Pastor's Blog

Easter Joy

Thu, 01 Apr 2010 12:01:23 -0400

Today is known in many Christian circles as "Maundy Thursday," with the word Maundy coming from the Latin word Mandatum or Mandate. It centers on the command Jesus gave to his disciples in the upper room that day to "love one another: just as I have loved you, so you should love one another" (John 13.34.) Two chapters later Jesus addresses this same theme again, saying, "As the Father has loved me, so have I loved you. Abide in my love. If you keep my commandments, you will abide in my love, just as I have kept my Father's commandments and abide in his love. These things I have spoken to you, that my joy may be in you, and that your joy may be full." (John 15.9-11) In this latter section, Jesus connects joy to loving obedience. One of the things I struggle with in my life is the concept of joy - I know God has given me reason for joy, but I still struggle to experience joy as I believe He wants it for me. And the main reason for that, according to Jesus in John 15, has to do with my obedience or lack of obedience to God. Is He truly first in my life, so that my heart's desire and my actions show that? Oh for the grace to make that so!

Have a blessed Easter. Remember that he not only died for your sins, but he was also raised to life again as a promise that you too, through faith in Jesus, will one day experience the resurrection.

"Olympic Gold" or God's Favor

Mon, 22 Feb 2010 11:29:46 -0500

King David, writing in Psalm 19, after speaking of the benefits of the law/testimony/precepts/commandment/fear/rules of the Lord, says, "More to be desired are they than gold, even much fine gold." (Psalm 19.10a) This helps me keep perspective as we watch the wonderfully talented athletes who are competing in the winter olympics. Everyone is "going for the gold," as well they should being competitive athletes. Yet some get the silver or bronze medal rather than the gold, and most get no awards at all. For all the olympic athletes, as for you and me, the Word of God is far better than receiving riches or being on top of the awards podium at the olympic games. "A good name is to be chosen rather than great riches, and favor is better than silver or gold." (Proverbs 22.1) Something for you and me to ponder. But as we ponder, remember this also: There is only one truly good name that has ever been known - Jesus, the Jesus of Nazareth, Jesus Christ the Lord!
Pray for those olympic athletes, coaches, and their family members who may be our brothers and sisters in Christ. Pray for them to honor the Lord Jesus in all of their actions, both on and off the competitive stage at the olympics. And win or lose, pray that the Lord reminds them of these things in Psalm 19 and Proverbs 22.

Faith and Repentance (again and again!)

Mon, 08 Feb 2010 15:40:30 -0500

World Harvest Mission has published "The Gospel-Centered Life" (GCL) as a study curriculum for small groups or church Sunday school classes. We are currently using it in adult Sunday school, and are having some engaging conversations together! One emphasis of GCL is the continued emphasis on faith and repentance as the normal path to growth (sanctification) as a Christian. Of course, you can just as easily reverse the order to be repentance and faith, for these are like two sides of a coin. Both are necessary to Christian growth and health.

In my own life, even as a pastor, I am struck again by the importance of living in this scripture-oriented fashion. I am too often plagued by the temptation toward either "performing" or "pretending." (Those are two concepts found in lesson 2 of GCL.) My natural tendency is either to think and live in a performance orientation ("If I just do, or quit doing, this or that, God will love me more") or to pretend that I am doing okay ("I'm not as bad a sinner as that!) when I am NEVER really doing "okay" with respect to my constant sinfulness.

If you are interested in exploring this material, please go to the World Harvest web site (whm.org) and look for the curriculum section and the Gospel-Centered Life materials.

Let it Snow!!!!

Thu, 04 Feb 2010 15:17:17 -0500

"Oh the weather outside is (soon to be) frightful, but the fire is so delightful. And since we've no place to go, let it snow, let it snow, let it snow!" Remember that song, usually played with the secular Christmas music on the radio in December? Well, the snow's a coming this weekend, they say, this Friday night and Saturday. Lord willing, it will be over with so we can worship on Sunday.
To be honest, I am ready for another good snowfall, but I will be ready for spring soon after - by this time next week I will be REALLY ready for spring. I am just thankful to the Lord that He sets and governs the seasons. That is true not only for weather seasons, but the seasons of life as well. Ecclesiastes 3.1 says, "For everything there is a season, and a time for every matter under heaven." Later on Ecclesiastes says "I perceived that whatever God does endures forever; nothing can be added to it, nor taken from it. God has done it so that people may fear before him." (Eccl. 3.14, emphasis mine.) I don't know about you, but I need to have more reverence before the Lord. As the snow comes (assuming the weatherman is right), will I marvel at the beauty and the power of God in that aspect of His creation?

