A Message of Encouragement

The closing chapter of the Gospel of Matthew unfolds for us the wonderful account of that first Easter morning. Let us go back to that morning so long ago. There were two women both of who were named Mary and they came early to the tomb to worship and care for the body of Jesus. For them it was not a happy occasion because they had been at the foot of the cross and witnessed the death of Jesus. Now they were going to the tomb with spices to anoint the body. In fact, far from their minds was the resurrection that Jesus had told of in advance. This is supported by Marks account of that first Easter morning as recorded in Mark 16:3, “Who shall roll away the stone from the door of the sepulchre?” To their surprise, an earthquake, and empty tomb, and an angel greeted them. 

Angels appeared in both the Old and New Testaments, always in connection with a great event. This can be especially observed in the life and ministry of Jesus. An angel appeared to Mary and then to Joseph concerning the birth of Christ. An angel announced the birth of Christ to the shepherds in the field. An angel comforted Jesus following His temptation and again at Gethsemane. Now on this first Easter morning, an angel is again sent as a divine messenger. The angel’s message to the women at the tomb and to the world then and now is that there is hope for everyone’s redemption. The resurrection was the most dramatic point in the history of the world. For up to this point there was no hope for our redemption, no hope at all, until Jesus Christ died for our sins and conquered sin and death.  

The Announcement by the Angel was a Message of Encouragement. Note the words in verse 5 and 6, “Fear not ye: for I know that ye seek Jesus which was crucified. He is not here: for he is risen as he said.” Jesus said He would raise from the dead, but these women rather than being excited about the great event, were depressed and discouraged because still fresh in their minds were what they had seen at the foot of the cross. They had forgotten what Jesus had told them while He was still alive. It was truly a time of despair as these two women went to the tomb to anoint the body of Jesus on that first Easter Sunday. They did not expect to hear a message of a Christ that was alive but they expected to find His lifeless body. They had let the circumstances of the last three days confuse them. We in the same way let the circumstances of this world get us to take our eyes off of Christ and His power.

What this message did was give these confused women and the little band of fearful disciples who were hiding from the authorities, a new hope. They would go from the pits of despair and fear to a renewed courage and victory. What the resurrection did was validate the teachings and sacrificial death of Jesus Christ. All that Jesus said He was, and all the claims He made were now proven true when He rose from the dead. That is why the chief priests did what they did in Matthew 28:11-15. They had to discredit the resurrection of Jesus because it would not only prove that Jesus was the promised Messiah, but they would be shown as the hypocrites that Jesus said they were. 

The whole priestly system and the sacrifices of the temple were no longer needed. This is clearly seen in Matthew 27:51, “And behold, the veil of the temple was rent in twain from top to bottom” which meant direct access to God. There is no longer any need for a high priest to be the mediator between us and God. We can approach God directly. Because of the resurrection of Jesus Christ, we can now have a personal relationship with Jesus Christ that prior to this time was not possible. We can now have Christ living within our hearts.

Let us all have a renewed faith as we hear the message of the angel, “He is not here: for he is risen.” Christ is alive and well in the lives of Christians today. He hears us as we pray. He takes note of our distresses. He supplies the grace we need. As our living Savior, He guides and directs us in every avenue of our life. The power of the resurrected Christ can do what no person or group of persons can do for you. It will make you a new man or women in Christ. Yes the Good News is, Christ Arose! He is the Risen Savior, your Savior, Christ the Lord.

Pastor Ralph

Taking Up Your Cross

We read in Matthew 16:24, “ Then Jesus told his disciples, “If any man would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me.” For many Lent means giving up something that we like for the 40 days leading up to Easter Sunday. For myself it is a time to reflect about the events of the life of Christ and at the same time take a good look at my own personal relationship with Jesus Christ. Lent should be a time that we do more than give up something. It would be a good time to improve some area of our Christian life. Jesus never meant that we had to give up normal comforts and endure self-inflicted pain to overcome sin or gain favor with God. There is no special merit in giving up something for the sake of just giving it up. 

Paul addresses this issue in Colossians 2:20-23. “If you die with Christ to the principles of this world, why, as though you still belong to it, do you submit to its rules: 21 Do not handle! Do not taste! Do not touch! 22 These are all destined to perish with use, because they are based on human commands and teachings. 23 Such regulations indeed have an appearance of wisdom, with their self-imposed worship, their false humility and their harsh treatment of the body, but they lack any value in restraining sensual indulgence.”

