Thank You God for Paul and Diana

I thank my God every time I remember you.  In all my prayers for all of you, I always pray with joy because of your partnership in the gospel from the first day until now, being confident of this, that he who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus. Philippians 1:3-6 (NIV)We got blessed the day Paul and Diana Baker walked into our church. At the time we had no idea just how great a blessing they would turn out to be, but now, years later, we know, and how we thank God.They had built a beautiful retirement home, presumably to do a lot of bass fishing at Lake McClure and Lake Don Pedro. But I don’t think they ever did all the fishing and retirement stuff they had anticipated. Instead, they became ever more deeply involved in the life and ministry of our church family. The fishing boat got underused and their “free” time got overused in serving Christ and his local church here in Don Pedro. How we have benefited from that selflessness, yet how we thank God for it.It is kind of surprising they stuck around after the first visit. Two Assemblies of God folks in a Baptist church lead by a German. Talk about being fish out of water. It made us better, this humility, this willingness to give some things up, this lack of insistence for their own comfort zone in order to further the work of and bless the body of Christ here in Don Pedro.  Oh, how we thank for it.I can’t tell you how many hats they have worn working, serving, and ministering in our midst. I do know this much, there is no way I can juggle as many plates. Maybe it is all Diana’s fault, because, besides all that she did, she unleashed Paul and thus enabled this whirlwind, who became to us and always will be to us, Pastor Paul. How we thank God for that.God knew what both our church and I personally needed. I sure needed a friend, someone to help carry the load, a brother to I in navigating some of the toughest times in my life and ministry, an encourager to cheer me on when I was far from my best. As such, how I thank God for Paul.They flew this selling of their house and plan to go traveling under the radar. They knew I, and we would be praying against it with all our might. I think they also knew doing it any other way would be just too hard because this love between us has become a two-way street, or more accurately, a multi-lane major highway. And, how we thank and praise God for that.To God be all glory. How we love you, Pastor Paul and Diana.Pastor Hans

Following Jesus, means you get involved in what Jesus is doing

Join the Army, and you will be doing Army things. Join Weight-Watchers, and you will be doing Weight-Watcher things. Join a book club, and you will be reading books. Join bad company, and you will be doing immoral things (1 Corinthians 15:33). Join Jesus, and you will be doing Jesus things. The decision to follow Jesus, to trust him as the Lord (Director) of your life and Savior of your sinful soul, also means you will get involved in what he is doing. “Follow me, and I will make you fishers of men,” (Mark 4:19), Jesus told the two Galilean fishermen Peter and Andrew.

  • Jesus didn’t spend a lot of time doing nothing. He didn’t waste any time. He modeled and called his followers to a life completely surrendered to God’s will and activity. “Jesus explained, ‘I tell you the truth, the Son can do nothing by himself. He does only what he sees the Father doing. Whatever the Father does, the Son also does’” John 5:19 (NLT2).“We must quickly carry out the tasks assigned us by the one who sent us. The night is coming, and then no one can work” John 9:4 (NLT2).

 

  • Jesus told the disciples what he wanted them to be and do. So, we see them preaching, teaching, praying, casting out demons, healing, feeding the hungry, washing and clothing people, taking care of widows and orphans, being generous, serving Christ and each other, caring for and going into the whole world, … "If anyone serves Me, he must follow Me; and where I am, there My servant will be also; if anyone serves Me, the Father will honor him” John 12:26 (NASB). “Again Jesus said, "Peace be with you! As the Father has sent me, I am sending you" John 20:21 (NIV).

 

  • There is not enough time to do all we want to do and what Jesus tells us to do, one or the other has to give. When Jesus calls you to fish for people you can’t keep fishing for fish. When Jesus sends you to town to get a donkey you can’t put it off until after your favorite TV show (Matthew 21:1-3&6). When Jesus sends you to preach to people you don’t like you can’t go on vacation to Spain instead (Jonah 1). “… I want your will to be done, not mine” Matthew 26:39 (NLT2).“… the Lord said, “Who then is the faithful and wise manager, whom his master will set over his household, to give them their portion of food at the proper time? Blessed is that servant whom his master will find so doing when he comes” Luke 12:42-43 (ESV).

Where is your life, are your activities in conflict with what Jesus is doing, with what he is asking you to be and do? What adjustments do you need to make?To God be all glory. Love you, Pastor Hans         

Following Jesus - Means, He Is In Charge, He Determines the Direction

Somehow, by God’s wisdom and humor, I become Mel’s pastor at the ripe old age of twenty-four. I loved Mel, but it took him some time to love me. He was of the WWII generation and didn’t care much about Krauts. When his wife Aggie-Lou got sick I started to drive him to see her. One day he handed me the keys to pristine 69 Pontiac. He said he didn’t want to use my gas, but the moment we took off in his car for the first time it became clear I was no longer in charge. Mel told me where to go, where to turn, where to park, how fast to go, when to turn on the heater or a/c, what gas station to use, which pump to pull up to, and to make sure to stop pumping at the first click. Good thing I am somewhat patient, and me driving his “baby” meant that he had let this Kraut into his heart. He gave me the wheel, but not the pink-slip.You can’t seriously follow Jesus and be the leader. The very act of following recognizes that someone else is the leader, is in charge. It is the leader, the one in charge who gets to determine the direction, the route, the stops, the agenda, the timing, and the activity. Jesus left no doubt about who’s the leader, “If anyone serves me, he must follow me; and where I am, there will my servant be also. If anyone serves me, the Father will honor him” John 12:26 (ESV). Even if he gives us the keys to the car, he’s still the leader.With my hands on the steering wheel of Mel’s Pontiac, I had all kinds of thoughts running through my mind, “Let’s see what this four-barreled V-8 under the hood can do?” “Let’s lay down some rubber!” When Mel gave directions I would often think, “That’s the long way!” or, “You’ve got to be kidding me!” When he asked me to turn off the a/c on 105-degree day because he was afraid that the car might overheat, I was flat out flabbergasted, but I turned it off, it was his car I was driving. “Do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit, who is in you, whom you have received from God? You are not your own; you were bought at a price. Therefore honor God with your body” 1 Corinthians 6:19-20 (NIV), the Apostle Paul reminded us followers of Jesus even while we have our hands on the steering wheel of our sexuality. Serious followers of Jesus continually acknowledge the Lord and Leadership of Jesus, the Sovereignty of God over their lives, and constantly bear in mind that, “The earth is the LORD's, and everything in it, the world, and all who live in it; …” Psalm 24:1 (NIV), even while we are steering this vehicle, called our life, registered in Jesus’ name.What do you need to change after reading this pastor’s note?To God be all glory, Pastor Hans    

