Connecting Points

by Dave Hinkley

Acts 26:19-32…

[19] “Therefore, O King Agrippa, I was not disobedient to the heavenly vision, [20] but declared first to those in Damascus, then in Jerusalem and throughout all the region of Judea, and also to the Gentiles, that they should repent and turn to God, performing deeds in keeping with their repentance. [21] For this reason the Jews seized me in the temple and tried to kill me. [22] To this day I have had the help that comes from God, and so I stand here testifying both to small and great, saying nothing but what the prophets and Moses said would come to pass: [23] that the Christ must suffer and that, by being the first to rise from the dead, he would proclaim light both to our people and to the Gentiles.”

[24] And as he was saying these things in his defense, Festus said with a loud voice, “Paul, you are out of your mind; your great learning is driving you out of your mind.” [25] But Paul said, “I am not out of my mind, most excellent Festus, but I am speaking true and rational words. [26] For the king knows about these things, and to him I speak boldly. For I am persuaded that none of these things has escaped his notice, for this has not been done in a corner. [27] King Agrippa, do you believe the prophets? I know that you believe.” [28] And Agrippa said to Paul, “In a short time would you persuade me to be a Christian?” [29] And Paul said, “Whether short or long, I would to God that not only you but also all who hear me this day might become such as I am—except for these chains.”

[30] Then the king rose, and the governor and Bernice and those who were sitting with them. [31] And when they had withdrawn, they said to one another, “This man is doing nothing to deserve death or imprisonment.” [32] And Agrippa said to Festus, “This man could have been set free if he had not appealed to Caesar.”

As Peter commands us in 1 Peter 3:15, Acts 26 is an account of Paul giving a reason for the hope that is within him. Governor Festus is entertaining the visiting King Agrippa and says, “Hey, I know that you are into all that Bible stuff; do you want to hear from this dude I have in the dungeon? The Chief Priests and elders in Jerusalem hate him because he says that this guy Jesus came back to life.”

Paul has been unjustly imprisoned and is brought out in chains before this powerful audience and is asked for his story. As we read the book of Acts, we may get used to seeing Paul as a kind of faith superhero and forget to consider the emotions of a moment like this. What might someone in Paul’s position say? “Please let me go! I didn’t do any crimes and everyone knows it. I am a victim of conspiracy and prejudice! I have rights and they are being abused!” If you look at Agrippa’s words at the end of that chapter, a self-defense might have resulted in freedom. Could we blame Paul if he had chosen that direction?

Paul’s brain processes the situation differently. He sees a Governor, King, Queen, several guards and attendants, and recognizes the actual stakes. The stakes in the room were far higher than Paul getting his handcuffs off. The stakes were higher than his honor, higher than his rights, higher than his comfort, higher than his earthly life. This is a room full of people who will only escape eternal destruction if they hear and embrace the message of the gospel.

To Paul, personal safety and individual liberty were not worth the testimony of the gospel. In a COVID divided world, where everything is about not getting sick or not wanting my liberties violated, Christians must fight to have Paul’s priorities.

Asked by the Governor to give an account of himself or a reason for the hope that is within him, Paul lets it loose. He shares how Jesus has rescued him from his life of religious hatred and set him on the path of freedom by the gospel. After hearing everything Paul has to say, King Agrippa is rattled and says “Wait, are you trying to convince me to become a Christian?!” to which Paul says, “Absolutely I want you to be a Christian! I want everyone to be a Christian. Why do you think that I am here standing before you?”

Where does the Lord have you standing? Who is listening to you? Are you telling them about your rights and fears or are you telling them about your hope?

by Josh Puuri

Our Christian sisters, Abby and Sam, depart this Friday to a country the size of Iowa that is home to 150+ million people. It is estimated that 90% of the people there are unreached concerning the gospel and only 0.3% of the population are adherents to the Christian faith. They will be serving local and tribal populations as a nutritionist and nurse at a local hospital, but their primary aim is to support the work of planting churches. They leave behind their homes, ease of life in a first-world country, warmth of fellowship with family and friends, familiarity of speaking their native tongue, and countless other comforts their current life affords them. No one would deny the level of sacrifice being demonstrated here, but Mark 10 offers an encouraging reminder to Abby, Sam, and all believers, that sacrifice for Christ comes with a great promise.

