Ironbridge Church | Pastor’s Corner

As a follower of Christ, your life story is a part of a much bigger story. Your very existence is a part of God’s redemptive drama that has been playing out since before the beginning of time. We must never lose our sense of wonder and joy at being a part of the drama of the Great Story.

The Lord has created us with five senses and He’s designed wonderful acts of worship that are a feast for all five senses. God doesn’t want the gospel just to be heard—He wants it to be experienced with our eyes, our ears, our sense of smell, and with our sense of touch and taste. Every time a new believer is baptized by immersion, there is a glorious retelling of the gospel story. That’s why Jesus said, “Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit…” (Matthew 28:19) The new believer is plunged beneath the water, symbolizing the death and burial of Jesus, and when they are raised out of the water—it symbolizes Jesus’ triumph over the grave.

As we gather at the Lord’s Table today, we’re touching and tasting the gospel. The simple act of taking the bread and the juice into our bodies is a powerful retelling of the Great Story.

The woman in Matthew 26 understood the power of drama. “A woman came up to Him with an alabaster flask of very expensive ointment, and she poured it on His head as He reclined at table.” (Matthew 26:7)

Today, in the Lord’s House, let us retell the Great Story and rejoice together as we experience the drama of the Gospel.

Today’s Scripture Promise: “Truly I say to you, wherever this gospel is preached in the whole world, what this woman has done will also be spoken of in memory of her” (Matthew 26:13)

Today is April fool’s day so it’s spiritually appropriate to wish you a happy Atheists Day. The Scriptures clearly teach that one of the characteristics of a fool is that they deny the existence of God. “The fool has said in his heart, ‘There is no God…’” (Psalm 14:1)

In our highly developed, technologically-advanced culture, there are many who have replaced the God of the Bible with a secular devotion to “science” and “technology” instead. The Creation story of the Bible has been replaced with the atheistic meta-narrative (one story that explains it all) called evolution. Salvation is no longer seen as a personal faith-encounter with a holy God, but rather the redemption of our lives through the improved convenience of the latest gadget or gizmo. The doctrine of original sin has been replaced with an attitude that says any negative behavior is actually the result of a chemical imbalance or a bad gene pool.

Many of those who consider themselves atheists are often very intelligent individuals. Their many years of academic pursuits have convinced them that there is no God. When I think of these people, I’m reminded of what an exasperated Festus said to Paul, “Paul, you are out of your mind! Your great learning is driving you mad.” (Acts 26:24) Or as Romans says, “Professing to be wise, they became fools,” (Romans 1:22)

As followers of Christ, our attitude should be to always be ready to “…make a defense to everyone who asks you to give an account for the hope that is in you, yet with gentleness and reverence;” (I Peter 3:15)

Today’s Scripture Promise: “The fool has said in his heart, ‘There is no God…’” (Psalm 14:1)

God’s Spirit is moving mightily in many parts of the world. Unfortunately, it appears that Western Europe, North America, & Japan are not experiencing a powerful move of God in our day. Believers in so-called “Third World” countries, however, are seeing unprecedented church growth, miracles, salvations, and yes—international missions.

There is a new wave of missionaries that are venturing out into other parts of the world, but they’re not coming from the developed nations of the West. Believers in less developed countries are taking seriously the words of the prophet Isaiah, “And I heard the voice of the Lord saying, ‘Whom shall I send, and who will go for us?’ Then I said, ‘Here am I! Send me.’” (Isaiah 6:8) A recent Christianity Today article stated, “South Korea sends more missionaries than any other country but the U.S. and it won’t be long before it’s number one.” In 1980, South Korea only had 93 missionaries serving worldwide. Today that number is 13,000. One Korean mission organization is planning to send 100,000 full-time Korean missionaries into the world by 2030. They are praying that one out of every 300 Korean Christians will become missionaries!

One professor of missions said, “Wherever there is a renewal or revival anywhere in the world, it results in missions.” This new missionary movement is being called “majority-world” missions because 82 percent of the global population (the global majority) lives in less developed countries.

As believers in the West, what can we learn from our brothers and sisters in the “majority world?” It’s fairly simple, when God said “Go!” He meant it. Maybe God indeed does bless those believers who “keep the main thing the main thing”—bringing people to Jesus!

Today’s Scripture Promise: “Go into all the world and proclaim the gospel to the whole creation.” (Mark 16:15)

Sometimes a lack of faith can leave you speechless. Our faith, or the lack thereof, can make a powerful difference in the way we impact others for the cause of Christ.

There was a man named Zechariah (also spelled ‘Zacharias’) who was married to a woman named Elizabeth. They were advanced in years with no children. After all these many years without a child, God intervened in their lives and did an amazing thing. God dispatched the angel Gabriel to tell this happy couple that they would be the parents of a bouncing baby boy.