Following Jesus - What Needs to Change

As Jesus went on from there, he saw a man named Matthew sitting at the tax collector's booth. "Follow me," he told him, and Matthew got up and followed him…Then Jesus said to his disciples, "If anyone would come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross and follow me. Matthew 9:9 & 16:24 (NIV) You can go to church and remain unchanged. You can read the Bible and remain unchanged. You can pray and remain unchanged. You can set up a Bible slogan yard sign and paste a spiritual sounding bumper-sticker on your car and remain unchanged. You can listen to Christian music all day long and remain unchanged. You can come forward in a church service weeping week after week and remain unchanged. But you cannot follow Jesus and remain unchanged. You cannot claim to be serious Christian and remain unchanged.In order to follow Jesus, you have to:

  • Leave some things behind

There has to be a starting point, a beginning. You can’t follow anyone anywhere without taking a first step, and you cannot take that first step without leaving something behind. Sadly, there are way too many stories that tell of having gone back to the things we are meant to have left behind. One thing is for certain, once you have gone back you are no longer following. (Mark 1:17, 2;24, 8:34)

  • Let Jesus determine your direction

In order to follow Jesus, you have to let him lead, let him determine the direction. There is one question a serious follower of Jesus continually asks, “Where are we going, Jesus?” The great temptation is to chart our own course and then sanctimoniously invite Jesus into it, but the moment I do I quit following. (Luke 8:22-25, Acts 8,10)

  • Get involved in what Jesus is doing

You can’t follow Jesus on your butt, that’s why just taking in a church service here and there is a long way from seriously following Jesus. You won’t find Jesus sitting around a lot doing nothing or anything other than his Father’s will. What gets in the way is that there is not enough time to do what we want to be doing and what he is doing, one or the other has to give. You can’t follow Jesus by making him a mere add-on. (John 5:19, 20:21)

  • Let Jesus teach you

Jesus taught people wherever he went, but his disciples he taught continually, daily, and in all kinds of different situations. His expectation was for them to implement what he was teaching them into their way of thinking (values), their way of seeing (world-view), their way of feeling (responding), their way of life (habits). As much as we are tempted to, following Jesus’ teaching is not a pick-and-choose affair. (Matthew 28:18-20, 2 Timothy 3:16-17)

  • Keep on following to the finish line

Finishing well is part of following Jesus because following Jesus is a life-long affair, down to our last breath. So, following Jesus is about walking after him, serving alongside of him through thick and thin, through ups and downs, in crisis and craziness, in the ordinary and amazing, whether I feel like it or not, in pain and suffering, in joy and grief, when things a clear and when things are fuzzy and confusing, in weakness and in strength, when all alone or in sweet company, in trials and tribulations, when it is easy and when it hard, at our worst and at our best, when exhausted or refreshed, moment by moment, hour by hour, day by day, month after month, year after year, all the way to the finish line. (Hebrews 12:1-3, Mark 13:13)Do you need to make any adjustments in your following Jesus?To God be all glory. Love you, Pastor Hans 

Mercy and Time

Mercy needs time. Being merciful requires, besides compassion and action, time. Those who need mercy today need both someone who will show mercy and time. All who are crying out for mercy around the world, the aliens, refugees, oppressed, mistreated, those deprived of justice, those who’ve made mistakes, and those who are repenting of wickedness and evil, are also hoping for time. Enough time for things to change, time for life to be better, time to have another chance to be better. The dilemma is that the very time those crying out for mercy need also gives evil, evildoers, corruption, and sin more time.

When it comes to mercy, Jesus left no doubt as to how he, God, wants us to function in time. He commands us to be merciful, expects us to be merciful, and blesses us when we are merciful, “Be merciful, just as your Father is merciful” Luke 6:36 (NIV); “Blessed are the merciful, for they will be shown mercy” Matthew 5:7 (NIV). He wants you and me to become answers to those crying for mercy. He wants us to be the men and women who understand and live James’ point, “Speak and act as those who will be judged by the law of freedom. For judgment is without mercy to the one who hasn’t shown mercy. Mercy triumphs over judgment” James 2:12-13 (HCSB).

It would be a grave mistake to conclude that since mercy triumphs over judgment that judgment has been rendered obsolete and is abolished. Mercy is not mercy if leads to a perversion of justice, the abolishment of judgment, “… it is appointed for man to die once, and after that comes judgment, so Christ, having been offered once to bear the sins of many, will appear a second time, not to deal with sin but to save those who are eagerly waiting for him” Hebrews 9:27-28 (ESV). The cross of Christ is both the most merciful and the most just act in all of history. It did not bypass the justice of God but rather satisfied it completely and doing so it enables the mercy of God to save even the worst sinner.

However, mercy does not buy evil, wickedness, and sin unlimited time. It does grant a sinner time to repent and in doing so give him or her a chance to do even more evil, but it will also not ignore the cries of those suffer that evil. The evil doers and merciless who died comfortably in their plush beds will not escape justice, “God has warned us that he'll hold us to account and make us pay. He was quite explicit: ‘Vengeance is mine, and I won't overlook a thing,’ and, ‘God will judge his people.’ Nobody's getting by with anything, believe me”Hebrews 10:30-31 (MSG); “… the day of the Lord (the day of God’s judgment, of Christ’s return) will come like a thief in the night. While people are saying, ‘Peace and safety,’ destruction will come on them suddenly, as labor pains on a pregnant woman, and they will not escape.  … “So then, let us not be like others, who are asleep, but let us be alert and self-controlled”1 Thessalonians 5:6 (NIV, parenthesis mine).

Today is a day of mercy, a great day to respond to God’s mercy, a terrific day to be merciful. Today is also a day God in his mercy has said to many, “Your time is up, time for judgment.” Only believing in and following Christ will prepare you for that day.

