MAC KIRK

 Growing in Grace    Last Sunday we talked about the word Eucharist which we saw meant good grace literally in the original language.  We are thankful if we realize that grace is our inheritance in Christ.  We realize we are to live by grace, and not our own striving.  Of course we should strive for holiness in our Christian life, " Pursue peace with all people, and holiness, without which no one will see the Lord:  looking carefully lest anyone fall short of the grace of God; " in Hebrews 12:14-15 I want to look at the question of how we should do that . A good illustration of this is in 2 Chronicles 34 where the law of God is rediscovered in Israel by the prophets and people . Imagine that!  A re-commitment to God is made after they find it. " because your heart was tender, and you humbled yourself before God when you heard His words against this place and against its inhabitants, and you humbled yourself before Me, and you tore your clothes and wept before Me, I also

  Luke 22:19  Quarterly Holy Communion Meditation "And he took bread, and gave thanks, and brake it, and gave unto them, saying, This is my body which is given for you: this do in remembrance of me."     I have never forgotten what my teacher told me in seminary, " Don't wait to preach it before you live it."  Dr.  Robert Rudolph    That may be what is wrong with many today...in churches, in homes etc....We have to know what to do ; so we should we should preach it if it is in the Bible. We fail to do it, but that is the point! We can only live by God's help and grace.  Many fail to understand this, because it is a great mystery , but it is at the heart of the reformed and Biblical faith----and grace should be taught and preached.   Grace.  It is undeserved , and unconditional  . God does not forsee who believes and receives them. He gives His Spirit to those whom He has known and loved from all eternity.  That is incomprehensible , but Biblical.   As usual,

  Listening and Discouragement Isaiah 50:4-9a; James 3:1-12; Psalm 116:1-8;Mark 8:27-38 Listening . This is one fact of what our Scriptures are about today. “ Listening is one of the best gifts one human can give another. It requires our full attention. It calls for a mind-set of appreciation, curiosity and wonder for the other person. We can’t be thinking about what we are going to say in response, or how we would handle the situation , or what’s going on at work or at home. We must let go of our own agenda for the moment, which is not an easy thing to do.” From Practicing the Sacred Art of Listening by Lindhal. " Courage is what it takes to stand up and speak. Courage is also what it takes to sit down and listen. " Winston Churchill  or " Listening is a hug you give with your mind."  Barbara Nixon and this one is the money shot, " We need silence to be able to touch souls."  Mother Teresa When Jesus asked the disciples “ Whom do men say that I am?” The r

  Esther ch. 6-10 "The Deliverance of the People of God"    This is where the rubber meets the road .  God delivers the people of God.  This does not happen automatically, and in that we discover the true doctrine of the Providence of God.  He works through means, and His people.  We are not puppets.  He values our choices as His people and we have them.  We can choose to stand by and say, " Do it God", but He does not work that way, does He?  ( sidenote- I see much confusion among people about this.  They try and put themselves in a place where they try and understand God's ways, but as Isaiah says " My thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways, my ways declares the LORD. " Is. 55) 1. The King cannot sleep. Chapter 6.  Here begins the rescue of the Jews from Haman and those who do His people harm. Here again I review the Heidelberg Confession of faith on God's providential direction of our lives.  Q" What does it benefit us to kno

  Esther II...chapters 3-6?  ( or something like that)    This is a message about doing the right thing even when it is hard.  We are all challenged in this area.  Sometimes we are quiet when we should speak, and other times we speak when we really should be quiet. Why do we not speak when something needs to be said?   Usually others are speaking anyway I say often , and let them speak if they think they need to. That reminds me of the Scarecrow in the Wizard of Oz. " Some people without brains do an alwful lot of talking " he said to Dorothy,  because he didn't have a brain---only straw. Dorothy said, " You're right." Two verses in ch 4 stand out in this section ch 3-5 or 6.  In Ch 4 Esther is told by her uncle Mordecai of the decree 3:15 that the King had made. This was because Haman the King's prime official was angry with Mordecai, the Jew, because he would not bow down to him.  Haman gave money to the king to have the Jewish people destroyed., ch 3:

  Esther -- "A Study for our Time" "During World War II a delightful Christian English lady kept a personal diary. It tells of her husband's death in the war effort. It tells of food rationing and the horrible bombing of London . It tells of her children's evacuation to the countryside. One night during the bombings the woman confessed that she woke up and could not get back to sleep. She kept thinking of Hitler, invasion, and the S.S. troops. She trembled until she suddenly thought, "Where is Alexander the Great who gobbled up the world? Where is Caesar's dogmatic rule upheld on the tips of spears? Where is Napoleon? They are all in their graves and come to naught," she wrote. "And that is where Hitler will be, too. The same God reigns!" And she rolled over, laughed, and went back to sleep! The Mid-East, terrorism, crime, abortion -- is this what your eyes are upon? Are you gazing at the world, and glancing at Christ? Rise above it! Lift