In Mark 10:17-23, Jesus had just reminded His disciples in consecutive teachings that following Him requires great sacrifice as we must rely less on this world and learn to put our trust in Him: “How difficult it will be for those who have wealth to enter the kingdom of God!” and “It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich person to enter the kingdom of God.”

Likely anxious in wondering if Jesus was directly addressing their level of commitment, Peter replied to Jesus, “See, we have left everything and followed you.”

Noticing that Peter’s reply focused solely on their depth of sacrifice, Jesus graciously taught His disciples that anyone who has forsaken their past life for the sake of Christ will be even greater recipients of his blessing both here in this life and in the eternal one to come. He taught them, “Truly, I say to you, there is no one who has left house or brothers or sisters or mother or father or children or lands, for my sake and for the gospel, who will not receive a hundredfold now in this time, houses and brothers and sisters and mothers and children and lands, with persecutions, and in the age to come eternal life. But many who are first will be last, and the last first.”

Theologian J.C. Ryle says of this passage, “There are few wider promises than this in the Word of God. There is none certainly in the New Testament which holds out such encouragement for the life that now is. Let every one that is fearful and faint-hearted in Christ’s service look at this promise. Let all who are enduring hardness and tribulation for Christ’s sake, study this promise well, and drink out of it comfort.”

What might the rich blessing of this life look like? Here are some of the ways that come to mind:

In a season of weakness? He is your strength and shield. Trust in him.

In a moment of loneliness? He offers you communion with saints worldwide.

Unsure of decisions or outcomes? His faithfulness endures to all generations.

And while this life still presents persecution, recall Jesus’ final promise to the disciples: “I am with you always, to the end of the age.”

Sam and Abby, we are thankful for your obedience to the call that the Lord has placed on your lives. He is your great reward in this life and eternity to come. Your church family at URC supports you and is praying for you.

URC, may their example spur us on to live sacrificially here as we seek to be obedient in advancing the great commission over there.

by Brad Beals

Thus says the LORD:
“Cursed is the man who trusts in man
and makes flesh his strength,
whose heart turns away from the LORD.
He is like a shrub in the desert,
and shall not see any good come.
He shall dwell in the parched places of the wilderness,
in an uninhabited salt land.
Blessed is the man who trusts in the LORD,
whose trust is the LORD.
He is like a tree planted by water,
that sends out its roots by the stream,
and does not fear when heat comes,
for its leaves remain green,
and is not anxious in the year of drought,
for it does not cease to bear fruit.”
~Jeremiah 17: 5-8

I would not have done 2020 like that. If I were all-sovereign over the events of last year, I would have skipped global pandemic and widespread social unrest. I suspect you would have too.

But thankfully, we are not sovereign and God is not like us. He does not think as we think. He does not do things as we would have him do things. And though it may be hard to see blessing in 2020, and though we may already be wondering how the events of 2021 could be for our highest good, that’s ok. Our call is to trust Him. We don’t have to be able to see what He sees.

That being said, there is much in God’s word to help us see, in a very general sense, HOW he works. For example, throughout scripture we see a common image for how God deals with people: we are as fruit-bearing plants. We might be trees planted by streams of water, branches abiding in the Vine, and wild olive shoots grafted into the holy root. But hang on. We might also be shrubs in the desert where we will see no good, diseased trees bearing bad fruit, and fruitless branches thrown into the fire.

The first lesson from such a repeated image is obvious: We should pay careful attention to the kind of trees we are and strive to be counted among the former group. The second lesson is not as obvious. As we the church see ourselves in this imagery as being the good kind of tree or vine, we can also see that there is no getting around the fact that God uses a particular method of keeping his flora healthy – He prunes. We’re being pruned. Individually, this local church body, the Western church, the entire global visible church — all of God’s people are getting a severe pruning this year. And it hurts, as pruning should.

But while it’s true that pruning produces fruit and that good fruit takes time, it’s also true that we can see even now places in the branches where fruit is likely to grow.

