Jesus' Baptism | A Sermon on Matthew 3:13-17

Introduction
Today, we continue our journey through the beginning parts of the Gospel of Matthew.  Last Sunday, we were introduced to John the Baptist, Jesus’ cousin.  He was called the Baptist because he preached repentance and baptized those who repented—turned away from their sin.

John came to prepare the way for Jesus Christ, the Messiah, the Lord and Savior of the world.  Today, Jesus comes to be baptized by John.  Let’s read the story.

Matthew 3:13-17
¹³ Then Jesus came from Galilee to the Jordan to John, to be baptized by him. ¹⁴ John would have prevented him, saying, “I need to be baptized by you, and do you come to me?” ¹⁵ But Jesus answered him, “Let it be so now, for thus it is fitting for us to fulfill all righteousness.” Then he consented. ¹⁶ And when Jesus was baptized, immediately he went up from the water, and behold, the heavens were opened to him,^[a] and he saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove and coming to rest on him; ¹⁷ and behold, a voice from heaven said, “This is my beloved Son,^[b] with whom I am well pleased.”

Introducing Jesus
This is the first time in Matthew that we meet Jesus as an adult.  The earlier chapters show Jesus as a baby.  But now Jesus comes down from Galilee to be baptized by John and he is probably 30 years old (according to Luke 3:23).

John preached about repentance—that everyone needed to turn away from their sins and turn to God because the God’s Kingdom was at hand. When they repented, John baptized them as a sign.  But Jesus doesn’t need to repent.  1 Peter 2:22 tells us Jesus “committed no sin, and no deceit was found in his mouth.”  Jesus did not need to repent.  And so, John is taken aback.  He says, “I need to be baptized by you, and do you come to me?”

John recognized Jesus was special.  Of all the people who ever lived, Jesus is the only one who never sinned.  Think about that.  Everyone you have ever known has sinned.  And you know yourself; and you know you have sinned.  Even if it was only a small sin, you sinned.  You have been angry at someone in your heart. Or you have lusted in your heart.  Or you have been jealous or coveted what you neighbor had.  Romans 3:23 tells us, “For all have sinned and fallen short of the glorious standard of God.”  Everyone has sinned in one way or another.  But not Jesus.  Jesus was absolutely perfect and Holy, just as God is perfect and holy.  Yet Jesus was baptized for other reasons.

Jesus was Baptized “…to fulfill all righteousness.”
In Matthew 3:15, Jesus says He is to be baptized “…to fulfill all righteousness.”  What does that mean?  Jesus’ baptism was part of God’s plan and symbolized His obedience to God and His identification with humanity.  Though Jesus was sinless, He was baptized to fully identify with us—the people He came to save. His baptism symbolized taking our sin and dying in our place.

Jesus was Baptized To Mark the Beginning of His Ministry
Baptism is a sacred ceremony that marks the beginning of a spiritual journey.  For Jesus, baptism served as the launching point for His public ministry.  Immediately after His baptism, the Holy Spirit descended on Him like a dove, and the Father declared from heaven, “This is my Son, whom I love; with him I am well pleased” (Mt. 3:16-17). This was a clear affirmation of Jesus’ divine identity and mission.  And it was the starting point for His ministry.

Jesus was Baptized To Set an Example for Us
Jesus’ baptism was an example for us to follow. We are baptized when we start following Jesus.  At the end of His ministry, Jesus commanded His disciples to baptize others (Mt. 28:19-20), signifying a commitment to God and new life in Jesus and their beginning of a new life.

Lessons for Us Today
Jesus' baptism matters to us today because it shows His humility and His willingness to identify with sinners, even though He was sinless. We often struggle with pride.

We don’t want people looking down on us or to feel like people are judging us.  We may even avoid coming to the altar to pray in church just because we wonder, “What will people think?”  Jesus’ humility to be baptized right alongside all the other sinners of His day—even though Jesus was innocent without any sin in his life—should be an example to us.  Stop worrying about what everyone else thinks.  Just be obedient to God.  Listen to His voice and obey.

Jesus’ baptism also marks the beginning of His public ministry and sets an example for us.  How do you officially mark the beginning of your faith journey?  It is through baptism.

Some are baptized as infants, a sign that they are part of God’s family from the very beginning.  What a beautiful and sacred thing to seek God’s grace to raise our children in the Christian faith.  But even children who are born into a Christian family that promises to raise them in the faith must confirm their faith for themselves when they are old enough to make their own decisions.  In the Christian church, we call this ceremony “confirmation”, because the person who was baptized as an infant “confirms” they have decided for themselves to follow Jesus as Lord.  And those who were not baptized as infants and decide to follow Jesus as adults, begin their discipleship with the sacrament of baptism.  Baptism is the beginning for us, just as it was for Jesus. 

