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Pastor Caleb shares from Matthew 16 on the Foundation of the Church
1 Peter 5:8, Determination, enemies of faith, Ephesians 6:10-18, Galatians 5:17, Hebrews 12:2-3, I Have Decided to Follow Jesus, I'm Determined to Walk With Jesus, James 4:4, john 14:15-31, mark 10:27, Matthew 19:26, Psalm 46, Revelation 21:6-7, spiritual armor, Spring, The Lion The Witch and the Wardrobe
Greetings, visitors and New Beginnings family! If you choose, pour yourself a cup of coffee, then pull up a chair for the latest edition of “Coffee with Gary” entitled “How determined are we to follow Jesus?”
Of all the seasons, winter is my least favorite, and this winter has seemed as if it would never end. Mr. Tumnus, in the allegorical C.S. Lewis children’s book, “The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe”, lamented, “It is winter in Narnia, and has been forever so long…. always winter, but never Christmas.” What could be worse and more hopeless than a never-ending winter? Still, no matter how long it feels or seems to take, winter does eventually and always yield to spring.
With spring comes the resurgence of life. Flowers and trees blossom. Birds build their nests, and squirrels frolic in the yard. And this year, a robin has decided that my front porch lamp is a good place for a nest. A few years ago, another robin had built a nest on our lamp, and we left it in place to observe the chicks. We did not use the front door for a time but instead used the garage door to enter and exit our house so as not to disturb the nest. Then one day, we found the nest suddenly deserted without a trace. This year I am determined not to let this scenario repeat itself. No more garage door detours for us!
Every time I noticed nesting material on the lamp, I pulled it down to discourage the robin from building her nest there. This continued for a while, then ended for a few days. However, this robin was not to be dissuaded. Over the past few days, she has returned with renewed determination. Since then, I have had to pull down nesting material several times a day, only for the robin to return with more just minutes later. Who will give up first in this battle of wills? The answer remains to be seen!
This reminds me of the hymns, “I Have Decided to Follow Jesus” and “I’m Determined to Walk With Jesus”. If it were easy to follow Jesus, we would not need dogged determination to follow Him. When we choose to walk with Jesus, that choice will meet with resistance. The Bible cautions us about three clear enemies of our faith. The first is the world or, in other words, the world system (James 4:4). Next is our flesh or, in other words, our inner foe (Galatians 5:17). And finally, there is Satan himself (1 Peter 5:8).
With so many obstacles standing in our way, how do we stay determined to follow Jesus? Be encouraged! With man, this is impossible, but with God all things are possible! (Matthew 19:26, Mark 10:27, Luke 18:27) Despite the resistance we face, it’s God’s desire for us to follow Jesus in our day-to-day lives. By grace through faith in Jesus, God has provided everything we need to follow Jesus.
First, Jesus is our example of a man who was determined to obey the Father, even to the point of enduring the cross, to purchase our salvation (Hebrews 12:2-3). Next, God is our strength and refuge, and He is always there for us (Psalm 46). Furthermore, Jesus has promised us the Holy Spirit to be with us forever (John 14:15-31). Finally, we have been equipped with spiritual armor to stand our ground against the devil’s schemes, praying in the Spirit on all occasions (Ephesians 6:10-18).
So, just as winter MUST yield to spring (or, according to this week’s forecast, to summer!), so also the enemies of our souls MUST and WILL yield if we remain focused on the prize. (Hebrews 12:2) Let us always remember the Lord’s promise to those who, with determination, follow Jesus all the way into His glory! (Revelation 21:6-7) Now the only question remaining is, “How determined are we to follow Jesus?”
Your fellow pilgrim, looking for a country of our own (Hebrews 11:13-16),
Gary
covid-19, Deuteronomy 29:5-6, first responders, Israelites in the desert, manna, Nehemiah 9:19-21, sandals, shoes, walking, Worn
Greetings, Visitors and New Beginnings Family! If you choose, pour yourself a cup of coffee. Then pull up a chair for the latest edition of “Coffee with Gary” entitled “Worn, but not Worn Out.”
As a result of the hundreds of miles Linda and I walk, we have to buy new shoes every 4-6 months. In a six- month span of recorded and day-to-day walking, we can easily walk over 350 miles. Naturally, walking three miles a day on cement sidewalks four or five times a week is very hard on our shoes.
In effect, we wear our shoes until they wear out, determined by when they start hurting our feet. However, we consider the health benefits we receive from regular exercise far outweighs the cost of frequently buying new shoes.
