MAC KIRK

Job 1:1; 2:1-10       A popular book called, When Bad Things Happen to Good People written by Rabbi Harold S. Kushner , a national bestseller came out a few years back .   I thought how nice that a learned man would take some lessons from the Scriptures and then help us with our faith.   But I was confused when I read passages like this: “ Innocent people do suffer misfortunes in this life. Things happen to them far worse than they deserve----they lose their jobs, they get sick, their children suffer or make them suffer.   But when it happens, it does not represent God punishing them for something they did wrong.   The misfortunes do not come from God at all.”     Rabbi Kushner bases a lot of his conclusions from the Book of Job.   Now when we read the Bible and the Book of Job in particular, we may ask, if God is not in charge as the good Rabbi says, then who is?   If God created the world and then just left me...

I Want to Know True Wisdom in my Life” James 3:13-4:3, 7-8a Mark 9:30-37 James’ words today reminds me of the words from Ecclesiastes and the search for wisdom. Solomon did not find wisdom in great houses, great gardens or in dining with fine wine, or in great strength. In our search for true wisdom we have often stopped at one of these things and stayed there in that house. But we did not find wisdom there for long. Solomon finds that the end of the matter was ,” Fear God, and keep his commandments : for this is the whole duty of man.” 12:13 James is all about the application of our wisdom that we profess we have. James says our Christian lives must be shown in good conduct, or as the KJV has it “ who is a wise man, and endued with knowledge among you? Let him show out of a good conversation his works with meekness of wisdom.” 3:13 Matthew Henry was a Puritan preacher and a Presbyterian whose father Philip Henry had been thrown out of the Church of England because he would ...

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. When Jesus asked the disciples “ Whom do men say that I am?” The responses were basically “ one of the prophets”. They were disappointing. Peter did get it right of course. But then he reversed himself when Jesus told the disciples about the His coming sacrifice and resurrection. In fact “ Peter took him, and began to rebuke him.” 8:32 Mark This got me thinking to how we deal with disappointment and ...

Mercy Is 35:4-7a;Ps 146;James 2:1-10,14-17;Mark 7:24-37 Confession – Why is this a part of our service each Sunday? Let us confess our sins against God and our neighbor. Most holy and merciful Father: We confess to you and to one another, that we have sinned by our own fault in thought, word, and deed; by what we have done, and by what we have left undone. We have not loved you with our whole heart, and mind, and strength. We have not loved our neighbors as ourselves. We have not forgiven others, as we have been forgiven. Have mercy on us, Lord. We have been deaf to your call to serve, as Christ served us. We have not been true to the mind of Christ. We have grieved your Holy Spirit. Have mercy on us, Lord. We confess to you, Lord, all our past unfaithfulness: the pride, hypocrisy, and impatience of our lives, We confess to you, Lord. Our self-indulgent appetites and ways, and our exploitation of other people, We confess to you, Lord. Our anger at our...

“The Christian Life Gives Us Christian Living”   James 1:17 -27       Somehow there is a lot of confusion about the Christian life. Some think that going to church is being a Christian and that is all that is needed. That is certainly important to go to church and join with fellow Christians and make up what we call the body of Christ here on earth. We know that our Christian lives   were begun by God Himself. “ Having willed He begat us by the word of truth for us to be first fruits of his creatures.” 1:18 This is important for us to ever remember.   We did not create our Christian lives.   We should be humbled because it is God who did that.        James writes his letter to the scattered believers who were living in a world that was not so friendly to them.   They were experiencing “trials”   1:2   (literally surrounded by trials.   It is the same word used in the Lord’s Prayer, “ an...

God’s Wondrous Ways of the Blessings of His Presence 1 Kings 8:(1, 6, 10-11), 22-30, 41-43 Psalm 84 Ephesians 6:10-20 John 6:56-69 A few weeks ago we learned of how works in our lives in many ways. When Elijah defeated the prophets of Baal on Mount Carmel , God ministered to him after his great ordeal and weariness at Mount Carmel. An angel touched him (I Kings 19:5) in his weariness of body and spirit and fed him two times. How does God continue to touch us in our lives here and now? Another OT reading which was for today tells us of the bringing of the ark of the Covenant to the temple ( I Kings 8). In the ark were the two tables of stone. .. that is the ten commandments written by the finger of God. We read today that “ when the priests were come out of the holy place that the cloud filled the house of the LORD, so that the priests could not stand to minister because of the cloud: for the glory of the LORD had filled the house of the LORD.” I Kings 8:11 Is this not ...

A Wise & Understanding Heart”----or “ What the World Needs Now is?...” I Kings 3 There was a song written a long time ago that asked, “ What the World Needs Now Is..?” I think the answer was something like this:” What the world needs now is love, sweet love It's the only thing that there's just too little of..". It certainly is something we need more of. I do not think we would disagree with that. But is that all? What would you and I answer to that question? Peace perhaps? More wealth so it can be spread around so to speak? We would not celebrate poverty necessarily. Wealth and money can be helpful , and certainly is something we need more of. I do not think we would disagree with that. But is that all? What would you and I answer to that question? Peace perhaps? More wealth so it can be spread around so to speak? We would not celebrate poverty those of us who know what that is. My Dad used to say that during the Depression on the farm in Missouri they had ...