Family Life Revealed

After nearly 20 years of preaching at Trinity Alliance Church, pastor Mark Swanson concludes his service with this wonderful sermon from the end of Matthew.

My wife recently bought the “Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy” for me.  I have been reading it off and on for some time now.  I would have to say that it is one of the most quirky books that I have ever read.  I never know quite what to expect.  Well, one part of the story speaks of this super computer that calculates the “Answer to the Ultimate Question of Life, the Universe, and Everything”.  Turns out that the answer is 42 (for those of you not aware of the book, Google also “calculates” this question).  Keep that in mind.

Today I was doing a bible reading plan over at YouVersion.com and as I was going through the Gospel of Matthew, I came across the following:

So all the generations from Abraham unto David are fourteen generations; and from David unto the carrying away to Babylon fourteen generations; and from the carrying away to Babylon unto the Christ fourteen generations.

Very interesting.  42 generations from Abraham until Christ.  42 generations to the promise.  Christ is 42.

My wife and I have been praying for some time about being able to purchase a new car (well, not new, but new to us).  Right now we only have one car (although it has been a great car, and is really new), and with me driving it to work every day, it has been difficult at times.

Well, the church that I work at has moved its offices much closer to my home.  This has been a huge answer to prayer.  It means that I will be able to purchase a road bike (bicycle) and ride to and from work each day.  This will allow my wife, Melissa, to have the car each day, and for me to be able to stay fit and healthy.

Such a small change, but it is great that the Lord hears the cries of His children.

As Patrick’s boat pushed west, he felt a strange chill from the memory of the same journey he had made years earlier under very different circumstances.  The smells of the sea and the fog clinging to the waves and the cliffs took him back to when he was a lad of sixteen, traveling to Ireland in bonds with the raiding party that had burned his home and taken him as a slave.

Despite the hardships of having ben a slave for six years, tending to the herds of a Druidic high priest Milchu, Patrick had come to have a supernatural love for Ireland.  It was in Ireland that Patrick had come to know God personally as he walked the woods and mountains alone with the animals.  He had gown up in a Christian home in a British Roman settlement but had never embrace the faith while he lived with his family.  He had been a lax student during that time, something he now greatly regretted and was too independently minded to walk so easily in his family’s faith.  Alone and seemingly forsaken in Ireland, Patrick sought out God and found Him.  Then, through a dream, God led him to escape and eventually return to his family, who welcomed him warmly.  Upon his return to Britain, Patrick resumed his studies with more vigor, intending to join the ministry as his father and grandfather had.

Now, as the oars pulled against the dark waves, Patrick began to see God’s hand in it all.  Shortly after his return to Britain, Patrick had a dream about Ireland in which he heard “the void of the Irish” calling to him: “We be you, holy youth, come and walk among us again.”  Patrick felt this was God’s call to return to Ireland with the Gospel.

Yet he felt unfit for the task, so he journeyed to a monastery in Britain, again leaving his family, and poured himself into being ordained.  Roughly twenty years had passed since then.  At his first opportunity to return, Patrick was passed up by his church elders to be a missionary to Ireland, and another, a man by the name of Palladius, was chosen.  When Palladius was killed a short time later, Patrick was elected to go.

Upon landing, Patrick returned to the village where he had been a slave.  His intent was that his first convert would be the man who had been his master, Milchu.  But when he arrived there, he found Milchu’s home in ashes.  At word of his coming, Milchu had gathered all of his possessions into his home and lit it on fire, killing himself in the flames.  Patrick was horror-struck at the madness of this act and determined to act dramatically to release these people from the fear of false gods that would drive a man to do such a thing.

Patrick spent some time preaching to the locals there and finding out what had happened since his departure and who was in power.  His years as a slave had served him well, as he still spoke their language fluently and with little accent, making it easy to communicate.  In his conversations he learned that the high king of Ireland, King Laeghaire, would be celebrating the Druidic feast of Betine, which coincided with Easter that year, at his courts in Tara.  Patrick headed there immediately, intent on making a statement for the power of God over the idols and occult practices that bound these people.

It was tradition that on the eve of the festival, it would be the high king who lighted the first bonfire of the festival.  Any who defied this would be put to death.  Yet as the king emerged that night to start the festival, Patrick’s bonfire was already glowing brightly for all to see on the hilltop of Slane not far away.  As had Elijah before the prophets of Baal, Patrick had uttered a formal challenge to the Druids and their king.

As Laeghaire gave the order for the perpetrators to be found and killed, his two Druidic high priests offered him a word of caution and prophecy: “O king, live forever.  This fire, which has been lit in defiance to the royal edict, will blaze forever unless it is put out this night on which it has been lit.  The man who lit the fire and the coming kingdom by which it was lit will overcome us all.”  But the king would hear none of it.  He had twenty-seven chariots prepared, and he, his guests, and his court rode to subdue Patrick.