Zacharias didn’t exactly respond with childlike faith. Instead, he had a question for Gabriel, “How will I know this for certain? For I am an old man.” (Luke 1:18) You might say that Zacharias’ unbelief was not breath-taking, it was ‘speech-taking.’ Gabriel was not at all impressed with Zacharias’ unbelief, “you shall be silent and unable to speak until the day when these things take place, because you did not believe my words…” (Luke 1:20)

The moral of the story is clear. Our lack of faith freezes our spiritual vocal cords. Our unbelief paralyzes our ability to tell the good news. The glad tidings of the Gospel become muted when we allow our distrust of God to cast long shadows in our life.

For nine long months, Zacharias was silent. When it came time to name the baby, Zacharias wrote on a tablet, “His name is John.” (v. 63) His lips were loosed, and Zacharias speaks out the prophetic praises of God for twelve entire verses—a bold, biblical blabbermouth!

Put your trust in God today, and watch how the Lord will loose your lips to speak out His praise to a doubting world that desperately needs to hear the Good News.

Today’s Scripture Promise: “My mouth shall tell of Your righteousness and of Your salvation all day long; for I do not know the sum of them.” (Psalm 71:15)

Even Emperor Penguins can give us reason to praise our Creator.

God has fashioned this world which such exquisite precision, that even these strange and often comical creatures can teach us something about life and faith. The writer of Romans put it this way, “For His invisible attributes, namely, His eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly perceived, ever since the creation of the world, in the things that have been made…” (Romans 1:20) God has designed Emperor Penguins to survive in one of the harshest environments on planet earth. Although they are birds, they spend most of their time in the water. When they’re on land, they walk instead of fly.

The documentary called March of the Penguins reveals that they march more than 70 miles to a place suitable for birthing their young. Each year, the males and the females pair up. Despite the fact that there are literally thousands of other penguins congregating together to keep warm in the midst of Antarctica’s sub-zero temperatures, the individual males and females can distinguish each other’s squawk. Amazingly, God has made these creatures with the ability to establish and maintain strong relationships with each other and their young.

In the midst of the bitter cold, the penguins all huddle together and take turns being on the outside of this makeshift penguin mosh pit. They walk 70 miles across this frozen tundra to birth their young because when the spring thaw is complete, all the ice will have melted to within 200 yards of where they have hatched and nurtured their young. God has equipped these birds with an amazing sense of direction, perception, and resilience.

The God who created these fascinating creatures is the same God who has created you! And you are worth far more to Him than a marching emperor.

Today’s Scripture Promise: “Look at the birds of the air; they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not of more value than they?” (Matthew 6:26)

The flight deck of an aircraft carrier is one of the most dangerous places in the entire world. So many life-threatening things are happening simultaneously! There’s a lot of stuff that can go terribly wrong.

How does the U.S. Navy cope with such a high degree of danger and difficulty? It’s simple–every sailor on the flight deck wears a different color jersey. Purple jerseys fuel the aircraft, Green jerseys work the catapults that launch the planes, Blue jerseys run the elevators and drive the tow tractors, Red jerseys deal with the bombs and bullets, and the White jerseys are the safety guys. You get the picture. Everyone has a job. Everyone plays an important role in keeping everyone safe and getting the job done.

God’s family should function in much the same way. “Now there are varieties of gifts, but the same Spirit; and there are varieties of service, but the same Lord.” (I Corinthians 12:4, 5) As followers of Christ, the spiritual gifts that God has given to each of us are vital for the proper functioning of the entire body of Christ.

On the flight deck, every sailor believes that his job is the most important. He knows that if he doesn’t do his job, it won’t get done. He’s absolutely right.

He also knows that if he doesn’t do his job with a spirit of excellence, someone is going to die.

The same holds true for us. If we don’t use our spiritual gifts for the advancement of God’s Kingdom, someone is going to die—not just physically, but spiritually.

Today’s Scripture Promise: “For as in one body we have many members, and the members do not all have the same function, so we, though many, are one body in Christ, and individually members one of another.” (Romans 12:4, 5)

When you’re toiling away with seemingly no results, Jesus shows up and blesses you beyond belief! That’s the way it was for Peter and the disciples after Jesus’ resurrection.

Peter and six others had decided to go fishing. They fished all night and had caught nothing. As the day was dawning, Jesus stood on the beach and asked, “Children, do you have any fish?” (John 21:5) They didn’t even realize that it was Jesus speaking to them. Their answer was a frustrated “No.” Then Jesus gave them a simple command, “Cast the net on the right side of the boat, and you will find some.” (v. 6)

Still not knowing it was Jesus, the disciples obeyed. They cast their net on the other side of the boat. They looked down and couldn’t believe their eyes. The fish were so abundant and beautiful as the morning’s light reflected off their shimmering scales as they splashed and flapped in the net. Wide-eyed with amazement, they pulled in the net. It was at that moment they realized it was Jesus making this miraculous catch possible.

So it is in our lives. If you would trust the gentle commands of Jesus, and by faith be willing to cast your net on the other side of your life, you could feast on all the silvery, flapping bits of shimmering glory that God has intended for you!

