“He Will Wipe Away Every Tear”

John 16:20–22 ²¹When a woman is giving birth, she has sorrow because her hour has come, but when she has delivered the baby, she no longer remembers the anguish, for joy that a human being has been born into the world. ²²So also you have sorrow now, but I will see you again and your hearts will rejoice, and no one will take your joy from you.

Birth pain explained by women is something that men will never experience.  I considered it a blessing to watch the birth of both of my children.  That experience was very special as I saw the miracle that God created through His creation of man and woman.  Though I could not imagine what their mother had gone through, I watched as her pain grew until I heard the cry of our child.  After hearing that cry my attention went straight to the miracle that the doctor was placing into my arms.  WOW! 

I can’t see how or why anyone who has witnessed the birth of his or her child takes new life for granted.  It is part of you and when you look back at the mother you can see she too was in awe of that miracle of life.  Whatever great pain she had suffered didn’t seem to leave any sign in her being as she also witnessed a closer connection to that miracle.

          The sorrow and pain a mother suffers, most mothers would say was worth every bit of the pain to bring into this world a precious innocent child of God’s miracle.  Then the child grows up…, we won’t say anymore about that.

          Though we all were born an innocent child, we were still born with a sinful nature.  It is the curse of the fall that Adam and Eve plunged us into because they did not like the censorship God put into place concerning the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil. (Genesis 2:17).  From this time on all we live in the pains of birth, for now we must be born again, (John 3:3).  This new birth still has birth pains because we still live in this world. 

Where a mother nurtures her child through all of their hurts and pains, our pains after our rebirth is nurtured through the gospel of God.  We continue to live in the pains of this world.  This world’s misguidance and influence keeps us in our sinful nature playing on our desires to please ourselves.  And, strangely enough our sinful nature keeps this world in its sinful desires too.  What if we compared this world as being the new womb  and we are to be reborn to a new life?

Revelation 21:1–4 ¹Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and the sea was no more. ²And I saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband.

          We say we die when this life in this world is over.  If we are a believer in Christ’s resurrection instead of looking at our dying as an end we can look at it as life starting anew.  Life in a new world different than anything we had ever experienced before. 

In this new life we find ourselves looking at a new heaven that does not seem as far away as the stars of the old heaven and an earth that seems like heaven embracing us.  Now instead of being a child of a sinful world gone and no more, we are adults of a new relationship married to God with the vows of God’s care and love forever and ever.  We are now mature in our relationship with God leaving our childish ways in what has passed away.

Revelation 21:1–4 ³And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, “Behold, the dwelling place of God is with man. He will dwell with them, and they will be his people, and God himself will be with them as their God. ⁴He will wipe away every tear from their eyes, and death shall be no more, neither shall there be mourning nor crying nor pain anymore, for the former things have passed away.”

          Immanuel, God is with us, He will not just be an unseen thought or feeling.  We will see our Lord Jesus Christ and be with Him.  Christ walks with us now, but in the new world Christ will walk with us in His and our resurrection as we are all reborn to a new life.  All former things, all sin, sinful natures, worldly views, as well as mourning, crying, pain, sickness, and disease will have passed away.  But, our relationship with Yahweh will be greater as Yahweh wipes away our tears.

John 16:20–22 ²⁰Truly, truly, I say to you, you will weep and lament, but the world will rejoice. You will be sorrowful, but your sorrow will turn into joy.

          And as Christ our God and Lord wipes away our tears He will turn all of our sorrows into an eternal joy of life and relationship with Him for the rest of all eternity.  Amen.

Written by: Pastor Curtis A. May

Let us go forth in the Peace of our Lord and Serve the Lord who loved us first.

“Are You The Sheep Of Christ’s Flock?”

John 10:24–26 ²⁴So the Jews gathered around him and said to him, “How long will you keep us in suspense? If you are the Christ, tell us plainly.” ²⁵Jesus answered them, “I told you, and you do not believe. The works that I do in my Father’s name bear witness about me, ²⁶but you do not believe because you are not part of my flock.