To God be all glory. Love you, Pastor Hans

 

Great Love Stories and Mercy

Be merciful, just as your Father is merciful. Luke 6:36 (NIV)I have been intertwined in a long-term love affair. We have been carrying on for almost forty years and have no intention of breaking it off anytime soon. Early on, like most hopelessly in love lovers, and regardless of what anyone thought, we decided that we wanted this to last, and amazingly it has.It would be great if all it takes is being smitten and wanting things to last. But our love hasn’t sailed this far and for this long on mere passion. Passion doesn’t know how to handle the storms, fix the leaks, bail the water, and recalibrate the route when blown off course, for that, among other things we have needed compassion, grit, teamwork, and mercy.She did tell me what would sink the boat, burst the bubble, flush the dream. No second chance for cheating, no tolerance for violence and abuse, and no license to let myself go and turn into a slob, “You’ll get the hook!” she said. I have always loved her strength and self-respect.Forty years is a lot of life, a lot of challenges, struggles, disappointments, frustrations, mess-ups, and unexpected. All that initial madly-in-loveness did not eradicate my bad habits, iron out my flaws, and cure my weaknesses. All that startup passion did not produce instant maturity, reliability, and the ability to handle things right. Hesch! I couldn’t even say “I’m sorry” (I’m still not very good at it – ask her). Without mercy, all this relationship tinder would have ignited a long time ago and burned everything into a smoldering heap of ashes. It was the practice of mercy, the being merciful that checked hurts, granted forgiveness, allowed for trying again. It was mercy that checked the anger, prevented the bitterness from spreading, and reigned in self-righteousness. These forty years of love she has blessed me with mercy, with being merciful without being an enabler, without compromising herself.The crucified Christ, the greatest expression of God’s love, reminds us that great, real, and enduring love stories are never written without mercy. So, it is no wonder he counsels and commands us to be merciful in all of life, and especially as lovers.Happy Valentines. Pastor Hans  

wee hours, far away, wall thoughts

I have been awake since 2:00 am and now it is 5:00 am, I think it is a combination of jet-lag and malaria pill side-effects. I was just falling asleep again when the Imam at the nearest mosque decided to be the first with the call to prayer, but he was early at 4:40, and soon, but unfortunately too late for me, realized his mistake and powered down his pa-system. He regrouped though at 5:00 and now is going really strong, and I think he is dueling with others I can hear further away. It is quite the early morning audio experience.Yesterday, as we drove all over the city of Arusha (Tanzania) I noticed that there are walls everywhere and was struck by the contrast of what lies on either side of those walls. Walls to protect, to hide, to keep out, to lock in, to separate, to impress, to …We had dinner with Pastor Goodluck and his wife Glory. The small apartment they rent is behind compound walls, where, besides a number of other apartments with plumbing, electricity, and satellite tv hookups, there were also five healthy milk cows in a nice stall and a Mercedes parked under a cover. In contrast, right outside their walls were rockpiles trucks had dumped and women sitting on the ground were hammering them all day long into gravel small enough to use for concrete.We finally found the store we had been looking for to supply us with Bibles and Libraries for pastors. It had relocated to a downtown mall for foreigners, and as you might have guessed it, it was behind a fancy wall. Across the street was a broken-down old wall that served as a backstop to poor people buying and selling.Tumaini Cottages, where we are lodging, is surrounded by walls. The rugged dirt street leading to it is a walled maze. Inside of our walls, it’s like an oasis, secluded, lush, serene. The scenery outside of our walls is beautiful from a distance, but close up it is raw, dirty, full of contradictions, greed, and need, - overwhelming to my heart and mind.Walls are a reminder of our brokenness, our sinfulness, individually and collectively. It is no wonder that scripture tells us that Jesus Christ the Savior, Redeemer, and Reconciler of all people is also the one who, “… tore down the (dividing) wall we used to keep each other at a distance” Ephesians 2:14 (MSG). It is, of course, easier, and often cheaper, to build walls. It certainly is less messy. And it is not that the people on one side of the wall are better than those on the other. Isiah 56 speaks of eunuchs and foreigners for whom the dividing wall was built so they would be excluded and kept out from the worship and presence of God, prevented from full participation, condemned to the outside looking in. Christ tore down that wall in keeping with God’s vision and heart for all people. Let’s not make the mistake of putting God’s wall tearing down vision solely into the future, or deceive ourselves into thinking that we ourselves have no wall tearing down responsibilities, or shift Christ’s tearing down of the wall solely into the realm of soteriology (the doctrine of salvation) with no application to all of life at the present. Jesus tore down this wall over 2000 years ago and expected his community, the church to be a visible example of what it looks like to live without walls, to be the dreamers in a broken wall-filled world, to live with changed hearts. It cost Christ his life to tear down that wall, to tear the separating curtain in the temple, to break the wall of sin in each of our hearts. Living in and for a world without walls is not cheap, but Jesus thought it, you and I, were worth it.To God be all glory. Love you, Pastor Hans

Dilemmas of Being Merciful, Part 1 – Enabling Evil

But love your enemies, and do good, and lend, expecting nothing in return, and your reward will be great, and you will be sons of the Most High, for he is kind to the ungrateful and the evil. Be merciful, even as your Father is merciful.Luke 6:35-36 (ESV)

Mercy does give second chances but it does not abolish judgment or pervert justice, nor does mercy ignore what is wise and prudent. If you are familiar with the Bible (God’s written revelation) you know that God pushed the reset button on the human race once. Before he flooded the earth in the days of Noah people lived incredibly long lives, but, “The LORD observed the extent of human wickedness on the earth, and he saw that everything they thought or imagined was consistently and totally evil… ‘I have decided to destroy all living creatures, for they have filled the earth with violence’” Genesis 6:5, 13 (NLT2). However, the judgment God announced to Noah did not come for many years, years which God gave to Noah and his family to construct an ark (ship) and to preach to everyone the impending judgment and how to escape it (2 Peter 2:5). God in his mercy gave time for people to hear the truth and to repent, he “patiently waited” (1 Peter 3:20), but he also stayed true his word. Then, after the flood, God limited the human life-span to around 70 to 120 years (Genesis 6:3, Psalm 90:10); and, history has proven that we are capable of doing plenty of evil and violence in that time frame. There is a line when mercy becomes merciless. Giving a wicked man or woman a chance to repent and change is mercy, allowing him or her to go on and on enables him or her and is anything but being merciful to the victims. In fact, there are many instances when 70 to 120 years seems far too long to us.

God has set a cutoff time for each one of us, “And just as it is appointed for people to die once—and after this, judgment” Hebrews 9:27 (HCSB). And, God has set a final cutoff point for all of humanity and evil (2 Peter 3:3-18, Revelation 20:7-15). In the meantime God is amazingly merciful and confusingly merciful, seemingly giving evil and violence far too long a leash, far too much opportunity, giving people too much time to do unspeakable wrong. But, O how glad and grateful I am for every chance, for every opportunity his mercy has afforded me.

