Tag Archives: Jesus

G*d’s Son, the second person of the Holy Trinity, Messiah, Savior

Unknown's avatar Rev. David J. Schreffler 4:44 am on September 11, 2015
Tags: Jesus,   

Cloudy Days — Rev. David J. Schreffler

 

image

September 11, 2015

“The Lord is slow to anger but great in power;
the Lord will not leave the guilty unpunished.
His way is in the whirlwind and the storm,
and clouds are the dust of his feet.” Nahum 1:3

“In the Bible clouds are always associated with God. Clouds are the sorrows, sufferings, or providential circumstances, within or without our personal lives, which actually seem to contradict the sovereignty of God. Yet it is through these very clouds that the Spirit of God is teaching us how to walk by faith. If there were never any clouds in our lives, we would have no faith. “The clouds are the dust of His feet” (Nahum 1:3). They are a sign that God is there. What a revelation it is to know that sorrow, bereavement, and suffering are actually the clouds that come along with God! God cannot come near us without clouds— He does not come in clear-shining brightness.” Do You See Jesus In Your Clouds? July 29, 2015 My Utmost For His Highest

“I can see clearly now the rain is gone….” so goes the song by Johnny Nash. The idea is true for seeing after the mist and the clouds of rain showers have left. The same should be true for our lives as the clouds of bad days, trials, tribulations and losses teach us how to see our lives and our relationship with G*d more clearly. As the saying goes, without trouble, there would be little faith. When all is good, when life is happy and without a care in the world, it is not that long before we delude ourselves to believe that we can handle this world on our own. What reason or reasons do we find a need for G*d if nothing ever goes wrong in our lives? But how ridiculous this sounds from the beginning, because none of us ever lives a life where nothing ever goes wrong. Just being alive means we will have bad days and good days and mediocre days.

Whether it is pouring down rain, or the clouds are just gathering, or the clouds are finally lifting, isn’t it comforting to think that the presence of clouds means that G*d is present? G*d cannot come near us without clouds — and that makes us thank G*d for cloudy days.

Pastor Dave

Unknown's avatar Rev. David J. Schreffler 4:44 am on September 5, 2015
Tags: Jesus, ,   

The Words of Jesus — Rev. David J. Schreffler

 

image

 

September 5, 2015

“From the fig tree learn its lesson: as soon as its branch becomes tender and puts forth its leaves, you know that summer is near. So also, when you see these things taking place, you know that he is near, at the very gates. Truly I tell you, this generation will not pass away until all these things have taken place. Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will not pass away.” Mark 13:28-31

“Heaven and earth shall pass away, but my words shall not pass away.” The civilization of antiquity was the whole world; and men no more dreamed of its ending than of the ending of daylight. They could not imagine another order unless it were in another world. The civilization of the world has passed away and those words have not passed away. In the long night of the Dark Ages feudalism was so familiar a thing that no man could imagine himself without a lord; and religion was so woven into that network that no man would have believed they could be torn asunder. Feudalism itself was torn to rags…had passed away, and the words did not pass away. The whole medieval order….wore out gradually in its turn; and here at last it was thought that the words would die. Today it stands once more in our path; and even as we watch it, it grows.” The Everlasting Man G. K. Chesterton
(1874 – 1936) “For All The Saints” volume II (p. 789)

The words of Jesus continue to stand against the world with power — though there are so many who want to think that it should carry no more weight than another discarded parchment found in a cave. Recently I read a blog posting from a woman who had decided in her mid seventies to end her life because she had “done” all that she had wanted in her life, and though her health was still relatively good, she did not want to grow into a burden to her children in the remaining years. Here is a quote from her blog:

“I do not promote this action for anyone who does not want it. I do not want the right to euthanize the mentally ill or physically handicapped. I ask that the Lawmakers should listen to, and respect, the views of people like me, and I am not alone in holding this view. We are being ignored by the law, which originates from a god in whom we have no belief, and which is upheld and enforced by people who have no proof of the existence of any god at all and yet still seek to impose their views on everyone else.” (Bovvering Books — My Last Word, by Gill)

Though her lack of faith is apparent, I ask you this question: “Is it that we are “imposing” our Christian views on everyone else, or is it that the words of Jesus continue to stand against an increasingly faithless world?” I believe that we are seeing signs of change, as the parable of the fig tree reminds us we will see, but to what end those changes will take us, I have no idea. But I trust in one thing, that the words of Jesus will continue to stand for all time.

Pastor Dave