We will have a brief conference call to catch up and share prayer requests at 2:30. I thought Our conference line that we used during covid was defunct, but it appears to still be working. I will send a text closer to the meeting time for everyone to join. If you have not already received a test from me today and wish to be included, please contact me directly or message the Facebook page.

It’s going to be cold, but our hearts will be warm as we meet together on Sunday afternoon. Please keep Priscilla in your prayers. I spoke with her today and she is very sick.

A few days ago, I was asked why it is that the Lord’s name, Yahweh, given to Moses at the burning bush and recorded in Exodus, chapter 3, is not widely used or taught by churches. I suggested that it probably has more to do with tradition and familiarity than anything else. Only recently have we seen some bible translations begin to use it where it is appropriate. But we might not need to make too much of this. The apostles quoted from a Greek translation of the Old Testament that rendered His name the same way most translations still do today. If they didn’t make an issue of it, we probably shouldn’t either.

I think that every Christian should know His name, but there is more to a name than the letters or sounds we used to express it. Yahweh chose His name for it’s meaning. When he gives it to Moses, we see this first, “I AM”. There is no better description of Him. He defines existence. He is beyond space and time. He cannot be defined, because he is the definition.

In the New Testament, that name never occurs. What happened? In a word, Jesus! In Hebrew His name would be translated Yeshua, or Yashua. That is, Yahweh saves, or Yahweh is salvation. The name didn’t go anywhere. It was given to the Son. He Himself said, “before Abraham was, I am.”.

Come join us as we worship the Great I Am together and learn the beauty, power, and glory of His name.

It was good to have all our regulars back last Sunday, and some beloved friends as well. Now let’s keep bringing them in! The stonework around the sidewalks was completed on Friday, and I’m told it looks very nice. I did not foresee that pulling out the shrubbery would lead to so much more work, but it does seem to have accomplished its purpose as our facility is no longer attracting the high levels of activity of questionable nature while we are away. Now we must choose what to plant next spring, and I trust that our planting will be of both earthly and heavenly nature.

For those constrained to join us from afar, I do apologize for the unpredictable sound quality from week to week. We really need better equipment and maybe software to do more professional feeds, and hands to run it. We keep trusting in the Lord and doing what we can with what we have.

That brings us to the message for this Sunday. The Gospel of Luke gives us two accounts of angelic visitations in the first chapter.  The first is to Zacharias, a priest serving in the temple.  The second is to Mary, a young lady engaged to be married who learns she’s about to be pregnant!  Both receive news of a miracle, but their responses differ in one very important detail.  They both ask questions, but one asks from doubt, the other from faith.
Few if any of us can expect a visit from an angel, but we are confronted with the same choice that Zacharias and Mary had.  Will we choose to believe God even when what He says doesn’t seem possible, or will we question him in doubt.  Mary’s question was one of faith and of curiosity.  In other words, “How are You going to do that?”  Zacharias’ question was one of skepticism, “prove to me that You can do that.”  We all have questions, and that’s OK.  Let them be questions from faith and not from doubt.

I have a question for you. Will you be there?

Love y’all!

This week, I want to offer you some comfort and encouragement if I can. We’re all facing trials. Some, if not most, are simply the results of living in a fallen world. Accidents happen. We age. We get sick. Eventually, we die. All of us to one degree or another have made our own trouble at times, and may suffer the consequences. Or, it may be that we suffer because we did something right. Whatever the cause, it is easy to become discouraged unless we work to maintain the proper perspective.

Consider the apostle Paul. Once a persecutor of the church, he became one of the most effective evangelists the world has ever known. As one of the Lord’s star witnesses, some might think his life should be pretty good. People were healed and even raised from the dead. He preached the Word everywhere he went. No one would question his faith. Actually some may have done that, as he writes in part to address false teachers coming against him at Corinth.

But Paul’s life was full of trouble. Almost everywhere he went, he encountered opposition. Sometimes that opposition was violent. He was slandered, beaten nearly to death, and put in prison on multiple occasions. He is believed to have been martyred in Rome. But Paul does not express anger or disappointment at these things. Instead, he writes in Colossians 1:24, “Now I rejoice in my sufferings for your sake, and I fill up what is lacking of Christ’s afflictions in my flesh, on behalf of His body, which is the church…”

In the second of his letters to the Corinthian church that have been preserved for us, Paul writes of the difficulties faced by himself and fellow missionaries. He defends the truth of the Gospel message, and points out that it is through the humanity of his messengers that God’s glory becomes evident. Twice he says in Chapter 4, “We do not lose heart.” The truth of the message, the certainty of the eternal promise, and the knowledge that the truth continues to spread through their efforts sustains them through every hardship.

They knew that a glory awaited them far beyond any trouble this life may bring. They could endure any hardship, secure in the knowledge that nothing in the world they could see could compare to the promises yet to be fulfilled. They might have remembered the words that David wrote, “In God, whose word I praise, In God I trust; I shall not be afraid. What can mere man do to me?” (Psalm 56:4)

“Therefore we do not lose heart, but though our outer man is decaying, yet our inner man is being renewed day by day. For our momentary, light affliction is working out for us an eternal weight of glory far beyond all comparison, while we look not at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen; for the things which are seen are temporal, but the things which are not seen are eternal.” (2 Corinthians 4:16-18)

These men had the boldness to preach the gospel in the face of any opposition, knowing that not even death would stand in their way. They would eventually be taken from this world, but only to enter their rightful realm in Heaven. When we become that convinced that God is with us, we, too can step out in boldness into the mission that He has given us. We may also take comfort in the knowledge that every trial that we endure can be turned to our good and His glory. Yes, if you love the Lord, even your mistakes and their consequences will be redeemed. Do not lose heart.

Hello, friends. I wanted to let you know that we will be having our service at the usual time today, but it will be a little shorter than normal due to key people being unavailable. If you can, join us at 2:30 as we pray together. We will begin the life feed for the message at 3:00.