Archive for the ‘Pastor’s Ponderings’ Category
June 21, 2012
I was pondering whether or not to get into Twitter so I guess the question Is “To tweet or not to tweet?”. Yes I know it is corny but I could not resist. So with help from my “tweet” daughter Tracie I dove off into the “tweetness!”. My Twitter name is “revbranch1.”
It just seems to me that as the old ways of communicating go we must adapt or just not reach as many folks as we can in our role of following Jesus’ command of “And he said to them, “Go into all the world and proclaim the good news to the whole creation.”
I truly do believe that Jesus wants us to reach out to the world with the Gospel however we can. Twitter is just one of those ways.
Have a blessed day walking all day with the Savior of the world, Jesus Christ,
@revbranch1
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June 18, 2012
I was just thinking about the Twelve Commandments or is it maybe thirteen. You do remember Jesus telling us to love God with all our heart, soul, mind and strength and love our neighbor as ourselves? Of course those would be eleven and twelve but where is thirteen? Well let’s look in John 15:12 where Jesus tells us “This is my commandment: that you love one another as I have loved you!” You may be thinking that they all say we should love each other and that loving God and loving our neighbor are actually a part of the original Ten. I would say that Jesus made sure that we knew the original Ten were essential and if we were not following His love commandments we would not be using the glue that holds them all together. Remember from Mark:
Mar 12:29 Jesus answered, “The most important is, ‘Hear, O Israel, the Lord our God is one Lord, Mar 12:30 and you must love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your mind, and with all your strength.’ Mar 12:31 The second is this: ‘You must love your neighbor as yourself.’ No other commandment is greater than these.”
So love would be essential to all that we do and who we are as Christians and is punctuated in John 15:12 with “love one another as I have loved you.” He is telling His disciples that love is what will hold His Church together. Can you see now how important love is to our Christian beliefs? Can you also see how divided the Christian church is? Do you think that love is left out of the equation in the differences we have in our denominations and the teachings that divide us? Yes, I think there is much hatred and bigotry “exclusiveness” in some “Christian” churches today because they pick and choose scripture that suits their own priorities. They then make those scripture primary over the “thirteen commandments.”
Jesus tells us that if love is not in the equation then it is not of Him. Jesus was very wise in His teachings and I sometimes wonder why Christian churches don’t listen to Him. Love your neighbor as yourself! That means you cannot pick and choose by color of skin, ethnicity, language spoken, denomination, immersion or sprinkling or affluency. Just love your neighbor!
Pastor Randy
Tags:1 corinthians, 1 John, Bless, bridesmaids, church, commandments, Common, God, growth, integrity, Jesus, lamp, Lectionary, light, Mark, Matthew, methodist, spirit, spiritual, ten, thirteen, united
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June 15, 2012
Our Bible Study time each week for the past 7 weeks has been centered around the book “Heaven” by Randy Alcorn. Dr. Alcorn does a wonderful job of reaching into the Bible and gleaning scriptures that refer to Heaven. This week we took up another book called “90 Minutes in Heaven” by Don Piper. I recommend either of these books as a very rewarding and inspirational read. In each of these books I am reminded that there is a very great reward that none of us living today deserve so let’s give thanks for our belief in Jesus Christ. It is just that belief that gets us that reward and there is nothing else required of us.
When I think about this gift God has given us it turns my heart towards the loving relationship that He desires us to have with Him. He loves us no matter what we do and that love poured out upon everyone on this earth helps me to think about returning that love to Him. Not because it is required but because when I think about Him my heart is warmed and His love is reflected in me and from me. When am I reflecting that love? When I am visiting those who are homebound! When I am smiling at those whom I meet each day! When I am helping someone in need! When I am doing the things that reflect God’s love for His world. I have to look at all of these things not as things I do but as God’s love for us being poured out from me as a willing vessel.
You see I truly believe that if you love someone you do things for them because you love them. God loves us and has done and is doing for us just because He loves us. Our response to that love should be that we show our love for Him by being His willing vessels that pour His love out on the world.
