Totally Safe

Dear friend,

Grace and peace to you in the name of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ!

After the September 11, 2001 attack in New York, the senior pastor of the church where I served reminded our congregation, “No matter what happens, the Christian person is always totally safe.” Likewise, one famous army general from the nineteenth century, known for his bravery in battle, stated he was “as safe in battle as he was in bed” because of his Christian faith.

Friend, is there something in your life that you are afraid of? Another person perhaps? An uncertain future? Financial distress? Failure? Illness? Death itself? Place your life in the hands of God through faith in Christ Jesus. That is the place of ultimate safety!

“Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or danger, or sword? No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. For I am sure that neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers, nor height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord” (Rom. 8:35, 37-39).

Be safe in Him!

Your servant,

Stephen

Rev. Stephen St. John
Pastor/Elder

Baptism

There will be a Baptism Service Sunday, Nov 2nd. at 2 PM at Tirtayasa. 

Listen and Believe

When God is speaking, we must respond to Him

1. We must listen.
2. We must believe.

Scripture reading from Jonah 3:

1 Then the word of the LORD came to Jonah the second time, saying,
2 Arise, go to Nineveh, that great city, and call out against it the message that I tell you.
3 So Jonah arose and went to Nineveh, according to the word of the LORD. Now Nineveh was an exceedingly great city, three days’ journey in breadth.
4 Jonah began to go into the city, going a day’s journey. And he called out, Yet forty days, and Nineveh shall be overthrown!
5 And the people of Nineveh believed God. They called for a fast and put on sackcloth, from the greatest of them to the least of them.
6 The word reached the king of Nineveh, and he arose from his throne, removed his robe, covered himself with sackcloth, and sat in ashes.
7 And he issued a proclamation and published through Nineveh, By the decree of the king and his nobles: Let neither man nor beast, herd nor flock, taste anything. Let them not feed or drink water,
8 but let man and beast be covered with sackcloth, and let them call out mightily to God. Let everyone turn from his evil way and from the violence that is in his hands.
9 Who knows? God may turn and relent and turn from his fierce anger, so that we may not perish.
10 When God saw what they did, how they turned from their evil way, God relented of the disaster that he had said he would do to them, and he did not do it.

 

He Can Make a Way!

Dear friend,

Grace and peace to you in the name of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ!

A couple of days ago, a kind family friend gave one of our children a game for a present. It is a puzzle game in which you try to move a toy car through a tightly packed lot of other vehicles. In order to accomplish your goal, you must slide the little cars and trucks back and forth until you are able to move your car to it’s place. I sat for a while looking at this convoluted mess of a puzzle and declared it impossible. The instructions for the game declare, however, that it is possible! And my wife and sons have already proved it can be done.

Many times we discover our lives are like that puzzle. We find ourselves in trouble and we see no escape. We have questions for which we think there are no answers. We have sins that we are certain cannot be forgiven. We are stuck and it seems impossible to make our way through. However, just like in that game, there is a way! Consider these verses of scripture:

“For nothing will be impossible with God” (Luke 1:27) and “I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me” (Phil. 4:13).

The question for us is, how are we looking for a way out? Are we trying on our own? Seeking our own answers? Going on our our own strength? Dear friend, give your mess to God. Listen to His instructions in the Bible. Believe and obey. He can make a way!

Your servant,

Stephen

Rev. Stephen St. John
Pastor/Elder

Food Gathering on November 2

On Sunday November 2, we will be collecting items for the Street Children’s Ministry and the ministry of our sister Indonesian language congregation. Please come with non-perishable food items or cash donations.

Crying Out to the Lord of Salvation

Because salvation belongs to the Lord (Jonah 2:9), we must cry out to Him for help.

1. We must cry out to Him when we are guilty of sin.
2. We must cry out to Him when we are in trouble.
3. We must ultimately rely on Him alone.

Scripture reading from Jonah 2:

1 Then Jonah prayed to the Lord his God from the belly of the fish, 2 saying,
“I called out to the Lord, out of my distress,
and he answered me;
out of the belly of Sheol I cried,
and you heard my voice.
3 For you cast me into the deep,
into the heart of the seas,
and the flood surrounded me;
all your waves and your billows
passed over me.
4 Then I said, ‘I am driven away
from your sight;
yet I shall again look
upon your holy temple.’
5 The waters closed in over me to take my life;
the deep surrounded me;
weeds were wrapped about my head
6 at the roots of the mountains.
I went down to the land
whose bars closed upon me forever;
yet you brought up my life from the pit,
O Lord my God.
7 When my life was fainting away,
I remembered the Lord,
and my prayer came to you,
into your holy temple.
8 Those who pay regard to vain idols
forsake their hope of steadfast love.
9 But I with the voice of thanksgiving
will sacrifice to you;
what I have vowed I will pay.
Salvation belongs to the Lord!”
10 And the Lord spoke to the fish, and it vomited Jonah out upon the dry land.

Let’s Be Ready

Dear friend,

Grace and peace to you in the name of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ!

When I was in college I found a job working as a maintenance painter at the school I attended. The problem was, I did not know anything about painting. During my first week on the job I came in to work on Saturday morning. I was happy there was no one else around, because I quickly made a huge mess of myself, the painting tools, and shop sink. I frantically applied solvents and tried to wash the mess away. The more I scrubbed the bigger the mess became. Soon, I was so engrossed in my attempt to clean up that I did not hear the footsteps of another person behind me. “Stephen?” came a voice. I spun around and discovered my new boss looking at my painted hands, clothes, sink, floor, and tools. I was surprised, stunned, and embarrassed. All I could do was croak out his name, “Larry!”

Thankfully, Larry was kind. In fact, in the years that followed he taught me to paint, plumb, weld, and repair all kinds of things. However, I still remember the shame of the moment when he surprised me in our maintenance shop. I could not help but think of it when pondering the meaning of this verse recently:

“And now, little children, abide in Him, so that when He appears we may have confidence and not shrink from him at His coming” (1 John 2:28).

The verse is about the second coming of Jesus. He will surprise us! We will call out His name, “Lord!” But, have you ever wondered what you might be doing at that moment? Friends, let us live in such a way that we may greet our Savior and King without embarrassment and shame. Let’s be ready!

Your servant,

Stephen

Rev. Stephen St. John
Pastor/Elder

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