Breaking Down the Gates

Isaiah 45:1-8 There have been several times over the course of my ministry when I have had to visit people in jail. It’s not a very happy feeling!  There are levels after levels of security that you have to pass through before you even get to the jail cells and each time you pass through one level a door slams shut behind you. 

The only consolation as you journey into the center of the jail is that you at least know—as a visitor--you are getting out.

But the inmates aren’t.  I can’t imagine what that must feel like to know that those doors are slamming shut behind you and you won’t being going back through them when visiting hours are over because you are a prisoner, receiving the punishment for your crime.

That’s the way it was for the Israelites as they were carried into exile and slavery at the hands of the Babylonians.  With every mile they traveled away from home their sense of hopelessness and helplessness increased until they went through the walls of Babylon and the nighty bronze gates shut behind them. 

How could they even hope for freedom when they were getting what their sins deserved?

This story may seem far removed from our lives, the situation foreign to us—but it’s not!  God tells us their story in the Old Testament, not so that we can wag our finger at those bad Jews, but so that we can learn to recognize our own sad story.

Each of us, by nature, are exiled from God, cut off from the promised land of heaven.  Our birthright is that of slaves.  The fetters of sin and death that imprison us are greater and more powerful than bars of iron or reinforced prison walls. 

How can we even begin to long for freedom and release when we know that this is simply what we deserve for the sin and rebellion in our lives?

But the Good News for us today is that we have in the LORD a Savior God who came to the aid of his ancient people and set them free by a the mighty hand of a deliverer he chose for that task and has come to our aid in Jesus Christ, setting us free from chains of sin, breaking down the gates of death and the devil’s dominion, so that we might journey to the promised land of heaven.  The Bible says:

Thus says the Lord to his anointed, to Cyrus, whose right hand I have grasped, to subdue nations before him and to loose the belts of kings, to open doors before him that gates may not be closed: “I will go before you and level the exalted places, I will break in pieces the doors of bronze and cut through the bars of iron, I will give you the treasures of darkness and the hoards in secret places,

            In ancient Babylon, there were two massive walls surrounding the city.  Hundreds of reinforced bronze gates provided the only way through those walls.  Sitting on top of the walls were hundreds of watchtowers.  Surrounding the whole city was a moat.

Can you just imagine how discouraging, how depressing it must have been for the Israelites to travel through those barricades and walls and to hear those gates slam shut behind them—to understand how desperate their situation really was—to know that they were helpless to gain their release—that there was no human hope for freedom?

So it is for all of us spiritually, by nature.  The Bible says that by nature we are dead in sins and trespasses.  The Bible says that the carnal mind is at war against God.  The Bible says that the devil has blinded us to the things of God. 

Bronze gates and mighty walls and guard towers are frightening, oppressive signs of imprisonment-- but so are eyes that will not see and ears that will not hear and minds that will not understand and hearts that will not believe. 

And yet the Lord our Savior God is greater than them all—greater than our earthly enemies and all their weapons—greater than our spiritual enemies--and he powerfully comes to set his people free—providing hope and help where before there was only despair and depression. 

For the Israelites, freedom would come at the hands of a Persian king names Cyrus that the Lord anointed for that very task—chosen to set God’s people free and bring them home.  Mighty walls and reinforced gates and bronze doors stood no chance against the Lord and his chosen servant.

How much more is it true that the Lord has acted for our salvation in his chosen, anointed servant Jesus Christ! 

As mighty as were the victories of Cyrus against his earthly enemies, the victory that Jesus gained for us was won against far greater foes!  By his death and resurrection Jesus defeated sin, death and the power of the devil and set us free from their tyranny.

A freedom that we could never hope to achieve on our own was won for us as God’s anointed servant died a terrible death on the cross and rose up victorious over the grave.

For Cyrus, the wealth of Babylon was the proof of his mighty deliverance.  For Jesus, it was the eternal souls bought and paid for with his own life’s blood that were the only treasure he desired. 

The Bible says that the Lord came to the aid of his ancient people and the people of the world so:  

that you may know that it is I, the Lord, the God of Israel, who call you by your name.  For the sake of my servant Jacob, and Israel my chosen, I call you by your name, I name you, though you do not know me.  I am the Lord, and there is no other, besides me there is no God;

            Here is the great miracle behind the deliverance that God accomplished for his ancient people at Cyrus’ hand and for the world in the nail-scarred hands of Jesus—here is the great wonder of God’s salvation:  that despite our sins and failures and faithlessness, God claims us as his own.  For the sake of my people I do this, says the Lord.