Smile at someone today! Better yet smile at everyone today! Smile because you know God loves you and because you know you love God! It is a marriage made in Heaven!
Pastor Randy
Tags:1 corinthians, 1 John, 1 Samuel, 2 Corinthians, Acts, America, bridesmaids, church, Common, ethics, Genesis, God, integrity, Jesus, Jesus Matthew Peter Spiritual growth, john, Lectionary, Mark, methodist, psalms, readings, Revised, Scripture readings per Revised Common Lectionary, Spiritual growth, study, Thessalonians, united
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May 28, 2012
This is Memorial Day and it is a day of remembering and honoring those who have given so much for their country. While this can be a time of sorrow as we remember those who have sacrificed everything up to and including their lives, we must also remember why so many have sacrificed so much. Our freedom and our way of life depends on their sacrifice. So lets also remember those who are currently serving our country in all of the military armed services. Let’s remember them in our prayers. Pray for their safety, for peace and for sanity in this crazy world we live in.
As we are praying let’s remember that there is nothing in the teachings of Jesus Christ that supports war. His way is a way of peace that reaches out in love to all. Let’s remember that as believers in God and Jesus as the Christ we should be praying for our country to find peaceful solutions to all disagreements in this world. Too many times throughout history men have taken destructive paths in the name of Jesus and we must always remember that it is not a teaching of Jesus to cause harm to anyone.
So we must pray for our country and it’s leadership. Pray that they will seek peaceful solutions to every crisis we are facing as a country. When our leadership chooses or is forced into military action, then we must pray the action we take will be quick and decisive with little or no loss of life on either side. We must pray that all who are involved will come home safely and if they make the ultimate sacrifice then we must pray for their families to be filled with the grace of God and be able to reach out to the world with the love of Jesus Christ. Pray for all of those who serve in times of war because so many suffer from the stress of war and all of its horrors. Pray that they may be able to return home and live a life of peace with pride in their service to their country.
Well I guess the question is “Are you praying for those in the military, past and present, for your country, for those who have suffered loss of any kind?” I believe that our prayers for those who are or have been in service to our country and their families are the best way for us to remember and honor them.
Have a blessed Memorial Day by spending at least a part of it in prayer, Randy
Tags:1 John, Acts, christian, church, Common, God, grace, Jesus, john, Lectionary, love, methodist, peace, Psalm, readings, Revised, safety, Scripture readings per Revised Common Lectionary, Spiritual growth, united, war
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May 9, 2012
This is the cross on Wesley UMC. I like to think it is reaching up to the heavens carrying prayers to our savior.
In our study on Heaven we had discussion on what will Heaven be like. Will it be clouds and harps? Will it be peaceful? Will it be boring? Will there be something for us to do? Will we be in physical bodies? Will we be spiritual beings? Lots of other questions were asked and some were answered based on the book “Heaven” by Randy Alcorn. Here is an excerpt from that book that gives us some answers:
In Genesis 3, the earth’s first radical transition (mankind’s fall and first judgment) can be seen as one bookend of human history. In Revelation 20, we see the second bookend in the earth’s last radical transition (Christ’s return and last judgment), creating a picture of great symmetry. In Genesis, God plants the Garden on Earth; in Revelation, he brings down the New Jerusalem, with a garden at its center, to the New Earth. In Eden, there’s no sin, death, or Curse; on the New Earth, there’s no more sin, death, or Curse. In Genesis, the Redeemer is promised; in Revelation, the Redeemer returns. Genesis tells the story of Paradise lost; Revelation tells the story of Paradise regained. In Genesis, humanity’s stewardship is squandered; in Revelation, humanity’s stewardship is triumphant, empowered by the human and divine King Jesus. These parallels are too remarkable to be anything but deliberate. These mirror images demonstrate the perfect symmetry of God’s plan. We live in the in-between time, hearing echoes of Eden and the approaching footfalls of the New Earth. Paul Marshall concludes, “This world is our home: we are made to live here. It has been devastated by sin, but God plans to put it right. Hence, we look forward with joy to newly restored bodies and to living in a newly restored heaven and earth. We can love this world because it is God’s, and it will be healed, becoming at last what God intended from the beginning.”72 The earth matters, our bodies matter, animals and trees matter, matter matters, because God created them and intends them to manifest his glory. And as we’ll see in the following chapters, the God who created them has not given up on them any more than he has given up on us.