How are you responding to the mercy of God giving you time and opportunity? Are you taking that time and opportunity to enable you in your selfishness, your sinfulness, and wickedness? Or, are you the time and opportunity God’s mercy gives you to repent, to do good, to honor God, and to be prepared for the judgment? Your clock is running.

To God be all glory. Love you, Pastor Hans

 

 

The Community within in the Community

This letter is from Paul, chosen by the will of God to be an apostle of Christ Jesus, and from our brother Timothy. We are writing to God’s holy people in Colosse, Don Pedro, Coulterville, and La Grange, who are faithful brothers and sisters in Christ. May God our Father give you grace and peace. Since God chose you to be the holy people he loves, you must clothe yourselves with tenderhearted mercy, kindness, humility, gentleness, and patience. Make allowance for each other’s faults, and forgive anyone who offends you. Remember, the Lord forgave you, so you must forgive others. Above all, clothe yourselves with love, which binds us all together in perfect harmony. And let the peace that comes from Christ rule in your hearts. For as members of one body you are called to live in peace. And always be thankful. Let the message about Christ, in all its richness, fill your lives. Teach and counsel each other with all the wisdom he gives. Sing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs to God with thankful hearts. And whatever you do or say, do it as a representative of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks through him to God the Father. Colossians 1:1-2; 3:12-17 (NLT2, italics mine)The church, our church, the Lake Don Pedro Baptist Church, and any other church is meant to be God’s/Christ’s community within the community where it is found. This community within the community is comprised of faithful brothers and sisters in Christ, women, men, children, and young people whom God has chosen to love and called to be holy.This community, assembly, fellowship, and family of followers of Jesus, of Christians, is meant to be a living example of Jesus and of what God envisions for all human community. Thus we are meant to be committed to one another and clothe (our clothes are what others get to see, and we purposely put them on) ourselves with:

  • Tenderhearted mercy
  • Kindness
  • Humility
  • Gentleness
  • Patience
  • Making allowance for each other’s faults – being real
  • Forgiving one another as Christ forgave us
  • Loving each other
  • Having the peace of Christ rule us - Seeking harmony, unity, and peace
  • Always seeing ourselves to be vitally connected to other believers
  • Gratefulness, thankfulness
  • Focused on Christ and the Gospel
  • Teaching, counseling, helping each other
  • Praising, singing, worshipping
  • Doing all to the glory of God

Can you imagine a community where these are the consistent practice, the continual focus? It is nothing short of glorious, it’s an oasis, it is a slice of heaven. But we have to learn them, we have to internalize them, commit ourselves to them because they do not come naturally to us. So, if you claim to be a follower of Jesus then ask yourself, “How committed am I to God’s community, Jesus’ body, the church?” and, “How committed am I to make God’s community in my community to be a shining example of the very life of Jesus?”Depending on your answers above, and according to the scriptures at the top of this pastor’s note, what steps do you need to take in regard to God’s community, Jesus’ church?To God be all glory. Love you, Pastor Hans  

Becoming Merciful, Part 2

Be merciful, just as your Father is merciful. Luke 6:36 (NIV)Who should we be merciful to? Before telling his disciples to be merciful he gave them and us a list (Luke 6:27-35) that includes our enemies, those who hate, curse, mistreat, abuse and hurt us, those who take from us, ask of us and want to borrow from us. If you ask me, those are the people who make me less merciful, who make me think twice about being compassionate, or not think of it at all. Depending on what they have done to me, inflicted on me, or how they have taken advantage of me, the last thing I want to be is merciful. Chances are, that if you can read this, you have been hurt, burnt, and used. Being told to be merciful to those who did that to us feels like being told to be a sucker, an enabler, to be someone who doesn’t learn from experience. And yet, against all our possible objections, apprehensions, fears and feelings Jesus commands us to be merciful like God the Father. How do we do that?1. Ruminate on the Father’s mercy. Contemplate how vast, how multifaceted, how indiscriminate, how continual, constant and eternal God’s mercies are. Consider the ultimate expression of God the Father’s mercy in and through his Son Jesus Christ (for more detail read part 1 to this pastor’s note). Ruminating on, contemplating God’s mercy is like looking at an inspiring picture that makes you go, “Wow,” and wish you were there. Pictures like that are good to have on the walls of our heart and mind.2. Remember when you needed mercy. Everyone has needed mercy sometime during their lifetime, and most likely many many times. Remember a time when you had to ask for help, for assistance, for forgiveness, for another chance, or maybe you were merely hoping that someone would see and respond to your need. We are much humbler when we need mercy and we will be much more empathetic when we remember the times we were in those shoes. The Apostle Paul, for whom mercy wasn’t always a strength, remembered and wrote, “This is a trustworthy saying, and everyone should accept it: “Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners”—and I am the worst of them all (how I needed mercy). But God had mercy on me so that Christ Jesus could use me as a prime example of his great patience with even the worst sinners. Then others will realize that they, too, can believe in him and receive eternal life” 1 Timothy 1:15-16 (NLT2, parenthesis mine).3. Recall when you received mercy. It is one thing to ask, hope, and wish for mercy but it’s quite another to actually receive it, “Unrelenting disappointment leaves you heartsick, but a sudden good break can turn life around” Proverbs 13:12 (MSG). Recall the joy, the relief, the gratitude you felt when you were on the receiving end of mercy.4. Recognize and seize opportunities you have to be merciful. God doesn’t tell us to merciful and then not give us opportunities to be merciful. Before Jesus said “be merciful,” he already had told his disciples, “Do to others as you would have them do to you,” or as Eugene Peterson paraphrases it, “Here is a simple rule of thumb for behavior: Ask yourself what you want people to do for you; then grab the initiative and do it for them!” Luke 6:31 NIV &MSG. Think about how many “little” opportunities to be merciful daily come your way. I suspect, the better we become at seizing the small mercy moments the better we will be at the larger and more challenging ones.Let’s go practice.To God be all glory, Pastor Hans      

