While there is a war going on, don’t get sidetracked and miss what is really happening. And what is that? RESURRECTION!

The world in our neighborhood is going from the slumber of winter death to the awakening of spring and summer. From death to life; from brown rottenness to leafy green and purple and white and pink and yellow and…

So when you walk or drive around and see the daffodils springing up and blooming, or the Bradford

Pears and Redbuds blooming, don’t just notice the beauty. Rather, reflect on the deeper meaning: there is

life and resurrection in God’s world, and He is reminding me of this every year. It’s springtime, when

God chose to redeem/resurrect Israel out of Egypt with the Passover, setting up our Easter observance

which fulfills it all in Jesus, once and for all. Not only is the world coming back to life, but it all points to the work of Jesus and our blessings in that.

Think about verses such as Romans 4:25, “…who was delivered up for our trespasses and raised for our

justification.” Jesus was resurrected so you might be made right with God: so live that out by praising him for all the bloomings around you and how you enjoy favor with God the Father through Jesus’ faithfulness and obedience. Rejoice for the life of God and the life in God and tell your spouse and your kids and your friends and your neighbors how great it is to be reminded of this every year: death does not get the final word. The resurrected, life-giving Jesus does.

He is risen! He is risen, indeed!

If you missed Vespers this past Wednesday, you missed some great insights into the Lord’s Prayer from Pastor Joe.

One insight is that the Lord’s Prayer is a kingdom prayer. When the disciples asked Jesus how to pray, he gives them a kingdom perspective prayer. First, their eyes are pointed heavenward, and then even their earthly prayers are directed to kingdom ends: give us food to do our tasks and peace between each other through forgiveness and protection from evil that would suffer the kingdom with setbacks.

Another insight is that the prayer is a “corporate” prayer, not an intensely personal prayer. It’s a prayer the church body prays, collectively. “Our Father…Your kingdom…our daily bread…our debts…lead us…deliver us.”

Further, it’s an actual “prayer.” It’s a model prayer that we can and should use to pray, as well as direction on the things Jesus would have us pray for.

Additionally, it’s not a prayer designed to curry favor with the Father by heaping up all his names and attributes and empty phrases like the Gentiles. They do that to be heard by their gods, but the Father already knows what you need before you ask him. So ask humbly, in awe that the Father is so intimately involved with our lives that he enjoys hearing the prayers of his children.

In conclusion, the Vesper’s service is a place to hallow God’s name and receive daily food!

President Trump is at it again: exercising American power for the nation’s interests. Or so he says; one wonders since it appears the case has not been made very clearly. Didn’t the US destroy their nuclear capability months ago? So how is it possible that Iran is within weeks of blowing things up?

Be that as it may, Christians are often tempted to think, like Chairman Mao, that power comes out of the barrel of a gun. But that’s not true, and both Revelation 8:2–5 and 15:2–4 demonstrate it. What those passages show us, besides how worship is performed in heaven, is that the most significant thing Christians can do to change the world is to worship God and to pray.

The most significant change comes from worship and prayer? Yes! Why? Because just and lasting change in the world ultimately is God’s doing.

Both passages show worship in heaven, and then God acting, first in the trumpets warning ungodly Israel about her coming demise, and then the bowls actually carrying out the destruction of old covenant, unfaithful Jewry. In worship, God’s righteous acts are requested and then revealed. God’s just and true ways as King of the nations are seen so that the nations come to worship him (15:4).

So don’t be slothful this morning. Or next Sunday morning. Sing the Psalms and hymns that declare God’s great and amazing deeds, and that request him to move and act and free the world from oppression, sin, and greed, that his kindness might rule from sea to sea to sea. Sing and pray that the eternal gospel of fearing and glorifying the Lord Jesus Christ takes root, now and forever!