Thursday, November 29, 2018

Colossians 2:1-7 Knit Together

Colossians 2:1-7
Knit Together
November 25, 2018
Lynchburg, Virginia

EXHORDIUM
         Paul now moves in to the reason needed for Christian maturity. Some seem to be in Christ but fall away for various reasons. Sometimes it is simply a sliding into sin. Christians become attached to the world of pleasure and fall away be degree.
         But sometimes it is through the cunning deceit of the devil. He presents plausible arguments through false teachers, through the academy, through science or philosophy.
         Mature Christians are able to resist falling away because they stick to what they know, Christ Jesus, the Word of God, those other faithful Christian voices through whom they heard the gospel.
         In order to resist the world, the flesh and the devil and to stand fast in Jesus Christ, we must be knit together in Christ and in His Church. This makes us strong, steadfast, firm, able to withstand the world, the flesh and the devil.

Things We Know

Here are some things we Know
         Jesus died for sinners and I am one.
         When Jesus died I died with Him.
         Jesus died for the forgiveness of sins and I am forgiven.
         Death could not hold Jesus and He rose.
         Because Jesus rose from the dead, I am alive in Christ.
         Jesus ascended into the heavenlies and is seated at the right hand of the Father.
         I am in Christ and therefore have ascended into the heavenlies and am 
seated with Him at the right hand of the Father. 
         Who can separate me from the love of God in Christ Jesus? Nothing 
and no one.
         If I know these things, I will not be undone by the things I do not know. 

Characterized by Thankfulness

Are you characterized by Thankfulness? We just had Thanksgiving and I trust that all of you found something to be thankful for. But I am not talking about being thankful on Thanksgiving. How about today, on the Lord’s Day? Are you thankful for Jesus? How about yesterday morning? Were you thankful for your children? Your spouse? Your dry home on a rainy day?
         Or, is your tendency to find the bad in everything and offer up a prayer of complain to the Lord? I am not talking about being a happy, clappy Christian who is not realistic about the difficulties of the world. The Lord knows we have seen our share of difficulty this year. But what do you do with all of that trouble?
         The Lord would have us thank Him for being there. He would have us circle up with the saints and thank Him for the body of Christ. He would have us notice many little blessings in the midst of our stormy days and offer prayers of Thanksgiving. 
         So, if you are that person who almost always finds it hard to be thankful, I exhort you to confess your ingratitude as sin and then start practicing. Count your many blessings, name them one by one. Count your many blessings, see what God has done.
         And if you are thankful, even in the midst of trouble, then offer thanks to God for granting you His Holy Spirit to walk in Him, abounding in Thanksgiving.

Friday, November 09, 2018

Raised on Sunday

Originally Posted on Facebook Oct. 10, 2018.

Hey folks, here's an update. I'm doing well. Thank you all for your prayers, concerns, and cards. Katie and I have been very blessed and humbled by the outpouring of love towards us. It is a great blessing to be in the body of Christ where we weep with those who weep and rejoice with those who rejoice. Oftentimes, we find ourselves doing so simultaneously or successively. God's grace holds us together. I thank Him and you.
I owe a great debt of love to the church I pastor, Providence Church, the broader church in Lynchburg, Virginia, (especially Rivermont Presbyterian and several other local churches), the New Covenant Schools community, Community Bible Study, our CREC denomination (https://crechurches.org), and her churches around the United States and World, and quite literally, the church around the world, have prayed for us and sent us many prayers and thoughts of love and concern. Christ's Church is alive and well! God bless you all my brothers and sisters in Christ.
I am going to try to catch up my blog as I have energy. You can find that here: http://vhurt.blogspot.com I am doing well, just feeling quite a lot of fatigue as I recover. 
I died on Friday and rose on Sunday, like Jesus. Why? Because I am a preacher and not very good at illustrations, which is a bad combination. So, the Lord had to make me a dying and living illustration. Don't imagine I'll get a better one.
If you are in Christ Jesus, then you also died on Friday and rose on Sunday. If you are in Christ, then all that He has done and all that He is, is also yours. 
20 I have been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me. And the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me. Galatians 2:20.
And if you are not in Christ, then the frightening specter of Death without Resurrection looms before you. That sort of death is frightening, indeed.
So, I have become a living example of what it means to be saved. It means that Jesus saves you. He literally does so. All those who are in Him, know this, even if the reality of this truth is not always before our eyes. Those who are not saved by Jesus, or don't want to be saved by Jesus, have no idea of their need, of His grace, or of His resurrecting power.
Like Lazarus, I will die again. But I know that to be absent from the body is to be present with the Lord and so I do not fear that death. The Lord Jesus has vanquished sin and death and they hold no power over me. What a tremendous comfort and peace this is. 
I don't really look forward to death. What I have seen of it thus far is pretty unpleasant. Death is still an enemy. But there is resurrection on the other side, and like, Jesus, I am willing to face death for the joy of Resurrection that is on the other side. And by Resurrection, I don't mean just the condition of existing as a spirit in Heaven. I mean full blown bodily Resurrection. In the Resurrection, we get the last laugh over sin and death. Our bodies are reconstituted and we live forever. Won't that make a mockery of sin and death?!
The Lord has decided that it is better for me to stay and not depart at this time. I am thankful to Him, particularly happy for my wife, my children and grandchildren, my church and you, my friends.
Our Lord Jesus is gracious and kind, slow to anger, long-suffering and quick to forgive sins. Embrace Him with faith today.
Grace and Peace,

Back from the Dead

Originally posted on Facebook October 1, 2018.


