Hello Everyone!

We never know what a day will bring. At every moment of the day, God summons the souls of men into His presence. Some are welcomed to life everlasting, while others are condemned to a Christ-less eternity. The Scriptures remind us, ??Ǩ?it is appointed unto men once to die, but after this the judgment.??Ǩ

When His call involves those we know and love, what needed to be done is often set aside; what was intended to be said just doesn??Ǩ?Ѣt seem appropriate anymore, at least for the moment.

As you may have already read in the bulletin, the Jepsen family is enduring a double loss. God, in His wisdom and sovereignty, has taken to Himself both Darlene Cooper and Marie McIlvain. In our imagination we can hear that great cloud of witnesses on the other side cheering the faint, encouraging the weary, and offering praise to our Lord as these finished the race that was set before them, because they were looking to Jesus, the author and finisher of their faith. ??Ǩ?Welcome home.??Ǩ ??Ǩ?Well done, thou good and faithful servant.??Ǩ What more could we wish to hear?

I am reminded that these deaths are no surprise to God. He knows the beginning and end of our days, having ordained their number from before creation. He knows better than we ever will the sorrow and grief that death heaves upon family and friends, having given His only begotten Son to die a death those who believe in Him will now never know or experience. While death is our last and greatest enemy, God promises that death will one day be destroyed. Then we will exclaim with Paul, ??Ǩ?O death, where is thy sting? O grave, where is thy victory???Ǩ

But not yet, for now is our day of trouble, now is a day of sorrow.

In another context, addressing yet another disappointment, Pastor Rigsby made a comment that seems fitting here. He asked, ??Ǩ?Why don??Ǩ?Ѣt my emotions agree already with what my mind knows and accepts???Ǩ

Until that final day, we will sorrow and grieve, but not as those who have no hope. Until then, we may ask God the reason. Someday, He will tell us why, when we talk it over in the by and by.

Hello Everyone!

Our desire has been and continues to be that the bulletin (and its various and sundry contents) be a blessing to each one who reads. At one time or another, I used three words beginning with ??Ǩ?i??Ǩ to summarize what we wanted to achieve in this work: information, instruction, and inspiration. I suppose that is why the internet version is called the ??Ǩ?iBulletin.??Ǩ Each week, as I consider what might be an encouragement in our walk of faith, what might exhort us each to love and good deeds, and above all, what might exalt Jesus Christ, I pray that we have accomplished these aims for all of us, and in particular, for you.

Just now it is ??Ǩ?back to the drawing board??Ǩ to ??Ǩ?brain-storm??Ǩ solutions for new circumstances. I must admit, it is always easier to continue as we have, than it is to alter course or make a mid-flight correction, often through trial and error (and what a comedy that is at times!). But if we don??Ǩ?Ѣt, we will not only miss the bulls-eye of God??Ǩ?Ѣs will, we won??Ǩ?Ѣt even hit the rim of His blessing. I have found it much more difficult than I thought it would be to re-work the contents of our bulletin for the greatest benefit. I don??Ǩ?Ѣt think we achieved full potential yet. But, with your prayers, a little more elbow grease (O.K., lots of polish), and the Lord??Ǩ?Ѣs enabling and guidance, I am hopeful that we will again hit our stride. We??Ǩ?Ѣll keep trying until we do. (I wish now I hadn??Ǩ?Ѣt read that article on the origin of clich?ɬs).

At least for this time, I couldn??Ǩ?Ѣt find a home (actually, the space) for the little feature we began this year, the Bible Reading Insight, just one of the many fine pearls of wisdom and Truth Pastor Rigsby presents in preparing us for our Bible reading each week. So that you wouldn??Ǩ?Ѣt miss out, I have included it here.

Exodus 20
Quick! Name each of the Ten Commandments? Did I catch you off guard? Our inability to express these instantly, with haste, is not necessarily an indication of disinterest or inability, but maybe a lack of sufficient repetition. Repetition is a wonderful aid for our memories. Maybe that is why the Bible is filled with repeated concepts, ideas, and even phrases. Did you know there is a repeated phrase in the Ten Commandments? Well, actually it is only repeated in the first five commands and is not even hinted at in the final five (the subject of another insight, sometime). You can find it in verses 2, 5, 7, 10, and 12??Ǩ?see it?

Here??Ǩ?Ѣs a hint??Ǩ?the phrase reminds us Who gave the Law in the first place. God??Ǩ?Ѣs Law was not given to show man that he can be saved from his sin and misery by keeping it. Rather, God??Ǩ?Ѣs Law was given so that man would come to understand he can??Ǩ?Ѣt be justified by keeping The Law or doing any other good works. Maybe your mind connected with Titus 3:5-6 from those childhood Sunday School (or AWANA) days. See, repetition does work!

