October 4, 2023
“Thank You!”
[Before I begin, a reminder that this Sunday, 10:15 am, kicks off a two-part Sunday School for Adults, called “Presbyterian 101”: We’ll look at the history, beliefs, and people who have made up this thing called “The Presbyterian Church”, and ask: What’s next?]
Sunday’s Installation service was amazing (you can view the service, HERE)! The music, the pastors and elders from Presbytery, my mentors from all over the U.S., the food. All of it was just awesome. Thank you for setting aside the time to join us, as I was installed as your Pastor. I began in 2021 as your Interim Pastor, and have worked since then to build trust, try new things, and serve you as a Pastor should.
You had been through some rough waters, prior to my arrival, and I could see that you were ready to have a Pastor who would love, serve, and stay with you. And – truth be told – I was ready to be that Pastor, too.
I came to you from South Carolina, where I worked on starting a church. We began in 2018, and did very well until about March 2020, when – of course – the COVID craziness dropped down, and messed everything up.
It was very difficult to come to the end of that experience and realize that God was calling us (me and my family) out of it, and into something new. But as soon as I began to talk with you, your staff, and the Presbytery, I sensed a profound connection that God had been working on for some time. And as I waded into discerning if I was called to be your pastor, I saw clearly just how much God had done in your life as a congregation, and in my development as a Pastor, to make us a match for one another.
Sunday was the celebration of that match, and of the work that God has done, is doing, and will do in and through us. You held on – sometimes by your fingernails – over the past few years, trusting that God had, as Paul Gaug said Sunday, the best and the beautiful in mind for us.
Keep pressing in with me, in our next season of life together. The best is yet to be!
Grace & Peace,
Pastor James
September 6, 2023
Dear Mattituck Presbyterian Church,
Just a reminder that we return to two services this Sunday, September 10th, at 9:00 a.m. Contemporary and the 11:15 a.m. Traditional. The Traditional service is going to look just a little different, starting this Sunday: The choir will process in, just after the Call to Worship, and we’ll be adding the role of Liturgist. The Liturgist helps the Pastor lead worship, in the reading of the parts of worship: Confession, Pardon, Scripture, and so on. If you would like to serve as a liturgist, please email me at: james@mattpres.com.
Sunday, September 17th, is Rally Day: The beginning of Sunday School for children, held during the 9:00 a.m. service.
Sunday, October 1st, 10:00 a.m. is my Installation. We’ve had a nice, long engagement, but it’s time to become officially official! We’ll welcome pastors and elders from all over Long Island, and mentors of mine from Chicago, California, and South Carolina. And we’ll have a great reception and lunch after!
Sunday, October 8th, 10:15 a.m., is the beginning of Adult Sunday School: “Presbyterian 101” Who are these Presbyterians? What’s their history? What do they believe? How do they do church?
Sunday, October 15th, we will host a silent auction for Keri Torkelsen Rodney, a child of the church. Keri is a mother of 6 and is walking through a season of significant medical challenges. Please plan to come, pray, and give.
That’s it, for now! Please save the dates and see you Sunday!
Grace and peace,
Pastor James
August 27, 2023
“The Slow Walk of Discernment”
‘For John came neither eating nor drinking, and they say, “He has a demon.” The Son of Man came eating and drinking, and they say, “Here is a glutton and a drunkard, a friend of tax collectors and sinners.” But wisdom is proved right by her deeds.”’
Matthew 11:18-19
The people think John had a demon, and that Jesus was a drunk glutton who loved all the wrong people. How could they get it so wrong?
Something fundamental was missing in the generation who met Jesus in person. Why didn’t they get who He was? The short answer is in the final verse:
“Wisdom,” Jesus says, “is proved right by her deeds.”
The people of Jesus’ time had a wisdom deficit. That is what they lacked – that’s what they needed.
Wisdom is both a gift of the Holy Spirit and a discipline. There are some people who have the gift of wisdom in a greater degree, and it is true that each of us can grow in the wisdom Jesus commends.
Some people enjoy a kind of natural wisdom about this or that endeavor: This person is basically at-home, comfortable as a salesperson. Yes, she received a lot of training to do sales well, but she also got it – understood what was required – very quickly. She just had the wisdom necessary to serve people by selling them the things they wanted.
Question: What are you wise about? Maybe it’s one thing – maybe it’s a few things. What, when you must do it, do you think to yourself, “You know, I know what I need to do here.” Could be: a particular kind of work; parenting; handling difficult situations with diplomacy; or knowing your way around a car.
If you’re wise in any of those areas – or any other – you can discern: You can tell the difference between the genuine article and something or someone that does not quite measure up.
“That is not how you build a house: I mean, I see a house before me, but it ain’t safe. It wasn’t built right, and I know it.”
“Boy, that is not how you raise a child. That is not how you equip him to succeed…”
“I could say that, very direct thing to him. I could just clamp down and ‘shoot him straight from the hip,’ but I think it would only make things worse.”
“It’s the clutch…. Trust me, it’s the clutch.”
Discernment can be something you do easily, in the moment. It can also be very difficult and can take a lot of time and prayer. These are the kind of discernment questions that require what I want to call a “slow walk”:
Should I start a new career?
How do I know he’s the one?
Is it time to retire?
When you face something like this, it is best to go to at least three places, and to walk slowly, prayerfully to and through each of them: Scripture, the church, and your own thought processes.
Spend time in Scripture, listening prayerfully for God’s direction. If you sense that He’s leading you in a particular direction, then go and test it with other brothers and sisters in Christ: “I think I’m hearing this… I think God is opening this door…” And then look at whether, in fact, the door is opening, or has opened – use the mind God gave you to see if the thing you think He’s leading you to do genuinely makes sense, given your circumstances, gifting, and personality.
This kind of discernment – of wisdom – helps us to see genuine Kingdom opportunities. Slow, patient discernment helps us to see Jesus at work. And our prayer should always be for His wisdom to dwell in us richly, as we honor and serve Him wherever we are.
August 23, 2023
"What The Stoic Misses"
“From the days of John the Baptist until now the kingdom of heaven has suffered violence, and the violent take it by force.”
Matthew 11:12
When people visit my office for the first time, they almost always say something about the books: Bible, Theology, Leadership, and Fiction.
A big part of what I do is to write, to teach, to speak, so, it makes sense that I need to read and study a lot, especially if I want to have something new to say, if I want to stay in line, in touch with how the Christian tradition has been taught for almost 2000 years.
The people who see my library are always a little surprised to see works of fiction: Dante, Dostoevsky, Melville, Marilynne Robinson. Fiction writers are great observers of the human condition: If you want to know, love, and serve people, writers of fiction can help you see people as they are.
I recently listened to an interview with a fiction writer, who I respect – someone who has been on a journey toward Faith, but has not quite made it, yet. He grew up in a very secular, hedonistic part of Europe, and for most of his life enjoyed and regretted that lifestyle.
At a certain point, pursuing his own personal happiness, kind of broke down: It became selfish and tawdry – the voice of his conscience begins to knock on the door of his heart. He had to answer, one way or the other.
The first answer this writer found came in the philosophy of the Stoics. The Stoics were ancient Greek and Roman writers, who proposed a philosophy of life that taught people how to manage two things: One’s emotions and the fact that one day, each of us will die.
Feelings and mortality – the big things that get us into the most trouble.
The writer felt that he made a lot of progress using Stoicism. It really helped him to leave a destructive, pleasure-based life behind. He learned good, new habits – habits that men and women must learn to be stable and even thrive in the world as it is.
But stoicism did not help him with this:
It did not help him come to terms with the death of those he loved.
It helped him manage emotions around his own death. It taught him to detach, to tamp down his own emotions when they were getting in the way of his functioning in the world.
But when he lost someone he loved, he found that the life of detachment, until that point, had not served him in fully loving, fully committing to his friends, his family.
June 28, 2023
Your Part in the Story
“But I want you to know that the Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins.” So, he said to the paralyzed man, ‘Get up, take your mat and go home.’ Then the man got up and went home. When the crowd saw this, they were filled with awe; and they praised God, who had given such authority to man.” Matthew 9:6-8
The Christian Faith is about salvation, about rescue. And your story - the story of your salvation, rescue – is infinitely precious to God. Once rescued, you are sent to be part of His healing work in the world. That commitment to go and be part of that work can mean the big things we’re called to do:
Intervene when a loved one’s life is being wrecked by drugs or alcohol.
Be willing to mobilize as a church, a nation against injustice, decadence.
But it also means joining the healing work of God in the daily, regular, unnoticed things that make this world, more and more, God’s own world, His healed world:
Husband and wife say “I do” and renew their vows by faithfully serving God through their marriage.
You make a commitment to pray every morning.
You lead your family in the reading of the Word and prayer.
You help someone in need, and only you, that person, and God know about it.
You cut back on media consumption and become a healthier channel for God’s grace and healing.
These, and a thousand other little things, day by day, help you to sink deeper and deeper roots, so that you can become the person described in the 1st Psalm:
“And he shall be like a tree planted by the rivers of water, that brings forth his fruit in his season; his leaf shall not wither; and whatever he does shall prosper” (v. 3).
The world is a story told by God, and each of our lives is a story. God is fully invested in your story. We know that one day the story of our lives will be over and done. We will die. But at the end of the Bible’s story, in its final chapter, we hear this:
“Then the angel showed me the river of the water of life,
bright as crystal, flowing from the throne of God
through the middle of the street of the city;
also, on either side of the river,
the tree of life with its twelve kinds of fruit,
yielding its fruit each month.
The leaves of the tree were for the healing of the nations” (Revelation 22:1-5).
Each of us, just one, little leaf on that tree – nothing more, but nothing less.
Each of us, a part in our own place and time, of God’s healing work.
Each of us, at the end of time, hearing our name read in the Book of Life, by its Author:
“Well done, good and faithful servant. You have been faithful over a little; I will set you over much. Enter into the joy of your master” (Matthew 25:23).
Grace & Peace
Pastor James
June 21, 2023
“How Do I and My Family Grow in Faith?”
If God does not speak, we do not change – we do not grow stronger against temptation. God promises to bring us living water through His Word, daily – you can count on it! You can count on it, in three places, at three times:
In worship, on Sunday
At the dinner table, on weekdays
On our knees, in the morning
We don’t meet and overcome temptation in our own strength – spiritually white-knuckle it. When we are tempted, we are tempted to worship the one who tempts us. The only way to fight that is to worship the one, true God, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, in three places, at three times:
On Sunday, when we hear the Word and learn the pattern of worship.
At the dinner table, when parents lead children, and/or spouses share with one another the Word of God and receive it in prayer.
In the morning, when you personally take to God your joys and concerns and receive from His Word consolation and encouragement.
Worship only on Sunday, and the Word doesn’t make its way into your personal and family life. Worship only with your family, and you don’t have full, biblical fellowship. Worship only by yourself, and you are trying to be your own church – it won’t work:
“…a threefold cord is not quickly broken” (Ecclesiastes 4:12).
When I counsel people who are struggling with temptation and especially when it’s risen to dangerous levels, it’s usually because they only have one of these three cords in their lives.
When I lead worship at a funeral, and there is much to rejoice about, it’s because the person pressed into the fact that God speaks to and strengthens us against temptation in those three kinds of worship.
So, if you feel like you want to grow stronger against temptation, it’s not really a question of knowing a lot more than you do. This is not complex, this threefold cord of worship. It’s more about whether we will weave these three cords together until we leave this life and see Christ in the face.
The opposition you will experience to that weaving will be real, intense, and sometimes comical. The devil does not want you to get these priorities into your life, because, by them, his power will weaken. So, he’ll try things like this:
He’ll suggest to you that once a month in worship is enough.
He’ll encourage you to put on customer-goggles before you enter church so that you only focus on what you get out of it.
When you try to lead family worship – read a verse of the Bible and pray over your family – the dog will start drinking from his water bowl, loudly (happens to me… every… time.) Your teenagers will roll their eyes and fiddle with their phones.
When you try to pray in the morning, you’ll hear this: “It doesn’t really matter when you do this… Why don’t you press pause and do it later? Have some coffee first, and scroll through the phone? Of course, God is first in your life – that doesn’t mean He needs to be first in your day…”
When we are tempted, we are tempted to worship something – someone – other than the One who made and redeemed us. Begin to weave a threefold cord of worship into your life, today, and see how God blesses you in the days, week, months, and years ahead.
Grace & Peace,
Pastor James
June 7, 2023
“The Anchor”
“He replied, ‘You of little faith, why are you so afraid?’ Then he got up and rebuked the winds and the waves, and it was completely calm.”
Matthew 8:26
Before Jesus says this to the disciples in the boat, on the shore, He addresses two kinds of people: The bold and the hesitant. The bold one is a “teacher of the law” – an eager, let’s call him “Bible teacher,” who is starstruck by Jesus and promises him the moon.
Then, Jesus talks with a disciple who – understandably – wants to go and bury his father before he gets serious about following Jesus. He’s the hesitant one.
The Bible teacher calls Jesus “Teacher” – it’s what he loves about Him. It’s what he thinks he loves: He sees an impressive man with a lot of knowledge and power and, quid pro quo, “I give you this, you give me that,” he decides he wants to follow Jesus to get what He has.
There is a lot that seems good in the Bible teacher’s attitude: If you met him, you might think, “Well, that’s just the sort of person you’d need: ready, resolute, not hesitant.” But this is also true, and Jesus knew it: “There are many resolutions for religion, produced by sudden pangs of conviction, and taken up without due consideration, that come to nothing: soon ripe, soon rotten” (Matthew Henry).
To the Bible teacher’s big-time promise, “Lord, I’ll follow you wherever you go!” Jesus says: “Okay. Question: How much do you love the comfort of your own home, your own people, your own place? Follow Me, and I can’t promise it won’t cost you.”
It’s tempting to judge the Bible teacher for being too gung-ho when he didn’t know what Jesus was all about, but notice this: We read, “Then another disciple said to Jesus….” (8:21) “Another…”, that means the Bible teacher was following Jesus – he was a disciple, not a fraud! This means we should see ourselves in the promise he makes – the promise-big-without-considering-the-consequences, promise. Each of us can do – each of us has done – that.
So, Jesus took the bold disciple down a notch. Then, he makes a strong cup of coffee for the hesitant disciple: “You! Follow me, and let the dead bury their dead” (8:22). Mercy, that’s strong stuff. It matches other things Jesus said: “Unless a man hate his own father and mother,… even his own life, he cannot be my disciple” (Luke 14:26; Matt 10:37).
Jesus’ anti-sentimental teaching about family is not about shocking us, or being mysterious, and contrary – it’s about this reality: This world is suffering under the power of death, and Jesus wants each of us to bring life and light to those we love, work with, and serve.
To do that, we have to have our priorities straight: God must be first, and we must live that out day by day. The reality is that misguided family loyalties can sometimes stand in the way of doing just that.
I don’t know anyone who is all one or the other – bold or hesitant. Most of us have our bold and our hesitant days, our bold and our hesitant seasons. Those days and seasons don’t spring up out of nowhere. Usually, they come in the middle of a storm, or as the result of a storm.
That is what the disciples experience next: Jesus falls asleep on a boat with the disciples. A storm comes, and the disciples worry. Then Jesus makes everything right: “He got up and rebuked the winds and the waves, and it was completely calm” (Matthew 8:26).
We know storms will come. Wherever, whoever you are, this is how Jesus prepares us for that:
To the bold, He says, “You may think you’re ready; you may think you’re strong; you may think My Spirit is with you, but we’ll see when the storm comes. When it does, remember this: I am your anchor, not your own strength, personality, gifting …”
To the hesitant, Jesus, says: “You’re thinking, maybe it’s safer to stay on shore; to go back home to what’s familiar, what’s comfortable; to step off – or stay out – of the boat, and miss the storm. But the storm won’t stop at the edge of the lake. The storm is coming. I’m on the boat. Come, follow Me, and I will be your anchor.”
Turn to Christ and ask Him to calm the stormy waters in your soul. Then go and follow Him. He has been my Anchor. He can be yours, too.
May 24, 2023
We would love for you to join us for our second, annual summer conference, “Onward and Upward: Come, Holy Spirit: Find Renewal in God’s Abiding Comforter.”, Friday, June 16, 7:00 pm – Sunday, June 18, 10:00 am.
We will be led again by Dave and Cheryl Bryan of the Church of Glad Tidings in Yuba City, California. Dave and Cheryl are dynamic, Spirit-filled teachers and preachers, and the focus of their time with us will be how the Holy Spirit revives and comforts us.
We’re all coming out of a season of dramatic changes and physical, emotional, and spiritual exhaustion. We often hope that the Summer will be a time for renewal, rest, and rejuvenation. Join us for Onward and Upward, beginning Friday, June 16, at 7:00 pm for three days of learning about and experiencing the renewal that only the Holy Spirit can bring.
You can call the office to register: (631) 298 – 4135, or you can go to our website: mattpres.com/onward-upward-registration.
Friday, June 16 @ 7:00 pm, Worship & Teaching, Music by Kairos.
Saturday, June 17 @ 8:30 am-3:30 pm, Worship, Teaching & Impartation, Music by Crossing Jordan, Lunch.
Sunday, June 18 @ 10:00 am, Worship, Music by MPC Choir.
May 17, 2023
“A Rule of Life”
“Enter through the narrow gate. For wide is the gate and broad is the road that leads to destruction, and many enter through it. But small is the gate and narrow the road that leads to life, and only a few find it.”
Matthew 7:13-14
When did you reach a stage in your life when you thought: “You know, I’m not sure I’m fully prepared for this?”:
When you started college? Your first job?
When you had your first child?
When your business began to grow? When you were promoted?
When you had to make a difficult decision and close a business? Or leave a job that wasn’t working?
I don’t know anyone – myself included – who feels completely prepared for life at each stage of the journey. We all of us reach major transitions in life with questions like these: “Wow, how am I going to make this work? What do I need to learn to make it – to succeed?”
It really does not matter how amazing your parents were, the first few months – years – of parenting are a blur. Even if you’ve been very disciplined, creative until now, if your business begins to grow it’s not really about you at that point: You’ve got to learn a whole new set of skills to sustain that growth. If you’ve reached the point where you need “to call it” - to close your business; to move on from a job that no longer works, even if you have a great resume and good prospects you have to manage the personal, emotional, spiritual toll of that transition, and you have to shepherd your family through that too.
We – each of us – find ourselves living life on the go, And we often reach stages in our life when we say: “Boy nobody told me how to deal with this!” It can feel a little like we’re being asked to build the house we live in as we run from here to there: No time to stop. No time to reflect, rest. Just: “Get going. Move on. Don’t waste another minute.”
I think we can go through life like that. I know I have had seasons where it’s all a blur and I’m trying to keep the siding on the house in the middle of a hurricane.
It does not have to be like that. At the end of the day, it is not spiritually heathy for life to be like that.
The verses from Matthew 7, cited above, come at end Jesus wants the strict attention of his disciples. Those words, Jesus’ tone, ask us to make concrete decisions about how we live our lives now, week by week:
What does the “broad road”, “the broad gate” look like in my life?
How do I get off the broad road and begin to build a house on the Rock?
So, what is the one thing – or the few things – I can do day by day, so that I stay in living connection with Jesus and build a spiritual house for me and my family?
The first and most important decision is this – everything else flows from it:
Slow down.
Slow down using your calendar.
Slow down, using your calendar, so that whatever you do whatever part of the house you’re working on, you do that from the solid foundation of being with Jesus.
If you don’t slow down to be with God, you will carry none of his calm, joy, grace with you when you do for God.
I use the word “calendar”, but another word for it is: A “Rule of Life”. A Rule of Life is a consistent weekly pattern of prayer, work, rest, and relationships.
It came to prominence under Saint Benedict who started some of the first monastic communities: Monks and nuns living, working and praying together – creating a stable, spiritual house, during a time of almost unbelievable, chaotic societal deformation. And the way they lived that out, was to carefully, prayerfully focus on those four things: prayer, work, rest and relationships.
If you have looked at those four areas of your life and feel like you would like press into developing a Rule of Life, here is a great podcast by a pastor and author who transformed how I apply this in my life: YouTube | Podcast | PDF
May 10, 2023
“A Family and a Rule of Life”
I spent the middle part of last week at a Pastor’s conference. I’ve served for seven years on the team that puts the conference together. It’s been a blast, and I’ve gained a lot of experience, learning how to put on a large conference, and connecting with nationally and internationally known speakers. But the past couple of years, it’s felt like an extra thing to do: It always comes shortly after Easter – one of our busiest seasons, and I’m usually ready, not to do more work, but to find opportunities to recharge and refill.
And yet, the theme of the conference this year was: “Reviving the Heart for Leadership.” Once I got there, I found that I received and relaxed a lot more than I expected to. I had the pleasure of recruiting and connecting with a speaker and author I’ve followed for years, and I spent time with another speaker and pastor whose teachings have had a profound impact on my life and ministry.
From the first speaker, I’ve learned how churches often operate like families. It is so important for those who lead (which is to say, who serve in) a church, to understand that they’re trying to lead and serve a family – not maintain a business; not run a non-profit; and certainly not command an army. We are brothers and sisters in a family, and when we are healthy and aware of how we operate as a family, we can do great things for Christ and His Kingdom.
The second speaker focused on a couple of things that I’ve found extraordinarily helpful: Maintaining a “Rule of Life” and tracking spiritual growth carefully, intentionally. The Rule of Life comes from the monastic tradition – from monks and nuns who have dedicated their lives to prayer and service. A Rule of Life is a carefully thought-out plan for prayer, rest, work, and worship – a plan that looks like times and days in a monthly calendar. That specific, that intentional. Ministry is a marathon, not a sprint, and so it requires careful tending of the hours, days, weeks, and months, or it can become a sprint from meeting to meeting, Sunday to Sunday.
