“They realized this work had been done with the help of our God.” Nehemiah 6:16 (NLT) One of the most interesting parts of the Olympic Games this time around has been the stories of faith many of the athletes have shared. In many cases the athletes have been very quick to give credit for their success in the pool, on the track, on the gymnastic floor, and so on. It has been refreshing to see some of the athletes recognize that their strength, determination, and abilities come from God. There are many things that go into reaching the goal of competing and hopefully winning a medal. The athlete must give themselves to the program/process, work hard, and endure through all of the training in order to reach the goal. You can tell when one of the athletes reaches the goal how wonderful the feeling must be. The story of Nehemiah has this dynamic to be sure. The goal is reached in 52 days! All of the sacrifice and hard work pays off as the wall is completed. The people of God who worked so hard to achieve the goal must have been ecstatic and jumping for joy. There must have been hugs and high fives all around the city as they reached a tremendous goal in record time. I would have loved to be a part of that celebration, wouldn’t you? What a day of rejoicing that must have been. It is truly something special when the people of God come together and achieve a God sized goal. Nehemiah’s enemies were not happy about it though. This time they did not come after Nehemiah and try and deride him at all. Instead, the Scripture says that they, “were frightened and humiliated.” They literally did not know what to do. They had spent the better part of almost two months mocking the people of God, Nehemiah especially, for engaging in a God-sized goal. The reason they were frightened and humiliated was that they neither understood the goal that was reached, nor the God who had given it. If the people of God could gather together while being under the rule of an enemy king and rebuild the wall of Jerusalem what else could they do? Nehemiah helps us understand the real threat to the enemies. The real threat was God! Nehemiah says, “They realized this work had been done with the help of our God.” Wow! That’s what had the other nations shaking in their boots. This God of the Jews could lead the people of God to do amazing things together. The other nations did not have this God on their side. Remember the story of Elijah and the followers of Baal? It was a testimony to the people around Jerusalem that the God of the Jews was the God who did amazing things for God’s people. That both put the fear of God in them and brought shame to them for all of their mockery. Whenever we reach a goal in our life as believers, it is only because of the help of God. God gives us the call to rebuild our life. We submit to God’s reign and rule in our life and endure all of the struggles along the way and eventually, with God’s help, we reach the goal. Once we reach the goal all honor, glory, and praise belong to God. We celebrate not because of what we did, but because of what God did with us. We realize that our goal was reached because of the help of our God. I look forward to sharing more about this with you in worship this week as we continue the series “Rebuild.” I can’t wait to see you in church!

"Four times they sent the same message, and each time I gave the same reply." Nehemiah 6:4 (NLT) There are some questions that always have the same answer. One of my uncles would always have the same answer to the question, "What time is it?" His response was ALWAYS "Three hairs past a freckle eastern elbow time." The same answer every single time like clockwork, pun intended. There are some answers in life that are always the same, predictable. In the story of Nehemiah, his enemies asked him what he was doing constantly. He always had the same answer. He told them every time that he, with God's help, was doing a great work. Finally, his enemies ask for him to meet with them. The wall is almost finished and they are trying to keep him from crossing the finish line. Nehemiah discerns this. In the verse above he says that they asked him to join him four times and every time he gave them the same reply. Every time Nehemiah says he is doing a great work and he won't be joining them. It has been my experience that there are a lot of people who want you to join them in some insignificant work. These things can be appealing and tempting. But if they take you away from the purpose to which you believe God has called you, DON'T GO! In the face of those who would try to distract us from God's purpose we need to offer the same reply, "I am doing a great work!" We must not allow anyone to distract us from God's purpose for us. I love the story of Nehemiah. I love how God gave him a grand vision. I love how God's grace preceded the work of rebuilding the wall. I love how Nehemiah was laser focused on the purpose God had given him. We, too, need to stay focused on God's purpose for us, especially in the face of those who want to lead us astray. I pray that we will all stay focused on the great purpose to which God has called us. I look forward to sharing more about this on Sunday. See you in church at one service at 10:00AM this Sunday!