God had every right in the world to turn his back on the people of Israel just as they had turned their backs on him.  He has every right to turn his back on us for the countless times we have abandoned his ways. 

But he came to the rescue of the Israelites and came to our rescue because we belong to him and he is not willing to let his people remain slaves when he created and redeemed us to be his children.  And so then…

            God has been has always been at work in this world both providentially and graciously for the sake of his people’s freedom.  History is not guided by technological advances or economic theories.  History is not shaped by great men and the rise and fall of empires.  Rather, history is God’s gracious salvation story from beginning to end that he tells in Jesus.

Our Savior God is the one who is wisely, graciously ordering the affairs of this world and the church for the sake of our salvation. 

What a comfort that must have been for the Israelites (as they heard the words of this prophecy many years before they took place) to know that even though they would go into exile, God had already chosen a deliverer for them to set them free.

What a comfort for us to know that when the fullness of time had come, God sent forth his Son, born of woman, born under the law to redeem us and set us free. 

What a comfort to know that in the midst of a dark and dying world when it seems as if the tide of history is against the children of God, our Savior continues to make his saving ways known-- and accomplishes his saving will-- so that the entire world might come to know of a God who loves them and desires to set them free from sin and death.  The Bible says:   

I equip you, though you do not know me, that people may know, from the rising of the sun and from the west, that there is none besides me; I am the Lord, and there is no other.  I form light and create darkness, I make well-being and create calamity, I am the Lord, who does all these things. 

Several hundred years before the fall of Judah to Babylon, the mighty Assyrian Empire carried the northern tribes of Israel into slavery and exile and they were lost to history.  Anyone looking on must have thought that the same would happen to the southern tribes of Judah.

Carried into exile and slavery by the mighty Babylonian Empire, what chance of survival did desert tribes of herdsman stand against the mightiest empire of the day?

And when they crossed the moats and passed through the walls of Babylon, and looked up at the towering citadels, and heard the gates of brass shut behind them, anyone looking on must have thought:  that is the end of them—we will never hear from them again.

But what a testimony it was to the world when they left exile 70 years later because of God’s anointed deliverer.  And not only did Cyrus set them free, from his own wealth he paid to rebuild their city and temple. 

Could there be a clearer demonstration to the world that the Lord was the only true God who could always be counted on to come to the aid of his people?  Could there be a clearer sign of his power and goodness?  Just one!

Two thousand years ago a beaten, bloody man suffered on a cross.  He was rejected by his own people and betrayed by friends.  He died in darkness, abandoned by God.  There was no one to mark his death but criminals and mockers and executioners and a few women.  And yet…

Today two billion people confess him as Lord and Savior to say nothing of the billions of Christians who have come before us.  In our world today Christians bare their neck to the martyrs’ sword rather than deny him.  Every place in our world today people are fed and clothed and educated and healed in his holy name. 

Dear friends in Christ, we the church are the testimony in our day (just like the Israelites in their day) that we know and serve the one true saving God who always come to the aid of his people.  Our lives are the living testimony to the truth of words of our text:

“Shower, O heavens, from above, and let the clouds rain down righteousness; let the earth open, that salvation and righteousness may bear fruit; let the earth cause them both to sprout; I the Lord have created it.

            Deliverance and freedom from above—that is what the Lord gave his ancient people through has chosen servant --and that is what God has given us in Jesus Christ.  And God wants his salvation and righteousness to bear fruit in how we live our lives. 

We have been redeemed from the prison of sin and death for a purpose—that we would walk in newness of life and do those good works that God has appointed for us and keep in step by the Spirit.

We are no longer slaves.  We are the free people of God and our lives of faith and love are a testimony to the world around us to the goodness and power of the one who is greater and more powerful than sin and death.  Amen.

The Word of the Cross is the Power of God

1 Corinthians 1:18-31 Many Christians have had the experience of feeling like strangers in the world in which we live.  We discover that the things we value- and the God we believe in- are rejected by more and more people.  We can’t figure out why everyone does not believe what seems so obvious and important to us.  But they don’t.  The Bible says:  The word of the cross is folly to those who are perishing…

What is this “word of the cross” that Paul is referring to?  It is the basic proclamation of the Christian church:  that Jesus of Nazareth was God in human flesh and his life, death, and resurrection are the only way for sinners to have a life with God.