Becoming Merciful, part 1

Be merciful, just as your Father is merciful. Luke 6:36 (NIV)Some things are easier to be than others. It is easier to be ignorant than to be informed, to be thoughtless than to be thoughtful, to be foolish than to be wise, to be undisciplined than to be disciplined, to be nasty than to be kind, to be stingy than to be generous, to be unforgiving than to be forgiving, to be critical than to be caring, to be watching than to be involved, to be cynical than to be doing good, to be merciless than to be merciful. But Christ never told his followers to settle for what comes easier but he was persistent in commanding and encouraging them to pursue that which better, to reach for the best, to emulate God the Father, to model their lives after himself.It is easier to practice a little mercy here and there, to be generous every now and then, to be kind sometimes … than it is to be merciful … in our very being, in our core, as part of our character, like the Father.So, what do we know about the mercy of the Father, and how can we become and be merciful like him?God’s mercy is vast, like an immense deep sea. Scripture speaks of his mercies being great, extending over all his works (Psalm 119:156, 145:9), and King David chose to be judged by God rather than men because he was certain of God’s vast mercy (2 Samuel 24:14).God’s mercy is also multifaceted. Jeremiah the prophet found comfort and hope in the midst of carnage and destruction because he remembered that The steadfast love of the Lord never ceases; his mercies never come to an end; they are new every morning; great is your faithfulness (Lamentations 3:22-23,ESV), and the Apostle Paul concurred when he encouraged the Corinthians that to bless God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies and God of all comfort, who comforts us in all of our affliction (2 Corinthians 1:3, ESV).God’s mercy is indiscriminate, Love your enemies, and do good, and lend, expecting nothing in return, and your reward will be great, and you will be sons of the Most High, for he is kind to the ungrateful and the evil. Be merciful, even as your Father is merciful (Luke 6:35-36 ESV).God’s mercy is continual, his mercies never come to an end; they are new every morning (Lamentations 3:22-23,ESV). Every sunrise and every rainstorm (Matthew 5:45) remind us that God’s mercy is both inexhaustible and that it gets up every morning.God’s mercy finds its ultimate expression in Jesus Christ, All praise to God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. It is by his great mercy that we have been born again, because God raised Jesus Christ from the dead. Now we live with great expectation, and we have a priceless inheritance—an inheritance that is kept in heaven for you, pure and undefiled, beyond the reach of change and decay (1 Peter 1:3-4 (NLT2).And just like that, I have run out of space for this pastor’s note, I guess you will have to wait till next week for some thoughts on, “How can we merciful like the Father?” But, I suspect that even before you get that p-note will have occasions and opportunities to be merciful. So, how can what you just learned about God’s mercy help you with that?To God be all glory. Love you, pastor Hans

Be Merciful - The Merciful - Heinzi

Be merciful, just as your Father is merciful. Luke 6:36 (NIV)Blessed are the merciful, for they will be shown mercy. Matthew 5:7 (NIV)In order to be numbered among the merciful, you have to be merciful. But why should we want to be merciful in the first place? First of all, because God the Father and Jesus Christ are merciful, but also because we reap what we sow, and because a merciless world is a terrible world to live in and a merciless life is a terrible life to live.My earliest memory of being merciless is in Kindergarten on a warm early summer morning that had us wearing shorts. We, the other bullies and I, had mentally and socially challenged Heinzi cornered in the corner of the blind spot of the play yard. On one side of the corner was the wall of the building, the other side was a fence, and the entire corner was overgrown with tall sting nettles. Sting nettles are nasty plants with leaves that have poisonous barbs at the edges of their leaves that burn like bee stings and leave nasty welts. “I’m burning! I burning!” Heinzi cried as he tried to escape but was sent back tumbling into the nettles again and again. He finally just gave up and sat there weeping, unable to comprehend why? We wandered off, laughing, but inside I knew it was wrong, I felt wicked without knowing the word. I should’ve gone back to help Heinzi, but I didn’t, I lacked the courage. And, I wish it was my only memory of being merciless, but sadly and shamefully it isn’t.Heinzi never told on us, which is surprising because Heinzi told everything. Besides what was going on in our own consciences we suffered no consequences. It bothered me so much I left the bully club of five-year-olds and the picture of the incident still hangs on the main wall of my memory. Somehow, Heinzi and I became friends, which says more about him than it says about me. Somehow, this little boy whom we deemed inferior and weak met my mercilessness with mercy, with forgiveness, and a willingness to try again and be friends. It wasn’t until many years later that I figured out that whether he knew it or not he was being like “Our Father,” who told us through Christ, “But love your enemies, and do good, and lend, expecting nothing in return, and your reward will be great, and you will be sons of the Most High, for he is kind to the ungrateful and the evil. Be merciful, even as your Father is merciful” Luke 6:35-36 (ESV). Somehow, when I think if this evil I was part of in the corner of the Kindergarten yard I think of Christ, who in dying agony, unspeakable injustice and cruelty, and with one of his last breaths looked down at mocking, jeering, merciless crowd and with compassion and mercy said, "Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they are doing" Luke 23:34 (NIV).2019 needs more mercy not less, which means it needs more of us to be “merciful,” to act merciful like God the Father and Christ, like Heinzi weeping in the sting nettles.To God be all glory. Love you, Pastor Hans  

Christmas - Jesus, the Greatest and Most Needed Interruption

Christmas – Jesus, the Great and Most Needed InterruptionI remember the look in my kid’s eyes saying it all, “Somebody please stop him!” when I was on a parental roll, taking charge of the situation (usually without consulting Susie), laying down new rules, unleashing a fresh wind in the Frei household.Have you ever wished for someone to stop you, interrupt you? Like when your mouth just wouldn’t shut up? When you were throwing a fit? When you were making a complete fool of yourself? When you were making lousy choices, spending too much, eating too much, texting while driving, …? When you were mean, petty, arrogant, unkind, or plain dumb or acting stupid?Of course, there are much weightier things that need interrupting, like addictions, dysfunctional habits, violence, injustice, exploitation, oppression, tyranny, hatred, ignorance, poverty, excuses, lies, unforgiveness, hypocrisy, evil. However, just because something needs interrupting does not mean the interruption is welcome, darkness will fight the light to the bitter end, wrong and evil have no tolerance for interrupters.“There was no room …” (Luke 2:7) for Jesus Christ in ordinary life, in political life, religious life, and in most people’s personal life. There was no room for the personified Word and will of God no matter how much it was, and still is, needed. Jesus Christ, Son of God, Creator, Source of all life and light came into this world, stepped into history, but he was not understood, human darkness recoiled at his light, and his own did not want him. The “grace and truth”, the innocence, goodness, righteousness, and hope interruption our world so desperately needs still finds few takers, few who will make room for it, welcome it, “Yet to all who received him, to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God” John 1:12 (NIV).It’s striking, unless we outright reject it, how much we dress up Christmas, the incarnation of God, in sentimentality, quaintness, and feel good. Let’s make it a superficial, fleeting interruption. But Christmas, Jesus is about God interrupting us at our core, our worst, in our deepest depravity, in our evil, at our most sinful, our total helplessness, our utter hopelessness, and in the darkest reality of ourselves and all humanity. Will we welcome him there? Will we make room for Christ there? Will we praise God for interrupting us through Christ and “proclaim the excellencies of him who called (interrupted) you out of darkness into his marvelous light” 1 Peter 2:9 (ESV, parenthesis mine).Merry Christmas! Love you, Pastor Hans    

