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After Adam and Eve sinned… “they heard the sound of the LORD God walking in the garden in the cool of the day, and the man and his wife hid themselves from the presence of the LORD God among the trees of the garden.” Genesis 3:8

When Moses met God at the burning bush, God said, “Do not come near; take your sandals off your feet, for the place on which you are standing is holy ground.” Exodus 3:5

When Isaiah met God in the Temple he said, “Woe is me! For I am lost; for I am a man of unclean lips, and I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips; for my eyes have seen the King, the LORD of hosts!’ Isaiah 6:5

When Paul met the Lord on the road to Damascus, he was struck blind.  “Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting me.” Acts 9:4

Have we domesticated God? Have we pulled his teeth and removed his claws? Is our God a tame, small, controllable God?

When prophets saw angels, God’s messengers, they dropped to their knees and fell on their faces intending to worship.  And those angels veil their faces and cover their feet in the presence of God.

God is greater than we can conceive; he is holy, holy, holy. And he is worthy of our astonished reverence, and heartfelt adoration in worship.

“Worthy are you, our Lord and God, to receive glory and honor and power, for you created all things, and by your will they existed and were created.” Revelation 4:11

“Worthy is the Lamb who was slain, to receive power and wealth and wisdom and might and honor and glory and blessing.” Revelation 5:12

And this awesome and majestic God is now our savior and friend. 

Think on that when you come to worship.

Hebrews 12:28-29  Therefore let us be grateful for receiving a kingdom that cannot be shaken, and thus let us offer to God acceptable worship, with reverence and awe, for our God is a consuming fire.

Too often I have twisted the key in my car’s ignition only to hear the familiar grind of a dead battery. It usually happens on a busy Monday. The battery may be revived. It simply needs to be recharged. But a battery that is unable to start the car is a dead battery.

Faith is dead when it does not work. It is a dead faith. “… faith by itself, if it does not have works, is dead” James 2:17.  The example used in James 2 is extending mercy to a fellow Christian in need – giving them needed food and clothing. A true and maturing faith expresses itself in practical love to others in the family of God. In the church fellowship, faith finds expression in mutual acts of genuine kindness that multiply exponentially. The love of God in Christ, flowing through our veins, produces sincere love for the brethren that is noticeable. That is the tangible work of faith.

These works of love take many forms. In general, they mean scratching where others itch. Some people need encouragement, others prayer. Some sisters need advice, others a shoulder to cry on. Some brothers need money, others need rebuke. Some need help, others simply a smile. Everyone needs to be known, noticed, and nurtured in some way. Yes, but, how can I tell what others really need?  You must know them. You need to invest in them, talk to them, have them over for lunch. You take a real interest in them. You enter into their lives and begin to actively love them.  

Faith so settles and stabilizes us that we can give ourselves away in the works of love- the true expression of faith. “Having purified your souls by your obedience to the truth for a sincere brotherly love, love one another earnestly from a pure heart” (1 Peter 1:22).“By this we know love, that he laid down his life for us, and we ought to lay down our lives for the brothers” (1 John 3:16). The love that comes to us from God in Christ also percolates through us and is poured into the lives of others.

True Christianity makes us great lovers of all mankind. Having received everything freely and fully in Christ, we can give ourselves away in love to all mankind, especially to the household of faith (“As we have opportunity, let us do good to everyone, and especially to those who are of the household of faith” Galatians 6:10).  That is the true Christian expression of a living faith – it works in love.

At times, our battery of faith can lose its power to serve. We can burn out in service, or we can be burned in acts of kindness. The battery of faith needs to be recharged. How does that happen? You plug yourself into the fellowship of those who have living faith. You re-engage in communion of the saints. You worship, you speak to God’s people, you are renewed in the presence of others with living faith. So, ladies and gentleman – start your engines!!

Movie on 12-1-22 at 11.07 AM

I received a note from a friend from seminary this week.  “There is no hope for us now.”  I responded, “The Word and Promises of Christ never fail. Therefore hope never dies. Courage brother, the best it yet to come.” He replied, “Amen! ‘Though the wrong seems oft so strong, HE is the ruler yet!.  “Sing it brother! Then believe and rest in it. I am trying to myself.

I have another friend from seminary who was recently diagnosed with a rare and aggressive form of cancer.  She has a Caring Bridge site and she writes frequently and honestly in it.  Here is a sample, “Having a rare form of nasty cancer, knowing what’s coming in some ways and living also with the mysterious unknown future….or not…has radically changed how I think.”