            The other day I was talking to a woman visiting her mother at Blossom Hill nursing home, this is where my mother in-law lives too.  The woman who claimed to be a Christian said she did not believe the Holy Scriptures was inspired by God because men had written it and therefore had no validity. I asked her how she came up with that and she said she read a lot of books that agreed with her.  I guess my question is who wrote the books she read, and if they are by mankind then how are they more valid than the Holy Scriptures?  Our world claims to believe in God or a god but their beliefs are based on their own terms and desired fantasy.

            We have had a series of devastating events that rocks the world we have held to be so secure that is our USA.  We still ask the question why did God let this happen, instead of asking why did we let it happen?  What we saw was an act of sin, and through this act, many people were injured and some killed including a young child.  I hope your prayers go out to each of the victims whether they were hurt or their loved ones were hurt or killed.  Again, the world asks why did God let this tragedy happen.  Should we also ask why does God let our own sin happen too? 

Our world wants law with no gospel unless the law convicts them.  We sometimes fail to see the signs that our world is leading us down the wrong path.  We also fail to see the signs that Jesus is the Christ that came to save the world. 

The Jews, who are asking the question to Jesus and then laying out their demand to know if He is the Christ, ask out of blindness.  Though these Jews (not all Jews) had seen the works of Jesus and even heard His words, they cannot see past their blinders made up of self-serving desires and self-righteous attitudes.  It’s kind of like just because some want others to be stupid or false or just because they are dumb doesn’t mean that others will be.

John 10:27–30 ²⁷My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me. ²⁸I give them eternal life, and they will never perish, and no one will snatch them out of my hand. ²⁹My Father, who has given them to me, is greater than all, and no one is able to snatch them out of the Father’s hand. ³⁰I and the Father are one.”

            Are you the sheep of Christ’s flock?  We might not like being compared to sheep; after all they are lazy animals that wonder mindlessly around getting themselves into trouble.  We certainly don’t need to be herded around like sheep as we are always great thinkers, and never make mistakes, or do anything wrong.  If you do think this is true about yourself you might want to look up 1 John 1:8… And the truth is not in you. 

The Truth is Christ, and though we know we have sin we also know that Christ (the Truth) is in us because we are God’s forgiven children.  As Christ’s sheep in His flock we hear His voice the Holy Spirit.  Hearing the Holy Spirit we know He is trying to lead us into God’s word, which is His inspired and inerrant word.  In other words, God gave these words to be written down by those men He chose and made sure that there is no error in what His word says.  Now we have the shepherd’s staff to help us follow Christ, it is the Holy Scriptures. 

Through the words of our Lord we know that He and the Father are one and also one with the Holy Spirit.  Through the words of our Lord we see that all that the Father has given the Son will never be taken away from Him, (John 6:37 also).  This is why we should work hard to be in God’s word, to learn of His plan for us and for our salvation.

            Acts 20:35 ³⁵In all things I have shown you that by working hard in this way we must help the weak and remember the words of the Lord Jesus, how he himself said, ‘It is more blessed to give than to receive.’”

            God’s plan is for us to know what we have received so that we can be imitators of Christ and the apostles and be givers therefore receiving more blessings from our Father in heaven.  Following our Lord Jesus Christ is to take that journey to the cross with Him as He has taken this journey for all of you.  Though the journey to the cross was taken in steps of pain, humility, and suffering our Lord did not considered it a journey in vain.  Christ being obedient to the Father did so out of love for the Father, and out of love for those whom the Father loves.  You are the ones the Father loves.

Acts 20:32 ³²And now I commend you to God and to the word of his grace, which is able to build you up and to give you the inheritance among all those who are sanctified.

            Christ’s journey that we will follow did not stop at the cross in death, but continued in life, a life He is willing and wanting to share with you.  Maybe the question we should ask is why does God love us to eternal life, when we are children of sin?  The answer might be as simple as this, He is our dear Father in heaven and we are all His dear children here on earth that He considers worth loving and to be saved.  Amen.

Written by: Pastor Curtis A. May

Let us go forth in the Peace of our Lord and Serve the Lord who loved us first.

“Did You See the Miracle of the Fish”?

            John 21:4–8 ⁴Just as day was breaking, Jesus stood on the shore; yet the disciples did not know that it was Jesus. ⁵Jesus said to them, “Children, do you have any fish?” They answered him, “No.” ⁶He said to them, “Cast the net on the right side of the boat, and you will find some.” So they cast it, and now they were not able to haul it in, because of the quantity of fish. ⁷That disciple whom Jesus loved therefore said to Peter, “It is the Lord!” When Simon Peter heard that it was the Lord, he put on his outer garment, for he was stripped for work, and threw himself into the sea. ⁸The other disciples came in the boat, dragging the net full of fish, for they were not far from the land, but about a hundred yards off.