“Then I told them about how the gracious hand of God had been on me ...” Nehemiah 2:18a (NLT) Just south of the campus of Asbury University in Wilmore, Kentucky there is a historic homestead. The front part of the property in the rolling hills of central Kentucky is lined with a historic dry stacked stone wall. The term dry stacked refers to the fact that there is no mortar used when constructing the wall. The stones are fit together and stacked on top of each other. The benefit to this style of construction was that damaged parts of the wall could fairly easily be rebuilt with the same materials. While living in Wilmore I learned that restacking, or rebuilding, the wall was not as easy as it looks. There are people who spend years learning the skill of creating dry stacked stone walls. When it comes to rebuilding them, to do it right, you need expert help. The story of Nehemiah is a lot like the stone walls I mentioned. The walls of Jerusalem were in ruins. The enemies of Jerusalem had destroyed them and left them in ruins. This was a disgrace to the Israelites, the people of God. Nehemiah was very unhappy with what this said about God to the rest of the world. He wanted to do something about this. God made a way for him to talk to the king that was holding the Israelites captive. He convinced the king to let them go and rebuilt the wall around Jerusalem. It was an amazing move and it energized the people. Nehemiah and the Israelites rebuilt the wall around Jerusalem in 52 days. It was truly a God-sized accomplishment. At the beginning of The Book of Nehemiah we begin to see why Nehemiah was able to stand boldly before the enemy king, really the Israelite people around back breaking work, and endure through difficult opposition to accomplish this great feat. In Chapter 2 verse 18 we read, “Then I told them about how the gracious hand of God had been on me.” God’s grace enfolded Nehemiah and God’s people through the whole journey. They were not doing the work on their own. God prepared the way before the first stone was laid. God was with them even when they wanted to quit. God was with them when their enemies tried to stop them. God made a way for them to accomplish the great task that God inspired. Nehemiah knew they would succeed and he was not afraid to tell even his enemies that God’s gracious hand had been on him and he would not fail. In most of our lives the wall of our life is in need of repair. There are sections of the wall that have deteriorated. Some of the sections that can deteriorate are our faith, relationships, attitudes, and overall outlook on life. As we seek to get started rebuilding the wall of our life the first step is to understand that God is with you. God’s gracious hand is on you. God does not want for the wall of your life to be in ruins. God wants our life to be whole, holy, and full. If there is a section of your wall you desire to rebuild remember that God’s gracious hand is on you. God wants for you to succeed. So why not get started today? I look forward to sharing more about this with you in worship this week as we start a new message series “Rebuild.” I can’t wait to see you in church!

Okay, so why is it that you can search the internet and find so many examples of Christianity that are just plain weird? I've spent a little time over the last week looking up message illustrations to illustrate the power of unity within the church. More often than not I find examples of just how odd Christians can be. By odd I don't mean radical or counter cultural either, I mean down right odd. Christianity is designed to be counter cultural and radically different from the norm. We are to be radically different for our love, radically different for our patience, radically different for our joy, radically different for our gentleness and kindness. We are not necessarily to be radically different for our taste in music, our inability to do things with excellence. Many times churches and church people miss the mark because we have made our own preferences the mark. All of this takes place while a world in desperate need of a savior watches us and just shakes their head. So what are we to do about this disconnect? How are we supposed to ensure that we are radical and not simply weird? The simple answer seems to be to follow more closely the teachings of Jesus Christ himself. Jesus was radical, not weird. Jesus was equally able to be in a crowd of sinners and a crowd of self-proclaimed, self-righteous religious leaders. Jesus was able to bridge the gap between humanity and divinity. In fact, Jesus was, and is, the gap between heaven and humanity. The difference is that Jesus was radically different from anyone in the room and yet Jesus was radiantly regular in his approach to humanity. He was fully human as well as fully God. Jesus did not make people shake their head in embarrassment because of who He was. Jesus made people nod their head in conviction because a man who was so much like them called them to so much more. You see.... the thing about being a Christian in this world today that makes us different is our radical belief in the resurrection, our radical belief in the power of the Holy Spirit to save, and our radical belief that Jesus Christ loves us enough to set us free. We are free to run into a world full of sinners and choose not to run them off with our weirdness. We are free to offer them Christ in a real and believable way. We are free to help them understand that they are fearfully and wonderfully made and there is a savior who longs for them to know how much God loves them. This is the wonderful nature of being a Christian.... that they will know we are Christ-followers by the measure of love we have for each other. So next time you are faced with a choice of being a wonderful example of what a Christian is all about or being weird... choose wonderful. Choose to love the people around you in a real and powerful way. Resist with everything you can muster the temptation to be cheesy, trite, or clever with your faith. Choose instead to be real. Choose to represent the Christianity that Christ taught; the Christianity that shines radically above all the other options in life. Only then will the world around you begin to nod its head in conviction. Only then will the people in your life come face to face with the reality that they are a sinner in need of a savior. And they will come to this conclusion, this moment of conviction, because you chose the wonderful message of Jesus Christ over the weirdness of being clever with your faith. Someday I pray that all Christians will represent Christ in an authentic, real, honest, and powerful representation. When asked whether Christians are wonderful or weird the answer then might actually be wonderful. See you in church.