The Rule of Life, when followed, should lead to greater emotional, spiritual, and physical health – in short, it should help us mature as followers of Christ. We all know that there are baby Christians and spiritual mothers and fathers. And, of course, age has almost nothing to do with being spiritually mature: A Christian can be a member of a church for years, and still be learning to walk and drinking milk. It was eye-opening to press into that teaching about stages of spiritual maturity, now, almost five years ago – I thought that because I was doing good, faithful – even, I thought, brave – things for Christ, that I must have arrived. Boy, did I need to do some work. I still do.
If either of these teachings – about church as family and Rule of Life – interest you, let me know. I’m pretty sure I would like to teach on these in the not-too-distant future. But, for now, here are a couple of links that describe the work of the speakers I spent time with last week: Family and Rule of Life.
Grace and peace,
Pastor James
May 3, 2023
“Ask, Seek, Knock…”
‘“Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives; the one who seeks finds; and to the one who knocks, the door will be opened.
“Which of you, if your son asks for bread, will give him a stone? Or if he asks for a fish, will give him a snake? If you, then, though you are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give good gifts to those who ask him!”
Matthew 7:7-11
One of the best lessons my father taught me is this: “Find out what you want, and then ask for it. Don’t be fearful. Ask for it clearly, boldly. Your chances of getting what you want are much better if you: First, get clear on what you want, and then ask for it. If you don’t ask, you don’t get. Ask hesitantly, timidly – even if you really believe you want what you’re asking for – you probably won’t get it.”
That has been very helpful at different points in my life. Almost twenty years ago, I got good and clear: “I really love this amazing woman named Tara – I want to spend my life with her! Okay, go to Tara’s Dad, first, ask him, then ask Tara.” Turned out pretty darn good.
Of course, sometimes it works the other way, doesn’t it? We can convince ourselves that we want or deserve something – it’s only right, good, fair – and then we ask for it, and ask for it, and ask for it, but don’t get it. Or, worse, we ask for it, get it, and it turns out bad.
Prayer, too, is about asking, but there are important differences: When we ask in prayer, we have to expect that God will answer, be found, and will open doors, in ways, with people, through new things that we don’t expect or maybe even – at first glance – want.
And we have to prepare ourselves for the fact that sometimes the answer will be No – that God will wisely keep the thing we think we want from us.
Each of these words – ask, seek, knock – is a biblical word for prayer. They each say the same thing: Pray, pray, pray. But in saying this, Jesus’ counsel is not to build a bigger laundry list, and pray, pray, pray our way through it.
“Ask, seek, knock” tells us that prayer is more like a quest. The journey of every man, every woman, when he or she walks with God, is a quest in which we are found by God and where we find God in prayer.
God comes to each of us and lifts us out of darkness. He puts us back on our feet. He gives us new strength and purpose. He puts us alongside other people making the same journey. And then he sends us on a quest – sometimes many quests – in His Kingdom. We are told to ask, seek, and knock as we carry the fire of the Holy Spirit through a sometimes very dark land.
“Quest.” It feels like an old word from an old world. Does it really make sense to use it today? We look at our life, now, and the word “quest” feels like it belongs in the world of knights and castles. Our world, perhaps, is more about getting things done making to-do lists, creating timelines, managing projects. So maybe we should think about prayer in that way, too: Put it on the list. Pray about it. Get it, good. Don’t, move on.
That is a vision of faith – of life with God – that makes prayer marginal. It tries to turn prayer into a special way of getting what I want, what I need. It is not the kind of prayer that Jesus speaks of in Matthew 7.
“Ask, seek, knock” describes a journey – a quest led by the living God.
And it is a journey that begins where we are. If the language of knights and castles sounds too high-minded, too idealistic, Jesus is very realistic about where that quest starts – who it starts with. Isn’t it striking that He says to His disciples, “If you, then, though you are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give good gifts to those who ask him”?
Jesus starts from the point that each person who enters the journey of prayer will begin with selfish motives – will begin in sin, and only gradually work his or her way out, being slowly transformed into Christ’s likeness.
If you want to pray – if you really want to pray – it can’t be another thing to put on your to-do list. Asking, seeking, knocking prayer is part of a living, breathing, questing life with God that will transform you and sustain you from this side of life to the other.
April 26, 2023
“Judge Not….”
“Do not judge, or you too will be judged.”
Matthew 7:1
In books that track the most misused verses in the Bible, the top of the list is always Jesus’s teaching in Matthew 7:1: “Do not judge, or you too will be judged.”
Until Jesus, there was no command in Judaism like this – an absolute prohibition: “Do not judge, ever.” Here, “judge” means what we think it means: To condemn; to harbor a critical spirit. And the command is absolute – no exceptions – because it is given in light of the fact that Jesus said this about Himself and His teachings: “The Kingdom of heaven is at hand.” (Matthew 3:2). He meant that the Kingdom is present, now.
If Jesus’ Kingdom is here, now, that means we should obey right here, right now; in this world and not some other world that we might wish we lived in.
And that’s the problem, isn’t it? Do not judge – do not judge at all – when:
A man leaves his wife and the mother of his children for no reason?
When a company tries to make you believe something that goes against your principles, and – in effect – forces you to quit?
When someone is destroying herself through addiction?
No, don’t judge – don’t you dare. Not now. Not ever. The trouble is that we live in a world where these tragic, evil, sometimes sinful things happen, and we can’t not form judgments about what’s going on and still pretend to love the people doing or suffering from these things.
Jesus knows the world we live in. He is betrayed and killed by people in this world, the real world – the one we know and struggle against, when we try to live out the command: Judge not.
Jesus’ concern is this: You live in a world where you will have to make judgments, so make them on the basis of Biblical values and in the spirit of the Good Shepherd. And we should remember that in this teaching, Jesus has the church, first and foremost, in mind.
This command to judge not is about how disciples are to love one another. And the acid test is how we actually love our real brothers and sisters in Christ. This is how one pastor put it:
‘We can love our vision of what a church should be more than we love the people who compose it. We can be like the unmarried man who loves the idea of a wife, but who marries a real woman and finds it harder to love her than the idea of her.
Or like the mother who loves her dream of the perfect daughter more than the daughter herself. . . . We start loving the idea of a … church more than the church God has placed us in.
[But] Christ has put His name on immature Christians. . . . [He] has identified Himself with Christians whose theology is underdeveloped and imperfect.
To say we should love the church more than [the idea of a church] means … we should love people because they belong to Jesus, not because they’ve kept the law [perfectly], … If you love your children, you want them to be healthy. But if you love your children, you love them whether they are healthy or not.
Paul told one local church—despite many flaws—that they were his “joy,” his “glory,” and his “crown” (1 Thess. 2:19)
(Jonathan Leeman, https://www.9marks.org/article/love-church-more-its-health/).
April 19, 2023
“Leave the Desert Behind…”
“At this, she turned around and saw Jesus standing there, but she did not realize that it was Jesus.”
John 20:14
In the northern plains of Chile, you will find the Atacama Desert, also known as the driest place on earth. How dry? Scientists compare it to Mars. NASA goes there to practice their landings.
Every five to seven years, Atacama gets a major downpour – years’ worth of rain, sometimes in just twenty-four hours. Then 200 species bloom.
The seeds that have been underground, just surviving in the driest desert ever, are strong enough to make it on five to seven years of no rain: The seeds are made that way. Or they evolved to be like that. They can make it, but just barely. No flower wants to live without water that long. No flower should.
It’s beautiful – the Atacama bloom. It’s kind of miraculous that this happens. I would love to see it in person. I would love to see it, but I wouldn’t want to live there. The years between the rains – the famine between the blossoms – I’m not sure I could handle that.
When God speaks, it is like water for your soul.
The human body can go without water for about three days. Water does a bunch of essential things:
Your ability to think and speak clearly.
It lubricates your joints.
Water is like a bouncer for toxins in your body.
Water is the UPS that delivers oxygen throughout your body.
We need to hear God like we need water to live and work and play. We can go a long time without hearing a word from God, but it’s never pretty: You can’t bloom or thrive in a desert, in a famine.
The prophets of Israel spoke about famine and deserts. The prophet Amos (8:11-13) said this: A time was coming when Israel would experience a famine of the Word – a desert where God’s voice could not be heard.
In the time of Amos, Israel had split into two kingdoms: A national divorce. People claiming to speak for God on both sides. Most of the people lived in comfort and were prosperous. Businesses throughout the land tried to exploit and dominate those they should serve. The poor were overlooked. So, it’s no mystery, in all this, that the people couldn’t hear God.
Amos said this about all that: “This is what the Lord God showed me: behold, a basket of summer fruit” (8:1-2). That sounds good and hopeful. But it meant that there would be no harvest on the other side of that basket. The basket was it. Famine was next.
Again and again, the prophets following Amos came to Israel to tell them that a famine was possible. And then it happened for much longer than anyone would’ve liked: Between the last prophet of Israel and Jesus, four-hundred years of no water, no Word from God. Four-hundred years of spiritual Atacama Desert.
What has the desert been like for you? I mean: the last few years?
Spiritually, what I see, is that most of us have been in a desert zone:
Our nation, like Amos’, sometimes feels like two different kingdoms/nations…
The emotional and spiritual isolation and effects of COVID are far from over.
Division, doubt, and death have dried up our land.
We are, all of us, a little like the disciples, going to the tomb the day after the Crucifixion. Like Mary, we can barely hear the Lord, who stands right in front of us (Philippians 4:5).
The disciples had three years of water, after 400 years of famine: Three years of blooming in a desert. Then division, doubt, and death did their worst, in the span of just three days: The disciples scatter. The strongest disciple was in enough fear that he denies Jesus. The shoot of Jesse – the flowering work of Christ – ripped from the stump and nailed to a Cross.
The disciples’ experience of division, death, and doubt reached right into their hearts – and made them think: “Okay, was that it? Will God stop speaking, again? Should we prepare for famine, for the desert?”
If division, death, and doubt have done their worst to you in the past few years, it’s time to leave the desert: Turn to Him in prayer, in a local church, and wait for the rain.
Grace and Peace,
Pastor James
April 5, 2023
“Holy Week for the Hope-Less and the Hope-Full”
The drama of Holy Week is for everyone: If you are without hope, or if you are filled with hope, you can come and meet God in worship, in ways that will renew and challenge you.
Maundy Thursday and Good Friday take seriously that ours is a world that sometimes dashes expectations – that takes hope away, like a thief.
And Easter morning comes as the loud, joyful Nevertheless: Nevertheless, “I know that my Redeemer lives, and that at last he shall stand upon the earth” (Job 19:25).
Join us, beginning tomorrow night, and bring a hope-filled and/or a hope-less friend:
April 6, Maundy Thursday Worship, 7:30PM:
The Lord’s Supper, Social Hall downstairs.
April 7, Good Friday Worship, 7:30PM:
Community Choir and Chamber Orchestra,
Guest Soloist, Bobby Peterson.
Sunday, April 9, Easter Sunrise Service, 6:00AM,
at the Pequash Club: 205 West Road, Cutchogue.
Easter Contemporary Service, 9:00AM
Easter Traditional Service, 11:15AM.
Grace and peace,
Pastor James
Pastor James
March 22, 2023
“The Secret Place of Thunder”
“Then your Father, who sees what is done in secret, will reward you.”
Matthew 6:4
If you haven’t heard it, recently – or if you’ve never heard it before – here it is: There is no need for you to make a name for yourself. In fact, we should seek to live simply – and even, dare I say it, secretly – trusting God to use our lives in the way that He sees fit.
One of the most powerful prayers we can offer is to pray as Paul teaches, for kings and others in power, that we may live quiet and peaceful lives as we worship and honor God (1 Timothy 2:2).
That’s very different from what the culture around us encourages: Find out who you are and publish it to the world! Christ, instead, tells us to take up three secret disciplines – prayer, fasting, and almsgiving (Matthew 6:1-18) – and so hide our lives in Him (Colossians 3:3).
We see why our lives are meant to have a secret feel to them when we understand what Christ means when He denounces hypocrisy: “And when you pray, do not be like the hypocrites” (Matthew 6:5).
The word Jesus uses, which we translate as “hypocrites,” is the ancient word for “stage actors.” The thing Jesus is saying about the prayer (and fasting and almsgiving) of stage actors is simply that when we press into these disciplines, we must remove ourselves from the stage as much as possible. Jesus really does not like people who perform their religion so that they can be held in high regard.
Let’s just take prayer: What is one of the key signs of stage acting when we pray? Christ says, too many words (Matthew 6:7), or formulas, because – on some level – the person praying in that way believes that by a lot of words, or by the correct set of words, that they can get God’s attention or can force God’s hand.
Against these kind of practice, we need to hear this:
- Christ knows our needs before we go to Him in prayer (Matthew 6:8).
- His Spirit, dwelling within us, often intercedes for us when we cannot find the words to pray (Romans 8:26-27).
The model for simple, direct prayer is the Lord’s Prayer. There are several parts to the Lord’s prayer, but its focus is always: “Thy Kingdom come.” Not: “Let me give you a list so that I can deck out my kingdom.” Not: a lot of words about me and what I want.
The focus of the Lord’s Prayer is on God and His future, and away from us and many of our present concerns. To find and consolidate this focus, Jesus says, we must go and pray, fast, and give in secret.
The Psalms are also a model for simple, direct prayer. They are the prayers of Israel, and they are the prayers of the Church. When we pray them, without performing them, God does mighty things in and through us; He does mighty things in the world, among the nations.
Go, today, to the secret place that Jesus counsels; the place that we hear about in Psalm 81:
“I relieved your shoulder of the burden;…
In distress you called, and I delivered you;
I answered you in the secret place of thunder….”
(vv. 6-7)
The secret place of thunder is Mount Sinai where Moses goes to receive the Ten Commandments. You don’t have to go up a mountain. In fact, when we obey Him, God in Jesus Christ comes down to us, and lives within us.
When we pray, fast, and serve our neighbors in need – and when we do all of these things in secret – Our Father, who sees in secret, rewards us with His presence.
March 15, 2023
“Perfect? I Don’t Know…”
“If anyone forces you to go one mile, go with them two miles.”
Matthew 5:41
In the time of the New Testament, Roman soldiers and government officials could force citizens of occupied territories to carry their equipment.
When Jesus says, “go with them two miles,” He uses Roman language – a Roman measurement – to make His point to His Jewish listeners.
What’s that all about?
Imagine we were invaded by a people who used the kilometer, instead of the mile. All the officials we hated and wanted to overthrow could say things like: “Drop what you’re doing, pack up my kid’s things, and deliver them 200 kilometers to the school that he’s going to in the fall.”
That is what Jesus’ listeners would have heard, when He said: “Go the extra mile…”
And Jesus goes even further: “Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you” (Matthew 5:44).
There are statements in the Old Testament that counsel hatred toward those who do evil:
I do not sit with men of falsehood,
Nor do I consort with hypocrites.
I hate the assembly of evildoers,
(Psalm 26:4-5).
But Christ’s command to love enemies, one commentator writes, “in its absoluteness and concreteness … is without parallel in paganism or Judaism.”
Does Jesus command this because all people are worthy, lovely?
Does He command us to do this, because if we do it, it will work every time?
Neither of those. He commands this because He “wants everyone to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth” (1 Timothy 2:4).
Our response to evil – a response that does not retaliate with violence – can begin with our words, when we say No, and say it loudly and firmly.
There are any number of things that I see on the news that make me very angry. And that anger sometimes veers into the territory Jesus warns about. It’s why He says, don’t do it. Do not go eye for eye, tooth for tooth on this.
Let your No be No, and in the words of Paul:
“… never avenge yourselves, but leave it to the wrath of God, for it is written, ‘Vengeance is mine, I will repay, says the Lord.’ … if your enemy is hungry, feed him; if he is thirsty, give him something to drink. … Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good” (Romans 12:19-21).
And here’s the kicker: Jesus calls us to do all this “perfectly”: “Be perfect, therefore, as your heavenly Father is perfect” (5:48).
To be “perfect,” biblically, means to serve God wholeheartedly, single-mindedly. We can choose to love our enemies, and to go the extra mile – we can make that our single-minded purpose in the world. But we can’t do it without a life shaped by spiritual disciplines. Here’s the first discipline: Be honest with yourself about how your week has been so far.
Whatever your week has been like, I would bet that there were moments when you thought about retaliation:
- To return someone’s mean word, with a meaner word.
To return someone’s incompetence, with a harsh reprimand.
To not just go eye for eye, but body for eye; jaw for tooth.
Whatever your experience, turn to the One who knows you completely and simply confess. He is patient. He is kind. He will take away the anger and give His grace and gentleness in return.
March 8, 2023
“Anger and Lust and Divorce, Oh My!”
“You have heard that it was said to the people long ago, ‘You shall not murder, and anyone who murders will be subject to judgment,’ but I tell you that anyone who is angry with a brother or sister will be subject to judgment. Again, anyone who says to a brother or sister, ‘Raca,’ is answerable to the court. And anyone who says, ‘You fool!’ will be in danger of the fire of hell….
“You have heard that it was said, ‘You shall not commit adultery.’ But I tell you that anyone who looks at a woman lustfully has already committed adultery with her in his heart.
“It has been said, ‘Anyone who divorces his wife must give her a certificate of divorce.’ But I tell you that anyone who divorces his wife, except for sexual immorality, makes her the victim of adultery, and anyone who marries a divorced woman commits adultery.”
Matthew 5:21-22; 27-28; 31-32
Imagine three friends walking in a dark and dangerous forest. One asks: “Do you suppose we’ll meet any wild animals?” The second person answers: “We might…” The third asks: “Animals that could eat us?” The second, again: “Yes, but mostly lions and tigers and bears!” So, they lock arms and walk, chanting: “Lions and Tiger and Bears, oh my!” Then, out jumps the cowardly lion: “Put ‘em up, put ‘em up!!”
The words of Christ, above, from His Sermon on the Mount, have the power to make us a little like Dorothy, the Tin Man, and the Scarecrow: “Anger and lust and divorce – oh my!”
But this is true: If you’re in the Kingdom of God, you’re not in Kansas anymore. In fact, you’ll find in the Kingdom that these very real enemies want to bring you down, and an evil, spiritual “lion” is loose in the world – the one the Apostle Peter describes this way:
“Your enemy the devil prowls around
like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour.”
(1 Peter 5:8)
The devouring is sometimes quick, sometimes slow, but the three things Jesus just spoke about – anger, lust and marriage – are where the devil loves to do his work.
Anyone who hears what Christ says about anger, lust, and divorce is probably tempted to shift in her seat, pull at his necktie, and sweat a little, because these are high standards.
In the first place, these standards should help us to see the truth of Paul’s statement in Romans:
“There is no one who is righteous – not even one….
All have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God.”
(Romans 3:10:23)
That’s just it, isn’t it? What we hear in these words of Christ about anger, lust, and marriage – they are the glory of God shining a very bright, uncomfortable light into the corners of our hearts, our minds, our lives.
If we are open to it, there is a kind of healthy conviction that we can feel when we hear Christ’s commands: They can and should help us to see those moments in our lives when we fell short. They can and should help us to see more clearly ongoing patterns in our lives that are fueled by anger and lust and a desire to divorce.
But if Christ’s words only do that, we have not heard him completely: These words, like the 10 Commandments, should not only convict, they should also instruct – they can be followed as instructions from the One who created and redeemed us; the One who wrote our instruction manual – our user guide.
All of us were probably tempted with the disciples to say: “If that’s how it is, maybe it’s better not to marry…” (Matthew 19:10). We might just as easily say: “Lord, if that’s how you think about the least little bit of anger; or a glance at a beautiful person, then maybe we can’t even get started on this thing you call The Kingdom!”
The answer is that you can’t. You can’t do any of this in your own strength.
It’s why Jesus says: “Aren’t you tired, exhausted and beat up, trying to do all these things without me? (Matthew 11:28-30). Trying to get your anger and lust under control. Trying to get your marriage back on track, and centered in Me?”
The promise is that if you confess that Jesus is your Lord and Savior, He comes – and He comes quickly – to make His home in your soul. Then, the Spirit of God will live in you (Romans 8:9) and give you strength to experience:
- Less anger, more joy
- Less lust, more purity
- Less choruses of Fleetwood Mac’s “You can go your own way,” and more Christ at the center of your marriage.
No one wants to go to bed angry. But no one can say these words without supernatural power: “I love you. Forgive me. Let’s go have dinner…” Turn to Him, today, give your life – every corner of it – to Him, and see what He will give you power to do.
March 1, 2023
“SpiritFire23 Is Almost Here! But, Why?”
Dear Mattituck Presbyterian Church Members and Friends,
In a little under a week, SpiritFire23 will start (you can register, HERE). Why? Why do this? Why spend 4 Tuesday evenings, 7:00-9:00pm, at Mattituck Pres?
Answer: We believe God is on the move, and we are eager to create a time and place for Him to come and do something new in and through us! By now, you’ve probably heard about the revival that’s broken out at Asbury University (HERE and HERE are links to the story). God has shown up in a powerful way, among a very ordinary group of college students who were tired of all the darkness and division they saw all around them, and who wanted to press in for a new beginning, together.
The great thing about the Asbury revival is that it doesn’t center on big personalities, or in manipulating emotions – it’s just ordinary, dedicated prayer, singing, teaching, and fellowship. Turns out, when we persevere in those, God can come and do some amazing stuff among us.