God met every need for the children of Israel as they wandered in the wilderness for 40 years. Consider having to meander in a desert where food and water are scarce, and raw materials to manufacture shoes and clothing are almost non-existent. Because God loved them and wanted the Israelites to know that He was their God, He provided them with water and manna from heaven. Furthermore, He caused their clothing and sandals not to wear out during those 40 years (Deuteronomy 29:5-6; Nehemiah 9:19-21).
I liken the Israelites in the wilderness to the dependency that newborn babies have on their parents. Without their parents directly providing for their every need, they will die. Likewise, the Israelites would have died in the wilderness if God had not directly provided for their every need. In essence, the Israelites wore their shoes without them wearing out!
When the Israelites entered the promised land, they began to provide for themselves as God blessed them with the resources to do so. Today, God still blesses us with the resources we need to provide for our families. Therefore, buying food with the money God provides is something over which we have some control. When my shoes wear out, God blesses me with the money I need to buy new shoes. God even allows me to choose the style and color I want! Then again, there are things out of our control, such as the COVID-19 pandemic.
To say that I have COVID fatigue is an understatement. The politics, sicknesses, deaths, hassles, monetary inflation, and the daily drumbeat of COVID on the news all wear on me. Why? Perhaps it’s all these things that are out of my control that frustrate me, continually threatening to wear me out. Even the worry of possibly testing positive for COVID 72 hours before boarding an international flight to my daughter’s wedding wears on me.
Just as the Israelites had no control over their daily lives in the wilderness, so I have no control over the consequences of a worldwide pandemic. Just as God wanted Israel to know that He was their God, so too He wants me to see that He is my God! Therefore, I have to believe that God will directly provide for my spiritual, mental, and physical well-being in the wilderness of COVID-19. Things may wear on me, but I must trust that God will keep me from wearing out. Is God, who controls all things, trying to get the world’s attention through the COVID-19 pandemic? I hope so.
That said, thousands of first responders across the country are worn and worn out. They are quitting their professions at an alarming rate. For these people, COVID has been exceptionally hard with no end in sight. Long, demanding, and at times unappreciative hours have taken their toll on them. It is for them that the Church of Jesus Christ must pray: that God will encourage them, strengthen them, heal them, and give them rest. We must pray that by the Grace of God, they will not become worn out. They are blessings that God has provided to keep many of us alive in these difficult times.
Your fellow pilgrim in looking for a country of our own (Hebrews 11:13-16),
Gary
1619, Africa, African American, Christian reformation, Frederick Douglass, Hebrews 11:1-12:3, Juan Williams, Juneteenth, Rebecca Protten, Slavery
Greetings, Visitors and New Beginnings Family! If you choose, pour yourself a cup of coffee. Then pull up a chair for the latest edition of “Coffee with Gary” entitled “A Spiritual Legacy of Faith & Perseverance.”
With the establishing of Juneteenth as a federal holiday, I took time to reflect on the ugly scourge of slavery in America. Though slavery had been practiced in the Americas earlier, the first slave ships from Africa docked at Jamestown, Virginia in 1619. After 246 years of institutionalized slavery in America, the last of the slaves were finally freed on June 19, 1865. For millions of black slaves, those years were marked by exploitation and maltreatment by their European-descended, white masters.
Thus, I have always marveled at the rich spiritual heritage left to us by African and American-born slaves in America. Why would an enslaved populace embrace the religion of their abductors and abusers? After some thought, I realized that the slaves had not embraced a religion but a Person. They had embraced Jesus.
In Jesus, the Suffering Servant of Isaiah 53:5, the slaves saw the love, compassion, and justness of a man who had suffered just as they had. In Jesus, they saw a man who identified with them, not some aberration of God fed to them by their slave masters. This gave them hope. The hope of freedom and an eternal life in heaven with Jesus.
In Jesus, they had a faith that could not be taken away from them. Because of their faith, their slave masters couldn’t break their spirits, no matter how brutally they whipped them.
By faith, based on Hebrews 11:1-12:3, the slaves had the perseverance they needed to run the grueling race set before them. Having completed their race, they effectively mirrored the witnesses of Hebrews 11:35-36 who were tortured, flogged, and chained but remained faithful unto the end.
And although there are countless black slaves whose acts of faith are unknown to us today, there are some who, by their significant acts of faith, I can name. People like Rebecca Protten, a former slave herself and missionary to African slaves in St. Thomas. A February 2018 Christianity Today article credits her as “The mother of modern missions” and “The mother of the black reformation of 1736.”
Then there is Frederick Douglass, who by faith is quoted as saying, “Between the Christianity of this land, and the Christianity of Christ, I recognize the widest possible difference.” By faith, these two and many others transformed Christianity.
