Everything seems to be a combination of darkness and confusion. In a mixed state of frustration and despair you throw up your hands and wonder out loud, “What am I going to do?” But then, when you least expect it, help comes. Not only is that help unexpected, it comes through the most unlikely people in the most improbable ways. There is no rational explanation to be found. Some call it luck, others a happy coincidence, while Christians say it’s a God thing.
People have written books on the subject of God’s mysterious ways of helping human beings. They contain all sorts of interesting explanations and insights, but there is one fundamental lesson to hold on to in these strange ways God works and that is, he does come to the rescue.
This past week you’ve been reading through the short book of Ruth. It takes place in the middle of the darkest time in Israel’s Old Testament history – the period of the Judges. But in the midst of this spiritual wasteland, God uses an unsuspecting young woman from Moab to demonstrate his powerful helping love. It’s a story one could easily pass by in the grand narrative of the Bible, but don’t do that. Spend time in the book of Ruth because God so often works in similar ways today – through quiet yet faithful people.
If the way seems dark to you at this point of your life, why not spend some time with us this weekend as we study the story of Ruth? It might just open your eyes to the light you’ve been looking for.
* If you would like to participate in the Story Bible series but have not yet received your copy of the Story Bible, please respond to this e-mail and we’ll get one out to you.
Saturday evening worship: 6:00 pm
Sunday morning worship: 10:00 am
Friday, September 28, 2018
Friday, September 21, 2018
The “Rub Off” Effect
It usually happens without our even knowing. We have changed. But we have not even realized what we’ve experienced. It takes another person, someone who knows us well to say, “You’re different. Something’s happened to you.”
We protest, but they insist. We ask for evidence and they mention some little things we have started to do which we explain away as being inconsequential. Yet, we are bothered by their observation and wonder if by some chance they might be right. We ask ourselves, “What could cause me to change?””
Every personal relationship has a “rub off” effect. In some cases, it is minimal, in others it is life changing. People we spend time with begin to influence our way of thinking, speaking and acting. The more time we spend with them and the greater we value their friendship determines the amount of “rub off” they have on us.
In some cases, the “rub off” is very positive. We encounter people who raise us up, morally and intellectually. Unfortunately, it is more often true that we tend to take on the negative influences of other people. This is exactly what happened to the people of Israel after they received the Promised Land of Canaan from God. Instead of driving out the people who had inhabited the land, the Israelites intermingled with them and within a short time became just like them.
The book of Judges is one of the darkest and most depressing of the Bible because it registers the history of a people chosen by God to be his instruments of rescue and redemption falling headlong into an abyss of sexual perversion, brutal violence and idol worship. The “rub off” effect of the Canaanites on the Israelites was overwhelming.
Spiritual compromise is as relevant a subject today as it was at the time of the Judges. At first it seems harmless, even tolerant. But in the end, many Christians find they have lost their relationship with Christ and become imitators of our culture. If you sense a little too much of non-Christian thinking has rubbed off on you, join us for one of our weekend services. It may be time to take a stand.
* If you would like to participate in the Story Bible series but have not yet received your copy of the Story Bible, please respond to this e-mail and we’ll get one out to you.
Saturday evening worship: 6:00 pm
Sunday morning worship: 10:00 am
We protest, but they insist. We ask for evidence and they mention some little things we have started to do which we explain away as being inconsequential. Yet, we are bothered by their observation and wonder if by some chance they might be right. We ask ourselves, “What could cause me to change?””
Every personal relationship has a “rub off” effect. In some cases, it is minimal, in others it is life changing. People we spend time with begin to influence our way of thinking, speaking and acting. The more time we spend with them and the greater we value their friendship determines the amount of “rub off” they have on us.
In some cases, the “rub off” is very positive. We encounter people who raise us up, morally and intellectually. Unfortunately, it is more often true that we tend to take on the negative influences of other people. This is exactly what happened to the people of Israel after they received the Promised Land of Canaan from God. Instead of driving out the people who had inhabited the land, the Israelites intermingled with them and within a short time became just like them.
The book of Judges is one of the darkest and most depressing of the Bible because it registers the history of a people chosen by God to be his instruments of rescue and redemption falling headlong into an abyss of sexual perversion, brutal violence and idol worship. The “rub off” effect of the Canaanites on the Israelites was overwhelming.
Spiritual compromise is as relevant a subject today as it was at the time of the Judges. At first it seems harmless, even tolerant. But in the end, many Christians find they have lost their relationship with Christ and become imitators of our culture. If you sense a little too much of non-Christian thinking has rubbed off on you, join us for one of our weekend services. It may be time to take a stand.