So why does the world around us reject this “word of the cross” as foolishness when they are perishing in their sins?  It is because this “word of the cross” cannot be seen in nature- and it cannot be discerned by our intellect- and it cannot be measured scientifically.  It cannot be known in any way except by revelation from God—and that is the height of foolishness to the unbelieving world around us. 

And yet for us Christians, the “word of the cross” defines:  who we are- and why we’re here- and where we are going when this life is over.  For us, the “word of the cross” is the power of God that has changed our lives in time and eternity.  The Gospel of Jesus Christ has rescued us from sin and death and made us God’s children.  And so then…

How can there not be a division between those who believe this message--and those who reject it?  The truth of the matter is that God has ordered salvation so that man cannot “think” or “reason” his way into heaven.  God says:

I will destroy the wisdom of the wise, and the discernment of the discerning I will thwart.” 

            These words are a quote from the prophet Isaiah and Paul uses them to make the point that God has ordained that our human intellect is an insufficient means of knowing him as he desires to be known—as a God of love and mercy. 

You see, not only has sin rendered us incapable of having a life with God on our own terms—but our Creator has placed limits on our intellect so that we can never “think” our way into heaven but only receive it by God’s grace. 

The human mind is a great gift from God.  The breadth of human knowledge is vast.  The technological achievements of mankind are staggering.  But all of it together still cannot bring us to God.  And that has been proved true again and again down through history. Paul writes:

Where is the one who is wise? Where is the scribe? Where is the debater of this age? Has not God made foolish the wisdom of the world?

            There is a division between those who believe the message of the cross and those who don’t and that dividing line cuts across human religions and human philosophies.

Hinduism and Islam and Judaism look very different from one another-- but at their heart they are exactly the same:  they are religions that tell their followers that they can have a life with God-apart from Christ- based upon their own efforts. 

The various moral philosophies of mankind have the same message.  And they leave their followers in exactly the same place—alienated from God—incapable of knowing God as he desires to be known. 

No matter how sincere these religions might be—no matter how earnest the followers of some human philosophy—no matter how subtle and sophisticated their arguments:  God counts it all as foolishness because they cannot do what he has done through the cross—and that is to reveal himself as the God who loves us.  Paul writes:

Since, in the wisdom of God, the world did not know God through wisdom, it pleased God through the folly of what we preach to save those who believe.

That there is a division between those who believe the message of the cross and those who don’t—that it is impossible for mankind to come to God on the basis of his own works or intellect—is not an accident.  God in his wisdom has made sure that we cannot have a life with him on the basis of human wisdom. 

Certainly we can know some things about God:  we can know that he exists by looking at the creation around us—we can know that he loves good and hates evil by the testimony of our conscience to our actions. 

But we cannot know him as he truly is-- and desires to be known.  That has to be revealed to us in what Paul calls “the folly of what we preach.”   

When Paul calls the word of the cross “folly’ he is talking about the judgment of the world about the message of the cross.  He recognized the same thing that we recognize as we interact with the unbelieving world around us:  that what we regard as the highest wisdom--the world regards as the worst kind of foolishness. 

And yet… believing that message of Jesus Christ crucified and raised is the only way to salvation.  Right there is the great dilemma and difficulty for mankind—the human roadblocks to faith.  Paul writes:

Jews demand signs and Greeks seek wisdom, but we preach Christ crucified, a stumbling block to Jews and folly to Gentiles, but to those who are called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God.

The dividing line between Christians and the world is nothing new--Paul experienced it also.  Jews didn’t believe in Jesus because they wanted some indisputable sign that he was the Messiah.  And even though he did miraculous sign after miraculous sign—they weren’t the signs they wanted.  They wanted the Romans overthrown and Israel restored. 

For Greeks it was unimaginable that God would take on human flesh and die.  They believed in the immortality of the soul, but a bodily, physical resurrection was seen as ridiculous.  And so the “word of the cross”—the Good News of Jesus-- was a stumbling block to the Jews and folly to the Gentiles. 

But it was also true that the Christian congregation at Corinth was full of both Jew and Gentile believers and that is what gives us hope as we take the Gospel to the world.