A new earth that has perfect everything. Perfect grass, water, air, dirt, animals, humans, sky, wind, temperature, hair, skin, society and okay I snuck that perfect hair in there to see if you were paying attention but why not perfect hair. Well we may not know based on scripture exactly what everything will be like but we can say that it is going to be three gasp good. That’s oh, oooh, oooooh, my goodness (I know it is completely understated) and I am looking forward to the moment when I am able to meet my savior in our eternal home. Have a great evening, morning and week. Remember that it is all about the savior we know and the life we lead.
Randy
Tags:church, Heaven, Jesus, Lectionary, methodist, Spiritual growth, united
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May 2, 2012
The sun might be setting in this picture but heaven is alight with God’s presence.
Our Bible Study for the past couple of weeks is over Randy Alcorn’s book “Heaven”. There are five sessions left so if the topic is of interest to you come on by on Wednesday nights. We have a covered dish fellowship meal at 5:30, prayer at 6:15 and we start watching the video about 6:30. You are welcome at all or part of the evening. So many of us have heard so much about Heaven, about what it is like and what we will be doing. So many different ideas and many of them have nothing to do with scripture. The Rev. Dr. Randy Alcorn bases all of his ideas and statements on scripture throughout the Bible. Here is an excerpt from his book.
“A fundamental article of the Christian faith is that the resurrected Christ now dwells in Heaven. We are told that his resurrected body on Earth was physical, and that this same, physical Jesus ascended to Heaven, from which he will one day return to Earth (Acts 1:11). It seems indisputable, then, to say that there is at least one physical body in the present Heaven.
If Christ’s body in the present Heaven has physical properties, it stands to reason that others in Heaven might have physical forms as well, even if only temporary ones. It also makes sense that other aspects of the present Heaven would have physical properties-so that, for example, when Christ is seen standing at the right hand of God(Acts 7:56), he is actually standing on something. Otherwise we would have to conclude that the resurrected (and thus, embodied) Christ has been floating for two thousand years in a realm without material substance. (He could, of course, but does he?) If we know there is physical substance in Heaven (namely, Christ’s body), can we not also assume that other references to physical objects in Heaven, including physical forms and clothing, are literal rather than figurative?”
We hope to find many scriptural answers to the many questions we have. At least we will hear scripture quoted to support Randy Alcorn’s opinions and we can make educated, spirit-led decisions about our future life eternal.
With a first name like Randy, I just have to listen to him.
Have a blessed week,
Pastor Randy Branch
Tags:1 John, Acts, eternal, God, Heaven, Jesus, john, life, Luke, Mark, Matthew, Revelation, Scripture
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April 6, 2012
Last night at Wesley United Methodist Church we held a Holy/Maundy Thursday Service. We read from John 13:1-17, 31-35 and from 1 Corinthians 11:23-26. Read the Passion of Christ from John 18:1-19:42 and received Holy Communion.
We received Holy Communion last because we wanted the Passion of Christ to be fresh on our minds and in our hearts when we received the gift He has given us.