For us, baptism is a symbol of repentance, cleansing, and a new life in Christ.  It is an outward sign of something real God does inside us.  Jesus didn’t need to repent, but He was baptized to fulfill all righteousness (Matthew 3:15), showing us the importance of obedience to God. His baptism also foreshadows His death and resurrection, reminding us that through Him, we too can be made new.  Ultimately, Jesus' baptism points us to our own need for salvation and a relationship with God. It’s a call to follow Him, turn from sin, and live as citizens of His Kingdom. 

“This is my beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased.”
When Jesus was baptized, the Holy Spirit descended on Him, and God the Father affirmed Him, saying, "This is my beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased" (Matthew 3:17).  This moment reveals the Trinity—Father, Son, and Holy Spirit—all present together.  But it can reveal something else too.  It reveals how God see us when we walk with Christ. 

There are several Scriptures that teach when we are in Christ, God sees Jesus in us. For example:
Galatians 2:20 – “I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me.
2 Corinthians 5:17 – “Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come.”
Romans 8:1 – “There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.”

The mystery of the Christian faith is that our sins are washed away by the blood of Christ.  When God looks at us, He doesn’t see the dark and shameful deeds of our past.  Instead, He sees Christ in us.  And the affirmation the Father spoke of Jesus, He speaks over us:  “This is my beloved Son [or daughter], with whom I am well pleased.” 

Now, if you’ve ever had your earthly father or mother affirm their love and admiration for you, it is a tremendous blessing.  But now imagine the Father of the whole universe affirming His love for you.  Wow!  What a blessing!

If you are a Christian—meaning, you have repented of your sin and decided to follow Jesus—God looks at you and affirms you just as He affirmed Jesus:  “This is my beloved Son (or daughter), with whom I am well pleased.”  Take a moment to imagine God the Father saying these words to you right now…  If you follow Jesus, this is how God sees you.

There may be some reading this message who have not yet decided to follow Jesus.  Maybe you don’t believe because something about the story is really hard to believe: that God could overlook your sins, or that God would become a man and die for us, or that Jesus could rise from the dead.  I understand that it is remarkable and hard to believe.  I can't prove the Good News about Jesus to you the way a scientist can prove gravity, but I'm not asking you to believe blindly.  There is plenty of evidence for a Divine Creator God and for the Love of God reaching out to us.  And there is plenty of evidence for the real difference faith in Jesus makes in a person's life and the hope.  Being a Christian requires a leap of faith.  It's not blind faith, because we have evidence that we can trust God, but we need faith to leap across what we can see and know to full trust in God.  But it is so worth it.  I encourage you to take that leap.

Maybe you are afraid, but I pray you will be bold and courageous.  Maybe you are too proud and don't want to admit your mistakes.  But don't let pride deter you from something so important.  Turn to Jesus today and be saved.

The saddest and most dangerous reason some people don't follow Jesus is because they don't care.  They are just fine with living their life however they want.  They don't care about God or even if there is a God.  They don't care about what will happen once they die.  They just want to live their life however they please and don't care what God or anyone else thinks.  I pray that God's message through Jesus and John the Baptist will shake those who don't care to the core.  I pray that God will send whatever trials or tribulations necessary to wake people up so they do care. 

John and Jesus preached the same message. They said, “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.”  God has extended an offer of grace and mercy.  He will forgive your sin.  He will give you a new and perfect heart—one that is full of love for God and your fellow man.  And He will welcome you into His Kingdom if you will accept Jesus as Lord.  And He will look at you too and say with genuine love:  “This is my beloved child, with whom I am well pleased.”

But if the Kingdom comes before you repent and you are found still to be in rebellion, then there will weeping and gnashing of teeth and eternal punishment.  Jesus and John both said there would be hell to pay for anyone who doesn't repent of their sins and enter into the Kingdom of God.  For only those who accept Christ as Lord can dwell in the eternal Kingdom of God where there is eternal love, and joy, and peace, and life.  For all others, their will be eternal punishment. 

The choice is yours.

The Tabernacle | A Sermon on Hebrews 9:1-14

Introduction
The blog is the second in a series about Holy Ground, to better appreciate dwelling in the holy presence of God leading up to a rededicate our church as Holy Ground on August 25^th.  Today, one word is the focus of everything we will talk about:  Tabernacle.  

In Exodus, God told Moses to go to Pharoah and tell him to let God's people go.  The Israelites were slaves in Egypt.  However, God delivered them through a series of ten plagues that brought Pharaoh to his knees.  So God led the Israelites out of Egypt and through the wilderness toward the Promised Land.  God appeared as a pillar of cloud by day and a pillar of fire by night.  And God instructed Moses to build a Tabernacle--a big tent complex, worship center--to serve as God's dwelling on earth.  Whenever the pillar of smoke/fire moved, the Israelites moved.  Whenever the pillar stopped, the Israelites erected the Tabernacle and God's presence would enter and rest inside it.