Learning Perspective from a Haitian Brother

Mon, 18 Jan 2010 12:24:44 -0500

Many of us have been reeling from the devastation we have seen in Haiti that was caused by last week's earthquake. I spoke with a pastor friend in Miami yesterday, who told me that they are indeed quite involved with trying to console, encourage, and help the many Haitian Christians there who have relatives in Haiti. Then in today's paper an article quoted a Haitian pastor here in the Lancaster area, Willy Besson, who serves Salem Pentecostal Haitian Church in Earl Township. Pastor Besson, addressing his congregation yesterday, said there was no point in trying to answer the "Why" question (Why did this happen to Haiti?). He said, "This is God's way of showing us that He is in control of everything. You never know when death is coming. It could come for me on my way home today. All you can do is keep Jesus in your heart at all times so you are ready when he comes for you." - A good word, not only for that congregation, but for all of us!

P.S. - The article had pastor Besson's address and phone number, as they are trying to fill a trailer with items to help the Haitians. You can look it up, or call or email me and I will give it to you if you care to help them with this ministry. The church may also need about $11,000 to ship the container to Haiti if the pastor cannot find anyone willing to provide the shipping for them. And here is the address of the article in the Lancaster News online - http://articles.lancasteronline.com/local/4/247620

Monday Afternoon (Whoosh went the morning!)

Mon, 11 Jan 2010 16:05:32 -0500

I don't know if I spelled it correctly, but whooosh (yes, an added 'o' here) is what I realized as I remembered my desire to post again today. SO, what should I write about? Something in the news? (Harry Reid is a hot topic today) Or maybe something having to do with how cold it is these days. (Oh, how I long for warm weather and to get out on the golf course again!) I could jump off that last thing (warm weather and golf) to say something about my family (like wisking Sandy and Annie to Florida, or REALLY yearning for a round of golf with Seth).

However, I will simply end with this: "For God so loved the world that he gave his only-begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish, but have everlasting life." (John 3.16, of course). That is good enough for all the junk in the news, the hassle of the cold weather, etc.

Starting Off 2010

Mon, 04 Jan 2010 13:09:58 -0500

Oh boy, how long has it been? I am not sure I am up to this blog stuff, but one conviction I have is the need to try to at least get one post per week on here. Please pray for me to do that, and for my thoughts to be helpful for building up the saints at Living Hope Church and whomever may read this.

Yesterday's sermon was on Acts 20.24, part of Paul's farewell message to the Ephesian elders: "I do not account my life of any value nor as precious to myself, if only I may finish my course and the ministry that I received from the Lord Jesus, to testify to the gospel of the grace of God." -- Paul was looking to the end of his life and ministry at this point, and he realized the big challenge was to finish the race. (See 2 Timothy 4.7 for a similar thought.) So with us, the issue should not be "new beginnings" per se, though those can be fine, but rather finishing the ministry to which God has called us. Note that here in Acts as well as the passage in 2 Timothy 4,7, Paul does not mention WINNING, the race, but FINISHING it. The Christian life, and the life and ministry of the Church, is a marathon calling. It is not about "winning" or "success" - things the world puts so much into these days. (Are you following the college football or NFL playoffs and seeing how many coaches are being fired for not winning?)

"If we do as God commands, and do not seem to succeed, it is no fault of ours. Failure itself would be success as long as we did not fail to obey." (Charles Spurgeon) - Or try on this quote from Spurgeon: "The difficulty of the Christian is very seldom the commencement of the work; the true labor lies in the perseverance which alone can win the victory." (Yes, that one talks about "victory", but the real issue is not victory but perseverance.) May this be so for us, by God's grace. ("...to testify to the gospel of the grace of God.")

Church and Every Day Life

Fri, 11 Sep 2009 08:38:16 -0400

Below is a portion of an article sent to me by Steve G., one of our elders. Written by Carl Trueman of Westminster Theological Seminary, it describes the issue that is increasingly facing us as a body - the fact that our culture says the church needs to be big, it needs to be exciting, and it needs to have pizazz. But what about every day (boring) grace-based obedience and faithfulness? That is what the vast majority of life is about. This is why I have asked the question of our congregation several times, "Are you in this for the long haul?" Starting a new church, just like trying to build and grow an existing church, is a long-haul proposition, void of many frills and exciting events. The work of God and the spread of Jesus' Kingdom IS an exciting thing, but it does not show itself in our categories of excitement. I hope you are blessed by this. Feel free to use the link to see the complete article.