I am Rev. Dr. Dan Parrish and the newest staff member here at St. Andrews. I rejoice to be your Congregational Care Pastor and give thanks to Pastor Tim for affording me an opportunity to proclaim the word of God this Sunday to our congregation. But I’m not the only person on staff at St. Andrews, for everyone who calls themselves a follower of Jesus Christ is a part of our staff. I feel that we do a disservice to our congregations when we fail to remind each person in the pew each Sunday that we are all called to be ministers of the Gospel of Jesus Christ. In the congregations that I served, the first line in the staff listing was this: “Ministers – All the members of the family of God.” I did that because each of us is a minister of the Gospel every day, many times to eyes and ears that we don’t even know are watching to see our witness. Nonetheless, we do bear a witness – which leads to the following questions. Jesus asked an important question of those who followed him, a question that every person answers in one way or another – WHO DO YOU SAY THAT I AM? Each of us must answer for ourselves that question. Our lives will either reflect his presence as we choose to serve Him as the Lord of our lives, or we will reflect a very different presence in our words and actions to those around us. Which will it be for you? Remember, to choose not to answer is ultimately to have chosen against Christ. Likewise Joshua challenged the people of Israel as they came out of the wilderness and prepared to enter the Promised Land with a very similar question – CHOOSE THIS DAY WHOM YOU WILL SERVE? AS FOR ME AND MY HOUSE, WE WILL SERVE THE LORD. Everyday you and I are giving an answer to those two questions by the very choices we make in our lives – who do we say that Jesus is, and who are we going to serve. This week as we gather to worship, I want to challenge each of us in thinking about our answers to these questions and to provide some thoughts on how we might be better equipped to allow our lives to truly reflect the answers we give. I truly believe that as a whole, most of the persons attending service this week would affirm that Jesus is the Son of God and the means of our eternal salvation. I believe that we would answer Joshua that we are choosing to serve God in our lives. But what answer did others see in the words and actions of your life each day last week? Are we truly living our faith before others? We all are familiar with the story about Johnny Appleseed who planted the apple seeds everywhere he traveled, leaving behind orchard upon orchard for all to enjoy. Did every seed grow – no. But that didn’t keep Johnny from planting his seeds – because he planted each in faith and God brought a bountiful reward from his faithfulness. I share that story, because I believe God has given each of us a bag of “faith seeds” to plant. And I don’t believe God will be any more pleased with us, than was the owner in the parable of the talents with the one who received only one talent who returned only the one talent to the owner. (See Matthew 25:24-27) God doesn’t desire for us to come before Him with our full bag of “faith seeds.” The pleasing act will be to come before Him with an empty sack – having scattered all our “faith seeds” for the Kingdom of God. Pastor Tim challenged all of us last week to Go Out and scatter those faith seeds that God has given to us, in order that God might bring the harvest. Do you remember the admonition of the scriptures – the fields are ripe for the harvest, but the laborers are few. You and I are the laborers that were being referred to in that passage. It all begins by answering the questions I asked in the beginning of this article. I want us to look at the story of the wedding in Cana of Galilee as we strive to learn what made those jars so usable by Jesus, as I believe that we can learn for ourselves how we also can be usable vessels for the Kingdom of God. Come and join us and invite a friend to come with you! That would be planting a few of those “faith seeds,” and let’s listen for God to speak to us in worship this week.

