In Pastor Alex's sermon last week he pointed out something I had never noticed before. After Jesus calmed the storm, He didn't ask His disciples "why were you afraid?". Instead He asked them "why are you afraid?"

As in - now that the storm is over, now you're afraid?

He knew they were afraid because they were finally seeing Him for who He was, the true Son of God.

Questions to ponder:

- Have you ever been afraid standing before God?

- Is fear a good thing or a bad thing?

- How can God use your fear for good in your life now?

~ Pastor Jana

Psalm 121

In the1960’s a style of music emerged that would help define the Civil Rights movement. Freedom Songs, as they came to be called, were spirituals and hymns which encouraged people during some of the darkest times of our nation’s history. 

Do you remember the song “We Shall Overcome?" This spiritual became the unofficial anthem of the Civil Rights movement. The lyrics are easy and the tune is so simple it allows anyone to lend their voice to it. For several years it was the one song you could hear bellowed at marches, rallies, and churches. Martin Luther King began to quote parts of it in his sermons and Pete Seeger and Joan Baez each recorded versions of it. What very few people knew was where this song came from. 

In 1942, Louise Shropshire, a musician at a Baptist church in Cincinnati, Ohio wrote a song entitled “If My Jesus Wills”. The opening lyrics were "I'll overcome/I'll overcome/I'll overcome someday/If my Jesus wills". Those words, her words, were the genesis for a song that would unite and inspire national change.

There are several Psalms known as the Psalms of Ascent. These special Psalms where sung traditionally as people would travel to Jerusalem. Several times a year you were required to make sacrifices or attend religious festivals. As people would take the roads, climbing up to Jerusalem, these were some of the songs they would sing. Each Psalm was sung at different stages of the trip. Each was meant to lift the pilgrim’s spirits as they got closer and closer to the temple.

1 I will lift up my eyes to the mountains;

From where shall my help come?

2 My help comes from the Lord,

Who made heaven and earth.

I read these first words, and given the state of our world, I just have to pause. I have to admit my own need of help. My own issues with trying to solve my own problems. My own doubts in God's interest in my little life. How easy it is to lose sight of God’s sovereign rule in my life?

Maybe you have asked the question “where will my help come from"? Maybe you were asking this about your marriage, your children, your finances, your job, or just life. 

The author declares to look up to the mountains. This I love. This simple reminder that there are times when all you can do is look Up. There are times when all you can do is remind yourself - “God has this”.

With this Psalm maybe find a verse or two that really speaks to your heart. Put them on sticky notes where you will see it multiple times - maybe on your bathroom mirror, car dash, or even the fridge. Each time you see it stop and sing those words of faith.

~ Pastor Jackie

Psalm 120

In 2001, I was on the pastoral team at Forest Lake Academy in Orlando, Florida as one of the chaplains and Bible teachers. One day in early 2002, during freshman Bible class, we were talking about the Biblical views of grace and forgiveness. 

That morning we spent the majority of the class wrestling with the questions of who deserves to be forgiven - how to extend grace to an enemy or just someone who hurt you - knowing or unknowingly? what does it mean to be a Christian? what does it mean to see grace in action?

Finally, after this discussion, we sat down to define the terms grace and forgiveness. Once we gave the words definitions, it was much easier to apply them to the situations we were wrestling with. 

For the student whose parents had recently divorced and was struggling with the loss, grace and forgiveness took on new life. For the student who had recently come to admit their childhood sexual abuse, grace and forgiveness took on new life. For their pastor who had recently separated from his wife, grace and forgiveness took on new life.

Last week we began our summer series on the Psalms of the Ascent. Psalms 120-134 are a collection of songs, poems, and thoughts which were recited as people would journey up to Jerusalem for various feasts. This first Psalm reminds the traveler of the true state of their heart, and more importantly, of God's invitation to be in their presence. It's also a reminder of God's willingness to show up - no matter what. 

This is the core of both grace and forgiveness; God’s willingness to show up no matter what.

God's willingness to forgive what I believe is unforgivable. 

God's willingness to love me when I can’t love myself.

Psalms 120:1

"I cried to the Lord in my trouble, and He answered me."

~ Pastor Jackie

Jesus' Power Pulls us Through

Last week we had children, every night, reminding us to “Trust Jesus” as Jesus’ Power Pulled Us Through - our theme for VBS this year. It was an incredible week and the power of Jesus was evident in it all. It left me thinking though - what does that mean?

In our Bible Points, we learned that Jesus' power gave hope to the disciples in the early church, saved us at the cross, and helps us be a friend. But, my question for you now is - what do you think when we say that God is Powerful? Or, similarly, when we say God is in control?

For some, we mean that every single thing that happens, happens under the will of God. Others see it more as a general - God could stop this if He wanted to, so it must be okay since God is allowing it to happen. I admit, I find all of this hard. I see so much that is awful and not okay in this world - where does a powerful God come into play?