We are fast closing out the season of Lent. A time when we should be focusing more on Christ and less on ourselves. Remembering Jesus’ teachings about being servants to all. In Jesus’ day the lowliest of lowly jobs was to have to wash someone’s feet. The footwear of choice was a sandal of some sort and feet were usually pretty dirty. Walking around in the streets of Jerusalem was a dusty endeavor with all kinds of animal droppings and such to be dodged so it is pretty easy to understand why Jesus used such a lowly example of servant hood to example to His disciples what it meant to be a servant to others. He showed them in His washing of their feet that the love He had for them was able to go to extremes for them. Even the extreme of willingly, voluntarily giving His very own life for them. In giving His life He exampled the very depths of suffering that He would go to because He loved them (us) all so much. Such depths as being beaten, spit upon, whipped in the most cruel and punishing way to cause the most damage without causing death. Then He was paraded through the streets carrying His own Cross to be nailed to it and left to die.
Who among those you know would be willing to do that for the one’s you love! Many over the centuries have given their lives for what they believe in. They have become Martyr’s for the cause and love of Jesus Christ. That is the extreme example so what do you do in your every day life to example Jesus’ love for everyone you meet every day. That is really why He gave himself up for us. To help us think about thinking about others. How do you serve every day? What are your thought’s about people and who they are? Why do you ignore those in need? Questions we all need to dig deep down into to search our own hearts and maybe we can allow the Holy Spirit to work within us.
Have a blessed day by being the servant to the world and the one’s you love that Christ calls you to be,
Pastor Randy
Tags:1 corinthians, church, Gospel, grace, growth, hope, Jesus, john, Lectionary, light, love, methodist, Scripture readings per Revised Common Lectionary, Spiritual growth, united, world
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March 20, 2012
A scene from my life in Church at St. John’s UMC in West Orange, Texas came to mind the other day and it got me to thinking. Many years ago we were having an evening worship service and during several of the songs a lady who had been visiting our church began to jump up during the song, dancing around and holding up her fingers at the mention of different names. Certain names would be represented by certain numbers. When I asked our Pastor at the time what was going on with the lady he told me that she believed in Numerology. Check out Wikipedia for a definition of Numerology.
I am not a Numerologist nor do I believe in Numerology. But I do place a lot of faith in Numbers. Numbers such as 3:16 found in the Gospel of John or 22:37-39 found in the Gospel of Matthew. There is 13:1-13 found in Paul’s 1st letter to the Corinthians or 3:1-17 found in his letter to the Colossians. There is 4:11-13 in 1 John and so many more that remind us of God’s love for each and every one of us.
So I guess you could say I believe in numbers. Those numbers that lead us into a divine relationship with our God and His Son. An individual and personal relationship that we each can find in the scriptures found in the Holy Bible and experience if we give our heart to Him.
Don’t let belief in some other way deceive you or distract you away from God’s way of love and peace in this world. There is but one way to eternal life and that is through belief in Jesus Christ as the Son of God. His Holy Spirit is here touching you right now. All you have to do is acknowledge Him and give your life to Him.
Have a blessed day,
Randy
Tags:church, God, Jesus, Jesus Matthew Peter Spiritual growth, john, kindness, love, methodist, Scripture, Scripture readings per Revised Common Lectionary, Spiritual growth, united
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March 6, 2012
I hope everyone had a great weekend. Spent some time in church, in meditation and in prayer. It was a beautiful weekend here in Orange, Texas. Plants are really budding out and spring looks like it is here.
Along with spring comes my time for going to the Texas Conference of the United Methodist Church Course of Study School. It is a continuing education opportunity for me and we delve into Theology, Administration, Spiritual Growth and many other topics which concern the role of being Pastor.
The course I am enrolled in this semester is “Our Theological Heritage: Reformation” where we delve mostly into Martin Luther’s influence but also delve into others such as Zwingli, Calvin, Bucher, Wycliffe and the disagreement between the Protestant movement and the Catholic Church.
In our discussion Martin Luther’s transformation from a work’s driven Monk to a Grace filled reformer gave me pause to think. I thought about how many of us in Church today have the mentality that the things we do in Church are what earns us God’s Grace. Martin Luther was struggling with being able to live a Holy enough life to earn God’s grace but never felt like he did. He was a monk who followed the rules and did the things expected of good monks but always felt like he was falling short of the mark. He tells us that what exposed him to the overwhelming grace of God was his meditation of Romans 1:17.
