Dear Children of God,

My favorite sport is baseball. There are lots of reasons, but one of them is the “characters” who are part of the game. One of the things about characters is that what they say doesn’t seem to make sense until you think about it for a second. Bob Uecker on catching a floating knuckleball: “The way to catch a knuckleball is to wait until it stops rolling.” Yogi Berra on getting beaten badly early in a game: “It’s getting late early.” Sparky Anderson on soreness: “Pain don’t hurt.” Okay, so pain does hurt …

But while the affliction of pain in all its forms – physical, emotional, and spiritual – does indeed hurt, does it need to rule us? St. Paul would say, “No.” Paul writes to the church in Corinth, “So we do not lose heart. Though our outer self is wasting away, our inner self is being renewed day by day. For this light momentary affliction is preparing for us an eternal weight of glory beyond all comparison” (2 Corinthians 4:16-17). Paul reminds us that life on earth is going to be fraught with moments of pain of all kinds. But this pain is not a permanent thing. In it, God is with us. In it, He strengthens us to endure. In our earthly pain and weakness, He makes us strong enough to persevere by faith in Him … through this life … into eternal life (2 Corinthians 12:1-10).

Our faith in Christ doesn’t make sense to the world around us. Satan tries to use our pain, caused by the world’s sin, to turn us away from God. But as God strengthens and comforts us – and enables us to endure – our faith-filled lives become a testimony to the world. When people ask, “How do you get through that pain?” We can testify, “This is just temporary. God has strengthened me to endure. And one day, because of Jesus’ pain and suffering on the cross – and His resurrection – I’ll be free of all this forever.” Pain does hurt – but it’s only temporary.

                                                                                        In Christ’s Love,

                                                                                        Pastor Jim

CREDIT: Max Pixel (www.maxpixel.net)

Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ,

When I was in the Air Force, I got to help develop some remarkable software that automatically translated foreign languages into English. It helped people be able to read and understand the documents more easily. The most gratifying aspect of the job came years later while planning a trip to Germany. The websites I came across were all in German. But I noticed a “translate button” on the screen so I clicked it. The cool thing, the button translated the pages perfectly – with the same software I helped develop years before.

Translating foreign languages into understandable words has always been a valuable skill. Without it, it’s nearly impossible to communicate. We read in the Bible that God caused these languages to come about because people were too easily working together to build a tower to heaven – rather than trusting God to reach down to them (Genesis 11). 

But God desired to bring His people back to Himself through His word. His work continued as Jews and converts from across the world gathered in Jerusalem for Pentecost (The Feast of Weeks) after Jesus’ resurrection and ascension to heaven. The Holy Spirit became the divine translator. He enabled Jesus’ disciples to speak the language of all these pilgrims so they could hear the good news of Jesus’ death and resurrection to save them and all mankind from the eternal effects of sin.

Today this news continues spreading everywhere as the full Bible has been translated into over 700 languages. Through the same Holy Spirit, we can understand God’s word and His grace and mercy for us. We’ve been brought to faith in Christ. But the Holy Spirit continues His work in us. Dwelling within us, He daily urges us to immerse ourselves in God’s word through prayer, worship, and service to God. Through this immersion, the Holy Spirit reveals to us how God wants us to serve Him and others through gifts He’s given us. Why? For one reason – that others can also be brought to saving faith in Jesus Christ.

In Christ’s Love,

Pastor Jim 

Dear Friends in Christ,

“Do you swear to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth – so help you God?” I’ve never testified in a trial, but from what I’ve seen many times on TV, the actual oath is close to that. I understand that to be a witness you must also have knowledge of the events, be competent, and make that oath. Then, your testimony becomes evidence to support one side or the other. But if your testimony is false, your perjury can cause you to lose your freedom. 

