He has met all of the biblical requirements, we have found him doctrinally sound, insightful, personable, and in every way, a solid pastor.  Originally, there was some question as to whether an arrangement with him would work, since he has a lease up in Peabody, and both he and his wife work in Lexington.   However,  he is making some changes, namely he will be able to work remotely part of the week, and his wife will be ultimately leaving her job-  just so they can be local with us, in the parsonage, and available.  So with that, in accordance with the church constitution, I am announcing that the search committee has affirmed that we are nominating Benjamin Hernandez as pastor (technically “interim” pastor for the sake of his denominational affiliation).    I had posted last week that this Sunday, active members of the church will be voting on the pastoral staff, so as long as we have quorum, we have a valid vote.   So please be there if you are an active member!

For those who have not seen Benjamin’s Resume, it is posted HERE.   He will not be with us this week, since we are having the vote, but if the vote passes, we yield the pulpit to him from then on out, and he will be with us every week, even before he makes the physical move to the parsonage.

So this is a great weekend!

“Christian” I said.  “Yeah, I know, but what “TYPE”?  She replied.

To many, you can say “Christian”… but that requires more definition.  Does that mean Baptist, or Roman Catholic, or snake-handling fundamentalist?  The liberal “accepting” Episcopalians fall under the umbrella of “Christian”, as does the vitriolic Westboro Baptist Church, though each would exclude the other from the label.

I myself grew up Roman Catholic, but then spent some years with the Assemblies of God, so I understand the pros and cons of being part of a larger and more structured denomination.

Still, I am convinced, that it is the labels and constructs of the denominations themselves that divide as much as anything else.  The apostles never had the intention of starting a denomination.  As a matter of fact, the were absolutely opposed to the divisions caused by an “ism”.  In the 1 letter to the Corinthians, Paul upbraids the church by saying  “What I mean is this: One of you says, “I follow Paul”; another, “I follow Apollos”; another, “I follow Cephas”; still another, “I follow Christ.” (1 Cor 1:12).

Paul says that this was proof that they were still immature in the faith.  Still “missing it”.   And today, people identify themselves with a denomination, now substituting Luther, Calvin, the Pope, and even Joel Osteen, in place of Paul, Apollos, and Cephas.

The bottom line is this-  there is only one church that Christ started.  It was handed on to the apostles.  It was faithfully passed on from generation to generation.  The fractionalized, divided, tradition-laden constructs we see today are a terrible and pale representation of what that church is supposed to be.

So when answering that question-  What type of church-  the only answer, as pompous as it might sound, is that we are part of THE church.  The one church that Jesus started and ordained the apostles to carry on.   And as much as we can understand and are able, we believe and hold to that which they believed, tossing away the man-made tradition that has arisen over the millennia that has only hurt the church.   We don’t have a catechism from the middle ages we need to ascribe to.   Just the Bible, as properly understood in context.  We don’t add to the Word of God.  We don’t subtract from it.

Now it all believers in Jesus Christ too this same, common -sense approach, how nice would that be?   There would be one “Type” of person believing Christ.  Just “Christians”.

When I first became a Christian and started investigating the claims of Christianity, I was particularly interested in the resurrection of Christ.  The Apostle Paul himself said that if Christ was not raised, then our faith was in vain, and we are all yet in our sins.

I was amazed to find that not only was there numerous New Testament witnesses, but even non-Christians within the first century that record that fact that Christ had appeared again alive again.

One was Flavius Josephus, who wrote “Antiquities of the Jews” shortly after the destruction of Jerusalem in 70 AD.   In Book 18, he says:

“About this time there lived Jesus, a wise man, if indeed one ought to call him a man. For he . . . wrought surprising feats. . . . He was the Christ. When Pilate . . .condemned him to be crucified, those who had . . . come to love him did not give up their affection for him. On the third day he appeared . . . restored to life. . . . And the tribe of Christians . . . has . . . not disappeared.”

Jesus has risen.  See you Sunday!

He is a regular guest at Faunce, and we’ve supported his ministry as an outreach for over a decade.   Service is at 9:00 AM.