To simply out it, Paul is saying that self-inflicted punishment or pain does not really get to the heart of the sin problem in the lives of people. These are external works. What really needs to happen is for a change to take place on the inside. Outside things are something we wear that does not really affect the inner person. Jesus did not mean self-inflicted punishment when He spoke of denying self. He doesn’t want us to suffer but He does expect us to put Him first in everything. Nothing is to occupy such a place in our lives that it prevents us from giving our Lord and Savior the love, honor, obedience, and service He alone deserves.

Is Jesus Christ the top priority in your life? This needs to be considered during the Lenten Season. Luke 9:23 says essentially the same things as Matthew 16:24 but he adds the word daily. We read, “If anyone would come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me.” 

To deny oneself means to obliterate self as the dominant principal of life and make God truly number one. This is what Christ meant by denying self. During this Lenten Season, let us do more than give up something. Let us take serious what it means to deny self and take up one’s cross and follow Jesus. Lent points the way towards Easter Sunday and the glorious event called the Resurrection. Let us prepare for this wonderful event by growing in our Christian walk with Jesus Christ. 

Pastor Ralph

The True Meaning of Christmas

Christmas has become a very commercialized holiday and for many the true meaning of Christmas has been forgotten. I really enjoy Christmas and I love decorating my home with Christmas decorations. This can be fun but we must not lose sight of the real meaning of Christmas. We are celebrating the birth of our Savior Jesus Christ. 

Paul states in Galatians 4:4, “But when the time had fully come, God sent forth his Son.” The Bible shows the timing of God is always according to His perfect plan. The world was ripe for His coming. The political situation had Rome ruling the known world. We had the Greek language as the world language of commerce. A Roman citizen was able to travel through the empire something that had not been possible before or since that time. It was the perfect time to spread the Gospel of Jesus Christ. When we look at the moral and spiritual situation we find a world that needed a spiritual awakening. Judaism had become a legalistic system that was dead spiritually. Other cultures had pagan gods. Society was devoid spiritually.

The birth of Jesus was a humble birth. He was born in a stable for animals in Bethlehem. At the time His birth went unnoticed but His impact would later change the world forever. We read in Galatians 4:5 the purpose of Christ’s coming which was, “to redeem those who were under the law, so that we might receive adoption as sons.” As sinners humanity was condemned by the law. But the birth of Christ changed all of that and salvation is now available when we accept Christ into our heart. 

Christ took our condemnation by going to the cross and dying in our place. Verse 5 is very clear about Christ’s purpose, “to redeem.” Paul makes it very clear that Christ’s ultimate purpose was our adoption into the family of God. The sin of Adam and Eve broke our relationship with God. Jesus came to restore that broken relationship and make us part of the body of Christ. If we look at both redemption and adoption we realize that redemption is a legal act that delivers us from sin. This had to happen for the salvation of the world. Never take this for granted because our redemption came as a result of the great sacrifice of Jesus Christ. Adoption is an act of love. Paul states that Jesus came “that we might receive adoption.” If we look at Roman law we find that adoption meant that the person received the full benefit and status of a natural born child. At our adoption we become sons of God.

Christ came to earth over two thousand years ago. The event we celebrate on Christmas Day was just the beginning. Don’t let the commercialism of what for many is just a holiday take away the true meaning of Christmas. Remember that because of Christ we are now children of God and are heirs of eternal life. That is why Jesus Christ came to earth on that first Christmas Day. 

Pastor Ralph

Fear Not

We read in Isaiah 41:10, “fear not, for I am with you,be not dismayed, for I am your God;I will strengthen you, I will help you,I will uphold you with my victorious right hand.”  This verse was written to be an encouragement to the people of Israel, but it also speaks to us today. The Lord is telling us that He will be with us and that we need not be anxious about anything. We are told that the Lord will strengthen and help us and uphold us. As a pastor I have found that many persons spend a lot of time worrying about what will happen next. They look at life on the negative side, never taking the time to look at all they have.  

