PSALM 100

The 100th Psalm was written for the people of Israel in order to help the people remember that God is their helper.

God had basically said to them, “When you come into the promised land, and settle down in your warm homes, and you have plenty to eat……don’t forget Me……I led you out of the wilderness and I brought you into a land flowing with milk and honey.” But it does not take very long to realize that the people of Israel needed a reminder……and we need one too. And I believe God had us in mind, too, when this Psalm was written.

Did we notice to whom it is addressed? The first verse says that it’s addressed to “all the earth,” and the last verse says that it includes “all generations.”The importance of thanksgiving is so deep and so wide that it applies to every person of every generation who has ever lived! Webster’s New World Dictionary defines the word thanksgiving as “a formal public expression of thanks to God.”And there is something about giving thanks together to God that breaks down barriers between people and brings about a unity.Psalm 100 is a hymn that was sung while entering the temple, and it probably was done in connection with a thanksgiving ceremony. God is the source of our thanksgiving!!! I pray that this will be a most meaningful thanksgiving season for all of us!

May our hearts overflow with thanksgiving to the Lord as we meditate on God’s Word, on God’s goodness, on God’s love, and on God’s faithfulness this Thanksgiving season!!!                     

Stephen

Some veterans bear visible signs of their service: a missing limb, a jagged scar, a certain look in the eye. Others may carry the evidence inside them: a pin holding a bone together, or like my father who served in Vietnam, several pieces of shrapnel in his arms, legs, and face.  Except in parades, however, the men and women who have kept America safe wear no badge or emblem. You cannot tell a vet just by looking. Maybe you have seen the commercial showing vets working at the grocery store, the mall, a restaurant, a school.

So, remember, each time you see someone who has served our country, just lean over, and say, "Thank you." That is all most people need, and in most cases, it will mean more than any medals they could have been awarded or were awarded.This Sunday we will think about what it takes to be a veteran of the faith of Christ, something we all need to be and do.

1- Obey the Commander

2- Engage the enemy

3- Fight to the end

Grace & Peace

Stephen

Hebrews 12:1 and Luke 22:14-20

This Sunday is All Saints Sunday. We will gather to worship God, especially remember, honour, and be grateful for those who have gone before us. May we remember that all of life is an act of praise to God—our worship extends to the fellowship and service that takes place all week long. Sunday, we will celebrate Holy Communion together. When we gather at the table, we enter the realm of God’s time in our remembering; where past, present and future are one. We remember the past and are hosted by all those saints who came before us. We remember the present through Christ’s call to spread the banquet of love to all. We remember the future in the promise of Jesus to be with us always. And so, it is that this Sunday morning, we will remember with love those who set a banquet of love for us. We give thanks for their hospitality, the tables they set for us and the gifts they gave to us. It is through their witness that we have tasted, and we have seen the goodness of God. 

Grace and peace,

Stephen

Philippians 3:4b-14

What does it take to get you fully awake and ready for a new day? Are you one of those people who wake up easily and jump out of bed? Or are you one of those people who need to be shaken awake and kicked out of bed before you can start your morning? If the second description sounds more like you, then you will relate to today’s lesson from the Scriptures. It was written by Paul, a man who needed to be shaken awake and kicked out of bed. But he did not need to be awakened from a deep sleep. He needed to be awakened from a way of life that was leading him far away from God and closer to death and destruction.

Ironically, it was a way of life that looked, on the outside, like a great success. Paul, whose Hebrew name was Saul, was an Israelite, a descendant of Abraham, from the tribe of Benjamin. He had a respected family heritage. He was a student of the Law of Israel. He studied under Gamaliel, a respected Pharisee. Paul was educated, influential and respected. By all measures in his society, he was a success. And he had a singular goal in life: to protect the Hebrew Law. We need to note, first of all, that successful people usually have worthwhile goals for their life. If you want to honor God with your life, if you want to make sure that you don’t waste the precious gifts God has given you, then the best thing you can do is create some worthwhile goals for yourself. Goal setting comes from the belief that your life has purpose.

If your life were random and meaningless, then setting goals would not make sense. But if your life has purpose, if you have the opportunity to make an impact in your sphere of influence, then setting worthwhile goals is the best way to do it. Worthwhile goals require vision, planning, discipline, sacrifice. Successful people have a vision for where they want to go and who they want to be, and they create a plan to get them there.

Paul had encountered Christ on the Damascus Road. After three days of blindness, Paul was healed through the intervention of a follower of Jesus named Ananias. And at that moment, Paul’s previous goals for his life began to look like a lot of garbage. That’s how he describes his previous life goals in today’s lesson.

“But whatever were gains to me I now consider loss for the sake of Christ. What is more, I consider everything a loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whose sake I have lost all things. I consider them garbage . . .” Later, in this same passage, he declares, “I want to know Christ —yes, to know the power of his resurrection and participation in his sufferings, becoming like him in his death, and so, somehow, attaining to the resurrection from the dead . . .” Still later he sums up his new goal: “I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus.”

