What's Next?

Yesterday I was surprised to see this Sand Hill Crane standing all alone in our Still Waters Pond.

It is very unusual to see one alone. They are usually seen with their mate close by. This one kept looking back toward the shore, as if he was listening and watching for someone to join him.

But the longer he stood there, the more apparent it became that there was no one else coming.

Finally he started moving on across the pond, as if he was in a hurry to go somewhere.

As he reached the other end of the shore, he stopped and stood at attention, again listening and watching and waiting. I wondered if he was listening for a call from his mate, telling him where she was or that she was waiting for him on the other side. I didn't hear any sound...and if there had been any it would have been quite distinct....if you've ever heard their call, you would know what I mean. 

But he stood there listening intently, as if he could hear something that I could not. And then, suddenly (before I could get my camera focused of course), he flapped his mighty wings and lifted himself up and flew away in a hurry.

Today, being another Sunday that we cannot join together in person with our dear church family, my heart and mind is tuned in to worship.  I was thinking about this Sand Hill Crane standing there alone on the shore, waiting and listening for a call from his mate...and I thought about the church...and about myself personally.  It is as if we are all standing and waiting, listening for God's voice to give us directions for our next step.  We've been set apart for a little while, and we are getting anxious to get back into action together as The Body of Christ.

But before we can come back together, my heart tells me we need to be listening for God's voice in our own personal lives.  

We need to be seeking His direction, and preparing our hearts for the "what's next". 

I was reading in Isaiah 6, and the verse that stood out in particular for me this morning is

Isaiah 6:8

"Also I heard the voice of the Lord, saying:

"Whom shall I send,

and who will go for Us?"

Then I said, "Here am I! Send me." 

Also I was reading in the Gospel of John 20:19-23, when Jesus appeared to His disciples after His resurrection, and in verse 19 it tells us that "the doors were shut where the disciples were assembled, for fear of the Jews, and Jesus came and stood in the midst, and said to them, 

"Peace be with you."

And then in verse 21, Jesus said to them again:

"Peace to you! As the Father has sent Me, I also send you."

22. "And when He had said this, He breathed on them, and said to them, 

"Receive the Holy Spirit."

Jesus gave the disciples a command in Matthew 28:19-20 to:

"Go therefore, and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son 

and of the Holy Spirit,

teaching them to observe all things that I have commanded you;

and lo, 

I am with you always, even to the end of the age." 

Amen.

We have this commission to go.  We've been resting and waiting and hopefully preparing our hearts for the "what's next".  God has work for us to do when we come back together. The way things are going in this world, we may not have much time left to keep sharing the Gospel freely.

  

This little song came to mind this morning as I was sitting here thinking about these things, and this is the prayer of my heart today.  What about you?  It may help us to figure out the "What's Next?" question as we ponder and pray and LISTEN for God's voice.  

Here I Am, Lord, Is It I, Lord?

Praying you have a blessed and beautiful SONday. Let us not forget Whose day this is.

It is the Lord's Day.

Amen.

Sermon Notes: Holy, Holy, Holy....God in Three Persons, Blessed Trinity

Today is Trinity Sunday...the day we focus our scriptures and thoughts upon the Holy Trinity of God...God in Three Persons...God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit... 

Most Christians have sung that hymn, "Holy, Holy, Holy" at some time in their lives...I know I've sung it many many times.

(Brooklyn Tabernacle Choir singing Holy, Holy, Holy)

1. Holy, holy, holy! Lord God Almighty! 

Early in the morning our song shall rise to Thee. 

Holy, holy, holy! Merciful and mighty, 

God in three persons, blessed Trinity! 

2. Holy, holy, holy! All the saints adore Thee, 

casting down their golden crowns around the glassy sea; 

Cherubim and seraphim falling down before Thee, 

which wert, and art, and evermore shalt be. 

3. Holy, holy, holy! Though the darkness hide Thee, 

Though the eye of sinful man Thy glory may not see, 

Only Thou art holy; there is none beside Thee, 

Perfect in power, in love and purity. 

4. Holy, holy, holy! Lord God Almighty! 

All Thy works shall praise Thy name, in earth and sky and sea. 

Holy, holy, holy! Merciful and mighty, 

God in three persons, blessed Trinity.

