God Became Man

 

  Pastor Fred started off the Advent Season and the birth of Christ in Isaiah 9. Seven hundred years before the birth of Christ, the promised Messiah, the Prophet Isaiah foretold of the coming Messiah and that all governments will be on His shoulders and that He would be given names like Almighty God, Prince of Peace, Wonderful Counselor, Everlasting Father and the greatness of His government will know no end. It will all also be filled with pace and justice and the coming Messiah will reign on David’s throne forever. 

  The season of Advent is really a time of waiting and expecting. Just as parents wait for the birth of their child, the nation of Israel was waiting on the promised Messiah. They were tired of being subjects to kings and foreign powers where they had no rights. Sure they were allowed to worship, but their worship often included rules that God never gave and they also may have had other religions of the day infiltrate their worship. At least they had to contend with people who thought, ate and worshiped differently than they did. It got to the point we’re different Jewish sects were formed to overthrow the current foreign regime so Gods Kingdom could be set up. In essence, Advent is about waiting for the coming of the Messiah in a fallen and broken world. In the twenty first century, we are not waiting for the messiah to be born, but to return as king. How are you preparing for the return of the promised Messiah who is coming to separate the wheat from the chaff? 

   According to John 1:14, Jesus became man and dwelt among us. What does that mean. The first one is that Jesus is all man and still all God. To my knowledge, there are no other would religions that have their dirties take on human form while still maintaining their diety. Jesus came so He could not only provide the ultimate sacrifice, but to also reveal God the Father to us. Throughout the Gospel of John, Jesus claims that He and the Father are one and if we have seen Jesus, we have seen the Father. I encourage you to read Philippians 2 this week and ponder what it means for Jesus being equal with God, put on flesh and to serve His creation. 

   The next aspect is that even though Jesus was all man, He still had authority and sovereignty. The daemons recognized Jesus and He cast them out. He also healed the sick, raised the dead and calmed the storm. When I was in college, there were times that the professor stopped lecturing and they became human. In essence, they were “letting their down.” Whether it was the sharing of a personal story that related to the subject matter, or for a few minutes, treating the class as equals and discussing something important. I remember having a conversation with some fellow students and a professor in his office about Advent. I thought it was cool and meaningful and I remember the professor validating our conversation and giving us something to think about. We still treated him with the respect he deserved, but we also took the opportunity to have a more personal conversation with him even if what’s for a short timeI also had to realize the next time we were in class, he was the professor and had the authority. The same is is with Jesus, even though He became man and dwelt among us, He is still God and we need to remember that

  The last aspect of Jesus we will cover is His divinity. If Jesus want perfect or divine, we still be lost in our sin and an eternal relationship with God is out of the question. His divinity is what gives Him the authority over death and is what made His sacrifice on the cross valid and applicable. Jesus being divine means that He was perfect and sinless, which this allowed Him to take our sin and punishment. If Jesus wasn’t divine, would He be any different than us?

  To wrap it up, here is my question we could ponder through all of the Advent Season. Who is Jesus and why does that matter to me? On of Jesus famous questions to His disciples was “who do you say that I am?” There are countless answers, but if it doesn’t come down to Lord of all and my personal Savior, we are in trouble. To paraphrase C.S. Lewis wrote once, Jesus is either Lord, Liar or Lunatic and we not only decide which one He is, but live it out and deal with the consequences 

 

Being Thankful

 

  With Thanksgiving this week, Pastor Fred preached on what it means to be thankful. It was a good word to hear, especially during the hustle and bustle of the holiday season with shopping, prepping and trying too coordinate time with family and friends. Here are some of my observations from the message.

  My first observation is that if we are to be continuously thankful, does it mean that we need a heart change? Another way to put it, how often do we need an attitude adjustment? It is way to easy to become a complainer, snarky or down right negative when things don’t go our way or we get stressed. Often the ones we love take the brunt of this and it often changes the dynamics of how they interact with us. Being snarky often creates more snark and could lead to hurt feelings. Sometimes being continuously thankful means we put ourselves in timeout, find out what our issues are and we deal with them. It even means seeking forgiveness when our bitterness has affected other people. 