1  “Keep close watch over your life and doctrine.” (1Tim 4:16) Consider this: at no time in recent memory (my memory, at least) has the church expended such deliberate and continuous effort in looking into vital doctrines of the faith. Sphere sovereignty, ecclesiology, justification by faith alone, law and gospel, loving God and neighbor – It is good that we’ve had to go deep into such things. May God keep us at it!

2  “…that the things that cannot be shaken shall remain.” (Heb 12:27) Churches that have remained closed, may not ever re-open. This is sad. Every shuttered church building, whether a cathedral in some European city or the corner church that let covid have the final say, is a sad story. But these are very likely branches that had to be, or will have to be, removed. Jesus is building his church, and there’s demo work to be done.

3  “…scattered throughout Judea and Samaria.”(Acts 8:1) For three centuries, the caesars tried to put out the pernicious cult of Christianity, but their efforts always seemed to have the reverse effect. The lesson is clear: church and state are truly not of the same kingdoms. As Christians become increasingly marginalized, if real persecution should break out, we should look for God to grow even more fruit.

No doubt you’ve seen the memes. 2020 craziness was just a warm-up for whatever 2021 has in store. No matter. Our God does not think as we do, so be hopeful, joyful, and do not despair. If 2021 lives up to the hype, it is likely to be our most fruitful year so far.

by Tim Herwaldt

Psalm 146…

Praise the Lord!
Praise the Lord, O my soul!
2 I will praise the Lord as long as I live;
    I will sing praises to my God while I have my being.

3 Put not your trust in princes,
    in a son of man, in whom there is no salvation.
4 When his breath departs, he returns to the earth;
    on that very day his plans perish.

5 Blessed is he whose help is the God of Jacob,
    whose hope is in the Lord his God,
6 who made heaven and earth,
    the sea, and all that is in them,
who keeps faith forever;
7     who executes justice for the oppressed,
    who gives food to the hungry.

The Lord sets the prisoners free;
8     the Lord opens the eyes of the blind.
The Lord lifts up those who are bowed down;
    the Lord loves the righteous.
9 The Lord watches over the sojourners;
    he upholds the widow and the fatherless,
    but the way of the wicked he brings to ruin.

10 The Lord will reign forever,
    your God, O Zion, to all generations.
Praise the Lord!

The phrase that the author of this Psalm inserted in verse 6, “the Lord his God, who made heaven and earth”, is one that should catch our attention. It is not an uncommon phrase in scripture. A quick search on Biblegateway.com turned up 14 occurrences of this phrase or a variation of it, several in the Psalms alone. It is a phrase that all of us have seen and read many times, and it is a phrase worth lingering over. I think that scripture returns to this phrase numerous times because it reminds us about who it is that we should trust, and why we should trust him.

Think about one of the implications of this phrase. We do not live in an accidental universe. The Lord made this universe in which we all live. It is a massive place, where measurements of distance must be made in terms of how far light travels in a year at 186,000 miles per second, or, if you prefer, 670,000,000 miles per hour. For reference, the farthest known galaxy is about 13.25 billion light years away from earth. Our God made this, and it staggers the mind to think about the unimaginable knowledge, wisdom, power, and understanding that brought this about. Colossians 1:17 reminds us that he not only made it, but continues to hold it all together. These things alone should move us to praise, worship, and trust him, but this Psalm doesn’t stop there.

Prior to this phrase, the author tells us in whom we ought not to trust. Don’t trust in political leaders because they can’t save you. Every one of them will die, and when they do, their plans perish with them. This is where he contrasts this impotence with the magnificence of the one who made all things. The Lord our God, “who made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that is in them, who keeps faith forever.” Think about that. His promises have no expiration date. He keeps faith forever.

He goes on. Not only has this mighty God made all things, but he reaches down into our daily lives in a multiplicity of ways. He executes true justice for those who are oppressed, he feeds the hungry, and he sets prisoners free. He gives sight to the blind, he lifts up those who are weighed down by the burdens of life, and he loves the righteous. And so that we remember, those whom he looks on as righteous are not those who think they have done enough good things, but those who, like Abraham, believe the promise of God and are thus counted righteous by God.

Further, he watches over the sojourners, he upholds widows and those who have no earthly father. And over against all of these ways in which he cares for his own, he brings down the wicked to ruin.

