shout across the spaces to an absent God. He is nearer than our own soul, closer than our most secret thoughts.” We need food and drink, clothing and shelter, but our most basic need is a personal and saving relationship with the eternal Lord. Tozer also noted: “God wants us to know that when we have Him we have everything.” Pastor Jim. |
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