  My second observation of being continuously thankful, we are to embrace Ephesians 5:18, which is that we are not to be drunk, but we are to be filled with the Holy Spirit. For those of us who grew up or spent time in a Holiness Church, this verse would be used to be anti drinking of any alcohol. I think the verse is adding alcohol and any activity that takes us away from God. What are those things that is all consuming and takes our focus off of God. When we get that focused, we tend not to make Godly decisions and something else becomes our god. Being thankful is making sure that God is the center of our lives and that all good gifts are from Him and we use those gifts to worship Him and not ourselves. 

  My third observation is are we thankful in spite of our circumstances. We all know that one person who always seems to be getting suckered punch by life, but they still are praising God. I knew a guy that way in college. No matter what, Denny always had a smile on his face and trusted God. So here is a question that I have, do we trust God because of our circumstances or in spite of them? Is our faith big enough to trust God in every situation and realize that He sees the picture when we don’t. In essence being thankful is a daily choice and there are days where it is a lot harder than others to be thankful 

  My final observation is when we are not thankful. In Romans 1:18-32, the crux of Paul’s message is that He revealed Himself through creation and we choose not to be thankful. In response, God washed His hands and gave us over to our selfish desires and sin. In essence God is saying “have at it kids.” This happens when we either are not thankful and ore greedy and we deserve every thing we get because we worked for it. In essence it is the unbiblical theology of karma, where we get stuff based on our actions, mo matter if it is good or bad. When we are not thankful, we often become conceded and eventually God will let go and let us suffer the consequences of our speech and actions.

  In conclusion, being thankful is a choice and a lifestyle. Throughout his letters, Paul consistently writes how He is thankful for Gods grace and for other people doing the will of the Father. This is a guy who was abandoned, shipwrecked, and beaten for his faith. Paul put God first in everything he did. I will close with Colossians 3:17 which in essence is no matter what we say or do, do it in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ giving thanks to God the Father through Him

Grace and Peace 

Tom Boustead 

Questions: 

  What does it mean to be filled with the Holy Spirit?

  When we are not thankful, what are some causes to it? 

   How do we live a life of thankfulness?

Rest

   

  This weekend Pastor Ben talked about rest and how after six days of creating, God took the seventh and rested. One might ask how can a God that is all powerful, need a day of rest? I think that is a legitimate question, but I also think that we need to redefine what rest is. Here are some of my observations about rest and how we can redefine it. 

  My first observation is that we have to decipher between what is being lazy and it means to be restful. Laziness usually means a lack of ambition, no drive and has no real sense of purpose. We can be lazy and busy at the same time if we don’t have a clear goal and or purpose/plan to get something done. True rest is that we are intentional about doing it. It is carving out time to spend with God took be renewed by Him and to foster a relationship with Him. This happens through the study of Scripture, prayer, worship and the gathering of believers. One of the ways I find ways to rest and connect with God is by grabbing my camera and head to a state park to take pictures, walk and to commune with God. Holy rest takes us out of the ordinary and our comfort zone to be more aware of God and to communicate with Him. 

  My second observation is that rest is that we are relying on God. In the Old Testament, there is a thing called the Year of Jubilee. It happened every seven years where the fields go unworked, debts are forgiven and slaves are made free. This is really radical because it forced Gods people to rely on God and be in communication with Him. In a culture that almost relies on either relying on ourselves to get stuff done or relying one someone else to it without much effort or participation from us. To sum it up, it is having that peace that we don’t need to do it all. Psalms 50:10 proclaims that every beast in the woods is Gods along with the cattle on a thousand hills. God is able and willing to provide for all of our needs.

