The Way of the Cross - Pastor Tom Loghry
In Acts 21, Paul arrives in Jerusalem. Some of the Jews had been making false claims about his teaching, but in his attempt to prove them false a riot is started and he is arrested.
Transcript:
Our scripture reading comes from Acts 21:1-6. "After we had torn ourselves away from them, we put out to sea and sailed straight to Kos. The next day we went to Rhodes and from there to Patara. We found a ship crossing over to Phoenicia, went on board and set sail. After sighting Cyprus and passing to the south of it, we sailed on to Syria. We landed at Tyre, where our ship was to unload its cargo. We sought out the disciples there and stayed with them seven days. Through the Spirit, they urged Paul not to go to Jerusalem. When it was time to leave, we left and continued on our way. All of them, including wives and children, accompanied us out of the city, and there on the beach we knelt to pray. After saying goodbye to each other, we went aboard the ship and they returned home." Let us pray as we come before God's word. Father, as we hear the testimony of your word here in Acts 21, the record recorded by Luke of Paul and his perseverance, his faithfulness to the call that you placed upon his life, we pray, Father, that you would stir within us, by the work of the person of the Holy Spirit, a desire to walk in his way, to be ready to take on all costs that may appear before us. We ask, ask this in the name of Jesus Christ, our Lord. Amen. You may be seated. Every one of us here, all of us here have gone through some difficult things. I'm sure you probably don't wanna think about those things, but if you take a moment, I'm sure a couple of them come back to mind. The most trying things, perhaps, that you've endured in your life. Now, some of them you saw coming. Others, however, you couldn't have imagined how difficult they would be. In fact, thinking back on certain occasions in your life, thinking about some of the most difficult things you've had to go through, you might confess that if you knew it was going to be so hard, you might have gone a different direction. And yet, standing here today, you might also say that you are glad that you went through the pain and hardship because of where it has brought you today. Now you can see the good that you wouldn't have seen so clearly at that time. Now you know the reality that made it all worth it, the trial you endured. All things being equal, you, you might have preferred that kind of suffering could have been avoided. As much as the good you know now goes hand in hand with the troubles you've overcome, you can now say that it is well, that it is good that your life took that course. That's what we might say about the things that we didn't see coming. But that other trouble, the kind we, we see coming from a mile away, we took that on basically knowing what we were in for. And unless we are sadomasochists, unless we just take some twisted pleasure in our own pain, there must be a good reason for us being prepared to endure. The runner, who desires the glory of running in the Boston Marathon, prepares months on end for that grueling trial; the wife who seeks to be a mother, even while she foresees the pain of the labor that will come; the pioneer who seeks a better land at the cost of all comfort. We shake our heads with pity for the one who suffers for no good reason. But we write headlines, we build statues, and we create holidays for the ones who suffered to gain a great, greater good. Now of course, we don't always know what is our greatest good. We can be ignorant of what we should suffer for, and comparatively, we too often suffer for very, very foolish things. We encounter just this kind of situation, evaluating the prospect of suffering, in Acts 21 as Paul makes his way to the city of Jerusalem. In verses one through six, the Apostle Paul weaves his way southward along the coast of Asia Minor. After his tearful departure from the Ephesian elders in Miletus, having told them that they should never expect to see him again, though he will later write a letter to them, the Epistle to the Ephesians. After leaving them, he lands in Tyre. You can see it circled on the map in a little red dot. Now, in verse four, it says that the disciples there, meaning simply the Christians there, apparently understood by the Holy Spirit that Paul was going to face some hardship in Jerusalem, and they urged him to not go any further, to not proceed with his travel plans. This sets the stage for our full awakening, our full realization of the suffering that Paul is foretold to endure in Jerusalem. Despite the pleas of his fellow disciples here, Paul presses on to Ptolemais and Caesarea. So we continue on in verse seven. Luke tells us, "We continued our voyage from Tyre and landed at Ptolemais, where we greeted the brothers and sisters and stayed with them for a day. Leaving the next day, we reached Caesarea and stayed at the house of Philip the Evangelist, one of the seven. He had four unmarried daughters who prophesied. After we had been there a number of days, a prophet named Agabus came down from Judea. Coming over to us, he took Paul's belt, tied his own hands and feet with it and said, 'The Holy Spirit says, "In this way the Jewish leaders in Jerusalem will bind the owner of this belt and will hand him over to the Gentiles."'" One thing we notice as we see