Faith

Pressing toward the eternal prize in Christ

PASTOR’S CORNER, David Hoffman, First Church of the Nazarene, Liberal

The apostle Paul inspires and challenges us to strive toward spiritual excellence as a Christian after his life-changing conversion. He [Saul] encountered Jesus on the road to Damascus at noonday, but for three days he was blinded by the glorious presence of the One that he targeted by persecuting, arresting and monitoring the martyrdom of His followers, such as Stephen in Acts 7:54-8:3.

Luke records the transforming experience in three chapters in the Book of Acts – 9:1-19; 22:3-16; 26:9-18. Saul/Paul did not encounter a hologram. Rather, he met the living Lord Jesus. In Philippians 3:12-14, Paul shared the tension between his present attainment as a Christian and his aspiration for the future. His deep desire was to apprehend . . . long after Jesus!

The Christian’s confidence

PASTOR’S CORNER, David Hoffman, First Church of the Nazarene, Liberal

The apostle Paul wrote a letter during his Roman imprisonment to the baby believers at Philippi to encourage them in their faith in Christ. Philippi was named after King Philip II of Macedon, who was the father of the famous general Alexander the Great.

The city known as Philippi became famous as a major Roman colony in which many Roman soldiers retired and lived to protect the empire from warlike barbarians who would try to invade the Macedonian region. It served as a border city in the mountainous pass to repel illegal migrants or aliens from infiltrating the Roman empire with their terror tactics. Paul responded to the “Macedonian call” while at Troas. The Holy Spirit providentially prevented Paul from his travels to the “province of Asia [Minor]”, Mysia and Bithynia during his second missionary journey. During the night vision at Troas, he heard “a man of Macedonia standing and begging him, ‘Come over to Macedonia and help us.’” (Acts 16:6-10) For Paul, the encounter was a divine appointment, not a disappointment!

A prayer for faithfulness to walk by faith, not by sight

PASTOR’S CORNER, David Hoffman, First Church of the Nazarene, Liberal

When I was only 10 years old, my Daddy told me, “Son, there is no guarantee of tomorrow in this life.” Uncertainty about the future can bring a paralysis of fear and anxiety to us humans. My dad was not a Christian at that time, but he did receive Christ as his personal Savior when I was 28 years old; he was 47 years old.

Nevertheless, Christian believers receive a comforting word of encouragement that we do not walk alone. Jesus promises the Holy Spirit’s abiding presence to walk alongside us as our guide, counselor, companion, and helper. (John 14:16-18, 26; 15:26; 16:7-15) As Paul wrote in 2 Corinthians 5:7, “We live by faith, not by sight.” Some people live by the principle “seeing is believing”; however, for the believer “believing is seeing” due to our trust and confidence in an eternal God who has the foreknowledge of the future by His omniscience. He is all-knowing!

Christians and the great co-mission

PASTOR’S CORNER, David Hoffman, First Church of the Nazarene, Liberal

On May 8, 1886, Dr. John Pemberton sold the first glass of Coca-Cola for $0.05 at a pharmacy in Atlanta. The Coca-Cola company is now valued at an estimated $90 billion after 139 years, and its logo is known in more than 120 countries or territories, even in the Philippine jungles.

When Jesus ascended back to heaven 40 days after His resurrection, oral tradition says the angels inquired about the future success of His mission to save mankind. Jesus assured them the mission would continue by His chosen disciples despite angelic hesitancy. He had sent the Holy Spirit to guide, instruct, encourage, empower and help them to “go and make disciples” and to witness to humanity. (Matthew 28:18-20; Acts 1:8) We have had more than 2000 years to do so.

The passage of time

PASTOR’S CORNER, Jeremy Harris, First Southern Baptist Church, Liberal

Time is a challenging thing isn’t it? When we are young it can’t pass quickly enough because we want to be older and do older things. When we are older we wish things could slow down and we pine for the days of our youth when we had fewer responsibilities and life did not demand as much from us.

When we near the end of our lives, we often do everything in our power to prolong our lives as much as possible.