Our text says, “fear not”. This is something we should all be thankful for. Just think, God is always with us. When a child is scared and they put their arms around one of their parents, they feel safe and secure. This is the way we should feel because God’s is ever present in our life. Christians, we have a lot to be thankful for. Our heavenly Father is always with us no matter where we are and no matter how difficult life may have become. God is holding our hand the same way a loving parent would hold the hand of their child. 

Our test goes on to say, “be not dismayed, for I am your God.” The trouble today is that millions are unhappy and discontent because they worship the god of temporal pursuits. Their god is possessions, pleasures, power and popularity. But these things soon decay, depreciate, and deteriorate. None of these things can really satisfy. How quickly the temporal things fade away and don’t bring real fulfillment in life. But as Christians we have a lot to be thankful for. We have the living God who can satisfy the longing of our soul. So be encouraged because all who trust in Christ will have the longing of their heart satisfied. 

How wonderful are the words of the verse 10,  “I will strengthen you, I will help you” 2nd Corinthians 12:9, “And He has said to me, My grace is sufficient for you, for power is perfected in weakness. Most gladly, therefore, I will rather boast about my weakness, that the power of Christ may dwell in me.” Paul is saying that God gives us strength at just the time we need it. 

The last part of Isaiah 41:10 tells us, “I will uphold you with my victorious right hand” Yes, the Lord will take us His Children by the hand and guide us, as a loving parent would help their child across a street. You wouldn’t let a child go half way across the street and say you are on your own would you? God would not do that to us. He promises to be at our side all the way. We read in Matthew 28:20, “and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age.” It’s like the song that says He hasn’t brought us this far to let us go. As a Christian we can say with confidence, all the way my Savior leads me.

Pastor Ralph 

The Day the World Changed

“But on the first day of the week, at early dawn, they went to the tomb, taking the spices which they had prepared. And they found the stone rolled away from the tomb, but when they went in they did not find the body. While they were perplexed about this, behold, two men stood by them in dazzling apparel; and as they were frightened and bowed their faces to the ground, the men said to them, “Why do you seek the living among the dead? Remember how he told you, while he was still in Galilee, that the Son of man must be delivered into the hands of sinful men, and be crucified, and on the third day rise.” And they remembered his words, and returning from the tomb they told all this to the eleven and to all the rest.  

The Jewish people were under Roman rule. It is estimated that five million people were slaves. Infant mortality was very high and few lived to the age of six. Plagues took many lives. Rome taxed the people to the maximum. On that first Easter Sunday we find that the women wept as they prepared spices and perfumes for the body of Jesus. 

We find two men who were sorrowful on the road to Emmaus Eleven disciples were very confused and disillusioned. We find a rather bleak picture the first Easter morning. We look at our world today and we find a world that is still very troubled. A large part of our world still has little freedom. We look at this planet and find hunger and poverty prevalent in many places. Crime is on the increase and we are loosing ground in our fight against drugs and alcohol abuse. Many persons are depressed and worried over bad relationships with people and many suffer from low self-esteem. Easter April 9, 2023 dawns on a troubled world.

The women who came to the tomb were sad but hurried back excited after they found out that Christ had rose from the grave. This is seen in Matthew 28:8, “And they departed quickly from the sepulchre with fear and great joy; and did run to bring his disciples word.” That first Easter morning quickly turned sorrow into joy. Remember that Christ told them He would rise from the dead but they did not figure it out while Jesus was with them. We see this in the fact that their major concern was to get to the grave to anoint the body.

But once they reached the tomb, they were no longer sad. In fact their lives and the lives of the disciples would forever be changed. The greatest change of all was that they now believed all that Jesus had told them. The Resurrection validated the message of Jesus Christ. All that He had told them had now come to pass. That day the world did change and the message was quite clear, Jesus was now the living Savior who had risen from the dead. The disciples were now ready to proclaim the message of Jesus Christ to the world. 

Pastor Ralph

Preparing for Easter

Since the early centuries the Church has suggested three things that we undertake during Lent, prayer, fasting and almsgiving. It is for this reason that the Gospel text for Ash Wednesday every year is Jesus’ advice on prayer, fasting and almsgiving (Matt 6:1-6, 16-18). During Lent we want to pray more, fast and help the poor.

