Posts by Pastor Shawn (Page 4)
Lament Leads to Praise
16 Rejoice always. 17 Pray continually. 18 Give thanks in every situation because this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus. (1 Thessalonians 5:16-18) This passage, and many other scriptures, call the believer to always be in a frame of mind which leads us to praise God. The problem is that we don’t always feel like praise is on our lips, especially when things don’t go the way we expect. Many of you know that the pastoral team lost a friend last…
Waiting for the Lord
I remain confident of this: I will see the goodness of the LORD in the land of the living. Wait for the LORD; be strong and take heart and wait for the LORD. (Psalm 27:13-14) The path I take to the church from my house passes the community roller-skating rink. I noticed a couple of weeks back they changed their reader board to simply say #STILLWAITING. There’s a lot wrapped up in that hash tag, but it has…
Steadfast Love
The steadfast love of the Lord never ceases, his mercies never come to an end; they are new every morning; great is your faithfulness. “The Lord is my portion,” says my soul, “therefore I will hope in him.” Lamentations 3:22–24 (NRSV) There’s an old chorus that is running through my head as I type this, the song lyrics are these verses from Lamentations 3 set to music. The refrain begins, “The steadfast love of the Lord never ceases.” In…
Restful Presence
28 “Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. 29 Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. 30 For my yoke is easy and my burden is light.” (Matthew 11:28-30) In our Zoom youth gathering the past couple of weeks we’ve been looking at the twenty-third Psalm. This has caused me to reflect on the biblical notion of rest. In this…
An Opportunity to Look Back
Know therefore that the LORD your God is God; he is the faithful God, keeping his covenant of love to a thousand generations of those who love him and keep his commandments.” -Deuteronomy 7:9 During this time at home, one project I’ve been working on in the spare moments is to digitize a collection of home video tapes from my parents. These videos chronicle events during my last year of high school, and my years in college primarily. It has…
Wednesday March 18 Update
Dear Church Family, We are working on the weekly e-newsletter which will be distributed later this week. In light of recent events, be looking for a streamlined newsletter format to get you the key information you need. However, there are few things we need to communicate with you today, please see below. Wednesday Night Activities In case you weren’t sure, all regularly scheduled Wednesday night activities are suspended until further notice. Pastor Hope and Pastor Shawn are going to provide…
Hearing the Voice of God
My sheep listen to my voice. I know them and they follow me. (John 10:27 CEB) This past Wednesday we started our next youth group discussion topic. Our question is, “How do we hear God’s voice?” This thought-provoking topic aligns with the fall all-church focus on prayer. To tackle this question I’ve enlisted the help of some experts on the subject of hearing God, specifically the late Dallas Willard. In Willard’s book Hearing God he points out what he calls…
What do we lack?
Jesus looked at him carefully and loved him. He said, “You are lacking one thing. Go, sell what you own, and give the money to the poor. Then you will have treasure in heaven. And come, follow me.” (Mark 10:21 CEB) This verse comes out a familiar exchange recorded in three of the Gospels. Often called the story of the Rich Young Ruler. All three Gospel accounts tell us he was rich, in Matthew’s account we learn he was young,…
Lost Causes
3 Jesus told them this parable: 4 “Suppose someone among you had one hundred sheep and lost one of them. Wouldn’t he leave the other ninety-nine in the pasture and search for the lost one until he finds it? 5 And when he finds it, he is thrilled and places it on his shoulders. 6 When he arrives home, he calls together his friends and neighbors, saying to them, ‘Celebrate with me because I’ve found my lost sheep.’ 7 In the same way, I tell…
Hope and Joy in Trials and Suffering
12 Dear friends, don’t be surprised about the fiery trials that have come among you to test you. These are not strange happenings. 13 Instead, rejoice as you share Christ’s suffering. You share his suffering now so that you may also have overwhelming joy when his glory is revealed. 14 If you are mocked because of Christ’s name, you are blessed, for the Spirit of glory—indeed, the Spirit of God—rests on you. (1 Peter 4:12-14) The New Testament book of 1 Peter has always been one of…
Seeing Clearly
22 Jesus and his disciples came to Bethsaida. Some people brought a blind man to Jesus and begged him to touch and heal him. 23 Taking the blind man’s hand, Jesus led him out of the village. After spitting on his eyes and laying his hands on the man, he asked him, “Do you see anything?” 24 The man looked up and said, “I see people. They look like trees, only they are walking around.” 25 Then Jesus placed his hands on the man’s…