A passage from the New Testament describes the ancient Tabernacle, connects it to Christ, and explains it's significance for us today.

Hebrews 9:1-14
¹ That first covenant between God and Israel had regulations for worship and a place of worship here on earth. ² There were two rooms in that Tabernacle. In the first room were a lampstand, a table, and sacred loaves of bread on the table. This room was called the Holy Place. ³ Then there was a curtain, and behind the curtain was the second room called the Most Holy Place. ⁴ In that room were a gold incense altar and a wooden chest called the Ark of the Covenant, which was covered with gold on all sides. Inside the Ark were a gold jar containing manna, Aaron’s staff that sprouted leaves, and the stone tablets of the covenant. ⁵ Above the Ark were the cherubim of divine glory, whose wings stretched out over the Ark’s cover, the place of atonement. But we cannot explain these things in detail now.

⁶ When these things were all in place, the priests regularly entered the first room as they performed their religious duties. ⁷ But only the high priest ever entered the Most Holy Place, and only once a year. And he always offered blood for his own sins and for the sins the people had committed in ignorance. ⁸ By these regulations the Holy Spirit revealed that the entrance to the Most Holy Place was not freely open as long as the Tabernacle and the system it represented were still in use.

⁹ This is an illustration pointing to the present time. For the gifts and sacrifices that the priests offer are not able to cleanse the consciences of the people who bring them. ¹⁰ For that old system deals only with food and drink and various cleansing ceremonies—physical regulations that were in effect only until a better system could be established.

¹¹ So Christ has now become the High Priest over all the good things that have come. He has entered that greater, more perfect Tabernacle in heaven, which was not made by human hands and is not part of this created world. ¹² With his own blood—not the blood of goats and calves—he entered the Most Holy Place once for all time and secured our redemption forever.

¹³ Under the old system, the blood of goats and bulls and the ashes of a heifer could cleanse people’s bodies from ceremonial impurity. ¹⁴ Just think how much more the blood of Christ will purify our consciences from sinful deeds so that we can worship the living God. For by the power of the eternal Spirit, Christ offered himself to God as a perfect sacrifice for our sins.

Symbols of the Tabernacle
Hebrews describes how the Tabernacle looked (see also the image to the left).  It was a tent designed to be put up, used, taken back down, and moved to a new locations where God led the Israelites.  Whenever the pillar of smoke/fire representing the presence of God stopped, the Israelites stopped.  They erected the Tabernacle and God's glory enter it and made it Holy Ground.  The tent was just physical material, however beautiful and elaborate.  It was God's presence that made it holy.

The Tabernacle had an outer courtyard where priests and Levites would receive ritually pure worshippers who were making a sacrifice.  No one else could enter.  Sacrifices were placed on the Brazen Altar in the courtyard.  There was also a laver for washing.  (With all the sloughtered sacrifices, they certainly needed a large pool for washing.)  Inside the tabernacle were two room--the Holy Place and the Most Holy Place--where only priests could enter.  

The Holy Place was where the priests would perform the daily rituals of lighting the Golden Lampstand, which represented the Tree of Life from the Garden of Eden.  They would also make a daily bread offering on the Table of Showbread.  

The second room, the Most Holy Place, was off limits to everyone.  It house the Ark of the Covenant.  The only person who could enter the ost Holy Place (also called the Holy of Holies), was the High Priest.  And he could only enter once a year on the Day of Atonement.  On that day, the High Priest would enter to sprinkle blood on the Ark, first to atone for his own sins, the again to atone for the community's sins.  

The High Priest enter the Most Holy Place with fear and trembling.  It was highly dangerous to be in the holy presence of God.  He wore a robe with bells on the fringe and a rope tied around his ankle.  As long as the other priests could hear the bells jingling while he was in the Most Holy Place, they knew he was still alive and moving.  But if the bells stopped, they could pull the priest out by the rope tied around his ankle.  Now how would you feel going into such a dangerous situation?

The Ark of the Covenant was thought to be God's Throne (or footstool) on earth.  It was where the presence of God rested when the pillar of smoke/fire came entered the Tabernacle.  Two golden cherubim--spiritual beings (like angels)-- sat atop the Ark, symbolically guarding God’s throne.  The first time we see cherubim in the Bible is when God stationed two cherubim at the gate of the Garden of Eden after God exiled Adam and Eve for their sin.  Again, we see the echo's of the Garden of Eden story.

