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 Pastor's Notes
Greetings and grace to
you in the wonderful name of our Lord Jesus Christ. I am writing this on the 11th
day of Nisan, 5778 according to the Hebrew Calendar; Tuesday, March 27 for all
of us Gentiles that were “strangers from the covenants of promise,
having no hope, and without God in the world: But now in Christ Jesus ye who sometimes
were far off are made nigh by the blood of Christ.” (Eph. 2:12b-13) Our Lord’s last week of His
earthly life has been on my mind and heart continuously this week. A lot of times when I think a week has
been tough, Jesus’ last week comes to my remembrance. The Lord Jesus knew what was going to
happen to the least detail from eternity.
Yet He did it for love; His love for the Father and for you and me. From the cheers of Hosanna when He
triumphantly entered Jerusalem, the cries for Him to be crucified to the jeers
hurled at Him on the way to Calvary, Jesus’ commitment to do the will of
God with all of His being never slacked or wavered. Concerned for the very ones that had
crucified Him, Jesus prayed, “Father, forgive them; for they know not
what they do.” Indeed Jesus
came to give His life as a ransom for many, even you and me whose sins Jesus
bore in His own body on the cross.
Jesus’ last earthly week was indeed a roller coaster one, but one
thing was constant, Jesus’ delight to do the Father’s will. Do we walk like Him? (1 John 2:6)
April not only brings
Easter Sunday, with Sunrise Service at 6:00am and our regular morning services,
but two big ministry events.
Saturday, April 14, beginning at 10:30am, we are planning on visiting
each house in our Piney Chapel community with the purpose of meeting our
neighbors and inviting them to Celebrate Jesus at Piney Chapel Elementary on
Sunday, April 22 from 3-7:30pm.
Celebrate Jesus will be a day of ministry and fun for ERBC and our
community neighbors. There will be
hamburgers, hotdogs, shaved ice, cotton candy, inflatables, singing,
testimonies and Gospel presentations.
Please be listening for ways you can serve and minister during these two
intense days. Begin now to pray for
the Lord to draw people to Himself and to save many souls to His glory.
Returning to the
thoughts of the first paragraph, Jesus never changed in His commitment to do
God’s will. His earthly
ministry spanned some three years according to the Gospels. After being baptized by John the
Baptist, Jesus began the ministry portion of His life and the there are three
Passovers recorded during in the Gospels.
During the first Passover recorded in John 2, Jesus cleansed the temple
for the first time. John 2:17
records, “And his disciples remembered that it was written, The zeal of
thine house hath eaten me up.” Zeal here means passion and fervor of
spirit connected to that which is His Father’s. Again from beginning to ending of
Jesus’ earthly life, His zeal for that which pertained unto His Father
never altered in the least. Can
this be said of you and me? In
Romans 6:19 we are challenged to evaluate our zeal for the Lord. “I speak after the manner of men
because of the infirmity of your flesh: for as ye have yielded your members
servants to uncleanness and to iniquity unto iniquity; even so now yield your
members servants to righteousness unto holiness.” (Rom. 6:19) In high school football consumed me and
was my life. A close running second
was Mustangs. Playing football came
to an end and so did owning and hot rodding an old Mustang, but the battle rages
on at times in my heart of flesh.
If not on these two fronts, another will arise to distract my attention
and steal my zeal for the Lord. Oh,
to be like Jesus and always delight to do only the will of the Father with
great zeal. Is there anything in
your life you are more zealous of than what pertains unto your Heavenly
Father? Heavenly Father, grant unto
us “For
to me to live is Christ.” (Philp. 1:21a) Amen.
By His
grace,
Toney
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