That’s what we would like this year’s SpiritFire to be all about: Time in praise; in teaching (we’ll use Henry Blackaby’s Experiencing God as the video curriculum); in fellowship over coffee and cookies; and then in small groups to process, question, and pray.
Won’t you join us? And consider inviting a friend? We would love for you to register HERE, today.
Grace and peace,
Pastor James
February 22, 2023
“Behold, He Is Doing a New Thing…”
By now you may have heard about the revival at Asbury University in Kentucky, but if not, here’s a description from a theology professor at Asbury Seminary, just across the street:
“When I arrived, I saw hundreds of students singing quietly. They were praising and praying earnestly for themselves and their neighbors and our world—expressing repentance and contrition for sin and interceding for healing, wholeness, peace, and justice.
Some were reading and reciting Scripture. Others were standing with arms raised. Several were clustered in small groups praying together. A few were kneeling at the altar rail in the front of the auditorium. Some were lying prostrate, while others were talking to one another, their faces bright with joy….
By Thursday evening, there was standing room only. Students had begun to arrive from other universities: the University of Kentucky, the University of the Cumberlands, Purdue University, Indiana Wesleyan University, Ohio Christian University, Transylvania University, Midway University, Lee University, Georgetown College, Mt. Vernon Nazarene University, and many others.
Many people say that in the chapel they hardly even realize how much time has elapsed. It is almost as though time and eternity blur together as heaven and earth meet.”
Here’s the part that really caught my attention – the professor, a real analytical guy (that is, someone not easily tricked), wrote this:
‘As an analytic theologian, I am weary of hype and very wary of manipulation. I come from a background (in a particularly revivalist segment of the Methodist-holiness tradition) where I’ve seen efforts to manufacture “revivals” and “movements of the Spirit” that were sometimes not only hollow but also harmful. I do not want anything to do with that.
And truth be told, this is nothing like that. There is no pressure or hype. There is no manipulation. There is no high-pitched emotional fervor.
On the contrary, it has so far been mostly calm and serene. The mix of hope and joy and peace is indescribably strong and indeed almost palpable—a vivid and incredibly powerful sense of shalom. The ministry of the Holy Spirit is undeniably powerful but also so gentle.’
Isn’t it like the Lord to begin a revival at a university, especially when so many colleges and universities are captured by ideologies that divide and demonize the youth of America? What we know is that this revival did not pop up overnight – the foundation was laid in prayer and preparation for many years. As Pastor John Kilpatrick is fond of saying, “God never puts revival on sale.” Let’s continue to press into the work that God is doing in and through us, to be a people who honor, and welcome his Spirit at Mattituck Presbyterian.
To that end: You are invited to join us for SpiritFire23! We begin Tuesday, March 7, at 7 pm, and will run for four Tuesdays, finishing Tuesday, March 28, with a worship service for empowerment and healing. We will use Henry and Richard Blackaby’s Experiencing God. We’ll follow the same format as last year: Extended worship/welcoming the Spirit; Video teaching; Snack and drinks; Small Group; Done by 9 pm.
A lot in our culture is falling apart – God is shaking loose things that don’t belong. Let’s continue to build on the Rock and prepare the foundation for the fire of the Holy Spirit.
February 15, 2023
“Who Is Blessed?”
We often think of blessings as things that go our way:
The business you work for gave you a bonus
Your son is dating a really nice girl, finally….
You got that new job.
You left that old job.
You’re running late and the light that’s usually red, is green.
You found ten dollars on the street.
There are a lot of things that we call “blessings,” which – biblically – may or may not be blessings:
He’s dating the right girl – probably, yes.
God blessed me by changing the red light to green – probably, no
“Blessing,” in the Bible, is put on a stronger foundation than whether life is going well for you, or not. In fact, the Bible speaks about blessing, primarily, as this: What God thinks of you. It really should be the only thing that matters. Not what he or she thinks of you. Not even what you think of yourself, but who you are in God’s eyes.
This, from Paul’s Letter to the Church at Rome, shows us the deeper, stronger blessing we can enjoy:
“Blessed are those whose … whose sins are covered; blessed is the one against whom the Lord will not count his sin” (Romans 4:7-8).
Now, think with me for a moment about the person who this blessing comes to – the person God speaks this blessing over:
The businessman who has embezzled thousands of dollars, and is going to jail, leaving his wife and children destitute.
The wife who has been cheating on her husband for years.
The father who consistently puts his children down in private and in public.
When each of these people – the businessman, the wife, the father – come under the conviction of the Holy Spirit, and know and confess that they have sinned, the blessing that Paul speaks about is theirs: Blessed is the one against whom God will not count his/her sin.
But that blessing has nothing to do with the outward circumstances of their lives – their lives are in tatters, in ruins, and it will take years to serve the prison sentence; to rebuild trust with her husband; to become a consistently gentle, loving father to his children.
Biblical blessing can also rest on people who have gone through unimaginable life changes that they did not choose – that they did not bring on themselves – hard, excruciating changes that cause suffering, even disability.
Sarah Phillips, Christian writer, blogger, and Mom, writes about this:
“I have a friend who may not seem very ‘blessed’ to people looking in from the outside. At age 18, he was diagnosed with aggressive leukemia and went from professionally swimming to fighting for his life in hospital in a matter of weeks.
Over the next few years he endured treatment after treatment, each one more brutal than the last. He is now cancer free but is instead living with a debilitating chronic condition—a result of the cancer.
For seven years now, he has endured chronic pain that prevents him from sleeping, increasingly damaged skin that seriously affects his mobility and causes terrible wounds that refuse to heal.
At twenty-nine, he cannot work, exercise, or travel, and he spends many hours of the week in hospital. Nobody can tell him whether he will ever get better or not because nobody knows. But he is extraordinarily blessed.
He is blessed because he knows with utter certainty and conviction that his Heavenly Father loves him and knows what is ultimately good for him.
He is blessed because he walks closely with God, driven daily to his knees in prayer. …
He is blessed because he recognizes his weakness and dependence on God, and drinks in His word.
He’s blessed because he’s forced to collapse regularly into God’s sustaining arms and has experienced first-hand that Jesus is truly enough.
He is blessed because his eyes are fixed firmly on heaven since this life for him is so painful and broken.
God blesses us by changing our hearts, and God has sculpted my friend’s heart into a masterpiece.”
The blessings in the Beatitudes are for the people of God because they tell us how God sees us when we are up against the very worst:
You don’t have a big ego that commands the room, and you worry that maybe that has cost you – that you haven’t been bold enough? God says: “You are blessed and Yours is the kingdom of heaven.”
You are heartbroken about the big difference between the way the world is, and the way that Jesus says it should be? You will be comforted.
Even though you see how much anger and violence and power can accomplish in this world, still you are committed to the heart of Jesus, the good and gentle shepherd? You will inherit the earth.
You want people to know God so bad, you can taste it? You will be filled.
You practice mercy, even though it gets you into trouble? You will be shown mercy.
You fight hard to have a pure heart – to keep out all the dark but tempting stuff you see in culture? You will see God.
They’ve been fighting for years, but you’re determined to help them make peace with one another? You are a child of God.
You do the right thing even when it costs you friendship, family, time, and money? Yours is the kingdom of heaven.
You’re insulted at work, at school – maybe even in your own home –because of what you believe? In God’s eyes, you are blessed.
February 8, 2023
Turn, Learn, and Heal
“From that time on Jesus began to preach, ‘Repent, for the kingdom of heaven has come near.’"...
“They were casting a net into the lake, for they were fishermen. ‘Come, follow me,’ Jesus said, ‘and I will send you out to fish for people.’”...
“... people brought to him all who were ill with various diseases, those suffering severe pain, the demon-possessed, those having seizures, and the paralyzed; and he healed them.”
Matthew 4:17; 18-19; 24
When we are called to change, and begin again with God, it always happens in a particular place and time. Think about where you are, now, and where you’ve been. Can you see in your mind’s eye, the time and the place where you had a major life change? You know – or you sense – that God was in the experience. Did you change as a result? Did you miss the opportunity? We all experience change that lasts for a few days, weeks, or even months, and then we go back to “the same old, same old.”
Biblically, to repent, means a lifelong commitment to deep spiritual change. It should be an ongoing way of life. And it tracks the lifelong transition from darkness to light; from no Jesus – or “meh” Jesus – to Yes, Jesus is my Lord and Savior. When we repent in that way, we turn, learn, and heal over the course of a lifetime.
We leave behind old ways of life – sinful patterns – that don’t die in that instant. And the repenting we do, going forward, is done on a foundation of grace, which means it should be less frightening, more normal, and even a “joy.” We are not forced, but choose to repent, because we know the learning and healing that come along with it. This is how Eugene Peterson – pastor and translator of The Message Bible – puts it:
“Repentance is a realization that what God wants from you and what you want from God are not going to be achieved by doing the same old things, thinking the same old thoughts. Repentance is a decision to follow Jesus Christ and become his pilgrim in the path of peace” (A Long Obedience in the Same Direction, pp. 29-30).
If we turn and go with Jesus on that path, what do we leave behind? It should get pretty specific:
Consistent pattern of “white lies,” for grace-filled truthfulness in all things.
Destructive habits for godly habits that honor the fact that you are God’s temple.
Consistently foolish for consistently wise decisions.
At the mercy of our emotions, to governing our emotions under the power of the Holy Spirit.
No worship, or worship once in a blue moon, to the discipline of weekly worship.
Spiritual quick fixes, to careful, balanced spiritual troubleshooting.
No, bad, or weak boundaries, to healthy, Christ-centered boundaries.
To repent is to decide to turn around and learn (disciple) in The Way of Jesus Christ, and this will heal you over time.
At the beginning of His public ministry, Jesus sets the tone of His whole ministry:
He calls everyone to repent – we turn.
He calls disciples to Himself and promises to equip them to “fish” for people – we learn.
Jesus heals the sick and delivers the demon-possessed – we heal.
Jesus fishes us out the waters of chaos, darkness, and disorder, and equips us to do the same.
Which waters were you pulled out of? What was life like before you knew God? Or maybe you’ve been rescued, but you don’t know the name of the One who rescued you. Jesus was the One. He pulled out so that you could go back in and fish out people like you. So, turn to Him. Learn from Him. Receive healing from Him. Then, go, and do likewise for those who will become members of the family you just joined.
January 25, 2023
“The Dove”
“As soon as Jesus was baptized, he went up out of the water. At that moment heaven was opened, and he saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove and alighting on him” Matthew 3:16.
The Holy Spirit comes in the form of a dove. Where else have we seen the dove in Scripture? In the story of Noah, the dove is the sign that God’s judgment – the destruction of the world – is past. In Genesis, Chapter 1, the Spirit hovers – like a dove – over the waters, before God creates the world.
We tend to think of the dove as a peaceful, beautiful bird. In this baptism of Jesus, the Spirit circles down, and gently rests on Jesus. The Spirit is dovelike in shape and behavior, at Jesus’ baptism. But the symbol of the dove should also remind us of those two mighty acts of God – the creation and the destruction of the world.
The dove-like appearance of the Spirit, in Jesus’ baptism, is the baptism with the Holy Spirit and fire that John prophesied about just a few verses earlier: “…after me comes one who is more powerful than I, whose sandals I am not worthy to carry. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire” (Matthew 3:11).
The Spirit of God in Jesus comes to burn away the old world and create the new world: It's Noah and Genesis all over again.
The dove should also remind us of Jesus’ words later in Matthew: “Be wise as serpents, and gentle as doves…” (Matthew 10:16). This gentleness that Jesus speaks of is both a sign and the way:
It is a sign that we have received His Spirit and cooperate with Him: We are firm, but gentle in our presence and convictions. And our way in the world joins Jesus in this gentle work of the Spirit, as He leads us to be with people who cannot be changed by force. The way of Jesus’ baptism by the Spirit is God’s gracious, gentle presence working in and through us.
Jesus apprenticed with John and his prophets, out in the wilderness, and in agreement with John’s judgments: “Who warned those vipers to flee the wrath to come?” But notice that Jesus does not remain in the wilderness – He goes to the synagogues, and there He teaches, preaches, and engages.
Here, too, Jesus, like the dove that signals the end of destruction during the time of Noah, and the beginning of God’s new creation – Jesus is full of forgiveness and mercy. He goes to the people of God – He goes down to where they are and leads them up, into the light of God’s kingdom. Jesus’ whole ministry is a baptism by Word and Spirit, and it follows the pattern that we’ve seen throughout Scripture.
These are the words I read before I baptize a child or an adult, and they show us the pattern of Jesus’ ministry of redemption through the Word and the Holy Spirit:
“In the beginning of time,
your Spirit moved over the watery chaos,
calling forth order and life.
In the time of Noah, you destroyed evil
by the waters of the flood,
giving righteousness a new beginning.
You led Israel out of slavery,
through the waters of the sea,
into the freedom of the promised land.
In the waters of the Jordan River
Jesus was baptized by John
and anointed with your Spirit.
By the baptism of his own death and resurrection,
Christ set us free from sin and death…”
If you have not heard it before, or if you need to be reminded of it, hear me say it, today: You are free. For freedom Christ has set you free (Galatians 5:1).
January 18, 2023
“A Fire Sale”
The hurt that people inflict on other people – the hurt we inflict on ourselves – comes from a single source: a broken relationship with God. And that brokenness is everyone’s problem. We are all in the same boat – on the same level – whether we are rich or poor, a man or a woman, black or white.
That brokenness is like a river, and its source is ancient – it is as old as the world. It’s Adam and Eve, then Cain and Abel. It’s the city of God at conflict with the city of Man. We can find it now, in the heart of every man, woman, and child.
The source of the river is the fallen, human heart in conflict with God and itself. Unholiness, hatred, injustice are the tributaries – the ponds, lakes, and rivers that many people live by. We may have houses (or at least, second homes) on those rivers.
The problem is when we don’t see that that’s where we’ve built our houses; when we tell ourselves: “Everything’s fine. I don’t need to change a thing.” Or, as the bumper sticker reads: “I love the Lord. I love my dog, and the rest of y’all can go to ….”
John invites us to the water – to the Jordan River – when he says: “do not presume to say to yourselves, ‘We have Abraham as our father,’ for I tell you, God is able from these stones to raise up children for Abraham” (3:9).
In other words, it is not enough to say: “Well, I’m a Christian, so what gives…?” John, here, and Jesus, later in Matthew’s Gospel, will say: “It is what you do that will show whether you’ve understood…”
At the heart of life is this problem: We know we need to change, and we know we don’t have the power to do it. To choose to change means to answer – with our lives – John’s command: “Bear fruit worthy of repentance.”
But who can do it? Who can honestly look at their lives, and say: “Yup, I’m up for it! I have a great track record! Thanks for the reminder, John, but I’m already on it!”
We – all of us – wrestle with the fact that we belong to the broad river of humanity that finds its source in Adam and Eve and Cain and Abel.
John the Baptist know this. He says: “He who is coming after me is mightier than I, whose sandals I am not worthy to carry. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire.”
We know we need to change. We know we can’t do it on our own. John knows it, and gives us this answer: Jesus, who comes to baptize with the Holy Spirit, which is like a fire. When the Holy Spirit sets up shop in your heart, the change will come, and the fire will burn away what stands in the way.
If we have houses on the riverbanks of unholiness, hatred, and injustice; if we have friends, family members, or colleagues with houses on those rivers, John says it’s time for a fire sale: Everything must go.
If we want to build lives that share God’s light and love, we need the Holy Spirit – we need His fire to begin in our hearts and then transform everything about us. If that happens, people will want to draw near, and know: “Who gave you this light? Who gave you this warmth?”
January 11, 2023
“Those Are Your People?!”
On Sunday, we began our journey in Matthew’s Gospel. And we focused on the unexpected people named in Jesus’ genealogy (Matthew 1:1-17) – the people Jesus came from: Rahab – a prostitute and spy; Tamar – reduced to prostitution; Ruth – a product of incest, and a Gentile from Moab (Moabites were specifically excluded from God’s covenant with Israel); the wife of Uriah – “Bathsheba”– the woman David took advantage of, and whose husband he killed, so that he could sleep with her.
All four of Jesus’ grandmothers and great grandmothers – Gentiles, not Jews; all of them, not people you would hold up to your daughters to imitate. Where are Sarah, Rebekah, Rachel, and Leah?
What about the kings in Jesus’ family tree? David and Solomon, while chosen by God, had significant moral gaps (and that’s putting it kindly). The other kings mentioned in the genealogy? All of them disobeyed God, broke the covenant, and brought judgment on themselves and their people. And then there’s Perez and Salmon – nobody knows who they were….
If you were going to choose a genealogy for yourself, this is not the one you would write, especially if you were trying to show that you came from righteous stock. But by beginning with this “questionable” genealogy, God shows us that He makes a grace-filled beginning in His Family Tree, which is now our Family Tree – the Church.
In the next few days, look at your own family tree, and look at it in the light of God’s Law. I think most of us would find that it’s a mixed bag. And that is us, too, isn’t it? We don’t just have sinners and saints in our family tree – we have both in our hearts.
Here, at the beginning of our journey in Matthew’s Gospel, we see that Jesus’ family is chosen by grace – they were not a righteous bunch. The beginning and the end of all His ways are grace, mercy. That is the very best news to take with us in the New Year.
January 4, 2023
“It’s Still Christmas”
At the center of Isaiah’s prophecy is a declaration about the season we are
celebrating: It’s still Christmas until Friday, which is Epiphany!
“Unto us a child is born…
He will be called Prince of Peace” (9:6).
That word “peace,” biblically, means more than the absence of war:
It means when every living thing follows the destiny God has given it.
The promise is that we can experience this peace when we say Yes to God
and join His people in their journey through exile to freedom.
The prophet Isaiah speaks to a people who have come through a lot of storm
and stress: When you go through something like that, it is hard to see clearly
what is possible now, and what might be in the future. The best way to orient
yourself is to be reminded of the good – the God things that have happened in
the past. Isaiah speaks about that God thing, when he mentions in the same
chapter: “… the day of Midian’s defeat” (9:4).
The story is this: In the time of the Judges (chapter 7), the Israelites were
under the harsh rulership of the Midianites. Israel cried out to God. God
raised up Gideon to lead God’s people against the Midianites. Gideon went
with 30,000 men to the battlefield.
Then God said: “That’s too much – you can do it with less….” 20,000 went
home. Still, God said: “Too much – you don’t need that many…” God sent
Gideon to the battle with just 300 men. They defeated the Midianites
without lifting a sword.
We often think that if we had done more in the past; if we had more, now; if
we could only have more in the future – that would mean we are strong,
secure, and safe.
But God, through Isaiah, says this to a people willing to listen: “Simplify.
Begin with Me. Speak to me, and then look at who you really are; what you
really have; what you really should do….”
We have 30,000 things going on in our lives…. We’re flooded and we
know it. But maybe we only need 300 or even just 3. Maybe that is what the
storm and stress of the last few years have been about – God, saying to us:
“Simplify. Begin again. Get rid of the extra, and build from the foundation,
up…” It is what Jesus did. He didn’t start with 30,000 or even 300. Just 12
disciples. He began with people like you, like me, and said: “Follow me. I
have more grace for you than you can possibly imagine. Leave your past
behind. Take your worry-filled eyes off the present, and light a candle with
me tonight.”
God’s answer to all that we think we need is just one thing – one Person:
God’s answer is the gift of a Child, the One we celebrate in the Christmas
Season. Jesus is the gift of Life against death, against our distress, anguish,
and spiritual hunger.
Come, out of the darkness and into the light of this, Christmas season.
11/16/2022
“Two Kinds of Suffering and Their Cure”
On Sunday, we spent time again in Mark 4:1-20 and looked at how we can heal from suffering. We talked about two kinds of suffering: That which is sent to “help,” and the other that is sent to humble. The kind that “helps” in the suffering that comes not because we’ve done anything wrong or sinful, but just because we live in a fallen world. “Help” is a hard, but biblical way, to put it: In both cases, God always sends suffering in order to heal, and the “help” kind of suffering often produces strangely beautiful people.
Elisabeth Kübler-Ross, a psychologist who studied grief and loss, famously noted that “the most beautiful people we have known are those who have known defeat, known suffering, known struggle, known loss … beautiful people do not just happen.”
In Scripture, we find the same thing to be true:
Job lost 10 children, his wife’s affection, his livelihood, and his reputation in a single day.
Moses stuttered.
Jacob limped.
Sarah was infertile.
Tamar and Bathsheba were assaulted.
David was betrayed by his son.
Hosea’s wife fell into prostitution.
Ruth was widowed in her youth.
Jeremiah battled depression, as did Elijah.
John Mark was rejected by Paul.
Peter hated himself.
This is the suffering that comes upon us, that we do not choose – that may “help.” But what about the kind we bring on ourselves? This is the kind that God uses to humble us, where He says, “Okay, let’s see what it’s like when your will is done…”
This kind of suffering is hard in its own way, and I want to emphasize this: Even when it is clear that someone suffers because of the choices he/she made, our call is to come alongside, and without blessing the sin that led to the suffering, we are to – in a clear, unmistakable way - weep with the one who weeps.
Of course, this assumes that he knows he is suffering because of his sin and has already been brought to his knees. Only then can we kneel down beside him, and pray…
In both kinds of suffering - God’s help or humbling - there is one place to begin to heal: The Word. I sometimes hear from church members at former churches when something goes wrong – when suffering of some kind drops down on their lives.
I try to be very careful, especially if they have a pastor: If they do, I direct them to him. I will tell you that one of the things that breaks my heart is when people who have been church members for years, simply don’t know how God’s Word, when planted firmly in our hearts and minds, makes us much stronger in the midst of suffering.