A curtain (or veil) separated the Holy Place from the Most Holy Place.  It was a barrier to keep people from stumbling into God’s presence. Why? It's not to protect God and it's not because God is angry and wants to hurt people.  It's because sinful people cannot survive the holy presence of a perfect God.  Our God is an all consuming fire; His glory would consume our sin and us with it.

“Why Does This Matter?”
Hebrews 9:9 tells us what all this has to do with Christians today.  It says, “This is an illustration pointing to the present time…”  The Old Testament system illustrates how God ultimately saves us through Jesus Christ.

In fact, we see the word ""Tabernacle" in a very familiar verse we often read at Christmastime.  John 1:14 - "The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. We have seen his glory, the glory of the one and only Son, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth."  The word translated as Dwelling is the Greek word Skenoo, which means to Tabernacle.  Jesus, the Son of God, "tabernacled" among us.  Just as God’s glory dwelled in the Tabernacle in the OT, God’s glory dwelled in Jesus among us on Earth—God in the flesh.  But there’s more.

A Perfect Tabernacle in Heaven
Hebrews 9:11 – “So Christ has now become the High Priest over all the good things that have come. He has entered that greater, more perfect Tabernacle in heaven, which was not made by human hands and is not part of this created world.”

This  description of the Old Testament Tabernacle is a picture of a glorious, heavenly dwelling of God.  And Jesus entered that Tabernacle as our High Priest and offered His own life to atone for us.  Hebrews 9:12, “With his own blood—not the blood of goats and calves—he entered the Most Holy Place once for all time and secured our redemption forever.”

How did Jesus do this?  Jesus died on the cross for our sins.  He shed His blood for us.  The physical things we see on earth are a reflection of the spiritual things happening in the Heavenly realm.  Always remember, we only see things from a earthly perspective.  But, what we see is quite often an echo of the spiritual work of God in the spiritual realm.

Your Sin & God’s Forgiveness
Your sin – your mistakes and your disobedience – separates you from God.  It corrupts your life, messes everything up, and even distorts the world around us.  It is why world is out of whack.  It is why there is disease, disorder, hate, suffering, and death.  Not just your sin, but the sin of the whole world.  But your sin is a big part of the problem.
The world we live in is broke.  We are broke.  I’m broke.  Your broke.  But Jesus came to fix it.  

The Old Testament Tabernacle illustrates how Jesus fixies it all.  He serves as our High Priest to intercede for us to God.  Jesus lays down His own life as the sacrifice for our sins.  He is the Lamb of God.  His blood washes away our sins forever.  When we decide to turn away from our sin, we accept the free gift of God’s grace through Jesus Christ.  God saves us! 

What Happens When God Saves Us?
When God saves us, first of all, our sins are completely washed away. We become holy as God is holy.

Second, there is no longer anything to separate us from God.  We don't have to be like the High Priest in the Old Testament who feared they would dies in God's presence.  No, Hebrews 4:16 says we can "boldly to the throne of grace" because there is no longer any in us.  Christ already atoned for it.

Third, God sends His Holy Spirit to “Tabernacle” inside us.  Just as God's Holy Spirit enterend the Old Testament Tabernacle, and just as God' Holy Spirit descended on Jesus when He was baptized in the Jordan River, God's Holy Spirit comes to reside inside us as His New Testament Tabernacle.  Do you remember the story of Pentecost from Acts chapter 2?  Jesus told His followers to wait in Jerusalem until He sent the Holy Spirit.  So they were all meeting in the Upper Room when the Holy Spirit came during the Feast of Pentecost.  There was the sound of a mighty rushing wind.  And then what appeared as tongues (or pillars) of fire rested atop each believers head!  Do you see the Old Testament image of the Tabernacle being fulfilled?  We are the New Tabernacle!

Fourth, God sees Jesus in us.  We don't have to be afraid.  God no longer sees our sins and mistakes.  He see Jesus in us.  And God says to us what He said to His son at Jesus' baptism:  "Behold, this is my beloved Son!"  If you repent of your sin and follow Jesus as your Savior and Lord, God sees Jesus in you.  That is why when Jesus was crucified, it specifically says the curtain in the Temple was torn from top to bottom (Matthew 27:51)--from the top, meaning it was torn by God and not by human hands.

Fifth, God sends us on a mission.  Tabernacles are meant to be on the move!  They were portable houses of God.  We too are meant to be active and mobile.  Jesus said, "Go, therefore, and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, and teach them to obey all my commands."  (See Mathew 28:19-20)

Finally, God begins to actually heal us.  It's not just a visual trick that God sees no sin in us.  When His Holy Spirit comes to live in you, the Spirit gets to work cleaning you up from the inside out.  God's holiness starts to take over your life.  His glory starts to shine forth in you.  How glorius!

