Messages

Pastor’s Message

Genealogies and family histories have always been important to the Jewish people.  So as a Jew writing to a Jewish audience, Matthew naturally opened his book with a genealogy.  To show that Jesus was the fulfillment of Old Testament prophecies about the Messiah, Matthew had to prove that Jesus was a direct descendant of David with a rightful claim to the throne.  He traced Jesus’ ancestry through Joseph, his legal father, and ended at Abraham, verifying that Jesus was one of God’s chosen people.

The list of forty-six people in Matthew’s list includes a motley crew.  Even more striking, Matthew included the names of several women, something that Jewish genealogies normally did not do since ancestry was traced through men.  When we really look close at Jesus’ genealogy, we find people like Tamar, the woman who tricked her father-in-law to impregnate her by dressing like a prostitute; we find David, who slept with his friend’s wife and had him killed to cover it up; we find Ruth, a Moabite, not even Jewish; There’s also Rahab, not only a foreigner, but a prostitute; then we see in the list Manasseh, one of the most wicked and godless kings in Israel’s history.  Jesus’ line is filled with outsiders of every kind.  So, if you think you have a dysfunctional family, take a look at Jesus’ family tree.  Some of the most unsavory characters in human history made it into the most exclusive genealogy.  However, the real message in the genealogy of Jesus is that God can change your story.  No matter how many skeletons are in our closet, no one is outside God’s grace unless he or she chooses to be there.  Even if you’ve made a mess out of your life, He can redeem it.  Jesus’s story is not about God helping perfect people; it’s about God saving lost people.  Jesus came to heal broken lives and restore shattered hopes.  He came to save us from our sin.

Carolyn and I want to wish each and every one of you a Merry Christmas.  May God bless you and I hope to see you and your family in church this coming Lord’s Day!

Pastor Rick

Message From Andy (Student Minister)

And she will bring forth a Son, and you shall call His name Jesus, for He will save His people from their sins.
    – Matthew 1:21

I love how Mark Roberts and Stephen Keene both brought out this truth in their revival sermons.  Our belief in The Bible and everything written it can be based on a children’s song:

“Jesus loves me, this I know; For the Bible tells me so …”

This explanation should be sufficient, but we go a little bit deeper into this fact in seminary:

God’s Word is:

Andy