Jesus, in our passage from Mark 4, speaks about this: The word is planted; it’s received with joy; but then trouble/tribulation and suffering come, and the effect of the Word is gone! The only way to counter this is simply to begin, day by day, to take a small part of God’s Word into your hearts and minds, and to work it so much into your memory and emotions that you connect it with those experiences that you know cause separation between you and God, you and your neighbor, you and yourself.
My recommendation, spend a week with Mark 4:1-20, and just pray into and listen to God speak into your life there. God is good. All the time. And He will begin to heal you from all that is hurting you.
11/9/2022
“The Voice of Temptation”
Russell Moore is the editor of Christianity Today and tells this story on himself at the beginning of his book, Tempted and Tried: He and his family were driving through Tennessee, late at night, in the pouring rain. The minivan, full of kids and a wife who was ready to be there! But the rain was so bad, they would not “get there” that night. So, they pulled off the road and went into a motel.
Moore’s wife and kids waited in the car. And as Moore waited at the check- in counter, this happened: “Well, hey there….” the clerk said. Moore writes:
“She reminded me of a friend I’d known in college….” The clerk called Moore by his first name: “Russell, would you like two rooms or one?” “How do you know my name?” he asked, until he realized it was on the credit card.
She laughed at his jokes; teased him about his soaking, wet hair. “I was in college again, or maybe even high school.” Moore wrote, “I didn’t have to judge between who had whose toys in back seat of car … or pay a mortgage or tell someone they couldn’t have a raise. And I liked it.”
A voice was beginning to speak and take hold in Moore’s mind and heart.
Then Moore writes: “Just then, I heard a word I never thought would terrify me…“Daddy!” his three-year-old son said, as he rode the luggage cart through the lobby.”
Competing voices. Both wanting very different outcomes for Russell Moore.
Moore, at the end of a difficult journey, with a lot of cares on his mind. Tired. Ready to call it a day. And at a point of weakness, another voice sees its opportunity and begins to help Moore take one step, then maybe another and another, into a darker world.
Jesus, at the end of 40 days of fasting and prayer, in the desert – Jesus, physically, emotionally in a difficult place, hears a voice that says:
“Turn these stones into bread.
You can do whatever you like, and God will make up the difference
– no consequences, no judgement.
I can give you everything you want, and you won’t have to die….”
This encounter in the desert is what Jesus has in mind when He speaks about resisting temptation – about sowing the Word and reaping the harvest, or not – in our passage from Mark’s Gospel (4:1-20).
Jesus teaches from personal experience: What He asks us to do, He, Himself, has done. And – more than that – Jesus’ battle with Satan in the desert happens on our behalf – He fights for us – so that when we meet temptation in a hotel lobby, we know we’re not alone. We know that life does not have to be like the poem I read:
“You must fill the unforgiving minute with 60 seconds run!”
“You must fight this temptation in your own strength!”
Instead, Jesus says to us: “I have been tempted, as you are being tempted. This is hard. I know it. Listen. Listen to My voice. Receive My Word in your heart, and let it grow.”
On Sunday, I mentioned how what we need is not more, but less: Not more voices, all competing for our attention. We don’t even, necessarily, need more Scripture, when we are trying to defeat the voice of temptation: Remember, Jesus uses just one verse to knock down Satan’s temptations.
We need what – where – Jesus went: The desert. It’s hard to imagine a simpler place – not much around to distract you. You need to get alone with the Word of God. Just one passage; one portion of Scripture and listen. Ask God to speak. Ask God to reveal those vulnerable places:
Where temptation gets in.
Where another voice begins to lure you away….
In the third and fourth centuries, things had gotten so bad in the cities of Egypt and the Near East, that men and women of God went to the desert. But they did not do it to escape the cities – to get a break from all that craziness.
They went to the desert, like Jesus, to fight on behalf of the cities. To become people who could hear the voice of God, and distinguish it from the voice of Satan, of temptation.
They did something you and I can do, even though we don’t have a desert nearby: Ruminate. An old word, which means to think, deeply; to chew, slowly. These men and women of the desert ruminated over small portions of Scripture. They read the same verses, again and again, waiting on and asking God to reveal to them what they needed to see about themselves.
They listened to their hearts, their lives, and got good at being able to sort out what was from God and what wasn’t….
Ruminate: Slowly, in silence, listen. Practice prayerful patient listening.
I can tell you it will be very, very hard at first. Make some desert space in your daily calendar and go and meet the Lord there. Whoever else shows up, remember the Lord is there, too. He is determined to plant a Word in your heart so that you will become:
“… like a tree planted by streams of water
that yields its fruit in its season,
and its leaf does not wither” (Psalm 1:3).10/19/2022
Come, Build an Altar with Us in the North Fork…
Sunday, we finished our message series “A Time to Build”.
(You can see the full message series, here: A Time to Build Message Series ).
We’ve looked at how God builds: What God does, and how he does it, when he builds something new. God builds through people. People are God’s method. You, me, together, we are the way that God builds what he wants to build.
It can be tempting to put it the other way around: “If you build it, they will come….” Churches often try to build programs that they think will attract people. But unless those ‘programs’ are run by people God can use, the laborers build in vain.
We’ve looked at those key practices, habits of the heart, that must be ours, if we want to partner with God. And we’ve discovered that God builds his people through a story: It’s the story each of us brings on Sunday morning – the story of our lives until this point. And it’s the story of how your story fits into our story the story of Mattituck Presbyterian:
- How God has used us for over three hundred years
- What the last seven-plus years have been like
- What God may have in store for us in this next season.
To get perspective on that, we’ve looked at the story of Israel, from the beginning until just before the arrival of Jesus Christ. Sunday, we finished with the prophet Malachi – the last prophet before Jesus. And some history helps us to understand the time that he spoke into.
When Israel returned from Exile, God, through the prophets Haggai and Zechariah, said: “Go to work! Now that you’re home, Rebuild my Temple. I will come and live with you!” The people of God expected that this building would lead to a time when God would be present in profound, life-changing ways.
Initially, God’s people responded wholeheartedly to the prophets’ call to repent and begin to build, but then they abandoned their “first love” (Revelation 2), and the love of many grew cold (Matthew 24).
Malachi’s charge is to tell the people why the work stalled. The sign that it’s stalled, is that everyone’s doing the right thing, but no one is experiencing God’s presence. And that shows us something essential about the work we do to build:
It is done so that God’s people, and people who do not know God, will enter what we are building and be able to say: “Surely, the presence of the Lord is in this place…”:
- In Abraham, God’s presence comes when Abraham steps out in faith, not knowing where the road will lead, as he goes to a land that God promises to show him.
- In Ezekiel, God’s presence has departed, because God’s leaders tried to eat first – to be first at the dinner table; to serve themselves.
(Full message series, here: A Time to Build Message Series)
In Malachi, God starts a dialogue with his people to help them see why God departed. And the problem was simple but profound: No one offered themselves from the heart, and therefore nothing could be built, together, from the heart.
Therefore God, through Malachi, says: I wish someone would shut the front door “…so that you would not light useless fires on my altar!” The things being offered to God on the altar showed where their hearts really were. What we put on the altar of our hearts, shows where our hearts really are. We have done amazingly well in our first season together – Malachi’s word does not match up, directly, with how we are doing life together, here, at Mattituck Presbyterian.
This is the word I have for us: “This is a time to build”. God wants us to begin with ourselves. Whatever we do, however we serve, together in this next season of ministry at Mattituck Presbyterian, each of us is a priest who can create an altar in our hearts, where – day by day, week by week – we offer our best to God, one another, and to those who do not yet know God.”
Come, build an altar with us, here in the North Fork. Together, let’s pray, work, evangelize and serve so that God will come and light a fire that no one will be able to miss.
(Full message series, here: A Time to Build Message Series)
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCBbyAJxB7YiOF638NzK-zag
10/12/2022
For A Time Such As This
This has been our journey in the message series, “A Time to Build”:
With Abraham, we’ve seen the necessity of faith.
With Moses, when God speaks, we must consecrate ourselves to God.
With Ezekiel, God’s leaders/shepherds eat last.
On Sunday, we looked at the story of Queen Esther. The book of Esther recounts how a Jewish girl became the queen of Persia, and then how she saved her people from a plot to destroy them. It is a story about God’s deliverance of His people from great evil.
The story of Esther takes place after the Babylonian exile. Persia – not Babylon – is now the major, threatening world power. And many of the Jews have returned to Jerusalem. But – like the prophet Daniel and his friends – Esther and Mordecai remain in a foreign land, serving the royal court.
The Book of Esther shows us this, key theme of building with God:
We must discern the time we live in and to do that, we need a Word from God.
If we don’t see/discern what is really going on, it will be impossible even to start building. And if we attempt to build without a Word from God, we will run up against this reality:
“Unless the Lord builds the house, the builders labor in vain.”
(Psalm 127:1)
The Word Mordecai had for Esther was that she had been called “for a time such as this,” to go to the King and stop the plan to exterminate her people. God has called Esther, and Esther responds – she says Yes to this call, and God works through her. Which steps does she take once she’s said Yes?
The first step is to call for a fast. The biblical practice of fasting strengthens God’s people to meet dire challenges: Jesus fasts before His encounter with the Devil in the desert; Moses, Elijah, Daniel, and Paul – all fast to build a spiritual spine of steel so that they can resist the devil and having done everything to stand firm (Ephesians 6:13).
Why should we fast? Because – like Esther – we need to go to “the King” – we need to stand against principalities and powers. The Bible says that in addition to the natural world, there is a spiritual world that tries to whisper and work in us to thwart God’s work to build His people up.
The powers that we are confronted with are really a set of powers that come to us through “ordinary” things:
- What we eat and drink
- How we structure our time
- The news we listen to every day
- The phone we can’t put down
- The lack of prayer and of time spent in God’s Word.
Like Esther, despite the fear, we are called to go “the King” – to stand against the powers of our time. But we won’t be strong enough to do that unless we fast from the things that principalities and powers use to weaken us – that keep us from stepping into “a time such as this.”
What do you need to fast from? You probably know already – you’ve probably been wrestling with it for some time. What do you need to fast from that you know is getting in your way, and may be hurting you and those you love? What do we need to fast from, in order to build together?
Each week in the message series, I’ve focused on building an altar: A place in our hearts and minds that we build by obeying God, day in, day out, and which God uses by sending His Holy Spirit to work in and through us. Find out what you must fast from and place it/them on the altar of your heart, day by day, week by week, and then let’s see what the Holy Spirit will do!
10/5/2022
Leaders Eat Last
This, past Sunday, we looked at the 34th chapter of Ezekiel. In it, we find that God promises to rebuild Israel, beginning with her “shepherds.” The shepherds – the leaders of Israel (King, priest, prophets, parents) – have all put themselves first for far too long. They’ve even put themselves first in line at the dinner table! Ezekiel indicates this when he says to the Shepherds: “You eat the curds…” Curds! To me, that sounds like a punishment, but apparently, it was awesome back in the day. God, through Ezekiel, says: “You eat the curds, you take the fine meat for yourselves, and leave your people to fend for themselves.”
In his book, Leaders Eat Last, Simon Sinek looks at how people lead in several different areas. He wants to discover why there is a leadership crisis in the West. And the basic answer is two things: People either resort to managing numbers, instead of loving people, or they lead to benefit themselves – to make themselves more powerful, wealthy, noticed, etc.
In the context of all that, Sinek points to at least one culture that seems to get it right: The Marine Corps. Recruits – all volunteers – go to Paris Island, and right away are put into situations where, if they try to succeed as individuals, they will fail. So, they learn to work together and cheer each other on. And that commitment to put others first goes right up the chain of command. The practice among officers is this: When everyone is gathered in the mess hall, officers are always last in the chow line – leaders eat last. You make sure your people – who you are asking to do very difficult, even deadly things – are taken care of, first, then you eat. Leaders eat last.
Let’s look a couple of leaders from the New Testament who are trying to be first in the chow line. James and John were Jesus’ hard charging disciples. Super zealous. Ambitious. Jesus called them “Sons of Thunder.” And their mother was just like them – the apples didn’t fall far from the tree. She approaches Jesus and says: “Lord, give my sons places of honor in your kingdom!” Super-spiritual helicopter parenting, right?
Jesus’ response is blunt and to the point: “I’m the only Lord in this Kingdom – there are no princes who will inherit My throne, and that’s not how life is in My Kingdom: One of the best ways to know if someone knows Me is to see if they like to lord their power and authority over others – they want the best places at the table (they want to eat, first!). But: “It shall not be so among you. But whoever would be great among you must be your servant, and whoever would be first among you must be your slave…” (Matthew 20:26-27).
As we continue to (re)build, let’s begin where Jesus wants us to begin: We are here to serve one another, and to go and find the last and the lost, so that they can see that God’s shepherds (each of us, wherever we lead) are really filled with His Spirit and on mission for Him.
9/28/2022
Consecrated, Lord, to Thee…
It is so easy to get to this point – to find ourselves in the position of saying: “Well, it’s just me… I’m the one who has to do it…” But that is a dangerous, spiritual prison that we need to break out of. Last Sunday, we looked at Moses as an example of someone who did just that. And it’s not hard to see how he got to that point: God called him to be a prophet; God worked signs and wonders through Moses; God spoke to Moses, face to face, just as a man speaks with a friend. Hard to miss the importance of all these things if you’re Moses.
But even all of that can’t keep Moses from getting to this point: “God, are you judging me by making me responsible for these people? I’m not their father – their mother. We don’t seem to be getting anywhere near the land You promised. How on earth am I supposed to get the people what they want? Won’t they desert me – desert You – if things don’t get better asap? Just put me out of my misery, God: I can’t bear to see how badly this might fail!” Moses - my friends - was desperate.
Moses had been in this spot before. In Exodus, God sends Moses’ father-in-law, Jethro, to Moses, to tell him – basically – to do the same thing he does here in the Book of Numbers: Choose 70 men to help you. God will give them a portion of the Spirit He gave Moses. Spread out the responsibility. Work together.
But God is also doing more than just giving good advice about how to delegate and create a team that does more than one person ever could. The most important thing we can learn in this story of how God built through Moses is to see that Moses’ desperate cry was a prayer. And that’s the first step, as we build with God: Pray.
Moses speaks to God in prayer, and it’s a brutally honest prayer. It’s a prayer straight out of the Psalms: “Lord, help me! The job is too much.” The answer God provides is not just, “Well, here’s more help – go get 70 elders!” It is that, but it’s also more than that: The help that Moses needs – really - is unity: From the leaders through prophecy; from the people through consecration.
“Prophecy.” This is the spirit of prophecy that passes to the elders, and it means being able to speak God’s Word of hope to a people still wandering and learning to be God’s covenant people. “Consecration” means this: The people respond in faith and repentance.
For Moses and the people of Israel, the word of hope and the response in faith is this: Unify. This journey in the wilderness is tough – so tough that it requires more than practical wisdom: “Hey, get some more people on your team… let’s get them the food they need/want…” It requires God’s presence which comes through His Word of hope, and which He gives more of, as we consecrate ourselves to Him:
This then is the Word I have for us: “This is a time to build.” We have reason to hope for a good future. We have seen some of that good future, in just this first year together. To do this – to build with God – will you do this with me: Gather around His Word in worship, and listen for His voice, as He asks us:
“Will you build an altar for My Holy Spirit to descend on?
Will you begin that work with yourselves and become a people through whom I can heal, console, strengthen, and build a family of faith?”
9/21/2022
Patience, Faith, and the Future
This past Sunday, we began a five-week journey with five key figures from the Old Testament, and we’re looking at what it means to build with God. God’s method of building is in and through people. An old, worthy evangelist put it this way:
“Men/women are God's method. The Church is looking for better methods; God is looking for better men/women.”
E.M. Bounds
We will look at men and women of God from the Old Testament, men, and women who go with God and build with Him, using the tools He provides.
I want us to look at this theme of building with God because I believe we live in a time when there is a lot of “tearing down” happening all around us: People, institutions, churches, and even families – are all being torn down, critiqued, judged in ways that are ultimately unhelpful. Is some of the criticism justified? Sure. But a lot of it isn’t. A lot of it comes from people who have a vested interest in their critique – or, at least, an addiction to it.
I believe this is a time to build with God – to go against the prevailing winds and trim our sails to the wind of the Holy Spirit.
On Sunday, we saw that Abraham boldly went with God to a place that – initially – God had yet to show him. Abraham had to leave behind all that was familiar and trust God’s direction and His presence.
At each stop on the journey with God, Abraham builds an altar.
An altar is a place where we remember God’s faithfulness and where we offer to God things He commands – things He promises to bless.
We cannot control how God will bless what we offer. We cannot guarantee that God will send fire onto the altar when we want, or in the measure that we want. But build an altar, we must. And offer those things pleasing to God, we must. He will decide how much light, how much heat He will bring to bear.
Abraham built a physical altar. We don’t know what it looked like. But Abraham, himself, was also an altar: In obedience to God’s command to go, and based on God’s promise of blessing, Abraham became a person/an altar in whom, and through whom, the Holy Spirit was pleased to dwell and act.
Wherever we go, we – too – must make our lives an altar. We do that, here, in worship. During the week, where we work, play, where our home is; we do it in serving our neighbors in need. How do we build an altar, here, as a family of faith? How do you do it when you go from this place? Three things:
Patience, Faith, the Future.
From Abraham’s life, we know that it takes time to build: He is commanded to go in his 75th year. He does not receive his son of promise – Isaac – until 25 years later. God builds patience into us, and He is willing to pay a high price to have it.
Like Abraham, we must step out in Faith: It must be enough that God says “I am with you…” Even if we do not have a clear sense of what the destination will be, God looks to our Faith, as He builds patience in us, on our journey with Him. And God loves bold Faith:
“The eyes of the LORD run to and fro
throughout the whole earth,
to give strong support to those
whose heart is blameless toward him.”
2 Chronicles 16:9
Finally, God wants our eyes on the future – on the road ahead of us. The command to Abraham is to go – to leave his home, his people – all that is familiar. When we trust the past more than we trust God,
we miss what He wants to build now, and tomorrow.
In the altar of our hearts, we can begin to build an altar with these three stones: Patience – Faith – our eyes set on the Future. In this next season of life, together, at Mattituck Presbyterian:
What do you think will require you to be patient?
How can you step out in Faith?
Will you listen – with us – for the place that God wants us to go, next?
9/14/2022
New Message Series | Sunday School and Rally Day for Children!
Dear Mattituck Presbyterian Church Members and Friends,
I am excited to announce a new message series that starts this Sunday, September 18: “A Time to Build.”
We seem to live in a time when many people take joy in tearing down, rather than building up: Leaders, institutions, churches, and the family, are under constant attack. In some cases, the criticism is justified. In others, it just isn’t.
Do we live in “a time to build,” as the writer of Ecclesiastes (3:3) puts it? We do. God calls us to build, rebuild, and move forward in the power of His Name. Come, spend the next five Sundays with us, as we look at the theme of building in God’s Name.
Sept 18: “Abraham: Build without Certainty,” Genesis 12
Sept 25: “Moses: Build with Help,” Numbers 11
Oct 2: “Ezekiel: Build Your Leaders,” Ezekiel 34
Oct 9: “Esther: Build for a Time Such as This,” Esther 4
Oct 16: “Malachi: Build from the Heart,” Malachi 1
This Sunday is also Rally Day, the start of Sunday School for Children, during the 9:00 am worship service! If you haven’t registered your children for Sunday School, please click this link today:
REGISTER for SUNDAY SCHOOL for CHILDREN
Please ask your children to bring their backpacks, for the blessing of the backpacks, which will happen during the Time with Children at the 9:00 am worship service (if you are an 11:15 am worship service attendee, don’t worry: We’ll do a blessing at that service, too!).
9/7/2022
Back to 2 Services | Rally Day | S.S.A.
Dear Mattituck Presbyterian Members and Friends,
Just a reminder that we return to two worship services this Sunday, September 11th: 9:00am, Contemporary; 11:15am, Traditional.
The following Sunday, September 18, we will have Rally Day! This is the first day of Sunday School for Children, at the 9:00am worship service. If you haven’t registered your children, we’d love for you to do that, here: https://mattpres.com/sunday-school-registration. We will also have a “Blessing of the Backpacks” on that day – so please ask your children to bring their backpacks. Our Sunday School teachers are very excited to welcome back our children!
Our first Sunday School for Adults (S.S.A.), begins Sunday, October 2nd, 10:15am, downstairs in the Social Hall (coffee and morning snacks provided):
“The Reason for God,” by Tim Keller.
How do we answer the basic questions that people have about the Christian Faith? Or maybe you have questions – the hard ones; the ones that stump you, but you know are important.
Over six weeks, we’ll look at the following six questions:
- 1. Isn’t the Bible a Myth?
- 2. How Can You Say There Is Only One Way to God?
- 3. What Gives You the Right to Tell Me How to Live My Life?
- 4. Why Does God Allow Suffering?
- 5. Why Is the Church Responsible for So Much Injustice?
- 6. How Can God Be Full of Love and Wrath at the Same Time?
We’ll begin each session with a short video and then follow up with our own discussion. This is a great opportunity to invite a friend who may not believe but is interested.
8/31/2022
Sun, Oct 210:15 am: The Reason for God, Tim Keller
Dear Mattituck Presbyterian Members and Friends,
Just delighted to share with you our first Sunday School for Adults offering, beginning Sunday, October 2nd10:15 am, downstairs in the Social Hall (coffee and morning snacks provided):
The Reason for God, by Tim Keller.
You may know Tim Keller’s name already – he’s been called a modern day C.S. Lewis, which means he does a really good job of taking the questions about, and objections to, the Christian Faith seriously, answers them in a faithful, thoughtful, biblical way.