As great an impediment to faith as was the demand for signs and the human intellect—the wisdom and power of God to save them was even greater.  Paul writes that: 

The foolishness of God is wiser than men, and the weakness of God is stronger than men. 

In the years since these words were written, mankind has plumbed the depth of the atom and unraveled the building blocks of life and stood upon the moon.  The wisdom and strength of mankind is great indeed! 

And yet, in all those years, no one has come to God in any other way than by the cross of Jesus.  What we cannot do in our wisdom-- and what we cannot do in our own strength—the foolishness and weakness of Christ crucified can do, and has done, in bestowing the title “child of God’ upon the lowliness of men.  Paul writes:

Consider your calling, brothers: not many of you were wise according to worldly standards, not many were powerful, not many were of noble birth. But God chose what is foolish in the world to shame the wise; God chose what is weak in the world to shame the strong; God chose what is low and despised in the world, even things that are not, to bring to nothing things that are, so that no human being might boast in the presence of God.

            The true power and wisdom of God that is found in the weakness and foolishness of a crucified Jew could be clearly seen in the members of the Corinthian congregation.  Very few of them were wealthy or powerful.  They were just regular folks God had chosen to make his children through faith in Jesus.

So it is today.  Those who have great wealth and great power and great intellect are more often found outside the church than within.  There are exceptions of course and those folks have the ability to do great things for the cause of Christ.  But by and large-- power and wealth and great intellect are hurdles that have to be overcome to have a life with God-- rather than helps to faith in Christ.

That is because power and wealth and intellect lift us up rather than bring us low and that is what God has to do to save us.  So long as:  we are trying to come to God on our own terms—based on our own knowledge and strength, we still don’t know the way of salvation that comes as a free gift of God’s grace through faith in Jesus.  Paul writes:

Because of him you are in Christ Jesus, who became to us wisdom from God, righteousness and sanctification and redemption, so that, as it is written, “Let the one who boasts, boast in the Lord.”

God the Father has chosen us in Christ from eternity to be his own.  He has sent his Son Jesus Christ to be the atoning sacrifice for our sins.  The Holy Spirit has worked faith in our heart through the Gospel so that we can believe in Jesus and be saved. 

He is our wisdom—the only way that we can truly know who God is.  His holy life is our righteousness before God.  He is our sanctification—his resurrection life within us that is the ongoing power to live a holy life.  And he is our redemption—the one who has paid the price, in his own blood, to set us free from sin, death, and the devil.

There simply is no room in God’s salvation for the boasting of mankind.  But there is a place for boasting in the Lord!  The rest of our earthly life and all of eternity is not enough time to sufficiently thank God for the power and wisdom of Christ crucified for us—but we can begin today to serve him and praise him as he deserves and we can begin today to bear witness to him in the glad confidence that he is able to change those who hear the word of the cross for it is the power of God.  Amen.   

Lent 3b General Prayer

Gracious heavenly Father, You have done great things for us and holy is Your name.  For the sake of Your Son Jesus, hear our prayers:

Because You love justice and hate wrong-doing send Your blessing upon all those who serve our nation.  Make our court system a place where wisdom and justice prevails.  Empower law enforcement officers to act with wisdom and compassion.  Watch over our military men and women and protect them from danger.  Renew in all our fellow citizens a commitment to good citizenship.

Heavenly Father, You anointed Your Son Jesus Christ to bring good news to all those in need.  According to Your promise bind up the brokenhearted and comfort those who mourn and grant liberty to those imprisoned in addictions.  Heal those who are ill and meet the needs of those who do not possess the necessities of life.

We thank You that in the everlasting covenant You have made with us in the blood of Your Son Jesus Christ You have clothed us with the garments of salvation and covered us with the robe of His righteousness.  Grant that that this would also be true of our offspring and of the generations who follow us.  Especially do we pray for Paeton as he celebrates a birthday, that You would grant him every blessing of body and soul.

Fill us with Your Holy Spirit so that we would rejoice always and pray without ceasing and be thankful in every circumstance for we know that this is Your will for us.  Make us discerning in what we see and hear and read so that we would hold to what is good and reject what is evil.

