The people who walk in darkness
Will see a great light;
Those who live in a dark land,
The light will shine on them.
You shall multiply the nation,
You shall increase their gladness;
They will be glad in Your presence
As with the gladness of harvest,
As men rejoice when they divide the spoil.
 For You shall break the yoke of their burden and the staff on their shoulders,
The rod of their oppressor, as at the battle of Midian.
 For every boot of the booted warrior in the battle tumult,
And cloak rolled in blood, will be for burning, fuel for the fire.
For a child will be born to us, a son will be given to us;
And the government will rest on His shoulders;
And His name will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God,
Eternal Father, Prince of Peace.
There will be no end to the increase of His government or of peace,
On the throne of David and over his kingdom,
To establish it and to uphold it with justice and righteousness
From then on and forevermore.
The zeal of the Lord of hosts will accomplish this.

Below is an article explaining “literal” meaning vs. “popular” meaning.  I have been, fruitlessly, trying to defend the literal (denotative) meaning of the word “relational” and this blog is serving notice of my surrender. 

When we are Born Again (“Justified,” “adopted,” “sealed by the Holy Spirit onto the day of Redemption,” etc) we become children of God.  That is our Relationship with Him.   He is our Father, we are His kids.  We are powerless to change that “Relationship!”

We, however, can grow distant. As we step out of the light, as we walk outside of Fellowship we grow distant from our Father.  He is still our Father!  But we are out of “Fellowship” and we need to return to the light (1 John 1:9).  

In my effort to distinguish between the one time forgiveness we experience at the Cross (Ephesians 1:7) and the forgiveness we need to restore Fellowship (1 John 1:9); I used the words “relational forgiveness” vs. “fellowship forgiveness;” but given the connotation of relational, I (and, perhaps, you) found it confusing.   

So upon the recommendation of an Elder, I am going to refer to our permanent forgiveness as “forensic” and our daily debts or tresspasses as “temporal” – at least those two words don’t have overlap; yet.  🙂

Pastor Scott 

Recognizing the denotative and connotative meanings of words can help ensure that you understand exactly what an author is trying to say as well as ensuring that you are saying exactly what you want to say in your own writing.

The denotative meaning is the literal or formal meaning of a word. For instance, the term dog denotes an animal with fur, four legs, and a tail. But when someone calls someone else a dog, this does not mean that the person has four legs and is furry. Instead, the connotative meaning of the word is used, which conjures up ideas based on how it is used in pop-culture or in an overall metaphorical sense. Connotative meanings can be either positive or negative; dog can be a derogatory term meant as an insult, or it can used in a light-hearted way meaning friend.

Unless an author clearly defines how a word or complex term is being used in a reading, both denotative and connotative meanings should be considered. In your own writing, both are acceptable to use, but you must be aware that people may interpret the word differently than you intended if you choose a word that can be read in more than one way.

Because of subtle differences in both denotative and connotative meaning, be very careful when you use a thesaurus as you write. Some of the words listed as synonyms or antonyms cannot be switched out equally. Be sure to use a dictionary to look up the meaning of a word if you are uncertain of what it means in the context of the sentence.

Below are some examples of denotative and connotative meanings of words.

Word	Denotative Meaning	Connotative Meaning
Hot	high temperature; heated	extremely attractive; angry
Cool	low temperature	popular; acceptable
Dead	absent of life and/or animation	unusually quiet setting
Chick	young bird	girl or woman
Crazy	insane; mentally unstable	wild and exciting
Shark	predatory fish	highly skilled

From Website “WordGeeks”

This is the story I read before communion on Sunday (11/5); I cannot find the original, I mostly am finding close variations that are imbedded in published sermons and Christmas/Easter publications.  Might be worth printing and saving for a family dinner or devotion. ~Pastor Scott

“Years ago there was a little one-room schoolhouse in the mountains of Virginia where the boys were so rough that no teacher had been able to handle them.

“A young, inexperienced teacher applied, and the old director scanned him and asked: ‘Young fellow, do you know that you are asking for an awful beating? Every teacher that we have had here for years has had to take one.’

“‘I will risk it,’ he replied.

“The first day of school came, and the teacher appeared for duty. One big fellow named Tom whispered: ‘I won’t need any help with this one. I can lick him myself.’

