Here and Now

It is time once again for reflection on the year passing and for making resolutions for the new year.  Right now, it feels like anything is possible in 2014.  I did not do everything I determined to last year, but this is the year I will.  I did not keep my resolution last year, but this year I will.  I did not go back to school last year, but this year I will.  I did not read through the Bible last year, but this year I will.  I did not change my career path to something I enjoy like I said I would, but this year I will. This is the easiest time of year to fool ourselves, isn't it? I once heard it said that a goal without a plan is only a wish.  So I wonder how many of us will set goals for 2014, and how many of us are just wishing things will be different this year... This year, I plan to make some changes.  In the past, I have endeavored to do this by setting priorities for the coming year, only to realize sometime in mid-February that nothing had really changed because I

             About two millennia ago, a little boy was born to a poor family into utter obscurity.   He was born in a cave, and spent His first night on Earth sleeping in a feeding trough.   He was the Lord of glory come in human flesh for the purposes of redeeming creation; the omnipotent God born into weakness for our sake.             About two weeks ago, in anticipation of the anniversary of that world-changing event, millions of people stampeded over each other to save a few bucks.  In order to appease a consumerist culture, retailers even decided to start “Black Friday” on Thursday and opened on a national holiday to offer better prices on the things we want.              And many of us who lament each year that far too many are forgetting “the reason for the season” took our stand.  We refused to shop.  We told our friends and family they should refrain from doing so.  We took to social media to do the Christian thing and we not only berated retailers for openi

Picking up where we left off yesterday: something else struck me about that same chapter in 1 Samuel (chapter 14).  God does win a great victory through the faith of Jonathon, but I don’t want us to miss Jonathon’s role in all of this. In verse six, he tells his armor bearer that they should go to the garrison of the uncircumcised Philistines because he knew that nothing would hinder God from saving by even a few (like just the two of them).  But look what happens next: Then Jonathan said, “Behold, we will cross over to the men, and we will show ourselves to them. If they say to us, ‘Wait until we come to you,’ then we will stand still in our place, and we will not go up to them.   But if they say, ‘Come up to us,’ then we will go up, for the Lord has given them into our hand. And this shall be the sign to us.”   So both of them showed themselves to the garrison of the Philistines. And the Philistines said, “Look, Hebrews are coming out of the holes where they have hidden

There is a story in 1 Samuel about the valiant Jonathon, son of King Saul, and his armor bearer who decide to attack a garrison, a pretty large garrison, of the Philistines.  Just the two of them.  While it may sound a bit impetuous and maybe even a bit ill-advised for two men to attempt such a bold undertaking, Jonathon says something that shows why it is neither, and which also shows his great faith: Jonathon said to the young man who carried his armor, “Come, let us go over to the garrison of these uncircumcised.  It may be that the LORD will work for us, for nothing can hinder the LORD from saving by many or by few.” (1 Samuel 14:6) As you probably know, I pastor a very small church.  Now, I am not one to play the numbers game, but I would not guess that there were more than 15 adults in yesterday’s service.  Many look at that number and think to themselves that we are not a very successful church, nor will we be until our numbers increase.  Even I, in those moments of d

“We say our prayers, but have we ever prayed? Do we know anything about this encounter, this meeting? Have we the assurance of sins forgiven? Are we free from ourselves and self-concern that we may intercede? Have we a real burden for the glory of God and the name of the Church? Have we this concern for those who are outside? And are we pleading with God for His own name’s sake because of His own promises to hear us and to answer us?” - D. Martyn Lloyd-Jones “We cannot be too much in earnest about the saving even of one lost one. I believe we know almost nothing of that deep compassion and yearning love for a dying world, which, as saints,we ought ever to feel.” - Horatius Bonar Brothers and sisters, may we pray that God would break our hearts for the lost, and that he would then drive us back to our knees to intercede for them.