Just as a note, coming up is the Passover (Pesach) and First Fruits, which are key days in the Feast of Unleavened Bread.  The Passover, of course is an incredible foreshadowing of the passion and death of Christ as our substitutionary sacrifice.    According the scripture, the day after the sabbath following the the Passover would be the “Feast of First Fruits”.   That would be a Sunday morning, and “First Fruits” was a special dedicated offering to God that would be the guarantee of great, subsequent harvest.

Sure enough- since everything in Christ’s life revolved around the prophetic predictions from both the prophets and Jewish holydays-  Christ rose from the dead on that day, as the first of this flesh-and-blood creation to be resurrected to a new, incorruptible life.   The holy day of “First Fruits” is the surety that we have as believers that there is a resurrection to new life too!

The imagery and specifics of the passover and first fruits is so compelling, that after Jesus’ resurrection, his first “Bible Study” if you will, with his dsicples was explaining how all of the scriptures from the biblical holidays to the prophets was about himself!  (Luke 24:25-27).

Those facts amazed the first disciples (Luke 24:32).  Later on, Paul used the same imagery and language of Christ the passover lamb and first fuits and  in his epistle to the Corinthians. (1 Cor 5:7,8; 16:8).

With that being said… I don’t know that I understand why Christians today are so insistent on observing “Easter” and “Lent”… neither which have any reference in the Bible, nor any connection to the Christian church until after the church began to be smothered by the trappings and symbolism of pagan Rome in the 4th century.

People tell me “What’s in a name?”…  indicating that they don’t think it matters what one celebrates, as long as it is celebrating Jesus’ resurrection.   And surely. a lot of sincere believers celebrate Easter, which to them is synonymous with the resurrection of Christ.   To them I would ask, what is so deficient about what Christ and the apostles taught (passover and first fruits) that we have to swap it out for a new, artificial holiday?   And how exactly does the new symbolism of colored eggs and Easter bunnies improve upon the biblical witness to the sacrifice and resurrection of Christ?

I don’t think it is an improvement at all.  And I think the world realizes it.   Do you want a real compelling witness and discussion about the truth and validity of the resurrection of Christ?    Look into what the Bible actually says about the Passover and First Fruits.   That is the account of Jesus, the Messiah, fulfilling his mission on a divinely appointed time-plan, in an undeniable fashion.

Patrick was a youth living in Scotland in the late 4th Century. He was captured by pirates who were raiding his father’s estate, and brought as a slave to Ireland, which was predominantly populated by druids and pagans.

In his Confessions, he recounts that he was not religious in any sense when he was put in servitude, but over the years, in his distress and despair as a slave, he turned to God. For nearly seven years he suffered in hunger, humiliation, and hopelessness, until God spoke to him in a vision, telling him to rise up, and head towards the coast where a ship would be waiting to take him back to Scotland. He did so, and as he had heard in the vision, the ship took him to his native land.

None of this would make him a remarkable individual, except for that fact that after he returned to his homeland, God again spoke to him, and told him to return to Ireland as a preacher. Patrick studied for over a decade for his mission. He left the security of his family’s estate to return to the country where he has been so mistreated. Since he had spent years as a slave there, he knew the local dialects, and gained audience with clan leaders wherever he could.

Patrick remained for nearly 40 years in that country. While there, he was constantly persecuted, survived numerous attempts on his life, took no money or gifts from anyone, and selflessly preached the Gospel of Jesus Christ. When he died, Ireland had some 300 churches that Patrick had planted, and over 100,000 converts to Christianity.

The shamrock is probably the only token today associated with the holiday that has some bearing on the true story of St. Patrick. While with the druids and pagans of Ireland, he used the symbol of the shamrock to explain the concept of the Trinity.

Writing in his Confessions, Patrick sums up his own amazement, at how from God turned the horrible circumstances of his youth into an opportunity to win the lost:

“And I was not worthy, nor was I such that the Lord should grant his humble servant this, that after hardships and such great trials, after captivity, after many years, he should give me so much favour in these people, a thing which in the time of my youth I neither hoped for nor imagined.”