Paul arrive in Caesarea, and Caesarea, you should understand, is in Israel. You can see it there on the map, right there. Renamed, of course, after Caesar. It's an, it's impressive to see how there's disciples in these towns that Paul is going to. We can see the spread of the faith. And in Caesarea, Paul has some very interesting company. He's staying with Philip the Evangelist. Now, this is distinct from Philip the Apostle, one of the original 12. Philip the Evangelist is one of the seven original deacons called by the church, you'll recall in Acts six. And you'll remember perhaps that included in that number of seven was also Stephen. Now, imagine this time that Paul and Philip share together. Paul, this man formerly known as Saul, who held the coats of those who were stoning one of Philip's peers, Stephen. Men who, before Christ, would've been utter enemies, but now brought together so that Philip is hosting Paul in his own house. This is the power of the gospel to transform people, to see this sort of reversal and reconciliation. Now, Philip has four daughters. They're unmarried, they're virgins, most likely young, and they possess the gift of prophecy given by the Holy Spirit. And this just recalls to us the new age in which we've entered in, in the age of the church. We are living in the time of the end. We are living in the time in which that which the prophets foretold is being fulfilled. Joel 2:28-29, the Lord promised to his people, he said, "And afterwards I will pour out my Spirit on all people. Your sons and daughters will prophesy, your old men will dream dreams, your young men will see, will see visions. Even on my servants, both men and women, I will pour out my Spirit in those days." So these young women, and we've talked to other, about other people who also possess the gift of prophecy, would've been able to foretell events which were to come. Now, there's debate in Christian circles today as to whether those gifts are continuing to be distributed into the present. But what we can say is that if one is a prophet, then that which they foretell actually comes to pass. You can't have a, a 500 record . I mean, you need, you need to have a perfect, you need to have a perfect record when you're giving prophecies. Now, we have these, these women here, and apparently they, it, it seems implied that they probably were telling Paul the same thing, that there's suffering coming for him. Because then after, we have the earlier warning before from those disciples that were in Tyre, and then kinda book-ended after these young women are mentioned, we have the appearance of a fellow we have heard of mentioned before named Agabus. Agabus earlier appeared in Acts 11:27-28 wherein he prophesied that a famine was going to strike the area, and they took up a collection for the saints in Jerusalem to be able to weather that famine. Now, Agabus comes and he gives a very explicit prophecy regarding what Paul is going to suffer in Jerusalem. He does it in a very visual sort of manner. Like, if, if words weren't enough, he actually acts out what's going to happen to Paul. And this is in following in the, in the tradition of, of the prophets, the Jewish prophets. We think about in 1 Samuel 15 when Samuel shows that Saul's torn robe is gonna represent that the kingdom is going to be torn away from him, or rather Samuel's robe's gonna be torn away from him. Saul tore his robe, represented the tearing away of the kingdom. We think about in Jeremiah 27 where the prophet Jeremiah was said that he was going to wear a yoke. In Isaiah 20, we have the prophet Isaiah walking around naked for several years. So the, the prophets, they bring their prophecies in a visual sort of manner. In this case, Agabus takes his belt, ties it, takes Paul's belt rather, ties his own hands and feet, and he says, "The Holy Spirit says, 'In this way the Jewish leaders in Jerusalem will bind the owner of this belt and will hand him over to the Gentiles.'" Now, there's kind of eerie echoes here of what happened to Jesus. There's these parallels of anticipation of, of future suffering. Now, Jesus foretold this about himself, and when Jesus told his disciples that he was going to be crucified, we see them protest against that. Reading in verses 20, 12 through 14, it says, "When we heard this, we and the people there pleaded with Paul not to go up to Jerusalem. Then Paul answered, 'Why are you weeping and breaking my heart? I am ready not only to be bound but also to die in Jerusalem for the name of the Lord Jesus.' When he not be, when he would not be dissuaded, we gave up and said, 'The Lord's will will be done.'" So we see them saying, "Paul, don't go any further." And again, this brings to mind what Jesus says to his disciples and the reaction that he gets from them in Matthew 16, verses 21 through 23. It says, "From that time on, Jesus began to explain to his disciples that he must go to Jerusalem and suffer many things at the hands of the elders and the chief priests and the teachers of the law, and that he must be killed and on the third day be raised to life. Peter took him aside and began to rebuke him. 'Never, Lord,' he said. 