Christmas - Jesus, the Great Interruption - Me, My, Mine

The Interruption of Me, My, MineIt is an amazing thing to watch the acquisition of the words me, my, and mine.  If you happen to attend a Christmas gathering inhabited with a number of kids below the age of five you will have a front row seat to watching, me, my, and mine.  I guarantee, sooner than later there will be a ruckus because one child will play with a toy given to another child. Then the owner child will inform the taker child that the toy s/he playing with belongs to him/her, “That’s mine!” or simply, “Mine!” will be followed by a determined grab. But the rightful owner is unaware that the usurper is claiming the unofficial rule, or even natural law, that anything left unattended long enough to be taken and played with constitutes a transfer of ownership. Thus the determined grab by the rightful owner will be met by a jerk in the opposite direction and a claim, “No, mine!” And before you know it there will be a physical altercation accompanied with tears and screaming. At this point, the inattentive adults, who were happy that the children were  “playing so nicely together,” are alerted and jump in to correct the situation with various, although often ineffective, strategies.Of course, these little people have been working on the concept of these words since birth, long before they can articulate it into words. They figure out very quickly who is “my Mommy,” which Mommy might interpret as her being super special (which she is, really), but it really is about that little cutie making sure about “me,” that s/he gets taking care of, is being fed, burped, changed, and cuddled. If you think I am being too cynical just watch what happens when someone comes along and does a better job of the things that are important to that little “me (first).”Now check out the child who was jealous as she saw her sibling or cousin unwrap a present she really wanted. She is looking for an opportunity, the moment her cousin lays down the coveted toy, she looks around, sees that no one is watching, and swoops in. Meanwhile, the owner child is engaged in playing with something else, happy as can be, until she spots cousin with the toy she wasn’t caring about at the moment. Did you see her mood change? The different look in her eyes? The indignation? Me, My, Mine taking over? She glares with disgust at the intervening adults who are trying to encourage her to share. “Hypocrites,” she thinks, although she doesn’t know that word yet, “Let me see you do that when someone uses your toys without asking! It’s my toy and I get to use it when I want to use it.”While addressing the child owner the adults are also trying to persuade or sidetrack the jealous taker child, who instinctively has tightened his grip. She’s not giving it up without a fight, logic and property rights be damned, in spite of not knowing those words either.Human history, our personal history is marked and marred by the Me, My, Mine cycle and all the ills that accompany it. Many, if not most, of our laws mean to curtail it, rain it in, yet none have been able to eradicate it. Even the youngest, most untarnished members of our society are unable to be happy and generous in the midst of abundance.Christmas – Jesus interrupts this Me, My, Mine cycle. It is one of the major reasons we struggle with Jesus (the real Jesus, not the one we have reshaped). He prayed, “Your (God the Father’s) will not mine.” He cared about God’s glory and honor not his own. He gave his life so sinners could live. He exhausted himself by helping, healing, caring. He lived a life that wasn’t about me and calls us to do the same. He didn’t hang onto what most of us wouldn’t dream of letting go. At no time in his life did he succumb to the Me, My, Mine cycle, nor did he excuse us to continue in it, instead he died trying to deliver us from it. “You are familiar with the generosity of our Master, Jesus Christ. Rich as he was, he gave it all away for us—in one stroke he became poor and we became rich” 2 Corinthians 8:9 (MSG).Merry Christmas. Love you, Pastor Hans  

Christmas – Jesus, the Great Interruption, Part 2

 In two decades of substitute teaching, I developed a morning introduction, “Good Morning class, I am Mr. Frei. I am not Ms…, I don’t look like her, I don’t walk like her, I don’t talk like her, I don’t smell like her, I don’t do my hair like her (I am bald), in fact I am nothing like her, so don’t be surprised that I don’t do things like her! Today, please don’t tell me, ‘But Ms… doesn’t do it that way. But Ms… always does it like this. Ms… lets us do that.’” But after this preemptive introductory speech, I would try hard follow as many of the routines the regular teacher had implemented in her/his classroom because the fewer routines I violated the better things usually went. We are creatures of habit, not just from K-12th grade but throughout life, and when our routines are interrupted we become somewhat disoriented.Zacharias and his wife Elizabeth were good at the religious routines. In fact, their religious routines shaped all the other routines of their lives (a good thing), and their observances of religious routines sprang from sincere hearts, “they were both righteous in God’s sight …” (Luke 1:6). As a priest, Zacharias was in the middle of rotation of tending to the Altar of Incense, an assignment that was all about very specific routines, and it was then that God spoke to him. He clearly had no expectation for a personal God moment to occur, even though he was in the Holy Place of the temple (Luke 1:12). As helpful as routines can be, they can also be a hindrance, they can confine us, especially when it comes to God, and they can make us reluctant to and even reject the very voice of God.Zacharias and Elizabeth did not only have their routine interrupted but also their resignation. They were childless, which was considered a blemish in their time. His response to the angel's announcements that within the next year they would have a child was, “I am old and so is my wife” Luke 1:18. They were resigned to childlessness, to old age, to the stigma. God interrupted that too. Makes me think back to my substitute teacher days, one of saddest things to see is a young child already resigned to limitations real or imagined. Zacharias, who as a priest should’ve known better, got a stern nine-month rebuke for letting his resignation to childlessness diminish his faith in what God could do in his and Elizabeth’s life.If we are honest, we don’t like our times of rest, of relaxation, of recreation be interrupted. We can get very grumpy, unkind, short, and irritated when that happens (probably not you), after all, that’s kind of “our time.” The night Jesus was born there were shepherds outside of Bethlehem watching their sheep (Luke 2:8). Sheep corralled and settled down it was time to get off the feet, sit by a fire, get out the harmonica, eat a snack, share some stories. The folks in Bethlehem were fast asleep, shops closed down, shutters closed, doors locked, comfy cozy under the covers in bed (Luke 2:17-20). Then the midnight ruckus of angels, the glory of God, and hollering shepherds in the streets. Goodbye sleep, adios relaxing, sayonara “my time.”Christmas – Jesus is the great interruption, including our routines, our resignation, and our rest. The question is, “How do we handle it when God interrupts them?” Do we quickly return to what we are comfortable with? Temper God to our limitations? Try to get back as fast as possible to whatever we were doing? Grumpily crawl back under the warm covers? Or are we embracing God’s Jesus interruption and in the middle of the night are found responsive to his voice, adjusting to his will, and shouting his praises?Merry Christmas! Love you, Pastor Hans 

