Sunday Scripture and Sermon for October 3, 2010

Grace and peace to you from our Lord Jesus Christ.

The Old Testament Lesson for this Sunday comes from Lamentations 1: 1-6 in which Israel laments the suffering they are enduring. The New Testament lesson comes from 2 Timothy 1: 3-12 in which Timothy is encouraged to endure through hardship. The sermon is titled 'No An Easy Thing' and will focus on the hardships that sometimes come in our journey of faith and our call to persevere and endure. I hope to see you all on Sunday morning. God bless you.

Pastor Josh
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Psalm 144: 1-15

Grace and peace to you from our Lord Jesus Christ.

'Our barns will be filled with every kind of provision.' God rewards faithfulness. If we are obedient to God's will in our lives, if we do what God wants us to do then God will bless us with all that we need and more. It takes faith to believe in this. The basis for that faith can be found in scripture. In those holy words we are given promises, promises that God is going to reward us if we are faithful to him. God bless you.

Pastor Josh
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Psalm 143: 1-12

Grace and peace to you from our Lord Jesus Christ.

'So my spirit grows faint within me, my heart within me is dismayed.' The journey of faith is riddled with obstacles that cause us to stumble. When we stumble too much we begin to lose heart. Faith is not easy, and that makes it easy for us to lose some momentum. When you feel yourself slowing down cling hard to your faith. When you feel like there are too many things going on pray to God that he would give you strength. Our spirits grow faint, our hearts become dismayed. When that happens we need to simply cling to the hope and strength we have in Jesus. He will lift your spirit, he will comfort your heart. God bless you.

Pastor Josh
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Psalm 142: 1-7

Grace and peace to you from our Lord Jesus Christ.

'Tell me about your day.' God says that to us all the time. God wants to know how our day has been, he wants to know what happened to us, how we feel about it, what, if anything, he can do to help. We are encouraged, by God, to come to God in prayer to tell God how we are doing. The Psalmist is taking advantage of that here. The Psalmist is coming before God to tell God about his day and ask God for help. We should follow his example. It goes without saying that prayer should be about praise as well as other things, but we also need to make sure we are coming before God and simply telling him about our day, how we feel etc. Talk to God. God bless you.

Pastor Josh
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Psalm 141: 1-10

Grace and peace to you from our Lord Jesus Christ.

God is just a prayer away. He is not far away at all. Sometimes it may seem like God is far away, but it is in those times when God is closest to us. Nothing can separate us from the love of God. We all out to God in times of need and he comes to us. He can come to us because he is never far away from us. God will never leave us nor forsake us. Remember all of these words. Remember God's continual presence in our life. He is with you, always, to the very end of the age. God bless you.

Pastor Josh
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Psalm 140: 1-13

Grace and peace to you from our Lord Jesus Christ.

'Rescue me, O Lord, from evil men.' God has rescued us from the evil of the world. This is not to say bad things cannot happen to us. It is only to say that the part of us that is most precious, our souls, have been saved by God. Our bodies may be harmed, or even killed, but our souls are under God's protection forever. No matter what happens God has had victory over the powers of evil. We have been saved, we have been rescued. God bless you.

Pastor Josh
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Psalm 139: 1-24

Grace and peace to you from our Lord Jesus Christ.

Gad has searched us, and he knows us. God knows us intimately. We are not just a number to him. He knows our name, who are are, what we have experienced, what we feel. God knows all about us. This is not an invasion of privacy, it is an act of love. God loves us so much he wants to know everything about us. He wants to know everything about us so he can love us more and so he can help us with whatever we need in our lives and journeys of faith. God, the maker of the heavens, knows us. In his love for us he has taken the time to get to know who are. What a blessing that is! God bless you.

Pastor Josh
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Psalm 138: 1-8

Grace and peace to you from our Lord Jesus Christ.

In many ways it is fitting that a 'Praise Psalm' would follow the Psalm from yesterday. Yesterday the Psalmist was in the midst of a very dark day, and so he prayed a dark prayer. Today, though, the Psalmist has awoken to a new, beautiful morning in which the sun is shining bright. God has carried the psalmist through the time of difficulty, and the psalmist is grateful for that. We all follow this pattern at some point in our lives. We all go through times of darkness. And we are all lifted out of those times by God. When we are we need to be thankful, to praise God for the help he has given. Praise God for his love and strength in your life, both of which brought you from darkness to light. God bless you.

Pastor Josh
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Sunday Scripture and Sermon for Septembr 26, 2010

Grace and peace to you from our Lord Jesus Christ.

The Scripture passage for this Sunday is from Luke 16: 19-31, in which Jesus tells the parable of the Rich Man and Lazarus. The sermon is titled 'Before It's Too Late' and will focus on the need we all have to live according to Christ's will now before it's too late for us to make a change. I hope to see you all on Sunday. God bless you.