Here are the first 25 things (not in order) that I found that the New Testament says about faith.  How many would you say describe your faith? 1.       By faith we are saved.   2.       By faith we are justified.   3.       By faith we receive the propitiation of Christ’s blood.   4.       By faith we are counted righteous. 5.       By faith we have obtained access to God’s grace. 6.       By faith we received the Holy Spirit. 7.       Faith leads to obedience. 8.       Faith pursues the law of God. 9.       By faith we uphold the law of God.   10.   Faith encourages. 11.   Faith examines itself. 12.   It is by faith that we receive the promises of God, in fact, His promises depend on faith.   13.   With faith, all things are possible.   14.   Those things that we pray for, whatever it is, if we ask in faith, we will receive them. 15.   With the faith as small as a mustard seed you can tell the mountains to move from one place to another

With the Thanksgiving holiday here, I am taking to the blogosphere (with a million other people) to talk about all of the things I am thankful for.  It is pretty easy to come up with a list, especially as I sit here outside on my Macbook typing on my blog over my wi-fi while I smoke a cigar and enjoy the cool crisp fall afternoon as my daughter joyfully plays and laughs out here.  I have time to do this now that I have finished planning worship service for tomorrow at the church I have graciously been given to pastor where I have the privilege of preaching tomorrow for the people I love most in the world before I get to spend an afternoon watching football on a TV much larger that I need with some of my best friends as my beautiful wife makes us food and we eat way more than we need. So what am I thankful for? Well, I often feel guilty for what I have.  I know I have way more than I need or deserve, and pangs of guilt sneak in almost daily.  And I look at myself in the mirror an

Let me tell you about George (not his real name).  George is a gentleman that I work with.  He and I get along very well, and I really enjoy my conversations with him.  George was raised a Roman Catholic.  He is married with two kids, but he told me recently that they are not actively practicing their religion.  In fact, he has not been to church in quite a while, and doesn't think he will ever go back. When I asked him why, he said to me that when he took a step back and looked at the lives of Christians and the lives of others, he didn't see that the Christians' lives were any different than anyone else's.  He told me "Christians don't have it any better than anyone else." Now, I am not sure what George's definition of "Christian" is, but when I asked him what he meant by "better," he told me that they don't have anything that non-believers don't have.  And, of course, this is typical of non-believers (and all too often,

Let me tell you about Juliana (real name used with permission).  She is a young lady that I work with.  As far as I know, she is not a believer, though she is not antagonistic towards talk about God. She said something that struck me a few weeks ago.  While I was speaking to Jenny (see the post from a few weeks back here ) about her upcoming wedding, and as I was asking her about her fiancée’s church membership (or lack thereof), Juliana basically wondered, out loud, if I was trying to convince Jenny and her hubby-to-be to join RFH.  I explained that I was not doing that, but that I firmly believed that Christians should belong to a local church that was doctrinally sound whether it was RFH or not. Then she said, “You’re a religious drug pusher.” Interesting… Now, Juliana is a sassy young woman with a sarcastic streak.  I think she was only joking (though I could be wrong).  And I would hardly consider myself a religion pusher, a faith pusher, or even an evangelist for

Let me tell you about Mr. Kay.  He was a former investor in the company I work for.  He passed away last week from cancer.  Mr. Kay was very talkative.  He was, by all appearances and rumors, a very wealthy man.  And he was as atheist as they come.  He was nice enough to converse with, though he would dominate most conversations, letting me know what business ventures were doing well, etc. I cannot say that I had much affection for Mr. Kay, as our world views were polar opposites, as were, seemingly, our priorities.  He also saw my ministry as a great potential to make money.  As he put it: "there is a lot of money to be made in religion" because it exploited people's unreasonable fears.  As I said, we were pretty opposite.  I personally find it difficult to get the warm and fuzzies for anyone who holds making money in such high regard, even to the point of exploiting people's "unreasonable fears" to make some.  Definitely not my kind of guy. Shame on me

