God of the Unexpected

Greetings All,

   Just wanted to reflect on the "God of the unexpected" as I believe that this is how God usually operates and how I have come to experience Him again in this holy season.
   You see, Jesus was born in the most unexpected of ways, to a virgin, in the most unexpected of places, born in a stable and placed in a feeding trough. People had no idea that this was how God was going to send Messiah into the world or that this was to be the beginning of the greatest life ever lived. God is, and always has been, the God of the unexpected.
   We are all familiar with the expression of "when you least expect it, expect it."  I think it is fair to say that that is often how God does things. The Scriptures often refer to "the fullness of time," and as time passes people often forget and stop expecting. Then, POW! God does something totally unexpected, and yet promised, and, if we recognize that it is God, we are overwhelmed with the goodness of God.
   One of my favorite worship songs has a chorus that says : Waiting in expectancy, surrendered to Your sovereignty, I'm hungry for true intimacy, Lord, for the things of Your heart. And I often wonder if it is true that we are "waiting in expectancy." You see, most of what God does that is unexpected has been foretold in the Scriptures that He will do. Whether it is of the prophetic fullfillment or of the essence of His character being brought to bear on a life, we always seemed surprised that He would be so good to us, and the things He does come as so unexpected, primarily because we stopped expecting, and we stopped being surrendered to His sovereignty and we stopped hungering for true intimacy and seeking His heart, that we miss the point. The point is that He has told us that He has a plan for us, to prosper, not to harm us, to give us hope and a future. He has said that He will meet our every need according to His riches in glory. he has said that He will heal us, that He will come to us, that he will never leave us nor forsake us. And yet, we are surprised when He does all this and more. We forget that God is true to His Word and that His Word does not return unto Him void, but that it accomplishes every purpose for which He has sent it. He heals, He reconciles, He restores the years the locusts have eaten, He sets the captives free, He does what He says He will do, and we act as if it is unexpected. The onlt thing that might be unexpected is the how He might do it. His ways are not our ways and His thoughts are not our thoughts, they are higher than ours. God will often take, even, the follish things of this world in order to confound the wise. But if we are looking and holding on to His promises, then we ought not be surprised when He moves in our life and does what might be conceived as the unexpected.
   So my question to you in this wonderful season we call Christmas is this: Are you seeking after the things of God? Do you know the God of the unexpected and do you wait in expectation, that in the fullness of time, He will do what He has said He will do?
   I pray that you all have a very merry and very blessed Christmas.

Because of Jesus,

Pastor Jeff

Cultural Rantings

Good Morning,

   If you don't live in NYC or some such similar place and you don't surf the web news each morning like I do, you might miss some of the more interesting developments that arise that show the true condition of our culture. A culture, by the way that we keep looking to to try to have them fix things. This will never happen. Our culture is so messed up that we need an overhaul of the whole system or we need to look to a different source for our hope. As you may have guessed, I believe the answer is in the latter part of that previous statement. Just today I have read of two cultural items that I find appalling and that I believe if we keep going after and allowing may cause the falling away of many.
   First, the conflict that is going on in our nation's capital over the issue of repealing "don't ask, don't tell." Our officials are in conflict over the effect that this law would have and are now attacking one another rather than sticking to the issues.
   Secondly was a billboard posted by the Lincoln Tunnel in NYC. It depicts the traditional Christian scene of a Christmas card: Wisemen coming to the place of the manger under the Star. The caption reads "You KNOW it's a Myth - This Season, Celebrate REASON!" Of course it is posted by American Atheists who consider themselves to be "reasonable since 1963."
   What is amazing to me is that they can't even see that our culture has literally been going to hell in a hand-basket since their "reasonableness" has been thrust upon us in form of public policy since 1963.
It is not so much that I am personally threatened by either of these items, it is just that we are so ignorant of the effects that these issues have on us spiritually that we sleep through the presentation of these matter and let things slip away from us without recognizing the detrimental effects they will have on our country, our practice of faith and for the future of our children and grandchildren and more.
   In the Scriptures, numerous times we read about things that will effect those "afar off." God has promises and principles in place that are meant to bless and protect and we, culturally, are attacking almost everyone of them. The enemy is subtle in his attack and he has until the end of time to tear away at the things of God.His purpose in the tearing away at the things of God is to destroy and devour.
My question for you is this. Do you see it happening? Do you notice the subtle changes that are destroying the fabric of faith and practice in our country? Do you feel the effects or are you in a spiritual slumber?