But how often have we actually stopped to think about just WHO this "Blessed Trinity" is?  The concept of "God in Three Persons" seems to be a difficult thing for most people to grasp.   Our guest lay-minister today termed the Trinity as "The Great Mystery...Three personalities of God in One Essence...The Trinity".  We understand The Trinity to be God The Father; God The Son; and God the Holy Spirit. 

Our speaker today shared several vignettes focusing on the relationship between the Father and Son first of all...

Jesus, the Son,  the 2nd Person of the Trinity, God in the flesh...Who, when He came to earth in the flesh, had some "limitations" because of being in human form...

According to Matthew 24:36, Jesus did not actually know when the second coming of the Son of God would be...

36 “But about that day or hour no one knows, not even the angels in heaven, nor the Son, but only the Father."  NIV

Another example was the miracle of turning the water into wine at the wedding in Cana...
See John 2:1-11.  When Mary, the mother of Jesus, came to him to tell him that they had just run out of wine, He said to her in verse 4:

"Woman, what does your concern have to do with Me? My hour has not yet come."

Nevertheless, Jesus went ahead and told the servants to fill six waterpots with water, and so they did. And then He told them to draw some out and take it to the master of the feast (verse 8), and when he tasted the water that was turned into wine, he declared in verse 10 that they had kept the good wine until now!    

Jesus, in His human form, was often faced with challenges to balance his needs for rest and times of solitude away from the crowds with the pressing needs of those around Him. Even though He knew "his hour had not yet come" to be sacrificed for the sins of the world,  He could not ignore the pleas of those who were suffering.  

One such example was the story of the woman from the region of Tyre and Sidon, found in Mark 7:24-30.  This woman was a Gentile, and she had a daughter with an unclean spirit.  In verse 24, we see Jesus had gone to a house where He had hoped to rest and wanted no one to know where He was for a while...perhaps He needed a "vacation"... but the scripture says "He could not be hidden".  His fame was too great...

But this Gentile woman heard about Him, and fell at His feet, begging Him to cast the demon out of her daughter.  Jesus said to her in verse 27, "Let the children be filled first, for it is not good to take the children's bread and throw it to the little dogs."  This meant that He came first for the Jews, the chosen people of God,  but this woman was persistent (and I believe Jesus knew she would be, and was testing her faith, but that is my opinion), and she said "Yes, Lord, yet even the little dogs under the table eat from the children's crumbs."    And Jesus said to her (vs. 29) "For this saying go your way; the demon has gone out of your daughter..."   It was not quite yet His time to minister to the Gentiles...and yet, Jesus honored this woman's great faith.

Jesus, God the Son, was paving the way for God, the Holy Spirit, the 3rd Person of the Trinity, to come after His death and resurrection and ascension into heaven...Read John 16:1-16...

7.  "Nevertheless I tell you the truth. It is to your advantage that I go away;

for if I do not go away, the Helper will not come to you; but if I depart, I will send Him to you."

13.  "However, when He, the Spirit of truth, has come, He will guide you into all truth;

for He will not speak on His own authority,

but whatever He hears He will speak;

and He will tell you things to come.

14.  He will glorify Me, for He will take of what is Mine and declare it to you.

15.  All things that the Father has are Mine. Therefore I said that He will take of Mine and declare it to you."

Finally, just before Jesus ascended into heaven, He gave His Great Commission to all of us who believe in Him and belong to Him...His time had finally come...as well as the time for the Gentiles to be included in this great commission:

Matthew  28:18-20

18.  "All authority has been given to Me in heaven and on earth.

19.  Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations,

baptizing them in the name of 

The Father, and of the Son, 

and of the Holy Spirit,

20.  Teaching them to observe 

all things that I have commanded you;

and lo, I am with you always, 

even to the end of the age." 

Amen.

What is this "mysterious relationship between the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit...?"... "God in three persons, Blessed Trinity!"

We were admonished to search the scriptures for ourselves, get into the Word of God, The Bible, and as the Apostle Paul exhorted Timothy in II Timothy 2:15 ~

"Be diligent to present yourself approved to God,

a worker who does not need to be ashamed,

rightly dividing the word of truth."

