Isaiah 64:4 Meditation/Memory

Hi EACF family,

As you know, we are still searching for a new lead pastor, even as Pastor Dave gets closer to finishing up as our interim pastor in the course of about 1.5 months. 

Some of us may find ourselves understandably growing anxious, wondering why God seems to be taking so long to bring us a suitable lead pastor. After all, it's 2023- can't we just get one on Amazon Prime (as PD has joked before)? Is there actually any of us that wants to wait? We can find ourselves tempted to be flustered/impatient at something so small as when someone with a stuffed grocery cart happens to be in front of us at the checkout line when we only have 2-3 items in hand. (Btw true story- happened to me just about a week ago at Lidl). 

But hear/read how the prophet Isaiah speaks of the Lord: 

"From of old, no one has heard or perceived by the ear, no eye has seen a God besides you, who acts for those who wait for him."

Our God shows up on behalf of those whose hope is NOT in their own abilities, accomplishments, intelligence, wisdom or experience- but for those who trust, hope, and rely solely on the Lord's sufficiency and generosity. 

We also know that the kind of waiting Isaiah meant was certainly NOT the passive type that says, "Well, God's going to do what He's going to do, so let's just roll on with life and see what happens." (Isaiah 62:6-7)

So how can this passage speak to EACF at this particular point in time? 

1) Pray 

As we begin the season of Lent this coming Wednesday, I want to encourage you not only to be praying for your individual walk with God, or even only for a pastor for EACF. I ask that you would intentionally be praying for God's larger purposes for EACF as a body of believers- not in a detached sense as if we're praying for some kind of "light bulb" moment (e.g. finding a pastor) that would allow us to feel like life can get back to "normal". Pray for nothing less than God's wisdom to be displayed through this local body of believers at EACF (Ephesians 3:10), and for us to discern together what that should look like practically. God wants to grow us out of "normal" so that the fruit we bear by His Spirit would indeed be a faithful witness to His glory and grace. 

2) Don't waste this period of time. 

The Lord has sovereignly ordained this particular time for us-- and this time of waiting, hoping, trusting, and pleading to Him together is meant for our good and ultimately for His glory. God means to grow us into His likeness and to expand our hearts for His kingdom whether in the presence or in the absence of a lead pastor. Not having a lead pastor is forcing us to listen that much more carefully to the Holy Spirit, and is teaching us to actually become doers (and not only hearers) of the word. We can trust that God through His promises has provided all that we need to grow into His likeness (2 Peter 1:3-4), and that He who began a good work in you will carry it to completion until the day of Christ Jesus. 

So come EACF, let us pray together fervently and faithfully, rejoining in hope in His goodness, and enduring patiently in affliction. May the Lord bind us together through love and grow us in a way that only the Spirit Himself can enable. 

Finally, I'll leave you with a new acronym to help you pray: :-) (HT to David Platt)

P- Praise

R- Repent

A- Ask

Y- Yield

Grace and Peace,

Mike

Romans 8:38-39 Meditation/Memory

 "For I am sure that neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers, nor height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation will be able to separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord."

This passage is likely familiar for many of you, as it comes at the end of one of the most famous and oft-cited chapters in Romans (read it in its entirety!). 

As I thought on this passage, I dwelt on the phrase 'nor life'. It's common to think of Christ's salvation as being rescue from death as the final word- and it is certainly is that- we were freed from lifelong slavery to fear of death (Hebrews 2:15). But the older I get, I see and experience the truth of how life in all its twists and turns, can threaten one's sense of security in God's love. We can find ourselves seeking comfort and security in human relationships- and making them idols by prizing them over our Lord. Or we can seek that sense of security in accomplishment, wealth, power. None of these are bad things in and of themselves- viewed from a proper perspective, they can all be gracious gifts from God. But when they become ultimate, watch out! 

In the parable of the sower, Jesus mentions those who receive the word, but are choked away by thorns symbolizing "the cares of the world and the deceitfulness of riches and the desires for other things" (Mark 4:19). These things ultimately make one unfruitful for the Lord. 

Yet even in the face of such real threats in life- Paul is sure (and we can be too!) that such things in life cannot separate us from the love of God. 

But let's not allow ourselves to mistaken this passage to mean that since we are ultimately safe in God's love that therefore our lives will be free of hardship. 

Recall that Paul is the same person who wrote in a letter to the Corinthians that he felt burdened beyond his strength so that he "despaired of life itself" (2 Corinthians 1:8) You may or may not have found yourself in a similar state of mind/heart as Paul- anyone familiar with Paul's life will know that he endured more hardship than most of us will ever know. And yet, because of Christ's death and resurrection, he knew he could be sure of his security in God's love. 

May the Holy Spirit be reminding us of that rock solid assurance that because of Christ's finished work on the cross and His resurrection- that nothing- NOTHING will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord! 

Jeremiah 32:40 Meditation/Memory

"And I will make and everlasting covenant with them, that I will not turn away from doing good to them. And I will put the fear of me in their hearts, that they will not turn from me." Jeremiah 32:40

When we experience relational pain through being wronged or deeply disappointed by someone we've shared life with- when we fail to find as much common ground as we'd hoped for- sometimes it can feel easier to abandon the relationship altogether. The last several years of the pandemic have epitomized how it can become increasingly difficult to countenance those who hold opposing convictions on politically/socially charged issues. It's just easier to ignore such people, or at least to find ways to avoid them if you have to be in the same room. It's just feels easier to turn away.