* If you would like to participate in the Story Bible series but have not yet received your copy of the Story Bible, please respond to this e-mail and we’ll get one out to you.
Saturday evening worship: 6:00 pm
Sunday morning worship: 10:00 am
Friday, September 14, 2018
Choose Whom You Will Serve?
The battles were over, the war had been won. The land God had promised to give the Israelite nation centuries earlier was finally theirs. Joshua, bent under the pressure of leading the people into battle so often, stood before those who had followed him one more time. But instead of leading them in a jubilant victory party, he asked but one question, “Choose whom will you serve?”
Some in the crowd looked confused. Others put back the corks in their champagne bottles. Everyone became quiet. Again, he shouted, “Choose whom will you serve?” What did the old man mean?
In his raspy voice he said, “You know I was with Moses from the beginning. I’ve seen it all. I’ve been there every single time you ran after other gods the moment things didn’t go your way. Now you are here. You’ve seen what God has done for you with your own eyes. You didn’t tear down the walls of Jericho, God did. You didn’t win all those battles because of your military prowess, God was fighting for you and you know that. So, I ask you again, who are you going to serve? Are you going to serve the Living God who made you his special people, or, at the first sign of pain are you going to run after a cheap drugstore god who offers you instant relief?”
Silence hung over the sea of people. Suddenly, the weak voice took on an almost superhuman strength. Joshua’s parting words to his people rang out loud and clear for all to hear, “As for me and my house, we will serve the Lord!”
Who will you serve? Will you answer with Joshua, “As for me and my house, we will serve the Lord?”
* If you would like to participate in the Story Bible series but have not yet received your copy of the Story Bible, please respond to this e-mail and we’ll get one out to you.
Saturday evening worship: 6:00 pm
Sunday morning worship: 10:00 am
Some in the crowd looked confused. Others put back the corks in their champagne bottles. Everyone became quiet. Again, he shouted, “Choose whom will you serve?” What did the old man mean?
In his raspy voice he said, “You know I was with Moses from the beginning. I’ve seen it all. I’ve been there every single time you ran after other gods the moment things didn’t go your way. Now you are here. You’ve seen what God has done for you with your own eyes. You didn’t tear down the walls of Jericho, God did. You didn’t win all those battles because of your military prowess, God was fighting for you and you know that. So, I ask you again, who are you going to serve? Are you going to serve the Living God who made you his special people, or, at the first sign of pain are you going to run after a cheap drugstore god who offers you instant relief?”
Silence hung over the sea of people. Suddenly, the weak voice took on an almost superhuman strength. Joshua’s parting words to his people rang out loud and clear for all to hear, “As for me and my house, we will serve the Lord!”
Who will you serve? Will you answer with Joshua, “As for me and my house, we will serve the Lord?”
* If you would like to participate in the Story Bible series but have not yet received your copy of the Story Bible, please respond to this e-mail and we’ll get one out to you.
Saturday evening worship: 6:00 pm
Sunday morning worship: 10:00 am
Friday, September 7, 2018
Wastelands
What do you think of when you hear the word “wasteland”? Probably images of vast stretches of arid land, tumbleweeds blowing randomly in the wind come to mind. To be wandering in a wasteland is to be lost, desperately lost in a forlorn wilderness with little hope of finding a way out.
Life has its wastelands. Periods in which we find ourselves wanting something or someone, certain that whatever it is we want, that will make us whole. Yet the harder we try to acquire what we desire, the more we sink into a sea of lostness, losing our reference points. We feel a distance, with other people, with God, even ourselves.
The Israelites of the Exodus left Egypt with such high hopes and spectacular dreams only to find themselves wandering in a wasteland of unsatisfying pleasure, envy and fear. It took 40 years to find their way out of this wasteland, but it was a necessary 40 years, a time of molding discipline which left an indelible mark on the succeeding generation.
Wastelands can spiritually kill us or be an opportunity for renewal and recommitment. Are you in a wasteland? Are you not sure of where your headed? Join us for one of our weekend services. The way out of the wasteland makes all the time spent there worth it.
* If you would like to participate in the Story Bible series but have not yet received your copy of the Story Bible, please respond to this e-mail and we’ll get one out to you.
Saturday evening worship: 6:00 pm
Sunday morning worship: 10:00 am
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Hawaii Lutheran Church (WELS)
- Community Lutheran Church
- Honolulu, HI
- Community Lutheran Church holds protestant chapel services in Honolulu, Hawaii near Pearl Harbor, HI. We are next to the USS Arizona Memorial, Pearl Harbor Naval Base, Hickam Air Force Base, and Fort Shafter Hawaii. Look for us directly behind the Salt Lake, Hawaii, Target.