Are You Ready to Die?

Last week, Pastor Matt’s challenging message to us forced us all to reevaluate our commitment to Christ.  Wow!  Chapter five of Acts, which was the chapter we read for last week, focused on the story of Ananias and Sapphira.  They sold their belongings, but held back a portion of the proceeds rather than giving it all to the apostles.  And, because of that act of disobedience to God and because they lied to God, both died.  Not a happy story with a happy ending, like we are used to hearing. 

However, it is an important story for us as Christians to look at and understand.  Pastor Matt showed a video at the end of his sermon that I thought really illustrated what it means to “die” for Christ.  There was a line-up of men sitting in chairs who were all holding towels.  You see they were preparing for Holy Baptism.  They were preparing for their deaths.  That’s why they looked so repentant and sorrowful.  The end to their current life was fast approaching.  And, then, when it was their turn, each man went for his Baptism.  He was literally put to death and was raised to new life in Christ. 

Through the waters of Holy Baptism, whether you are immersed or sprinkled, we are literally putting that person to death to rise up to a new life--a life with Christ.  We are literally washed clean and marked with the cross of Christ forever in our Baptism.  We are initiated into a very special priesthood.  We are made children of God. 

Martin Luther woke every day and, before his feet hit the ground, he would make the sign of the cross on his forehead and reclaim the promise given to him at his Baptism.  As baptized children of God, we have been given special status and we need to claim it each and every day! 

Over the next week, think about what it means to be a child of the Living Lord!  And while many of us were baptized as babies and do not remember our baptismal day, we can still make the sign on our forehead each morning just as the pastor did on that day when we were baptized and reclaim our status as God’s child.  We have been forgiven and washed clean by the blood of the Lamb and we are raised again on this very day to a new life in Christ Jesus. 

This weekend we celebrate Reformation Sunday and we also celebrate the Rite of Confirmation.  On Sunday afternoon, about 100 young people will stand before God and the congregation to say, “Yes, I believe" and claim their status as children of God.  They will “reclaim” or “confirm” their belief in the Triune God and in living a Christian life.

How about each of us?  Are we willing to die to self and reaffirm our status as children of the Living God?  Are we, like the young people at their Confirmation this Sunday, willing to stand up and proclaim ourselves as Christ followers even unto death?   Are we willing to die for Jesus sake?   Are we willing to let God lead our lives so completely that we truly die to self?  More of you, God, and less of me!  More of you God, less of me!

The Christian group Leeland has a song that helps us to picture what it’s like to die to self and to lay down all of our troubles.  It’s called Holy Spirit, Have Your Way. 

To God be the Glory!

Pastor Carol

Jumping and Leaping Happening in the Church!

At this past weekend’s services, something was a little different:  people were leaping, jumping and praising God!  Yes, Calvary members were on their feet singing the song that goes along with Acts chapter 3, the story of the lame beggar who Peter and John healed by the temple.  As you recall, the beggar was lame from birth and, at the name of Jesus Christ, his ankles knit together and he was able to walk.  Oh, he did much more than that; we read that he went walking and leaping and praising God. 

Let’s think about this for a minute. If you had never walked in your life and you were lame from birth, can you even imagine what was going through this guy’s mind?  Wow!  Can you just see him running and jumping and testing out his new found legs?  He was excited and astounded, just as the crowd was that day. 

Why was it so hard for us, this weekend, to stand to our feet and sing that simple song from Sunday School with hesitation?  Some were excited to stand up and sing, while others looked a little irritated.  We all had to be reminded by Pastor Steve to SMILE. 

Why is it that we don’t come to church excited to be here most Sundays?  Why is it such a chore to come?  As we read the Book of Acts, church was not dull at all!  What would happen if we come with a sense of expectancy that God would not only show up, but that people would be healed and the Holy Spirit would be filling us to overflowing each week?  The Early Church encountered signs and wonders all the time.  God always showed up! 

The truth is, God still shows up, but we often have other things on our minds.  There’s the Viking’s game we need to get home to see and the brunch we need to get to after church.  Then there are the myriad of tasks we need to get done at home before the kids go to school on Monday.  The list that goes through our minds as we enter church is usually pretty long. 

