FROM PASTOR TIM
Hello RVC! It’s so good to be back with you all! Kathryn and I truly missed our times of ministry, fellowship and growth with you all. It was so rewarding to be back in the pulpit on Sunday to share God’s Word with you all.
As I indicated on Sunday, we’ll be in a series on the Psalms this fall, and perhaps into Advent as well. As we prepare for a brutal and divisive presidential campaign, I am hoping the Praises, Prayers and Promises of Psalms will help us keep our minds, hearts and eyes on the prize: Jesus.
We saw in Psalm 1 that reading God’s Word protects us from being conformed to the world, it produces a life of spiritual prosperity and it helps us know God relationally; thereby protecting us from His coming wrath.
The contrast of the righteous and wicked in Psalm 1 opens up the entire book of Psalms and serves as a reminder that in a world of confusion, there is a simple division between the saved and unsaved.
St. Augustine was one of the greatest influences on the Christian Church. He lived in the late 4th and early 5th Centuries AD, and many see him as the third most important influence on Christianity after Jesus and Paul.
That’s incredibly high praise!
St. Augustine was an unbeliever for the first two decades of his life living an immoral and loose lifestyle. His mother Monica was a true believer in Jesus and prayed incessantly for his salvation. One day Augustine was in a yard spending time with a friend.
He heard the neighbor boy singing a song “Pick it up and read. Pick it up and read.” Augustine thought that might be a word from God, so he picked up a Bible and read from Romans 13:13-14, which reads:
Not in carousing and drunkenness, not in sexual excess and lust, not in quarreling and jealousy. Rather, put on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make no provision for the desires of the flesh.
From those words Augustine turned to the Lord, became a believer, was baptized a year later and went on to become one of the greatest Christian theologians of all time.
God’s Word can do that to anyone. It can change a life. And, like Psalm 1, Romans 13 reminds us to resist being conformed to this world and instead “put on Christ”. The more we meditate (hagah) on God’s Word, absorb it into our very being, and seek to glorify Him, the less we will be tempted by the wiles, trials and temptations of this world.
And, the better equipped we will be to discern good from evil in a world that constantly seeks to blur the lines between them.
If you need a new Bible, check out the cafe bookstore, or let us know so we can help you find one that best fits you.
Great to be back!
Rescued by Christ,
Pastor Tim