You’ve probably had those questions/objections asked of you, or maybe they are your questions/objections – the hard ones; the ones that stump you, but you know are important if Christian beliefs are going to be relevant, today.
Over six weeks, we’ll look at the following six questions:
- 1. Isn’t the Bible a Myth?
- 2. How Can You Say There Is Only One Way to God?
- 3. What Gives You the Right to Tell Me How to Live My Life?
- 4. Why Does God Allow Suffering?
- 5. Why is the Church Responsible for So Much Injustice?
- 6. How Can God be Full of Love and Wrath at the Same Time?
We’ll begin each session with a short video, and then follow up with our own discussion. The videos present a short discussion on each theme, led by Keller. He engages several participants, and they model a gracious way to have these conversations.
You don’t need to buy anything, although you may want to order yourself a copy of Keller’s book, The Reason for God if you would like to go deeper on any of the topics.
Join us Sunday, October 2nd, 10:15am, in the Social Hall, downstairs. Come a little early; grab a coffee and a morning snack; and we’ll get down to business.
8/24/2022
“The Bad News Before the Good News”
In Sunday’s message, we looked at the bad news that helps us understand the good news of God’s salvation, namely, sin as a power at work in our lives. The Gospel can’t be good news if everything’s all good, all the time; if we really believe that “everything will work itself out in the end – no worries…” What we discover in the real world is that we often come up against a problem in ourselves – in our relationships – even in our society, that we can’t seem to fix. We know we’ve hit that problem when we say something like: “It is what it is…”
“It is what it is…” names a deep problem in the human race: We do not do what God says we should do, routinely. And we cannot climb out of that predicament using God Law. God’s Law, when we honestly look into its mirror, reveals that we are under the power of sin. Because this is true, two things that we often hear should really bother us:
The first thing: People who say, “Just do the right thing…”; “If we all just did what God commanded…”; “If we all just did what Jesus said…”; “It’s simple – just do it!” To people who say that I want to respond: What world are you living in? Based on your experience of people, in general, what makes you believe it’s that easy? If it’s that easy, why is history the mess that it is? Why are our hearts, minds, lives – the tangled nests that they are?
The second thing: People who believe – who have the Spirit of God dwelling in them – but who sit in constant judgment on people who do not believe. Instead of mourning the power of sin in someone’s life – instead of coming alongside that person, to be used by God to love them and call them to Jesus, the attitude (spoken or unspoken) is this: “They’re going to hell…. Why don’t they just do the right thing?”
To that person who believes, I want to ask: “Do you remember that you were saved by grace – you’re upheld by grace? You’re only in – and you only stay in – because Jesus died for you.”
All of us get to those two places – we become those two kinds of people because we forget what sin is – what it really is! And because we forget what the Gospel is – what it really means! Paul says: “There is no distinction: for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, and are justified by his grace as a gift, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, whom God put forward through the shedding of his blood, to be received by faith” (Romans 3:23-24).
8/17/2022
Since announcing the return of Sunday School for Adults (SSA), we’ve received a lot of great encouragement – you are very excited to have this back! We are, too! Our first SSA will be begin Sunday, October 2nd. Pat and I are putting finishing touches on our offerings for the year (we’ve even started to look at 2023-24!) and will make an announcement, shortly, about our first study.
We’ve also received a few questions about SSA: (if you have more, please email the office at: mattpres@optonline.net – we’d love to connect and get your questions answered).
We haven’t had Sunday School for Adults (SSA) for a while, why add it now?
We heard from a bunch of you that you missed it! Pastor James and Elder Pat Hanly love to teach it. Let’s get together and do this!
SSA is one of the best ways to do two, essential things: Provide space for members to go deeper and ask questions about the Faith; and, provide a place for people who are: “still trying to figure this whole thing out;” brand new to the Faith; or, returning to the Faith – to take the next step into the life of the church. Our hope is that they will hear about a topic that interests them and come – or be invited by you – to SSA.
The short answer is that, in addition to worship, mission, care, and fellowship, a healthy, growing church offers Sunday School for Adults – we do it for our kids, we should do it for you, too!
Why have Sunday School for Adults at 10:15am and move the 11:00am Worship Service to 11:15am?
We looked at several options; talked to a bunch of people; and landed on a couple of questions that we had to answer:
1. “Could we have a 30-minute Sunday School for Adults, and keep the 9:00am and 11:00am times?” We felt like what would amount to a 30-minute SSA would be rushed for those attending and for our worship leaders at the 9:00am and 11:00am services. We also felt that the time between the two services was the best time for people from both services to attend.
2. “Could we push back the 9:00am service to 8:45am or even 8:30am?” The 9:00am worship service has become a family-focused service, where we offer Children’s Sunday School at the same time – it’s growing very nicely, so much so that, soon, we’ll have a new offering for children called “Godly Play” – a Montessori-based worship/Sunday school experience! Stay tuned.
We felt that parents really do need the extra time in the morning to get their children here, and new parents who were considering whether to join us for the first time would look at an earlier time (8:45am or 8:30am) and simply say: “Nope. Not sure we can make that.”
What about the extra time before Sunday School for Adults, 10:00 – 10:15am, and the 11:15am service, 11:00am – 11:15am?
We will have coffee and snacks available at both times and would love for you to come and catch up with friends: Grab something to eat and drink and join us for SSA. If you can’t make SSA, enjoy coffee and snacks in the Narthex, beginning at 10:50am.
8/10/2022
‘Self-Care”: Ick…? or Yay?
Okay, it took the craziness of the past few years for me to stop disliking the term
"self-care." I've distrusted "self-care" for at least a couple of reasons:
First: I love the Apostle Paul. He threw himself completely into the work God called him to do, and he didn't seem to be all about "self-care." In fact, Paul was famous for saying things like:
"So, I will very gladly spend for you everything I have and expend myself as well" (2 Corinthians 12:15, and 1, 2, 3, 4, 5).
Second: Some of the people who shout "self-care" from the rooftops seem to do it because they are in difficult circumstances, with difficult people, and it doesn't look like they are going to change. In these situations, "self-care" can be a fifty-pound phrase that tries to stop the train in its tracks, or an eject button, without really getting off the plane.
But I also know that Paul could - sometimes - say things like this:
"As for those agitators, I wish they would go the whole way and emasculate themselves!" (Galatians 5:12).
You know you're having a bad day when you write a letter encouraging your opponents to neuter themselves: You didn't just have that dark thought - you put it in writing (and in Paul's case, it's there until Jesus returns). You didn't do the work of guarding your heart and mind, and you "went there."
As I sit with and listen to the people I pastor, and to my own heart and mind, I am (thankfully) not hearing a lot of what Paul said (unless I go on Twitter... stay off Twitter, y'all). But I often hear the dark side of our good, faithful drive to find a way in an uncertain future. "Self-care" is about discovering why the dark side of our good gifts express themselves in anxious, chaotic times.
What I've learned by listening again to the "self-care" discussion is this: When that "dark side" comes out, it will show you some stuff you have to deal with. It may be hard, exhausting - or even just plain awful - to get a no-nonsense look at our own hearts. But if we are given that look, there is grace in it. It would not be grace if God just said: "Hey, don't worry about it...."
"Self-care" that, at the end of the day, doesn't need Jesus, can go - it can be one of the first things to go, in this next season of life. But self-care that is all about getting ourselves out of the way so that Jesus can shine through? Let's press into that.
So, I'm taking the quotes off self-care - it's vital. This is a great post from a well-respected pastor and leadership coach detailing the stakes in self-care. Read it. Pray and look at your own heart, especially in this downtime before the end of the summer. And come to worship, ready to offer to God all those things that you know you need is grace to bear and – possibly – to get rid of.
8/3/2022
“Joseph and Each of Us”
This Summer, we spent five weeks in the story of Joseph. Initially, it seemed to be a story about spiritual grit and determination: He is treated very poorly and left for dead. He is disowned by his brothers, and then makes his own way, in a new land, and through winning trust and sheer hard work, he becomes a Lord of Egypt – the Chief Operations Officer of Egypt Corporation.
Eventually, though, God’s purpose in all of Joseph’s trials and tribulations swings into view: He wants Joseph to forgive his brothers and rescue his family from famine. We looked at Joseph’s life to understand how to live our own, before God, especially how we can forgive, as Joseph forgave.
If we’re convinced that stepping into forgiveness is crucial to becoming like Jesus, then it is very helpful to get clear on what it’s like to really love – to really forgive people like Joseph’s brothers – like the friends, family, neighbors we all know.
Joseph, ultimately, was the Provider. He provided for his family, his nation, when he did the unimaginable, supernatural thing: He forgave his brothers. Jesus provides for us, by calling each of us to forgive, and – in His forgiveness on the Cross – creates a new family out of all the families of the earth. Our entry into that family began with a rescue. At some point, each of us was the woman caught in adultery (John 8:1-11) – the woman Jesus protected from judgement, from death: “You’re forgiven. Go and sin no more.”
But then comes the command for each of us – the one we don’t really want if we’re honest. The command that will make for the deep transformation that Jesus died to bring to us. Jesus tells us, to: “Go and forgive some more…” Seventy times seven (Matthew 18:21-22), even our enemies (Matthew 5:43-47). Wow! Tough stuff.
Grace and Peace,
Pastor James
7/27/2022
Vacation Bible School is Back! | Thank You, Rory MacNish!
This week we welcomed 70 children to Vacation Bible School at Mattituck Presbyterian Church! Over 90% of the children who attended are from families who are not members of MPC – what a wonderful outreach!
Patti Verity and I began to plan for VBS in January of this year, and things came together very nicely as we looked at our list of things to do and people to recruit. A lot of people stepped up and stepped into volunteer roles: Mark DeSantis, Robin Doroski, Pat and Liz Hanly, Chris and Diane Nicholson, Sadie Heston, Jaimee Hanly, Ella Rose, and Lucas Paglia, Jess Garbarino and Morgan Dunne, Emily Nicholson, Adriana Rohrbach and Jenna Sledjeski, Rebecca Nyilas and Summer Hinch, Tom and Lucinda Hemmick, Nancy Reeve, Kyle and Scott Verity, Jeanne Berliner and Lorraine & Bob Mueller, Mary Lou Berninger, Jill DeSantis, Janice Fliss, Peggy Koch, Melissa Paglia, Hannah Mercier, Lori Garbarino, Angela Noncarrow, and Caren Heacock. Thank you, very much, for volunteering your time and talents – it was a blessing to the children and their families.
This Sunday, at the 10:00 a.m. service, the children will sing a couple of the songs from VBS – we’d love for you to join them! Just be ready to stand, move, and sing a little!
In other news, last Sunday we announced that Rory MacNish has led his last Chicken BBQ fundraiser for Mission at Mattituck Presbyterian! Rory: Thank you, thank you! Ten years is an amazing run, and we are so thankful for the way that you and your team have poured themselves out and done the hard work of providing for the mission of MPC!
I am away this Sunday and next for my annual family gathering in Wrightsville, NC, and am excited to welcome Elder Monica Harbes to the pulpit this Sunday, and Elder Pat Hanly next Sunday.
See you all soon!
Grace and Peace,
Pastor James
7/20/2022
“When You Do the Hardest Work, You Will Never Be Alone…”
We are close to the finish line in our journey with Joseph. And we have seen that, once he landed in Egypt, and took God’s guidance to heart, he grew in maturity. The sign that he did was that at critical points, he did the right thing: He rejected the advances of Potiphar’s wife; he helped Pharaoh out.
In all of this, we see Joseph become more and more the person who David describes in the 1st Psalm:
“He is like a tree
planted by streams of water
that yields its fruit in its season,
and its leaf does not wither.”
But, on Sunday, we saw Joseph in a most dangerous position: Spiritually-speaking, he is in danger of having some – or all – of those roots, pulled up. Why?
Because this time, the trouble he has is with family. Before, it was the wife of an Egyptian Captain of the guard, and then it was even Pharaoh himself. But now Joseph was face to face with his family: They came to him for help – to survive! But the hurt, for Joseph, runs deep.
We see the kind of spiritual danger this puts Joseph in how he treats his brothers: He hazes them, big time. He makes them pay. He makes them sweat. Do they deserve it? Probably, yes. Do they have it coming?
The Bible says we all have it coming (Romans 3:23), but God’s grace runs to us and overcomes us and claims us as the Father’s own children (Luke 15:11-32).
So how Joseph treats his brothers, now that he – once again – has power over them, is a good test for all of us – this part of his story asks us two questions:
1. Are we aware of that baggage that we may have, that our sin and
the devil use to keep us in spiritual immaturity?
2. Do we forgive when we are in a position to do it? When God has
made a way with a person we need to forgive? Or do we hold it over
that person – those people as Joseph did with his brothers?
From Joseph’s face-to-face confrontation with his family, for the first time after many years, we learn this: We often ignore our feelings, for any number of reasons. We often suppress them, to the point that we think they have gone away, but – really – they have been transformed – or they are dormant, and are ready at the right provocation, to strike. We often think we do not have permission to listen to our feelings, but God may be speaking in profound ways, through what we feel, especially when that’s fear, sadness, anger.
When we deny these feelings – and what they may be telling us about our lives – when we deny them, year after year, we can not only end up hurting “the ones we love – the ones we shouldn’t hurt at all,” as the song says.
Remember this: God feels: everlasting love; anger toward sin and its effects among His children; grief – God feels grief; joy: “At that time, Jesus, full of joy through the Holy Spirit...” (Luke 10:21). And, of course, you feel – you’re created in God’s image. Even our bodies respond in deep, long-lasting ways to experiences like Joseph’s…
A way to get a hold on all of this is to look honestly at the fact that big-ticket items, like divorce, alcoholism, addictive behavior, abuse, but also more subtle, destructive behavior, like bullying, sheepishness, people-pleasing – all of these are usually rooted in profound experiences that we haven’t dealt with: For Joseph, it was being sold into slavery by his brothers! What is it for you?
There is stuff to work through, if we want to get free, but the first step is to look honestly, with the help of God’s gentle, but firm, Holy Spirit, and see: “Oh yeah, that’s why – all these years later, I’m reacting like this; I’m feeling that…” That’s the work we have to do, especially at crucial points in our walk with God, so that we don’t take ten steps back, but instead become spiritually, emotionally healthy, and mature.
Remember this: God “is patient with you, not wanting anyone to perish, but everyone to come to repentance” (2 Peter 3:9). God is all patience, so be patient with yourself. He is all grace, so be gracious and forgiving to yourself and to those you love – even those who have hurt you. You won’t be doing any of that work alone….
Grace and Peace,
Pastor James
7/13/2022
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“The Key” | Join Us
for Onward & Upward Friday and Saturday!
On Sunday, we continued our journey with Joseph, and learned more about his role as “Interpreter” – in this case, an interpreter of Pharaoh’s dreams (Genesis 41). And we saw in this part of Joseph’s story something that is relevant to all of us: Like Joseph, we must be taken out of our little kingdoms almost by force –spiritual force – and be transferred into God’s Kingdom.
In God’s Kingdom, we are no longer the center of the world but become part of his rescue operation: For Joseph, this meant that God would use him to save his people from famine. For us, it can mean that we take up the call to rescue our neighbors from spiritual starvation.
One of the ways that God does that rescue work is to speak to people who are far from God, and then invites them to find people like Joseph, you, and me, so that – in a spirit of humility – we can introduce them to the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob - the God who became one of us, in Jesus Christ.
God spoke to Pharoah in two dreams. Then Pharaoh went to Joseph, who provided the interpretation of those dreams. Pharaoh, of course, was not a Jew: He was not a member of God’s covenant people. But Pharaoh saw in Joseph, and in Joseph’s God, the truth, the key, the interpretation he needed to hear.
“Interpretation” happens when two cultures collide – two languages. For Joseph, it was Israel and Egypt. What might it be for us? Are we ready to be an interpreter of God’s ways to people who desperately need him? A mature church – a mature people of God – go to people different from them and are ready to receive and serve them, just as Joseph did. And in that reception and service, our task to is to offer a true alternative to the world: God has arranged the meeting so that they can escape spiritual starvation. Are you ready to feed those whom God sends, and walk with them, as they leave that land behind, and walk into the freedom of God’s Kingdom?
Grace and Peace,
Pastor James
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6/15/2022
A King. Not a President, Coach, or Counselor
… they dragged Jason and some other believers before the city officials, shouting: ‘These men who have caused trouble all over the world have now come here, and Jason has welcomed them into his house. They are all defying Caesar’s decrees, saying that there is another king, one called Jesus.’ When they heard this, the crowd and the city officials were thrown into turmoil. Then they made Jason and the others post bond and let them go.
Acts 17:6-9
I want us to return to our walk through the Book of Acts: Like many churches throughout the United States, we are beginning again – we are in a season of relaunching “church.” The Book of Acts is all about starting; making a new beginning; and, trusting in God’s Spirit to provide and to lead.
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Just before the passage, above, Paul and Silas arrived in Thessalonica. The Holy Spirit led them all over the Near East and gave them power to speak and act boldly, despite significant opposition. Often, when the Apostles came to town, they upset more than just the apple cart: Cherished institutions, relationships, arrangements, and more were called into question, and even overturned by the power of the Holy Spirit, working through his Apostles.
Thessalonica was no different. Some people listened to the Apostles and considered their teaching carefully. Paul and Silas did not just try to “win the day” through force of personality, or by putting on a show: “… on three Sabbath days he [Paul] reasoned with them from the Scriptures, explaining and proving that is was necessary for the Christ to suffer and to rise from the dead…” (17:2-3). “Come,” Paul said, “let’s read this together. Hear me out, as I make my case.” Reasonable.
And yet, what the Apostles said was so radical, that the people who did not receive it – the people who did not like what Paul and Silas were saying one bit – did not miss the meaning of the Apostle’s message: Christ – not Caesar – is King. It was not, primarily, a political statement. Or a statement about keeping politics and religion separate. Caesar, at that time, was thought to be a god-man. Everyone gave lip service to this, even if they did not believe it. Everyone did this because it was how everyone kept the peace.
We often try to keep the peace with religion, with church, with God – all that “stuff” – by thinking of God as a buddy, an uncle, coach, a counselor. That is an uneasy peace to keep. I get it – I really do. Those ways of thinking about God seem like they might be easier to cope with or to “sell” to interested people. The trouble is, they are not Biblical – not by a long shot.
We serve a king – The King – Jesus Christ. Yes, He calls us His friends (John 15:15), but it’s a little like a king calling you a friend – that’s wonderful, but it doesn’t change that you are who you are, and He is who He is. Because He is the King, we don’t elect Him, consult Him, pay Him, or check in with Him from time to time: “How ya doin’, buddy!” We come to Jesus Christ, our King, in prayer, and ask for grace, strength, wisdom, provision – all of these things, because we have His words in our heart, and we walk out those words in our lives.
One of our greatest challenges in getting to know and walk with God, in America, is that we have a history of not liking kings (and for good reason). But there is no other way to relate to Jesus Christ – He is our King, and we must obey Him. The great, good news is that He’s the King with limitless stores of grace. He is the Good Shepherd, who leaves the ninety-nine, to save the one, lost soul. That King saved me and changed me. Has He saved you and changed you? Come, celebrate Him this Sunday, with us!
Grace and Peace,
Pastor James
6/1/2022
If you joined us for the last four weeks, you know we spent time in the four “major” prophets: Jeremiah, Isaiah, Ezekiel, and Daniel. We did this because we live in a time of prophetic fury: Many people speak with godlike confidence of the rightness of their cause, even if they do not believe in God at all. Many, also, claim a prophetic authority given by God, but when we dig a little deeper, we become uneasy – we see problems that we do not quite know how to address.
From Jeremiah, we learned that the number of followers does not determine the authority of the prophet. Jeremiah had two disciples: Ebed Melech and Baruch. But we would be wrong to judge him by those “results”.
From Isaiah, we learned that when God works to change for the better, He does not always add to, or grow: Sometimes God refines, subtracts, and prunes. Isaiah wrote about only a tenth of the people remaining, after God did his refining work – that only a “stump” would remain of what was once a mighty tree. But it is from this stump that “the holy seed” would grow. Often, God’s work in and through a prophet is to “begin again” with a remnant: a tenth; a mustard seed; twelve disciples.
From Jeremiah, Isaiah, Ezekiel, we learned that each was, first, a priest – a shepherd of God’s people, suffering with, and standing under the same judgement that God spoke through them. Each of them was a shepherd, before they were called to prophetic ministry. From this we learned that: When we find someone – when someone comes on the scene, and we think – or they claim – to have a Word from the Lord, we need to ask some basic questions:
Does this person actually shepherd a church?
Is he/she in any kind of accountable role with the people of God?
Is he/she even a member of a church?
Or does that person have a ministry that really is a YouTube channel, a website, a twitter handle? A set of conferences that they can dip into and out of with no accountability, or responsibility for the people tuning in; the people showing up?
From Daniel, we learned that when God’s people live in a foreign land – physically, spiritually – they should seek its peace and prosperity, but must also be ready to take a stand when it is called for.
Finally, we learned that each of the prophets had profound, life-altering visions of God – visions that most of us have not had. But we who know Jesus Christ, are blessed in a way that the prophets were not: We do not have to wait on a prophetic vision, to be carried into the heavenly court, to see God’s throne. In Jesus Christ, the “vision” has come down to us. When we spend time, daily, hearing Jesus’ words, and taking his actions into our hearts and minds, then our lives will be like the prophets, and the stand we take will honor the God they served.