The Psalmist is not wearing rose colored glasses as he looks around at real life. He sees that sometimes God’s people are oppressed, sometimes they go hungry or are imprisoned. He recognizes that sometimes God’s people are burdened, or homeless, or fatherless. He knows that all of us, at some time or another, deal with the hard realities of life.

Even so, he seeks to remind us of who it is that we look to and hope in, and – as if to add an exclamation point – the Psalmist reminds us that his reign, the reign of our God who made heaven and earth, will never end. He is great and mighty and powerful, he cares for his people, and he will reign forever.

Praise the Lord!

by Tim McCormick

When Blue’s Clues aired on Nickelodeon in 1996, my youngest daughter was four. She was enthralled with the hunt to solve each episode’s puzzle. Coaxed into participation by the “clueless” host Steve, she would point to the screen and call out loud, “look behind you!” If you are not familiar with the show, the dog Blue would leave a trail of clues with his signature blue paw print. After a series of mini-puzzles, Steve would sit down in a comfortable chair— the Thinking Chair—to ponder the meaning of the puzzle clues with the help of his at-home, pre-school audience. The next day, Steve would do it again. Not just the same show format and a new puzzle. No, the same episode would repeat five days in a row! Why did she not tire of the message? Her bewildered eight-year-old brother wondered, too, wasn’t once enough?

In Lamentations, Jeremiah is grieving over Jerusalem. The city had been sacked and burned, and her people carried off into exile. For over 300 years, prophets like Joel, Isaiah, and more recently, Zephaniah and Jeremiah, broadcast (maybe even five days a week!) the same message to repent, to return to God or experience the consequences of their continued rebellion. Now, the evidence of judgment has God’s fingerprints all over it.  Jeremiah recounts the LORD’s righteous judgments against Jerusalem in chapter 3 of Lamentations as graphic, deep personal wounds. The anguish mounts as he confesses that his hollowed soul has no peace, and his tired mind knows no happiness or hope (3:17-19).

Then Jeremiah turns the corner in his funeral poem saying,

     ²¹ But this I call to mind, 
and therefore I have hope: 
     ²² The steadfast love of the Lord never ceases; 
his mercies never come to an end; 
     ²³ they are new every morning; 
great is your faithfulness. 
     ²⁴ “The Lord is my portion,” says my soul, 
“therefore I will hope in him.” 

On his own “thinking chair,” Jeremiah recalls God’s steadfast love and his covenant affection for his people. He reminds his own soul that God’s mercies are endless, and his faithfulness is great.  As Paul and Silas found reason to sing in prison (Acts 16:25), Jeremiah finds reason to hope.  When everything is stripped away, his soul answers, “I will hope in him because he is my portion, my inheritance.”

As we turn the page into 2021, we have much to lament from 2020. The world without Christ yearns for this change of calendar year and celebrates with “good riddance 2020” parties.

But the tone is more superstition than hope for the new year.  We, however, belong to a God whose covenant commitment to us never ceases, whose tender compassion never fails. And when January 5 rolls around and we have already failed in our New Year’s resolutions, we can know that His love and His mercies are renewed each morning.  We need to repeat that message to our weary souls and tired minds every day.

by Barry Peterson

“Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life, and we have believed, and have come to know, that you are the Holy One of God.”  ~ John 6:68-69

Almost every morning my alarm wakes me up at 6:00 am – if our baby boy doesn’t do it sooner – and this verse runs through my head and heart. These words of Peter motivate me as I turn on the coffee pot and grab my Bible for another day, looking to the promises of God as the satisfaction that I know my soul needs and my heart desires.

Perhaps you drink from this same well each day, or maybe you’ve given up because the ground seems more like a desert wasteland and the search for an oasis doesn’t quite fit into the daily routine anymore. Whether you can identify with either of those, or you’re somewhere in the middle, I’d like to offer three practices that help me when I turn on the light and sit down at the breakfast nook with the Scriptures in hand.

1. Don’t play catch up. People often make the resolution to get through the Bible in a year, get a few months in, and are already discouraged playing catch up with their plan. I love mine. It’s a combination of one half of the M’Cheyne Bible Reading Plan and D.A. Carson’s For the Love of God commentary. I do miss days, but I never play catch up. If a Bible reading is going to be a lifetime habit, and we are going to be drinking from the fountain regularly, then we shouldn’t worry if we miss a day occasionally, it’ll still be there when we come back around next year.