   My third observation our beliefs come out in not what we say, but what we do. We can say we are going to loose that extra ten pounds, or work on communicating with those important to us. If we don’t put in the work   to it, what we say is pointless. Godly rest helps us to not only find out what is important but to develop the faith and relationship with God to put our words into action.

  My final observation is twofold. The first one do we not holy rest because it requires change either in thought, action, speech or location. How often do we stay in our disfunction because we either enjoy it, because it gives a right to do nothing but complain or it takes work.  In essence we are comfortable with the sin in our lives and we don’t mind being held in bondage by it. In essence we don’t want to do the work that God is calling us to so we would rather be a slave to sin. The other part is that God is more concerned about our character, because it affects everything we do and our relationships. Our we more concerned with God forming our character and us abiding in Him, or do rather do our own thing?

  So here are a couple of questions to ponder;

    What are those things that steal our joy and our Holy rest? 

     If Gods grace is free and unmerited, does it still need a response from God?

  What does it mean to abide? 

Grace and Peace

Tom Boustead

Gods Faithfulness

 

  Just a quick reminder that Pastor Fred preached on Gods faithfulness this weekend. Fred started off by diving into Lamentations 3. I will start with a question. How many of us has that one friend who tells it like it is and that tact is not in the top ten of their spiritual giftings? They will stick with you through the thick and thin, but warm fuzzies aren’t their thing. I feel that the Old Testament prophets are those type of friends, because they deliver Gods message to His people no matter the consequences. Jeremiah, the author of the book of Lamentations is one of those type of friends. In the book, he is lamenting how the people of God are in exile, Jerusalem is in ruins and the few people that do remain have no place to worship. Jeremiah is venting about the condition of everything around him, but in chapter 3 of Lamentations he declares that God is faithful and that His mercies are new every morning. So what can we meditate on about Gods faithfulness and goodness, especially with Thanksgiving right around the corner. 

  The first thing that Gods faithfulness is that it is not fickle. His faithfulness is at the very core of who He is. If God wasn’t faithful, that means water wouldn’t be wet. God is always there giving out grace and love  even went we are not faithful to Him. In the famous hymn come thou fount of every blessing there is the famous line of: 

              Prone to wondering, Lord I feel it, Prone to leave the God I love

 Even though we get on rabbit trails or develop a squirrel mentality, God doesn’t. We can always go back and find God with a repentant and He will take us back with open arms like what the father did with the Prodical Son. 

  My second observation is that Gods faithfulness is not ment for one person or a group of people. Every person is created in Gods image and that means His faithfulness is for all of us. John 3:16 tells us that. Also we can’t earn Gods grace or faithfulness because He gives it freely. But here is the kicker, Gods faithfulness demands and even requires a response. We all have a choice to either accept Gods grace and faithfulness or we can choose something else. It maybe cool in the short term but eventually the chickens will come home to roost and we will have to deal with those consequences, but God will be there because His faithfulness is not dependent on us and if it was, He would be God

  Finally, at some point in our lives we will go through that valley where we feel that we are alone and nothing is going right. It could be because that there is a strain in the relationships we hold dear, we received some not so great news from our boss or doctor, or we could be at a point where we can’t find God no matter what we do. Hang in there and God is still there. Take time to pray, read Scripture and find a friend that can be honest with you. A part of that is to have that friend listen and to hold you up in prayer and accountability. I heard a quote somewhere that we “got to know when to keep bang on the situation and when to let it go.” Having faith is knowing when to keep on banging and when to let it go. One last illustration. One time I was in that valley and I had a friend go Old Testament prophet on me in a good way and told me as much as we want that mountain top experience, the oxygen one the nutritional grass is in the valley. This is where we grow and where God ultimately provides His faithfulness in the daily care for us and for us to rely on Him because we seek His face above all else 

Grace and Peace 

Tom Boustead

Dwelling among us

 

  As we are going through the attributes of God, Pastor Fred talked about the transcendence and the immanence of God. As a reminder, transcendence is where God sits outside of creation and how He is above and greater than creation. Immanence is where God dwells among His creation and is among us. This reminds me of John 1:14 where the Word became flesh and dwelt among us. If we were to take a deep dive into the Greek, this verse has a meaning of God came and He set up a tent so He could live among is and be known to His creation. It kind of has a camping feel to it where we pitch a tent out in nature so we can get away and connect with God through what He has created. This leads me to a couple of thoughts. 