“So let’s continually offer up a sacrifice of praise through him, which is the fruit from our lips that confess his name.” Hebrews 13:15 (CEB) It was a beautiful Sunday morning in Florida in 2004. There wasn’t a cloud in the sky and the temperature was in the low 80s with unusually low humidity. The worship service that had just concluded was beautiful as well. The people of God had come together to sing God’s praises, pray for each other and the community, hear God’s word proclaimed, and be challenged to go and live it out in Christ’s name. The people of God were talking to each other as they left and the atmosphere was very upbeat and exciting. It was in the midst of this wonderful morning that a few careless words cut through the air. For the moment, the morning was changed and my excitement for the morning was dowsed. Have you ever had this type of experience? An experience when things were going well and then in an instance some careless words, some biting criticism, some mean-spirited comment changed your outlook if only for a short time. I remember that Sunday morning and the words that were said. Twelve years have passed, but I still remember them. This is human nature. We remember negative words and encounters clearly. I wish it were different. My hope is that we can help make this different. We can be people of praise. The author of Hebrews challenges his readers to do just that. He challenges them to “continually offer up a sacrifice of praise” with our lives. Our words should be words of praise, our actions should be praise, and our thoughts should be praise. The author says that our praise through Christ “is the fruit from our lips that confess his name.” When we praise Jesus we confess his name. We let people know who is the Lord of our life. When praise is our continual offering we help people remember differently. We change their experience. So what if we were people of continual praise? Would problems cease to exist? Would pain go away? Would negativity be cured? Of course not! What would take place is that we would be living a more obedient life in Christ. We would be praising God continually through our Lord Jesus Christ. We would praise God in the celebrations of life, in the problems, the pain, and the trials of life. We also would be bringing light into a darkened world by confessing Christ’s name through the fruit of our lips, our praise. The world around us would be a more Christ-like experience for those with whom we come in contact. There is a praise chorus that has been meaningful to me over the past 25 years or so. I sing this praise chorus often to remind myself of the call to praise. More often than not I sing this chorus in my head. I would like to leave you with the words of this praise chorus to ponder. I hope it helps you to continually offer up a sacrifice of praise through Jesus Christ our Lord. We bring the sacrifice of praise, into the house of the Lord. We bring the sacrifice of praise, into the house of the Lord. And we offer up to you, the sacrifices of thanksgiving, And we offer up to you, the sacrifices of joy. I look forward to sharing more about this with you in worship this week. I can’t wait to see you in church!

"For God had something better in mind for us..." Hebrews 11:40a Have you ever been upgraded to first class on a flight? I have only had this happen to me once. First class was better! There are times in life when we are set to experience one thing and another, something better, thing happens. An upgrade to first class, a free appetizer, or a complimentary beverage. It's always fun to experience the something better. This is what I love about he eleventh chapter of Hebrews. The author helps us understand there is something better. The chapter is filled with the heroes of the Old Testament who by faith accomplished great things. The author says that even though they had great faith and accomplished much they never received the fullness of God's promise. They would, but not yet. The author of Hebrews tells us that these heroes of the faith did not receive it all because "God had something better in mind for us." The something better is Jesus and the New Covenant. The something better is the cross and the promise that was after the pain. The resurrection that followed the crucifixion. The New Covenant is the something better. Jesus is the something better. As followers of Jesus Christ we live everyday in the reality of something better. Jesus' life, ministry, death, and resurrection bring us something better. When the problems of life are getting you down turn to something better. In the eyes of the old song, "Turn your eyes upon Jesus, look full in his wonderful face, and the things of earth will grow strangely dim, in the light of his glory and grace." I can't wait to share more about this with you Sunday. See you in church.