5/11/2022
Invitation to Listen to the Prophets
I am
very excited about this Sunday – Haiti Sunday! As you know, our church has a
rich, deep, strong relationship with Haiti, and we are eager to celebrate that
heritage, and to ask God how we can continue to love and equip our brothers and
sisters in Haiti. The Haiti Mission Task Force has put together a very special
experience for Mattituck Presbyterian – please join us this Sunday to pray,
learn, and hope for more!
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Over the next three weeks, we will spend time listening to the prophets Isaiah, Ezekiel, and Daniel. We just heard from Jeremiah this past Sunday and learned about the call of a prophet to serve God. That call is very difficult and involves at least two things: That the prophet draws near to God, and that he or she walks alongside the people God calls to repentance and new life – never one without the other.
Often, people will appear prophetic, who are simply speaking on behalf of a particular group of people, who may – or may not – have been wronged. They speak on their behalf, and sound “prophetic” in their fury; in their anger against “those” people “over there.” Other “prophetic” people appear to be close to God, because they use a lot of language about God, but if you look closely, they do not love or shepherd God’s people, or even belong to a church.
So, we are called to discern who does – and who does not – have a word from the Lord, for us. In order to discern that, we have to admit something: That God continues to speak through people called to preach His Word. If we believe that, then we need to have a way of testing (discerning) whether what they say is from God. There is a great four-part test that I’ve been trained to use in discernment, and I recommend it to you:
- 1. Is the word given consonant with Scripture and the church’s orthodox witness to what Scripture reliably teaches?
- 2. Do other believers confirm it, after thorough prayer and discernment?
- 3. Does it give glory to God (or to the person speaking the word)?
- 4. Will it advance God’s Kingdom? Or just the interests of a particular person or group of people?
If you sense that we are living in a time of “prophetic fury,” but that most of the anger is not from the Lord, then I would love for you to join us over the next few weeks, as we press into how to tell if someone has a Word from God for God’s people.
4/20/2022
“No Longer in Denial”
The Apostle Peter’s darkest hours must have been frantic. He had been with Jesus for three years, and – in many cases – was the boldest among the disciples: He steps out of the boat and walks across the water, toward Jesus; His confession is the Rock that Jesus will build his Church on. But when Jesus is arrested, things change dramatically – the boldness is gone, and fear enters in. Three times, Peter denies Christ:
‘After a little while the bystanders came up and said to Peter, “Certainly you too are one of them, for your accent betrays you.” Then he began to invoke a curse on himself and to swear, “I do not know the man.” And immediately the rooster crowed. And Peter remembered the saying of Jesus, “Before the rooster crows, you will deny me three times.” And he went out and wept bitterly.’
Matthew 26:73-75
Did you miss that? Peter “began to invoke a curse on himself ….” I’ve read this story many times, and I think I missed the significance of this. This may mean that he said something like, “If I’m lying, may God strike me down.” Or it may have been an act of self-accusation – of cursing himself – that led to a period of deep conviction – of being unable to break free from being in denial.
When we are in denial, it becomes very difficult to see things and people as they are: We either paint a picture that’s too rosy, or one that’s too dark. We make excuses for bad behavior, or we ascribe good motives to obviously bad behavior. Denial persists, in us, when we do not want to face the truth that we got it wrong about that person, about ourselves. The truth usually is: We sinned and need to repent.
The trouble for Peter – and the trouble for us, and for anyone we know who may be in denial – is that we can’t just snap ourselves out of it. The spiritual reality of something like Peter’s curse, binds us to something more powerful than us. We need Jesus to come and break the bond we’ve chosen.
And that’s just what Jesus does for Peter. And he does it in the most loving, gracious way. Jesus asks Peter, three times: “Do you love me?” Jesus already loves Peter. He has already chosen him to be his Apostle. So, this same question, asked three times, is meant to cancel the debt of the three denials. Jesus himself, present with Peter, asking the question, breaks the power of Peter’s bondage – “far as the curse is found.”
To be in the presence of Jesus, is to no longer be in denial: He is the way, the truth, and the life. If we walk with him, then – like Peter – we will be loved, changed, and raised to new life. If your answer, today, is like Peter’s: “Lord, you know I love you.,” then begin today to see how you can follow the heart of the Good Shepherd and feed His sheep. (John 21)
4/6/2022
“Our First Holy Week Together – Invite a Friend!”
Dear Mattituck Presbyterian Church,
I am very excited about our first Holy Week, together! My wife and I have said to each other – and we have had members say the same to us – that we feel like we have been at Mattituck Presbyterian a long time. I think that is what it means for a place and a people to feel like “home”: a little bit of eternal life, breaks into time, and you catch a glimpse of the new heavens and the new earth. God is good.
We will start off Holy Week with our Palm Sunday breakfast, put on by the wonderful Jeanne Berliner and her team. The menu looks so amazing, and the fellowship will be so good, that I’m a little worried that people may just stay downstairs in the Social Hall and forget about worship! Just kidding, of course, but please join us this Sunday, April 10th, 8:00am-11:00am for our Palm Sunday breakfast, followed by Palm Sunday worship (with Palms!). And please invite a friend.
Our schedule for the rest of Holy Week is:
Maundy Thursday Worship, 7:30pm, Social Hall: The Lord’s Supper will be served.
Good Friday Worship, 7:30pm, Sanctuary
Easter Sunrise, 6:00am, at the Pequash Club
Easter Contemporary, 9:00am, Sanctuary
Easter Traditional, 11:00am, Sanctuary
The last several years have largely
been about isolation, and I think people are desperate to get out and enjoy the
presence of other people and are maybe also ready to lean in and listen to the
promise we have in Jesus Christ: Death does not have the final word – we will
all be raised to new life, in a moment in the twinkling of an eye (1
Corinthians 15:52). One day, we will know exactly what resurrection will be
like, but this Easter, you, your family, and friends can taste and see that the
Lord is good and that the end of life is only the beginning. So, again, please
invite a friend to our Holy Week services – we have the best possible news to
offer!
2-16-2022 -- SpiritFire22 Begins March 1, 2022. Register Today
Today's Post is Written by Rev. James F. Cubie, Interim Pastor and Head of Staff
Lent is a season in the Church when we look at our lives, and ask: “What is in the way of knowing God more personally, richly, deeply?” We often change small things in our lives, for about a month, and then go back to the old way of doing things. Maybe we need a change that’s bigger, better, longer lasting: A deep experience of the Holy Spirit.
Beginning
Tuesday, March 1st, 7:00-8:30pm, we will host “SpiritFire22”, a 4-week
series on the Holy Spirit. Every evening we’ll gather for music,
fellowship (hors oeuvres), teaching (in-person and video – bring your
Bibles!), and small group time to ask questions and pray together. The
final Saturday in March, the 26th, we’ll host a light dinner starting at
5:00pm, with a night of praise, worship, and a time to experience the
Spirit’s presence and work. You can register /spiritfire22
Here is the full schedule:
Tues, March 1st @7pm: Why Did Jesus Have to Die?
Tues, March 8th @7pm: What does the Holy Spirit Do?
Tues, March 15 @7pm: How Can I be Filled with The Holy Spirit?
Tues, March 22 @7pm: What About the Church?
Sat, March 26 @5pm: Spirit-Led Worship and Prayer Event
We would love for you to join us! You can register /spiritfire22
In Grace and Peace,
Pastor James
Interim Pastor and Head of Staff
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02-09-2022 -- Sniffle
Today's Post is Written by Rev. James F. Cubie, Interim Pastor and Head of Staff
Dear Friends in Christ,
Next Thursday will be Dorothy Catapano’s last day with us. Dorothy is engaged to be married and will soon move to West Virginia! She will be training Liz Hanly next week to take over her duties. Sniffle… Yep: I’m pretty darn sad to see Dorothy go. She’s done yeowoman’s work for Mattituck Presbyterian. Words really won’t do it justice, but I’m going to try!
I first met Dorothy shortly after I accepted the call to serve at Mattituck Presbyterian. I came with my family to preach on Sunday and met the staff, including Dorothy, on the Friday, before. One of the things that I wanted to see was a yearly calendar of our ministries – just to get a sense of what we do, month by month. Dorothy, of course, had it ready to go, along with several other documents that helped me to get my sea legs beneath me, as quickly as possible.
While we were still in South Carolina, Dorothy gave me updates at least twice a week, and worked hard to get things ready both at the manse, and in the church office culture. After I arrived, Dorothy and I would meet at the beginning of every week, and she was as patient as patient could be, when I had to ask questions like: “Remind me who she is?” “How have we done that in the past?” “Who do I need to contact about that?”
Dorothy, of course, worked through the onset of COVID and bridged the gap between a significant leadership transition. I’ve stayed in close contact with a lot of ministry colleagues, across the country, and they all – to a person – say that their church office culture really suffered since COVID: The ordinary, day by day, things that need to happen have fallen by the wayside, and in some cases serious rehab is necessary. But not so, Mattituck Presbyterian, and that is due in large part to Dorothy’s fidelity and seriousness.
So, I guess you HAVE to leave us, Dorothy… Jeeez. Just kidding! We could not be happier for you, and your new adventure, and we will always be thankful for how you poured yourself out in service of the saints at Mattituck Presbyterian!
Grace and peace,
Pastor James
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02-02-2022 -- Not a Possession - a Person
Today's Post is Written by Rev. James F. Cubie, Interim Pastor and Head of Staff
Paul and his companions traveled throughout the region of Phrygia and Galatia, having been kept by the Holy Spirit from preaching the word in the province of Asia. When they came to the border of Mysia, they tried to enter Bithynia, but the Spirit of Jesus would not allow them to. So, they passed by Mysia and went down to Troas. During the night Paul had a vision of a man of Macedonia standing and begging him, “Come over to Macedonia and help us.” After Paul had seen the vision, we got ready at once to leave for Macedonia, concluding that God had called us to preach the gospel to them. Acts 16:6-10
Kept from this, then released to do that… Not easy to live that out. Confidence is essential to living well, otherwise, we spend too much time worrying. We admire confidence, even when we can’t tell if it’s well-founded: “Well, at least he/she seems confident.” We want to believe that we have it in us to do the right thing. If we believe, we can fall into the trap of thinking that we should definitely do this or that because God’s Spirit dwells within us.
The Holy Spirit is not a possession – He is a Person. Any parent, spouse, or friend knows he can never assume that his child, wife, or friend is absolutely committed to everything he does, simply because he does it. He might think that. He might even want that on some deeper level, but it’s not true. He has to ask. He has to work to keep trust. He has to be humble, even in his deepest, most committed relationships.
How much more is this true of the One who made and redeemed us? If we believe He is who He says He is, then we have to ask, before we go; we have to be willing to wait, even when we really want to go; we have to be willing to go where we did not expect or want to go. This, of course, is exactly how Paul and his companions were living: Ready, willing, and able to go, or to stay.
The Holy Spirit is not a possession – He is a Person. Because that’s true, we can speak with Him. We can ask Him. We can hear from Him. If we always, only hear what we want to hear, we can be sure it’s not God speaking. The best antidote to this is to invest ourselves fully in the life of the church, where faithful brothers and sisters can ask, listen, and walk alongside us. The Devil loves to get us alone, and whisper – like an angel of light – in our ears, all the things we want to hear.
“Paul and his companions…” Together. Together. Together, they asked, listened, waited, and went. Come, and together we will do the same in worship, in Home Groups, in service of our neighbors near and far. He has called us to preach the Gospel and will send us when and where He needs us to go.
Grace and Peace,
Rev. James F. Cubie
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01-26-2022 -- Pastor James' Annual Report
Today's Post is Written by Rev. James F. Cubie, Interim Pastor and Head of Staff
It is amazing to think that
our family has only been here seven months – in truth it feels longer, for two
reasons:
First, I have been blessedly busy since coming aboard in July of 2021: I, our leadership teams, and our ministries are all getting up to speed as we inch our way out of the Pandemic. From all this close, collaborative work, I have a much clearer picture both of what we already do so well, and what I believe is possible in the months and years ahead.
Second, Mattituck Presbyterian feels like home to me and my family. We often find ourselves saying to one another: “It feels like we’ve been here longer than just seven months.” My wife has plugged into local, historic preservation work; my daughter has made friends, who come with her to Youth Group; our son loves his farm school, and the new friends he has made in Sunday School. And, as I’ve said before, the affinities between Mattituck Presbyterian and the ministry values that I hold dear are profound – I’m just thankfully amazed, but not surprised, that God brought us together: He must have been planning this for some time!
I am still very much in listening and learning mode with our membership (I hope never to stop!). I love to meet with our members for informal conversations. When I do, I usually ask two questions: “What has life been like for you in the past few years? What has life been like at Mattituck Presbyterian in the past few years?” Then, I get out of the way and listen prayerfully. The stories I hear are profound, wonderful testimonies of God’s grace and guidance. I am so thankful that, despite all the ups and downs – and a pandemic to boot! – our members are eager to gather for worship and to come together around God’s purposes for Mattituck Presbyterian.
There are few things more essential to the health of a church than stability. Stable leadership, worship, and service, Sunday by Sunday, week by week, year by year usually predicts health and growth because God loves to send people to a church that is securely founded on God’s mission to make disciples and serve our neighbors in need. Of course, the past few years have, sometimes, been dramatically unstable. My sense is that we’ve turned the corner to a more stable place, and my prayer is that our leadership will continue to press into our call to be shepherds after the Good Shepherd’s heart, and that our brothers and sisters in membership will continue to seek God’s presence in worship and in their day-to-day lives.
The Lord puts a high value on stability. He also loves to find new ways forward, for his Kingdom work. I want to highlight just four ways forward that I have been intimately involved with:
I have worked with Pat Hanly and Ann Welcome to make our 9:00 a.m. Contemporary and 11:00 a.m. Traditional worship services more authentically contemporary and traditional, and so a better fit for believers and seekers who are drawn to these two, different kinds of worship. Our attendance and participation at these services has gone up, and often includes visitors. We will hold a new members class Sunday, February 6th.
- We restarted Youth Group in October of 2021. I am deeply thankful for the way that youth, their parents, and our adult leaders have waded into this new ministry that – I believe – is one of the best ways to reach youth and their families. We have held Youth Group gatherings every Sunday evening and had a Lock-In to finish out 2021. Friendships are being formed, and the Word of God stands at the center of our time together.
- Our Evangelism committee has re-formed and begun work crucial to the health and mission of our church. Before coming to Mattituck, I served as an Evangelist in South Carolina, working to start a new church. I have a deep, abiding love for the work of evangelism, and see it as an integral part of my call (2 Timothy 4:5), and the call of any healthy, focused church (Matthew 28:18-20).
As I look ahead, I am very excited about a couple of ministries that we are trying to take in a new direction:
- In March, for Lent, we will host a month of Tuesday evening gatherings that focus on the work of the Holy Spirit. We will have worship, videos, and Bible teaching – all meant to reintroduce us to the work of the Holy Spirit. This will culminate in a Saturday evening worship service filled with music, prayer, and praise. My hope is that we will hold these kind of Spirit-filled worship services about once a quarter, and as the Spirit leads.
- The Sunday School team is looking at a new curriculum that, we hope, will transform our children’s experience of worship and engagements with God’s Word. The curriculum is called “Godly Play” and is a Montessori-like curriculum that engages all the senses, as children are lead through the stories of the Bible and the seasons of the church. Several churches that I and my wife served at, before coming to Long Island, have used “Godly Play.” We are eager to get this program for children and their families up and running at Mattituck Presbyterian
I want to end on a realistic, but hopeful note. Anyone who listens carefully to the culture around us knows that we are living in a time when the message of the Gospel is desperately needed. The divisions, the storm and stress, and the isolation of the COVID pandemic has brought to light a lot of stuff that requires healing. That healing – including our own – will take time: We won’t be able to just snap out of it. In this next year, I am eager to know how we can better partner with God in His healing, Kingdom purposes of calling people out of darkness and into light, and I believe that if we press into that desire – God’s own desire – He, Himself will heal and lead us.
Rev. James F. Cubie
Interim Pastor and Head of Staff
Mattituck
Presbyterian Church
January 24, 2022
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01-19-2022 -- Ouch....
Today's Post is Written by Rev. James F. Cubie, Interim Pastor and Head of Staff
Some time later Paul said to Barnabas, ‘Let us go back and visit the believers in all the towns where we preached the Word of the Lord and see how they are doing.’ Barnabas wanted to take John, also called Mark, with them, but Paul did not think it wise to take him, because he had deserted them in Pamphylia and had not continued with them in the work. They had such a sharp disagreement that they parted company. Barnabas took Mark and sailed for Cyprus, but Paul chose Silas and left, commended by the believers to the grace of the Lord. He went through Syria and Cilicia, strengthening the churches. Acts 15:36-41
I love how honest this story is: Sometimes a disagreement is so sharp, you almost say: “Ouch!” If I were writing the story of the early church, I’d be tempted not to include this exchange between Paul and Barnabas: “At this point, Barnabas and Mark left for Cyprus, and Paul and Silas traveled to Syria and Cilicia.”
Luke – who wrote both the Gospel of Luke and the Book of Acts – must have considered whether he should speak frankly about the dispute between Paul and Barnabas, or not. The mission, of course, is more important than any dispute between people who lead the mission – the mission must come first, and not sink beneath the weight of strong personalities and their differences. But Luke, wisely, faithfully leaves it in, and I think if we consider it, it can help us to understand ourselves.
So, let’s try this: Whose side
would you be on in this dispute? Paul or Barnabas? With Paul, and against Mark,
because Mark had deserted them in Pamphylia? With Barnabas, and against Paul,
because Barnabas thought Mark deserved a second chance? Our God is a God of
second, third, and fourth – and so on – chances, isn’t He? He is. Thank the Lord.
It’s also true that Jesus warns us about wolves who dress like sheep (Matthew 7:15). And Paul warns Titus (3:10-11) to have nothing to do with a divisive person after two warnings. These warnings are especially important for those like Paul and Barnabas, who were charged with leading the church: The standards for church leaders are high, as they should be (1 Timothy 3:1-7; Titus 1:6-8).
The real trouble in this case is that we don’t know what Mark did or didn’t do after he deserted them in Pamphylia. Did he come back, after a time, and submit to their authority and discipline? Did he try to reconcile with those he hurt? Or did he just march back in, and try to assume his place, with no recognition that he had hurt people, and the mission? We just don’t know.
Maybe that is the lesson to take from this story: When we don’t know “what really happened,” we should be humble and leave the matter to God. Is there something like this in your own life? In the life of your family, or where you work? Two people disagreed, sharply, and went their separate ways. You would love to fix it, but you just don’t know what really happened. It is difficult to accept that sometimes we can’t fix what went wrong, but it is a blessing to know that God doesn’t miss a thing and will work out His purposes even through difficult differences.
Grace and Peace,
Pastor James
Rev. James F. Cubie
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01-12-2022 -- Do Not Make It Difficult
Today's Post is Written by Rev. James F. Cubie, Interim Pastor and Head of Staff
It is my judgment, therefore, that we should not make it difficult for the Gentiles who are turning to God. Instead, we should write to them, telling them to abstain from food polluted by idols, from sexual immorality, from the meat of strangled animals and from blood. For the law of Moses has been preached in every city from the earliest times and is read in the synagogues on every Sabbath. Acts 15:19-21
Can you hear the dawning of grace in that first sentence: “… we should not make it difficult for the Gentiles who are turning to God”? The first disciples know they have the best thing in the world to share, and they know who they need to share it with. They don’t want to mess things up. They don’t want to get in the way. They are being deliberate, but hopeful and open.
A whole world is contained in these two verses from the Book of Acts. There is the frank recognition that the Jerusalem church has been given the responsibility to help people turn to God. The miracle that Gentiles are turning to God is affirmed: “Boy, this is happening! How do we deal with it?”
How do you balance grace with responsibility? If you’re too “responsible,” do you miss opportunities to be gracious? If you’re too open, what becomes of being judicious, faithful, good stewards? Like the disciples at Jerusalem, we don’t want to put up any barriers that might keep people from hearing the good news and giving their lives to Christ. On the other hand, Jesus has commanded His church to teach everything He taught, and that includes what we might call “standards of behavior.” Is grace so amazing that those no longer exist?
We had a conversation very much like this one at our second Evangelism meeting this past Sunday. The Evangelism team is looking at all our ministries as opportunities for members to go deeper with their faith, and for new people to step into the life of the church. We had a very helpful presentation by Elder Tom Hemmick, who showed us in a graphic the sheer number of ministries we have. Could you guess how many?
Thirty-six! And that includes everything we offer from Sunday morning worship, to the Chicken Barbecue, Stephen Ministry, and the Youth Group car wash. Friends, that’s a lot, and it was very inspiring to see that we have most of the field covered! Our task, like the church in Acts, is to keep the barriers low to participation, and to make the steps to take easy to follow: One, two, three.
Would you pray for our Session as we prepare to meet in late January? We will begin to look at the next six to twelve months together, and will do some planning, we hope, under the inspiration and power of the Holy Spirit. There is so much to celebrate, and – I believe – there are new things that God has for us, as we live out of God’s grace, and take the next, few faithful steps that He lays out for us.
Grace and Peace,
Pastor James
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01-05-2022 -- The Engine and the Fuel
Today's Post is Written by Rev. James F. Cubie, Interim Pastor and Head of Staff
The whole assembly became silent as they listened to Barnabas and Paul telling about the signs and wonders God had done among the Gentiles through them. When they finished, James spoke up. “Brothers,” he said, “listen to me. Simon has described to us how God first intervened to choose a people for his name from the Gentiles. The words of the prophets are in agreement with this, as it is written:
“ ‘After this I will return
and rebuild David’s fallen tent.
