Month: September 2023

Recently I overheard someone, speaking of a younger person who was no longer active in church, remark that it was especially striking given how blessed this individual was.  I immediately thought of Deuteronomy 8 in which Moses told the children of the original children that they were about to go into the land filled with milk and honey, the land that God, by Himself, delivered into their hands.  They were going to get rich (fat and happy); and unless they remembered to thank Him, they would begin to believe they had earned all of this blessing by the sweat of their own brow and they would forget the very God Who gifted it to them.  It’s the same principle that Abraham Lincoln cited when he made his Thanksgiving Proclamation.  It’s the reason why Scripture tells us over and over to be thankful – NOTHING we have, or even are, is because of us!  But the minute we forget, Satan whispers in our ears…..

It’s more than a mealtime ritual or an annual holiday, it’s an acknowledgement that every perfect gift comes down from above and that without Him we can do nothing!

Pastor Scott

1 Thessalonians 5:18

Give thanks in all circumstances; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you.

Psalm 100:4

Enter his gates with thanksgiving, and his courts with praise! Give thanks to him; bless his name!

Ephesians 5:20

Giving thanks always and for everything to God the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ,

Colossians 4:2

Continue steadfastly in prayer, being watchful in it with thanksgiving.

Philippians 4:6

Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God.

Colossians 3:15

And let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, to which indeed you were called in one body. And be thankful.

Psalm 106:1

Praise the Lord! Oh give thanks to the Lord, for he is good, for his steadfast love endures forever!

Colossians 3:17

And whatever you do, in word or deed, do everything in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him.

Psalm 107:1

Oh give thanks to the Lord, for he is good, for his steadfast love endures forever!

1 Chronicles 16:34

Oh give thanks to the Lord, for he is good; for his steadfast love endures forever!

Colossians 3:15-17

And let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, to which indeed you were called in one body. And be thankful. Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly, teaching and admonishing one another in all wisdom, singing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, with thankfulness in your hearts to God. And whatever you do, in word or deed, do everything in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him.

1 Thessalonians 5:16-18

Rejoice always, pray without ceasing, give thanks in all circumstances; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you.

Psalm 69:30

I will praise the name of God with a song; I will magnify him with thanksgiving.

Psalm 28:7

The Lord is my strength and my shield; in him my heart trusts, and I am helped; my heart exults, and with my song I give thanks to him.

James 1:17

Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights with whom there is no variation or shadow due to change.

1 Corinthians 15:57

But thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.

1 Corinthians 1:4

I give thanks to my God always for you because of the grace of God that was given you in Christ Jesus,

Psalm 7:17

I will give to the Lord the thanks due to his righteousness, and I will sing praise to the name of the Lord, the Most High.

1 Thessalonians 1:2

We give thanks to God always for all of you, constantly mentioning you in our prayers,

Philippians 4:6-7

Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.

When I get gas these days, I just wave or tap my credit card at the pump to pay for it.  Yesterday I saw a commercial for a machine that reads your palm to receive payment.  I see the videos of AI robots doing amazing things, or of the World Economic Forum making its global pronouncements.   It’s very easy to believe that the age of the anti-Christ is being ushered in.   As a pre-triber I’m not too concerned about those 7 years, but the birth pangs could get rough; and NOBODY but the Father knows the “when.”

The Apostle Peter in the first of his two letters clearly believed the age was coming to an end sooner rather than later.  He doesn’t tell us to run for the hills,* or stockpile food and weapons.  He tells us to pray.  To love each other.  To take care of each other.  And to keep using our gifts to glorify God!  (1 Peter 4:7-12)

Of course, he wrote that as an old man.  The younger Peter grabbed a sword!  And many of us feel the need, in light of these changing times, to channel our inner warrior (or worrier).  David the Warrior King wrote many of the Psalms during turbulent times.  Let’s look specifically at Psalm 46.

The Earth Roaring.  

Mountains Crashing into the Sea.  

Streams Overflowing their banks.  

Nations of Heathen raging!  

