Monday Thoughts from Pastor Tim - March 24

Dear Church Family –

We had a special time at church last night with Ayelet, an Israeli believer in Jesus Christ.  Ayelet lives in Israel and told about the terrible heartbreak of October 7th when Hamas terrorists flooded into some peaceful Israeli cities killing and raping and taking hostages.

She also shared that the war in Israel has given individual Israelis a new hunger to hear from God and read the Bible.  That fuels our prayers that Jewish people will accept their Messiah, Jesus.

Ayelet reminded us of the crucial words of Romans 11:25-36

“I do not want you to be ignorant of this mystery, brothers, so that you may not be conceited: Israel has experienced a hardening in part until the full number of the Gentiles has come in. And so all Israel will be saved, as it is written: ‘The deliverer will come from Zion; he will turn godlessness away from Jacob. And this is my covenant with them when I take away their sins.’

As far as the gospel is concerned, they are enemies on your account; but as far as election is concerned, they are loved on account of the patriarchs, for God's gifts and his call are irrevocable. Just as you who were at one time disobedient to God have now received mercy as a result of their disobedience, so they too have now become disobedient in order that they too may now receive mercy as a result of God's mercy to you. For God has bound all men over to disobedience so that he may have mercy on them all.

Oh, the depth of the riches of the wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable his judgments, and his paths beyond tracing out! ‘Who has known the mind of the Lord?

Or who has been his counselor? Who has ever given to God, that God should repay him?’

For from him and through him and to him are all things. To him be the glory forever! Amen.”

Yesterday morning, we talked about our identity in Christ and the mission we have to live up to who we are in Christ and to be Christ’s ambassadors to our time and place.

On our trip to Minnesota last week, Judith and I listened to a message from Tim Keller in which he drew a helpful analogy about how we live in our world and interact with our culture.  He said, in relation to our culture, we are either tourists, immigrants, or ambassadors.

A tourist does not communicate well or even try to assimilate to the culture.

An immigrant assimilates (becomes like the culture) but does not communicate well.

An ambassador does not assimilate to the culture, (always keeping his own homeland as his frame of reference), but he does work on learning to communicate well.

God calls us to be ambassadors, not immigrants or tourists, to our culture.

“Therefore, we are ambassadors for Christ, as though God were making an appeal through us; we beg you on behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God.” (2 Cor 5:20)

Thanks for your love, support, and prayers for Israel.  Thanks for being an ambassador for Christ in our time and place.  And thanks for praying and thinking about who to invite to our Easter service on April 20th.

Because of Christ - Pastor Tim