While a trial is definitely different than our faith, we still testify. Through witnesses, God has given us testimony about who Jesus is and what He did. These witnesses, the Apostles, experienced firsthand everything Jesus said and did. Inspired by the Holy Spirit, they recorded their testimony for us to hear so we might “believe in the name of the Son of God that (we) may know that (we) have eternal life” (1 John 5:13). 

Because their testimony dwells within us, we are God’s children. As His children, we’re called to follow in the Apostles’ footsteps by offering our own testimony about Jesus (1 John 5:10a). While the world may make different testimonies about who Jesus is and what He came to do, that testimony is not true. Just like someone who lies under oath is guilty of perjury – and will lose their freedom in prison – those who do not or won’t make a true testimony about Jesus due to unbelief will also lose their freedom in the eternal prison of hell (1 John 5:11-12).

However, God desires that all His creatures hear the truth of His testimony so they may turn away from the world’s lies and become His children through faith in Christ. So let us share our testimony of God with others. Let us tell others, through words and deeds, how God has freed us from sin and given us life. That they too might have life with us.

                                                                                        In Christ’s Love,

                                                                                        Pastor Jim

Photo by Will H McMahan on Unsplash 

Dear Friends and Family,

I have a lot of things going on. If I try to remember everything, I’ll forget something. Then I’ll smack my head! Then I’ll get a headache. So, when I need to remember something, I use the “Yellow Sticky”. I write it down and carry it with me. Then, when I do the task, I check it off. Having something written down, helps me remember!

God has told us how He wants us to live through His commandments. He first gave them on Mount Sinai. He wrote them on stone tablets. Then the people took them and put them in the Ark of the Covenant. The problem though, with them out of sight and out of mind, people forgot the commandments at times. The Israelites broke the commandments and the covenant God made with them. But through His prophet Jeremiah, God provided them some good news. He said He’d make a new covenant with His people. And to make sure they always had it with them, He said, “I will put my law within them, and I will write it on their hearts. And I will be their God, and they shall be my people.” (Jeremiah 31:33) Even better than a sticky note … God wrote His covenant on our hearts – something we carry with us wherever we go!

However, even though we might never lose our hearts, we can still lose track of God’s covenant promises to us. We ignore God and His word as we drift off. But that covenant is still written on our hearts. Do you ever get the feeling when you drift off that something isn’t quite right? Does your heart ever get a weird feeling in it that something’s a little off? That’s the Holy Spirit calling attention to the covenant God wrote on your heart. He’s calling you back to Him. Because of Jesus, our Father wants to show His mercy and love to you. He’s calling you to confess your sin and receive His forgiveness so you can start anew. That’s good news!

                                                                                        In Christ’s Love,

                                                                                        Pastor Jim

Photo by National Cancer Institute on Unsplash 

Dear Easter Friends,

Alleluia! Christ is risen. 

Learning something is hard, especially when trying to learn it on our own. I’m glad I had teachers who helped me learn my ABCs, math and science, and the arts. And that they also helped me learn to dig into the basics to understand why things worked the way they did. They’ve helped me throughout my life. I thank Mrs. Wong, Mrs. Fetzger, Mr. Simpson, and Mr. Nido – to name a few of the schoolteachers I had. Next time you figure something out – thank a teacher for helping you develop the gifts God has given you.

While the 3 Rs, “readin’, ritin’, and ‘rithmetic”, are important, the most important subject is God’s word. Here we hear how to live our lives in this world – and how to live in a way that guarantees eternal life. But, to understand God’s word we need good teachers. We see one of these teachers in Acts 8:26-40. An official in Queen Candace’s court was trying to figure out the prophet Isaiah. Guided by the Holy Spirit, Philip asked if he understood what he was reading. The official said, “How can I, unless someone guides me?” So, Philip taught him the good news about Jesus. Because of Philip’s teaching, the official started understanding God’s word and how his eternal life depended on faith in Jesus. He told Philip, “Here’s water! Baptize me!” So, Philip did – by the power of the Spirit, the man was saved for eternity by the most important knowledge of all, that Jesus came to save Him from Satan, sin, and eternal death.