“While being terrified of that unknown, I keep coming back to what really matters in life. Love. Love is what matters. Not being “right.” I’ve had to drop my own weapons that I had toward a few people that have hurt and harmed me. I’ve needed to see people better in light of their sufferings….my paraphrase of a Bonhoeffer quote….and forgive generously.”

“At the end of my life (whenever that is), when it’s all said and done, what do I want to be most known/remembered about me? I want for people to be able to look at my life and say “Hey that Jesus guy seems pretty great. I’d like to know more about him.””

It is such and encouragement to me to see my brothers and sisters fighting depression and despair in a fallen world with faith. Knowing Christ, and resting in the gospel at the most difficult times it possible.  

No matter what life throws at us, we can overcome through the love of God in Christ.

Are you tempted to despair? Are you tottering on depression? Romans 8:37, “No, in all these things we are more than conquerers through him who loved us.”  Men, women, to arms!! Victory is assured.

All Session members with the exception of Bryan McReynolds, were present along with guests Millie Moore, Carla Wooten, Phil Motes, and Randy Waters.    We prayed specifically for seven of our church families.  We also shared and prayed for concerns known to each of us as shepherding elders.  We heard reports from the pastor about families that have recently attended and been contacted by him and others.   The Veritas Christian school has agreed to again use our facilities on Thursday during the school year.  The Trellis team reported that our June financials closed with a $8,700 deficit, leaving us $11,900 below budget for the year.  Continue to pray for wisdom as the Session deals with this issue.    About 20 people are regularly attending the bi-weekly Wednesday evening “Your Questions, God’s Answers” dinner and study, and the Sunday evening prayer service and fellowship time.  These efforts have been well received and all are encouraged to participate.  We will begin a new family-oriented Sunday school class in the fall with John Etheridge as teacher, a great opportunity for those that prefer this style of learning.  We were encouraged by Paul and Robina Wolff’s recent visit and report about their mission work that we have supported for decades.   Remember to sign up to adopt one of our missionaries, a huge blessing.  The church growth team effort to reach out to new residents in our local neighborhood has produced hundreds of contacts that are being sent follow up materials.  The fellowship team has planned a church wide luncheon for July 31.  Come to meet and enjoy time with your brothers and sisters in the Lord and hear an update about future church plans.  The ladies recent “Meet and Eat” luncheon was well attended and enjoyed by all.  The matter we have before Savannah River Presbytery was not resolved at their July meeting, so it is still pending and continues to need our prayers.  There are many activities and plans in process to minister well to the members of Westminster and our community.  Please pray for God’s blessings, and consider how you might use your own spiritual gifts to help.  

The Gospel is necessary because of the reality of our estrangement from God. Why are we estranged from God? Why is there a relational chasm between us and our Creator? 

God is pure. We are sinners. It is that simple. 

God is holy, righteous, and good and he cannot tolerate our corruption, rebellion, sin, and death. 

Life, forgiveness, and acceptance is freely offered to us through the reconciling work of Jesus Christ. He represented fallen man and satisfied God’s holy anger and met the claims of his justice. Praise the Lord! 

God has provided His own Advocate for us. God has reconciled us to Himself! This is why Jesus is the Gospel, and why Christians are in love with Him.  Believers have the freedom that comes from knowing that God no longer holds our sin against us. 

If this believe this, this table is for you. Come, and welcome to Jesus Christ. If you do not believe this, you should. But this table is designed for the comfort and encouragement of believers. If you do not believe, this table holds no charms for you. Repent and believe the gospel. Trust in Jesus Christ for your salvation. And tell the church. Then, you will be welcome to this table of grace.

Your present and future session meet this week to follow God in the business of the church.  We had three members present and participating in the meeting.  A policy on when to receive covenant children to the communion table was approved and is available in the foyer. Seven inactive former members were removed from our membership rolls. We approved a budget for the coming year that was $16,500 less than the already reduced Deacons and the Trellis Team proposed. (Each Team reduced their budget except for the Church Growth Team, which is a new expense, and the Discipleship Team which added the expense of the Walk Thru the Bible Seminar). We spent about $35,000 more than we received last year.  Our current financial reserves are about $85,000. We have had some members retire and others transfer and this has an impact on our budget expectations. The monthly overpayment of our mortgage was stopped, General Assembly expenses were cut by $1000, and Pastor’s discretionary budget was cut by $500, and the rent from the classical schools that utilize our building was raised.  We will also continue to receive special designated giving for Debt reduction, Missions, and Mercy. We thank God for the faithful giving of our congregation. An opportunity to assist with the Afghan Resettlement was proposed by the Mission Team and will be presented to the congregation. The Fellowship Team announced some upcoming events: Easter Sunrise service and breakfast on April 17, Prime-timers Lake Day and Lunch at the Nielsen’s home on May 1o, and a church Picnic on May 21. A Welcome to Martinez welcome card with an invitation to our church will be sent to approximately 250 people each month for a three-month trial.  Pray that this invitation would bear some good fruit. A hospitality initiative was discussed – more information to come. An idea for a new church sign was floated and discussed. The Creative Team proposed an Art Show/Craft Fair at WPC for November 11 and 12. This was approved and the details will be worked out. We thanked the two elders who are rotating off for their service and also the two elders who may be voted in this week. We prayed for several needs of the church, both current and former members.

