The Power of the Word

After his Edmonton Oilers lost the 1983 National Hockey League Championship to the New York Islanders, Wayne Gretzky walked past the Islander locker room.  He did not hear loud celebrations as he expected.  Instead, all the Islanders players were sitting down with ice packs on knees, hips, ankles, and other joints.  They were beaten, bloody, and bruised in their quest to win the championship.  Gretzky recognized that if he and his teammates desired to win a championship their bodies would have to pay the price.  Gretzky and his teammates would go on to win five championships in the next seven years.

One would think that being a child and disciple of the Almighty God would bring a life of comfort, ease, and peace without any troubles or trials.  One would think, but reality is much different.  There is a price to pay for the disciple of Christ who lives in a world that denies and hates Christ.  There are consequences for the child of God who lives out their faith unashamedly.  But though the cost of living for God is high the rewards are eternal.  For the power of the Word of God, namely the Gospel message, has a power to change, mold, encourage, convict, renew, and equip the believer of Jesus Christ into all righteousness.

Join us this week at ElmCreek Community Church as we dig deeper into 2 Timothy 3:10-17 and seek God’s wisdom and guidance as we search out His truth for our lives.

Striving to know Christ and make him known.

Looking Forward in the Midst of the Present

“Chippie the parakeet never saw it coming.  One second he was peacefully perched in his cage.  The next he was sucked in, washed up, and blown over.

“The problems began when Chippie’s owner decided to clean Chippie’s cage with a vacuum cleaner.  She removed the attachment from the end of the hose and stuck it in the cage.  The phone rang, and she turned to pick it up.  She’d barely said ‘hello’ when ‘ssssopp!’ Chippie got sucked in.

“The bird owner gasped, put down the phone, turned off the vacuum, and opened the bag.  There was Chippie – still alive, but stunned.

“Since the bird was covered with dust and soot, she grabbed him and raced to the bathroom, turned on the faucet, and held Chippie under the running water.  Then, realizing that Chippie was soaked and shivering, she did what any compassionate bird owner would do . . . she reached for the hair dryer and blasted the pet with hot air.

“Poor Chippie never knew what hit him.

“A few days after the trauma, the reporter who’d initially written about the event contacted Chippie’s owner to see how the bird was recovering. ‘Well,’ she replied, ‘Chippie doesn’t sing much anymore – he just sits and stares.’

“It’s hard not to see why.  Sucked in, washed up, and blown over . . . That’s enough to steal the song from the stoutest heart.”  (Max Lucado, In the Eye of the Storm, Word Publishing, 1991, p. 11)

After the past number of weeks of rain, hail, thunder, lightning, tornados, damaged homes and cars, and destroyed crops, it is understandable if we become overwhelmed.  We never saw it coming and in such a short time all the hard work and positive feelings for the future are pulled out from underneath.  But the beauty of being a child of God is that current circumstances, no matter how horrific, traumatic, and difficult, do not change the hope we have for the future.  Not the future of the next few years, but our eternal future.  Christ has not left us.  God has not abandoned us.  God’s people find their hope in Him and the salvation He provides.

This week may God speak to us through Romans 8:12-39, encouraging us, teaching us, and reminding us about our salvation found in Him.

The Pursuit of Spiritual Wholeness

As we begin our message series on the book of James I feel it necessary to remind us all of the implications which we are about to encounter.  James, the half-brother of Jesus, is not one to beat around the bush or candy-coat his words.  And in so doing he very easily goes directly to the heart of many matters.  In studying this book in-depth we will encounter the actual state of our faith, hearts, thinking, and priorities.  This encounter may very likely cause us to become uncomfortable, defensive, or perhaps even angry through the conviction of God’s words through His servant James.  But those experiences should not discourage us but encourage us.

As we discovered a few weeks ago, the main focus of the book of James is the spiritual wholeness of the believer.  As James 1:2-4 tells us, this wholeness comes at a price.

Gold is a natural metal which does not come in a pure state.  The purer the gold the more it is worth, but to make gold more pure takes high temperatures, time, great effort, and a special devise called a crucible.  This crucible is made of metal or clay which can withstand great heat.  The gold is placed into the crucible and the temperature is raised to great amounts in order to melt the gold into a liquid form.  Once liquefied, the impurities found within the gold float to the top where they can be removed thus making the gold more pure.  The gold is cooled and if needed or desired run through the process a second, third, or fourth time.

James 1:2-4 speaks of trials in our life as a crucible where the end goal of this process is spiritual wholeness.  So, what is spiritual wholeness?  How can I be sure that the crucible of my life leads

towards spiritual wholeness and not bitterness or spiritual immaturity?  What is my role as a believer in this process?

May God speak to each of us who are His children and disciples to use this passage in our personal spiritual growth as well as our corporate growth as His church.  May we be prayerfully prepared to hear God’s Word and act upon His call for our lives.