God calls on us to teach others about Jesus through our words and deeds. He also encourages us to turn to His word for guidance when we’re unsure of something. We’re both teachers and students of His word. Let us all continue to learn from God while also teaching others that all might come to believe and trust in God’s promises of forgiveness and eternal life through His Son, Jesus.

He is risen indeed. Alleluia!

                                                                                                In the Risen Christ’s Love,

                                                                                                Pastor Jim

Photo by Martin Wettstein on Unsplash 

Dear Easter Friends,

Alleluia! Christ is risen. 

How do penguins tell each other apart? Scientists have learned that even penguins themselves struggle to tell themselves apart. And that could be a problem. Penguins don’t have nests and a penguin chick’s parents take turns foraging for food, traveling hundreds of miles round trip. But when they return to the waddle (a bunch of penguins) with hundreds of identical birds – how do they find their partner and child? They use sound. Each penguin has a unique vocal sound only their family recognizes. When they return from hunting, they make their unique sound until their family responds in kind. They’re reunited for a nourishing feast.

Jesus calls Himself “the good shepherd” (John 10:11-18). Like penguins, sheep also look alike. When a shepherd wants to gather his sheep, he calls to them. They recognize his unique voice and come to him. Jesus says, “I am the good shepherd. I know my own and my own know me … And I have other sheep that are not of this fold. I must bring them also, and they will listen to my voice. So there will be one flock, one shepherd” (John 10:14-16). You and I, through faith received from our Father, have heard Jesus’ voice. We’ve responded to His call and come to Him. He’s brought us into His flock – the church of believers.

However, another characteristic of sheep is a tendency to wander while looking for things to satisfy their hunger. We can tend to do the same as we look for things in the world to satisfy our hunger for excitement, recognition, happiness, and other desires. Sometimes these things endanger our lives – maybe not our temporal lives, but certainly our eternal lives. Yet Jesus continually calls out to us by His word through the Holy Spirit. We hear His voice and then return to Him as He forgives us our sins and rejoins us to His flock … now in the church and in eternity with Him in His new creation. 

He is risen indeed. Alleluia!

                                                                                                In the Risen Christ’s Love,

                                                                                        Pastor Jim

Dear Easter Friends,

Alleluia! Christ is risen. He is risen indeed. Alleluia!

When I was a kid, a man named Paul Harvey was noted for a daily program called (I think) “And Now, The Rest of the Story”. He’d take a story everyone was familiar with and provide interesting insights into the lead up to the famous story, or what happened after the story took place. For example – after telling a story about a bumbling, up to his eyes in debt barkeeper who became a lawyer after losing a couple of bankruptcy cases he ended with, “… and now you know the rest of the story of Abraham Lincoln, the 16th President of the United States. Good day.”

After Easter, we hear the familiar account of Jesus’ upper room appearance to His disciples in John’s gospel. The one where He breathes the Holy Spirit upon them, gives them power to forgive sins, then a week later, helps Thomas to believe by showing him His scarred hands and side. It would appear from John that only Thomas had his doubts. But Luke tells us – the rest of the story. Luke tells us more about Jesus sudden appearance in the upper room (Luke 24:36-49). Here we see that they too had their doubts. They too needed proof that Jesus was, in fact, alive. It wasn’t until they also saw Jesus’ nail scarred hands and feet and watched Him eat some broiled fish that they believed He was alive. 

Then He proceeded to open their minds to understand the scriptures; everything Moses and the Prophets and the Psalms said about Him. He told them clearly how He alone fulfilled the promises found in what we call the Old Testament. Finally, He said, “You are the witnesses of these things” (Luke 24:48). The disciples had a hard time believing too. But Jesus enabled them to believe so they could pass the stories along that we too “by believing may have life in His name” (John 19:31). And now we know the rest of the story. Good day.

                                                                                        In the Risen Christ’s Love,

                                                                                        Pastor Jim