And then, go and do as the disciples were taught, and make disciples of all nations...

baptizing them in the Name of the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit...

And God, The Trinity...God the Father, Son and Holy Spirit, 

will be with "you always, even to the end of the age."

This rainbow stretched across our path as a reminder that God is with us always...

Please Note : I want to repeat this disclaimer here...the notes, outline, and content included here are based upon my own personal understanding of the message that was being given.  I am not attempting to completely quote or reproduce this message or any other message I've shared previously.  Just as each person reading these notes may glean insights and thoughts that seem to directly apply to one's own situation and interpretation, my own delivery of these messages is skewed by my hearing and translation of what is being said.  Some may read my notes here and wonder if they were hearing the same message as I...and I say, God speaks to each of us as He wills...there are things He is trying to get across to each individual that may be entirely different than what the person sitting next to you in the pew is needing to hear...  That is how the Holy Spirit works! He knows what we need to hear and how to apply it to our hearts.  So it is with that understanding that I present these sermon notes to you.

Thank you for your continued prayers for our Pastor. He is improving day by day, but will still be out of the pulpit for a few more weeks. Next Sunday please pray for my hubby, as he will be delivering the message on Sunday morning.  I hope I will be able to give a "good report" of his sermon notes! :)

Time to Move On

More of the Steiner family saga...

Soon the day came when John completed his degree at the Seminary, and it was time for us to move on. In a way we were hoping that our current ministry would choose him to become their pastor full time since they were in the process of looking for a new minister. But that was not meant to be. Even though he was well qualified and well liked, it was understood that they needed to have someone new in their leadership…and we needed to move forward.

As I reflect back over this time in our lives, I would like to linger here awhile and not venture forth. See, back when we were actually looking forward to our future, we were full of excitement and joyous anticipation at what the Lord was going to do. We were young, full of vitality, somewhat innocent and naïve, and had a real sense of purpose. Our commission was “The Great Commission” as given to Christ’s disciples in Matthew 28:19-20:

"Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all things that I have commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age.”

It is merciful of God that He does not give us glimpses of our future, but only asks us to trust Him and obey His commands…and He promises that He will be with us always.

In Joshua 1:9 He says to His servant Joshua, “Have I not commanded you? Be strong and of good courage; do not be afraid, nor be dismayed, for the Lord your God is with you wherever you go.”

Please don’t misunderstand me…God has never forsaken us. It’s just that as I look back in retrospect, I can see when the real tests started in our lives. Everything prior to this had been a kind of preparation for the bigger tests that still lay ahead. Kind of a “pre-test” if you will. We were now approaching the precipice of true adulthood spiritually speaking…we were “graduating” from the classroom to the “real world of ministry”.

I Corinthians 13: 11-13 says at the closing of that great “Love Chapter”: “When I was a child, I spoke as a child, I understood as a child, I thought as a child; but when I became a man, I put away childish things. For now we see in a mirror, dimly, but then face to face. Now I know in part, but then I shall know just as I also am known. And now abide faith, hope, love, these three; but the greatest of these is love.”

We were being led by the Spirit of God to take the next step in our maturity…to grow up in Christ, and to receive our true inheritance:

Romans 8:14-18 gives us a look into our future: “For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, these are the sons of God. For you did not receive the spirit of bondage again to fear, but you received the Spirit of adoption by whom we cry out, ‘Abba, Father’. The Spirit Himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God, and if children, then heirs—heirs of God and joint heirs with Christ, if indeed we suffer with Him, that we may also be glorified together. For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us"

Early that summer John was called to become the Pastor at a very beautiful, fairly large suburban church in the hills surrounding Cleveland, Ohio. We were “moving on up”!  (or so we thought at the time).  Sometimes the cost can be more than you bargain for...but that's another story for another time.

Thank you, Father, that You were indeed with us as we continued on in our journey of faith and trust in You. Looking back, we can see Your hand in every step of the way. There have been times when we've wondered, questioned, and even doubted and yes, stumbled.  How thankful we are that You have never let us down...You have picked us back up, dusted us off, and pushed us forward in spite of our fears and failures. That gives us great hope for our future now as well...we know that You are still working on us...we aren't yet complete...and we will continue to trust You for whatever the plan may be. Amen.