Christian social philosophers …  surveyed about three thousand teenagers asking what they believed about God. What they found is that teenagers were basically believing that there is a God and all he wants for us is to be happy and nice. You don’t need God unless anything infringes on one of those two goals. As long as you’re pursuing happiness and niceness, you’re going to go to heaven. Other than that, you don’t really need the Lord.

That philosophy of moralistic therapeutic deism evolved into this sort of believe-in-yourself-ism. The message became: You’re all you need. You don’t need the Lord for anything else as long as he’s helping you to be happy and nice. Everyone can conjure up some happiness and some niceness, so we sort of shelve God and decide we don’t really need him. We just need to believe in ourselves, to invent who we are and what we want to do, and we need to just go for it.

They are looking to God as a “pie in the sky,” thinking he exists just to make us healthy and wealthy. We may think, Because I’m a Christian, things are going to go well for me. I shouldn’t expect too much hardship or to endure too much suffering because God wants me to be happy, to believe in myself, to be nice, and to be good.

A False Gospel

This kind of gospel is not the gospel at all. This is actually a false gospel and it has really infiltrated our churches. It tells
you to believe in yourself rather than to turn your gaze upon our almighty God.

We’re looking inward, constantly self-reflecting about our gifts, skills, and abilities and thinking, What can I do? What can I make? What impact can I have? Instead, we should be asking, Who is God? Who is our good, true, and beautiful God? What is his character like?We are constantly looking at our own behavior in a legalistic way thinking, I’m going to act one way and do this so that I can produce that, rather than beholding the Lord our God.

The almighty God of the universe created you and me, and he made us for a purpose. When we neglect that just to be happy, nice Christians, we ignore the greatest truth of all time—the most beautiful, the biggest, and most profound truth that’s available to you and me as (the people) of God.

Jen Oshman

For we know in part and we prophesy in part, but when the perfect comes, the partial will pass away. When I was a child, I spoke like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child. When I became a man, I gave up childish ways. For now we see in a mirror dimly, but then face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I have been fully known (1 Corinthians 13:9-12).

The best is yet to come. Our knowledge of God, while true, is incomplete. While we grow in knowing God, bit by bit, sermon by sermon, scripture by scripture; we do not know perfectly.  But one day our partial limitation will pass away.

Our maturing in Christ admits of degrees. We are to grow in our knowledge and fear of God. 2 Peter 3:18, “grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. To him be the glory both now and to the day of eternity. Amen.”  We grow from an infant to a child, to a young adult, to a mature adult – but we never reach perfection in this life.

Now we see in a glass, darkly.  Picture a wavy, uneven piece of sheet metal, and use that as a mirror.  Unclear, distorted – a true image, but a less than perfect image.  That is how we see God, that is how we know Him here.  But then, we shall see face to face.  We shall see him clearly, as He is.  This is called the Beatific Vision; seeing God as He really is; knowing Him even as we are known – in perfection.

One theologian put it this way, “To become one with God in face-to-face encounter is to receive a drenching in the diving toe that nurtures unqualified loving reciprocity.” Anthony Thiselton, p. 233. Or as the Apostle John puts it, “We know that when Christ appears we shall be like him, because we shall see him as he is (1 John 3:3).

When this perfect knowledge comes, when the revelation of our God shall be complete; partial knowledge and incomplete prophecy shall pass away in the full experience of who God is – we shall be awash in the being and character of God, deluged in the love of God.  That is what v 8 and 13 proclaims “Love never ends. As for prophecies, they will pass away; as for tongues, they will cease; as for knowledge, it will pass away…. So now faith, hope, and love abide, these three; but the greatest of these is love.”

This table points us to that reality. The love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord. If you know the love of God, truly, but only partially, come to this table for greater knowledge and experience of his love and grace – knowing that the best is yet to come. Knowledge of the full depth of the Love and character of God.

If you do not know the love of God, even in part; if you do not trust him, nor have faith in God; do not come to this table.

If you come, come to experience more of the love of God, knowing full well, that the best is yet to come, when you see God face to face.