Invitation
I want to invite you to respond to what God has said to you in this message today.  If you've never done so, why don't you choose to follow Jesus today.  He will save you.  He will liberate you from sin and death and grant you eternal life.  Humble yourself and come to Him today through Jesus Christ.  Pray and ask God to forgive your sins.  Commit to follow Jesus as Lord.  Then you will receive the Holy Spirit and start to serve as God's Tabernacle on earth.

Have you been baptized?  Perhaps God is calling you to be baptized.  Talk to me or to your pastor, and we can perform this powerful and important sacrament for you to be baptized, in obedience to Jesus command and as a way to receive the grace of God in your life.

There may be some reading this who feel God is calling you to ministry.  Right now, the harvest is plentiful.  There are many churches who need pastors, children's ministers, music leaders, youth leaders, volunteers of all sorts.  God is calling many to serve, but they are afraid.  Is God calling you?  Why don't you answer?  Answer the call today.  Talk to your pastor about it; or talk to me.

Perhaps there are some among you who need to join a church.  Christians need to be part of a faith community.  If you are not already a member of a church, find one to join today.  If you are in my area and looking, I invite you to join my church.  You will be loved and you will find a place to serve.  Talk to me.

Controlling the Tongue - A Petecost Sermon on James 3:1-12 & Acts 2:1-4

Introduction
We have been working our way through the Epistle of James.  And I think the Lord has a sense of humor, because today is Pentecost Sunday and it is also the day I have scheduled to preach on James 3:1-12.  Tongues are an important feature both passages.  For in Acts, the Holy Spirit descends on the church and appears over the heads of Christians as “tongues of fire” and James tells us we need to control our tongues.  So let’s get right into it.  First let’s read what James says about our tongues.

James 3:1-12
¹ Not many of you should become teachers, my fellow believers, because you know that we who teach will be judged more strictly. ² We all stumble in many ways. Anyone who is never at fault in what they say is perfect, able to keep their whole body in check. 

³ When we put bits into the mouths of horses to make them obey us, we can turn the whole animal. ⁴ Or take ships as an example. Although they are so large and are driven by strong winds, they are steered by a very small rudder wherever the pilot wants to go. ⁵ Likewise, the tongue is a small part of the body, but it makes great boasts. Consider what a great forest is set on fire by a small spark. ⁶ The tongue also is a fire, a world of evil among the parts of the body. It corrupts the whole body, sets the whole course of one’s life on fire, and is itself set on fire by hell.

7 All kinds of animals, birds, reptiles and sea creatures are being tamed and have been tamed by mankind, ⁸ but no human being can tame the tongue. It is a restless evil, full of deadly poison.

⁹ With the tongue we praise our Lord and Father, and with it we curse human beings, who have been made in God’s likeness. ¹⁰ Out of the same mouth come praise and cursing. My brothers and sisters, this should not be. ¹¹ Can both fresh water and salt water flow from the same spring? ¹² My brothers and sisters, can a fig tree bear olives, or a grapevine bear figs? Neither can a salt spring produce fresh water.

The Power of the Tongue
James compares the power of our words to the three things: 
1) A bit in a horse’s mouth,
2) a rudder on a ship, and
3) a spark that sets a fire.

The first two remind us about the power of our tongue to change the direction of our lives. 
A bit attached to reigns tells a horse where to go and a rudder tells a ship where to go.

I have never owned a horse, but I have been horseback riding several times.  You always get an orientation at the beginning of the excursion about how to get up on the horse and how to direct the animals.  You push the reigns o the right to go right or left to go left and pull back to make the animal stop.  They will often tell you, "You don't have to yank on the reigns."  It's not necessary to yank or pull hard.  The horse's tongue is very sensitive to the metal bit across its tongue (that's attached to the reigns).  Just a light pressure on the reigns and the bit is all it takes to steer a horse that weighs 1,000 pounds.

Cargo Ship
And James says a small rudder tells a ship where to go.  The OOCL Hong Kong is one of the largest container ships on earth.  It is as long as 13 football fields and as wide as 2 football fields.  It can carry 330,000 tons, which is about the same as 8,000 fully loaded tractor trailers!  That's huge, yet the ship is steered by a tiny rudder. 

That’s the potential power you have stored in the words that come out of your mouth!  Your words have tremendous power to direct your life and the life of people to whom you speak.  

What you tell yourself makes a huge difference.  We all have an internal voice.  When we wake up in the morning and look in the mirror, you might say, "Man, you look awfully tired today."  Or you may say, "You can do anything God wants you to do with His help."  Or you may be critical and say, "You're just a sorry excuse for a man.  You can't do anything."  Now what you tell yourself has a powerful effect on what you will be able to do.  We have to train ourselves to speak kindly and positively and truthfully and helpfully to ourselves, because it has a tremendous impact on the direction of our lives.

