Hope

Breaking News!

/ pastorpete51 / 1 Comment 
"The Spirit of the Lord is upon me because He has anointed me to proclaim Good News to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim liberty to the captives and recovering of sight to the blind, and to set at liberty those who are oppressed. " Luke 4:18 ESV

Whether you turn on the CBS Evening news, The Fox Report or CNN news, it is likely that the headlines are all bad news stories. As the old saying goes, “If it bleeds it leads.” With unimaginable cruelty, unending wars and merciless natural disasters pummeling our airwaves, it is easy to suppose that things have never been so bad. But with the slaughter of worshippers in the temple by Pilate, multitudes of blind, crippled and lepers begging in the streets and the hypocrisy of the religious leaders, in the days of Jesus, it seems that things weren’t really all that much different back then. So, you might think that in His first sermon, Jesus should have denounced the Roman atrocities, demanded fair treatment of slaves or condemned the religious charlatans who held power in Jerusalem. But instead, Jesus went to the ancient prophetic writings of Isaiah and announced to everyone longing for better things, that He had come to proclaim God’s Good News, and that this news was especially for the poor. Why the poor? Were they any more deserving of this message than anyone else? No! Rather this good news for them was like a home cooked meal to a starving man, a storm shelter in a tornado or a Spring thaw after many subzero weeks of Winter.

Sharing this message of Good News with the precious residents of Discovery Villages this past Sunday was a real blessing. I found that God’s word didn’t need to be hyped up, twisted into modern relevancy or updated, for it to bring hope to their hungry hearts. If you are also thirsty for that same good news of Jesus, then I pray that this little message will lift you up today.

New Year Hope

/ pastorpete51 / 4 Comments 
For everyone who asks receives; the one who seeks finds; and to the one who knocks, the door will be opened. Luke 11:10 NIV

As we approach New Year, I confess that over the last twelve months, most of what I hoped for, didn’t happen the way I planned, many of my best efforts turned out to be fruitless and looking ahead, I have no idea what will happen next. There is just so much I don’t know, but I do know that God is not the God of hopelessness. But in the middle of our daily battles, He challenges our faith, tests our resolve and then surprises us with grace. Here in our home, our responsibilities concerning our friend Betty who came to live with us after the hurricane in October of ’24 have grown considerably as her dementia has increased and after a minor stroke just after Thanksgiving. Nancy and I struggle along with the help and prayers of friends and several health aides who stop by throughout the week. Each day feels like slogging through a muddy field, but we have hope, though our plans for the coming year are all pretty much on hold. We have a God Who has promised to never leave or forsake, who assures us that in the valleys He will walk with us…with me…with my wife and with our friend Betty. He will keep our family. He will provide answers, and He will carry us in His arms like a shepherd! (Isaiah 40:11) What an amazing hope we have!

Too often when we read today’s verse, we fail to follow through on Luke’s fuller explanation in verses 11-14. Rather than stopping at the open door, Jesus teaches us that no father will give hurtful or dangerous gifts to his children when they ask for things like bread, a fish or an egg. Then He ends with the thought that our Heavenly Father will also give us good things: and the best of all gifts is Himself. He gives His Holy Spirit, to those who ask. What more valuable gift could we possess, who better to guide, what greater hope can we have than the Holy Spirit to lead us into tomorrow? Though it will be a New Year for us, for our Father in Heaven who stands outside of time, every moment is already written in His book. Now I ask that God will bless and keep you as He leads, protects, provides and encourages by His unfailing love and eternal grace through every one of the days ahead!

Streams in the Desert

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 I will stand there before you by the rock at Horeb. Strike the rock, and water will come out of it for the people to drink.” So Moses did this in the sight of the elders of Israel. Exodus 17:6 NIV

If the prospect of launching out into 2026 looks more like heading across a forbidding desert than launching out on a journey of discovery, then remember that God has promised us streams in the desert. When the children of Israel wandered in a desert (Ironically called the Desert of SIN) without water, they became so thirsty that they were ready to stone Moses for leading them there. Then God commanded Moses do a very odd thing (God seems to major in odd things!) He told Him to take His shepherd’s staff and hot a large rock. This technique isn’t in any well drilling manual I have ever heard of. The best you might expect out of hitting a rock with a stick is a broken stick. But God always has greater things in mind and when he hit the rock, a stream of water so large began flowing out that it was enough for hundreds of thousands of people to drink.

In the same way, in our own desert of sin, God sent His Son Jesus who was struck on the cross with a lethal blow. From His side flowed water and blood and that blood He shed opened for all who would come to Him in faith a mighty river in our wasteland and provision for our journey, no matter what lies ahead in the coming year. I hope you may be blessed by this simple message which I shared at Life Care Center last Friday. May God bless you richly and open for you a path in the wilderness and streams in the desert. Happy New Year in 2026!