There are times when we need to remember how worry works. In the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus tells those who are listening three times to not worry: : “Do not worry. Do not worry. Do not worry!” Now, if Jesus says something once, okay. Twice, sit up! But three times, put it on your forehead! This is important. 

And so, to understand the importance of what Jesus is saying, we have to remember what he said back in verse 24, because in that verse Jesus proclaimed that we cannot serve two masters: “You cannot serve God and mammon” (6:24). In other words, Jesus is reiterating the first commandment in Exodus: “You shall have no other gods before me.” 

Now let’s go to verse 33: “Seek God’s kingdom first and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well.”         

What is to come first? You as god or God as God? Your kingdom or God’s kingdom? Because you cannot have two masters.

This is where worry comes in! What worry does is divide us between God and everything else that stands in place of God. Worry, if allowed, divides and conquers the soul. After all, that’s what the word “worry” literally means – to split or divide. It actually comes from an ancient English word which means to strangle or tear apart. Worry divides us against ourselves (and God) and fragments our emotions, leaving us drained, if not defeated.

And what Jesus is teaching us is that, if we allow it, worry will track us down and strangle us; if we allow it, worry will be our master. And when that happens we cut ourselves off from God, from the Source of our well-being. Remember, no one can serve two masters. God did not create us to have two masters, but one! God created us to worship only one God (Exodus 20:3).

God created us in God’s own image! God values you! God made you, and God did not make you to have worry, to be split apart!

How may we seek God's kingdom first and, in doing so, put worry in its proper place? What do we need to do to seek God's kingdom first?

​Pastor Andy Kinsey

​When we turn to Chapter 3 in Exodus, we read the story about Moses and the burning bush. It is a story central to Judaism and Christianity and to the way we understand who we are as God’s people and who God is as God.

Unfortunately, sometimes, when we read this story, we may get caught up in the bushes, so to speak, and fail to see the big picture. By that observation, I mean that we can fail to see the larger point that God is wanting to communicate if we get caught up in the kind of bush it was or the kind of chemical reactions that can take place in the desert to cause a bush to burn without being consumed.

As one writer has put it, “When God decides to make an appearance, any old bush will do.” Any old bush would do!

And yet, it is the ‘any old bush’ in Exodus that is blazing while not being burned to crisp that gets Moses’ attention – a combination of sight and sound that attracts Moses to come and stand on holy ground: to come into the presence of God (3:3). First, there is sight because fire is coming out of the bush; and second, sound because God is speaking to Moses (3:4).
          
It is a scene of divine mystery, with God’s disclosing who God is as the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob (3:6); and it is a scene of clarity with God telling Moses two important things: first, God hears the cries of his people; God realizes the pain of the Hebrews in Egypt. God knows what is happening (3:7-9). Second, God assures Moses that God will go with him from slavery to freedom (3:11-12). 

In other words, God speaking out of an ordinary bush is just the beginning of what God is going to do! God promises to remain close to Moses though it took a burning bush to get his attention!

How is God trying to get your attention? What burning bush have you seen lately? After all, there is always a bush burning somewhere!

Pastor Andy

What if this is the new normal?  What if this is life now?  What if it’s all a hoax?  What if it isn’t?  What if Biden wins the election?  What if Trump stays another four years?  What if this is what public school looks like from now on?  What if this is as good as it gets?  What if, what if, what if. 
    
For being such small words in the English language, the words what and if when put together can be full of promise and hope like “what if this is the best day ever?” or “what if this is the answer I have been waiting for?” They can also be full of uncertainty and dread like, “what if this is the worst day ever?”  “What if this is all there is - what if this is the answer?” 

Have you considered the powerful and profound nature of the question “what if” when it comes to your life and the living out your faith during this particular time in our country and in history. 
    
For example:  What if  we lived our life out of our God given potential rather than human generated fear?  After all, potential is God’s gift to us.  Making the most of it is our gift back to God.  

What if we measured spiritual growth and faith  in someone not by keeping score of their sin, failures, and shortcomings or  by tracking how well they follow the  do’s and don’ts of religion and its institutions,  but rather by being Jesus to each other? 

What if we approached every day as if the victory has already been won at Calvary’s cross, (because it has) rather than fearing we just might lose?    

What if we could reimagine what community, success, wisdom, love, and neighbor could look like or sound like?  Too much to ask for?  Too big?  Too lofty?  Too rainbowy, warm fuzzies, and pixie dust wishful thinking?   Really?  Cause have you ever wondered what if Moses’ mother hadn’t saved him by floating him down the river for Pharaoh's daughter to find?  What if David’s sling slipped and he missed Goliath’s forehead?  What if Esther refused, had not prayed and fasted, thereby finding favor, thus saving the Jewish people from genocide?  What if Joseph and Mary had not heeded the angel’s warning to flee Bethlehem before Herod’s henchmen showed up? What if those first followers of Jesus gave up, quit, or walked away when things didn’t make sense, when they were afraid, or when everything around them was in turmoil, falling apart, or  being undermined and destroyed?

When it comes to the eighth chapter of Romans, “even wordsmiths are at a loss for words. Not many adjectives can do justice to its mystery and majesty”.  One theologian calls it the “Great Eight.”  Martin Luther called it, “the clearest gospel of them all”.  William Tyndale, who was martyred for translating the Bible into English, called it, “the most excellent part of the New Testament”  (Mark Batterson, If page 15)

Why “The If Chapter?”  Because in the midst of the action, adventure, story line, subplot, and even a few special effects, the hinge on which everything turns is the “if” statement in verse 31b or the second half of the verse.  