“The teacher said, ‘Good morning, boys, we have come to conduct school.’ They yelled and made fun at the top of their voices. ‘Now, I want a good school, but I confess that I do not know how unless you help me. Suppose we have a few rules. You tell me, and I will write them on the blackboard.’

“One fellow yelled, ‘No stealing!’ Another yelled, ‘On time.’ Finally, ten rules appeared on the blackboard.

“‘Now,’ said the teacher, ‘a law is not good unless there is a penalty attached. What shall we do with one who breaks the rules?’

“‘Beat him across the back ten times without his coat on,’ came the response from the class.

“‘That is pretty severe, boys. Are you sure that you are ready to stand by it?’ Another yelled, ‘I second the motion,’ and the teacher said, ‘All right, we will live by them! Class, come to order!’

“In a day or so, ‘Big Tom’ found that his lunch had been stolen. The thief was located—a little hungry fellow, about ten years old. ‘We have found the thief and he must be punished according to your rule—ten stripes across the back. Jim, come up here!’ the teacher said.

“The little fellow, trembling, came up slowly with a big coat fastened up to his neck and pleaded, ‘Teacher, you can lick me as hard as you like, but please, don’t take my coat off!’

“‘Take your coat off,’ the teacher said. ‘You helped make the rules!’

“‘Oh, teacher, don’t make me!’ He began to unbutton, and what did the teacher see? The boy had no shirt on, and revealed a bony little crippled body.

“‘How can I whip this child?’ he thought. ‘But I must, I must do something if I am to keep this school.’ Everything was quiet as death.

“‘How come you aren’t wearing a shirt, Jim?’

“He replied, ‘My father died and my mother is very poor. I have only one shirt and she is washing it today, and I wore my brother’s big coat to keep me warm.’

“The teacher, with rod in hand, hesitated. Just then ‘Big Tom’ jumped to his feet and said, ‘Teacher, if you don’t object, I will take Jim’s licking for him.’

“‘Very well, there is a certain law that one can become a substitute for another. Are you all agreed?’

“Off came Tom’s coat, and after five strokes the rod broke! The teacher bowed his head in his hands and thought, ‘How can I finish this awful task?’ Then he heard the class sobbing, and what did he see? Little Jim had reached up and caught Tom with both arms around his neck. ‘Tom, I’m sorry that I stole your lunch, but I was awful hungry. Tom, I will love you till I die for taking my licking for me! Yes, I will love you forever!’”

To lift a phrase from this simple story, Jesus, my Redeemer, has taken “my licking for me” and yours for you.

Declared the prophet Isaiah:

“Surely he hath borne our griefs, and carried our sorrows: …

“… He was wounded for our transgressions, he was bruised for our iniquities: the chastisement of our peace was upon him; and with his stripes we are healed” (Isa. 53:4–5).

Whether you are a basketball fan or not, you are probably familiar with the name Larry Bird – the former basketball great of the Boston Celtics.

During a retirement party for Larry Bird in Boston Garden, former Celtics coach K.C. Jones told of diagramming a play on the sidelines, only to have Bird dismiss it, saying: “Get the ball to me and get everyone out of my way.”

Jones responded, “I’m the coach, and I will call the plays.”  Then Jones turned to the other players and said, “Get the ball to Larry, and get out of his way.”

That should be the church’s message – Give the ball to Jesus, put your life in his hands, and get out of the way.  Too often, I’m afraid, we try to hog the ball.  🙂

Pastor Scott

P.S. Only the last sentences are “mine” the rest came out of a book entitled “1001 Humorous Illustrations”

In Matthew 5, in addition to the Beatitudes, Jesus uses six antitheses to talk about the law in an internalized way.  This past Sunday (10/22) we looked at the 4th and the 5th during the Sunday Sunday sermon; His discussion about oaths and His discussion about retaliation.  I concluded that God calls us to live honest lives of service to others, and I stand by that, but I regret that I left some things unsaid regarding turning the other cheek and its relation to self-defense.

Levitical law* puts a limit on how much a plaintiff can ask for (or take) in a civil case.  “Take” because the Jews in Jesus’ time didn’t have access to courts and the temptation was to take “justice” into their own hands.  Jesus famously said, “You have heard it said, ‘An eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth, But I say to you, do not resist an evil person; but whoever slaps you on your right cheek, turn the other to him also..’”  In a right-handed world, a slap on the right cheek is most likely a back-hand, meaning an insult more than a deadly attack.  So not resisting is putting up with the sting of humiliation rather than the risk of life (as I made it out to be from the pulpit).  On Sunday I was envisioning a life or death encounter and shared one third of my own personal conviction (Romans 14:5b).

