Faith

PASTOR’S CORNER, Dr. Jeff Nagell, Friends Church of Liberal

If you are like me, you have already seen a dozen or more commercials about a big holiday coming up soon – Christmas.

Don’t get me wrong, I like Christmas, but the great calendar-makers of all time decided we needed to stop and be thankful before piling up gifts and trinkets before the really fun holiday to come. Not to imitate The Grinch, but Christmas can’t be Christmas without a moment to think about all the good we already have. It’s like the old question “What do you say to an atheist who sneezes?” “I don’t know.” “Exactly.”

So who do we thank on Thanksgiving?

PASTOR’S CORNER, Dr. Jeff Nagell, Friends Church of Liberal

I’m new to Liberal – well, I was six years ago. My wife and I came to Liberal in 2019 from Eastern Indiana, and this is our fifth state of residence. The first month I was in Liberal, I was invited to two meetings – the first was with the Liberal Ministerial Alliance (which took place, at that time) in the meeting room at Southwest Medical Center), and the second meeting I was invited to was a weekly prayer meeting led by Lora Jones.

The two groups shared a common thread in how the local churches all worked together in the city of Liberal. By contrast, the city I came from in Indiana had four ministerial groups, none of which worked together. I had tried to go to all four, but it was obvious how these four groups were all playing the same instruments, but in different bands. In Liberal, our prayer group prays inside other churches each week, with the host pastor receiving us warmly each week. Some weeks, we pray at community centers that welcome our prayers. This prayer group is part of the Liberal Ministerial Alliance.

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!

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!