'This shall never happen to you.' Jesus turned to Peter and said to him, 'Get behind me, Satan! You are a stumbling block to me. You do not have in mind the concerns of God, but merely human concerns.'" Now, Paul's not quite as pointed here as Jesus. He doesn't tell his fellow believers, you know, "Get behind me, Satan." But like Jesus, Paul is entirely committed to the call that God has placed upon him. He says in verse 13, "Why are you weeping and breaking my heart? Don't try to hold me back here. Don't make this difficult. I'm ready not only to be bound, but also to die in Jerusalem for the name of the Lord Jesus." Now, Paul has already indicated that he was prepared to do this, and he knew that suffering likely awaited him in Jerusalem. In the previous chapter, in Acts 20:22-24, remember, he says to the Ephesian elders, "Now compelled by the Spirit, I'm going to Jerusalem, not knowing what will happen to me there. I only know that in every city, the Holy Spirit warns me that prison and hardships are facing me. However, I consider my life worth nothing to me. My only aim is to finish the race and complete the task the Lord Jesus has given me, the task of testifying to the good news of God's grace." So before, Paul had said, "I don't know exactly what's waiting me there, but I know everywhere I've gone, it's been difficult. I don't care. I'm going to still go because it's worth it. My life, trying to, trying to live a safe life, that's nothing compared to the call that God has placed upon me, which is to finish the race, to complete the task the Lord Jesus has given me, which is the proclamation of, of the gospel, making sure that people know that they can be forgiven of their sins, that they can be restored to God, that they can live a new life, that they can have the hope of a resurrection life to come." Now, it is interesting that the Spirit reveals Paul's suffering to these believers, and yet they try to warn him not to go. And so we wonder why that is. Why is it that the Spirit is compelling Paul to go to Jerusalem? And he knows he needs to go there, but the Spirit is revealing to these believers the suffering that is to transpire there without also telling them he needs to go do this. I, I think it's because the Spirit was intending that Paul would be an example for them and also for us. If it was not revealed to Paul that he was to suffer, then we would not have it as an example of persevering with that knowledge in mind. If Paul just kinda walked into it blindly, well, that happens to everybody. Sometimes we walk into things. But Paul saw it coming. The other believers saw it coming. They were begging him not to go. Imagine all the pressure on Paul to try to make them, them happy, to do what seemed safe and what seemed smart. The Spirit set, coordinates things and sets things up here, reveals things to some and not to others so that we can have this example of Paul saying, "I know what God's calling me to do here, and I'm going to do it to its end." Otherwise, without all this revelation, it would've just been, seemed accidental. We have the same example in Christ. No one took Jesus' life away from him. He's like, oh, he wasn't like, "Oh, no, I didn't know I was gonna get crucified. Gee whiz, I wish I hadn't stuck around in the garden." No, he knew that was all coming, and he willingly offered his life up for our sakes. You see, tragedy can befall anyone, but true faith proceeds in the face of danger. We see that faith in Christ. We see that faith in Paul, and we are invited to have that sort of faith for ourselves when we know God's call, even if it's calling us to go and do things that are gonna result in great suffering for us. You see, the way of Jesus Christ is not naive. Like I said, Christ was not a victim of circumstance, and likewise, the followers of Christ are not victims of circumstance. They know what they're in for. Notice what Jesus says in the next couple of verses after he rebukes Peter. He tells his disciples in Matthew 16, verses 24 through 25, "Whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me. Whoever wants to save their life will lose it, but whoever loses their life for me will find it." Isn't that something? Peter was saying, "Jesus, don't, you know, don't say that. That, like, that can't happen to you." And, and Jesus not only says, "Stop saying that, 'cause that's, that's what I'm in for. I'm going to do that, but guess what? If you're gonna follow me, you need to be in for that, too. You need to be prepared to carry the cross that I'm preparing to bear." We have to remember that the way of Jesus Christ is not the way of the world. The way of the world is a way of glory, of, of piling on success after success after success and living the charmed life. The way of the cross is a way of, of suffering. It's a way, it's a way of loss. We come to Christ to die, to surrender all, to say, "All these things around us that everyone's running a rat race for, it's not gonna deliver me." I can't save my life, can't make me into the person I'm supposed to be, can't deliver me from death. I let go all of it. Doesn't mean I'm not gonna enjoy some of it, we can enjoy the good things that God gives us, but I am letting go of it 'cause what I desire to gain, my pursuit in life, is Jesus Christ, to know him, and to be willing to join him in his sufferings because he's worth it. And it's for this reason that Paul is not at all dissuaded by Agabus' word and, and demonstration. And so by following his example, everyone concludes to say, "The Lord's will be done. The Lord's will be done." That's the right conclusion to have. It's under, and