Pastor Josh
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Psalm 137: 1-9

Grace and peace to you from our Lord Jesus Christ.

In many ways this Psalm is very troubling. The last verse alone causes us to wonder how these words managed to make it into Scripture. Psalms are, among other things, prayers. And as we read those horrifying words the thought we can take with us is that we are allowed, and encouraged, to be completely and totally honest with God. We do not need to wear a censor when we are praying. Whatever is on our mind, or in our heart, should be brought before God's throne. The reason for this is simple: only God can help us get rid of those thoughts. If we feel angry, God can help take it away. If we feel sadness, loneliness, anxiety, rage, hatred, etc. God can help us with those feelings. With that in mind we are encouraged to lay our burdens at the throne of grace and ask for God's help. Be honest with God. Tell him how you're feeling. Allow him to help you move past it. God bless you.

Pastor Josh
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Psalm 136: 1-26

Grace and peace to you from our Lord Jesus Christ.

I love this Psalm because it does something I have always thought about doing in my own life: it makes a list of all the blessings God has given me. You can almost see the Psalmist here writing these words. He is going through the history of the world and making a list of what God has done. I do not have enough time, or paper, to make a list of all the blessings God has given me, and the same is probably true for most of us. However, that does not mean we should not think of specific blessings. We should be mindful of what God has given, not just in the general sense, but in the specific sense as well. Take time to think about the specific blessings God has given you, and be sure to thank him, too. God bless you.

Pastor Josh
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Psalm 135: 1-21

Grace and peace to you from our Lord Jesus Christ.

'The Lord does whatever pleases him.' God's will is not always our will. We make our prayers, we ask for things. Sometimes we pray for healing, financial stability, gas prices, or any number of other things. Praying for those things is OK. God wants to hear from us, to hear what we want, and what we need. We need to keep in mind, though, that our will does not always match up with God's will. We can ask for whatever we want, but God is going to give us, or not give us, what we truly need. What we truly need may not be what we want, but God knows what is best for us. His love for us knows no end and in that love God has a plan, a will, for us in our lives. When we pray, we need to always pray the prayer Jesus taught which says, among other things, 'thy will be done.' God's will is not always our will. We need to keep that in mind, and also that God loves us. God bless you.

Pastor Josh
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Psalm 134: 1-3

Grace and peace to you from our Lord Jesus Christ.

'Lift up your hands in the sanctuary and praise the Lord.' Worship should move us to excitement. When that excitement comes sometimes we raise our hands, sometimes we sway gently back and forth, and sometimes we simply bow our heads in adoration. Whatever act of worship the Spirit moves you to perform do not be shy about performing it. Be excited to be in God's presence and allow yourself to be moved, in some way, by the Holy Spirit. God bless you.

Pastor Josh
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Psalm 133: 1-3

Grace and peace to you from our Lord Jesus Christ.

"How good and pleasant it is when brothers live together in unity." A house divided against itself cannot stand. We are split, which is not good. The church is in bad shape because all we can seem to do is fight amongst ourselves. We all need to work hard at being ONE body, so we can fulfill the ministry of Christ and bring honor and glory to God. We need to be united, not divided as we are now. Let us find a way to work together so we can be one, as Christ would have us be. God bless you.

Pastor Josh
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Psalm 132: 1-18

Grace and peace to you from our Lord Jesus Christ.

'This is my resting place forever and ever.' God has chosen to dwell in our hearts. He will never leave us. That is where he lives, in Spirit. We do not need to worry that someday he is not going to be there. God is always going to be there, no matter what happens. That should be our comfort, that no matter where we go, or what we do, God will always be with us. God bless you.

Pastor Josh
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Psalm 131: 1-3

Grace and peace to you from our Lord Jesus Christ.

Humility is an important quality to have. Humans are pretty extraordinary creatures. We have come up with all sort of gadgets and things that make our lives so much better. As a result of that we sometimes think we don't need God. We can do it ourselves. We need God. Even with all the technological advances we have these days we still not God in this world and in our lives. Be humble. Recognize you need God, because we all do. God bless you.

Pastor Josh
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Sunday Scripture and Sermon for September 19, 2010

Grace and peace to you from our Lord Jesus Christ.

The Scripture passage for this Sunday is from Luke 16: 1-8 in which we are told the parable of the unjust manager. The sermon is titled 'Pathways' and will focus on the paths that lie before us and what is on those paths. I hope to see you all on Sunday morning. God bless you.

Pastor Josh
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Psalm 130: 1-8

Grace and peace to you from our Lord Jesus Christ.

Does God really listen? We pray. We ask God for all kinds of things, some of them material, some spiritual. Not all of those prayer are answered in a way we like, so we are left with this question: does God listen. Yes, he does. God hears all of our prayers, even the ones we do not say out loud. God hears every word. Those prayers may not be answered in a way we like, but they are answered according to God's perfect will. God hears us, and he does answer our prayers. We need to have faith to realize that. God bless you.