2. Focus on a paragraph. It’s too easy to read the Bible, put it away, and forget what we’ve read 15 minutes later. That’s normally what happens to me if I don’t pick something to dig into. With a pen in hand, we should expect the Spirit to illumine our hearts to something we want to take a closer look at.

3. Look for God. God’s word is full of, well, God. Two questions I ask every time I read are, what is God up to? and what is he like? It’s hard to describe what deep comfort and love for God comes with simply answering those two questions and writing down the answers every morning for years on end. He speaks to us through his word, and in his word is where we will find him, and when we find him, we will be satisfied in him.

A Bible reading plan is not an end in itself; it is a way to fall deeper in love with Jesus, the Holy One of God. Following a plan to be in God’s word for the rest of life, not just the New Year, is the best way I’ve found to be satisfied in him. He has the words of eternal life. Where else shall we go?

by Nick Setterington

One of the (many) downsides of social media is how it trains our minds and affections to be in-the-know. How can we combat the temptation to follow every breaking news story or new life-update filling our phones and inboxes? We can battle the desire to know with the art of remembering.

Remember brothers and sisters in prayer. Paul says to Timothy, “I thank God whom I serve, as did my ancestors, with a clear conscience, as I remember you constantly in my prayers night and day” (2 Timothy 1:3). To the Ephesians he writes, “I do not cease to give thanks for you, remembering you in my prayers” (Ephesians 1:16). It’s so easy to get caught up in following the breaking news of our day. The irony is most of it wouldn’t have been newsworthy 50 years ago, and most of it will be forgotten next week, yet somehow we’re constantly being allured to follow the drama of our times. But there’s no lasting significance in gawking at our world’s gossip. Instead God gives us the privilege of seeking, initiating, and working divine plans through our prayers. An hour of useless scrolling pales in comparison to an hour of active prayer. If you think, “I don’t have time to pray,” I bet your iPhone log would say differently. We are constant in a lot of things; unfortunately prayer isn’t one of them. So next time you find yourself distracted with scrolling, divert your attention to praying. Who can you pray for today, remembering their work of faith, labor of love, and steadfastness of hope (1 Thess. 1:3)?

Remember the persecuted church. The author of Hebrews says, “Remember those who are in prison, as though in prison with them, and those who are mistreated, since you also are in the body” (Hebrews 13:3).  When one part of the body suffers, we all suffer together (1 Corinthians 12:26-27). No matter how bad our political problems may seem, they don’t compare to the persecution happening in China, Iran, Syria, and countless other places. How often do you pray for brothers and sisters who are imprisoned for their faith? How often do we plead with God to give us boldness to stand for the gospel in our context as they have courageously done in theirs? We can remember the persecuted church as we pray for it and learn from their example (Tim Keesee’s A Company of Heroes is a good place to start).

Remember the goal. The Christian life is a marathon that hasn’t timed out yet. The clock is still ticking. Some are in the first mile; others are in the final lap. But the race isn’t over, so as good athletes we press on toward the goal, which is the upward call of God in Christ Jesus (Philippians 3:14). In the book of Revelation, we see a description of the church in Sardis. They seemed alive on the outside, but inwardly they were dying. They still had work to do. Their race wasn’t finished, but apparently some had quit and gone their own way. Jesus says to them, “Wake up, and strengthen what remains and is about to die, for I have not found your works complete in the sight of my God. Remember, then, what you received and heard. Keep it, and repent” (Revelation 3:2-3). We all still have work to do! Let us wake up. Let us remember what we’ve received. In what ways do you need to press on in repentance from sin and growing in faith and knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ?