Let me tell you about Tom.   Tom is a co-worker and good friend of mine.   He has a great sense of humor and, quite honestly, helps make my work day bearable, and sometimes even enjoyable.   He is also a brother in Christ. Like Jenny (remember her?), Tom is not a member of a local church.   Now, I am not going to get into what the Bible says about that, because I have done enough of that.   Rather, I want to talk about what the Bible says Tom is missing by not being part of a local body of believers. Joy. Now, I am not saying that Tom is not a happy guy, because he is (at least he seems to be).   Nor am I saying that he does not have any enjoyment or that others don’t enjoy him (and his wit).   What I am talking about is Christian joy.   The joy that is only given by God to His children.   The joy that will someday reach its culmination in glory.   The joy that, as it is described in the Scriptures, is realized on this side of glory through the fellowship of the saints

Let me tell you about Jenny (not her real name).   She works in the accounts receivable department at my job.  She is a professing Christian, but she does not belong to a local church.  She has recently gotten engaged to a gentleman that is also a professing Christian.   We were talking about her upcoming wedding and I asked her if they were getting married at his local church.  As it turns out, he does not belong to a church either.  I guess she could tell by the look on my face what I thought of that, and she began to explain why she was not a member of a church.   During the conversation, she said she had been "put through the ringer by the church".  I asked her how many local churches she had been a member of and she said three.  Now, I do not personally think that it is reasonable nor right for a Christian to disavow church membership because of a few bad experiences.  Even if all three go-arounds at church membership had ended badly, that is a very small sampling of

I am bi-vocational. That’s fancy talk for “I don’t make no money as a pastor so I gotta have a job.” In addition to pastoring a small church, I also work for a sheet metal fabricator in the sales department. It has its benefits and it has its detriments. One of the benefits of working sales in a manufacturing setting is that I am in contact with a lot of people that need the Gospel, both within the company and outside. Another is that I don’t fall into that pastor trap of forgetting that the overwhelming majority of Christians spend the overwhelming majority of their waking moments with unbelievers. That being the case, I would like to set aside the pastor me for a few blog-posts and talk from the point of view of the me that is in the business world surrounded by unbelievers. Because for the majority of us Christians, our every day mission field is the office, or the depot, or the factory, or the store, or the stockroom, or the classroom, or the coffee-house, or the bar, or w

One of the (many) things that amaze me when I read the Gospels is that Jesus had to repeat Himself so often.   With the Pharisees, He had to remind time and again that they misunderstood what the Sabbath was all about.   One more than one occasion, He had to explain that their preoccupation with appearances is not what God wants from His people.   They were stuck in their way of “worshipping” God.           Even with His own disciples, Jesus had to remind them over and over again what true faith was all about.   They thought that they were honoring God by doing many things, but they often looked at these things from a worldly perspective.   Jesus even told Simon Peter after his great confession that he had his mind set on the things of man and not those of God.   They did not always worship God the way He wanted.           You might say that both the Pharisees and the disciples were stuck in a worship rut.   They all got used to their certain way of “honoring” God.   Many

Sorry for the month-long blog break! To get us going again, I wanted to share some great quotes I came across this week: “Dear God, the treasures of thy love Are everlasting mines, Deep as our helpless miseries are, And boundless as our sins. The happy gates of gospel grace Stand open night and day, Lord, we are come to seek supplies, And drive our wants away.” — Isaac Watts, “The Invitation of the Gospel” None of us really changes over time. We only become more fully what we are. —Anne Rice “One cannot explain the explosive dynamite, the dunamis, of the early church apart from the fact that they practiced two things simultaneously: orthodoxy of doctrine and orthodoxy of community in the midst of the visible church, a community which the world could see. By the grace of God, therefore, the church must be known simultaneously for its purity of doctrine and the reality of its community. Our churches have so often been only preaching points with very little emphasis on

I do enough. Why don't other people do some more than they do? Why can't you do as much as I do? I deserve a break. Why do I have to do everything? No, I am not just complaining today.  I am listing some of the things that we all think sometimes.  Even when it comes to serving God.  And I am not talking just what we do in church, or just what we do as "ministry", though we know we've all thought these things a time or two in those cases.  I am talking about the servant is not above his Master, whoever would be great must serve, good and faithful, big picture, this is how I live my life as a Christian kind of serving. I am talking everything from the "that guy just cut me off and gave me the one finger salute but I am not going to get angry because I am a Christian" kind of stuff to the "I am being mocked for my faith and horribly insulted and my reputation is being hurt but I am going to love this person because I am a Christian" ki

