Pastor's Ponderings: Monday Bible Study on Acts of the Apostles 11:1-10 (January 26, 2026)

January 26, 2026:  Monday Bible Study on Acts 11:1-10

May the peace of the Lord be with you this morning, and throughout the entire day!

Good morning my dear study friends. It is good to be back with you this Monday. I ask you for prayers today for the Olivas family, former members of American who moved to Phoenix to be close to their daughter's family and the grandchildren. We received word on Sunday, right after church, that Joyce Olivas had become a heavenly triumphant saint after an illness lasting several weeks. Our prayers go out to Joe and their daughter Veronica during this time of grief and loss. May the sure and certain hope of the resurrection sustain them in the days ahead. May the Lord be with them sustaining them in their journey of faith.

Today as we move into chapter 11 of the Acts of the Apostles, we find Peter back in Jerusalem from the amazing success of his preaching the Gospel, and Baptizing Cornelius' household, and even the gentiles who had joined him to hear, perhaps with many questions, this Jewish man who Cornelius had asked to visit in his house hold, and for the first time of which we are aware, performing Baptism for Gentiles who had come to faith in Christ.  However, Peter's reception back in Jerusalem was probably not what he expected. He came home filled with joy and wonder at the work of the Spirit in Cornelius' home, visitors and all! The Christians in Jerusalem who had moved from worshiping in the Jewish tradition at the Temple, were still filled with the idea that to become a Christian one must first meet the letter of the law about circumcision. Without that very Jewish act, they believed that Peter had committed an atrocity in even being in the home of a gentile Roman soldier, let alone Baptizing them before they could be circumcised,  Peter's defense is to recount his vision from God, and to move the formerly Jewish, now Christian, members that the food rules and circumcision were no longer their issue.  All the animals of creation were indeed holy and clean before God, and therefore they were not unclean. Later Paul will have to deal the subject of the eating of food sacrificed to idols, but he comes out in the same place as Peter, with perhaps a fuller understanding of the relationship between food, people, and God. What we really have in this passage is Luke, the likely author, using precious space to reiterate the importance of Peter's vision. Because of this vision, the new Christian cult will not be just another Jewish run faith community. Instead, the new Christian Church will be wholly separate from any requirements to keep any Jewish practices which its former Jewish member might want to keep in place as rules for belonging.

We should not be too surprised by all of this. Now, some 2000 years after all this beginning, we still see our churches and people struggling to see the Church as the place where no one is excluded from Baptism or welcome into the faith community. And, as much as we might like to defend our challenges to people who are different, like my very blue eyed blond Swedish congregation when I was young. Those who looked different, black hair, dark eye color, a darker skin tone, knew how they were or were not welcomed just by the looks of my blond forbears. We have often struggled with GLBTQ+ people who have come into our churches in the same way. Nothing needed to be said, often they were snubbed when they visited, but what brought about a change of heart was when our grandchildren appeared bearing this self-identity, and we loved them and wanted them in the church. And I will say again that today we understand this sexual identity as part of God's creation, because it is present in the lives of other creatures in creation too. What we need to remember is that Peter provided us with a blueprint for welcome and salvation through Christ for all people, since we are all sinners, and not by degree of significance, but rather by the simple fact that every person falls short of the Glory of God due to sin in their lives.  We are called to never judge others, that work belongs ONLY to Christ. Our work is to offer the Love of Christ for all people, and today in Acts, that is exactly what Peter is defending with the Jews who wanted to be judge, rather than celebrating with joy and thanksgiving the receiving of the newest members of the new church.  No one is unworthy of the Love of God in Jesus Christ!!!  Out of Christ's love for us He came and fulfilled every law from God, and in so doing, set us, and all people, free from the burden of sin, showering us with Grace in its place.

You have Christ's Love today, and mine, Pastor Kim

Pastor's Ponderings: Old Testament bible study of Psalm 44 (January 22, 2026)

January 21, 2026:  Thursday Bible Study on Psalm 44

Blessings and Peace be with you on this cloudy cool morning in Tucson, and if you are some place more sunny and warmer, give thanks to God for your good fortune. Please remember to keep the people in the south of our nation in your prayers as they prepare to have a massive bitter cold, ice and snowstorm race through their states and communities. I know that we have suffered with a drought for about 15 years here in the desert, but minus our concerns about water, we have every reason to give thanks for our beautiful warm winter, and for the rainstorms that have come and blessed us all with not having to water our trees and flowers every week.  This all goes with the 44 Psalm that we are considering this morning. We always give thanks to God for what is good and satisfies our needs, but when we are suffering with the drought, and water bills are high, and we face the risk of rationing, then we don't want to acknowledge that it is God who is still in charge, and, by the way, exactly why is God asleep or distant as we pray for rain and relief in the desert?  Though we have complaints, all too often we are unwilling to place it, with our concern, at God's feet.