  The first one is that are there times when God shows up and we don’t recognize Him. For whatever reason we don’t realize that He is in our midst. Could it be because we are not mature enough to recognize it, or that we are so distracted with our own things that we don’t realize when He speaks. Or do we pull a Jonah and we run the other direction. It’s because He has either asked or could ask us to do something we don’t want to do. In my experience, when this happens, there is some tension in the relationship and something that is causing the relationship to go haywire. It could be because we aren’t on the same page or that I have an attitude and sin problem and I don’t want to properly deal with it. 

  My second observation is when God healed the blind man with the mud and when he went to the temple to tell the priest and they ask who done the miracle the guy didn’t know. We could be like

that guy, realizing something happened, but, who, why or how is pretty unexplainable. Do we go out to find Jesus to thank Him or are we grateful the miracle happened and then go about our life. When God shows up, it’s more than just so He can do cool party tricks, but for Him to have a relationship with His creation. 

  My final observation is that as God dwells among us, it does that mean we or the rest of creation is equal to Him. In college there were a few times where my professors “let down there hair” and became a little more vulnerable and I learned a lot during these conversations, but when they put the professor hat back on, our relationship changed and I needed to be reminded of that. Pastor Haven often tells us youth leaders that we aren’t the kids friends, but we are there mentors and there is a difference and it often comes with boundaries. As cool as it is that we are created in Gods image and that the Creator wants a relationship with His creation and dwells among us, He is still Holy, sinless and God. As much as God can be our friend, He is still God and has authority over all. For those parents who acted more as friends to their kids growing up than parents, how well did the kids turn out and did they ever struggle with boundaries or authority. 

 To close out, in Jeremiah 29, God states that we are to be His people and He our God. Also God can and wants to be found, we have to be committed to searching Him out and not sticking our heads in the sand 

The Goodness of God

  This weekend Pastor Fred preached on Mark 10:17-27 and the goodness of God. The essence of the story is where the rich young ruler who came up to Jesus and asked Him what he needed to do to be saved and I love Jesus response to the rich young ruler. His response when the ruler called Him good was that the only person who is good is God. With this definition of good, do we need to change our definition of what good means. We often throw this word around when we are talking about what we just ate, to the style of music we prefer to how we view people. In essence our view and definition of good can be very subjective and it almost has a different meaning to when we are either talking about food or people. Gods definition of good is essential to His character and Who He is. His goodness comes out because God is holy and righteous. His goodness comes out because He is not only love, but His love is perfect. If Gods love came out of anger, it would make Him scary and a thug. As people we often call things that are a holy good bad and things that aren’t holy, but somehow serve our self interest good. So here is my question, do we redefine what or who we call good and do we need to use Gods standard of what good is? The only way we can do this is if we are transformed by Gods goodness and His grace.

  The other thing that caught my eye is the ruler asked what he needed to do to be saved. Jesus question was that of, have you kept the law? The rulers response was an overwhelming yes and Jesus answer back to the rulers response was piercing because He told him to go and sell off everything he owned and to follow Him. The rulers response walked away depressed because he held those valuables higher than his relationship with God. A couple of things struck me in this passage and the first one is how as people we like list. This pertains more to guys, because we like to know what is expected and just give us that list so we can cross things off. I know when I do this I get a sense of accomplishment, but here is the thing, when we do this, we often care more about doing and not the relationship. Also, often we do it on our own strength and not Gods. This plays into my second thought which is that we think we can earn our salvation. If we do the right tor say the right things and not do certain things and speak a certain way, God will have to love us and let us into heaven. In essence we embrace the worldly philosophy of karma of doing more good than bad and we don’t rely on the grace of God. According do the church reformer Martin Luther, we can only be saved by grace and faith alone. Our actions do matter, bit without faith in God and His grace they are pointless. In Matthew 7 people come to God promoting all of their good works, but God turns them away because they did those things on their terms and we’re trying to earn salvation in hopes of pleasing God.