1. If someone is threatening my life and I have the ability to “return fire”, it occurs to me that even though I have the right to self defense in the USA and even though the Bible doesn’t prohibit self-defense, both the thrust of the Sermon on the Mount and the logic that I have a guaranteed home in heaven and my enemy might not, is enough to stay my hand.
2. If someone is attacking my family it is MY job to stop them; up to and including deadly force, if absolutely needed.
3. I believe that law enforcement and the military were ordained by God and carry “the sword” to avenge evil  (Romans 13:1-7).  It’s my conviction that a Christian ought to be able to serve in either. 

Conclusion:  “Turn the other cheek” could justifiably apply only to insults and those only of a spiritual nature, all the way through to conscientious objection to all forms of violence.   My personal stand is simply against personal self-defense and that’s not a stand that really gets tested.  I think in my world and yours, “turning the other cheek”  is more about not responding in, or holding bitterness against, those who step on our feelings!  That said, convictions about home defense and about carrying arms in public service ought to be based on Scripture and personal conviction.  Just like eating meat from a pagan market, or which holidays you honor, your conviction is not my concern as long as you are standing rightly before God and mine isn’t yours as long as I’m also square with God!   “Whatever is not from faith, is sin” (Romans 14:23b).

Pastor Scott 

*Leviticus 24:19-21 NASB 1995

“ If a man injures his neighbor, just as he has done, so it shall be done to him:  fracture for fracture, eye for eye, tooth for tooth; just as he has injured a man, so it shall be inflicted on him.  Thus the one who kills an animal shall make it good, but the one who kills a man shall be put to death.”

But I can certainly live each day as if it isn’t! Shame on me, if I do! ~Pastor Scott

On Sunday I preached the third message in a sermon series on the Sermon on the Mount.  We covered the first of Jesus’ six antitheses:

“You have heard that the ancients were told, ‘You shall not commit murder’ and ‘Whoever commits murder shall be liable to the court.’  But I say to you that everyone who is angry with his brother shall be guilty before the court; and whoever says to his brother, ‘You good-for-nothing,’ shall be guilty before the supreme court; and whoever says, ‘You fool,’ shall be guilty enough to go into the fiery hell.” (Matthew 5:21-22)

In the aisle and in the Fellowship Hall, after the service, I was asked about God’s anger, about Christ in overturning tables in the temple, and about us calling people or things foolish, that God calls foolish. 

All good questions; with compound answers.

1. Human (fleshly) anger serves no good purpose.  It hurts us, it destroys our homes, it ruins our testimony, etc.  The verse list is long, but please search “anger” in your favorite Bible program if you aren’t convinced.
2. God’s anger is holy and always directed at sin and sinfulness.
   1. The phrase “righteous indignation” has been coined to represent humans who are angry at sin on God’s behalf.
   2. I’m certain Moses felt righteously indignant when he struck the rock at Meribah that resulted in his dying outside the Promised Land.
   3. I too feel pretty incensed at things like abortion and other flagrant injustice, but do I have the standing to “burn with anger?”
      1. In John 8 Jesus welcomes whoever is without sin to cast the first stone
      2. In Matthew 7 Jesus tells us to first remove the log from our own eye..
      3. Perhaps I had better look at my own heart before I verbally cut out someone else’s!
   4. Paul seems to acknowledge that anger arises outside of our control, but we can control how long it burns (Eph 4:26). 
   5. And James says we don’t have the standing to judge (condemn) anyone as that right is reserved for God alone. (4:11-12)

Please be berean.  Yes, the Bible is full of godly men and women who sometimes get angry.  It is also full of proverbial warnings about the folly of anger;  epistolary warnings about the dangers of anger; and, here we have our Savior saying, it’s no different than murder.  

If Moses wasn’t allowed, then I suspect I’m not allowed either.  I doubt any of us will ever experience the kind of temporal consequences he experienced and praise God Jesus already suffered our eternal consequence! 

Pastor Scott

“Who Himself bore our sins in His own body on the tree, that we, having died to sins, might live for righteousness—by whose stripes you were healed.” (1 Peter 2:24)

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.”

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