"How much more will the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered himself without blemish to God, purify our conscience from dead works to worship the living God!” Hebrews 9:14 (NLT) To be purified means to be free from guilt or moral or ceremonial blemish. In Scripture the words pure, clean, Holy, and sanctified are used to convey this same meaning. It seems like a lofty and unattainable goal or standard. The one thing to remember when thinking of being pure, clean, Holy or sanctified is that it is unattainable on our own. The true downfall of anyone seeking after God is self-reliance. Especially in the western world where we have taken individualism very seriously. The reality is there are some things we cannot do on our own. I am sure you can think of a time when you tried to accomplish something on your own, but couldn't. When it comes to our faith, we cannot purify ourselves. This is the Good News of the Gospel! We don't have to. God has given us a great High Priest in the order of Melchizadek. This great High Priest, Jesus Christ, gave his life as the perfect sacrifice on our behalf. When we accept this gift by grace through faith in Jesus Christ we are purified. We are clean, Holy, and sanctified. This is the greatest news ever. Jesus did for us what we could not do. If you have been struggling trying to be perfect, to follow God perfectly, you cannot. God asks us to surrender not struggle. Place your whole trust in the work that Christ has already done for you. Rest peacefully in the assurance that you are purified by Christ. Then follow Him in faith. Christ has already made you pure. I look forward to sharing more about this with you in worship this week. I can’t wait to see you in church!

"This hope is a strong and trustworthy anchor for our souls." Hebrews 6:19 Our family has spent this last week in New York City on vacation. We have seen sights I have only seen on TV or in magazines to this point in my life. It has been pretty amazing to see these things for the first time. One of my greatest concerns about coming to New York City was safety. I am happy to say we have been completely safe the whole time. I also have been reminded of a couple of things too. I have been reminded that God is my anchor. It doesn't matter what city you are in. It doesn't matter what circumstances you find yourself in. It doesn't matter because when you know Christ you have a constant. Christ is the anchor of your soul. This means no matter where the wind blows you can hold fast to this anchor. I have been reminded that this anchor is strong as well. This anchor, Jesus Christ, is stronger than anything we will face. It is stronger than our fears, our failures, our doubts, our guilt, our shame, or our unbelief. Christ is the strong and trustworthy anchor for our soul. There is nothing that can move this anchor, nothing. No matter what you are facing today or tomorrow hold fast to this strong and trustworthy anchor for your soul. There is nothing better in life in which to hold fast. Christ promises to be with us always. Paul promises nothing can separate us from Christ's love. So let's live as people of the promise. Let's hold fast to the anchor of our soul. I can't wait to share more about this with you on Sunday. See you in church.

This Sunday we continue to look at the book of Hebrews and we look and see that the God of the Old Testament is the same God as the God of the New Testament. This same God made the “old way” or the old covenant and then made a better way through the new and living covenant – Jesus. God, our Father, knows the better way. How much like a father is that?! I don’t know what it is to be a father – I only get to watch from the outside. But I do know, like any parent, we tend to know what is better for our children because of experience and wisdom that they have not yet gained. It’s why dads and parents are somewhere even this moment telling their child not to do whatever dangerous activity they are partaking in. In our house that’s often in a strong encouragement to not kill their brother or to not try and scale some piece of furniture just to jump off. As we grow our parents encourage us in other ways to find the better way – to try harder in school, to make wise choices, to love, to be the good in a world shaken too often by evil. Some of us may have a hard time accepting that. We think that we are already on course. That we already have the best way. That we have it all figured out. Perhaps you do. If so, you’ll know because you’ll feel the rest of God. The rest of us well, we’ll know too. We’ll know because we won’t be living into the peace and rest of God. We’ll be restless. We’ll be anxious. We’ll be worry-filled and wonder-less. We need to be willing to let go of our pride to accept God’s better way for us. We need our world changed, a paradigm shift, a change in mindset to set us free. I’m a middle child. Some of you may have already guessed that. As the one in the middle I know what it is to be bossed around not only by parents but also by an older brother who “knows best.” I also, as the one in the middle, know what it is to have to help my younger brother. Really we’re all in the middle in one way or another. We have some areas where we need to be encouraged to follow the better way. We need an older sibling to hold our hand and show us the way. We need to look to Jesus so to show us how. Simultaneously, there are some things that we already have obtained. There are things we know because of experience, because we’ve followed Jesus and obtained what he had for us. We need to be willing to be the older sibling and show others, encouraging them on their way. The true thing to remember is that in this family of God that we are all a part of, we are all siblings. No one is an only child. No one is the true parent. We are to align ourselves with Jesus – the author and perfecter of our faith, and then we can stay on course to get what our good, good Father has in store for us.

