“I will bless the Lord at all times. His praise shall continually be in my mouth”
(Psalm 34:1, NKJV)
It’s easy to get focused on what’s wrong in life, what we don’t have, and how big our obstacles are. If we’re not careful, we’ll lose sight of all the good things God has done. We’ll take for granted our family, friends, health and the opportunities God has blessed us with. We’ll get so busy and stressed out that we won’t appreciate the gift of today. What’s happened? Our perspective has gotten off.
Perspective is all about how we see a situation. There’s power in your perspective because you will draw into your life what you constantly meditate on. Business may be slow. The economy may be down. The wrong perspective is, “I’ll never make it. It’s just too much.” The right perspective is, “God is supplying all of my needs. He said He would prosper me even in a desert.”
Today, I encourage you to evaluate your perspective. Choose to lift your eyes to God the Father no matter what is happening in your circumstances. Remember, as you set your perspective in the right direction, your life will follow. When you keep an attitude of faith and expectancy, you open the door for His blessing in every area of your life!
Let your perspective allow you to see that God is at work. God is touching lives in Rosemont Community Church and through Rosemont Community Church. One of the great principals of Reformed theology and what the Bible teaches is that God is always at work. He is creating new opportunities for discovering his grace. He is giving us opportunities to be His witnesses and share His love. This is happening all around us and certainly it is happening at Rosemont Community Church. Lives are being changed. People are excited. These are good times.
Heavenly Father, I choose to bless you at all times. I declare that you are faithful! I lift my eyes to you because you are the source of my help, strength and joy forevermore. Thank you for leading and guiding me for your glory. In Jesus’ Name. Amen.
Of all the preachers I have heard, one of my favorite preachers is Tony Campolo. And of all the Sermons he has preached, the most memorable for me is “It’s Friday but Sunday’s coming”. Let me share with you something about this man and this particular message.
Here's the story. Tony Campolo is a member of the Mt Carmel Baptist Church, an African American church in Philadelphia. He describes it as "the closest thing to heaven this side of the pearly gates!" As in all African American churches, the Deacons sit on the stage behind the preacher, and whenever he says something good, they cheer him on and yell "Preach it, brother! Preach, brother!" The women in the church usually wave one hand in the air and call out ... "Well & well!" One Sunday when Tony was struggling half way through his sermon, a lady in the back row yelled, "Help him, Jesus! Help him!" That was all he needed to know that things really weren't going well that day!
One Good Friday service, Tony was one of seven to preach that day, one after the other! Campolo writes... "When it was my turn, I rolled into high gear, and I want to tell you, I was good! The more I preached, the more people in the congregation turned on ... and the more they turned on, the better I got. I got so good, I wanted to take notes! At the end, the congregation broke loose with hallelujahs and cries of joy!"
“I sat down next to the senior pastor and he looked at me with a smile. He reached out and squeezed my knee, "You did all right boy," he said. (I must admit that I hate it when he calls me 'boy.') I turned to him and said, "Pastor, are you going to be able to top that?" The old man smiled at me and said, "Son, you just sit back 'cause this old man is going to do you in.'
“I didn't figure that anybody could have beaten me that day. I had been so good. But the old man got up, and I have to admit, he did just what he said! The amazing thing is that he did it with one line. For an hour and a half he preached that one line over and over. For an hour and a half he stood that crowd on its ear with just one line, "It's Friday but Sunday's coming."
“That line may not blow you away, but you should have heard him do it. He started really soft .. "It was Friday; it was Friday and my Jesus was dead on the tree, but that was Friday and Sunday's coming." One of the Deacons yelled... "Preach, brother, preach!"
"It was Friday and Mary was crying her eyes out. The disciples were running in every direction, like sheep without a shepherd, but that was Friday. And Sunday's coming." The congregation responded ... the men with 'keep going ... keep going’ ... and the women with ‘well ... well.' He picked up the volume... "It was Friday, the cynics were looking at the world and saying, 'nothing will change, we told you...’ But that was only Friday and Sunday's coming.
It was Friday and on Friday Pilate thought he had washed his hands of a lot of trouble. The Pharisees were strutting around, laughing and poking each other in the ribs. They thought they were back in charge, but they didn't know that it was only Friday! Sunday's coming!
He kept on working the phrase for a half hour, then an hour, then an hour and a quarter, then an hour and a half. Over and over he came at us... 'It's Friday but Sunday's coming! ' By the time he came to the end, I was exhausted. He had me and everybody else so worked up that I don't think any of us could have stood it much longer. At the end he just yelled at the top of his lungs... 'IT'S FRIDAY!’... and all 500 of us in that church yelled back .. 'SUNDAY'S COMING!'
