Dear Members and Friends of St. John,
Does God really exist?
If so, does God actually hear and answer prayer? Have you seen the hand of God in your life so
that you can tell others of His power and His love? These big questions are often asked by those
who dismiss that God exists. But, sometimes
even believers ask these questions.
After all, our world is so full of pain and suffering and evil, it is
not surprising that people ask, “Where is God?”
The Scriptures are full of God’s
promises of deliverance and rescue. In
one of my favorite Psalms, Psalm 30, David praises God for his deliverance from
death and the grave. “I will exalt you, O LORD, for you lifted me out of the
depths and did not let my enemies gloat over me. 2 O LORD my God, I called to
you for help and you healed me. 3 O LORD, you brought me up from the grave; you
spared me from going down into the pit.” (Psalm 30:1-3)
When He was tempted in the wilderness, Jesus rebuked
Satan with verses from Scripture, including Psalm 91. The chaplain corps of US Armed Services have especially
chosen Psalm 91 because of its promise of God’s protection in time of danger. (Kathy made a stole for a chaplain friend of
mine with all of Psalm 91 embroidered on the stole.) Listen to God’s promise of rescue for those
who acknowledge him. “13 You will tread upon the lion and
the cobra; you will trample the great lion and the serpent. 14 "Because he
loves me," says the LORD, "I will rescue him; I will protect
him, for he acknowledges my name. 15 He will call upon me, and I will answer
him; I will be with him in trouble, I will deliver him and honor him." (Psalm 91:13-15)
Or, if you search Scripture, you
will find God’s rescue promised in Isaiah, in Jeremiah, in Daniel, in Ezekiel,
and in many other places. (See Isaiah 46:3-4, Jeremiah 1:8, 19, Ezekiel 34:10,
12, 27, Daniel 3:17, Daniel 6:16,20, Zephaniah 3:17-19) For example, in Daniel we
read the famous stories of God rescuing Shadrach, Meshach and
Abednego from the firey furnace, and of God rescuing Daniel from the lions’
den. Paul and Peter also write of God’s
rescue. (2 Timothy 4:18, 2 Peter 2:7-9)
So, God promises in Scripture to
love, to protect, and to save His people.
But, is this promise just something from the past, or is God really still
active today? Are these just stories from
people of faith, or is the power and love of God also present for our lives
today?
This Sunday St. John will host a concert
commemorating the 25th anniversary of a powerful rescue in our very
midst. In the early 1990’s Russia was
opening up to Christian efforts. St.
John sent a team to Provideniya, across from Nome, in late July and early
August 1993. The Koss family and our
son, Joshua, returned from this exploratory trip on Thursday, August 12. Among the others reaching out with the love
of God to this region were Lutheran singers Dave and Barb Anderson and a team 5
others, including our friend, Don Wharton.
On Sunday, August 8, Don sang in worship at St. John. On Friday, August 13, on the way home from
Far East Russia, the plane carrying the team with Dave and Barb and friends ran
out of gas and crashed into the Bering Sea.
People rarely survive over 20 minutes in these frigid waters. But, God showed His power again and, against
conventional wisdom, all seven were rescued from the Bering Sea, and continued
their lives of serving the Lord. The air
traffic control center in Anchorage helped direct a rescue effort from Nome and
all seven were plucked from the icy waters by helicopters. Our friends could not have saved themselves,
but they all were saved by the efforts of others, through the grace of God.
The greatest rescue, however, is
not one from any earthly danger. As Paul
begins writing his letter to the Christians in Galatia, God moves him to write.
“3 Grace and peace to you from God our Father and the Lord
Jesus Christ, 4 who gave himself for our sins to rescue us
from the present evil age, according to the will of our God and Father,” (Galatians
1:3-4) All people in this world face
trials and suffering. All those living
face death. These troubles plague us
because of our weakness, our rebellion, because of our sin against the Creator
and Ruler of all. But, though we have
brought these trials on ourselves, we are powerless to save ourselves. So, as Paul writes, “Christ gave himself for our sins to rescue us.”
Sometimes we think our main need is help and rescue in
this life. But, our greatest need is
rescue from death and from condemnation for eternal life in heaven. The great value of examples of God’s loving
power to rescue us in this world, like the rescue from the Bering Sea in 1993,
is that this earthly rescue points to God’s greater rescue of all of us for
heaven, through Jesus.
This Sunday night we will have an opportunity to hear an
answer to the questions, “Does God exist?
Does He really help and save?” I
invite you to come and celebrate God’s saving goodness in this life, and to
find your hope and your strength in God’s eternal rescue in Jesus.
A Child of God, Rejoicing in God’s Power and Love to
Rescue Us,
Pastor Jonathan
P.S. Dave Anderson
and Roger Walck will present a concert at St. John this Sunday, August 5,
beginning at 6:00 p.m. This concert is
part of the 25th anniversary celebration of God’s rescue from the
Bering Sea.
P.P.S. Here are
some pictures from a leisurely fishing trip with my dogs on Monday, July
30. https://photos.app.goo.gl/WbUhjMsB98hVo3Av5
******
ABOUT ‘THOUGHTS FROM THE PASTOR’ - I am
sending these e-mail messages, hopefully weekly, to all St. John members and
friends whose e-mails I have. (I am regularly adding new names of friends
and members – in case you are just receiving this e-mail for the first time.) However, if you do not
want to receive this e-mail, please let me know, and I’ll gladly leave your
name off my list for this message.
******
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