Remember the gospel. The gospel is the genesis and the generator of the Christian life, but like a lost sheep wandering from the fold, we are in constant danger of moving away from the very thing that gives us life. Paul reminds the Corinthians of the gospel (1 Corinthians 15), not because they forgot who Jesus was, but because their hearts and minds were fixed on other things. Paul commands Timothy, a young pastor, to “remember Jesus Christ, risen from the dead, the offspring of David, as preached in my gospel” (2 Timothy 2:8). Remembering the gospel is like mining a rich mineral deposit – the deeper you dig, the more riches you’ll uncover. The evil one is clever; he knows he can’t compete as long as the Christian stays in the gospel quarry. So his goal is to move us away, to get us into other mines. Sports, politics, careers and hobbies can easily become anti-gospel pits if we’re not careful. Ask yourself, “What issue or thing captures most of my attention and passion? Is it the gospel, or is it something that will soon be forgotten?” Remember the gospel. Let us be people who are marked and known by a love for the gospel above all other loves.

A life shaped by the art of remembering is a life that will spiritually flourish in troubled times. Let us be people who are committed to remembering.

by Allan Knapp

Proverbs 8:22–31…
“The LORD possessed me (wisdom) at the beginning of his work, the first of his acts of old.
Ages ago I was set up, at the first, before the beginning of the earth.
When there were no depths I was brought forth, 
when there were no springs abounding with water.
Before the mountains had been shaped, before the hills, I was brought forth,
before he had made the earth with its fields, or the first of the dust of the world.
When he established the heavens, I was there; when he drew a circle on the face of the deep,
when he made firm the skies above, when he established the fountains of the deep,
when he assigned to the sea its limit, so that the waters might not transgress his command,
when he marked out the foundations of the earth,
 then I was beside him, like a master workman, and I was daily his delight, rejoicing before him always, rejoicing in his inhabited world and delighting in the children of man.” 

God’s wisdom is one of the His characteristics identified in the Westminster Shorter catechism #4:

Q: What is God?

A: God is a Spirit, infinite, eternal, and unchangeable in his being, wisdom, power, holiness, justice, goodness, and truth.

Since all God’s attributes are inseparable, God’s wisdom is always powerful, holy, just, good, and true. God’s wisdom is unchangeable. This means that wisdom has been and will be in effect before, during, and after the existence of this planet we live on. Proverbs 8:30-31 tells us God’s wisdom was his delight in the creation of all things, including the children of man. Pause to consider the thrilling concept that all the features of the creation – rivers, gravity, oxygen, love, music, planets, and everything else – were all created and are imbued with God’s wisdom.

Unfortunately, although God and His wisdom are not changing, the Fall occurred.  Romans 8:19-23 tells us the creation, including mankind, “was subjected to futility,” needs to “be set free from its bondage to corruption,” and “has been groaning.” Our minds have been tainted; we cannot comprehend the wisdom all around us.

Fortunately, God’s wisdom is not completely hidden.  In Proverbs 8:17 Wisdom personified encouragingly tells us that those who seek wisdom diligently will find her. “Wisdom” extolls her positive characteristics throughout the chapter: prudence and sense (verse 5), noble things (6), truth (7), right and righteousness (6,8), knowledge (9), discretion (12), insight (14), strength(!), honor (18), justice (20), blessings (34), life (35).

The purpose of the book of Proverbs, laid out in the first seven verses of Chapter 1, is the purpose of the whole Bible – to align our hearts with what God loves.  Westminster Shorter Catechism #2 puts it this way: “The Scriptures principally teach what man is to believe concerning God and what duty God requires of man.”  Paul prays for his friends in Ephesus that “the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the glorious Father, may give you the Spirit of wisdom and revelation, so that you may know Him better.”

Thus, finding and gaining true wisdom is another reason for studying and meditating on God’s Word and for prayer. May you enjoy both those activities today and hold on to a bit of God’s wisdom in so doing.

by Kevin Phipps

“For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him.”  ~ John 3:16,17

Recently we were looking at this passage as a family, and my son had a concern about one word. Having already committed verse 16 to memory, he had a theological question about verse 17. The word that prompted his question was “might.” Does the word might in “that the world might be saved through him” mean that there would be those who believed but would not be saved? I explained to him that it doesn’t. The word might does not correspond to the effectiveness of the Father’s gift of the Son. Might reminds us that receiving requires believing. I explained to him that all sinners who believe will be saved but not all sinners will believe. Not all will receive the Father’s gift.

