Pastor's Ponderings: Tuesday Bible Study on Acts of the Apostles 8:1-4 (November 4, 2025)

November 4, 2025:  Tuesday Bible Study on Acts 8:1-4

Dear Bible Study folks, I hope that this passage today is a reminder of the power of the world to seek to undo the work of the Gospel that has been the mission of the Church now for nearly 2000 years. Though we are reading about Stephen's death by stoning, and, in today's passage, the outrage of the Jews at Christians in Jerusalem, and the Jews willingness to chase them down, enter their homes, and begin an early first century diaspora of Christians in the Middle East.  It seems that Rome saw this as a hands-off issue. After all they certainly did not want to encourage the belief of the Christians in the Savior and King, Jesus Christ. However, in our reading today, as short as it is, we discover the upheaval of all people who came to believe in Jesus as the Savior and Messiah. At the time of all this happening in Jerusalem, there were about 200 + new Christians in Jerusalem. This must have been a very frightening time for them as they were actively being sought to be imprisoned or killed. As we know from recent news, there are nations where Christians are still being persecuted with violence by governments and other religious groups in those nations. So, what is the path that Christians should take when this kind of hatred is aimed at them. Let's look at our reading for some clues.

1. The leaders, the Apostles stood fast, not leaving Jerusalem, while others fled to other communities outside of Jerusalem, with some of them going to other nations.

   1. This was possible for the leaders because they were people of courage. Really interesting when we consider how they had, at one time, hidden themselves away.

   2. They were also men and women of the highest repute in their communities, acting out of the love they had first experienced from Jesus in their own lives. There was little question about their character.

2. Scripture indicates to us that Saul was like a wild boar rooting out and destroying anyone who was found to be a Christian. There was a great, easy to see, difference in the character of Saul vs the character of the Apostles who were people of kindness, gentleness, and passion for the good of all people, even their enemies.

There is another thing here that is written between the lines, at least at this time. It will become more obvious as we read on in the Acts. The intent of the Apostles was to maintain and grow the new Church in Jerusalem, but because of the rampant persecution of the new believers, the enemies of the Church inadvertently caused the "Good News" to spread across the Middle East, and even into Asia Minor.  The people who have been chased away by the actions of those persecutors shared what they had come to know about the grace and power of Jesus Christ, and also about His death on the cross, and His Resurrection, when he was beheld by Mary, and later by Peter, and eventually by all of them many times.  The communities to which they traveled to find safety were just like Jerusalem, filled with corruption, hatred, and the seemingly ever-present Roman army. These communities hungered for the refreshing stories, and Word about this Jesus who changed everything for those who believed.

We who are in the Church understand and know that our Savior is always with us through the presence of His Spirit. It changes the life of everyone who comes to believe. What we do know is that this is not a non-participatory relationship. Once our hearts have been transformed by Christ's Love for us, things should be different. We too become those who share our faith, perhaps not so easily in words, but through our acts of grace and love for the people we encounter in our lives.

Thanks for being with me today.

Please remember that this Sunday we will be blessing the animals at worship. If your pet cannot come, please bring us a photo that can be placed on the table in front of the Altar on the main floor.

God bless you on this day, and always. With Love in Christ, Pastor Kim

Pastor's Ponderings: Monday Bible Study on Acts of the Apostles 7:54 - 8:1 (November 3, 2025)

November 3, 2025:  Monday Bible Study on Acts 7:54 - 8:1

Good morning on yet another lovely autumn day here in Tucson. I pray that your weekend was an opportunity to grow closer to Christ our Lord, and that in that growth, you have become committed to applying the Law of Christ's Love in every circumstance in which you find yourself. I was so happy to see Teri H. back in church on Sunday morning for the first time since her new type of hip replacement surgery nearly a month ago. Her recovery is meeting her doc's expectations. Though our attendance on Sunday was low, we had guests who had just moved to town from Tempe, and they were welcomed with warmth and caring by our members. And our Gospel Music Group did a great job of providing us our music support for Luke's Beatitudes. We also celebrated All Saints and Day of the Dead as well, and we had one pet friend with us, little Cody, a pitty and dachsy mix.  He was well behaved, he only barked before my sermon, and fun to be with. And of course, we had our potluck, which was tough to keep warm because our warming cabinet started blowing switches when we turned it on, and was not available to use. It will be checked out this week to see if there is a fix for its problem.

In our passage for today we discover an age-old issue. We do not like to be reminded of our past failings and sins. The Sanhedrin was no exception to this accusation! But this reminder by Stephen was of historic proportions, including the Old Testament times failures of God's children-elect, from the killing of the prophets whom God had sent to bring them back in line with His hopes and expectations for them, to the much more recent rejection of Jesus himself, the Messiah, God's Son.  The picture which Luke reveals for us about the mind and nature of the men of the Sanhedrin shows them to be totally out of control, filled with rage, and offering verbal assaults at Stephen, while all the while physically and violently removing him to outside of the city to be murdered at their own hands, and obviously with the consent of the Pharisees like Saul. (His future is already determined by the LORD. He will be renamed Paul, and become a stalwart believer in Jesus as his Savior, guiding the early Christians with the fullness of his own understanding of the hope and forgiveness that can only come through a personal relationship and belief in Jesus as the Savior of all of God's creation, especially for the greatest of God's creation, people!)

