Sanctification is a big, kind of troubling word that is actually pretty simple to understand.  It means that we, as Christians, belong to Jesus!  My sermon in on three real life aspects of what is means to belong to Jesus (Sanctified).

Well, guess I could have stayed around home and watched basketball – which can be fun!  However, I wanted to exercise and get out in God’s beautiful creation.  This Lizard was sunning itself on a tree and greeting me on my hike in the Verdugo Hills.  Brothers and Sisters God’s beautiful creation awaits you – you just need to get out there!

Pastor John

Now about eight days after these sayings Jesus took with him Peter and John and James, and went up on the mountain to pray. And while he was praying, the appearance of his face changed, and his clothes became dazzling white. Luke 9:28-29

William Loader, Murdoch University, Uniting Church in Australia write we need to be about …”making time and space for prayer and reflection is crucial if we are to know who he is and where we are going with him.”

My morning hikes in the Verdugo Hills is one of the ways I make time for Jesus in my life.  In what way will you make time for God today?

Peace,

Pastor John

“When I was a child, I spoke like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child; when I became an adult, I put an end to childish ways. For now we see in a mirror, dimly, but then we will see face to face. Now I know only in part; then I will know fully, even as I have been fully known. And now faith, hope, and love abide, these three; and the greatest of these is love.” 1 Corinthians 13:11-13

“As children we think inwardly of ourselves and look outwardly only to see who we are. Being a child resembles looking in a mirror at ourselves. The child does not take into consideration the function of the [Christian] community in creating self.  As an adult the individual recognizes that being understood, or loved, is the key to understanding, and loving. The adult [Christian] is open to others. Having gnosis [knowledge] then, without being known can leave one childish and dilettante.” Quote taken from Frist Corinthians, a commentary written by my old Seminary Professor, Grady Snyder, – Well done Grady!

 I Corinthians 13:4-7

The awesome power of a Pacific wave hitting the rocks of Point Mugu is beautiful to see and even more thrilling to experience in person. To read about or witness true love is also beautiful, but to actually experience love that is patient, kind, truthful, and hopeful is so overwhelming good for us. So much of this world is arrogant, boastful, selfish, and just plain “wrong” that we can become discouraged. Yet love helps us endure all things.

“If I speak in the tongues of mortal and of angels, but do not have love, I am a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal. And if I have prophetic powers, and understand all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have all faith, so as to remove mountains, but do not have love, I am nothing. If I give away all my possessions, and if I hand over my body so that I may boast, but do not have love, I gain nothing.” 1 Corinthians 13:1-3

Possessing a powerful charisma that commands the attention of everyone assembled is nothing without love. To discern the mysteries of the heavens through your knowledge is nothing without love. Even to live your life in selfless dedication, like Jesus, is nothing without love. Love (agape in Greek) is the key term in Christianity. Without love the most sought after virtues of the Christian faith are nothing.

Psalm 19:1-4a

How clearly the sky reveals God’s glory! How plainly it shows what he has done! Each day announces it to the following day; each night repeats it to the next.  No speech or words are used, no sound is heard; yet their message goes out to all the world…

All of my sunset pictures at Point Mugu are of the sun setting into the ocean – except for this one!  The warm tones of the “splash” on the rocks allows us to infer that a sunset is taking place even though we cannot directlys see it. I love the subtlety of this image!

Throughout our spiritual journey in life we seek obvious evidence of God’s activity in our world.  Yet, I believe we will find this “divine intervention” more often when we look beyond the obvious and dare to look at our world in new, subtle, ways.

The psalmist tells us that all creation constantly tells of God’s glory to the end of the earth, and yet it is unintelligible to most.  Only those who take the leap of faith and plumb the depths of God’s subtle WORD will truly understand.

Peace,

Pastor John