Every year we receive a Christmas gift catalog from an organization that specializes in ministering to impoverished children across the globe. For $18, you can give a mosquito net for malaria protection. For $40, you can give textbooks and learning materials. For $200, you can give a family some goats, so the parents can work towards becoming self-sufficient by raising and selling livestock.

The purpose of these gifts is not just to make this world a better place. According to their website, they believe they must do more than simply meet the physical needs of the poor. Every child who takes part in their program will learn about Jesus and hear the gospel. A summary of their approach to evangelism is “the good news is modeled and shared in age-appropriate and culturally relevant ways — never through coercion.”

This ministry knows that they can give a family a gift in Jesus’ name, but they can’t make someone receive the gift of Jesus. They can teach children about Jesus, but they can’t make them receive the gift of Jesus. The end goal of their mercy ministry is evangelism, but disciple making depends on the sovereign spiritual work of regeneration by the Holy Spirit (John 3:6-8). Without the Spirit’s working, none could believe. All of whom the Spirit works in are enabled to believe and receive the gift of Jesus.

Who do you know that needs to receive the gift of Jesus? What if this year you give gifts in Jesus’ name? Be intentional with the unbelievers in your world and share with them that we give because we have received so much from our Father, namely he has given us his only Son. It could be as simply as including a verse and God-glorifying gospel note in a Christmas card or including an invitation to attend or stream our Christmas Eve services with the Christmas cookies you deliver to your neighbors. Connect the gift you give with the Father’s gift and invite them to join you in worship one Sunday. You can’t coerce anyone into believing, but you can give a gift in Jesus’ name and gladly tell of the gift of Jesus this Christmas season.

By Matt Oomkes

Over the past few months I have found myself thinking a lot about the sovereignty of God. Because nothing is outside God’s control, we can completely trust that his promises and decrees will come to pass. If he says it will happen, then it will happen. Moreover, if something has happened, we must at least assert that God allowed it to happen. If something happened without God allowing it to happen then that thing would be outside of God’s control, and he would not be sovereign (and therefore not God).

As Christians, we tend to rejoice that God is sovereign when considering God’s promises of salvation and blessing to us, but balk when we consider it means that God has allowed for the things that have brought us pain and suffering. So is God being sovereign a good thing or a bad thing? Let’s look at portions of Psalm 62 to see why the psalmist thinks it is a good thing.

Psalm 6:5-8
For God alone, O my soul, wait in silence,
    for my hope is from him.
He only is my rock and my salvation,
    my fortress; I shall not be shaken.
On God rests my salvation and my glory;
    my mighty rock, my refuge is God.
Trust in him at all times, O people;
    pour out your heart before him;
    God is a refuge for us. Selah

In the midst of trial, the psalmist reminds himself to wait for God alone. Why? Because he recognizes that God is the only source of his ultimate hope, his salvation. Hope in anything else is a gamble, and certainly not a guarantee. If we place our hope in our jobs, our families, or even our health, those things are not guaranteed to last. God does not promise us these earthly blessings. But the hope of salvation that comes from God is certain for the Christian. God is our fortress, one that even the strongest enemy cannot overcome.

When things are going our way, this is easy to see and believe. The challenge for the Christian is to trust in God at all times, even when he allows us to suffer various hardships and trials. When earthly gifts are taken away or withheld it is easy for us to doubt God’s goodness, but if we do that we are forgetting that the greatest gift, the one that far surpasses all the rest, is still ours – that is, salvation. This does not mean we should not go to God with our pain and sorrow. Indeed, the psalmist instructs us to “pour out our heart before him”. But when trials come we should seek refuge in God as our fortress, so that we may not be shaken. Christians should never let hardships drive them to despair, for the Christian is never without hope.

 Verse 10 warns us of what is perhaps a greater danger for the Christian:

Put no trust in extortion;
set no vain hopes on robbery;
if riches increase, set not your heart on them.

There are two sides to this coin. We must trust in God when things are going poorly for us, but we must also trust in Him when we prosper. When God gives us good gifts there is the temptation to love the gifts more than the gift-giver. Ask yourself this question:  “If ____ was taken away, would I still trust that God is good?”

If riches increase, set not your heart on them, but on God. He is our fortress, our rock, our refuge. Trust in Him is never misplaced. God is sovereign, and our salvation and glory rest on Him alone.