This week's passage in Jeremiah takes place while Jerusalem is under siege by Babylon- Jeremiah is locked up by King Zedekiah for prophesying Jerusalem's defeat through the word of the Lord given to him. 

Yet it's in this context that the Lord gives Jeremiah a tangible vision of His promise for their restoration. He has Jeremiah purchase a field in spite of the pending defeat, and tells him to keep the purchase deeds secure because He will one day rebuild His city and gather His people in it 

God doesn't sugar coat the reasons for Jerusalem's fall- He doesn't sweep away Israel's sin under the rug.  He clearly calls them a people who have "done nothing but provoke me to anger," who have "turned to me their back and not their face". And it is to such a people that our memory verse is spoken. 

Knowing that Israel had not the ability in themselves to keep the covenant of Moses, He promises to make a new covenant- one in which He accomplishes and provides all that Israel would need to stay in right relationship with Him. To a people who persistently turned their faces away from Him- the Lord in His mercy refuses to turn away from them; He will not turn away from doing good to them. Not only that, the Lord does not do so begrudgingly- he will rejoice in doing them good (Jer. 32:41)! Israel has no merit in herself to lay claim to such mercy! 

For us who live on the other side of Jesus' death and resurrection, we know this new covenant was ultimately fulfilled through the gospel of Jesus Christ. For God has done what the law, weakened by the flesh could not do, by sending His own son in the likeness of sinful flesh, he condemned sin in the flesh, in order that the righteous requirement would be fulfilled in us, who walk not according to the flesh, but according to the Spirit (Romans 8:3-4). Those who trust in the work of Christ alone have been given the Holy Spirit, who will lead.us into all truth and conform us into the image of our Creator. 

I encourage you read all of Jeremiah 32- God gives a such a beautiful and merciful vision of what He has for His people in the face of their faithlessness. And to know that all of this is truly fulfilled for those who have His Spirit now through faith in Christ is worth heartily rejoicing over! We worship a God who rejoices in doing us good, even through our hardships, even through our waywardness and stumbling! May the Lord who keeps us in in His love grant us the grace to continually turn to Him in repentance, to seek His strength continually. And may His Spirit increasingly make us a people who will adopt and embody this same ethic to turn towards one another in the face of conflict, hurt and disappointment. 

2023 - A weekly/biweekly verse to meditate on and memorize...

 Hi EACF,

This is Elder Mike. Two years ago, I decided to start a journey of regularly memorizing passages from scripture based on an old flip-binder I had purchased decades ago coming out of college (yes, I am old). They were called "Fighter Verses"- meant to help followers of Jesus keep the sword of the Spirit in their hearts and minds so as to wage war against the schemes of the devil. For those who are interested in coming along this journey, I'll be sharing a short passage hopefully at least every two weeks, and provide a brief comment on it. I'm not theologically trained like Pastor David, but I hope something simple like this will be of encouragement for any of us who would like to grow in loving God's word. May the Spirit speak and move among us as He ordains- as the Lord's word certainly will not go forth and return void, but will accomplish His purpose. 

Jeremiah 29:11-14a "For I know the plans I have for you, declares the LORD, plans for wholeness and not for evil, to give you a future and a hope. Then you will call upon me and come and pray to me, and I will hear you. You will seek me and find me. When you seek me with all your heart, I will be found by you, declares the LORD." (ESV 2001)

As I briefly touched upon this morning in Sunday service, these words were written as part of a letter from prophet Jeremiah to the Israelites in Judah who had been taken into exile in Babylon. In accordance with His word, the Lord uprooted them from Jerusalem for their idolatry and faithlessness to God's law (Jeremiah 25). The temple in Jerusalem was razed, its treasures looted, and the city walls were torn down (2 Chronicles 36:15-21). So the recipients of this word are a subjugated people severed from their homeland, and having witnessed and survived the ravages of being conquered, are receiving just punishment from the LORD. 

But God wasn't going to leave them that way indefinitely. Even in the midst of their punishment, the Lord speaks words of hope to them, reassuring them that He is decidedly NOT done with them as His people,  but has good plans for them. Even as Judah suffers the consequences of their own evil, He reminds them that He desires and ordains plans for their wholeness (that word is "welfare" in more updated translations) and not for evil- moreover, He still wants to be found by them! He still wants wholehearted fellowship with His wayward people! 

This was God's heart for Israel, and His heart hasn't changed for His people, including us His Church, whom He bought with the precious blood of Christ. 

As we walk into 2023, may the Holy Spirit grant us hearts that seek Him earnestly, with our whole hearts, and may we remember that no matter what kind of hardship we walk through together as a body of believers together at EACF (as well as individually)- that the Lord has plans ultimately for our good through it all. 

Grace, Peace, and Love,

Mike

P.S. The Fighter Verses have been updated and revised over the years, so I'm going to share a link for those of you would like to take a look.  https://www.fighterverses.com/verse-index. They also provide some practical tips/tools to help both parents and children alike to memorize scripture: https://www.fighterverses.com/tools