Pushing Us to Our Source

“The first American Thanksgiving didn't occur in 1621 when a group of Pilgrims shared a feast with a group of friendly Indians. The first recorded thanksgiving took place in Virginia more than 11 years earlier, and it wasn't a feast. The winter of 1610 at Jamestown had reduced a group of 409 settlers to 60. The survivors prayed for help, without knowing when or how it might come. When help arrived, in the form of a ship filled with food and supplies from England, a prayer meeting was held to give thanks to God.” (Today in the Word, July, 1990, p. 22.)

It seems strange to talk of Thanksgiving in the middle of a South Dakota winter, but for disciples of Christ our thanks is not given only one day a year.  As with that first group of settlers so long ago, trials push us to give thanks to our God.  Though it may be difficult to find the little joys in the midst or after a trial in life, joys do exist.  Sometimes they are obvious, as with the settlers in the story above, and sometimes they are difficult to find.  But joys do exist and when found they should bring great thanksgiving to the one who provides them.  God!


Over the past several weeks our focus has been on trials, troubles, and tribulations that come upon us in life.  We have seen how the Apostle Paul has responded to trials and what God’s Word has to tell us about why those trials come.  This week will be different.  The passage this week, Acts 28:11-16, teaches us where the trials and troubles of life should push us: to our Source.


May God prepare us this week as we hear the truth of His Word and may that Word mold and shape us.  May we be prayerfully prepared to meet the Spirit of Truth as we gather as His church.

Trouble

Over the past number of weeks we have studied the trials and tribulations which Paul has had to face.  And yet through it all he never wavered from his calling from God nor from trusting in God’s promises.  His response to trials is a wonderful example of faith and trust for the disciple of Christ.  We all understand that trials, tribulations, and troubles will come our way, but the harder question to answer is why these troubles happen.  After all, being disciples of Christ should mean an easy life, right?

I recently picked up a book titled Tortured for Christ by Richard Wurmbrand.  It is a very short account of his life as a believer in Communist Soviet Union and from which an excerpt is below.

“I worked in both an official and underground manner until February 29, 1948.  On that beautiful Sunday, on my way to church, I was kidnapped from the street by the secret police.

“Many at a time were kidnapped like this.  A van of the secret police stopped in front of me, two men jumped out and pushed me into the vehicle.  I was taken to a prison where I was kept secretly for over eight years.  During that time, no one knew whether I was alive or dead.  My wife was visited by the secret police who posed as released fellow-prisoners.  They told her that they had attended my burial.  She was heartbroken.

“Thousands of believers from churches of all denominations were sent to prison at that time.  Not only were clergymen put in jail, but also simple peasants, young boys and girls who witnessed for their faith.  The prisons were full, and in Romania, as in all Communist countries, to be in prison means to be tortured.

“The tortures were sometimes horrible.  I prefer not to speak too much about those through which I have passed; it is too painful.  When I do, I cannot sleep at night.”

From the seemingly annoying troubles of life to the deadly, God’s people over the past thousands of years have come face-to-face with the reality of this fallen world and that world’s hatred of God and His people.  What is the purpose behind such atrocities? 

This week we will study Acts 28:1-10 and read about not only the trouble in which Paul once again finds himself but also the joys which come about through that trouble.  And how that joy comes from trouble may surprise us.  May God prepare our hearts this week as we dig deeply into His Word and Truth.

God's Providence in Trials

Trials are going to come.  We can surely speak of the difficulties we face at the workplace, home, or even in our own hearts.  At times it seems that once we get through one difficulty another is waiting in the shadows to unexpectedly pounce upon us.  No one on this earth would say that they have never had one trial or another in their lifetime.  Trials are inevitable.  They will always come.

There is no one in the Bible, other than perhaps Job or Christ, who had more difficulties, pain, and trials in life than the Apostle Paul.  This week we will read in Acts 27 Paul’s very adventurous (and I use that term loosely) trip to Rome.  He is a faithful follower of Christ and it seems that no matter where he turns there is always another trial awaiting him.  This time it is a shipwreck.  Paul could very easily become frustrated with the path on which the Lord has taken him since his conversion on the road to Damascus.  But his response to this trial is a teachable moment for us all.

If we were in his place, how would we respond?  What can Paul’s response teach us about our own faith through trials?  James, the brother of Jesus, says in James 1:2-3, “Count it all joy, my brothers, when you meet trials of various kinds, for you know that the testing of your faith produces steadfastness.”  What does it even mean to count it joy?  What does it take for us to lean upon our faith in times of trouble?  And is God still present with us in the midst of trials?  Where does He come in this story?

May God use our time together this week to teach us about trials and our response to those trials.  May we be prayerfully prepared for His Word to guide, teach, and direct us this week.