Lent is a time for more prayer. We live busy lives and there is much emphasis on enjoying life but a life without prayer is a life without the joy of the presence of God. If we do not pray we are not Christians at full potential; we are only walking when we could be running. Martha was busy serving when Jesus came but Mary spent time with him and Jesus said, “Martha, Martha, you are anxious and worried about many things. There is need of only one thing. Mary has chosen the better part and it will not be taken from her.” (Luke 10:41-42) Lent is not only about helping others and doing something, it is also about the type of person that we are. We pray because all goodness comes from God and when we pray we touch God. God is our loving Father who greatly desires us to allow him to be close to us. So we need to pray more during this Lenten season so that we may experience more of the joy of the Lord.

In the past the church put more emphasis on prayer and fasting. From a spiritual point of view, fasting symbolizes our dependence on God. It expresses the fact that we really are trying to put God first in our life. The Bible tells us that fasting from food must go together with fasting from what we know is wrong. In other words, when we fast from food it is to be accompanied by a loving and forgiving attitude towards others. To fast this way is to please God by making an effort to forgive those who have hurt us and to not harbor resentment any longer? Why do we keep grudges? Is it because we like to be in control? To forgive, we also need to give up our need to be in control. If we have a problem forgiving someone, we can share it with the Lord and ask his help so that we may forgive. We do not want to live being dominated by past wounds. We need to live in the present, free of the past.

The word “Lent” is an old English word that means “springtime.” May this Lent really be a new springtime in the lives of each one of us. Through prayer, through fasting and by forgiving others and not bearing grudges, we can be like Jesus in the desert for forty days overcome temptation and be well prepared to celebrate Easter.

Pastor Ralph

Living For What Is Worth Dying For

A lot of people make New Year’s resolutions, a time for setting our sights, a time for new hope for a new year. Setting a plan is a good thing. We are creatures with the ability to look into the future and imagine and envision. We must use this gift to the glory of God.

In the late 1980’s Steven Covey wrote a best selling book entitled, “Seven Habits of Highly Effective People.” It is the result of hundreds of hours of study and observation and interestingly enough, but not surprisingly, his discoveries of truth about life sound a lot like what you read in scripture. Covey says that before we can become mature, we must accept that we have the power to choose and that we are ultimately responsible for our choices. He uses the word “proactive” a lot. Does that sound a bit like Genesis 2:3 where God allowed Adam and Eve to face the liar and decide whose words they would trust? They were given a choice, but did not choose wisely. Think of the consequences of the power to choose! Next, Covey says, “We need to begin with the end in mind.” The point here is that unless Jesus returns in our life-time, we are all going to die. As the scripture in Psalm 90:12 says, “Teach us to number our days, that we may gain a heart of wisdom.” And as Hebrews 9:27 reminds us, “It is appointed unto man once to die and after that the judgment.” And as Paul wrote to the Corinthians in 2 Cor. 5:10 “For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, that each one may be recompensed for the things done in the body, according to what he has done, whether good or bad. 11 Knowing, therefore, the fear of the Lord, we persuade men…” As an application for beginning with the end in mind, Covey makes a wise suggestion: “Write your own funeral service.” In other words write down what you would like to have said about your life at your funeral. This helps you to get in touch with what is most important to you. It also helps you realize that whatever you live for now ends up being what you eventually died for.

Are you living for what you honestly believe is worth dying for? God gives us the time and opportunity to do just that! He gives us the instruction in his word that shows us how to live for what is truly worth dying for and he gives us strength through his Holy Spirit and the fellowship of other brothers and sisters in Christ to experience just such a life!

By the way, it’s not as complex as you think. As a Christian I know that living for what is worth dying for is as simple as walking with the Lord every day. Walking with God in Jesus Christ is worth dying for! Every day that I do this, I live a day that is worth dying for. What could be greater than serving Jesus? If you serve a brother or sister in his name, you serve the Lord himself! What could be greater than helping someone else get to heaven? If you confess your faith in Jesus Christ and walk with him, you will do just that! What could be more amazing than to speak to and hear from the creator of the universe himself? If you read the scriptures and pray you are doing just that!

Loving God and loving one another, walking in Christ according to his word, this is the greatest life that you can live.