What you say to a child can change the course of their life.  I was at a band banquet for the Coahulla Creek High School Band last Thursday and the band director, Mr. Dodge, told the story of two adults that said things to him when he was in college that changed the direction of his life.  What they said to him when he was just a high school student made want to be a band director.  Now he is in his mid-twenties, about to have his first baby, and he is a band director and has a whole career in music ahead of him.  All this came from words people spoke to him in his youth.  

Your words have the power to change someone's life.  What you say to your spouse, your employees, your friends is powerful.

The Tongue is Also a Fire
James says, “The tongue also is a fire, a world of evil among the parts of the body. It corrupts the whole body, sets the whole course of one’s life on fire, and is itself set on fire by hell.”

You know, fire is one of the most useful and powerful tools human beings can wield.  Human beings are the only animals known to purposefully start and use fire.  It keeps us warm.  Cheers our spirits.  And can be used for many other important things.  If you drive a car, you are able to get from one destination to another because of the fire that burns in the internal combustion engine.  If you drive an electric car, it was probably charged on electricity that wsa created in a power plant that uses fire to generate electricity.

Fire is a central part of our worship service.  In the center of our sanctuary, there on our sacred altar, are two candles burning with fire.  They symbolize the dual natures of Jesus Christ: His divine nature and His human nature.  Jesus is both fully God and fully man.  Additionally, the lighting of these candles at the beginning of our service reminds us Christ is the Light of the World, bringing light into the darkness of sin.

Fire is good and useful—even holy—when it is properly used and controlled.  But when it is misused or used carelessly, it can destroy and even kill.  So it is with our words.  They can be the most powerful and useful parts of our being.  Jesus is known as The Word.  And it is with The Word that God created everything in creation.  It is with your words that you can praise God, witnesses to His goodness, and speak life to all.  But, because of sin which corrupts our words, our words can also be a deadly fire that destroys.

Some of the ways our words can be a deadly poison, or a destroying fire are:
When we gossip about people.  When we slander someone.  When we lie. 
When we are overly negative and critical.  When we are verbally abusive. 
When are always blaming others.  When we are prone to angry outbursts. 
When we are always sarcastic.  When we are verbally manipulative. 

These ways of speaking are poisonous and an uncontrolled fire that destroys.

One of the important doctrines (or teachings) of the Christian Church is the concept of total depravity.  Total depravity is the belief that sin has affected every part of human nature and all human faculties—intellect, will, emotions, and even our speech. This does not mean that people are as evil as they could be, but that sin has infected every aspect of a persons life.  In fact, sin has even rendered people incapable of turning to God on their own.  If it were not for the prevenient grace of God, we wouldn’t even realize how bad off we are and how we desperately need to turn to God to save us.

But the glorious Good News is, God pours out His grace on us—sometimes like a splash of cold water—that snaps us back to consciousness and we realize, “Oh my God!  I am a broken, sinful, busted human being!  Even my words can be a deadly fire I can’t control!”

James says in verse 7-8, “People can tame all kinds of animals, birds, reptiles, and fish, but no one can tame the tongue.”  But Jesus words from Matthew 19:26 are the answer, “Humanly speaking, it is impossible. But with God everything is possible.”

God is the one with the power and the will to tame the human tongue.  If you will turn your life over to Him, if you will turn your tongue over to Him, He can and will transform your words.

We see this dramatically displayed in the story of Pentecost—the birth of the Christian Church
in Acts chapter 2 when God sent the Holy Spirit to inhabit His people, the Church.

Acts 2:1-4
¹ When the day of Pentecost came, they were all together in one place. ² Suddenly a sound like the blowing of a violent wind came from heaven and filled the whole house where they were sitting. ³ They saw what seemed to be tongues of fire that separated and came to rest on each of them. ⁴ All of them were filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other tongues as the Spirit enabled them.

Tongues of Fire
The believers who followed Jesus were gathered together praying and worshiping God in an upper room.  And God did something amazing.  Before this moment, the Holy Spirit of God was primarily found in one place—the Holy of Holies inside the Temple in Jerusalem.  No one could enter the Holy of Holies, except one man—the high priest—one day a year, on the Day of Atonement.  A curtain separated the Holy of Holies from the rest of the Temple so no one would be tempted to enter or even look inside.  

But when Jesus was crucified, the curtain was torn from top to bottom.  It was torn from the top not the bottom, showing God was the one who tore it.  It was torn to show there no longer needed to be a curtain to separate God from man, because Jesus died on the cross to atone for our sin once and for all.