What would happen if we could set aside our agendas for one hour and just focus on God’s agenda?  We need to ask God to shake the church like He did in chapter 4, to fill each of us with His Holy Spirit and to give us all a sense of boldness for Christ like never before. 

Just think, church could be an exciting place just like we read in the Book of Acts, but we need to pray and believe.  The Early Church was a church that was literally on its knees.  And notice that God always showed up, God always filled them with His Spirit, and God gave them the courage and boldness they needed. 

If you and I want to have the same boldness of faith like Peter and John, then we need to start by getting on our knees in prayer and then rising up to praise God with a thankful heart and a smile on our faces!  God will give us the boldness, and God will use us in ways we can’t even imagine to change this world and to bring glory to Him.  Let’s leap and jump and praise God all the days of our lives!

Here’s a great song the reminds us to be bold and strong in the Lord!

To God be the Glory!

Pastor Carol

Come, Holy Spirit! Fill Us! Empower Us!

Those who had the opportunity to hear Rev. Dr. Gemechis Buba this past Sunday walked out of Calvary with a fresh spring in their step!  He is truly an anointed man of God.  I know I felt uplifted, encouraged, filled with the Holy Spirit and ready to go out into the world and serve the Living Lord with a newness of spirit and fervor. 

During his sermon, Dr. Buba said, “Churches that are filled with the Holy Spirit focus on the WONDERS OF GOD.  Those that are not so filled focus on the problems of man.”  Calvary is truly blessed to be a church that is filled with the Holy Spirit.  Over the years, visitors have often commented to me that, when they walked into this church, it just felt different.  While they couldn’t name it, what they were really referring to was the Holy Spirit’s presence. 

Every Sunday before anyone gets here, the Calvary Prayer Warriors are praying throughout the building, then over the pastors.  The worship space, the parking lots, Atrium, Grace Place rooms and other spaces in the church have been prayed over.  So, when you come in the door, you should feel something holy, something different.  Yes, the Holy Spirit lives in the lives of Calvary members and in this church!  Praise be to God!

This past week, as I was thinking about those words that Dr. Buba so eloquently presented, I started to rephrase it into a personal statement:  Christians who are filled with the Holy Spirit focus on the WONDERS OF GOD.  Christians who are not filled with the Holy Spirit focus on the problems of man.  Yikes! 

So then I had to ask myself, Carol, do you see and focus your attention on God’s wonders or do you focus your attention more on the problems of man?   Sometimes, even as a pastor, we get mired in church issues and day-to-day things that have little to do with the mission and vision that God is calling us and Calvary to be in this world.  Isn’t that how it is in all our jobs and professions?  We are hired to do a specific job, but find ourselves having to do things that have very little to do with the job we were hired for. 

Now think about your calling as a Christian – that’s a full-time 24/7 calling on your life.  So, how many times do we find ourselves wishing God would use us more?  How many times do we feel inadequate to share our faith or to call on and believe that the power of the Holy Spirit is real in our lives?  Sure, it was real for the disciples, but what about me?  What about the Holy Spirit’s power for our generation? 

Friends, God is afoot!  God’s Spirit lives inside us, but far too often we don’t realize it and we don’t fully and completely rely on God and His power in our lives.  What if we followed the example of the Jerusalem church?  This tiny group expanded into a world-changing force.  How did they do this?  Well, through the power of the Holy Spirit working in and through their lives, God enabled a group of rag-tag followers to literally rock this world and bring change.  We can learn a lot from their priorities and passion for Jesus Christ.  That’s why we need not only to read the Book of Acts this year, but to actually hear it and live it. 

My Calvary small group is currently doing a DVD study by Mac Lucado called How to Outlive Your Life.  It’s a study of the Book of Acts.  In this study, Max challenges us to live out our faith in our own Jerusalem, in our own generation.  Max Lucado says in his book by the same name, “The church cannot be who she’s supposed to be until you are willing to be who you’re supposed to be.”

This week, why not pray for the Holy Spirit not only to fill you to overflowing, but to use you to touch and change this world.  Ask the Holy Spirit to open doors that seemed closed and ask Him to help you to start seeing the WONDERS OF GOD right before your eyes!

Here’s a great song from Third Day that reminds us of the wonders of God!

To God be the Glory!

Pastor Carol