In his book, This Far by Faith, author Juan Williams concludes that Africans did not simply adopt the religion of European colonists. They used Christianity’s power, principles, and practices to blaze a path to freedom and deliverance. And not only did they blaze a path, but the path was so big that “it reformed Christian theology” as well as Christianity itself.
Today this spiritual legacy of faith and perseverance not only belongs to African-Americans but to all who name Jesus Christ as their Lord and Savior! The faith of these and other spiritual ancestors gives us hope as we run the race marked out for us!
Finally, I always close my blogs by stating we are pilgrims looking for a country of our own. Indeed, this was true of the African descended slaves of yesterday, who today, are in their own country, in heaven with Jesus!
Your fellow pilgrim, looking for a country of our own (Hebrews 11:13-16),
Gary
COVID, fellowship, Hebrews 10:24-25, in-person worship, lessons, Matthew 28:20, promise, Proverbs 18:24, spiritual journey
Greetings, Visitors and New Beginnings Family!
If you choose, pour yourself a cup of coffee, then pull up a chair for the latest edition of “Coffee with Gary” entitled “Spiritual Lessons in the Era of COVID.”
Fellow saints of New Beginnings Alliance Church and visitors, please join me as I chronicle a segment of my spiritual journey beginning at the start of the COVID-19 pandemic to date.
A little more than a year ago, New Beginnings Alliance Church suspended their in-person Sunday worship service due to COVID-19. Even at that time, I recall myself already missing the assembling of myself with my fellow brothers and sisters in Christ.
To fill this sudden void in our spiritual lives, my wife and I started watching a worship service originating at a large church near our home via a live video feed. The worship music was uplifting, and the preaching ministered to our hearts. During those challenging times, my wife and I thanked God for the technology that made it possible to satisfy our heart’s yearnings.
As the pandemic progressed into summer, plans were made to start masked and socially distanced worship services at our home church. Before we were to open in July, however, new COVID-19 infections suddenly spiked, and those plans were shelved.
As Fall 2020 approached, plans for a hybrid ZOOM/in-person worship service were made to allow New Beginnings Alliance Church to resume worship services. Those from our congregation who either didn’t own or had inadequate computers could come to church for in-person worship. Everyone else joined the service from home via ZOOM video conferencing. However, in-person attendance was limited to ten people by governmental decree. What a joy it was for us to both see and worship God with people we haven’t seen in months!
At that time, my wife and I fully intended to continue watching the recordings of the other worship service, but eventually discontinued. Instead, we found our hearts spiritually satisfied by worshipping God alongside the people we know and love. In a manner of speaking, we understood that New Beginnings Alliance Church is our church!
Last month a personal friend of ours was invited to deliver the morning message. Desirous to see our friend and his wife, we decided to attend the morning worship service in person. As we were driving home after the service, my wife commented on how blessed she felt to go to church in person! As I thought about her comment, I knew that we were created for in-person fellowship: in-person fellowship with God, and in-person fellowship with one another. Long-term usage of ZOOM can never fully meet our need for in-person fellowship with one another. Next month, our hope is that New Beginnings Alliance Church will once again be open for Sunday worship, albeit masked and socially distanced.
This brings me to the spiritual lessons I learned in the “Era of COVID.” The first is based on a promise Jesus made before ascending to heaven (Matthew 28:20). Written for us there is Jesus’s promise that he will always be with us, even unto the very end of the age. Throughout the “Era of COVID,” this promise has been very comforting. While I have had to be socially distanced from other believers, I have never, in any manner, been distanced from Jesus! Through all this, Jesus has been a friend that is closer than a brother (Proverbs 18:24). Notwithstanding COVID, and perhaps because of COVID, I have sensed Jesus nearer to me than I might have otherwise noticed.
The second lesson is based on Hebrews 10:24-25. In the previous paragraphs of this blog, I have chronicled my recent spiritual journey, beginning with the abrupt suspension of worship services and the gradual steps back to restoration of fellowship. Because of the lessons I learned, I am thankful for every stage of this journey. However, I found that every step I took only briefly satisfied my soul. At every stop, I soon yearned for the next level. Now I find myself thinking that May cannot come soon enough, when we can return to full, in-person worship services.
Finally, have you ever wondered why so many passages in the Bible about fellowship are written as though they are commands? It must be that physically assembling ourselves together is so vital to our faith that God has commanded us to do so. Our Heavenly Father loves us so much as to not leave something so essential to our salvation to chance.
Your fellow pilgrim, looking for a country of our own (Hebrews 11:13-16),
Gary