Yes, Tony is a gifted preacher and oh, the power of that phrase, and it is so relevant. Friend you may be in a black Friday. You may be at a moment of crucifixion where the world is caving in all around. But the good news is SUNDAY IS COMING! Whatever grief or problem or frustration or crisis is upon you always remember the power of this one phrase -- SUNDAY IS COMING!
We're Easter people. There is no gravestone with Jesus' name on it. Jesus' bones aren't resting somewhere in a tomb in the Middle East. God raised Jesus from death and God has pledged that he's going to raise all of his people
As Paul writes... "Christ has been raised up, the first in a long line of those who are going to leave the cemeteries and absolutely nothing, nothing in this life and not even death, can now get between us and God's love."
Happy Easter,
Pastor John
Friday is the day. It always is. It never changes. It is trash day at the Foster household. So dutifully, every Thursday evening and Friday morning, we search the house for anything that can find its way into the garbage receptacle. And oh if we forget to take it out… we got problems. First there is the unsightly nature of trash. Then there is, in some cases, the smell of trash. But when I forget to take out the trash, it builds and builds and then the issue is, what do I do with all this trash? Let it be said it is neither easy nor nice to live with trash.
I think this is a perfect metaphor for life as well as for the season of Lent. How much trash have we accumulated in our lives that we have not disposed of? We have all probably collected emotional baggage or refuse over the years. For example, when someone causes us pain and wounds our heart and it is not repaired, we may begin to harbor bad feelings in some corner of our heart. Or maybe we took the time to do some good for someone at the cost of much effort and even personal sacrifice, and we do not even receive a simple thank you. Other times, we feel pain because someone fails us; maybe they forgot that appointment or that special date, birthday, anniversary. As the years add up, we can accumulate all this pain, despair, discouragement, resentment, envy, anger, rage, disappointment, and thousands of negative feelings that will begin to fill our being with the odor of bitterness and hatred. Don't go around with that in your life. Let's take out the trash!
This is really what the season in the church year called Lent is all about. It’s a time to dispose of the trash. It is a time to confess our sin to the Lord, and start the journey of being renewed by His Spirit and His Grace. Really, the season of Lent sets in motion what we ought to do daily all through the year. When a piece of trash becomes evident in our life, whether it be disappointment, sin, hurt, betrayal, failure, whatever it may be, God calls us to throw it out. He calls us to release it. He wants us to march out to our garbage receptacle and place it there and close the lid, figuratively speaking.
Listen – The sooner we deal with the pain, disappointment, resentment or hatred, and sin, the sooner we will recover our peace and joy.
As a Pastor, I have heard from many people many times, “Oh how I wish I had my joy back. I wish I had peace.” Friend, there is no reason you cannot have that joy and peace back in your life. God wants that for you! But by faith you must initiate the process. You need to take out the trash!
So in this season of Lent, I encourage you – LET IT GO!
Let go of the anger.
Let go of the resentment.
Let go of the bitterness.
Confess the sin that continually drives you.
Allow the fresh wind of the Spirit of God to come into your life and clean house. And restore to you a spirit of joy and peace.
Blessings to all of you in this season of Lent!,
Pastor John
St. Valentine's day has always been a quizzical holiday for me. I think of this day and ask, "What is the love we are celebrating? Is it simply Romantic? Does it have any tie in to the essence of love described in the Scriptures? Do people become deeply reflective and contemplate the nature of love and what it means?" These questions and others have continued to present themselves as Valentines Day approaches.
I suppose to get a grasp on this day; we should look at a brief history of its origin. I am told and I have read that Valentines Day is shrouded in some mystery, at least regarding its history. There are varying opinions as to the origin of Valentine's Day. Some experts state that it originated from St. Valentine, a Roman who was martyred for refusing to give up Christianity. He died on February 14, 269 A.D., the same day that had been devoted to love lotteries. Legend also says that St. Valentine left a farewell note for the jailer's daughter, who had become his friend, and signed it "From Your Valentine". Other aspects of the story say that Saint Valentine served as a priest at the temple during the reign of Emperor Claudius. Claudius then had Valentine jailed for defying him. In 496 A.D. Pope Gelasius set aside February 14 to honor St. Valentine.
I found this first person account of Valentines Day on the Internet. I thought it was quite helpful in describing the occasion and its meaning:
Let me introduce myself. My name is Valentine. I lived in Rome during the third century. That was long, long ago! At that time, Rome was ruled by an emperor named Claudius. I didn't like Emperor Claudius, and I wasn't the only one! A lot of people shared my feelings.