we can be completely sympathetic with the other disciples here. We would probably, we would all feel the same way in, in their shoes. But in the end, when God reveals, and God was apparently through the Apostle Paul showing them like, "Yes, this is gonna happen, but this is what is supposed to happen." We, like them, need to conclude the Lord's will be done, which is the most difficult thing because we don't wanna say the Lord's will be done. We wanna say our will be done. We wanna do our plan. Christ invite, invites us when he, when he invites us to follow him, he invites us to surrender our plans for God's better plan. From this point on, we see how the suffering that was foretold comes to pass when Paul comes to Jerusalem. Verse 15: After this, we started on our way up to Jerusalem. Some of the disciples from Caesarea accompanied us and brought us to the home of Mnason, where we were to stay. He was a man from Cyprus and one of the early disciples. When we arrived at Jerusalem, the brothers and sisters received us warmly. The next day, Paul and the rest of us went to see James, and all the elders were present. Paul greeted them and reported in detail what God had done among the Gentiles through his ministry. When they heard this, they praised God. Then they said to Paul, "You see, brother, how many thousands of Jews have believed, and all of them are zealous for the law. They have been informed that you teach all the Jews who live among the Gentiles to turn away from Moses, telling them not to circumcise their children or live according to our customs. What shall we do? They will certainly hear that you have come, so do what we tell you. There are four men with us who have made a vow. Take these men, join in their purification rites, and pay their expenses, so that they can have their heads shaved. Then everyone will know there is no truth in these reports about you, but that you yourself are living in obedience to the law. As for the Gentile believers, we have written to them our decision that they should abstain from food sacrificed to idols, from blood, from the meat of strangled animals, and from sexual immorality. So Paul gets to Jerusalem. If you didn't know where Jerusalem is, you can see it there. He goes to Jerusalem, he meets with James, who is the brother of Jesus and who has become the leader of the Jerusalem church. He goes to them and all the elders of the, of the Jerusalem church and shares with them his good report about the Gentiles, how they have positively responded to the gospel. And his report is well-received by them. They praise God. But there is a problem. You see, the Jerusalem church, as you would probably expect, is made up of mostly Jews, and as Jewish people, they continued to maintain the traditions of, and customs of the Jewish people. They are Christians. They believe that Jesus is the Messiah, but they continue to practice circumcision and uphold the other matters of the law. Now, because Paul has gone to the Gentiles and told them that they are welcome into the kingdom of God by way of Jesus Christ, and that they don't need to uphold those laws of circumcision and otherwise, there's been a rumor that's developed that Paul is telling Jews not to get circumcised, that they don't, that he's telling them, "Don't uphold the traditions of the law." And there's a very fine nuance here. We can believe that Paul would say it's not necessary for a Jew to do those things. Those things are not necessary for salvation. But that's a different thing than saying Paul was advocating telling Jews, "Don't circumcise anymore. Stop doing those things." And so it was creating confusion among the Christian believers. So this isn't just possible resistance from those Jews that were not Christians, but among the Christian population in Jerusalem. He was suspected of trying to kill their Jewish heritage, basically. And maintaining your Jewish heritage and being a follower of Jesus, Jesus of Christ is totally consistent. Jesus fulfills that Jewish heritage. But upholding those things is not necessary for salvation. But to make things clear, they give him this prescription. Paul says that he should join four men who have made a vow, and it's presumed here that it's a Nazarite vow. They've grown out their hair, they haven't cut it. They're going to cut it and present it to the Lord at the temple. Now, Paul is to join them and to pay for their purification rites. And so by being involved with all of this, Paul is demonstrating that he upholds the customs of the Jewish people. He's not, he's not opposed to them. Now, there is a difference here in the case of the Gentiles, as, as has already been mentioned. The elders recognize that Gentiles are not required to do these things. And so they're only expected to abstain from food sacrificed to idols, from blood, from the meat of strangled animals, and from sexual immorality, as it says in verse twenty-five, which reflects what was said in Acts fifteen. And the reason why the Gentiles are called to refrain from these practices is because they have associations with paganism, and it corresponds with just having some brotherly sensitivity, um, towards their Jewish siblings in the faith. And so the expectation is, is that the Gentiles would do what the Jews would expect respectful Gentiles would do. So Paul agrees to this plan and proceeds accordingly. Continuing on in