Scripture
– NIV
Zechariah
2:10-13 –
“Shout
and be glad, Daughter Zion. For I am coming, and I will live among you,”
declares the Lord.
“Many
nations will be joined with the Lord in that day and will become my people. I
will live among you and you will know that the Lord Almighty has sent me to
you. The Lord will inherit Judah as his portion in the holy land and will again
choose Jerusalem. Be still before the Lord, all mankind, because he has roused
himself from his holy dwelling.”
Malachi
4:1-6 –
“Surely
the day is coming; it will burn like a furnace. All the arrogant and every
evildoer will be stubble, and the day that is coming will set them on fire,”
says the Lord Almighty. “Not a root or a branch will be left to them. But for
you who revere my name, the sun of righteousness will rise with healing in its
rays. And you will go out and frolic like well-fed calves. Then you will
trample on the wicked; they will be ashes under the soles of your feet on the
day when I act,” says the Lord Almighty.
“Remember
the law of my servant Moses, the decrees and laws I gave him at Horeb for all
Israel.
“See,
I will send the prophet Elijah to you before that great and dreadful day of the
Lord comes. He will turn the hearts of the parents to their children, and the
hearts of the children to their parents; or else I will come and strike the
land with total destruction.”
Luke
3:1-18 –
“In
the fifteenth year of the reign of Tiberius Caesar—when Pontius Pilate was
governor of Judea, Herod tetrarch of Galilee, his brother Philip tetrarch of
Iturea and Traconitis, and Lysanias tetrarch of Abilene— during the
high-priesthood of Annas and Caiaphas, the word of God came to John son of
Zechariah in the wilderness. He went into all the country around the Jordan,
preaching a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins. As it is written
in the book of the words of Isaiah the prophet:
“A
voice of one calling in the wilderness, ‘Prepare the way for the Lord, make
straight paths for him. Every valley shall be filled in, every mountain and
hill made low. The crooked roads shall become straight, the rough ways smooth.
And all people will see God’s salvation.’ ”
John
said to the crowds coming out to be baptized by him, “You brood of vipers! Who
warned you to flee from the coming wrath? Produce fruit in keeping with
repentance. And do not begin to say to yourselves, ‘We have Abraham as our
father.’ For I tell you that out of these stones God can raise up children for
Abraham. The ax is already at the root of the trees, and every tree that does
not produce good fruit will be cut down and thrown into the fire.”
“What
should we do then?” the crowd asked.
John
answered, “Anyone who has two shirts should share with the one who has none,
and anyone who has food should do the same.”
Even
tax collectors came to be baptized. “Teacher,” they asked, “what should we do?”
“Don’t
collect any more than you are required to,” he told them.
Then
some soldiers asked him, “And what should we do?”
He
replied, “Don’t extort money and don’t accuse people falsely—be content with
your pay.”
The
people were waiting expectantly and were all wondering in their hearts if John
might possibly be the Messiah. John answered them all, “I baptize you with
water. But one who is more powerful than I will come, the straps of whose
sandals I am not worthy to untie. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and
fire. His winnowing fork is in his hand to clear his threshing floor and to
gather the wheat into his barn, but he will burn up the chaff with unquenchable
fire.” And with many other words John exhorted the people and proclaimed the
good news to them.
Bob’s
thoughts:
We
showed up an hour early for the second time based on online information. Rather
than wait an hour, we searched for a place to eat. We did eventually find the
place we were looking for, but it caused us to be a few minutes late.
Understandably there is no way to say if we would have been greeted.
I
enjoyed the large wooden cross on the wall and an additional projection screen
in the side annex where we sat. Signage was minimally-sized but adequate to locate
the restrooms and sanctuary.
We
were blessed to be here for a solo by a young woman and that the pastor got to
sit with the congregation for a Sunday. I believe most pastors would welcome
such a chance.
Thought
the gentleman reading Scripture had an excellent recovery to a problem in the delivery.
We
are called to complete repentance, not “I’ll try not to do this next time.” She
quoted a statistic, that visitors decide to stay/return in less than one minute.
Greet them that you don’t know, not just those you see every week.
We
were once members of a small church that in one year took in 40 new members
because someone spoke to them.
Mission
and evangelism overlap, but one thing that works is to tell your story, one on
one.
Jan’s
thoughts:
We
arrived during the announcements and quickly found seats in the back of the crowded
sanctuary.
At
first I was perplexed, as worship leadership seemed to be provided by different
people from among the congregation and the choir. After the service we learned
that, in commemoration of the pastor’s 25th anniversary at this
church, the session had given him the opportunity to simply worship while they
led the service. In the course of the conversation, he expressed his deep
appreciation for this wonderful gift.
The
sermon, Making Your Choice, was
presented by a choir member. She asked, “What if John the Baptist (or Abram,
Moses, David, Isaiah, Jonah, or Paul) had chosen not to do what God asked of
them?” She quoted statistics indicating that just over 41% of the world’s
population had not heard the Gospel in spite of Jesus’ Great Commission, and outlined
five ways individual members could support missions:
1
– Pray, by far the most vital and most appreciated form of support.
2
– Connect, and make it personal.
3
– Welcome visitors. She offered the most recent statistic, that visitors to a
church decide within the first 30 seconds whether or not they will return.
4
– Mobilize, and get others interested.
5
– Go. It’s not necessary to go to another country; you can almost certainly
find people right down the street who don’t know Christ.
She
closed with the reminder that we make a choice with every person we meet.
Several
people welcomed us after the service and we were invited to attend the luncheon
for the pastor.
Our
prayer for this church:
Lord,
we pray Your church will share their story and spread the Good News. Amen.
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