Carl Truman on church without the frills...

Finally, I worry that a movement built on megachurches, megaconferences, and megaleaders, does the church a disservice in one very important way that is often missed amid all the pizzazz and excitement: it creates the idea that church life is always going to be big, loud, and exhilarating and thus gives church members and ministerial candidates unrealistic expectations of the normal Christian life. In the real world, many, perhaps most, of us worship and work in churches of 100 people or less; life is not loud and exciting; big things do not happen every Sunday; budgets are incredibly tight and barely provide enough for a pastor's modest salary; each Lord's Day we go through the same routines of worship services, of hearing the gospel proclaimed, of taking the Lord's Supper, of teaching Sunday School; perhaps several times a year we do leaflet drops in the neighbourhood with very few results; at Christmas time we carol sing in the high street and hand out invitations to church and maybe two or three people actually come along as a result; but no matter -- we keep going, giving, and praying as we can; we try to be faithful in the little entrusted to us. It's boring, it's routine, and it's the same, year in, year out. Therefore, in a world where excitement, celebrity, and cultural power are the ideal, it is tempting amidst the circumstances of ordinary church life to forget that this, the routine of the ordinary, the boring, the plodding, is actually the norm for church life and has been so throughout most places for most of the history of the church; that mega-whatevers are the exception, not the rule; and that the church has survived throughout the ages not just - or even primarily - because of the high profile firework displays of the great and the good, but because of the day to day faithfulness of the mundane, anonymous, non-descript people who constitute most of the church, and who do the grunt work and the tedious jobs that need to be done. History does not generally record their names; but the likelihood is that you worship in a church which owes everything, humanly speaking, to such people.

http://www.reformation21.org/articles/the-nameless-one.php

Take Time for Reflection (and feedback)

Wed, 12 Aug 2009 17:00:08 -0400

Well, here we are at post # 3, and I am already far from in the "once or twice a week" groove I had hoped I would be for these entries. That goes to show how busy-ness can get the best of me! Can you relate to that?

At my class on leadership back in May, one of the things the professors had us do was write in a personal journal for the week. I had not done any journaling since my days in western Pennsylvania at my last pastorate there (probably 10 years back). The experience in the leadership course was refreshing, and I have tried to continue the discipline over the summer. The benefit in keeping a journal is that it affords one the opportunity to reflect out loud on paper, similar to what a 'blog' can be, except that a journal is private. (There is also something good about holding the actual journal book in your hand.)

David ends Psalm 19 by asking that both the words of his mouth and "the meditation of my heart be acceptable in your sight, O Lord, my rock and my redeemer" (Psalm 19.14). No doubt David was a man who took the time to meditate on the Lord's word and to reflect on his life under God's Lordship. So how about you? When was the last time you took time to reflect or meditate before God? How about starting a routine of reflection? Something to think about!

Finally, if you have read any of these blogs, would you kindly let me know? One of the things I want to do is evaluate whether they are being read, and if they are at all helpful. THANK YOU!

Scott

How Futile is the Blog(ger)

Mon, 03 Aug 2009 10:41:02 -0400

At a unique web site called despair.com they have a link to blogging, whereby they spell out the danger and futility of this new form of communication: "Never before have so many people with so little to say said so much to so few." As I reflect on that statement, it moves me to write this blog, but also to stay with the conviction I expressed in my very first post last month - to keep it short and not to say anything that is simply blabbing gibberish.
SO, my main question for now is this: How are you doing at reading the Word of God in comparison to reading blogs? If you were to compare the time you spend reading blogs and other online things with the time spent reading the Bible, which one wins out? (Of course, I know many people read the scriptures online as part of their day, and that is good.) So for me, right now I am convicted of the need to display this post, then move over to the easy chair and pull out my Literary Study Bible and READ!
For Christ and His Kingdom. (Pastor Scott)

A New Look, But not a "Makeover"

Wed, 15 Jul 2009 10:56:32 -0400

Good morning! This is my very first attempt at a blog as pastor of Living Hope Church. I will not keep you long, and my hope is to be significant and to the point whenever I write.
Today I want to thank Emily Archibald for her great work of designing our new web page. We are blessed at LHPC to have Emily (and Chuck, who also helped here) in her role as our Administrative Assistant. Maybe I am blessed more immediately than many in the congregation, but "my blessing is your blessing," since many things that Emily does for the church frees me up to follow my primary calling as your pastor-teacher.
At this point I am not sure how often I will be posting here, but if you check back every few days or at least every week (hopefully), you should find more thoughts from me.
Yours for His Glory,
- Pastor Scott