verse twenty-six. "The next day Paul took the men and purified himself along with them. Then he went to the temple to give notice of the date when the days of purification would end and the offering would be made for each of them. When the seven days were nearly over, some Jews from the province of Asia saw Paul at the temple. They stirred up the whole crowd and seized him, shouting, 'Fellow Israelites, help us. This is the man who teaches everyone everywhere against our people and our law and this place. Besides, he has brought Greeks into the temple and defiled this holy place.'" (They had previously seen Trophimus the Ephesian in the city with Paul and assumed that Paul had brought him into the temple.) The whole city was aroused, and the people came running from all directions. Seizing Paul, they dragged him from the temple, and immediately the gates were shut. While they were trying to kill him, news reached the commander of the Roman troops that the whole city of Jerusalem was in an uproar. He at once took some officers and soldiers and ran down to the crowd. When the rioters saw the commander and his soldiers, they stopped beating Paul. The commander came up and arrested him and ordered him to be bound with two chains. Then he asked who he was and what he had done. Some in the crowd shouted one thing and some another, and since the commander could not get at the truth because of the uproar, he ordered that Paul be taken into the barracks. When Paul reached the steps, the violence of the mob was so great he had to be carried by the soldiers. The crowd that followed kept shouting, "Get rid of him." So Paul's trying to do the right thing. He's trying to smooth things over here. But it all goes sideways because there's some Jews from Asia. Now, when we're talking about Asia, we're not talking about East Asia. Remember, we're talking about the area of Asia Minor. He's been in Ephesus. Since they recognized Trophimus, perhaps they, they were from, Ephesus also. Jews from Asia, some familiars of Paul perhaps. They'd seen him. They'd opposed him in the places that he had been. Saw him near the temple, and they said, "Oh, boy, here's this guy again. We're gonna get him now." Paul is no longer in a Gentile city where he might have some of the protection of not having the whole population being against him, even though we saw in Ephesus even Gentiles can be turned against Paul, too. He has suffered from Jews and Gentiles. But there's a real opportunity for these Jews here to get Paul. And their grounds of accusation is they saw Paul with this guy Trophimus, who was a Greek. And so they suppose that he brought Trophimus into the temple, and they whip everyone up on that basis. Now, the reason why that's bad, in theory, is because to bring a Gentile into the temple of God would defile it. That's what they're claiming. And so you can see the outline here. I had to put it sideways so you could even get a chance of really seeing it. See the temple outline here. There is these inner courts into which the Jews could go. There was actually a court for women. Women couldn't even go into the further courts. Then there's this court of the Gentiles. This is where the, the Gentiles were supposed to stay. They're supposed to not go any further. So they're accusing Paul of, of bringing Trophimus through there. There was actually a sign outside that court, and they, they found the sign and it says, "No stranger is to enter within the balustrade round the temple and enclosure. Whoever is caught will be himself responsible for his ensuing death." Oh, all right. If I'm a Gentile, I'm not going in there, and stranger there would be kind of an allusion to Gentiles. And so with this accusation in hand, they arouse the whole city. They drag him from the temple, and they're trying to kill him. They're not trying to have a debate with him. They're trying to kill him. They're trying to beat him up. And the Roman commander, from the Fortress Antonia presumably, he's, he can, which is located nearby, saw this happening, and he's like, "Okay, I gotta go break this up." And so they go down, and he's asking, you know, what, what has he done wrong? 'Cause he's presuming he must have done something wrong. There's a lot of political unrest at this time, some violent factions. Later, we have some suggestion that Paul was maybe part of a group of assassins or something like that, which is funny to think about with Paul. But the commander's just thinking the worst because there's this huge uproar. And it's so bad that the soldiers have to actually carry Paul out. Now, he's bound in chains. This fulfills what Agabus had said was gonna happen to him. He's bound in chains, and they're carrying him out, and as they're carrying him out, they're just shouting, "Get rid of him." Which is not too far removed from "Crucify him." I mean, when they're saying, "Get rid of him," they're not just saying displace him. I'm sure they really want him dead. Now, can you imagine that? Can you imagine people shouting that about you? To get rid of you, and not because you had done anything wrong. Paul had done nothing wrong in the eyes of God, and he had been trying to take steps to assure his fellow Jews that he was not calling for them to abandon their customs. Still, they hated him and wished him dead. Now, as we've said, Paul was not surprised by this. He knew this was coming. The Spirit