Now Paul had only one goal—to serve Jesus Christ. Wouldn’t it be great to have only one goal in life? One goal that you knew in your bones was the purpose God made you for? This is it. You were made to serve Jesus Christ. You were made to live out Jesus’ values and priorities. You were made to do good works that express the love and hope of Jesus Christ in the world. And if God made you for that purpose, then it is only in serving Jesus Christ that you will find your identity and peace and fulfillment.

Grace & Peace,

Stephen

Matthew 18:21-35

In today’s lesson Simon Peter wanted to know exactly what the Master expected out of him when it came to forgiveness. The prominent Rabbis of the day were teaching that one should forgive his brother three times. Was that enough? Simon Peter wondered. So, one day he asked Christ this important question: “Lord, how often shall my brother sin against me, and I forgive him—as many as seven times?” Peter was exceeding the demands of the rabbis, but he still was unsure that he was doing what Christ expected of him. Some of us probably would like an answer to the same question. Forgiveness is a big problem in our lives. There have been persons who have wronged us and it is so, so difficult to let go of our feelings of anger, resentment and even hatred.

For many Christians, forgiveness of people who have hurt them is the biggest obstacle to their mental, emotional and spiritual well-being. Do you understand why we must forgive? Our refusal to forgive one who has hurt us can have devastating effects not only on them, but also on ourselves. It can shorten our lives, poison our memories, weaken our relationship with God and even afflict our feelings of self-worth. This is in addition to the damage to the relationship with the person we cannot forgive. That is a high price to pay in order to hold on to resentment, anger and even hatred.

But how, you may ask, how do we forgive those who have wronged us? How do we let go of the pain, the resentment, the sense of betrayal? We let go, first of all, by recognizing that we ourselves have been forgiven.We have been forgiven, and thus we are able to forgive others. Is there someone you need to forgive—an unfaithful spouse—an overbearing parent —a friend who has stabbed you in the back—an employer who has taken advantage of you? I know there is pain, but the most powerful witness we have to the action of the grace of God at work in our own lives is the ability to forgive others. As we forgive, we heal not only the wounds of a broken relationship, we find healing for wounds inflicted in our own hearts by anger, hurt and resentment. God has forgiven each of us for every soiled thought, act, and deed of which we are capable. Can we not forgive one another? Three times? Seven times? Yes, even seventy times seven?

Grace and Peace,

Stephen

We all know people whose first response to anything is always “No!” Fortunately, many of these somewhat ornery people have good hearts, and if they have time to reconsider and see the worth of a project, they will eventually pitch in and be among the best workers. That was the first son in this parable that Jesus told. He was initially defiant, but after reflecting on his father’s request, he changed his mind, put on his work clothes, and went out into the vineyard. Though he was quite polite, the response of the second son was much worse than his older brother’s defiance; his response was insincere. The second son was like many of us. There are many people who are nice, friendly, basically Christian people who will never argue when asked to do something, never even protest, and yet getting them to do anything is a near impossibility.

Now you may be thinking, “I get it, Stephen. I am supposed to go out and work in the vineyard. I am supposed to follow Jesus more closely. I am supposed to serve others as he did. I really have good intentions, but where does the power come from to enable a person to make that kind of commitment to serve Christ?” The power to make that kind of change in our lives comes from Christ alone. None of us have the power to fulfill Christ’s call on our own. There is not a person in this church who does not have good intentions about being a better person, but the desire to accomplish that goal is not enough. We must see ourselves in this story of the two sons who were asked by their father to go into the vineyard and ask which of the two brothers we more resemble—the one who rebelled at first, but finally did his father’s work, or the son who said, “Sure, I’ll go,” but never did. Then we must ask God for the courage and the commitment to leave our comfort zone and to seek to walk in the steps of the Master more closely.

The world is a better place because of the contributions of a host of persons who at first said, “Not me,” but eventually did what God called them to do. Listen very carefully to the voice of Christ . Is there something that he has been asking you to do—something here in the church, something in your neighborhood, something in your family—but you have been saying, “Not me.” Isn’t it time for you to join the older son, put on your work clothes and get into the vineyard?

Grace and Peace,

Stephen

Many churches are known for one specific type of ministry:

worship, preaching, teaching, youth, community programs, discipleship, or evangelism. I believe Misty Creek is gifted in all these areas, however, when I hear people talking about Misty Creek, I hear them say that we are a missions-focused church and that we love to help people.  And that’s true: from our beginning as a house church, this body of believers has focused on serving others.  Doesn’t 30 weeks of making and delivering over 35,000 lunches to those in need confirm this?  It’s this servanthood that we are celebrating this Sunday morning.

Our Mission is straightforward: Love God, Love People and Make Disciples

“Jesus said to them, “Go into all the world and preach the Gospel to all creation.” Mark 16:15.

At Misty Creek, we believe in sharing the love of Jesus in our local community and abroad. We are a Bible centered, Christ focused church that relies on the power of the Holy Spirit. Our prayer is that our church would become like our community.

I am disappointed that I cannot be with you in person on Sunday. I will be going before the College of Pastoral Supervision and Psychotherapy certification committee in hopes of becoming a Board-certified clinical chaplain and pastoral care counselor.

I am thankful to pastor such a supportive congregation who delights in serving others.

May the Lord always be glorified in all that we do and say!                                                         

Grace and Peace,

Stephen