I don’t want to leave this with pat answers - these are big questions and there are not easy answers. Still, I can’t resist offering a little hope. For me, God’s power comes into play when I open myself up to it. When I stop trying to be the one in control, I am able to see God working in ways I was blind to when I relied on my own power. So, now my question is - what does it mean to you?

~ Pastor Jana Lee

Psalm 27:1-3

"The Lord is my light and my salvation;

whom shall I fear?

The Lord is the stronghold of my life;

of whom shall I be afraid?

When evildoers assail me

to eat up my flesh,

my adversaries and foes,

it is they who stumble and fall.

Though an army encamp against me,

my heart shall not fear;

though war arise against me,

yet I will be confident."

As we look at the Psalms 27:1-3, I am drawn back to last week's sermon.

After Abishai defeated the giant Ishbi-Benob, there must have been a ton of questions. 

The reason he gave for standing toe-to-toe with a living death machine is found in II Samuel 21:17 … "Then David’s men swore to him, 'You shall no longer go out with us to battle, lest you quench the Lamp of Israel.'"

They called David the Light of Israel. Simply put, they saw David as too important to the nation. David was seen as the source of their identity, the source of their strength, and he was their purpose for being a nation.

David however, must have seen things a little differently. As we read Psalms 27, it appears to be a reflection of those events and David's thoughts on being called the Light of Israel. One simple question I have from this Psalm and II Samuel 21 is about the "why’s" in our lives.

Abishai stood up to a giant. Why? Because David was the light of Israel. 

David stood up to a giant. Why? Because God was the Light of his life.

Both men are victorious, but the reasons why they fight are more important than we think.

~ Pastor Jackie James

Sabbath

“On the seventh day they rose early, at the dawn of day, and marched around the city in the same manner seven times. It was only on that day that they marched around the city seven times.”

Joshua 6:15 ESV

Sometimes the Bible quietly throws a monkey-wrench into our theology. As a Seventh-day Adventist I do not remember anyone in my tribe talking about this aspect of the story. We talk about Rahab and the spies, we talk about the Ark and the water, we talk about the wall coming down, but we do not talk about how this happens on Sabbath.

God has told His people Jericho will fall. All they have to do for the next six days is walk around it once, and on the seventh day walk around it seven times.

The problem in our theology comes here in the story. For many in my tribe they would see something missing here. What did they do on Sabbath? Where is the day of rest?

No matter how you count it, their interaction with Jericho involved either one or two Sabbath days. This causes me to ask - "Is this in contradiction with the Fourth Commandment?"

Or does it expand the Sabbath in a way we have never really considered?

At the beginning of the Exodus experience, God explains to the Israelite's what it means and looks like to be His people. They had to learn that YAWEH, the living God, was an entirely different God in every way, from the Egyptians idols and deities they had observed being worshiped in Egypt.

The Fourth Commandment instructed them that God wants a day where their routine is totally different and their focus isn’t on walking, crops, animals, and work. Sabbath is a day to focus on God and each other.

The Fourth Commandment says that God values relationships as the fuel of life.

How does all this impact the taking of Jericho?

Getting dressed and war ready for seven days was an Act of Worship. It was an Act of Worship to march and not react. It was an Act of Worship to be silent, when you know they are being yelled at and taunted. It was an Act of Worship to just show up and trust God when they didn’t see how all that marching was going to do anything.

Sabbath invites us to just show up and be a part something greater.

~ Pastor Jackie James

Restless

In 2011, the alternative rock band Switchfoot released their album Vice Verses. The theme of the album rested on the idea of the polarity of life such as the good and the bad. The fourth track in the album, written by their lead singer Jon Foreman, titled ‘Restless’ was inspired while he was in the UK listening to rain and thinking to himself how each rain drop was in relentless journey back to the ocean. He began to compare that same journey to his own in his reaching and searching and longing for more. In an interview concerning his inspiration to write the song he said, “And I began to think of my own life and wondering if I had that same drive, that same pursuit for that which is right and true." The song goes:

“I am restless

I run like the ocean to find your shore

Looking for you

I can feel you reaching, Pushing through the ceiling

'Til the final healing, I'm looking for you

Until the sea of glass we meet,

At last completed and complete

The tide of tear and pain subside

Laughter drinks them dry

I'll be waiting, Anticipating

All that I aim for, What I was made for

With every heartbeat, All of my blood bleeds

Running inside me, Looking for you”

I believe this song captures this past Sabbath’s message. “[God] has also set eternity in the human heart.” (Ecc 3:11) Therefore, the heart longs for eternal things. As Saint Augustine wrote “our hearts are restless until it rests in you.” All the pleasures of this life can bring us joy, but they cannot bring us lasting joy. They are water, not living water. They are bread, but not the bread that came from heaven. Ultimately, the only thing that will finally satisfy our restless hearts is God himself. Where have you been trying to find joy and meaning? Come to God and find rest for your soul.

~ Pastor Alex Portillo