And then on Pentecost Sunday, the Holy Spirit of God descended on the first Christians.  No longer would His Holy Spirit live on the altar in the Holy of Holies.  Starting on that first Pentecost Sunday,
the Holy Spirit lives in God’s people who follow Jesus Christ as Lord.  The two candles you see burning on our altar are a symbol of who you can be if you will put your faith in Jesus.  But it has to be a living faith that moves and obeys.  It is a living faith that hands your heart and your tongue over to God and every other part of you.

If you do this, then the Holy Spirit of God will begin to speak through you, just as He did through those first Christian in the upper room on Pentecost 2,000 years ago.  He enabled them to speak in foreign languages so the people gathered in Jerusalem could hear the Good News about Jesus death and ressurection in their own native tongue.  If God can enable humans to miraculously speak in other languages to accomplish His plans, then He can surely help you learn to control your own tongue.
The question is, do you trust Him?  Will you choose today to let Him be in charge of your life?

Closing
As we worship here this Pentecost Sunday, let us remember the transformative power of the Holy Spirit that touched the first believers and is still active and available to us today. 
The same Spirit that descended as tongues of fire,
enabling the disciples to speak in diverse tongues, invites us to surrender our own tongues—
and indeed, our whole selves—to God's sanctifying grace.

Today, I invite each of you to consider the 'fires' your words may have kindled,
the relationships they have shaped, and the paths they have set.
Let us ask the Holy Spirit to fill us anew, to tame our tongues, to transform our hearts,
and to use our voices for the glory of God.
As the candles on our altar symbolize the divine and human natures of Christ,
let our words reflect the nature of Christ within us—words of life, hope, and healing.

God the Father, God the Son, God the Holy Spirit,
Grant us the courage to speak as the Spirit leads, transforming every word into a testament of Your love and power. May our lives and our lips always glorify Christ, the Word made flesh, who dwells among us and speaks through us. Amen."

God Rescues Noah

Introduction
My church is preparing for Vacation Bible School in a few weeks so I want to look at the 5 famous Bible stories we will be covering during the 5 days of VBS.  In this blog, I'll share the story for the first day – God Rescues Noah, God keeps His promises.

Genesis 6:17-22
¹⁷ “Look! I am about to cover the earth with a flood that will destroy every living thing that breathes. Everything on earth will die. ¹⁸ But I will confirm my covenant with you. So enter the boat—you and your wife and your sons and their wives. ¹⁹ Bring a pair of every kind of animal—a male and a female—into the boat with you to keep them alive during the flood. ²⁰ Pairs of every kind of bird, and every kind of animal, and every kind of small animal that scurries along the ground, will come to you to be kept alive. ²¹ And be sure to take on board enough food for your family and for all the animals.”

²² So Noah did everything exactly as God had commanded him.

Was There Really a Worldwide Flood?
There is ample evidence, even outside the Bible, of a tremendous flood that devastated the Biblical world sometime in the ancient past.  Scientists describe the earth at the end of the last major ice age as a time of great flooding.  Geological evidence confirms it.  Glaciers melted and caused the oceans to rise some 400 feet.  (Look up… Football field… 40 story building…)

The Black Sea, once a freshwater lake, was flooded by sea water after the last ice age. 
It is now sat water.  The ruins of hundreds of villages now lie beneath water in the Black Sea,
the Mediterranean Sea, the Persian Gulf, and in many other places around the world—including Japan, China, and Thailand.

Flooding at the dawn of human civilization was terrible and catastrophic and survives in the memories of hundreds of cultures all around the world—The Epic of Gilgamesh from Ancient Mesopotamia, the ancient Greeks had a flood story, the Hindus have a deluge tale in India, as well as flood stories by the Aztecs in Mexico, and Native Americans.  These stories have all striking similarities to the Noah story in the Bible—including boats, birds, animals, and heroes interacting with gods.  If that many cultures from around the world remember a great flood, it's worth taking it serious. 

God Keeps His Promises
But what does God want us to get from the story in the Holy Bible?  A major theme from the Noah and the flood story is God keeps His promises. The sign of God’s faithfulness is the rainbow.

A lot of people ask, “How could a good God do something so terrible as flood the whole earth?  You could ask the same thing of a doctor who amputates a person’s leg.  Why would they do such a horrible thing as cutting off a leg?  Well, if the leg was so badly injured or infected that keeping it would jeopardize the whole body, then the most caring thing a doctor could do would be to cut off the leg.  And that’s what God saw when He looked at His world.  Creation was so evil, the best thing to do was destroy what was too far gone and preserve what was salvageable:  Noah, his family, and the animals on the Ark. 