had led him here and so he was exactly where he was supposed to be, even while both his friends, at least for a time, and his enemies certainly thought otherwise. We are mistaken to think that the experience of walking in God's will is one of smooth sailing. That is the way of glory. That is not the way of the cross. Now, incidental cases of suffering do arise for us all, but to knowingly enter suffering, to set course on a journey like Paul is on here, anticipating great suffering is far more profound. This kind of suffering comes not because of your disobedience. Sometimes we suffer because we go against the grain of God's commands and, and we get full of splinters because of that. You reap what you sow. That's your fault. That's not the kind of suffering I'm talking about here, nor am I only talking about the suffering that's symptomatic of our sick world, the, the curses that afflict us all because of the fall: sicknesses, natural disasters, and the like. The suffering I'm talking about here arises because you are obedient to God. You're doing what God wants you to do, and your suffering is part of God's plan. It's true of Jesus, it's true of Paul, and it's true for you and me who follow in their footsteps. Now, you might be thinking to yourself, "Pastor, that's a lot to take in." It is. It's not an easy thing to come to terms with. But you must remember that suffering is not our end. We don't suffer to suffer. We suffer for something better: the runner's crown, the newborn child, the home, and a better country. On our own, we can gain nothing-- we are not Jesus Christ. But united with Christ, in whom we gain all things, we do share in his sufferings. The world is opposed to him, and so on the other hand, going against the grain of the world, we get the splinters of the cross. But we do not despair because Christ has died, Christ is risen, and Christ is coming again. The Psalmist puts it best in Psalm 119:50, "My comfort in my suffering is this: Your promise preserves my life." That's our comfort in suffering, is God's promise to preserve our life. Now, what is that promise? What is the substance of it, especially as we, we, we're on the other side of the cross here? Peter tells us in 2 Peter 3:13, "But in keeping with his promise, we are looking forward to a new heaven and a new earth where righteousness dwells." See, we're not seeking the riches of the present world, which are lost and which fade away. We're not seeking a kingdom that might be founded here, which will always fall short of the mark. We are seeking the kingdom which is to come, which is going to restore the face of this planet. We're seeking the world in which the dead are going to rise. We are seeking that world in which we are going to live with God here on Earth, a world in which righteousness, justice, peace dwells. We are seeking that better country. That's our promise. Do you have faith in that promise, that the world before us is nothing compared to, to the world to come? That the coming kingdom is, in fact, more real, more consequential than the politics and vain strife that, that surround us. Posing Christ's reprimand of Peter as a question, I ask you this: Do you have in mind the concerns of God or merely human concerns? Do you have in mind the concerns of God or merely human concerns? Maybe you're not there yet. Maybe you remain captured by human concerns. Paul invites us to let them go, to pursue God's plan whatever the cost, so that you would be willing to not only be bound in suffering, but to even die for the sake of Christ. Now, probably very few of us will have to literally die for the sake of Christ. But we will not be prepared to die in that way if we are not dying daily in following Him. And so, in humble confession, let us submit ourselves to the Lord in prayer. Let's pray. Dear Father, you are so merciful and patient with us. We confess, Father, that we are often preoccupied with human concerns, that we don't see things rightly. We confess, Father, that our priorities are disordered. We confess, Father, that we too often invest our hope in our plans for the short breadth of life we have here rather than in the certainties which await us in the kingdom which is coming. Father, we pray that the Holy Spirit would change us so that your concerns would be our concerns, so that we would no longer seek the way of glory but the way of the cross. And that, Father, like Paul, we'd be willing to run the race, to fill out the call that you've placed upon us collectively and individually, Father. Give us faith, Father. We need faith. Without faith, we cannot persevere. Without faith in your promise, that promise that you have given to preserve our life. We entrust ourselves to you, Father, in the name of Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.
Hey there, Pastor Tom here. I hope you enjoyed this sermon I offered to Rockland Community Church. Rockland Community Church is located at 212 Rockland Road in North Scituate, Rhode Island, just around the bend from the Scituate Public High School. We invite you to join us in person or virtually this Sunday as we worship God and hear the preaching of his word. It's our joy to welcome you into our community
Intro/Outro Song
Title: River Meditation
Artist: Jason Shaw
Source:http://freemusicarchive.org/music/Jason_Shaw/Audionautix_Acoustic/RIVER_MEDITATION___________2-58
License:(CC BY 3.0 US)