When the chariots arrived, Patrick was summoned before the king.  The king ordered Patrick’s bonfire extinguished, but no matter what his soldiers did, the fire refused to be put out.  Patrick gave a bold testimony for Jesus before them and refused to be silent.  When Laeghaire commanded his soldiers to execute Patrick to quiet him, confusion descended on them, and they attacked on another.  When the two Druid priests then turned their vehemence on Patrick and Jesus’ name, one fell and cracked his head on a rock, while the other somehow fell into the fire and perished.  One version even records that when the king himself pulled his sword to slay Patrick, his arm froze in the air as stiff as a statue and stayed that way until he knelt in surrender to Patrick.  Though it is unclear how many of the details of this encounter are legend and how many actually happened, Patrick’s victory over Laeghaire and his Druids opened the political doors of Ireland to the Gospel.

Patrick thus had a captive and royal audience to be among the first to be converted during his ministry.  Though the king did not become a Christian on this day, his chief bard, his two daughters, and one of his brothers did.  Less than two weeks later they were baptized.  The brother gave Patrick land and a barn that became the first church, and wealth to use to spread Christianity throughout Ireland.  Laeghaire also gave Patrick legal sanction to preach throughout the island.

For the next thirty years Patrick established Christianity throughout Irelend, and though he had other miracles attributed to his ministry, he was not often far from trouble. Ireland was not neatly organized in kingdoms under Laeghaire, so whenever he went into a new area, it was likely that Laeghaire’s sanction would mean very little.  Patrick and his followers were imprisoned on several occasions- Patrick once spent two months in prison wondering if his ministry was over- and he saw many of his converts die, as well as being sentenced to death himself more than once.  Through it all, though, Patrick remained humble and counted only on God’s protection to free him from any situation.  He wrote the following in a chant or prayer, which he titled “The Breastplate” that he taught others to remind them of their purpose and Protector:

Christ shield me today against poison,
against burning, against drowning, against wounding,
so that there may come to me an abundance of reward,
Christ with me, Christ before me,
Christ behind me, Christ in me,
Christ beneath me, Christ above me,
Christ on my right, Christ on my left,
Christ when I lie down, Christ when I arise,
Christ in quiet, Christ in danger,
Christ in the heart of every man who thinks of me,
Christ in the mouth of everyone who speaks of me,
Christ in every eye that sees me,
Christ in every ear that hears me.

Having successfully planted churches and established pastors and priests in every district in Ireland, Patrick died around the age of seventy-two on March 17, A.D. 461.

Story from the Jesus Freaks book.

My friend, Deven Carter, took some awesome pictures of my daughter, Autumn, about 2 weeks after she was born.  Here are my favorites-

I have been doing a lot of thinking about the economy as of late, as I trust that many of you have.  The United States government has been doing a lot to step in and try to solve so many issues.  Issues with health care, unemployment, etc.  And that is frustrating.  No, I am not frustrating that the government is providing those services.  I am saddened that they even need to.  You know why they need to?  It is because of us.  Christian, I am speaking to you.  I am speaking to me.  I am speaking to both those who request government services, just as I am speaking to those who don’t need them.

To those who have plenty, help out your family.  Start there.  If you have a family member that needs anything, help them out.  Do everything in your power to help them stand on their own feet.  Once your family is standing strong, begin to reach out further.  Are people in your church hurting?  Help them.  Don’t just give them material possessions, but teach them.  Don’t just teach them, but walk with them.  Don’t just walk with them, but pray for them.  Don’t just pray for them, but provide for them.  Teach them to do the same once they are standing on their own.

Brother, are you one that needs help?  Are you hurting?  Seek out help from your church.  We need to stop acting like everything is fine.  We need to quit being afraid to tell our fellow brothers and sisters the truth.  Seek prayer, seek guidance, seek out work from members in the church.  And when you are standing on your own, the best way to thank those who helped you is to actively seek out those that are in the position that you used to be.  Help them.  Guide them.  Comfort them.  Clothe them.  Feed them.

Check out Matthew 25.  Is your brother hungry?  Feed him.  Is your brother thirsty?  Give him something to drink.  Is your brother naked?  Clothe him.

You know what will happen when God’s people begin to take care of each other?  The world will notice.  Not only will they see the love.  They will actually feel the love.  You will see jobs open up.  You will see the economy thrive.  You will see glory be given to God.  You will see.

I love reading page after page of quotes.  It is one of the most enjoyable things that I do.  There is just something that is so addicting there.  One day I was browsing reddit.com and I found this thread that talked about quotes being out of context, and often mis-attributed.  That was so much fun.  The whole point was that those people would have NEVER said the things that people were attributing to them.

So, loving quotes, and also loving programming, I decided to do something about it.  So I created AntiQuotr.  Feel free to take a look around, add a few quotes to the site, and enjoy the insanity!  Let me know if you have any ideas for improvement.

One of the most enjoyable events in marriage is being surprised, at least that has been the experience of my wife and I.  So in order to add some more enjoyment into our already wonderful marriage, I have decided that at some point in the next month or two I am going to just go ahead and book a flight/hotel to somewhere in the lower 48.  Not sure where yet.  Not sure when.  But it is coming.

Being from, and in California, I think that it would be a great experience to head to the East Coast.  I was thinking something along the lines of New York, or DC.  But I am not sure.  That seems like a really long trip for only a short time.  But, my wife and I also really like the coast, and I think that she would really like a trip to San Diego.  New Orleans would be nice too.  Not sure where yet.  Not sure when.  But it is coming.

It is just incredible how much we get to enjoy life!  Even if we don’t get to see all of those places in our lifetime, what we have been able to see has been absolutely amazing!