Christmas - Jesus, The Great Interruption

How much do you like being interrupted? In the middle of dinner? During an important conversation? While on vacation? By a phone call when you are up on a ladder? By your dog’s wet tongue while you are pinned under your car holding up a heavy part? By a pesky fly right when you dozed off? With a crisis just when everything is going great? …? By God?Christmas, the incarnation of God, the unfolding of God’s redemptive plan, the coming of Jesus, was, and still is, the Great Interruption. It interrupted Mary and Joseph’s love story and future plans. It interfered with King Herod’s political ambitions. It shook Zacharias and Elizabeth’s religious routine. It scared the bejeebers out of the shepherds. It stopped the wise men in their stargazing tracks. It interrupted all of their lives, blew their expectations, forced them to make choices, and had eternal implications for each of them.Jesus Christ is the greatest interruption in all of history, threatening to the powerful, startling to the wise, confusing to the religious, inconvenient to the young, frightening to the tough, too bright for the wicked, inexplicable to the rational, but as real as anything has ever been.It’s one thing to be interrupted by a call, a fly, a dog’s slobbery tongue, a pushy or loud person, or even a crisis, it is quite another thing to be interrupted by God himself. The implications are bigger, the stakes of our responses are higher, the consequences are eternal. You have to quickly decide whether to dam up the breach, swat at the intrusion, ignore the interruption, or whether you allow Christ to flood into your life, invade your romance, change your plans, impact your understanding, alter your life and destiny, and surrender to God’s will and plans.There are plenty of interruptions we don’t need, nuisances, pains in the behind - annoying altogether. We rightly swat them and try to minimize or eliminate their occurrences. Then there are the interruptions that are fantastic, like the falling in love interruption and interrupting the happy lovers’ lives with kids. Just those two made my life immeasurably better. But there also the interruptions we need and there is no interruption our world, humanity, and each one of us personally need more than the Jesus interruption. There are not enough decorations, wrapping paper, Christmas lights, and schmaltzy cash-filled Holiday Cards to gloss over the fact of humanity’s brokenness and our personal sinfulness. The week after Christmas the dumpsters will be full, the worries will return, and our need for God and Christ will still be as real as ever, “This is a trustworthy saying, and everyone should accept it: ‘Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners’”1 Timothy 1:15 (NLT2)“For God was in Christ, reconciling the world to himself, no longer counting people’s sins against them. And he gave us this wonderful message of reconciliation. … For God made Christ, who never sinned, to be the offering for our sin, so that we could be made right with God through Christ” 2 Corinthians 5:21 (NLT2)How you and I respond to the Jesus interruption will be the most important and most consequential decision we will ever make.Merry Christmas. Love you, Pastor Hans  

The Friday After Thanksgiving

It is telling that Thanksgiving Thursday is followed by Black Friday, gratefulness followed by a grabbing shopping frenzy’s first giant wave for shoppers to serve on, followed by Cyber Monday and an incredible surf for consumerism all the way into Christmas.“A leech has twin daughters named ‘Gimme’ and ‘Gimme more.’ Three things are never satisfied, no, there are four that never say, ‘That's enough, thank you!’— hell, a barren womb, a parched land, a forest fire” Proverbs 30:15-16 (MSG).Greed is never satisfied either, it boldly declares, “More is better!” But Jesus warned, "Take care! Protect yourself against the least bit of greed. Life is not defined by what you have, even when you have a lot" Luke 12:15 (MSG).Spiritually speaking, Thanksgiving Thursday should be followed by Frivolous Friday where people stand in line in the wee hours of the morning to get in on being generous, followed by Max Monday when online donations go through the roof, followed by an unleashing of the most enormous wave of generosity and giving all the way into Christmas and the New Year. “Tell those rich in this world's wealth to quit being so full of themselves and so obsessed with money, which is here today and gone tomorrow. Tell them to go after God, who piles on all the riches we could ever manage—to do good, to be rich in helping others, to be extravagantly generous” 1 Timothy 6:17-18 (MSG).We never have to oil our “Getter,” it is one of those pre-greased, permanently lubricated gears right out of the box. It loves to get more, doesn’t blink at over-spending and charging credit cards to the max, and entices us to make fellow “Gimme”-disciples out of infants in diapers. The only way to put the “Getter” in its place is to develop our “Giver.” We all have one, it’s just that the “Getter” likes to dominate and is never happy for very long. In order for our “Giver” to be what God wants it to be we have to do three things:

  1. Daily grease our hearts and attitudes with contentment, “But if we have food and clothing, we will be content with that” 1 Timothy 6:8 (NIV); “Keep your lives free from the love of money and be content with what you have, …” Hebrews 13:5 (NIV).
  2. Continually applying contentment, “I have learned to be content whatever the circumstances” Philippians 4:11 (NIV).
  3. Actually giving until we enjoy giving, until we not just give but have become givers at our core. “God loves a cheerful, happy giver” 2 Corinthians 9:7, (Notice, that the “giver” here is something God means for us to be).

There is nothing wrong in giving even an extravagant gift to someone we love. But God wants to grow us into givers who excel in giving to needs to accomplish his will and carry out his purposes, and who reflect Christlikeness. "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” John 3:16 (NIV, emphasis mine).This Christmas season; let’s excel in generosity God loves.Pastor Hans         