Pastor Josh
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Psalm 129: 1-8

Grace and peace to you from our Lord Jesus Christ.

'They have greatly oppressed me from my youth, but have not had victory over me.' Our enemies might persecute us. They might harm us, and for a while it may seem like they are victorious over us. Fear not. Our enemies will never have victory over us, for we have been saved by God. God has had the final victory. Our bodies may be harmed, but our spirits are forever protected by God. There is nothing anyone, or anything, can do to have victory over us. God has the victory. God bless you.

Pastor Josh
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Psalm 128: 1-6

Grace and peace to you from our Lord Jesus Christ.

"You will eat the fruit of your labor." These are important words to remember, for these words remind us that it matters what we do. Our actions matter, not only to God, but also to us. If we follow God's commands and love our neighbors as we love ourselves, then our neighbors will, in turn, love us. However, if we disobey that command and do not love our neighbors, then our neighbors will, most likely, not love us. We reap what we sow. If we sow love, we will receive love. If we sow hate, we will reap hate. Which would you rather reap? God bless you.

Pastor Josh
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Psalm 127: 1-5

Grace and peace to you from our Lord Jesus Christ.

'Unless the Lord builds the house, the builders labor in vain.' We cannot do anything without God's help. Whether know it, or like it, or now, God is always with us helping us with whatever we are doing. God is our creator. God knows us intimately. And in his love for us, and his knowledge of us, God helps us as we go through life. It is important to remember that we can't do anything without him. We sometimes want to; we sometimes think we can. But no matter what, God is with us, helping us. We owe it all to God. God bless you.

Pastor Josh
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Psalm 126: 1-6

Grace and peace to you from our Lord Jesus Christ.

"The Lord has done great things for us, and we are filled with joy." Paul tells us to 'rejoice in the Lord. I say again, rejoice.' God has given us reason to rejoice. We can all testify to God's blessings in our lives, but there is a collective blessing as well: Jesus. We can be joyful because God has given us Jesus, and through Jesus we have been given all the blessings we can think of getting. Salvation, eternal life, a place in God's kingdom, etc. God has given us many reasons to be joyful, but none is bigger, or better, than Jesus. Rejoice in the Lord always. God bless you.

Pastor Josh
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Psalm 125: 1-5

Grace and peace to you from our Lord Jesus Christ.

Someday we will not have to worry about anything anymore. Someday all of us will be called home, to the kingdom Jesus has prepared for us. Scripture tells us very little about what heaven is going to be like. No one knows for sure what all, or who all, is there. One thing we can know for sure, though, is that our enemies will not be there. The enemies, the evil, that surround us now will be nowhere around when we enter God's kingdom. We will have no reason to worry, or fear, anymore. Let that be the hope that rules in your heart. God bless you.

Pastor Josh
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Psalm 124: 1-8

Grace and peace to you from our Lord Jesus Christ.

We would have no hope in our lives if we did not have God. It may not always seem like it, because of the evil that exists in our lives and the world, but God does protect us. The world, our lives, would be much worse if we did not have God looking out for us. Yes, bad things happen to us, but the evil of the world is minimized by God. Is this a perfect answer to the evil in the world? No, not by a long shot. It is jut something for us to keep in mind. Even though it may not seem like it, God does look after us and take care us, though not always in the way we expect. God bless you.

Pastor Josh
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Psalm 123: 1-4

Grace and peace to you from our Lord Jesus Christ.

Seeing God is not always an easy thing, but that does not mean we should stop looking. God works in a lot of different, and sometimes mysterious, ways. We often look for great, big miracles that would rival the stories of Jesus we find in the gospels, but it does not always work that way. God is much more subtle sometimes. With that in mind we have to keep our eyes peeled. We have to keep looking for how God is working in our lives, and in the world. We look for God, but we need to keep our eyes open if we have any chance of seeing him. God bless you.

Pastor Josh
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Psalm 122: 1-9

Grace and peace to you from our Lord Jesus Christ.

"May there be peace within your walls and security within your citadels." Peace is something we all want and need. We want our children to be raised in a world where there is no war. But it's not just worldly peace we want, it is peace within ourselves. In our lives we want to have peace for our souls. Restlessness, emptiness, stress, anxiety, loneliness are all things that we do want to have in our lives. We want peace from these things. We can have peace from these things if we turn our lives over to Jesus. Jesus makes our lives better. He gives us peace of mind, heart, and soul. If we turn our lives over to him and allow him to bring his blessings we will find peace in us. Let Jesus into your life and your life will be blessed with many things, but above all peace. God bless you.