   My final thought is this. Are we more concerned with doing or being? Doing is more about earning our salvation and what I can do for God. When we do this, we tend to spin our wheels and are never completely satisfied. When we are more concerned about being, we live in Gods grace and our faith leads us to what to do. When we know we are in God and live in Gods grace, we tend to live in peace. What we do is based on who we are in God and that we don’t need to earn our salvation and we know what our mission is. When we live this way, we are not defined by our possessions or what we do, because we are defined by God and His Goodness. God doesn’t say that possessions are bad, but are we are we letting those things have more importance in our life than they should. In essence, are we worshipping the created instead of the Creator? So here is my question, are we like the rich young ruler who is defined by what he does and have? Also, how do we make the transition of going from doing to being?  My final question is this. How does the goodness of God and His grace transform our lives to the point of what we do and how we interact with others?

  

To Be Known

   

  This week Pastor Ben preached out of the book of Exodus and he started in chapter three when Moses encountered God at the burning bush. As God and Moses were talking, one of the questions that got kicked around is both parties asking the question of Who Are You? The song who Are You by the rock group The Guess Who came to mind as Ben was preaching, especially the line from the song “cause I really got to know” comes to mind. This got me thinking, as people, we want to know others and be known by others. God created us to be relational people, not only with Him but with others also. God has several names as Ben discussed such as Adonai, El Shaddi, and the ultimate name of I Am. Each of these names convey something about Gods character and who He is. We are the same, we are all called something different, depending on the group we are with. For me in high school I was known as Tommy, or in college Big Tom because of my size and my roommate was also named Tom. Finally, my family nickname is Shep. Often our names says something about us or comes from an important event in our lives. So here is my question for us, what prevents us from being known and knowing God? How often do we pull an Adam and Eve, and we put on fig leaves and hide from Him or others? This is often done by hiding behind screens or not completely being honest with ourselves, others, and God. 

  I think the other part of being known and knowing others is defining the relationship. Every couple, especially those who are married often have the “DTR” or defining the relationship conversation to find out where their relationship is not only going, but what they are to each other. Jesus has this conversation with the disciples when He asked them Who Do You Say That I Am?” Moses and God had the exact conversation Moses was wondering what he should tell the Israelites who sent him. Moses has been oh in the desert herding sheep for forty years as he was letting things cool down in Egypt after killing the Egyptian. Moses had to come to realty of who God was not only in all the universe but who God was to him. He also had to come to terms with how God saw him and how he wanted to use Moses to make His name great and bring the nation of Israel back into relationship with Himself. So here are some thoughts to ponder, the first one is, who do we say that God is? To paraphrase a C.S. Lewis put it, is God a liar, lunatic or is He really who He says He is and what does that mean for us. Something else to ponder, why do we have such a difficult time seeing how God sees us. We tend to live on one extreme of we are better than we really are or that we are worthless garbage and we can swing from side to side quite frequently. Remember, we are created in the image of God. 

  My final observation is that Jesus came and lived a life that we couldn’t live and took our punishment that He didn’t deserve so that we can be made whole again. Jesus did this so that we can know God and be in right relationship with Him. If we want to know who God is and what His character is, we can look at Jesus. I will close with this, with God making the statement of I Am, it means that He is all that and a bag of chips. God is eternal and hasn’t changed nor will He ever change and we can take this to the bank. God wants us to know Him intimately and vice versa, nor only so we can spend eternity with Him, but so He can be praised and that His will would be done on earth as it is in heaven 

Grace and Peace

Tom Boustead