November newsletter (VERY LATE)

Dear friend,

I know this letter is pretty late, so sorry for that. It’s been a busy couple of weeks, but good ones. With things at the building settling down, and my sermon done, things will begin to fall back into place. And the job of getting to be a pastor again is getting more real all the time. While I can do the administrative side of my job, my true passion lies in getting to sit with someone who wants to know more about Jesus, and that is a blessing!

This month I thought I would change things up a bit in my newsletter and do a bit of sermonizing here. I thought that maybe we could share some thoughts on Jesus. I am going to give you a bit of a synopsis of my sermon last preached at Scum. If you want to hear more, you can visit our website at www.scumoftheearth.net and follow the link for podcasts. My sermon is entitled Suffering in Isaiah. You can also link it off of my blog at beardedjosh.blogspot.com.

So, in 30th chapter of Isaiah, the prophet is writing to the nation of Judah, who is looking at the immanent attack from Assyria. In the face of adversity, they do as so many of us do, and they turn to their own devices: they seek help from their southern neighbor, Egypt.

The chapter starts with this challenge: “Woe to the obstinate children… to those who carry out plans that are not mine, forming an alliance, but not by my Spirit, heaping sin upon sin.” The Lord is warning them of the destruction that awaits them as they turn from God to their own devices. It is a warning that we all face daily in the ways that we run from the God who offers us deliverance from the obstacles that we face in our lives: the suffering, the pain, the frustrations, the anger, etc. We are the obstinate children, who, like the Israelites, have such a longing for safety and security that we know that we need, but who do not find rest and peace in God, and so we run to our devices to ease the pain.

But, there’s an interesting twist in verse 23, when God speaks and says that he gives us the bread of affliction and the water of suffering. Now, I must admit, I was terribly troubled when I read this. Does this mean that a lot of the suffering that we endure is actually given to us by the hand of God? Well, knowing that this thought is borderline heretical, let me explain as such: while God does not create suffering, he allows it for our own good.

The fact is that we live in a world that is not as it was intended to be. There is evil in our world that causes things like cancer, genocide, and war. This is not in God’s original design, but rather is the result of sin that entered the world when Adam and Eve ate the fruit in the garden, and thus became the first ones to run from God’s intention and care. We’ve been following in their footsteps ever since. And God allows us to run just far enough that we will find ourselves in a position where we will want to turn back to Him. It is for our own good.

And so, when we face the trials that are sure to come as part of living in a fallen world, it is imperative that we turn toward Jesus and trust in Him. Our natural reaction is to take matters into our own hands, but just as Jesus stood waiting for us the first time we turned to Him, he still waits for us with open arms to rescue and deliver us from the pains that we are facing…if we would just turn to Him instead of running from Him.

This is the message that our church needed to hear, and it is probably the message that we could all stand to hear on a daily basis.

And so, please take this as an invitation to remember what it was like when you first encountered the Gospel, that sweet feeling of relief to know that the Savior was waiting for you to turn to Him and welcome you home. And turn back to Him again and again as you encounter the temptation to run to the many vices that offer us a sense of security, when the only true hope for peace is in the redeeming arms of our Lord.

May He bless you as you turn,

Josh Cook

Me Preaching!

So, here's a couple pics of me being fairly animated while preaching at Scum...enjoy!

It was my first time in the new building!

You can hear the sermon here