Simply obey Jesus, and see all the shimmering bits of glory you’ll be pulling into your life today!

Today’s Scripture Promise: “So Simon Peter went aboard and hauled the net ashore, full of large fish, 153 of them. And although there were so many, the net was not torn.” (John 21:11)

Jesus has a holy passion for the house of God!

On two separate occasions, both at the beginning and at the end of His earthly ministry, Jesus was outraged by the crass commercialism that had invaded the house of God. Rather than a quiet place of worship and prayer, the house of God had become a place of profit. Holy hucksters had made a mockery of all things sacred. In John 2, we relive the dramatic moment when Jesus confronted the moneychangers, “And He made a scourge of cords, and drove them all out of the temple, with the sheep and the oxen; and He poured out the coins of the money changers and overturned their tables.”

Near the end of His ministry, Jesus again “cleansed the temple.” In Matthew 21:13 Jesus said, “It is written, ‘ MY HOUSE SHALL BE CALLED A HOUSE OF PRAYER’; but you are making it a ROBBERS’ DEN.”

Today, on the Lord’s Day, let us strive to truly make our church a house of prayer. If anyone comes to you with a heart-ache, a problem, a concern or complaint—don’t just talk about it. Talk alone could lead to negative speaking or worse—gossip! Instead, make the church a house of prayer by praying about the situation. As one writer has put it, “God calls us to be a house of prayer for all nations—a spiritual community that is mature, fully capable of seeing what is wrong, but positioning itself to release redemption into the world.”

If we discuss what is wrong for ten minutes, let us pray for redemption for twenty!

Today’s Scripture Promise: “Even those I will bring to My holy mountain and make them joyful in My house of prayer their burnt offerings and their sacrifices will be acceptable on My altar; for My house will be called a house of prayer for all the peoples.” (Isaiah 56:7)

One of the principal tenets of Christianity is the irony that “death brings life.” Christ died so that we can live! The Scriptures underscore this important truth as we seek to live for Christ in our daily lives, “For whoever wishes to save his life will lose it; but whoever loses his life for My sake will find it.” (Matthew 16:25)

“‘It is a good day to die’ was the battle cry of the ‘Dog Soldiers’ of the Cheyenne Tribe of the plains Indians. The Dog Soldiers were the most feared fighters of the plains. And their power came from their embracing death as central to combat. ‘It is a good day to die’ is not about fatalism; it’s about a celebration of life and doing what one is put in the world to do. In the Dog Soldier’s case, that was to make war. So the joyfulness of that, the affirmation of it, made them both powerful and admired.” (Howell Raines: Booknotes, p.246)

Before the fall of Communism, the cruel dictator in Romania tried to silence the evangelical pastors by threatening them with death. “We’re already dead,” was the response of these courageous pastors! “If you kill us, you’ll sprinkle our blood on our preaching tapes that will be heard throughout Romania,” they declared. For these pastors, it was a good day to die. Their unflinching courage in the face of death made them invincible and the Gospel of the Kingdom was victorious over the oppression of Communism!

As ironic as it seems, the way to “live” for Jesus is being willing to die daily. The Dog Soldiers were right, it really is a good day to die.

Today’s Scripture Promise: “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless a grain of wheat falls into the earth and dies, it remains alone; but if it dies, it bears much fruit.” (John 12:24)

Today, more than one-hundred ladies from the Ironbridge family and beyond will be gathering for their annual spiritual-retreat weekend. (Bachelor dads, hang in there—Sunday’s coming when mom will be back!)

The theme verse for the weekend is one of my favorite’s, Isaiah 40:31, “Yet those who wait for the Lord will gain new strength; they will mount up with wings like eagles, they will run and not get tired, they will walk and not become weary.”

The ladies were the first ones at the tomb of our resurrected Lord! Ladies, do it again. Let the updraft of the Spirit carry you higher than you ever thought imaginable. As you soar above the clamor and clutter of your earth-bound life, may the Lord use you to usher in a glorious season of spiritual refreshment throughout our Ironbridge family and beyond!

As you begin this new day, pray this prayer inspired by the writings of Anne Graham Lotz…

Gracious, Lord, I long for…
… the wind of Your Spirit to breathe calmness
into the chaos of my life.
… the fullness of Your wisdom to order the thoughts in my mind.
… the sufficiency of Your strength to undergird
the weakness of my body.
… the abundance of Your blessing to saturate
the poverty of my spirit.
… the joy of Your will to give rich pleasure to my journey.
… the refuge of Your arms to shield me from my fears.
… the gentleness of Your touch to reawaken the feelings of my heart.
… the compassion of Your heart to enfold me and hold me close.
I long to see You, Jesus … again. Amen and Amen.

Today’s Scripture Promise: “Who satisfies your years with good things, so that your youth is renewed like the eagle.” (Psalm 103:5)