Its ruins I will rebuild,
and I will restore it,
that the rest of mankind may seek the Lord,
even all the Gentiles who bear my name,
says the Lord, who does these things’ –
things known from long ago.’
Acts 15:12-18
It’s a New Year, and we are picking up where we left off in the story of the early church. Even though we, at Mattituck Presbyterian, have been at it for some time (three hundred plus years!), we are coming out of a season of change that requires us to think and act like a new church, starting out on a new mission. So, let’s continue to track the story of the first apostles and disciples, and look at our life together in the light of the passion, fortitude, love, and perseverance that they showed.
The Book of Acts is all about new beginnings: the start of the church; the first work of the Apostles beyond the boundaries of Israel; the first attempts at sharing the Good News of Jesus Christ with people who knew nothing about Him or Israel. And eventually that effort to introduce Jesus to people who didn’t know Him ran up against significant pushback – so much pushback, in fact, that the church had to regroup and ask: “Are we doing this right? Have we missed something? Have we gone beyond what God really wants us to do?”
They answered those questions by digging into their collective memory, championed by the prophets, and discovered that Yes, the prophets said to expect this day; to expect this new thing that God was determined to do! The new day had finally dawned: The rest of humanity is now the object of God’s dedicated affection. “The words of the prophets are in agreement with this…”
Before we begin a New Year, in earnest, we should ask ourselves a similar question: Are we on the right track? Are we doing what God called us to do? We can and should answer that question as a church. And we can and should answer that, individually. The way to best answer is to do what we see the early church doing in this part of the story of Acts: All along the line, measure our life together by the plumbline of the Word, and continue to build in His Name and in His power. The first disciples were always in the Word and on mission – “Is our work in agreement with what God has promised and commanded?”
Is the same true of us as a church? Or do we come down too much on one side or the other? Is the same true of you? Or do you come down too much on one side or the other?
It might seem like I’m
counseling balance, but really, I’m asking us to pray for more passion: The
Word of God is the engine of our mission, and His Spirit – His presence – is
the fuel. When these two come together, God will do the signs and wonders that
Barnabas and Paul recounted, and we will enjoy the kind of holy silence the
early church experienced – a silence that says: “God is with us.”
Grace and Peace,
Pastor James
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12/15/2021 -- My Search for Truth
Today's Post is Written by Elder Ed Harbes
Hello Friends,
Growing up on a farm I had much time alone with my thoughts. As I wondered where truth could be found I heard a quiet answer in the stillness of my mind. “The Bible is the common denominator of many religions. It has been passed down through thousands of years and was written by many different divinely inspired authors; if truth can be found, it is somewhere in there”. One evening I started thumbing through an old Bible I found, hoping to find wisdom and guidance for my young life. I had heard that Solomon was the wisest man that ever lived, so I looked hard at his proverbs. In chapter 3, I found a verse that spoke to me. “Trust in the Lord, with all your heart, and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways acknowledge him and he will direct your path.” I felt as if I had discovered an important compass for my young life and committed the verse to memory. I decided to trust in the reality and goodness of God, even though there were many things I did not understand. I would try to live a life of integrity trusting that he would guide me in a supernatural way.
Several months later a strange series of events led to my mother and I attending a movie entitled “World Aflame” presented in the movie theatre of downtown Riverhead. We thought it was a regular movie, but it turned out to be an evangelistic film. After a drama about how the world was falling apart, Billy Graham spoke in this confident manner about how the Bible was “The Word of God” and the way he still speaks to us today. Billy Graham implied that scripture was God’s word, and we could receive it as his revealed truth to us personally. He presented several examples:
- For God so love the world, that he gave his only begotten son, that whomsoever would believe in him, would not perish but have everlasting life.
- For all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God.
- If you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God has raised from the dead, you shall be saved.
- Behold I stand at the door and knock, if any man hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in and dine with him and he with me.
I had a supernatural intuition that the information he was presenting was the truth I had been looking for. These words had a compelling power that spoke to my soul and I responded by going forward and making a commitment to accept Jesus as my Lord and the Bible as His word. My heart had been searching for truth and I believe my inquiry had been providentially guided. A seed was planted in my life that continues to grow to this day. That discovery more than any other that I am aware of, has affected who I am, what I believe, and how I live my life.
Fifty years have passed and Jesus’ Lordship and the information in his Word, the Bible, has helped me navigate the difficulty of teenage temptations, the mine fields of marriage and parenthood, the darkness of depression, and the shock of ‘set your affairs in order’, medical prognosis. I am so thankful that I have found a source that satisfied my personal need for truth. The years have affirmed that my trust in both God and His word has been well founded.
Although what one accepts as their personal truth is highly subjective, for me, trusting God as revealed in his Word is still the safest place to be in a world of uncertainty.
Your Friend in Faith,
Ed Harbes
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12/08/2021 -- Evangelism
Today's Post is Written by Rev. James F. Cubie, Interim Pastor and Head of Staff
I am meeting with the newly reconstituted Evangelism Committee, headed by Elder Ed Harbes, this Thursday night. So, I wanted to share with you how we can understand the work of Evangelism: What it is? Who does it? Yes, a committee is being formed to pray and plan, but is it just their responsibility? Are they the first-string – the A-Team?
Church
is a team sport – there is no second string – no B-Team – no substitutes bench.
Each of us, wherever we are – at home, work, or play – are called to live in those
spaces as a disciple of Jesus Christ: To
be His hands and feet, and to speak His words of encouragement, challenge, and
invitation.
If it’s a team sport, what does “winning” look like? It looks like reaching the world around us, one person at a time. Sure, we might use advertising, like mailers, social media, road signs, even the banner outside the Parlor – we have to use these, and they sometimes work, in terms of bringing in first-time visitors. But Mattituck Presbyterian Church “wins” when each member understands him or herself as caught up in – called to – the Great Commission in Matthew 28:18-20:
And Jesus came and said to them, ‘All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.
Every Christian is a missionary in his or her own little part of the world. The questions are: Have they been equipped to be disciples who makes disciples? And will they be disciples who makes disciples?
Church is a team sport, and it needs all its players on the field doing what the Lord calls all of us to do. Our worship on Sunday is a time to gather and be inspired, equipped, and strengthened, so that we go back out onto the field – the six days in between – ready to what Jesus calls us to do.
Go to your Bibles and find Matthew 28. Read it aloud, and then pray for people you know – that you would be the person who helps them to come to know the Lord, if they do not already believe. Or pray: That you would be the person who would come alongside them, and help them to a deeper, stronger walk with the Lord, if they already believe.
Church is a team sport, and we win when each of us prays and works to be disciples who make disciples.
Grace and peace,
Pastor James Cubie
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11/24/2021 -- What We Want to Keep, But Can't
Today's Post is Written by Rev. James F. Cubie, Interim Pastor and Head of Staff
The apostles and the elders were gathered together to consider this matter. And after there had been much debate, Peter stood up and said to them, “Brothers, you know that in the early days God made a choice among you, that by my mouth the Gentiles should hear the word of the gospel and believe. And God, who knows the heart, bore witness to them, by giving them the Holy Spirit just as he did to us, and he made no distinction between us and them, having cleansed their hearts by faith. Now, therefore, why are you putting God to the test by placing a yoke on the neck of the disciples that neither our fathers nor we have been able to bear? But we believe that we will be saved through the grace of the Lord Jesus, just as they will. Acts 15:6-11
Just before the above passage, the Pharisees who became followers of Jesus, come to Jerusalem, and put this in front of the Council: “We believe that unless you follow the whole Law, you cannot be saved.” Paul and Barnabas, of course, did not like this one bit. Paul, the apostle of grace, would have none of it. But it was not up to him, alone, to decide. This was a matter to bring to the brothers, and, in prayer, to discern and decide. But why did this dispute come to a head in Jerusalem? What prompted it?
When you start out with Jesus – when you begin to believe, and take your first steps as His disciple, you bring with you a lot of the stuff that was essential, true, central for you, before you knew him. Our habits of the heart don’t die off, immediately, the first day we stand up and say: “Jesus is my Lord and Savior.” We can, uncritically, bring those bad habits into our walk with Christ, and – really – not be aware of them, at all. We can think they are good things, or at least things that don’t matter one way or the other.
The Pharisees who became followers of Jesus did just that. They carried with them a deep devotion to the Law, perhaps reinforced by what they saw in Jesus’ own words: "Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I have not come to abolish them but to fulfill them. For truly I tell you, until heaven and earth disappear, not the smallest letter, not the least stroke of a pen, will by any means disappear from the Law until everything is accomplished” (Matthew 5:17-18).
That
devotion to life before they knew Jesus, though, became something they wanted others
to have to use as a stepping-stone to Jesus: First, keep all of the Law, then you can step
aboard. Peter, perhaps, understood something of their plight: He was in a
protracted dispute with Paul, whose teaching on grace and faith sometimes
seemed to Peter to amount to license to sin.
But,
at the crucial point, Peter does not fall into the trap of being a people
pleaser, by papering over a significant difference – a gospel difference. Peter
speaks up and stands squarely on the gospel: “We believe that we will be saved
through the grace of the Lord Jesus.”
The
temptation is great for all of us, when the moment arises; when the discussion
gets serious, and feelings look like they are about to be hurt, to back off. To
make concessions. To keep the peace, at the expense of what we know to be true.
The Gospel is good news, but it also causes offense because it tells us that
that stuff we’ve carried with us, from our life before we knew Jesus – we need
to look at that stuff, carefully, prayerfully, and much of it may need to go.
As we prepare to enter Advent, join me in preparing a way in your heart, a place in your life, for our King. He will help you to let go, and leave behind, what does not belong for the journey ahead.
Grace and Peace,
Pastor James
Rev. James F. Cubie
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11/17/2021 -- Fine Tuning
Today's Post is Written by Elder Tom Hemmick
24 Now Thomas, one of the twelve, called the Twin, was not with them when Jesus came. 25 So the other disciples told him, “We have seen the Lord.” But he said to them, “Unless I see in his hands the mark of the nails, and place my finger into the mark of the nails, and place my hand into his side, I will never believe.”
26 Eight days later, his disciples were inside again, and Thomas was with them. Although the doors were locked, Jesus came and stood among them and said, “Peace be with you.” 27 Then he said to Thomas, “Put your finger here, and see my hands; and put out your hand, and place it in my side. Do not disbelieve, but believe.” 28 Thomas answered him, “My Lord and my God!” 29 Jesus said to him, “Have you believed because you have seen me? Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed.” John 20:24-29 (ESV)
I have always been fascinated by the story of “Doubting Thomas”, at least partly because of the fact that all men named Thomas have occasionally been labeled as “doubting” even by people who don’t know the biblical origin of the phrase. While there is no ambiguity of the message from the risen Christ, that faith transcends the need for physical evidence, tradition is split on whether Thomas obeyed Jesus’ command to put his finger in the nail holes and hand in the spear wound. Typically, Catholic tradition favors that he did these acts, and the reformed church often favors that “seeing is believing” was sufficient for Thomas. It seems that no such split exists in the art world, wherein virtually all paintings of this scene favor that Thomas inspected Jesus’ wounds and typically depict his hand thrust into Jesus’ side. The art world seems also to have little doubt (pun intended) regarding the actions of the rest of the disciples who, despite having believed without having seen, had their gaze transfixed on Thomas’ inspection the wounds. I imagine that my own gaze would be also transfixed on the risen Christ as He was inspected by the doubter.
For me, this fascination also extends to watching those among the modern community of doubters who approach religious questions with an opened minded scientific approach. This can be a treacherous endeavor since less than 100 years ago science flatly denied a moment of creation, while today a creation epoch is accepted nearly universally within the scientific community. James warns “But let him ask in faith, with no doubting, for he who doubts is like a wave of the sea driven and tossed by the wind” (James 1:6-8 NKJV). Grounded in faith and cautioned by James, let us take a peek at modern science applied to the question of “fine tuning”.
Fine tuning refers to the observation that among the known (caution!) laws of physics and local observations of the environment of our planet and solar system, the possibility for complex life would vanish with the slightest change in these parameters. Consequences of changing the parameters include things like (1) the Big Bang burning up all the fuel and stars never forming (electric force a little too small as compared to the strong force), (2) stars unable to make nuclei as big as carbon (electric force a little too big as compared to the strong force). How much is “a little”? Modern physics does very well calculating the processes inside stars and can re-calculate by varying the strength of the forces involved. When gravity is weaker by 1 part in 10^36 (1 followed by 36 zeroes) stars become unstable against their internal pressures and won’t burn. If gravity were stronger by 1 part in 10^40, stars would rapidly collapse into black holes. Neither situation would match God’s universe as we observe it. To get an idea how small these changes are, imagine light traveling for two and a half quintillion years. Changing that distance by an inch is about one in 10^36. Changing that distance by 1/25th of the diameter of a human hair is one part in 10^40. A short list of “fine tuned” physical parameters includes the gravitational constant to one part in 10^34, Electric-Gravity balance to one part in 10^37, cosmological constant to one part in 10^120, mass density of the universe to one part in 10^59, expansion rate of the universe to one part in 10^55, and initial entropy of the universe to one part in 10^(10^123). This fantastically narrow window of possibilities has lead some doubters to believe that the universe was specifically designed to support complex life.
Local observations include the fact that our unusually large moon both generates tidal action to oxygenate our oceans and shields us from the impact of most large objects. Our unusually large neighbor planet Jupiter and its proximity to our sun also shields us from impacts from extra-solar objects. Including these and other newly discovered factors into the famous Drake Equation (calculating the probability of extraterrestrial life), popularized by Carl Sagan and the basis for SETI, one often calculates that rather than not being alone in the universe, we probably should not be here at all!
How should this trend in the scientific community affect our faith? That answer is simple: NOT AT ALL. Just as our faith would be unshaken by the authenticity (or not) of religious relics, the current trends in scientific investigation are not how we build or justify our faith. Among the tenets of the Reformed Faith is the principle of sola scriptura, which translated from Latin means “scripture alone”. Our intellectual understanding is based in scripture alone and our emotional understanding is continually developed through our personal relationship with God through prayer. So, why mention such things in a weekly epistle?
To me, investigating non-scriptural faith-related topics like fine tuning has the similar value as noticing how the recent marvel movie “Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings” resolves certain outstanding story lines from “Iron Man 3”. It is fun and leads to engaging conversation with believers and doubters alike. Just as Jesus loved Thomas during the height of his doubt, we also love the doubters in our lives. In this sense, a conversation with loved ones regarding “fine tuning” might be more valuable than talking about “Shang-Chi”, since it may provide the first step on a pathway leading to true faith.
God Bless You,
Tom Hemmick
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11/10/2021 -- On the Go, but Resting, Too
Today's Post is Written by Rev. James F. Cubie, Interim Pastor and Head of Staff
Then
they passed through Pisidia and came to Pamphylia. And when they had
spoken the word in Perga, they went down to Attalia, and from there they
sailed to Antioch, where they had been commended to the grace of God for the
work that they had fulfilled. And when they arrived and gathered the
church together, they declared all that God had done with them, and how he
had opened a door of faith to the Gentiles. And they remained
no little time with the disciples.
Acts 14: 24-28
Pisidia to Pamphylia, then to Perga and Attalia, and finally to Antioch – phew! The church in the Book of Acts – the brand new, on the go, on the move Church – seems to barely have time to stop, rest, relax, and remain in one place. And that makes sense, doesn’t it? Jesus gave the Great Commission to the first disciples (Matthew 28:16-20), and they heard him loud and clear: “Go!” So they went, and went, and went some more. They covered Jerusalem to Rome – about 2,800 miles.
It is hard to imagine a church growing if it is not, in some sense, always on the go – always about the business of her Lord. The early church, certainly, understood this, and so has the church during periods of renewal, rebuilding, and of confident steps forward.
No
one can guarantee that if we are diligent about being “on the go”, exciting,
new, groundbreaking things will happen when we want them to – God’s timing is
God’s timing. But we can guarantee that if we are never on the go (or
hardly ever), God will not use us.
So,
one of the greatest lessons we can take from the Book of Acts is that we should
always seek to be a church on the go: Gathering for worship; serving our
neighbors in need; extending pastoral care to our members; serving our brothers
and sisters, in foreign lands; taking the Word more deeply into our hearts in
Home Groups.
And yet, we must also spend some periods of our life together just resting – as Luke put it in our passage from Acts 14: “they remained no little time…” It’s a subtle way of saying: They rested for a good, long while. Sabbath time: We all need it.
Our
pace of life, together, can have more regular intervals of rest than the early
church: We don’t necessarily need to go and go for months at a time, with little
to no rest. We can build rest into our week – in fact, we should, not only
during the day, but especially on Sunday. Sunday is the Sabbath – that day of
rest and recentering in the Lord; the day of greeting one another in His name,
and extending care, concern, and rejoicing to one another; the day when we hear
His Word preached, which He promises will not return to Him empty (Isaiah
55:11).
In this next season of Mattituck Presbyterian Church, we will look at how we can continue to be “on the go”. And we must also be a people ready to rest, to remain, so that we can gather the strength that only God can provide in our Sabbath time.
Grace and Peace,
Pastor James
James F. Cubie
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11/03/2021 -- I Get Knocked Down
Today's Post is Written by Rev. James F. Cubie, Interim Pastor and Head of Staff
But Jews came from Antioch and Iconium, and having persuaded the crowds, they stoned Paul and dragged him out of the city, supposing that he was dead. But when the disciples gathered about him, he rose up and entered the city, and on the next day he went on with Barnabas to Derbe.
When they had preached the gospel to that city and had made many disciples, they returned to Lystra and to Iconium and to Antioch, strengthening the souls of the disciples, encouraging them to continue in the faith, and saying that through many tribulations we must enter the kingdom of God. And when they had appointed elders for them in every church, with prayer and fasting they committed them to the Lord in whom they had believed. Acts 14:19-23
This is the story of the early church: They are beaten. They have crowds set against them. They are left for dead. They get back up and keep on keepin’ on. Amazing. Inspiring. Words really don’t do it justice, and here’s why: The Apostles are so connected to the leading and the power of the Holy Spirit, that they simply move forward despite enormous, overwhelming opposition. That’s just miraculous, and ordinary ways of describing the limits of human endurance can’t capture why they kept at it, year after year.
I try to imagine myself in Paul’s position: If I had been stoned, dragged out of the city, unconscious, left for dead, and then came to my senses, and stood up in front of my friends – if all that happened, how would I react? How would you?
I know I would be tempted to – at least – think the following: Maybe God doesn’t want me – doesn’t want us – here. Maybe this is the irrefutable sign we needed to just “move on”, to the next town. After all, didn’t our Lord say: if anyone will not receive you or listen to your words, shake off the dust from your feet when you leave that house or town.” (Matthew 10:14) Maybe this, of all moments, is a dust-shaking moment.’ But that isn’t what Paul does, and what is the result?
We read that he marches right back into town and preaches the gospel (no doubt, more than once!). Disciples are made among people who tried to kill him, or who at least watched as others did. How do you find the courage to do that? Unreal. The courage comes from one source – the one Paul himself named: I can do all things through him who strengthens me. (Philippians 4:13)
What has knocked you down, recently, and maybe for the fifth, fiftieth or one-hundredth time? Are you, currently, thinking this: “Should I go back in? Should I try again? Does God want me to move on?” The answer, of course, is that He may. Jesus did say that, sometimes, we are called to allow our peace to return to ourselves, shake the dust, and move on to what the Lord has for us, next.
But if you’re at that point of discernment, can I ask that you do one thing, first: Speak to a brother or sister in Christ. Okay, two things: Also, come to worship, and listen for God’s Word. Okay, three things: Pray and discern in prayer for what God wants you to do. Okay, four things: Try just one more time. You got knocked down. Now get back up again (as the song goes), and – in the power of the Spirit – go. God may be just about to do something as miraculous through you, as he did through Paul.
Grace and Peace,
Pastor James
James F. Cubie
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10-27-2021 Live Together in Unity
Today's Post is Written by Elder Mark DeSantis
How good and pleasant it is when brothers live together in unity. Ps. 133:1
I like your Christ. I do not like your Christians. This quote is attributed to Mahatma Gandhi, the non-violent liberator of India, who reportedly read from the Sermon on the Mount daily. In the early part of the 20th century, E. Stanley Jones, the late missionary to India, asked Gandhi how to get the Indian people to accept Christianity. He replied, “First, I would suggest all you Christians especially missionaries need to live more like Jesus Christ; second, I would suggest that you must practice your religion without adulterating it or toning it down; and, third, I would suggest that you must put your emphasis on love. For love is the center and soul of Christianity.” While Gandhi never chose to become a Christian, his exposure to the Bible and the Sermon on the Mount, in particular, changed his life because he took Jesus seriously.
If we as Christians want to live together in unity, we must also take Jesus seriously. We need to live more like Jesus Christ. Jesus Christ is not a patriot. Jesus came to save the world, not America. There is nothing wrong with being a patriot. I love this country!! However, my first allegiance is to Jesus Christ my Lord, His bride, and His kingdom! Next comes my wife and family; then comes the USA. We need to get in step with Jesus. That can only be done through diligent study of scripture, daily prayer, worship and fellowship.
To quote A.W. Tozer, "Has it ever occurred to you that one hundred pianos all tuned to the same fork are automatically tuned to each other? They are of one accord by being tuned, not to each other, but to another standard to which each one must individually bow.” So, one hundred worshippers meet together, each one looking away to Christ, are in heart nearer to each other than they could possibly be, were they to become unity conscious and turn their eyes away from God to strive for closer fellowship.