Good News Bible – Rom 1:17
For the gospel reveals how God puts people right with himself: it is through faith from beginning to end. As the scripture says, “The person who is put right with God through faith shall live.”
Martin Luther realized that his righteousness was not about what he could make himself do it was about believing in God and what He can do through you. Martin Luther came to the realization that having faith in God comes first and having faith in God is all that we need to have. The work that our faith will drive us to do will be what God calls us to do when He is ready for us to do it. Our faith will help us to live the life God calls us too. All we have to do is be ready and willing to hear His call and that is acting out our faith. Faith first, second, third, etc., etc. to the last. Acting upon our faith leads us into the work God will call us to do. Our faith helps us to realize that the Grace God has for us is there whether we acknowledge it or not and there no matter what we do. God loves us. That is what Martin Luther realized and is why his actions changed the world for ever.
God loves you and me. That is the Good News!
Tags:church, Common, faith, grace, Luther, Martin, methodist, Romans, Scripture, Scripture readings per Revised Common Lectionary, Spiritual growth, united
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February 23, 2012
We celebrated Ash Wednesday on the 22nd. If you were not in your church home then you missed an opportunity to start Lent in your house of worship. There is no better place than God’s house to make a commitment to change your life and to follow Him more closely.
Lent is not about being somber and in a mourning state because you are a sinner. It is about knowing you are a forgiven sinner and with a joyful heart make decisions that excite God and build His Kingdom. You see God doesn’t want us to roll around in sackcloth and ashes and cry and weep because we are living life in sin. He wants us to open up our hearts and our minds to the new testament teaching of Jesus Christ and go out into the world joyful and alive with the excitement that the knowledge of our Salvation lies in the saving Grace of God through the gift of Jesus Christ.
Lent is a time for us to focus with laser beam accuracy on the parts of our lives that we know are holding us back from being all that God calls us to be. Here are some give ups that can really help us realize the new life that Christ has put into us:
GIVE UP grumbling! Instead, “In everything give thanks.” Constructive criticism is OK, but “moaning, groaning, and complaining” are not Christian disciplines.
GIVE UP 10 to 15 minutes in bed! Instead, use that time in prayer, Bible study and personal devotion.
GIVE UP looking at other people’s worst points. Instead concentrate on their best points. We all have faults. It is a lot easier to have people overlook our shortcomings when we overlook theirs first.
GIVE UP speaking unkindly. Instead, let your speech be generous and understanding. It costs so little to say something kind and uplifting. Why not check that sharp tongue at the door?
GIVE UP your hatred of anyone or anything! Instead, learn the discipline of love. “Love covers a multitude of sins.”
GIVE UP your worries and anxieties! Instead, trust God with them. Anxiety is spending emotional energy on something we can do nothing about: like tomorrow! Live today and let God’s grace be sufficient.
GIVE UP TV one evening a week! Instead, visit some lonely or sick person. There are those who are isolated by illness or age. Why isolate yourself in front of the “tube?” Give someone a precious gift: your time!
GIVE UP buying anything but essentials for yourself! Instead, give the money to God. The money you would spend on the luxuries could help someone meet basic needs. We are called to be stewards of God’s riches, not consumers.
GIVE UP judging by appearances and by the standard of the world! Instead, learn to give up yourself to God. There is only one who has the right to judge, Jesus Christ.
Things like Chocolate and Sodas are not mentioned one time. Perhaps we have made the tradition of Lent a little to0 easy if all we can think to give up is something that feeds our sweet tooth but doesn’t really help our SWEET SPIRIT in Jesus Christ grow.
Have a blessed Lent. We can do all things through Christ who strengthens us.
Pastor Randy
Tags:America, Ash Wednesday, church, Jesus Matthew Peter Spiritual growth, kindness, lent, Matthew, methodist, repentance, Scripture, Scripture readings per Revised Common Lectionary, Spiritual growth, united
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Wesley United Methodist Church, Orange TX 