Empower the witness of Your church on earth so that we would always be witnesses to Your Son Jesus Christ, that others might believe through us.  Support missionaries throughout the world and grant them success in their labors.  Encourage all those who are persecuted for their faith and turn the hearts of their enemies. 

And now O Lord we pray that You would sanctify us completely so that our whole spirit and soul and body would be kept blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ in whose faithful name we pray.  Amen.

Who Do You Say That I Am?

Mark 8:27-38 Everybody has questions about the new pastor.  How will he conduct his ministry among us?  What kind of man is he?  What are his priorities and plans?  I can answer many of those questions right now from God’s Word to us today.

            What I want for each member of this congregation and for every member of our community is for you to make the same confession as Peter:  that Jesus is the Christ, the Messiah, your Savior from sin and death and the power of the devil. 

I want you and every member of this congregation and every person in this community to believe that the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ is the end of God’s wrath over your sins and the empty tomb the beginning of a new life with God where he is your father and you are his child.

I want you and every member of this congregation and every person in this community to follow Jesus as his disciple, taking up your cross and walking in his ways until that great and glorious day when we stand before him and hear him say: Well, done good and faithful servant.

That is who I strive to be as a believer and that is my goal and priority for you as your pastor:  that you would confess Jesus as your Savior and trust in his saving works and follow him as his disciple until you join him in heaven.  The Bible says that:

Jesus went on with his disciples to the villages of Caesarea Philippi. And on the way he asked his disciples, “Who do people say that I am?”  And they told him, “John the Baptist; and others say, Elijah; and others, one of the prophets.”

            Everyone had an opinion about Jesus.  Everyone.  To encounter the power and goodness and the wisdom of Jesus of Nazareth and remain unimpressed was impossible.  Everyone had an opinion about Jesus and everyone had a high opinion.  “One of the great prophets—perhaps Elijah.  Maybe John the Baptist has returned”. 

So it still is today.  Everyone has an opinion about Jesus.  Muslims count him as a great prophet.  Hindus count him as part of their pantheon of gods.  Buddhists see him as an enlightened one.  Countless others see him as a great teacher whose words provide the pattern we should all live by to make the world a better place.  Everyone has an opinion about Jesus.  What about us?  The Bible says that:  Jesus asked them, “But who do you say that I am?”

You see dear friends in Christ, it is not enough to hear the opinions of others when it comes to Jesus.  We cannot consider this question of his identity from a safe academic distance as if it were a philosophical exercise.  The question of Jesus is posed to every person in this world and we must all give an answer.  Peter shows us the way:  You are the Christ. 

“Jesus, you are the Messiah promised by the prophets and sent by God!  Jesus you are the Savior of the world and the only way to have a life with God!” God grant us his grace and the help of the Holy Spirit to believe that and make that confession our own! 

Dear friends in Christ, here you have the absolute dividing line that cuts throughout all humanity, including folks in this community, separating every person into this world into one of two groups:  those who are saved and those who need saving.  Which is why, what happens next, is so odd.  Jesus strictly charged them to tell no one about him. 

The Bible says that faith comes by hearing so why in the world wouldn’t Jesus want his identity published far and wide?  It’s because so many people had a mistaken view about who the Messiah was.  They were looking at the Messiah from a worldly point of view—the material blessings he would give and the great victories he would achieve. 

Of course we know that this attitude is nothing new.  Throughout so many places in the outward, visible church today there are still countless people who say they believe in Jesus but what they really believe in is a heavenly genie who will give them what they want when they want it and then stay out of their business otherwise until they call upon him again. 

Even the disciples struggled with this mistaken view of Jesus that wants to separates who he is from what he came to do.  The Bible says that:

Jesus began to teach them that the Son of Man must suffer many things and be rejected by the elders and the chief priests and the scribes and be killed, and after three days rise again.  And he said this plainly. And Peter took him aside and began to rebuke him.

            Here is the content of the Christian faith:  that Jesus is the Christ, the Messiah, the Savior sent by God to suffer and die and rise again.  This is who Jesus is and this is what he came to do.  Jesus Christ came into this world to bring us back to God.  He went to the cross as our sin-bearer, carrying upon his holy shoulders every sin we have ever committed and all the sins of the world.

He died there on the cross, rejected by those he came to save, the wrath of God over our sins poured out upon him, and yet promising us with his dying breath that our sins are forgiven and our salvation complete.  Three days later he rose again as the victor over death and the grave and the power of the devil—his own, holy resurrected life the promise and the path for us to our share in eternal life.