Patrick stands as testament, not to “Celtic spirit” or Irish nationalism, but simply as a reminder as to how God can use the most desperate of circumstances, and darkest of times to ultimately do great things.

I’ve been promising him as a speaker for a while. Finally got him!

9 AM— and don’t forget “Spring Forward” so we all lose an hour of sleep… so go to bed early and set your clocks ahead before you go to sleep for the night!

I’ve tried to think about what was amiss in my affection for it, but haven’t been able to put my finger on it. The best I can do is surmise that, for the money that I pay to go to the movies, I expect a certain level of “wow” to grab me and entertain me, and it just wasn’t there.

Many people, it seems, have a similar expectation when they attend a church. There has to be a “shiver up their spine” when the worship band is playing. Or some type of eye-popping revelation that turns their world upside down. Or they feel they need to witness a miracle- a healing or even hear an anecdotal story about God doing something for someone. I’m not knocking any of those things. But I think that if that is the bar of expectation when we go to church, perhaps we are missing the point.

When believers come together, it really comes down to two purposes, which follow pretty closely to what Jesus said were the “greatest” commandments. Those he said was to “Love the Lord your God with all your heart”, and the second to “love your neighbor as yourself”. (Matt 22:36-40).

Our purpose at church is to first “love the Lord” which is expressed through our worship. Sure it is good to have a quality worship band with the latest and greatest of music, and instruments and such. But our worship doesn’t hang on that. Its nice when everyone on the altar can sing on key… but your worship is not contingent upon that either. It’s an attitude of the heart, that exalts Christ, and sanctifies Him above all else. It’s praise and adoration for him, which wipes out thoughts of whether or not we think that so-and-so should have worn a tie today, or whether we care if the Patriots win today or not. We are there to worship God. With all of our heart. And mind. And strength.

A good friend told me the other day that they go to their church because the pastor makes them feel good about themselves. I had to hold back from shouting “It’s not about you!”. If that pastor thinks that it his job to make people feel good about themselves, he needs to read his job description again!

The second reason we gather as a church, as Jesus said, is to “love your neighbor as yourself”. That is expressed in our service or ministry to others.

No matter where you attend, there are people with needs. Some of those needs are serious. Some are emotional, some are financial, some are spiritual. Some people just simply need someone else to show that they care. A mature believer is in the Body of Christ to SERVE. It is sad to see so many mature Christians get burnt out by manipulative, bureaucratic churches,and end up neglecting any type of membership in a Christian church. They let their past hurt override their mandate to gather together as a church, and consequently, really don’t have a medium for serving others.

Others attend a church out of their own emotional or spiritual neediness, which is understandable for a young Christian, but for the mature in Christ, we should be there to help meet those needs. JFK’s great quote could be paraphrased in this case “Ask not what the church can do for you…” .

Getting back to my original thought, I think it is justifiable if I don’t go back to see the Lorax a second time, or buy the DVD when it comes out. It just didn’t grab me. But when it comes to church, we are not there for the entertainment, or the “wow” factor, or whatever need fulfillment we get out of it. Our purpose there is to worship and serve.
Have a great Sunday!

He is billed out as the “most enthusiastic person in the world”… and if you follow his Twitter and Facebook feeds… one figures that is likely true!

With over 14 years of professional speaking experience in topics as diverse as personality types, communication and customer service all the way to finding your place of ministry in church, Phillip Zannini keeps people engaged and challenged.

The way we are billing it is:

“A factual look at the paranormal, including ghosts and hauntings. Attention will be given to how various cultures and religions have interpreted paranormal phenomenon, as well as how the Judeo-Christian tradition has understood it, in terms of exorcism, demonic possession, and the like.”

From a Christian standpoint, we have to ask, “what are these beings, if they even exist?” and “Are they benign or malevolent?”

Ultimately, we will be showing the nature of the “ghost” phenomena, and what believers in Christ can do about it.

http://www.letsaskgod.com/ghosts/