Neither Joshua’s sword, nor David’s sling, nor your 12 gauge will stand a chance against earthquakes, floods and heathen hordes…  but God’s got you, too!
He makes wars to cease to the end of the earth;
He breaks the bow and cuts the spear in two; (an M-4 wouldn’t give Him a problem)
He burns the chariots with fire.  (and the tanks and the fighter jets…)
“Cease striving (stand at ease)  and know that I am God;
I will be exalted among the nations, I will be exalted in the earth.” 

Psalm 46:9-10 Emphasis Added

*Yes, in the Olivet Discourse (Matthew 24-25) Jesus says to flee for the hills; but that is when you see the Abomination of Desolation (24:15-16); which is the desecration of the Temple that happens at the midpoint of the Tribulation.  I believe that He knows He is talking to the Nation of Israel that will go through the Tribulation.

On Sunday I introduced Adam Weeks as our Worship Pastor starting October 1.  Some of you may remember when we brought our last guy on, Dr. Stolberg, in ’07 that he candidated and was voted upon by the whole congregation.  Below is the germane content of two emails to the music committee and church board, that, I think, explains well what Gary Rogers (Board Chairman) and I are thinking. ~Pastor Scott

As we weren’t getting many nibbles, Gary went hunting.  Adam Weeks is the Website/Marketing guy for Calvary and 2019 grad with a double major in Biblical Counseling and Musical/Theater Arts.  (For those of you with long memories, he’s a year or two older than Troy was when he came). He comes highly recommended from Tom Stolberg.  He is a PK from Hays, KS.  He plays the piano and cello but has picked up lots of instruments to play in various groups at Calvary.  He majored in Biblical Counseling because he developed a heart for discipleship as he worked with music and theater groups.  He has a strong singing voice as well.

Our by-laws describe three different hiring processes.   1) Hiring a new senior is a big fat hairy deal 🙂 2) Hiring other “Pastors” involves the Senior Pastor (me) screening; essentially “nominating;” then board approval, followed by congregational approval. 3) Hiring other Staff is on me.  So, I offered Adam the opportunity to come aboard as a “staff hire” of a music interim for a period not to exceed six months.  By the end of March, we will either be resuming our search or voting on him.   

Gary writes: “Yes, I’ve seen him in action both as a worker and musically. I have been very impressed with his heart and work ethic. Several Calvary music students seek him out to be part of their small group performances since he does so well. I highly respect the young man. After praying a lot, I decided to approach him, not expecting interest, but he prayed about it and wanted to proceed with the possibility.”

Email Exchange

Nobody Has Out-sinned the Grace of God 

By Kenneth Yates on Sep 07, 2023 09:30 am

Manasseh, one of the kings of Judah, was not a good man. He brought a great deal of grief upon his people. He ruled for 55 years and is described by the author of 2 Kings as the evilest king in the nation’s history (2 Kgs 21:1-16).

When God gave the Jews the Promised Land, He drove out the nations that were in it because of their sin. Manasseh did all that those pagan nations had done—and even worse. He rebuilt places for worshiping idols throughout the land of Judah. He promoted the worship of Baal and even instituted the worship of the stars and planets. God’s temple in Jerusalem was turned into a place of idol worship as well.

Manasseh even sacrificed one of his sons to an idol. He did not rely on the Word of God for guidance but turned to witchcraft and sought out the advice of the spirits of dead people. The author of 2 Kings says that Manasseh shed a great deal of innocent blood. We are not given specifics, but this probably means that he took advantage of the weak and powerless. He probably persecuted and killed the prophets of God. A Jewish legend says that he was the one who killed Isaiah by sawing him in two.

Israel, Judah’s Jewish sister-nation to the north, was defeated by its enemies and taken into captivity. Even though Manasseh had the advantage of knowing what happened to the Israelites because of their disobedience, he did not learn from them. When He gave the land to His people, God had removed the nations from Canaan because of their sin; He had removed Israel for the same reason. Manasseh committed worse sins and was clearly deserving of God’s wrath. To make matters worse, in his role as the king he set an example for his people. He caused the nation as a whole to rebel against the Lord and led its people to be deserving of God’s wrath. As a result, God declared that He would drive all of them out of the Promised Land and that they would experience great calamity at the hands of their enemies.

It would be difficult to find a more loathsome individual in the pages of the OT. After fifty years, Manasseh had plunged his people into a pit of destruction. Many men, women, and children would lose their lives as a result of his actions and the evil example he set.

