Pastor's Blog

Good Morning, Dear Family.

God's Peace to you this fine day of grace, which is again extended unto us through Jesus Christ, The Gracious One.

A little continuation on the essence of our mediations yesterday....

Titus 2:11-15 For the grace of God that bringeth salvation hath appeared to all men, Teaching us that, denying ungodliness and worldly lusts, we should live soberly, righteously, and godly, in this present world; Looking for that blessed hope, and the glorious appearing of the great God and our Saviour Jesus Christ; Who gave himself for us, that he might redeem us from all iniquity, and purify unto himself a peculiar people, zealous of good works.
These things speak, and exhort, and rebuke with all authority. Let no man despise thee.

How does this work in real life? How does grace "teach us?" Let us look at some of the principles in which the Apostle Paul lived in the grace of God.

KJV 1 Corinthians 6:12 All things are lawful unto me, but all things are not expedient: all things are lawful for me, but I will not be brought under the power of any. (His personal walk of holiness would be affected by what he allowed himself to do.)

KJV 1 Corinthians 8:9 But take heed lest by any means this liberty of yours become a stumblingblock to them that are weak. (How did his actions affect less mature believers around him?)

KJV 1 Corinthians 10:23 All things are lawful for me, but all things are not expedient: all things are lawful for me, but all things edify not. (Would his actions build up the body of Christ in his area of influence?)

KJV Romans 14:19 Let us therefore follow after the things which make for peace, and things wherewith one may edify another.

The heart of the gospel of grace, a gospel which received by us extends this same grace of life and encouragement to those around us, especially those who are closest to us. And it is with lightness rather than heaviness that we do this, for the gospel frees us from serving ourselves and causes us/motivates us to serve the other. Think of it in this way: Everyone has a need for fellowship and as long as this is extended between people in the attitude or extension of grace, there will be a flourishing and growing of the love between people. But if a demand is placed upon the service, or in other words, it is a conditional grace, there will be a nagging feeling of heaviness, or a sense that I must perform in an expected way or grace will not be returned to me. That is the spirit of heaviness, of obligation, or, you must think like I want you to think, you must be as I expect you to be, you must give the right answers..... There is a big difference in the two spirits, but it is not always easy to discern between the two, for the teaching of life's principles is very attractive to us. There is nothing wrong with teaching life applications, but if it is done in a spirit of demanding, it sows the spirit of "performance based Christianity." The gospel is what Christ has done for us, not what we do for Him. But the gospel of grace received changes and molds our attitude from what can you do for me to what can I do for you/how can I serve my fellow Christian/what can I do to help my beloved congregation grow? And this is only done through the power of the indwelling Holy Spirit,which is the Spirit of Christ.

We must remember that grace teaches us to bloom where we are planted and grace teaches us to water the flowers with the Word of God so that not only we ourselves bloom, but those around us as well. The choice is ours whether we will choose to be a blessing to those around us or not. It may be only a short time or a long time that we are on this earth, but that is not the issue. The issue is how we use the time that we are here, for again, grace does not ever put burden of demands on us, but rather it places privilege and responsiblity in front of us: How may we best edify one another. But this heart is only found among them which have understood and received the gospel in its true nature: Receiving and Giving, even as Christ gave unto us all that He received from His Father.

In our desire to learn, we sometimes put knowledge over love, even as Paul mentioned in the first part of 1 Cor. 8. when he said, Knowledge puffs up, but charity edifies. May we have the wisdom to keep the proper balance.

KJV 2 Peter 3:18 But grow in grace, and in the knowledge of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. To him be glory both now and for ever.

In Christ,

Pastor Orval Wirkkala

Good Morning, Dear Family

God's Peace to you today!

Genesis 12:2-3 And I will make of thee a great nation, and I will bless thee, and make thy name great; and thou shalt be a blessing: And I will bless them that bless thee, and curse him that curseth thee: and in thee shall all families of the earth be blessed.

John 7:38 He that believeth on me, as the scripture hath said, out of his belly shall flow rivers of living water.

Romans 15:2 Let every one of us please his neighbour for his good to edification.

Ephesians 4:16 (ESV)from whom the whole body, joined and held together by every joint with which it is equipped, when each part is working properly, makes the body grow so that it builds itself up in love.

In the seasons of life there are many ups and downs, not only outwardly, but more so inwardly. Of course, everyone around us is able to see the outward ups and downs that we go through, but the inward struggles we all face and deal with are invisible to most of the eyes around us. In fact, sometimes those closest to us may be oblivious to our inner struggles, depending on our ability to hide and mask what is really going on inside. We seem to have a resistance to opening up with someone, yes, even our spouse at times, so that we would be able to have someone to share our burdens with, and thereby receive comfort, empathy, encouragement, counsel, direction and so forth.

The four scripture references above give a brief outline: 1) of the promise of blessing recorded in the Old Testament twhich will come through Christ, and 2) of how from faith love flows outward to others for the purpose of edification to individual persons or to those within our homes or congregations.

What do we do when we do not feel the inspiration to serve one another? What do we do when rather than willingly and joyfully serving others, we either do it grudgingly or not at all? How do we get out of a slump that we may find ourselves in? This is the real world, is it not!

1 John 1:3-4 That which we have seen and heard declare we unto you, that ye also may have fellowship with us: and truly our fellowship is with the Father, and with his Son Jesus Christ. And these things write we unto you, that your joy may be full.

Hebrews 10:23-25 Let us hold fast the profession of our faith without wavering; (for he is faithful that promised;) And let us consider (focus upon) one another to provoke (encourage, stir) unto love and to good works: Not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together, as the manner of some is; but exhorting (to come along side) one another: and so much the more, as ye see the day approaching.

What practical ways are we able to do these things? Let me leave all of us with one example, an inspiring real life example. Recently I received a gift in the mail from a close relative and I know that the gift I received is meant for support and encouragement as well as inspiration. We might say that in the gift I received an affirmation of love, encouragement for today and, in addition, encouragment to continue into the future. I was and am encouraged, and that has lead to inspiration to serve. Here are some of the comments I made in my response to my dear loved one.

"So, I thank you that you sent me this gift, for the love and encouragement you send it with is very much appreciated. You exercised your gift of encouragement by spending money and taking the time to arrange for the gift to be sent to me. If we do not exercise the gift which we have received, we are more or less buying into the devil's lie of serving ourselves. And we do this by yielding to the discouragement within ourselves, thereby we do not allow Him who wants to be a blessing to others to flow out from our heart. And when we continue down this path, we slowly buy into the lie that nobody cares, we are alone and then we end up spending time doing things, even good things, that in the end are less important than serving others. I read a quote last night: 'Everything Christ received from Our Father, He received it to give away. Certainly eternal life is the main idea, but also many other gifts and blessings He has received from Our Father and has given them to us so that we can bless others."

May each one of us be blessed today with the assurance of His love and His acceptance; may we be encouraged in who we are in Him today; and may we be inspired to serve so that others may be built up in love, thereby His body is strengthened and knit closer together.

In Christ's love,

Pastor Orval Wirkkala