us open - pebble beach

be a barnabas

Last week was the church's commemoration of Saint Barnabas. 

Most people don’t know much about Barnabas, but he’s one of the Unsung Heroes of the New Testament. He's often seen as just a side-kick or an assistant to Paul. But Barnabas was actually a VIP in the NT church, a man who truly followed the example of Jesus Christ. He was a man who loved God and loved other people. In Barnabas, we find a great example of Christian evangelism, generosity, and encouragement.

Barnabas means “Son of Encouragement.” This nickname is a very fitting one, for every time Barnabas is mentioned in the New Testament, he is encouraging someone.

I'm asking God to help me be a Barnabas today. How about you?

church year (part 2)

(more on the church year from internet monk...)

The period between Pentecost and the beginning of Advent is called ordinary time. By contrast the period through Advent, Christmas, Epiphany, Lent, the Great Triduum, and the Easter season ending on Pentecost is called extraordinary time. Extraordinary time is so designated because its chief purpose is to celebrate the specific historic, supernatural acts of God in history that result in the salvation of creatures and creation.

From Advent to Pentecost, we celebrate what God has done to inaugurate the new creation through Christ’s finished work. In the season after Pentecost, we celebrate what God does to empower us to live out the Gospel day to day and week to week in the context of our ordinary lives.

Ordinary time provides a perfect canvas on which to portray how God works through us in daily life—in our families, our work, our relationships with our neighbors, in our communities and in the world, in our care for creation, in our recreation and leisure activities.

Ordinary Time, with its emphasis on daily living in the world, is a great opportunity to teach about and practice evangelism and missions. Vacation Bible Schools, community outreaches, camps, mission trips, and training classes to help believers learn to share their faith all fit well with the themes of this season.

The first part of the Christian Year (extraordinary time) corresponds to the Gospel story. This second part of the year (ordinary time) celebrates the continuing story of Jesus as seen in in Acts, and as we continue to experience it today.

The season after Pentecost, is by no means “ordinary” in the sense of being unremarkable or unimportant. This season celebrates the ongoing work of Jesus in and through his people. With the Gospel, empowered by the Spirit, we walk day by day and week by week in his salvation. The church, through God’s ongoing presence, continues to plant seeds that will bring forth a harvest in the new creation.

sinkholes

Last week, a sinkhole suddenly opened up in Guatemala City, swallowing a three-story building and leaving a 100 foot deep hole in the middle of an urban intersection.

What a vivid picture of sin this is! Sin is like a giant sinkhole, and the results are just as catastrophic. It swallows up everything in its path. Because of sin in this world, lives are ruined, families are wrecked, and people die. "The wages of sin is death" (Rom 6:23).

The good news is that it doesn't have to end there. "The wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Jesus Christ our Lord". The good news of the Gospel is that God loves us, and has sent His Son Jesus as the Savior from sin and death. God reaches down and saves us as we begin to sink into our sinkholes of sin. That's what salvation really is - bringing from death to life. And that's what God does for us.

"For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life" (Jn 3:16).

church year

In our daily lives we keep track of all of our activities and special events with a calendar.

The church throughout the centuries has also “kept track” of days and seasons and commemorating special occasions with a calendar. The Christian church has continued to follow the example set in the Old Testament of structuring the year around the marvelous acts of salvation that God completed for us in his Son, Jesus Christ. This is called the Church Year - the first half centers on Christ, and the second half centers on the Church.

memorial day

standing stones

In ancient Israel, God's people put up standing stones in special places as reminders of what God had done for them there. They were to be memorials to God's great acts of deliverance in behalf of His people.

-Jacob set up stone pillars at Bethel in order to remember his powerful dream, in which God reaffirmed his covenant with him (Gen. 28:18—21, 35:14—15)
- After receiving the Ten Commandments and other laws, Moses built twelve standing stones at the foot of Mount Sinai (Ex. 24:2—4)
- The Israelites erected standing stones to remember their miraculous crossing of the Jordan River (Josh. 4:2—3, 8—9)
- Joshua built another standing stone when the covenant was renewed at Shechem (Josh. 24:27)

In the New Testament, Peter builds on this standing stone imagery when he describes believers as living stones (1 Peter 2:5).  Peter wanted his readers to think of themselves as living standing stones. As they faithfully followed and obeyed God, they would be like standing stones that nonbelievers would notice.
Peter's words challenge us to be living standing stones as well, those who testify to the amazing things God has done for us.

God placed the children of Israel at the crossroads of the world for a reason. He wanted his people to influence their culture, and he wanted them to become living standing stones, a testimony of his love and power to the pagan world. God still wants his children to stand at the crossroads of life. He wants us to live so publicly that we shape the areas of life that impact our world.

God has placed each of us in a sphere of influence. No matter how large or small that influence may be, we can act in a way that shows others that the Lord is God. As we live godly lives, non-Christians will see God's work in us and be drawn toward him.