Claudius wanted to have a big army. He expected men to volunteer to join. Many men just did not want to fight in wars. They did not want to leave their wives and families. As you might have guessed, not many men signed up. This made Claudius furious. So what happened? He had a crazy idea. He thought that if men were not married, they would not mind joining the army. So Claudius decided not to allow any more marriages. Young people thought his new law was cruel. I thought it was preposterous! I certainly wasn't going to support that law!
Did I mention that I was a priest? One of my favorite activities was to marry couples. Even after Emperor Claudius passed his law, I kept on performing marriage ceremonies -- secretly, of course. It was really quite exciting. Imagine a small candlelit room with only the bride and groom and myself. We would whisper the words of the ceremony, listening all the while for the steps of soldiers.
One night, we did hear footsteps. It was scary! Thank goodness the couple I was marrying escaped in time. I was caught. (Not quite as light on my feet as I used to be, I guess.) I was thrown in jail and told that my punishment was death.
I tried to stay cheerful. And do you know what? Wonderful things happened. Many young people came to the jail to visit me. They threw flowers and notes up to my window. They wanted me to know that they, too, believed in love.
One of these young people was the daughter of the prison guard. Her father allowed her to visit me in the cell. Sometimes we would sit and talk for hours. She helped me to keep my spirits up. She agreed that I did the right thing by ignoring the Emperor and going ahead with the secret marriages. On the day I was to die, I left my friend a little note thanking her for her friendship and loyalty. I signed it, "Love from your Valentine."
I believe that note started the custom of exchanging love messages on Valentine's Day. It was written on the day I died, February 14, 269 A.D. Now, every year on this day, people remember. But most importantly, they think about love and friendship. And when they think of Emperor Claudius, they remember how he tried to stand in the way of love, and they laugh -- because they know that love can't be beaten! (anonymous)
Yes, a simple yet profound little story to get a handle on Valentines Day. And for me it makes the day so much more important and worthy of celebration. I picked up some definite themes concerning Valentines Day and it's celebration from history as well as this story:
These are but a few observations that I have. But there is at least one more that comes to mind as I reflect on St. Valentines Day: This day in it's history and substance is about sacrifice. It truly models the life of Christ as he gave his life for our redemption. Jesus was the true model of love. He gave when it hurt. He gave to the point of death. Really, that is the best definition of love anyone can give and it was so modeled by St. Valentine.
Maybe the application to us as people of God is to remember the essence of love we celebrate. Sure, go ahead and enjoy the romantic nuances of this day. After all, according to the story, St Valentine initiated ceremonies of marriage. But remember the compelling motivation of his action.
As people of God, our true driving force is the Love of Jesus. As I share in one part of my benediction… "And may the grace (love) of our Lord Jesus Christ be yours to give away to a hurting a broken world. A world that needs your personal touch…"
That my friend is the meaning of St. Valentines Day and that is what we are commissioned to do! And as we conclude our Outflow Series on February 12th, we will practically show forth Jesus' love as we reach out to two assisted living centers, the Veteran's hospital as well as the Tour De Cookie carnival. And there will be those staying in the Rosemont Church building offering up prayers for Jesus love to shine through us! So friends may the spirit of St. Valentine, as well as the Holy Spirit shine through you!
In Christ's Love,
Pastor John
CHRISTMAS is a time for making journeys. The travel agencies know that at Christmas there will be a rush for bookings. Air flights are full. Seats are hard to get. Ferries, trains and buses fill up with people who are traveling to see family and friends. The roads are busier than ever.
The first Christmas was also a time of traveling. Joseph and Mary made the journey from Nazareth to Bethlehem to take part in the census. It was a difficult trek of many days. With Mary expecting her first-born child it must have been an anxious time for them both. For them Christmas involved a long journey.
Christmas meant a journey also for the shepherds who were living out in the field keeping watch over their flocks. When the host of angels appeared to them they said to one another, 'Let's go to Bethlehem and see this thing that has happened.' For them it was not a long walk. But even for the shepherds Christmas included a journey.
The wise men are famous for the long journey they made to see the child born to be king. They lived far away in the east. When they saw the star they followed it, riding on camels. Christmas for them meant a long, a very long journey.
What about the angels? There was the chief angel who was entrusted with the task of making the great announcement to the shepherds about Jesus' birth. There was the 'great company of the heavenly host' (Luke 2:13) - angels who praised God and sang, 'Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace' (Luke 2:14). Did they have to make a journey to be there?
We don't know a great deal about where angels live or what their travel arrangements are! But I can imagine that when the angels received their instructions from God they set out for the fields outside Bethlehem. Even for the angels, Christmas involved a journey; perhaps an immensely long one.
But on the first Christmas Day the longest journey by far was the journey of the Christ child himself. He made the journey all the way from Heaven to earth!