The author of 2 Kings does not give all the details of Manasseh’s life, but the author of 2 Chronicles fills in some of those details. Towards the end of his life, God disciplined him because of his many sins, using the king of Assyria to do so. Assyria took Manasseh away as a prisoner, bound with chains. That is to be expected; Manasseh deserved what happened to him because of his sins (2 Chron 33:10-11). The reader would be tempted to say, “I hope he dies in prison.” He was an evil, murdering, idolater who led many others to destructive behavior and death.

But then something amazing happened. Second Chronicles records how, in his chains, Manasseh called out to God and humbled himself before Him. He prayed to God, and God heard him. The Lord brought him back to Jerusalem and placed him back on the throne. He ended his reign in Jerusalem on a high note. He removed the idols he had placed in Judah and in the temple of God. He made sacrifices to the Lord, thanking Him for His grace and mercy (2 Chron 33:15-16).

Obviously, Manasseh shows us that anybody, and I mean anybody, can be a recipient of the grace of God. Any unbeliever—no matter what he has done—can believe in Christ and receive eternal life. Any believer—no matter what sins he has committed—can confess his sins, find forgiveness, and have fellowship with the Lord. I had a teacher in seminary who summarized these facts nicely: Nobody has ever out-sinned the grace of God.

But there is another lesson here. The author of 2 Chronicles gives us one other piece of information about the life of Manasseh. Even though he called upon the Lord and found forgiveness, his fifty years of evil had devastating consequences on his country. At the end of his life, he served the Lord. But we are told that the people did not follow his example. They would continue in the evil practices that Manasseh modeled for fifty years. This would lead to the whole nation’s being taken captive in the near future.

Fifty years of evil also impacted Manasseh’s family. His son, Amon, took the throne when Manasseh died. For most of his life, Amon had seen the depravity of his father. We are told that he was an evil king himself, just like his father (2 Kgs 21:20).

What is the lesson? Even though anybody can experience the mercy and grace of the Lord, the consequences of our sins still remain. The forgiveness of sins is available to us. But this is not a license to sin. How much better off would the people of Judah and the family of Manasseh family have been if he hadn’t lived such an evil life for fifty years?

If memory serves, every time I’ve sought permission to repost blogs GES sends me they say, no permission needed. I sure hope I’m remembering right. I don’t want to presume on grace! Pastor Scott

As I’m preparing to preach the final message on “The Church,” I was reviewing the Pastoral Epistles and was struck again by the fact that the focus is less on how to “do church” and more about “who does church.”  I found a phrase going through my head that I learned very early in ministry “Being comes before doing.”  There was no way to write down what a church was going to look like across the world for 2000 years, but we know the type of people that need to run a godly church.   All that said, I typed my little catch phrase into Google and found an article written for Impact ministries by Ken Adams in 2017.  I think it captures the meaning of the phrase well.  Blessings, Pastor Scott

Before God ever wants you to “do” something for Him he wants you to “be” something with Him!

When Jesus came to fulfill His mission of making disciples, He knew He needed to start by teaching a handful of people what it means to be a disciple. Once Jesus made some disciples they could, in turn, build more disciples. Jesus understood that being always leads to building.

Being a disciple is best explained in what is referred to as the Great Commandment. In Matthew 22:37-39 Jesus says, “Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it: Love your neighbor as yourself.”

The Great Commandment is all about being in right relationships. The first goal of a disciple is not doing; it is being rightly related to God, to yourself, and to others. When you are being rightly related to God, self, and others, you will naturally help others to experience the same thing. Doing comes out of the overflow of being!

A question well worth asking is this: Are you being the disciple Christ wants you to be? Are you being rightly related to God? Are you being rightly related to you? Are you being rightly related to the other people around you?

I’ve known plenty of Christians who are so busy doing for God that miss out on being with God. If you suddenly stopped all of the stuff you do for God, what would happen? How would you feel? Would you feel like you were missing something or would you still be fulfilled?

Over the years I have come to understand being a disciple as having a right relationship with God, with myself, with my family, with other believers, and with the world around me. For me, being a disciple is all relational. When any of these significant relationships in my life are not right, I know I am not being the disciple that Christ has called me to be.