Despite humanity’s sin, which corrupted God’s beautiful creation and broke our relationship with God, God didn’t give up on us.  He promised to save the world and He kept His promise.  And God started with Noah and his family.  And God also saved the animals. God is always working to save us.  And God keeps His promises.  But we must trust God and obey

Noah had to trust God.  God told Noah to build an ark. If Noah didn’t do it, he couldn’t be saved.  But Noah trusted God and obeyed and he was saved.  Noah’s obedience also saved his family and the animals. When we trust God and obey, it doesn’t just change our lives; it has the potential to change our family, our community, and even the environment around us.  But we have to trust God to keep His promises and we have to obey.

The Dove
There’s another important symbol in the story—the dove.  In Genesis 8, we learn the flood was so great the water covered the earth for 5 months.  Then the Ark came to rest on Mount Ararat, but only mountain peaks were visible for another 2.5 months.  How would Noah know when it was safe to leave the Ark?  He couldn’t see far enough to know.

Eventually, Noah opened a window and released 2 birds.  Do you know what they were?  He released a raven and a dove.  I don’t know why Noah released a raven.  I need to research that.  I'm sure the Bible says that for a reason.  One reason may be that ravens eat carrion, and there would have been a lot of dead carcasses floating around.  The Bible doesn't tell us anything else about the raven, but that tantalizing mention of it makes me want to know more.

On the other hand, we know why the dove was released.  A dove prefers to walk on dry land.  The dove could fly around and see things Noah and his family couldn’t see and if it didn't find a dry place to land, it would return to the Ark.  Genesis 8:9 says, “The dove could find no place to land because the water still covered the ground. So it returned to the boat.”  Seven days later, Noah released the dove again and it returned with an olive branch.  It had found something, but not enough to live on.  So Noah waited seven more days and released the dove again.  This time the dove did not return.  That meant there was dry land outside for the bird to walk on. 

In the New Testament, the dove represents the Holy Spirit.  When Jesus was baptized, a dove descended upon Jesus and God said, “This is my beloved Son, who brings me great joy.” (Matthew 3:16-17)  And the gospels indicate the dove was the Holy Spirit. 

Did you know that every Christian who follows Jesus as their Lord has the Holy Spirit of God living inside them?  In John 14:15-17, Jesus said, “If you love me, keep my commands. And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another advocate to help you and be with you forever— the Spirit of truth.”  The Holy Spirit is the Spirit of Truth.  The Holy Spirit guides us.  And 1 Corinthians 6:19 says, "Your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit."

Finding Our Way
Do you ever feel lost?  I mean, we just can’t see what the future holds.  We don’t know what’s up ahead.  There might be a flood in our future or some sickness, or another pandemic.  We don’t know, but Christians have an asset the rest of the world doesn’t.  We have the Holy Spirit to show us the way.  

When we pray and ask God to lead us into the unknown future, it’s like a window and releasing a dove.  The Holy Spirit, who sees what we can’t see, tells us what to do.  But we’ve got to be in tune.  We’ve got to be listening.  We do that through daily prayer and walking with God. When we walk with Jesus daily, and practice reading the Scriptures, praying, fasting, worshiping, then we grow more accustomed to hearing the Spirit’s voice and following where He leads. 

And just like Noah, we have to trust God and obey.  If the Spirit says build an ark. Build and ark.  If the Spirit says, get off the boat, get off the boat.  If the Spirit says, talk to that person over there.  Talk to them.  If the Spirit says, help with VBS.  You better help!  

Now, when the Spirit says do something, you may not understand why.  It may seem like the silliest thing in the world.  You may even think, “I’m not gonna do that!  That doesn't make any sense.”  But you can’t see what the Holy Spirit sees.  So you better just trust the Spirit and obey. 

Closing
Noah trusted God and was saved—he and his whole family and all the animals.  After it was all over, they all left the boat.  And Noah built and altar and worshiped the Lord.  And the Lord was pleased and made a covenant (a divine agreement) with Noah and his family.  

In Genesis 9:12-16, God said, “¹² I am giving you a sign of my covenant with you and with all living creatures, for all generations to come. ¹³ I have placed my rainbow in the clouds. It is the sign of my covenant with you and with all the earth. ¹⁴ When I send clouds over the earth, the rainbow will appear in the clouds, ¹⁵ and I will remember my covenant with you and with all living creatures. Never again will the floodwaters destroy all life. ¹⁶ When I see the rainbow in the clouds, I will remember the eternal covenant between God and every living creature on earth.”

God made a covenant with Noah and the sign was the rainbow.  Then later, Jesus came to make a New Covenant with people.  John 3:16 – “For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him may not perish but may have eternal life.”  The sign of the New Covenant is Holy Communion, which represents the body and blood of Christ offered for us on the cross for the forgiveness of our sins.  If you trust Christ, repent of your sins, and follow Jesus as Lord, you will be forgiven and saved for eternal life.  So repent of your sins, believe in Jesus, and decide to follow Him today, because God keeps His promises.