How can we ever sufficiently thank God for sending Jesus to forgive us our sins and redeem us from slavery to Satan and restore us to God’s family?!  And yet there was Peter, rebuking Jesus for that very thing. 

You see, this wasn’t really what Peter and the disciples and the Jews were expecting from the Messiah.  It really wasn’t even what they wanted.  They wanted material success and earthly victories and all the stuff that comes with being on the winning side.

Of course, that temptation is not unique to them.  Much too often we treat forgiveness for our sins and life with God has something we can check off of life’s “to-do” list and then expect God to get down to the serious business of giving us what we want.  Like Peter, we need to understand the satanic source of that sinful attitude.  The Bible says that:

Turning and seeing his disciples, Jesus rebuked Peter and said, “Get behind me, Satan! For you are not setting your mind on the things of God, but on the things of man.”

            Maybe we think that Jesus’ response was a little bit harsh?!  After all, Peter had just made the great confession that Jesus was the Christ and if he was a little confused, well, what’s the big deal?      But this is not the first time Jesus faced just exactly this same kind of temptation to separate who he was as the Messiah from what he had come to do as the Savior.  The devil tempted him the same way in the wilderness. 

            And so then it was not cruelty on Jesus’ part to call Peter’s words what they were (a satanic temptation) but a kindness for him and the disciples and us—for it teaches us again and again to look for no other sign of God’s love than the cross and empty tomb of our Lord Jesus Christ.

Throughout our life the devil will tempt us to fix our eyes on the things of men—to believe that God is pleased with us if all is going well and to doubt his love for us if we struggle in some way and in in both of these temptations the devil is pleased and we are deceived.

But the Holy Spirit directs our eyes of faith again and again to the things of God:  a faithful promise that was kept—a Savior who was sent—a Redeemer who died—a mighty King who lives and reigns forever.  To set our mind on these things of God is to have, not only salvation, but a purpose and meaning and direction for our lives.  The Bible says that:

Calling the crowd to him with his disciples, Jesus said to them, “If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me.

            Before we go even a step farther in our meditation I want you to understand that this call to Christian discipleship comes AFTER the redeeming work of Jesus Christ in his death and resurrection.  Our life as Christ’s disciples is the fruit of his saving work for us. 

We deny ourselves and take up our cross because Jesus did not count equality with God something to be grasped but made himself nothing and died a terrible death on the cross.  Our life as his disciples flows from his life as our Savior.

We have been baptized into his death and raised in his resurrection and are called to walk in newness of life.  That means that even as his life has become our own, so we are to live that out his life in our own life—saying no to our flesh, counting others better than ourselves, loving them sacrificially and gladly, joyfully accepting the hardships and challenges that come with being a Christian because the alternative is too horrible to contemplate.  Jesus says that:

Whoever would save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake and the gospel's will save it. For what does it profit a man to gain the whole world and forfeit his soul?  For what can a man give in return for his soul?

            If you have ever taken Economics or Intro to Business you understand that, what Jesus is asking us to do here is to make a cost/benefit analysis.  On one side is life with God.  Jesus has shed his blood to save us, body and soul.  He has given his life to save our life.  And he calls us to lose our lives by following him to heaven knowing that there will be hardships in doing that.

On the other side is living this life as if this life is all there is—going our own way—doing our own thing—having only ourselves to answer to—avoiding the hardships of Christian discipleship and seeking pleasure wherever we can find it.  Jesus wants us to understand that following that road, even if it gains us the world, will lead to eternal death.  He said that:

Whoever is ashamed of me and of my words in this adulterous and sinful generation, of him will the Son of Man also be ashamed when he comes in the glory of his Father with the holy angels.”

            Brothers and sisters in Christ, as we think about our life together as pastor and people, we must always keep eternal things at the forefront of our plans and priorities.  There is coming a day when we will all stand before the judgment seat of Jesus Christ.  Those who have denied that he is the Savior—those who have hoped in something other than the cross—those who have been ashamed to be Jesus’ disciples will spend eternity in hell.

But that is not us for we know who Jesus is and we trust in what he has done for us and we are glad to begin again this week following him wherever he leads, no matter the cost.  May God grant us courage and faith in Jesus’ name!  Amen!