Luke helps us understand the power and strength of Stephen's person, not only in his witness for Jesus, but also in his strength of spirit in the face of his death.

1. Stephen was filled with the courage of his faith in Jesus. Stephen saw only the Christ of God as he was witnessing to the Sanhedrin, not their brutal words and actions.

2. Stephen's own witness is the example of Christ Himself, seeking forgiveness for those who are murdering him as he holds in his heart and mind the beauty and glory that are his own in Jesus Christ, both before and during his stoning. He is beyond the fear of death and caught up into the glory of the Savior's Heaven.

3. In the face of this horrendous death Stephen falls asleep. Of course, the inference here is that even facing the brutality and pain of such a death, Stephen is completely at peace!

   
   

I have been on the scene of death beds many times for people of faith whose lives have been lived with the peace of God which passes all understanding, filling them with love and forgiveness for all the people who may have done them harm in their lives.  In what we see as the suffering of death, these children of God are at peace, seeing and feeling the reality of the faith, they have lived, now before them, welcoming them Home to God's Heaven. It is so much easier for us to want to harm those who are evil in this world, but we must remember that is the work that can only belong to the sole judge of all things, Our Savior, Jesus. This message is for me and you, we need to let go of our desire for revenge, turning it over to Christ's Grace and Mercy. That kind of thing is rightfully His work, fulfilled on the Cross, and revealed in His Resurrection.

Thanks for being with me this morning. In Christ Love, Pastor Kim

Reminder that this Sunday, November 9th, is our day to bless our pets. Please bring them in person or share a picture of them on the Altar table on the main floor of our worship space.

Pastor's Ponderings: Old Testament bible study of Psalm 36 (October 30, 2025)

October 30, 2025:  Friday Bible Study on Old Testament of Psalm 36

May the joy of this cool desert morning fill your heart with wonder at the glory of God's creation.

Good morning my dear friends. Well, for all the children, tomorrow is a big day, parties at school, trunk or treating, costumes, family get-togethers, and CANDY! With all that we make of Halloween, it has become more difficult for us to truly acknowledge the very next day in the life of the Church, and Her Saints. All Saints is the Saturday, and we will honor those who have joined God's triumphant saints in heaven on Sunday at worship and realize that we are saints too. Be sure to bring pictures, and please label them so people will know how they are related to you. There will be a special area set up in front of the church on the main floor. In the traditions of the Day of the Dead this area is called an ofrenda, the place where family can come together to remember and honor family and friends who have moved on to the next life. Remember that we will be blessing the animals on the 9th of November. If your pet cannot attend, please just bring us a picture with your name and your pet's name on it. You will be able to place that picture on the table on the main floor in front of the altar, just like we did for All Saints the week before.

In our Psalm for today, #36, David offers a song about what it means to be a person who worships and honors YHWH with their lives, vs a person who does not believe, or may offer lip service about knowing their God, but whose lives have been lived, and continue to be lived, with that belief making no difference.  Those folks who have had no change of heart because of the benefits that are there just for believing and honoring God. Today I have a small assignment for you. I want you to read the Psalm carefully, because I believe that every one of us can identify people who are in both circumstances, and the ones who are faithless, are definitely the cause for David singing about the need for God's continuing benefits, blessings, and protection, because the others without faith, can act to destroy and damage the people of true faith.  In fact, their intent is to do exactly that. On the other hand, those who have faith, and that includes you and me. are really in a luxurious relationship with God, where His abundance and blessings are always with us, and his provision of Grace is powerful and helpful in every difficult situation that comes to we who are faithful. God will always choose to protect us from the evil doers with whom we must all do battle in this life. When we pray, we are affirming that our relationship with God has been filled with integrity on our part, and, of course, we must remember that no one is perfect in their faith, and that is exactly why God sent His Son Jesus Christ to pay the price for our sins when we slip up.  I know that I can turn to the LORD at any time, and all of the time, to pray and seek His healing and hope for those who are ill, for peace in the world, for my caring for His creation in better and better ways, for my own strength and faith growth, for confession, and when those folks who don't believe, and serve only themselves, wealth, and power, who are willing to deny morality, justice, and love, God will always be our resource no matter how tough those people who are filled only with avarice and self-service make our lives of faith and trust in the truth of God's caring for us, bringing His defense to protect us from  those who only pretend to believe so that they may reap a benefit from those who remain naive in their faith lives.

Please pray for those you identified in your life who are not faithful, and who lack the character of the faithful heart which is pleasing to God. Pray that they have a change of heart at the bidding of the Spirit. And give thanks to God for having that continual change of heart as we go through our lives depending on the goodness of the LORD.

With the Love of Christ, Pastor Kim