The year 2022 has been filed away in the archives of time and history and 2023 is on the horizon. What will we do with the coming year? God has given us 31,536,000 seconds to spend this past year. How have we spent them? Would you die for what you lived for this past year? You gave a year of your life for whatever you did. This year ahead, some of us may not live to see end. If the Lord returns, none of us will.

Pastor Ralph

Standing on the Pillars of Prayer and Love

We read in Mark 11:25“And when you stand praying, if you hold anything against anyone, forgive him, so that your Father in heaven may forgive you your sins.” Just as Jesus gave us the second greatest commandment, “Love your neighbor as yourself,” there is a second relationship that is crucial to having our prayers answered. How is love for God and love for others connected? 

In the Lord’s Prayer we learned that if we expect to be forgiven we must also forgive others.  This takes that one step further.  Forgiving someone is one thing, but actually loving them is another thing entirely.  But remember Jesus’ teaching about hate is that if we hate another person and speak badly about them, it is no better than actually murdering them. 

Usually when we pray we get in a certain frame of mind to come before God. This may be the only time of day when we think about God.  However, even when we don’t think about God, He thinks about us and sees us at all times.  Our lives need to be a reflection of God’s love. Does your life match your prayers?

Love sums up everything about relationships. If we are always loving, we will have no problem being forgiven. Our relationship with God will not suffer because our relationships with people will always be in love. 

The Church stands on two pillars, Prayer and Love. Without one or the other, the church will not stand. We cannot love the way God loves unless we ask God to enable us to do so. On the other side, our prayers may go unanswered if we harbor resentment towards others and are unloving. 

As we mature as Christians our love should naturally grow because we better understand God’s love for us. And as our love for God grows, so does our relationship with Him and consequently our prayer life. 

The deeper our love grows, the greater our prayer life should become. The deeper our prayer life becomes, the greater our love should grow.

Pastor Ralph

A Message of Encouragement

The closing chapter of the Gospel of Matthew unfolds for us the wonderful account of that first Easter morning. Let us go back to that morning so long ago. There were two women both of who were named Mary and they came early to the tomb to worship and care for the body of Jesus. For them it was not a happy occasion because they had been at the foot of the cross and witnessed the death of Jesus. Now they were going to the tomb with spices to anoint the body. In fact, far from their minds was the resurrection that Jesus had told of in advance. This is supported by Marks account of that first Easter morning as recorded in Mark 16:3, “Who shall roll away the stone from the door of the sepulchre?” To their surprise, an earthquake, and empty tomb, and an angel greeted them. 

Angels appeared in both the Old and New Testaments, always in connection with a great event. This can be especially observed in the life and ministry of Jesus. An angel appeared to Mary and then to Joseph concerning the birth of Christ. An angel announced the birth of Christ to the shepherds in the field. An angel comforted Jesus following His temptation and again at Gethsemane. Now on this first Easter morning, an angel is again sent as a divine messenger. The angel’s message to the women at the tomb and to the world then and now is that there is hope for everyone’s redemption. The resurrection was the most dramatic point in the history of the world. For up to this point there was no hope for our redemption, no hope at all, until Jesus Christ died for our sins and conquered sin and death.  

The Announcement by the Angel was a Message of Encouragement. Note the words in verse 5 and 6, “Fear not ye: for I know that ye seek Jesus which was crucified. He is not here: for he is risen as he said.” Jesus said He would raise from the dead, but these women rather than being excited about the great event, were depressed and discouraged because still fresh in their minds were what they had seen at the foot of the cross. They had forgotten what Jesus had told them while He was still alive. It was truly a time of despair as these two women went to the tomb to anoint the body of Jesus on that first Easter Sunday. They did not expect to hear a message of a Christ that was alive but they expected to find His lifeless body. They had let the circumstances of the last three days confuse them. We in the same way let the circumstances of this world get us to take our eyes off of Christ and His power.

What this message did was give these confused women and the little band of fearful disciples who were hiding from the authorities, a new hope. They would go from the pits of despair and fear to a renewed courage and victory. What the resurrection did was validate the teachings and sacrificial death of Jesus Christ. All that Jesus said He was, and all the claims He made were now proven true when He rose from the dead. That is why the chief priests did what they did in Matthew 28:11-15. They had to discredit the resurrection of Jesus because it would not only prove that Jesus was the promised Messiah, but they would be shown as the hypocrites that Jesus said they were. 