But you are still stumped about what is the repeated phrase in five of the Ten Commandments? It is: ??Ǩ?the LORD thy God.??Ǩ Go ahead??Ǩ?check it out! Then remember, only One perfectly kept all of God??Ǩ?Ѣs Law in order that ??Ǩ?we might be justified by the faith of Christ??Ǩ (and this might seem contradictory, but it is not): He is none other than Jesus Christ, God incarnate, God made flesh, ??Ǩ?the LORD thy God.??Ǩ

As always, your input is valued, welcomed, and appreciated (sorry, but with all the previous alliterations and those annoying clich?ɬs, I wasn??Ǩ?Ѣt up to coining another phrase). Your prayer for the Lord??Ǩ?Ѣs work and His Church in and around Bell Gardens??Ǩ?we are humbled, and grateful.

Until next time.

Hello Everyone!

I was reading another of those excellent biographical sermons that John Piper preached at a pastor??Ǩ?Ѣs seminar. This week, I chose John G. Paton, mostly because I didn??Ǩ?Ѣt know much about him.

If ever there was a time for discouragement, self-pity and uncertainty, this is the week that ??Ǩ?might have been.??Ǩ How can I escape the providence of God in directing me to read about this man at this time? I can??Ǩ?Ѣt relay to you all that Paton endured in order to bring the Gospel of Jesus Christ to a people that didn??Ǩ?Ѣt even know they had a need for salvation. His suffering, sacrifice and loss was great. His God was greater!

Quoting Piper (who at times is quoting from John G. Paton: Missionary to the New Hebredes, An Autobiogrpahy Edited by His Brother):

??Ǩ?Year after year, ??Ǩdisappointments and successes were strangely intermingled??Ǩ?Ѣ (p. 247) in his life. There was no long period of time, it seems, where life was very easy. And we would distort the man if we said there were no low moments. ??ǨI felt so disappointed, so miserable,??Ǩ?Ѣ he wrote about one period of his travels, ??Ǩthat I wished I had been in my grave with my dear departed and my brethren on the Islands who had fallen around me??Ǩ?Ѣ (p. 232). It was not always easy after the words, ??ǨThe Lord has taken away,??Ǩ?Ѣ to add the words, ??ǨBlessed be the name of the Lord.??Ǩ?Ѣ But the way out was clear, and he used it again and again.??Ǩ

In the midst of reading the book of Job, those words from the first chapter resounded clearly, and along with Paton??Ǩ?Ѣs resolve to glorify God in all things??Ǩ?these helped keep me looking toward the Christ each time I was tempted, or as a response of my flesh, turned my gaze away from Him, to listen to the howl of the wind or to look at the monstrous waves instead.

What is it that was potentially so discouraging? For the first time, in at least 25 years, the church had to adjust its budget by almost 40%. While not involved in the decision making process last time, I remember thinking then that I hoped I would never have to be involved in such a heart-wrenching action. Over the years, for the most part, like Job, we have been able to exclaim, ??Ǩ?the Lord gave??Ǩ??Ǩand gave, and gave!

Now is our time to also declare ??Ǩ?and the Lord hath taken away.??Ǩ We could evaluate this on a human level and conclude that this adjustment is merely the result of the right combination of deaths, those who have moved, and others who have left the church. But, God??Ǩ?Ѣs perspective is always better, and it is to Him that we look for all our provision. At this time, whatever His purpose might be, He has chosen to not sustain (or increase) what we have become accustomed to in carrying out the work of this ministry.

Having freely received from the Lord, we have sought to follow His example and instruction to freely give by making the great commandment and the great commission core values. We aimed to love one another, primarily through the Word, to the entire ??Ǩ?family,??Ǩ past and present. No one knows the special blessings and unique needs in and around Bell Gardens better than the family that has lived, met Christ, served, and matured in their faith here. We desired to proclaim Christ ??Ǩ?to Bell Gardens and Beyond,??Ǩ as we assisted others in their calling, and lived and spoke the Word ourselves with those around us, to understand and believe the Gospel.

Whether we have attained a measure of success will not be fully known until time is no more. Until then, we must always measure ??Ǩ?what we are by what we could be, and what we have done by what we could have done.??Ǩ The truth is??Ǩ?Christ has done ??Ǩ?exceeding abundantly above all that we [could] ask or think,??Ǩ giving some the impression that we are (or were) successful. In reality, more times than we care to admit, we have failed miserably because we trusted in our own strength or ability, bringing shame to ourselves and worse, reproach to the name of Christ. How marvelous that God doesn??Ǩ?Ѣt leave us in our miserable, helpless condition!

??Ǩ?Freely give??Ǩloving one another and proclaiming Jesus Christ??Ǩ will continue to be our pattern??Ǩ?maybe in another format, with different timing, or on a new level, yet certainly as God leads. That ??Ǩ?the Lord hath taken away,??Ǩ gives us a new, continuing opportunity, in the company of Job, John G. Paton, and the surrounding cloud of witnesses to respond, as He enables us, humbly, obediently, and with undeterred trust in His wisdom, proclaiming, ??Ǩ?blessed be the name of the Lord.??Ǩ