Pastor Josh
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Psalm 121: 1-8

Grace and peace to you from our Lord Jesus Christ.

Our help comes from the Lord. When we are in difficult times God is there to help us. We cannot do it by ourselves, and we are not supposed to do it by ourselves. God loves us as his dear children. And in his love for us God gives us a hand from time to time as we face trials and tribulations. God made the world and all that is in it, and because that is true he has the power to help us through anything we encounter in this world. Let God help you. Ask him to come into your life and give you a hand as you go through life. God love you and he wants to help you. Let him. God bless you.

Pastor Josh
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Psalm 120: 1-7

Grace and peace to you from our Lord Jesus Christ.

'What will he do...' This is a good question for us to ask. We do not know what God is going to do. No one, and I mean no one, has the power to predict the future. Only God knows what is going to happen tomorrow. At times we are left wondering. We pray to God for help, but we don't know what he is going to do, or when he is going to do it. We have to trust. We have to trust that God is going to do what is best for us in the time that is best for us. God loves us. He will not cause us pain; he will not lead us astray. God's will is not our will. God's timing is not our timing. We need to trust God; to trust that he will always do what is best for us. God bless you.

Pastor Josh
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Psalm 119: 1-176

Grace and peace to you from our Lord Jesus Christ.

What comes to mind when thinking about the length of this Psalm? The fact that there are a lot of wonderful things we can say about God. We could speak non-stop from now to the end of all things and never even come close to describing God's goodness. There is not enough paper in the world for us to make a list of God's blessings to us or the world. This Psalm is long, almost too long to read in one sitting. However, one of the things we can take from it is that we can never run out of praise. With that in mind we should be in a continual act of praise. Every word that comes from our mouths, every thought that enters our minds, should be to the glory of God. Like the Psalmist does here, we should just keep on praising, for a really really long time. God bless you.

Pastor Josh
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Psalm 118: 1-29

Grace and peace to you from our Lord Jesus Christ.

I'm noticing a theme here: Give thanks to the Lord, for he is good. His love endures forever. 'Endures' is a key word in all of this I think because it carries with it the meaning of 'in spite of.' God's love endures our sin is what the Psalmist means here. God does not like it when we sin, but that does not keep him from loving us. Nothing will make God stop loving us, for his love endures forever. In spite of our sin God loves us anyway. No matter what we do, or where we go, God will always be there, and God will always love us. Despite our sins, God's love endures forever. God bless you.

Pastor Josh
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Psalm 117: 1-2

Grace and peace to you from our Lord Jesus Christ.

God's faithfulness endures forever. That takes things one step further. It is one thing to say God will always love us, but it means even more that God will be faithful to us. Part of the meaning behind 'faithfulness' is blessing. God will always bless us. He will have not only the emotion of love for us in his heart, but also in that love he will bless us and make our lives joyful. God's love knows no end. In other words, God will always love us. God's faithfulness knows no end as well. In other words, God will always be there to take care of us. God bless you.

Pastor Josh
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Bring-A-Friend

Grace and peace to you from our Lord Jesus Christ.

Don't forget, this Sunday is Bring-A-Friend Sunday. This is a new program we are getting started here at Mt. Lebanon Christian Church. The purpose is to get people to think about their faith, and for those who don't have faith, to accept Jesus as personal Lord and Savior. We are called to make disciples, and the Bring-A-Friend program is how we are going to live out that call Share your faith with someone and bring them, not just to church, but to a life of faith. God bless you.

Pastor Josh
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Sunday Scripture and Sermon for September 5, 2010

Grace and peace to you from our Lord Jesus Christ.

The Scripture passage for this Sunday is from Philemon, verses 8-21, in which Paul encourages Philemon to show mercy to Onesimus, Philemon's slave who has run away. The sermon is titled 'Upstream' and will focus on the fact that Christians are called to a different way of life than what the world expects of us. I hope to see you all in church on Sunday. God bless you.

Pastor Josh
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Psalm 116: 1-19

Grace and peace to you from our Lord Jesus Christ.

God makes our lives better, and so we ought to love him. Jesus tells us that the greatest commandment is to love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul, mind, and strength. We need to follow that commandment to the letter. How do we show our love for God? We show our love for God by coming to worship and praising him. We show our love for God by being obedient to his will. We show our love for God by telling others about him. There are variety of ways we can show God's love. We just need to make sure we are doing it more often. God bless you.

Pastor Josh
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Psalm 115: 1-18

Grace and peace to you from our Lord Jesus Christ.

We have work to do. People have closed their eyes; they have closed their ears; they have closed their hearts. We need to open them. God is in the world. He loves the world he has created. He has saved the world he has created. We need to tell the world this good news. God has left it to us to tell people about him. We need to get busy and starting working on opening people's eyes, ears, and hearts to the Lord. God bless you.

Pastor Josh
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