This is really the way in which this Psalm is structured. In this Psalm we begin with the Psalmist's recalling of how God had cared for His People, saving them from their enemies, helping them in battle as they move to settle the promised land, and even giving them water, "bread", and quail to sustain them in their wandering in the wilderness.  The second part of the Psalmist’s song is protest. Why then, God, are you not treating us the same, while we suffer at the hands of our enemies now? Next comes the Psalmist's apology for the rash statements that have been made with anger and frustration directed toward God. Next comes the challenge of the Psalmist for God to "WAKE UP!". I feel that this really goes to that age old faith question. Why are some people of faith healed from illness in miraculous ways, and other people of faith are seemingly left by God to languish in pain and suffering, and ultimately to succumb to it all in death? I certainly wish that I knew, but God is the Great "I AM", and His choices for His people are truly unsearchable. We can also state this in another way, "I will be who I will be". We must always understand that God has a dynamic Holy direction in which He, and He alone, chooses to move his creation and His people on the path that has always been in place. Sometimes we are on that God Plan and doing well sticking with it, but then, in our brokenness we slip away, but rather than dismiss us as lost, God reshapes His Ultimate Plan to once again include we who are "wandering" away, so that we might all continue to be included.  Of course, this is why the Christ of God was given to creation, to provide for the restoration of God's plan for all things. So, when we are feeling like God might not really be awake with regard to how we are doing individually and corporately in our relationship with the Great I AM, we need to remember that He is always in charge.

May our LORD be with you every day as we all give thanks for His abundant love and Grace, knowing that He is never far off.

With Christ's Love, Pastor Kim

Pastor's Ponderings: Tuesday Bible Study on Acts of the Apostles 10:44-48 (January 20, 2026)

January 20, 2026:  Tuesday Bible Study on Acts 10:44-48

Good morning, and may your day be filled with the LORD'S richest blessings of Grace and Comfort.

This morning, I would ask you to pray with thanksgiving to God for Roy's and Christina's birthdays this week.  We are also quickly approaching the 76th birthday of our congregation.  Pray for Americans continuing ministry for the Gospel of Jesus Christ, remembering that it takes all of us in dedication to the work to which the Church is called to make it happen.  The best way to celebrate our church's birthday is to come to church as often as we possibly can, participating in the fellowship of Christ, and the joy of the saints who gather around us, while doing regular Bible Study so our faith will grow, receiving the Sacrament of the Altar,  and giving the support that we know is right between ourselves and God so that our ministry will continue. 

This all seems like a too obvious a segway from our lives, ministry for the Gospel, and how dedicated we are in our relationship with the Lord.  But here we are in today's reading, like Peter and those who have accompanied him from his stay with Simon, the tanner to go meet the Roman Centurion Cornelius.  In our brief passage for today, we find that the entire household of Cornelius has been moved by Christ's Spirit, and that they are speaking in the heavenly (perhaps angelic) language of tongues.  This seems to be a measuring rod for the Jews who have accompanied Peter, indicating to them the authenticity of these gentile's coming to know Christ as their Lord.  I must admit that I have never had the experience of speaking in tongues, and it is likely you have not either, but in Scripture it is a gift of the Spirit which some people experience.  I think that it is primarily for the edification of the one who speaks in that language and is only appropriate in worship settings if a person who has the gift of translation is present.  I can tell you that I have seen this gift misused, but I have also known it as genuine in one of our triumphant saints at American.  Nearly every Eastern religion has a kind of consuming Spiritual event for some individual members of that faith.  In all of this, our place is to remember that this is a real experience, a genuine gift of the Spirit.  I could get into a prolonged conversation about the 27 -29 gifts of the Spirit which are bestowed upon believers in differing potencies.  Faith is one of these, and we are told clearly that we will be given the measure of faith by the Spirit which is able to carry us through the toughest of times, with it being less potent at other times.  Our Spiritual Gifts are best realized by the acclamation of others around us, helping us to see through their eyes, what we may struggle to see through our own.  I often hear that I am different from other preachers.  No notes to read from!  Words of Christ from my own heart as I have been moved to do for many years now.  In my life, it is my thanksgiving to Christ for His forgiveness and Grace that I speak so freely with the presence of His Spirit in me, and for everyone who will hear.  This preaching is a true Christ Treasure in my life.  I often think as I become the same age as our church in Tucson, that I am unprepared to stop using my gifts for preaching the Love of Christ for all of you, and for the future of the whole Church.  In Christ I have so much more to say!  I feel that this is where Peter was in the home of Cornelius, and Peter's words brought to Cornelius and his entire household the potency and abundance of faith in the Savior.  In this passage it is a bit unclear who is actually performing the Sacrament of Holy Baptism.  It may have been Peter, but it may have also been other members of the entourage who had accompanied Peter to the home of Cornelius.  Today in the Church, we have attempted to limit who is to do Baptisms, but an ordained clergy is not always at hand to offer the Sacrament.  Here is the truth.  Any believer in Christ, has the privilege of Baptizing.  What is important in this, is that the Baptism gets recorded at the Church so that it will not be repeated.  Baptism is a once and for all action to bring the Spirit and faith into the life of the one who is Baptized.  That is all I am going to say here, I could continue to write further about this, but it suffices to say that it is the privilege of believers to Baptize.

Thanks for being with me today.  I will write on Thursday about our study on Psalms.

With the Love of Christ for our lives, Pastor Kim