What Is God Doing?

We ask this question daily in our church family….

“WHAT IS GOD DOING?”

One answer…

“God is saving; God is rescuing; God is blessing; God is providing; God is judging; God is healing; God is enlightening. There is a spiritual war in progress, an all moral battle. There is evil and cruelty, unhappiness and illness. There is superstitions and ignorance, brutality and pain. God is in continuous and energetic battle against all of it…

     GOD IS FOR LOVE AND AGAINST HATE.

     GOD IS FOR HOPE AND AGAINST DESPAIR.

     GOD IS FOR HEAVEN AND AGAINST HELL.

     GOD IS FOR LIFE AND AGAINST DEATH.”

                                                Eugene Peterson

Dear Sisters and Brothers in Christ – the darkness will not win!

                               CHRIST IS RISEN!

                                   Pastor Ron

TRUTH…

I just finished a series of sermons on the 10 Commandments and one of them was about truth. Since then I read these words from the late Lewis Smedes (Fuller Seminary):

“People are the real reason for telling the truth. ‘Speak the truth to one another, for we are members of one another.’ (The Apostle Paul). We need to be truthful because every good human relationship is built on communication. AND COMMUNICATION RESTS ON TRUST. When I open my mouth to speak to someone, I make an instant promise that what comes out will speak my mind. And the person who listens to me has a right to trust that my words reveal what is on my mind. People who deceive us deny our right to make free decisions based on truth.”

I want to be where God is and God is where truth is! It all speaks to me of how vital telling the truth really is – TRUST. In the church – in our homes – in the world, let us be people whose identity is that of truthfulness in love.

For the greater glory of God!

Pastor Ron

More Thoughts about “What Is Deepest In God?”

“God is love

And love is a relationship.

This relationship is one of joy,

and it can’t be contained.

 

Like when you see something amazing

and you turn to those you’re with

and say, “Isn’t that great?”

Your question is an invitation for them to join

you in their joy…

 

God creates, because the endless joy and peace

and shared life at the heart of God knows no other way.

 

Jesus invites us to be His partners

who are passionate about participating with Him

in the ongoing restoration/creation of the world.”

                                                      Rob Bell

Love compels us to see that it is very much about NOW. The now that is before us in our churches, family – the world. Yes, it is about later – heaven – the complete restoration of God’s creation – a new heaven and earth. But that promise is made real NOW as we in Christ love and work with Him.

Mowing the grass

folding the clothes

going to the store

washing the dishes

caring / sharing / healing

Everything – for God’s glory as we passionately live in Christ.

Pastor Ron

“NOW WHAT IS THE DEEPEST IN GOD?

…how little language can say without seeming to say something wrong!

IN ONE WORD, GOD IS LOVE

Love is the deepest depth, the essence of God’s nature, at the root of all God’s being… love is the hand and heart of God’s creation.”

The above words are from George McDonald (brilliant 19^th century Scottish pastor and author). They are words that speak deeply to me. And so there is a big banner in front of our church and it reads…

EAST CHARLOTTE…

LOVE ALWAYS WINS!

FOR

GOD IS LOVE!!!

Really – we can’t say much more.

Grace and Peace,

Pastor Ron

I / We must be people of “The Book”….

The day I am writing this is Monday, March 4, and I just listened to a brother in Christ share his moving experience of God in his life. His testimony was immersed in scripture. It was the context of which he understood (could see) how God was at work in his life. Like most of us, his life as a Christ-follower had great joy but also valleys of great difficulty. He brought before me key verses for him…

“My son, do not make light of the Lord’s discipline, and do not lose heart when God rebukes you, because the Lord disciplines those He loves, and God punishes everyone He accepts as a son.”  (Hebrews 4)

How I / we need to hear this Word from God! It is indeed a “light unto our paths” for it calls us to the One who is the living Word – Jesus Christ – God with us! I want to become more and more at home in this Word and I pray that God will rekindle in me and the church I am privileged to serve a great love for this Word. And that it be a love lived out in transformed servant lives to God’s greater glory.