All that stands between so much of our current political, economical, racial, environmental, and cultural situations and a unified, acceptable, doable, workable, and sustainable solution is one little if.  What if we would truly listen to one another?  What if we treated one another as people and not labels?  What if we recognized and admitted when we were wrong and grew from it?  All that stands between your current circumstances and your wildest possibility, dream, and God potential, is one little if.  What if I took a chance?  What if I could do it?  

If you believe with every ounce of muscle, bone, and fiber of your being that God is for you, then you have nothing to fear; the sky's the limit for your God given potential and how you live out your faith in word and deed.  AND you have much to offer the rest of us.  

If however,  hidden behind or just below the surface of that good job, nice house, big smile, perfect pet, and manicured lawn,  you doubt God’s love and good intentions, such doubt will surface in a thousand forms of fear.

Those early followers knew fear.  They carried the task of spreading the Jesus message to the known world at the time.  They were confronted with uncertainty, disappointment, and failure.  They knew hardship, struggle, and heartache.  They faced cultural challenges, political assumptions, and government expectations.  They questioned God’s purpose and Jesus’ call on their lives and how they were to live.  Paul knew what they were facing and said: yep, it’s a long haul, a tough road, uncertain at times AND God is with you through it all. Period.  God was, is, and will be with you.  Jesus was, is, and will see you through.  Period. That is Paul’s great reminder and truth of chapter 8. 

If God is for us dear church (and God is), there is no room for fear, only faith, hope, and love.   And our communities, our families, friends, colleagues, neighbors - our world could use a little faith, hope, and love right now.  

Thanks be to God and may it be so, amen. 

Pastor Jenothy Irvine

What does it mean to be free?  Is it a state of mind?  Is it physical in nature? Is it more mental or emotional?  Is there a psychological component?  What does a heart set free look like?  Free from bondage.  Free from addiction.  Financially free.  Debt free.  Culturally free.  Free from responsibility.  Free from addiction or abuse. Free from the past.  Free to be yourself.  Free from worry and doubt.  In the church when we speak of being free, we often mean free from sin and guilt and we understand that to mean, we are set free in Christ.  It is difficult to know who is free and who is not.  

A person can follow all the rules, do all the right things, say all the right things, and go through all the right motions, and yet NOT be free in their heart.  A person can live in the right neighborhood, have a good job, drive the right kind of car, have the right friends, and yet, NOT be free in their heart.  

As Jesus followers we are called, named, identified as the church.  As such we were given, by Jesus, a model to live by; a way to be community.  We were given a promise, first by God and then, fulfilled by Jesus, that we would become the family of God.  That we would find our true freedom in Christ.

Here’s the thing though - from the early church, some followers came to believe it was all about rules, regulations, and certain ways or practices.  They loved God and followed Jesus with as much passion and conviction as anyone else but they clung to the rituals more than the cross.  This caused problems in the church.  This still causes problems in the church today. 

Paul is going after the pious followers of Jesus who measure their salvation and freedom in Christ by whether or not they, or anyone else who claims to be a follower, are adhering to the strict Jewish code of circumcision.  This was considered to be the mark of the true people of Israel, the true people of God.

Paul sends this letter as a reminder that Jesus fulfilled the code of law or the code of God; Jesus completed the promise of God given to their ancestors Abraham and Sarah, and passed on through people like Moses, David, Joshua, Esther, Ruth, and all the way to Mary and Joseph.  

Freedom was now found in Christ and Christ alone.  Jesus set us free from the bondage of sin and from being held captive to destructive, hurtful behavior toward ourselves and one another.  Jesus came to make us free from those things that imprison our ability and shackle our potential as people of God.  Jesus came to free the marginalized and invisible in society from oppression, We are to live by God’s way given to us through Jesus and by the Holy Spirit, and not by our human nature.  

When we live out of a place of human nature / human desire, we seek things like power, control, authority, division, and …. That was not the promise given, nor the promise we are to keep.  That is not who we are designed to be.  That is not our original goodness created by God.  

When we live out of place of the Holy Spirit, we seek things like shared authority, equality, compassion, empathy, unity, and we find ways to build true communities across social, cultural, racial, sexual, and political lines.

How do we do it?  How do we live the kind of life Paul is talking about and Jesus died for?  How do we keep the promise and be the people of God?  Paul makes it quite clear (as did Jesus before him in response to the Pharisees' question of the greatest commandment): Love the Lord your God with all your heart, strength, soul and mind, and love your neighbor as yourself.  It doesn’t get much simpler than that church. 

There are a lot of promises being spouted out right now in our country; from all sides and angles of the political arena.  There are a lot of promises being made regarding what is and what is not the truth of Covid19.  There are a lot of promises being put out there for us to decide what is and what is not true; what is and what is not who we are to be, and how we are to live. 

There is only one promise ever given that remains as true today as it was when it was first spoken - “I will be your God and you will be my people.”  It’s that second part that is the promise we must learn and strive to keep. 

Love the Lord your God with all your heart and soul and strength, and love your neighbor as yourself.  Live that promise church, and you will live free, regardless of what is going on around you.  Live that promise and you will live with purpose and intention regardless of what promises around you are being spoken, unspoken, broken or manipulated. 

​Pastor Jenothy Irvine