On Friday, September 21, I had a heart attack accompanied by cardiac arrest (heart stoppage) at home. Chance of survival of that event is less than 10%. Katie was at home and found me collapsed a few seconds after I fell. Her subsequent panic was one of many things the Lord Jesus providentially used to save my life. She was unable to put in her phone code to call 911, so she ran outside screaming ‘help me Jesus!’ And stopped a car in the road and asked them to phone 911. Our neighbor, John, heard her yells and was in the house doing chest compressions within 20-30 seconds after Katie’s yells, maybe 1-2 minutes after collapse? This saved my life. Another neighbor, Holly, was just then leaving town and was literally driving away when she heard and saw the commotion. She knew that another neighbor across the street, Ben, was an EMT (I still haven’t met Ben, this earthly savior of mine.) John and Ben saved my life and their chest compressions kept me from brain damage. There is a fire department three blocks from our house. They arrived within a few minutes. Our EMTs are a highly trained group and pride themselves at saving people at a much higher rate than the national average. They arrived and took over from John and Ben. (I am not totally clear on all the details). John and Ben had gotten a pulse back but when the EMTs loaded me in the ambulance, my heart arrested again. They had to shock it back to beating, but it arrested two more times on the way to the hospital, which is only 7 minutes away and is one of the top cardiac hospitals in Virginia. So my heart stopped four separate times. Survival chances at this point almost nil. To God be the glory. 
At the hospital, they put me in a medically induced coma by inserting a rod in my leg that cooled my blood to a hypothermic state. This was for 48 hours. The purpose of this is to protect the brain from more extensive damage. During this time, no one knew if I would wake up or be seriously brain damaged if I did. I really can’t afford to give up any extra brain cells you know!
When they started to warm me on Sunday, I finally woke up. Death on Friday, resurrected on Sunday. What an honor to follow in the steps of Jesus. 
I awoke and started telling stories and joking with the family. I don’t remember this but they took some video and it is pretty hilarious. I told about the time in high school in Twin Falls, Idaho, driving my mom’s brown Bomber down the road that goes from Shoshone Falls to Twin Falls. Is that Falls Ave? I got that old beater going 119 mph on that road. I think I was with Sean Hackett and Doug Clark. Do you guys remember that? We flew over some of the rises in the road and sparks flew as we bottomed out. I lived to tell that story, too!
The family was rejoicing until my nose started bleeding. You know you can bleed out from a nose bleed? I almost did. I lost about 1/2 my blood, 6 units, and this became the new threat. They took emergency measures to plug the flow hoping it would eventually clot and gave me a transfusion to replace the blood loss. 
On Wednesday, still in Cardiac ICU, they removed the Foley from my nose that stopped the blood flow and it finally had stopped bleeding. I’ve had a couple small nose bleeds, just a few drops since then. One prayer request would be for no new nose bleeds. 
On Thursday, they moved me out of ICU and sent me home Friday, almost exactly at the same time I had collapsed the previous Friday. 
All of my children and their spouses were here and it was a special time. God has been very kind to Katie and me in the offspring department. 
I believe that God works all things together for good for those that love Him and are the called according to His purposes. This means my life or my death. I am thankful to be alive but was prepared to meet Jesus. Why? Because I am a good man? No, I am not, not in my own name, or in my flesh. I did not deserve to live nor do I deserve God’s favor. It is all grace. Because Jesus died on the cross for sinners, I can lay claim to His work by faith in Him with whom we have to do. Only on this basis can I come boldly into the throne room of God. When I come to the Father, in the name of Jesus, empowered by the Holy Spirit, the Father receives me as He would His own dear Son. That is what we mean when we pray, In Jesus’s name. Amen. 
Furthermore, I believe that the Lord Jesus is the all powerful ruler of all things. We do not yet see all things in subjection to Him, but we do see Jesus, by faith, who is ascended to the right hand of the Father ruling over heaven and earth. One day, we will see all earthly institutions in subjection to Him because He is the Lord of the nations. (Psalm 2). 
Do you have faith in Jesus? If you died today, would you be ready to confess your own unworthiness to meet Him, having confessed and repented of your sins and turned to the finished work of Jesus on the cross? Is your basis for making it to heaven, your goodness or His? You need to know the right answer to that question. 
Please feel free to email me or call if you want to talk about faith in Jesus. 
Thank you all for your concern and prayers. The Lord is gracious and kind, long-suffering, and quick to forgive sins. Put your trust fully in Him. 
The Lord bless you and keep you. The Lord make His face to shine upon you. The Lord lift up His countenance upon You and give you peace. Amen.

Back in the Pulpit

Friends,

I have been off the blogosphere for 7 weeks after I had a heart attack and cardiac arrest on September 21. Lord willing, I will be back in the pulpit this Lord's Day, November 11.

Our service starts at 9am at 2805 Old Forest Road, across from King's Island Restaurant. We share a Methodist Church building. Maybe we'll see you there!