Grace and Peace,

Pastor Ron

WHEN I GET A LITTLE OFF COURSE….

Of the path God has called me on as a Minister of Word and Sacrament – A PASTOR – God has a way of bringing me back. And such was the case during the very busy weeks of Advent and Christmas. During my after-Christmas vacation I had in hand a book to read by Eugene Peterson “The Pastor.” God used the words of this book to remind me once again of the absolute privilege and joy in being a pastor. I was reminded that it has a great deal to do with how you “see” the congregation God has entrusted to your care. The words of Pastor Irene, quoted by Dr. Peterson, were especially meaningful….

“I want to be a patient pastor. I want to have ears to hear and eyes to see what God is doing and saying in their lives. I don’t want to judge them in terms of what I think they should be doing. I want to be a witness to what God is doing in their lives, not a schoolmistress handing out grades for how well they are doing something for God. I don’t want to conceive of my life as a pastor so functionally that the mystery gets squeezed out of both me and the congregation.”

To be such a pastor in the days ahead that God grants to me is my prayer.

Pastor Ron

“It is by seeing the cross…

“It is by seeing the cross and the community beneath it that men and women come to believe in God.”                  Dietrich Bonhoeffer

These past few weeks I have been intrigued as I have listened to recorded debates between some well-known atheists/agnostics and Christian believers. The late Christopher Hitchens and Professor Bart Ehrman (UNC-Chapel Hill) atheist and agnostic respectively. The responses I heard to them from scholars who are Christian believers were impressive. Yet I am convinced that ultimately that which directs a heart toward God is the astounding sacrificial love shown in the Cross of Jesus Christ and those who seek to live in that love as a self-sacrificing community. Words indeed have their place yet finally it is the evidence of our lives that counts.

Grace and Peace,

Pastor Ron

Charles W. Colson 1931-2012

“One of the most wonderful things about being a Christian is that I don’t ever get up in the morning and wonder if what I do matters. I live every day to the fullest because I can live it through Christ and I know no matter what I do today, I’m going to do something to advance the Kingdom of God.”        

                                                                                                                   – Charles Colson

Our ARPC family remembers with gratitude the life of Charles W. Colson. Mr. Colson, known for his role in the 1972 Watergate scandal and subsequent imprisonment, gave his life to Jesus Christ while in prison. He founded Prison Fellowship International, one of the world’s largest outreaches to prisoners and their families. Winner of the Templeton Prize for progress in religion, he devoted his life to serving Jesus Christ with evangelistic passion and razor-like acuity.

Saturday, January 28th….

 “PRESBYTERIANS LAUNCH NEW DENOMINATION”….

 So read an article in The Charlotte Observer. With over 40,000 Christian denominations in existence, hardly anyone thinks we need yet another one. My understanding is that even the folks whom this article is about do not want one! However, many of these folks and many elsewhere do see the need of new ways of being the church. Actually the leadership of this “new denomination” refer to the work of God in their midst as a “movement” and not so much a new denomination. It is a movement as they say…. “that will produce flourishing congregations that make disciples of Jesus Christ.”

     I personally applaud this goal and hope and pray for the best for this new movement and may we all earnestly ask what new ways we can best serve God in our day.

                               God of Grace and God of glory,

                                  on Thy people pour Thy power!

                                                        Pastor Ron

No Sweeter Words for Me….

 …than the ones spoken by three-year-old Addison when she asked her grandmother:

             “Where is Mr. Ron that watered the babies?”

 Addisonwas remembering the Sunday I baptized her brother and sister, Grayson and Reese. She asked her grandmother this question on World Communion when we had two other congregations and a number of other preachers up front. She couldn’t see me and she missed me! Such words keep me going, and to the Lord who holds such little ones especially close, I give thanks!

 Pastor Ron – who watered the babies!