This is what we need to fulfill the first verse of Psalm 133. We need to be tuned to the Christ. I don't think I really said anything new today. You know what you have to do to have that intimate relationship with your Savior. The Lover of your soul! He loved you so much He died for you. Couldn't you make a little more time for Him? He's waiting. For you! The Creator of the universe wants to hear from you today. Just start talking. Right now. No prayer speeches. Just talk to Him. There is a prayer group that meets at 6 AM Monday through Friday. Everyone is welcome. Please join us. Session is in the process of starting at least one more group which will NOT be at 6AM. Home groups are a great way to fellowship and study scripture. There are several to choose from on different days. Please consider diving into the deep end. That is where you will meet your Lord.
Christ's followers must ask by what ultimate criterion Jesus will accept or reject them. Who will pass the test and who will not? The answer lies in the words of Jesus to the last of the rejected: "I have never known you." If we follow Christ, cling to His Word, and let everything else go, it will see us through the day of judgement. His word is His grace.
Grace and Peace,
Elder Mark DeSantis
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10-13-2021
How We Are Healed
Today's Post is Written by Rev. James F. Cubie, Interim Pastor and Head of Staff
Now at Lystra there was a man sitting who could not use his feet. He was crippled from birth and had never walked. He listened to Paul speaking. And Paul, looking intently at him and seeing that he had faith to be made well, said in a loud voice, “Stand upright on your feet.” And he sprang up and began walking. Acts 14:8-10
In John’s Gospel, we hear this promise: “Truly, truly, I say to you, whoever believes in me will also do the works that I do; and greater works than these will he do…” (John 14:12) This promise is based on a declaration Jesus makes earlier in the same chapter: “I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.” (14:6) The “greater works” that Jesus promises is based on the confession that He is “the way, the truth, and the life” – that we cannot know or do God’s work apart from Him.
When we read “greater works”, we may wonder: “Greater than being resurrected from the dead? than raising Lazarus from the dead? than healing the paralytic through the faith of his friends?”, and so on. But “greater”, here, does not mean better than, mightier than – it means something more like “multiplication”: The Kingdom will advance, multiply, and grow from here, in Israel, to the ends of the earth, and one of the signs that the Kingdom is advancing will be that God, through us, does what He did in Jesus: “Of the increase of his government and of peace there will be no end, … The zeal of the LORD of hosts will do this.” (Isaiah 9:7)
This is what we see at Lystra, in the miracle that God works through Paul: The man “crippled from birth” hears the Word, and Paul sees that he comes to the hearing of the Word in faith – in expectation. Paul sees the faith of the crippled man, and then the Spirit, through Paul, speaks the Word that accomplishes what it purposes (Isaiah 55:11).
Our God is the One who heals (Exodus 15:26), and He heals by His Word. He can heal in a dramatic encounter like the one we read about in Acts 14: Paul speaks, and it is done. And we know He heals through more ordinary, but no less miraculous means: The Word of God preached, Sunday by Sunday (Romans 10:14). Which should we seek? Both. Because Jesus healed in both ways: In dramatic, miraculous encounters, and through “ordinary” teaching that revealed, healed, and transformed His hearers.
When we walk out the healing that begins in accepting Jesus as Lord and Savior, we know this is a life-long journey – we are not made perfect in this life, nor can we make ourselves that. Sunday by Sunday, that is the promise that God makes: By His Word, we will be healed, and we will grow in healing until we are raised again to new life and are finally whole in the new heavens and the new earth.
Grace and Peace,
Pastor James
Rev. James F. Cubie
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10-06-2021
Right Here, Right Now
Today's Post is Written by Rev. James F. Cubie, Interim Pastor and Head of Staff
Now
at Iconium they entered together into the Jewish synagogue and spoke in
such a way that a great number of both Jews and Greeks believed. But
the unbelieving Jews stirred up the Gentiles and poisoned their minds against the
brothers. So they remained for a long time, speaking boldly for the
Lord, who bore witness to the word of his grace, granting signs and
wonders to be done by their hands.
Acts 14:1-3
When we speak boldly for the Lord, His signs and wonders will accompany us. This, though, seems to be a difficult time to find courage, and to expect great things. For many, this is a time simply to inch our way forward, hoping for the best. I don’t think that it has to be that way.
In his second letter to his apprentice, Paul encouraged Timothy this way: “God gave us a spirit not of fear but of power and love and self-control” (2 Timothy 1:7). Paul connects this call to be bold to the faith of Timothy’s mother and grandmother. Paul recognizes that same faith in Timothy as a “sincere faith” (2 Timothy 1:5). It is Paul’s second letter to his younger co-laborer, and Paul leads off with this encouragement. That’s important, because it is never enough to hear just once that we must be bold, not fearful – it’s an encouragement we need, often and early.
One of the best ways that I receive that encouragement is simply to listen to Scripture (often Paul’s letters to Timothy), and hear it as directly addressing me – which, in a very important sense, God does in His Word: his words were not just meant for them, back then, but for you and I, right here, right now. If you are in a season of discouragement – or of timidity, even fear – I can’t commend highly enough, the practice of listening to Scripture read aloud. The YouVersion Bible app is very good for this. But we can also read aloud to ourselves, or one another.
Think about this, as you listen: These are God’s own, inspired words, which are meant to speak directly to you. Yes, not everything you hear is meant for you: You and I are not Moses, or Elijah, or Esther. But in every story, God’s Spirit is at work, to bring to each of us what we need to hear, again, right here, right now.
My sense is that many of us need to remember the example of the Apostles in Acts: “They remained for a long time, speaking boldly for the Lord” (Acts 1:3). When we speak boldly, we speak sincerely, frankly, from the heart – a heart full of the Spirit and God’s Word. “Bold” does not, here, mean “brash” – fired up for no reason at all. Bold means a heart that – like a furnace – we fan into flame under the authority of God’s Word, by the power of His Spirit.
There is no way for us, like the Apostles, to remain in our post “for a long time,” other than to fan the flame of gifts God has given to us. We can try to stoke the fire any number of ways, and we might make what looks like “progress” – or we might look like we are standing firm. But sooner of later, our flame will go out, because it was not God’s to begin with.
If you feel like you don’t have what it takes to man or woman your post, well, it’s true: We need God. We need His Spirit and His Word. We don’t have “what it takes,” and that may be the fear – the lack of boldness – that you feel right now. It may be that God is using that fear to knock on the door of your heart, and say: “Ask for My Spirit, again, and you will see My signs and wonders.”
Grace and Peace,
Pastor James
Rev. James F. Cubie
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09-29-2021
Is This What a Win Looks Like?
Today's Post is Written by Rev. James F. Cubie, Interim Pastor and Head of Staff
And
when the Gentiles heard this, they began rejoicing and glorifying the
word of the Lord, and as many as were appointed to eternal life
believed. And the word of the Lord was spreading throughout the whole
region. But the Jews incited the devout women of high standing and the
leading men of the city, stirred up persecution against Paul and
Barnabas, and drove them out of their district. But they shook off the
dust from their feet against them and went to Iconium. And the disciples
were filled with joy and with the Holy Spirit. Acts 13:48-52
Acts is the story of the birth of the church. It’s a story of starts and stops, dramatic growth, and sudden setbacks. If you were going to make a up a story that you hope would inspire everyone to believe, no matter what, I’m not sure it’s the story you would tell. If you believe in Jesus, and admire these early saints, you love their dogged determination to do the right, faithful thing, no matter what the cost – no matter how sharp the setback. But if you’re looking at this early group of Jesus followers from the outside, you might wonder: “Hmmm, what’s up with all these obstacles, setbacks, and reversals? If they are who they say they are, shouldn’t they be going from victory to victory?”
The passage from Acts, above, is the end of the story we looked at last Wednesday: Paul just recounted the story of God’s redemption to the Jews in the Synagogue at Pisidia – the whole story from Abraham, through Moses, the prophets, and now Jesus Christ. When he was done telling the story, the results were, well, what they were: Not everyone liked what Paul had to say. Not everyone wanted Paul to stay in Pisidia. Many, many people came to hear him, again, the following Sabbath, but a few powerful folks wanted him to leave. And, in this story, those few powerful folks won the day: Paul and Barnabas were driven out.
Now, if you had spent that time doing faithful, good work in a city, to bring the Good News of Jesus Christ to Jew and Gentile alike, only to have a handful of powerful people make life heck for you – so much so, that you had to leave – you might be despondent. You might wonder: “Why did I bother? What gives? Doesn’t God want ‘success’ everywhere he sends us?” I know I might feel that way. But I don’t think Paul and Barnabas did. And I think they had the response they did because they knew that God was in control, in all of this – in the setbacks, in the sudden reversals – God is in control. An easy thing to say – an easy thing to believe, maybe. A very difficult thing to live, in circumstances like Paul and Barnabas’ at Pisidia.
But, we read, “they shook off the dust from their feet against them and went to Iconium. And the disciples were filled with joy and the Holy Spirit.” Amazing. Just amazing, that they would react this way. But possible for you, and for me. I think many of you know that I came from a church plant in South Carolina, and – as you can imagine – trying to start a church in a pandemic was very, very difficult. Starting a church under normal circumstances is not for the faint of heart: the setbacks and disappointments are sometimes dramatic and can cause you to question whether you’re really doing something God wants you to do.
My experience in South Carolina certainly taught me to trust God, even in the middle of difficult reversals, and to find – by His grace – joy and a deeper sense of the presence of the Holy Spirit. That shouldn’t surprise me – it shouldn’t surprise any of us: It was Christ’s own experience, and He promises the same for those who follow Him.
Paul and Barnabas had a deep, abiding trust in God’s leading – that no mission from God is ever without purpose and reward. The purpose, sometimes, is simply more of God’s joy, and being filled with His Spirit – that, friends, is more than enough: It means we are outfitted to be God’s witnesses wherever we are sent. To be filled with the same Spirit, and experience the same joy that Paul and Barnabas felt, is something I hope you will all know, soon.
Grace and Peace,
Pastor James
Rev. James F. Cubie
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09-22-2021
Because I Said So.
Today's Post is Written by Rev. James F. Cubie, Interim Pastor and Head of Staff
Now Paul and his companions set sail from Paphos and came to Perga in Pamphylia. And John left them and returned to Jerusalem, but they went on from Perga and came to Antioch in Pisidia. And on the Sabbath day they went into the synagogue and sat down. After the reading from the Law and the Prophets, the rulers of the synagogue sent a message to them, saying, “Brothers, if you have any word of encouragement for the people, say it.” So Paul stood up, and motioning with his hand said:… Acts 13:13-16
“Because
I said so.” Every parent has said it.
Every, single, parent has… at least a hundred times. We say it when we’re
tired, frustrated, or we’ve been backed into a corner. It seems like the only
way out, and the thing is: It usually works. The kids get it. They can read in
the tone of your voice: “Okay, Mom means it this time. We need to back down.”
But it only works until – maybe – age eighteen, and then not so much. It works even less between adults: I can only imagine the number of nights I would sleep on the couch, if in answer to my wife’s reasonable question, I said: “Because I said so, dear.” If I want my wife to join me in something difficult, or in something that flies in the face of what she was expecting, she’s going to want a reason, or a story, that explains why.
I would bet that you’ve found the same to be true in your conversations with people who do not believe – or who are “spiritual, but not religious”: It’s never good enough to say: “Because God said so…” or “Because the Bible says so.” The chances are good that your friend knows what the Bible says about this or that thing, and they want something more.
Paul,
at the end of the passage above, is invited to bring a “word of encouragement”
to the members of the synagogue. What does he do? He tells a story – He tells the
story, from the beginning, through Abraham, Moses, the prophets, to Jesus, His Crucifixion,
and the mission of the church to the gentiles.
Paul was a well-trained Rabbi - he had the commands of God at his fingertips. He could have simply said: “Well, God said this, and this, and that, and also that.” But Jesus’ story has landed on Paul’s well-trained, steel-trap mind, and now he has something more than: “Because God said so.” Paul knows he is part of Jesus’ story, and he knows that His story has completed and changed the story of the world! This story means that Paul, and we ourselves have been let in on: “things into which angels long to look.” (1 Peter 1:12)
Do you know Jesus’ story as well as you would like? Can you tell His story with confidence? Can you say more than: “Because God said so.”? The church exists to equip you to do just that. Join us Sunday by Sunday. Plug into a Home Group. Come, talk to me, and together let’s press into the story God is telling through Jesus Christ and His church.
Grace and Peace,
Pastor James
Rev. James F. Cubie
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09-15-2021
A Voice from the Lord?
Today's Post is Written by Rev. James F. Cubie, Interim Pastor and Head of Staff
When they had gone through the whole island as far as Paphos, they came upon a certain magician, a Jewish false prophet named Bar-Jesus. He was with the proconsul, Sergius Paulus, a man of intelligence, who summoned Barnabas and Saul and sought to hear the word of God. But Elymas the magician (for that is the meaning of his name) opposed them, seeking to turn the proconsul away from the faith. But Saul, who was also called Paul, filled with the Holy Spirit, looked intently at him and said, “You son of the devil, you enemy of all righteousness, full of all deceit and villainy, will you not stop making crooked the straight paths of the Lord? And now, behold, the hand of the Lord is upon you, and you will be blind and unable to see the sun for a time.” Immediately mist and darkness fell upon him, and he went about seeking people to lead him by the hand. Then the proconsul believed, when he saw what had occurred, for he was astonished at the teaching of the Lord.
Acts 13:6-12
Wow! This is one of those stories from Scripture that leaps off the page. And you’re either fascinated by it, or you kind of turn away and wonder why stories like it made their way into our Bible. We know that all Scripture is inspired and profitable for our instruction and equipping (2 Timothy 3:16-17): In other words, God put it there for a reason, and we are meant to find out why.
So… why? The existence of “false prophecy” is at stake in this dramatic confrontation between Paul and Elymas. Elymas opposes Paul (here also called Saul) and Barnabas, because Elymas wants to protect the false prophet Bar-Jesus. And though the details are not filled in, Paul sees – and names – what comes with Bar-Jesus’ false prophecy: An evil and unrighteousness that prevents people from taking the straightest road to God.
The idea of false prophecy may sound strange to modern ears, but it is quite real – it is something we must be on guard against. We may hear the charge of “false prophecy”, and think: “Isn’t Paul overreacting to what amounts to a different point of view, an equally valid, and potentially useful principle or teaching? Didn’t the proconsul have the right to hear from this person, claiming to speak for God, and that person, also making the same claim?”
The questions presume that we have not already been let in on the secret: Jesus Christ is God. When He stands at the center of what we are willing to say is – or is not – from God, then our standard for what – and who – we will listen to, changes. Whoever speaks to us, and especially whoever claims to have a word from the Lord for us, must be judged against what we already know of Jesus Christ in Holy Scripture: He is the test of false prophecy, just as He is the gauge of true prophecy (Revelation 19:10).
You and I have a lot of people claiming to speak a word from God to us. And there are just as many who speak with prophetic certainty, even if they do not believe in God. That, friends, means we are living in dangerous spiritual territory, but I would be lying to you if I said things are okay, when they’re really not okay (Jeremiah 6:13-14).
So, we must test the voices to see whether they are from God, and the test is simple: “… every spirit that confesses that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is from God, and every spirit that does not confess Jesus is not from God. This is the spirit of the antichrist, which you heard was coming and now is in the world already.” (1 John 4:2-3) The “antichrist” in the voice may not be immediately evident – “but it sounds so good, so right!” – but sooner or later, truth will come out.
When you want to hear the voice of the Lord, stand firm and listen along one line: Jesus Christ as He is revealed to us in Scripture; His faithful ministers and servants, who speak on the basis of His call; and your brothers and sisters in Christ, who you know have walked with Him for many years. His voice is in all of these, and it will never be hidden from us if we earnestly seek Him in prayer.
Grace and Peace,
Pastor James
Rev. James F. Cubie
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09-08-2021
Independent Operator?
Today's Post is Written by Rev. James F. Cubie, Interim Pastor and Head of Staff
And Barnabas and Saul returned from Jerusalem when they had completed their service, bringing with them John, whose other name was Mark.
Now there were in the church at Antioch prophets and teachers, Barnabas, Simeon who was called Niger, Lucius of Cyrene, Manaen a lifelong friend of Herod the tetrarch, and Saul. While they were worshiping the Lord and fasting, the Holy Spirit said, “Set apart for me Barnabas and Saul for the work to which I have called them.” Then after fasting and praying they laid their hands on them and sent them off. Acts 12:25-13:3
Most Bible scholars believe that as many as twelve years have gone by between the conversion of Paul (here, referred to as Saul) and this story. And this Paul is a little different from the newly converted Paul: he’s not rushing out the front door, without consulting anyone; he is not just going his own way and allowing the chips to fall where they may. What is he doing instead?
Instead, Paul is praying with a group of believers: Really praying. Not going through the motions because he already knows the answer he’d like to hear. He’s praying, with the hope that God can and does answer prayer.
Paul is worshipping with a group of believers: He is doing the primary thing that we do Sunday by Sunday – the thing we are all about: Praising God in prayer, in music, joining with others to be reminded who we really are, and whose we really are.
Paul has been partnered with Barnabas: He’s no longer an independent operator, but knows that his best ministry will only come as he shares with another who walks beside him.
Paul is fasting. When we hear that word – “fasting” – we tend to think of a joyless group of very skinny people. But to “fast” just means to turn away from something that prevents us from seeing – and participating in – the life-giving things God is doing all around us.
Finally, instead of striking out on his own, Paul is sent: The Holy Spirit sets apart and sends Paul, and Barnabas, through the laying on of hands by the community. God speaks through the community to say: “These two are ready. I’ve seen the transformation, and they can carry My name to those who don’t know Me yet.”
Over several years, Paul has grown into these community practices that formed his character in the Way of Jesus. It didn’t happen overnight; it didn’t happen by accident: Paul’s participation in prayer, worship, fasting, partnered service are all things he’s deliberately taken up in response to what Jesus said to him on the Damascus road; and, they are all things that prepared him to be used by God.
COVID has forced many of us to “go it alone” – sometimes because we had to, to be safe. But we may also have backed off because it was easier… more comfortable. COVID has had the effect of making many of us independent operators: “I’ll just wait and see….” But that is not the Christian Faith: Our Faith is lived out in dedicated, weekly community – according to the New Testament, there is no such thing as a follower of Jesus who is not at the same time a committed, regular member of a local church.
You may still have good medical reasons to be careful, and to not join us for weekly worship (we have Facebook, if that’s you – and you don’t need an account to watch). But the Church is still the place where you will meet the Holy Spirit in the worship, prayer, praise and the Word preached – no other place on earth is like it because God promises to do utterly unique things in it, and through it – in us and through us. Come, discover God with us, and get ready to be transformed, partnered, and sent to do His will wherever you are.
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09-01-2021
Heavenly Help
Today's Post is Written by Rev. James F. Cubie, Interim Pastor and Head of Staff
Now when Herod was about to bring Peter out, on that very night, Peter was sleeping between two soldiers, bound with two chains, and sentries before the door were guarding the prison. And behold, an angel of the Lord stood next to him, and a light shone in the cell. He struck Peter on the side and woke him, saying, “Get up quickly.” And the chains fell off his hands. And the angel said to him, “Dress yourself and put on your sandals.” And he did so. And he said to him, “Wrap your cloak around you and follow me.” And he went out and followed him. He did not know that what was being done by the angel was real, but thought he was seeing a vision. When they had passed the first and the second guard, they came to the iron gate leading into the city. It opened for them of its own accord, and they went out and went along one street, and immediately the angel left him. When Peter came to himself, he said, “Now I am sure that the Lord has sent his angel and rescued me from the hand of Herod and from all that the Jewish people were expecting.” Acts 12:6-11
Herod has just killed James, the brother of John, and now it appears that Peter will be next. But, it turns out, it is not his time. Peter knows, on some level, that one day he will die as a witness to his Lord and Savior; that he will die in manner very similar to Jesus’ death – Jesus said as much to him: “Truly, truly, I say to you, when you were young, you used to dress yourself and walk wherever you wanted, but when you are old, you will stretch out your hands, and another will dress you and carry you where you do not want to go.” (John 21:18)
Perhaps as Peter was taken into the prison cell, and after he learned about the murder of James, he thought to himself: “Now is the time. This is it…”, and the reality of that set in. The difficult emotions of believing that the end was near, and that it was not going to be pretty. When you get news like that, about yourself, about a loved one, or a friend, it’s very difficult to not simply throw up your hands and say: “Well, that’s it, then…. Nothing more to be done.” And in some cases, that really is that: Ending time has come; the final chapter is being written and is only a few pages from being finished.
But, sometimes, there is a breakthrough! And when there is, we need to be ready to wake up and follow where the Lord is leading us! Our text for today tells us that the angel “struck Peter on the side and woke him…” Peter was still so much in a daze that he thought, as he was being rescued, that he was seeing a vision – in other words, he thought he was still in prison! But he was being rescued and it took a hard strike on the side to get his attention, to wake him up.
Perhaps Peter thought his time was up, but the Lord had more for him, and He sent an angel to tell him so! Are you in a season of life where you think: “That’s it… That’s over… No way forward… Might as well stop.” Well, it may be – the Lord may really be telling you to stop one thing and begin another. But it may be that the Lord is sending an angel your way (or He has already sent you many angels!), to tell you: “No, keep on keepin’ on. You thought night was falling, forever, but I tell you the dawn is coming. Follow me!”
Pray with me for two things, this week: That the Lord would send us those angels, if we need them; and, that the Lord would help us hear those angels, if he has already sent them. Pray this with me, and reach out to me, or to your friends at church, if you feel that you need this kind of help. When we need an answer to prayer, the Lord will never leave us hanging.
Grace and Peace,
Pastor James
Rev. James F. Cubie