". . . men sure of God, sure of his will, sure of the absolute duty to act in his sight and for his approval.  Nothing else mattered by comparison.  Consequences were of no account.  Obedience alone held the secret of freedom, courage, peace, power, happiness and salvation." The Puritans, as described by F. J. Powicke "Reading furnishes the mind only with materials of knowledge; it is thinking that makes what we read ours." John Locke "A Christian is not a person who has made a new start in life, but a person who has received a new life to start with." John Blanchard "God...will never be comfortably predictable.  If we rest in God's care only when we understand just what He is doing, there will be many times and places where we won't rest in His care." Paul David Tripp

I often shake my head when I hear the Gospel presented as if God changed His mind (as if He could) as some point in history about how to save us.  Some present it is if God gave the Old Testament law, then, seeing that we could not meet His righteous requirements, He decided to fulfill it Himself in Jesus Christ.  Like the entire New Testament is the result of some Holy audible God called because He was surprised by how sinful and corrupted we are. But this is a grave misunderstanding of God and His grace. God didn't have a Plan B.  Jesus Christ is Plan A, and the only plan God ever had.  Giving us the law was meant to lead us to repentance and to an understanding of our desperate need for a Savior.  Jesus' life, death, resurrection, and ascension were planned from the foundation of the world. But Plan A is not complete.  It won't be until Christ returns to fulfill all things.  So what is supposed to happen until He does?  Well... Plan A.  You and me.  Us.  The church

Busy day around the old Grzywinski household today…             First, Turk (my buddy, our awesome little Yorkie) got violently ill this morning and I had to take him to the vet.   Turns out he has pancreatitis.   He is going to be fine, but the poor little guy has to eat nothing but boiled chicken for a few days, and his birthday is tomorrow to boot!             This kinda put a crimp in the day’s schedule.   We were planning on continuing the attic clean-out today, Saturday is my busy day (fine tuning Sunday service, printing bulletins, etc.), and there are always the day before fellowship Sunday things to do.   And, of course, everything needs to be done by kickoff tonight (Jets vs. Giants!!).             There was a time that all of this would have made me super anxious.   I mean, talk-to-Daddy-at-your-own-risk-ultra-uber-special-kind-of-anxious (let’s see if my wife posts any comments about that).   But I am not today.   I am wallowing in God’s grace like a pig in sti

Okay, I know I may be behind the times, but I found this new thing called "Blogging". I wonder if anyone else is doing it... Anyway, the days of writing a (mostly) weekly SFTW in Word and e-mailing a document that some could open and some could not are now behind me. Instead, I will be writing right here. Please enter your e-mail address in the little box on the right and subscribe to the SFTW blog. Then, I assume, this internet thingy somehow alerts you when I post something new and you will get a message in your inbox thingy. (Sorry, I didn't mean to get so technical...) Will I post every week? Hopefully. I think with the ease of this new "Blogging" thing, I may even post more than that. Either way, I'd love to have your support in this and I'd love to have you read what God puts on my heart to write. I still love you all!

Selfishly Alone I heard a preacher I like talk about why Christians should go to church.   He used this story as an illustration: ‘A pastor was having a barbeque at his house.   The entire congregation was invited.   There was one man in particular who came with his wife. She was a member of the church, but he himself, though a professing Christian, was not. So while the pastor was grilling, he called the man over and asked him why he did not come to church.   The man replied: “Pastor, I believe in Jesus Christ.   I know my soul is secure. I don’t need church.   I am just fine being a Christian on my own.”   As the conversation continued, the pastor pulled one piece of charcoal that was too hot to touch out of the fire with tongs, and placed it on the ground. When the man was growing tired of the conversation he started to excuse himself, but the pastor asked him to pick up the piece of charcoal first.   The man did and he held it out to the pastor. The pastor said: “When th