Pastoral Thanks

My Church, My Family in Christ,I have never been a great fan of Halloween, although I did drive my kids and their friends around to collect candy. Jacob Kluding might recall the first time he went with us as a little kangaroo, which was a hit on the cuteness scale, which in turn meant he had the largest candy haul I had ever seen. He might also remember the inebriated lady in a nightgown who opened the door and fell out in slow motion like a swooning ghost and the only reason she didn’t crash to the ground was a handful of kids propping her up. Funny? Yes. Memorable? For sure! But nowhere near as meaningful as Thanksgiving, especially the actual giving of thanks.I thank God for you my church family. I am blessed to serve you as your pastor. I am thankful you treat me with grace, with generosity, with goodness, and gratefulness. If I am honest, I am amazed you have put up with me for as long as you have, but I am ever so glad you did. I would have crashed and burned a long time ago were it not for a long line of you who helped me, encouraged me, bore the load with me, challenged me, taught me, cheered me on, validated me, and diligently prayed for me. Thank You.I have been encouraged a time or two to write down the stories of my long journey with you and of being a pastor here in Don Pedro. It would have to have a chapter of the plain weird and strange, of animal calls that seminary did not prepare me for, of more I wasn’t prepared for, of trials and disappointments, of the mysterious, the glorious, the inexplicable, of brothers and sisters, of heard prayers, and much more. But above all it would be a thankful book, dripping with gratitude for deep bonds, rich love, and living and ministering in Christ together.I cannot tell you how often I drive onto the church campus am already blessed by seeing people serve in all kinds of ways or hear stories of church members living out Christ during the week that make me proud to be their brother and pastor.This week Monica Sult deserves some special thanks for not only spearheading the Community Thanksgiving Dinner but also filling in at the church office for Jannett.Matt and Wendy Garcia have taken on the youth ministry leadership role earlier in the year. Talk about a major commitment. They deserve three cheers, our thanks, our support, and our prayers.This pastor’s note would get far too long if tried to name everyone but here are a few more of our brothers and sisters who have taken on responsibilities and stepped into service opportunities: Beverly, Jose’ and Beatrice, Russ, Security Team members, Jerry, the other Jerry, Merle, Bill, Jacob, Suzette, Ray. Thank You!To God be all thanks and glory. Love you, Pastor Hans   

The Stop Sign Thanksgiving Challenge

How many stop signs do you encounter during an average day or your morning commute? Probably too many. I am fairly certain you don’t have a favorite stop sign, but chances are high you can tell me about a stop sign you don’t like, try to avoid, or think that it is in a ridiculous spot. Maybe you also recall a stop sign or two you or someone else ignored and things got hairy or disastrous. Stop signs are a nuisance in a go culture; they impede us and slow us down.The Gospel of Luke (17:11-18) tells us of ten men whose lives were stopped, altered, and slowed down by the infectious and then incurable disease of leprosy. When Jesus came by they put up a verbal stop sign, “Jesus, Master, have mercy on us!” Good for them, Jesus slowed down, stopped, and granted them healing. His specific instruction was, “Go show yourselves to the priests,” who also served as health officials, and which you only did if you somehow had recovered. So the ten lepers departed and on their way to the priests their leprosy vanished. The stoplight that had turned permanently red all of the sudden turned back to green. They were released back into a life of “go”, and they were not going to look back, except one. He stopped while the others continued, he turned around and went back to find Jesus. On the way he couldn't help praising and glorifying God at the top of his lungs, and when he found Jesus “threw himself at Jesus’ feet and thanked him” (NIV).If you and I no longer stop to give thanks to God when he incredibly blesses us then we are going too fast with a head that is most likely way too big. When we get irritated by things as small as an inconvenient stop sign or slow-turning traffic signal we probably won’t handle it well when we are slowed or stopped by more weighty things.King David confessed, “When I was prosperous, I said, ‘Nothing can stop me now!’” Psalm 30:6 (NLT2). Did you notice his pace and the attitude? It lasted until God placed a stop sign he couldn’t ignore, “You turned away from me, and I was shattered” (verse 7, NLT2). So he did what the ten lepers did, he cried for mercy, “Hear me, LORD, and have mercy on me. Help me, O LORD” (verse 10, NLT2). And then he finally left the company of the nine and joined the leper who turned back to praise God and give thanks, “You have turned my mourning into joyful dancing. You have taken away my clothes of mourning and clothed me with joy, that I might sing praises to you and not be silent. O LORD my God, I will give you thanks forever!” (verses 11-12, NLT2).So what if for the remainder of this year we use every stop sign and red traffic light as a training tool to teach us to continually turn to God to thank and praise him, to embrace every stop as an opportunity to look through eyes of thanksgiving instead of grumpiness and ungratefulness, to let every stop remind us to not be too full of ourselves but instead to continually be full gratitude and praise to God. I hope you try it and share with me the impact, (dergermanshepherd@gmail.com).To God be all glory. Love you, Pastor Hans      

Christians at the Ballot Box – Voting with Your Ballot, Voting with Your Life

Christians at the Ballot Box – Voting with Your Ballot, Voting with Your LifeChristians throughout history have gotten into hot water because being a Christian means being a citizen of heaven, of the kingdom of God, with Christ as king, “… our citizenship is in heaven, and from it we await a Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ …” Philippians 3:20 (ESV). We value this citizenship above all others and our allegiance to Christ and his kingdom supersedes all other allegiances we might have. This is why Christians have been accused of treason and being disloyal to their country and earthly citizenship(s). This is why Christians have disobeyed laws that violated the laws and values of the kingdom of God and Christ the King. This is why the followers of Jesus have refused to blindly hitch their wagon to particular political movements, and never feel fully comfortable and at home until the return of our king. This is why true followers of Jesus seek his approval and the implementation of his will in all and above all else and are willing to pay the price this allegiance exacts in its interactions with the kingdoms and authorities of this world.I am privileged to hold two earthly citizenships (United States and German); both of them are coveted by people around the world. It says something when people want to come to our land and neighborhoods. It means we are privileged and blessed to have abundance, opportunity, liberty, and a measure of peace, otherwise they would not want to come. According to the values of our heavenly citizenship that gives both the opportunity do good and the responsibility to share (1 Timothy 6:17-19).The Apostle Paul also held two earthly citizenships (Jewish and Roman). The one that was coveted in his day was Roman Citizenship. The Bible records a conversation between Paul and a Roman Commander who was about to treat and punish him like Non-Roman, “The commander went to Paul and asked, ‘Tell me, are you a Roman citizen?’ ‘Yes, I am,’ he answered. Then the commander said, ‘I had to pay a big price for my citizenship.’ ‘But I was born a citizen,’ Paul replied (Acts 22:27-28 (NIV). Obviously, his Roman citizenship was advantageous to Paul and he did not hesitate to make use of what it afforded him, it was a privilege that he was born into, he was blessed with, and one which he did not abuse but instead used for the purposes of God. Neither his Jewish heritage and citizenship nor his Roman citizenship were his highest allegiance, his heavenly citizenship was. In fact, he didn’t think that they even came close to comparing (Read all of Philippians 3). In the end, it was his allegiance to Christ and his heavenly citizenship that brought him into conflict and cost him his life. He rightly thought it was worth it.Hopefully, you will take your earthly/US citizenship seriously enough fulfill the responsibility of your right to vote come November 6th, but when you fill out your ballot, do so as a citizen of the kingdom of heaven, reflecting the will and honor of Christ and his kingdom.To God be all glory. Vote! Pastor Hans