The whole priestly system and the sacrifices of the temple were no longer needed. This is clearly seen in Matthew 27:51, “And behold, the veil of the temple was rent in twain from top to bottom” which meant direct access to God. There is no longer any need for a high priest to be the mediator between us and God. We can approach God directly. Because of the resurrection of Jesus Christ, we can now have a personal relationship with Jesus Christ that prior to this time was not possible. We can now have Christ living within our hearts.

Let us all have a renewed faith as we hear the message of the angel, “He is not here: for he is risen.” Christ is alive and well in the lives of Christians today. He hears us as we pray. He takes note of our distresses. He supplies the grace we need. As our living Savior, He guides and directs us in every avenue of our life. The power of the resurrected Christ can do what no person or group of persons can do for you. It will make you a new man or women in Christ. Yes the Good News is, Christ Arose! He is the Risen Savior, your Savior, Christ the Lord! 

Pastor Ralph

Using the Gifts That We Are Given

The parable of the talents in Matthew 25:14-30 is a parable that is familiar to most of us. We have heard it in Sunday School and in many sermons. This parable is about the manner in which God will judge the world and his people. It is a straight forward. A man who is about to leave on a journey entrusts his servants with different portions of his property. They are to look after that property while he is away. Two of the servants double the investment they are entrusted with, and are richly rewarded for doing so and are given even greater responsibility but the third gains nothing for his master. All he does is keep what he was given doing nothing with it and so what he was entrusted with is taken from him and he is cast off the estate of his master.  

As I said, it is a straightforward account. But what lesson does this parable have for us? I have seen this parable interpreted as a simple exhortation to work hard at developing the gifts and talents that God has given us. The message is that if you aren’t productive with what God has given you, you will lose it. I feel this is true and it explains why so many people are so spiritually impoverished, why our churches and our society is in so much trouble. Too many of us have failed to use what God has given us and we have failed to do anything more than hide God’s gifts deep in our own lives. We have failed to reach out and share God’s gifts with others, and so these gifts have been wasted helping no one. It is as if those gifts had never existed and God had never given us anything. Use it or lose it that is one of the messages of this parable. But I want to suggest to you another explanation.

I believe we are not judged according to the quantity of the work we do for God, but rather we are judged by our attitude by our willingness to do as God wants us to do. I believe we will be judged by our willingness to risk all that we have been given for the sake of the Kingdom just as Jesus gave His all for our sake. As Paul writes “it is by grace, through faith, that we are saved, not by works, lest anyone should boast.” If we reduce the parable of the talents simply to a matter of saying that we must be productive for God or else be condemned by God then we miss what is good about the Christian life. We will end up being afraid, worried more about how well we are doing in the eyes of God than if we are doing the will of God. Consider the servant who buried the talent entrusted to him. He said in verse 25 that he was afraid. The servant was afraid so he buried what he had been given to keep it safe and ends up doing nothing. The judgment of the master falls upon the servant when he hears his explanation of what he had done. He angered the master because he did absolutely nothing. The parable of the talents is not a lesson about our degree of ability or productivity. It is a lesson about our attitude and responsibility, about stepping out with God’s gifts in our hands and on faith using what we have been given to further the kingdom of God. 

We all need to ask ourselves if we are using the gifts we have been given to build up the church and to bring praise to God? Would you have to admit that you are using your gifts only for your own benefit? There is a little piece I’ve seen reprinted in various forms in different church newsletters. It goes like this: What would the church be like if every member were just like me? This spoke to me many years ago and it still does today. Would our church be empty on Sunday, or full to overflowing, if everyone attended as I do? How much Bible Study and prayer would occur if everyone took the time I do? How many bruised, hurting, lonely people, would be touched by the church if every member acted exactly as I do? Would we need more ushers and offering plates if everyone gave like me? How many children would be led to Christ through the Sunday School and church if everyone had my priorities? Would the church just be an attractive social club, would it be closed, bankrupt, out of business; or would it be a dynamic force for Jesus Christ in our community and our world if everyone were just like me? What would the church be like if every member were just like me? This is an important question we all need to ask.

Pastor Ralph