Treasure Hunting

So have you started your Christmas shopping yet? Friday was the largest shopping day of the year for retailers and has earned the title “Black Friday.” The police department in Philadelphia is credited with coining the term due to the heavy traffic jams in the city on this busy shopping day. For online retailers, the Monday after Thanksgiving is known as “Cyber Monday” and is usually the peak of their virtual traffic. So what drives all of this frantic activity? It is the desire to obtain the perfect gifts for family and friends, and to do so at a bargain!

Sometimes we miss some special gifts tucked into God’s Word. They are hidden to us because the culture of the Bible is foreign to us and the original languages of the Bible are quite different than English. It takes a little extra effort to find treasures that are perfect for our lives. Tonight we will continue our treasure hunt as we seek to find some hidden treasures from God’s Word. We will step deep into that which is beneath the surface to find nuggets of truth. So join us tonight at six; it will be more fun than Christmas shopping!

Living out of a suitcase

For most of the week just past I have been staying in a hotel and I have been living out of a suitcase. I am glad to being back in Charleston, in my own home, sleeping in my own bed, and today to be back with you. But there is something one can learn from living out of a suitcase. I am (for a brief time anyway) able to live quite well with only a limited amount of stuff, and even at that I usually pack more stuff than I really need. But maybe I am not the only one who is a little “over packed.”

In 1 Peter 2:11 the apostle Peter appealed for believers to live a life of purity because believers are “Pilgrims” or travelers in this world. In essence, this side of heaven, we are all “living out of a suitcase.” Our real home is with our Lord --our present location is only temporary. But during this trip we often overload ourselves with baggage we were never meant to carry. Our God really wants us to travel light by casting our burdens of worry and care on him (1 Peter 5:7). As we look at another portion of God’s Word that provides for us some amazing reasons to trust God, I hope you will leave with a little less baggage today. It is my prayer that God will cause you to trust Him more today. Will join me in praying that God will help us all do a little unpacking?

Additional Helps for Fathers

Here are the books I mentioned in my Father's Day sermon. Any or all would be a blessing to you and your family.

Flag Day

June 14 is Flag Day, while not an official Federal Holiday it does commemorate the day in 1777 that congress adopted the United States Flag. In 1916, President Woodrow Wilson issued a proclamation that officially established June 14 as Flag Day and in August 1949, National Flag Day was established by an Act of Congress. The week of June 14 is designated as "National Flag Week." During National Flag Week, the president typically issues a proclamation urging U.S. citizens to fly the American flag for the duration of that week. I never tire of seeing the Stars and Stripes flying and so appreciate all that our Flag represents of our great nation.

Psalm 60:4 tells us that God has given us a Banner (flag) of truth. It is our allegiance to the truth that should be on public display before an often skeptical world. You have taken one step today to let your banner fly, you have come to hear God’s Word proclaimed, and for that I thank you. We must also live out God’s truth the other six days of the week.

So get your flags flying.

Jesse Waggoner

Feeling Small

When we express size we often use comparisons to do so. Expressions such as "big as a whale", "small as an ant", or "the size of a breadbox" all communicate size. But if we can make it a little more personal, what comparisons do we use to determine our size? If you have stared at an amoeba through a microscope you no doubt felt quite huge; while peering into the Grand Canyon or viewing the ocean will make you feel quite small. Such experiences tend to put us back into our place.

The Psalmist David describes such an experience in Psalm 8. The thing that made him feel small was considering the extent of God's creation. He wrote: "When I consider the heavens, the work of Thy fingers, the moon and the stars, which Thou hast ordained: What is man, that Thou are mindful of him?"

When was the last time you felt small in the presence of God? Perhaps this summer would be a great time to seek out some place to experience the awesomeness of God's creation. So pack your lunch and your Bible and head out to be impressed with who God is and what He has done. Seek to reach that point of feeling small, and while you are in that reduced condition, offer words of praise for His immeasurable grace.

Jesse Waggoner

Rewards

Webster says that a reward is something given in return for good or for service or merit. In our lives we are motivated by rewards. The most obvious is the paycheck we receive for work. There are three major kinds of employee payment. The first is a salary. This is a fixed payment at regular intervals for work performed. The second is hourly, whereby a person is paid a fixed rate per hour worked. A third is piece work where payment is made strictly on the basis of production.

In I Corinthians 3:8-9 God tells us that -"every man shall receive his own reward according to his own labor. For we are laborers together with God:" It seems as if God's rewards are most like piece work. I This labor is not to get us to heaven but is the product of a life transformed by God's grace as one labors because he is on his way to heaven ( see Ephesians 2:8-10).

It is worth thinking about what rewards may await us at God's throne. All of us who are part of God's family are to be involved in the service of our Lord. Remember His Word to us --"And, behold, I come quickly; and my reward is with me, to give every man according as his work shall be." Rev. 22:12

Jesse Waggoner

The Easter Sermon of John Chrysostom Pastor of Constantinople (~400 AD)

Is there anyone who is a devout lover of God?
Let them enjoy this beautiful bright festival!
Is there anyone who is a grateful servant?
Let them rejoice and enter into the joy of their Lord!

Are there any weary with fasting?
Let them now receive their wages!
If any have toiled from the first hour,
let them receive their due reward;
If any have come after the third hour,
let him with gratitude join in the Feast!
And he that arrived after the sixth hour,
let him not doubt; for he too shall sustain no loss.
And if any delayed until the ninth hour,
let him not hesitate; but let him come too.
And he who arrived only at the eleventh hour,
let him not be afraid by reason of his delay.

For the Lord is gracious and receives the last even as the first.
He gives rest to him that comes at the eleventh hour,
as well as to him that toiled from the first.
To this one He gives, and upon another He bestows.
He accepts the works as He greets the endeavor.
The deed He honors and the intention He commends.

Let us all enter into the joy of the Lord!
First and last alike receive your reward;
rich and poor, rejoice together!
Sober and slothful, celebrate the day!

You that have kept the fast, and you that have not,
rejoice today for the Table is richly laden!
Feast royally on it, the calf is a fatted one.
Let no one go away hungry. Partake, all, of the cup of faith.
Enjoy all the riches of His goodness!

Let no one grieve at his poverty,
for the universal kingdom has been revealed.
Let no one mourn that he has fallen again and again;
for forgiveness has risen from the grave.
Let no one fear death, for the Death of our Savior has set us free.
He has destroyed it by enduring it.

He destroyed Hades when He descended into it.
He put it into an uproar even as it tasted of His flesh.
Isaiah foretold this when he said,
"You, O Hell, have been troubled by encountering Him below."

Hell was in an uproar because it was done away with.
It was in an uproar because it is mocked.
It was in an uproar, for it is destroyed.
It is in an uproar, for it is annihilated.
It is in an uproar, for it is now made captive.
Hell took a body, and discovered God.
It took earth, and encountered Heaven.
It took what it saw, and was overcome by what it did not see.
O death, where is thy sting?
O Hades, where is thy victory?

Christ is Risen, and you, o death, are annihilated!
Christ is Risen, and the evil ones are cast down!
Christ is Risen, and the angels rejoice!
Christ is Risen, and life is liberated!
Christ is Risen, and the tomb is emptied of its dead;
for Christ having risen from the dead,
is become the first-fruits of those who have fallen asleep.

To Him be Glory and Power forever and ever. Amen!