            Have you ever been working hard at something, and no matter how much time and effort you put in to it you accomplish nothing?  Then when you are just about ready to give up somebody gives you the simplest suggestion and all of a sudden what you tried to accomplish just falls right in place.  Afterwards, have you caught yourself standing there thinking, that was so simple why didn’t I think of it?  We get so caught up in life sometimes we let the simplest solutions escape us.  When that happens to me instead of having an ah  hah moment it becomes an oh dah moment. 

            Likewise you are watching television and you see this infomercial that shows someone moving a large refrigerator. Applying a simple gadget, which applies just enough leverage, moves it.  With the correct leverage it allows moving any heavy object to be accomplished by one person.  Wow, the design of that gadget was so simple, why didn’t I think of that?

            Peter and the other apostles might of thought why did we think of that, the right side of the boat, oh dah, that was so simple.  This was the second time Jesus had instructed them as to where the catch of fish was, (Luke5:4ff), and both times the yield of fish was greater than they could handle.

The apostle that Jesus loved remembered that first big catch that Jesus helped them find.  This has to be our Lord who has instructed us again giving us great results.  It probably dawned on Peter that Jesus did this before as he heard John say the words “It is the Lord!”  What joy they must have felt. Who else could turn hours of futile labor into such a great success, but our Lord Jesus Christ.

John 21:9–14 ⁹When they got out on land, they saw a charcoal fire in place, with fish laid out on it, and bread. ¹⁰Jesus said to them, “Bring some of the fish that you have just caught.” ¹¹So Simon Peter went aboard and hauled the net ashore, full of large fish, 153 of them. And although there were so many, the net was not torn. ¹²Jesus said to them, “Come and have breakfast.” Now none of the disciples dared ask him, “Who are you?” They knew it was the Lord. ¹³Jesus came and took the bread and gave it to them, and so with the fish. ¹⁴This was now the third time that Jesus was revealed to the disciples after he was raised from the dead.

In that first time Jesus had instructed them to catch fish, (Luke 5:4ff), their nets were tearing, and afterwards Jesus told them they would be fishers of men.  This time their net did not tear despite the number of fish, for now they have become fishers of men. 

Did you see the miracle of the fish?  Jesus asked if they had any fish as if He was hoping for some for Himself.  But when they all got off the boat, Jesus was sitting by a fire that already had fish and bread on it.  It seems reminiscent of the time Jesus took two fish and five loaves of bread to feed the five thousand, (Matthew 14:13ff).  Jesus is showing us that we cannot provide anything for Him as He commands all things.  Jesus is also showing us that He can provide in abundance for us and all we have to do is put our faith on the right side, or rather in the correct place.  The correct place is putting our faith in Jesus and He will reward that faith abundantly.  Not that you will not receive an abundance if you do not have faith, because God abundantly provides for all of our needs whether we believe in Him or not.  But with belief comes life (John 7:38; 11:25-26) 

We struggle with our salvation and it seems that our efforts are a futile labor.  Listen then, Jesus gives us the simplest suggestion, put your faith in Him, and believe in Him.  He gives us the wisdom of our loving God in and through the Holy Scriptures, and the message is in God’s love.  Just follow my words, believe, and have faith for I will give you an abundance of life, and that life comes with joy, (Luke 15:7; John 15:11).

Now did you see the real miracle?  The miracle isn’t the over powering catch of fish, nor is it the fish and bread Jesus already had on the fire cooking.  Jesus appeared for the third time after His brutal death and glorious resurrection, standing on the shore speaking to His apostles.  That is a miracle but not the only one we should pay attention too.  The real miracle is that Jesus who died for our sins thought that we are the catch of the day.  Our Lord and savior creates the miracle of eternal life and relationship with our God to save all whom He loves dearly, and you are in that catch to live eternally in His love.  Amen.

Written by: Pastor Curtis A. May

Let us go forth in the Peace of our Lord and Serve the Lord who loved us first.