We can only stand in awe when we think of God sending his own son from Heaven as a gift to the world. In Heaven Jesus was a royal figure. He was 'the image of the invisible God' (Colossians 1:15). And yet on Christmas Day he was prepared to leave that heavenly glory and become a human child - a child for whom there was not even room at the inn.
By taking the longest journey of all, Jesus went from eternity into time. He went from divinity to humanity. He went from the power of a King of kings to the helplessness of a babe.
He came to show us what God is like. He came to tell us that God is a God of compassion, who knows and cares for each one of us. He came that we might have life, and life in all its fullness. And we would never have known that had Jesus not taken the longest journey of all on Christmas day - the journey that brought him right down to us.
We may not be able to explain it all. I doubt whether the shepherds could have explained the doctrine of God taking on human form. I doubt whether Joseph and Mary could have put into words what was happening. Perhaps not even the wise men or the angels would have been able to explain the Christmas story.
May I suggest to you that the meaning of Christmas is in the journey? Jesus is our supreme model as well as the Angels, Mary and Joseph, the Shepherds and the Wise Men. Besides the obvious, (and that is God coming to us in human flesh and sacrificing divine privilege so that we may have a liaison with God), Advent and Christmas is about the journey that God is calling us to experience. It is within the journey to the cradle and to the cross that we recognize who we are, our mortality, and our need for God. It is in the journey that we take on the pain of obedience, (and its joy), as well as the pain of sacrifice, (and its joy).
This Christmas God is calling you to a new journey. Not simply to live on past memories or experiences or what the world makes the season to be; but a journey of encountering Christ again in a new way.
May God give you joy in the journey as you identify with the greatest journey of all and that is the journey of God becoming human for us!
Pastor John
Did you love that movie with John Belushi and Dan Aykroyd as much as I did, "The Blues Brothers"? I loved that line."We're on a Mission from God." And although funny, how true!
Again I have the privilege of writing a monthly article forThe Lamplighter. And I do consider it a privilege because this is an opportunity to "stir the pot" so-to-say. It is a time to share vital information and get you thinking about the future. It is a time to reason together about what God is saying and calling us to do. And believe me, I want to communicate in such a way that people consider, reflect and talk about the issues being presented!
So, in my opinion, a newsletter article from the pastor needs to be on point. It needs to be reflecting on the matters at hand. And as I see it, it is about moving the church forward.>
Now I may make some disturbing comments from time to time. And I do so with the greatest respect for the institutional church and the countless number of Christians who are members. But here is the truth in my opinion. THE CHURCH, FOR THE MOST PART, IS NO LONGER EFFECTIVE OR AFFECTIVE IN HER WORLD. Why? Why has that become the reality? One reason is the church is answering questions that people are not asking. It's doing ministry as it did 25 to 50 years ago and consequently, the church is not meeting needs.
In the past generation, the church was all about being attractional. In other words, if you have a dynamic Sunday morning worship service, a nice looking and functional building, great programs for all ages, people will come. Not necessarily… It used to be that those things would attract but we live in a post-modern and post-Christian world where people are developing their own brand of spirituality. Call it the smorgasbord approach. "I'll take a little bit of this and a lot of that and presto! I got my spiritual concoction." Or maybe it's the Mongolian Barbeque approach. I go in choose my fixins and have the cook fry them up with a little bit of hot oil and spices, and I got what will satisfy me.
And as people are trying to develop their own spiritual paradigm, the church is saying "We have the right answers, come to us." Friends, it doesn't work that way anymore. Honestly, I don't know if it ever did.
So what is the way of the new millennium? Well it is probably the way of the first hundred years of the first millennium with regards to the church. Why did the church grow in those first hundred years after Jesus? It grew because the people of God were living by Kingdom principals out in the world. They were taking an interest in their world and the people who were their neighbors.
Let me share a quote that I posted on my blog… (Yes, please check my blogs and become a participant, I would love to dialogue with you) … This quote is from a marvelous book I am presently reading called "The Tangible Kingdom" -
"Since the word missional theologically means 'to be sent' leaving is where living like a missionary really begins. Leaving isn't just about going overseas. It's about replacing personal or Christian activities with time spent building relationships with people in the surrounding culture."
YES! This is it! It means LEAVING THE BUILDING! If the church is going to have an impact, it is about Christian's going to places and events where people who do not know Christ congregate. And it is not necessarily laying on them a bunch of Bible verses. It is about loving, listening, and caring. It is about being human. And then at the God appointed time when relationships are built and trust is evident, those folk ask you questions about something that has caught their attention.
Don't get me wrong. It is great to have a physical property called Rosemont Community Church. This is a place to be charged up, fed and given encouragement for the mission. But the heartbeat of the church is in the phrase "Go and Be."
Blessings my friends, and onward…
Pastor John
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