“Since he himself has gone through suffering and temptation, he is able to help us when we are being tempted.” Hebrews 2:18 (NLT) There’s an old Bugs Bunny cartoon where bugs interacts with a construction worker. In the process of the interaction the worker gets hit over the head with a container. The worker then proclaims, “I’m feelin’ mighty low.” Things in life can make us feel this way sometimes. Our feelings can range from minor disappointments all the way to severe depression. It is a tough world we live in with very real suffering, pain, and temptations. It is very easy to feel overwhelmed, like we face the suffering and temptation alone. The author of Hebrews reminds us that there is hope. There is hope that we are not alone in our suffering and temptation. We are not alone in our feelings of despair and disappointment. We are not alone as we go through the daily ups and downs of life. The author of Hebrews reminds us that we have Jesus Christ, the pioneer of our salvation, who was made perfect through sufferings. It is by the example of Jesus that we know what it looks like to cling to God even in the midst of suffering. We have the perfect example of what it means to go through temptation and suffering and overcome them through the power of God. There are many guarantees in Scripture. One of these guarantees is this, “In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world.” [John 16:33 NIV] It is a given that we will have trouble, suffering, and temptation in this world we live in. It is also a given that Jesus lived here on this same earth, lived in the same flesh and blood body, and faced the same suffering and temptation. The awesome thing for us to remember and hold fast to is that Jesus overcame it all. Jesus overcame death. Jesus overcame suffering, temptation, and even death to give us hope that we can overcome through Him. This is the great hope we have in Jesus Christ. Give Jesus your suffering, he is able! Give Jesus your temptations, he is able! Give Jesus your broken relationships, he is able! Give Jesus your health, he is able! Give Jesus your finances, he is able! Give Jesus your bitterness and anger, he is able! Give everything to Jesus who is able to help us when we are being tempted. Jesus knows what it means to suffer and be tempted. Give everything to Jesus, he is able to help. As Jude, the half-brother of Jesus writes, “Now to the one who is able keep you from falling, and make you stand without blemish in the presence of God’s glory with rejoicing, to the only God our Savior, through Jesus Christ our Lord, be glory, majesty, power, and authority, before all time and now and forever.” [Jude 24-25 NIV] I look forward to sharing more about this with you in worship this week. I can’t wait to see you in church!

Have you had to hold onto something in order to survive? The image that comes to mind is an action movie wherein the hero is dangling from a helicopter or some other contraption and they have to either hold on until safety or pull themselves up. I haven’t done that – you probably guessed that. I have had to hold onto something for dear life though. My mom and I had taken the boys to the beach. I had each boy in his own float and we were out in about four and a half feet of water. Suddenly someone closer to the shore yelled, “Hey lady! There’s something large in the water swimming toward you!” I’m not the sort to want to wait and find out what it was, so I grabbed both boys and I don’t know that I had ever held them so tight before then or since then. I also don’t think I’d swam that fast ever before, well as best as one can swim while trying to hold two infants. Turns out I wasn’t fast enough. While I clutched both boys and tried to swim quickly I looked down and saw the large creature coming toward me. It was a manatee. In an instant I went from thinking we were about to be shark bait to laughing way too hard when I realized it was only a manatee. Thank God there’s no such thing as a killer manatee! This week we begin a new sermon series. We will be studying the book of Hebrews together in more of an expository-style way (verse by verse). If you haven’t read Hebrews before I strongly encourage you to follow along with the reading plan that we will have available each week. The series is titled “Hold Fast.” As you read and as we study together you will hear God using the author of Hebrews to remind us to hold fast to what is essential. Hold fast to the message of Christ. In a world that will pull us in every direction except the one we need to go, it is important to know what the essential message is and to cling to it with all we have. What we know as “Hebrews” is actually a sermon or exhortation that was written for the early church and so we’re preaching a sermon series on a sermon. Why Hebrews? Hebrews has such an important message that doesn’t just speak to the time it was written but to us now. Hebrews helps us understand who God is and what God is doing. Is the God of the Old Testament the same God as the Father of Jesus? What does it mean for Jesus to be Priest and Savior? What do we do with all of the stuff from the Old Testament? AND most importantly – who is Jesus and what does the life of Jesus have to do with our own lives? So as we embark on this journey I pray that you will be equipped to hold on, for dear life, to the essentials of the Good News of Jesus Christ.