Pastor's Word
 
   

A source of food, we can last a little longer without food but it is still best eaten daily. And he… fed you with manna,… that he might make you know that man does not live by bread alone, but man lives by every word that comes from the mouth of the LORD. Deuteronomy 8:3 The food of the Christian soul is God’s Word. The song continues, “This is my daily bread, Your very word spoken to me.” The prophet tells his listeners to eat food that cost nothing and brings life. Why do you spend your money for that which is not bread, and your labor for that which does not satisfy? Listen diligently to me, and eat what is good, and delight yourselves in rich food. (Isaiah 55:2) A hymn of the church expresses it, “Bread of heaven feed me until I want no more…” Jesus’ body is the bread, the Word of God fed to us for life.
A source of water, we need water to live. Jesus told the woman at the well that He had living water. A source of life to all who drink, a well springing with eternal life. The real drink is His blood. Eternal Life was given to us freely. He constantly is a source of life for us in a world that seems to be dying. He did die. He asks us to daily die to sin and the world around us so that we can be His disciples.
As we receive communion we remember that our Christian life is a daily walk with God. Daily breathe, daily drink, daily eat what God has provided. The chorus ends, “I’m desperate for you. I am lost without you.” I am I hope you are too.

In Christ's service and yours,
Pastor Bruce

Plugged In!

    As we were moving into our house a year ago, we experienced an odd thing.  Joyce’s dad is on oxygen 24/7 and they were up during our transition time.  So as we were scurrying around moving things to a good place, every once and a while his oxygen concentrator would start beeping. We would go into the room and suddenly it would stop beeping and begin to work again. Our curiosity grew. Finally, we realized that all the bottom plugs were controlled by wall switches. So we just had to make sure the machine was plugged into the top. The reason for the bottom outlets to be controlled by the switches was to light lamps as you came in and out of rooms because there were no overhead lights. So lamps and wall lights were needed as we came in and out of rooms. We cannot put anything in those outlets that we need constantly running.
As Christians we need to have a constant source of power for our life support. We all know that we need daily bread and if that supply runs low we make a trip to the store. I wonder if we are quick to identify and run for more if we run low on what we need to sustain our life as a disciple of Jesus. What do we need daily to live our Christian life?
A source of air, without air 3 minutes is all we will last. The air of the Christian is the presence of Jesus in their lives. The Spirit of Jesus must give us life or we have none. There is a new song, “This is the Air I Breathe” that has that line “This is the air I breathe, Your very presence living in me”. The word “spirit” is the same in both the Greek and Hebrew that relates to the wind. It fills us with God. C. S. Lewis describes the grand miracle is that God lived in human flesh for the world to see. Jesus lived with that presence to show us that it is possible that God would live in us as well. The Psalmist reflects that we are the crown of creation. … what is man that you are mindful of him…? Yet you have made him a little lower than the heavenly beings and crowned him with glory and honor. (Psalms 8:4-5) He made us in His image so we could receive Him and rule with Him.