Pastor's Corner

Pastor Ron

Human Uniqueness.

While reading neuroscientist Shane O’Mara’s book, In Praise of Walking, I was reminded of these verses from Psalm 139:13-14 (ESV): “For you formed my inward parts; you knitted me together in my mother's womb. [14] I praise you, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made. Wonderful are your works; my soul knows it very well.”

Several of O’Mara’s observations are worth sharing and considering. He says, “no other species has anything like human language, with its infinite capacity to carry meaning, content and culture.” Humans “use elaborate tools, and we train other humans in their use.” Unlike other species, we have a “propensity to cook our food.” Or, how about “the exceptional investment we make in our children and adolescents, raising and caring for them for extended periods?” Or, how about “our ability to walk, and especially to walk upright on our two feet, an adaptation known as ‘bipedalism’, freeing our hands for others tasks?”[1]

Our unique use of language, tools, cooking, and investing in our children is wonderful. And bipedalism has so many unique advantages. For me, one of them is to stand and praise God! How about you?

Pastor Ron

How A Close Friend Saw Jesus.

Jesus chose twelve of His disciples to be apostles (Luke 6:13-16). One of them was Matthew. After their selection, they stayed with Jesus all the time (Mark 3:14ff.). Jesus called them His friends (John 15:13-15). Matthew ate with Jesus, drank with Him, heard His incredible wisdom, and saw His amazing miracles all the time. How did a close friend of Jesus see Him?

In the Gospel according to Matthew, Matthew presents Jesus from the point of view of one who had a ringside seat to His life. In the first two chapters alone, he presents Him as a person conceived by the Spirit (Matthew 1:18), as the Savior (1:21), as “Immanuel” (1:23—a word meaning “God with us”), as the King of the Jews (2:2), and as God’s Son (2:15). By the end of Matthew 2, people should have sat up and taken notice of whose story is being told.

Like Matthew, the apostle John was forever changed by being around Jesus: “That which was from the beginning, which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we have looked at and our hands have touched—this we proclaim concerning the Word of life” (1 John 1:1, NIV).

Pastor Ron

Jesus: More Than Just Another Philosopher.

Decades ago, I remember thinking I had read (I believe it was in Josh McDowell’s Evidence That Demands a Verdict) that there were three potential responses to the claims of Jesus. You could see Him as either a lunatic, a liar, or the Lord. Later, a friend reminded me that those three responses were actually adapted from something C. S. Lewis wrote.

I found what Lewis wrote about Jesus’ claims in his book Mere Christianity: “A man who was merely a man and said the sort of things Jesus said would not be a great moral teacher. He would either be a lunatic—on a level with the man who says he is a poached egg—or else he would be the Devil of Hell. You must make your choice. Either this man was, and is, the Son of God: or else a madman or something worse. You can shut Him up for a fool, you can spit at Him and kill Him as a demon; or you can fall at His feet and call Him Lord and God.”[1]

If Jesus was just another philosopher, then people would have problems with him. But if He is Lord . . .

Pastor Ron

Humans Shall Not Live by Science Alone

Disillusionment can result from thinking science has all the answers.

Famous American physicist Richard Feynman said as much when he wrote: “If you expected science to give all the answers to the wonderful questions about what we are, where we’re going, what the meaning of the universe is and so on, then I think you could easily become disillusioned and then look for some mystic answer to these problems.”[1]

Like many others, Feynman acknowledged the “wonderful questions” we have about our nature, our future, and our meaning. He even admitted that science does not give us all the answers.

On the other hand, the Apostle Paul said Christians “walk by faith, not by sight” (2 Corinthians 5:7). That doesn’t mean we ignore science or its insights. But it does mean (as Jesus affirmed): “Man shall not live on bread alone, but on every word that comes from the mouth of God” (Matthew 4:4).

Jesus is much more than “some mystic answer” to the “wonderful questions” of life. He gives real hope to the disillusioned!

Pastor Ron

Isaiah 50:4a (NKJV), "The Lord GOD has given Me The tongue of the learned, That I should know how to speak A word in season to him who is weary.” A fellow minister pointed this verse out to me some time ago as one that inspired him to teach the word of God in such a way that those who are weary would be encouraged.

“Lift” is the title I am giving to this weekly post. We all need the lift of encouragement from time to time. Proverbs 25:11 says, “The right word at the right time is like a custom-made piece of jewelry.” (The Message) A good word can be a beautiful fit at just the right time.

We’ll have words from the pastor, elders, deacons, and others to lift us up. We hope these posts will help you endure the burdens of this weary season.

The famous French foreign minister Talleyrand—who managed to survive the French Revolution and several government changes—wrote this comment in his journal when he was 83: “Life is a long fatigue.” No doubt! A good word can make a difference!