Dear Friends,
So, as I’m sure you know, it looks like this is about to happen.
Which means the Men’s Institute scheduled for tomorrow night is cancelled. We’ll pick things up again in February.
And the New Members classes planned for this weekend? That’s postponed. We’ll let you know when we have the dates rescheduled for that.
After the heavy snow, the forecast for Saturday is for sunshine and warmer temps. We’re thinking the roads will be passable by Sunday, so for now, our worship service is on. We’ll let you know if things change.
In the meantime, we’re praying for you and for our city, that people can stay safe, warm and dry. We’re praying for the power to stay on across Arkansas and for the crews that will be out in the cold if the power does go out. We’re praying for those in our community, like Valeria Tate, who will be working to help those who need help staying safe and warm.
Snow storms, like the one we’re expecting is coming our way, always remind me of a song I first heard more than 40 years ago. It’s a song called Somewhere It’s Snowing, and it begins with this lyric:
I once read in a poem
When snow covers the earth
That it hides the world's scars
And gives nature new birth.
And they say when a man turns
From sin to the Lord
That forgiveness like snow
covers him evermore.
And somewhere it's snowing,
See the soft drifting down
As the snowflakes surrender
To the hardening ground.
Like the good grace of Jesus
That now covers our sin
In the kingdom of heaven
it's snowing again.
I’ve seen what the song pictures. An outdoor writer named Gene Hill once described snow as “nature’s makeup.” I’ve seen how a blanket of snow can turn a junkyard or a trash filled vacant lot into a beautiful landscape.
David Stearman, the co-writer of the song Somewhere It's Snowing, grew up in the south. He didn’t grow up seeing snow. It was years later, as he was flying into Pittsburgh after a storm had dumped nearly three feet of snow on the ground that he thought to himself “there could be a garbage dump under there, and nobody would know it.”
The landscape made him think of Isaiah 1:18 where the Bible says says, “…though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they be red like crimson, they shall be as wool.”
Stearman says “Back when I was a baby Christian – I got saved when I was 17 – I didn’t really understand all this. I knew my whole world had changed, and that I loved Jesus. So in an honest attempt to please God and live a pure life, I went around trying to be perfect, never sinning, ever. As if that was ever gonna happen.”
Stearman says he spent years weighed down by guilt and shame. An older couple in his life saw that he was discouraged and depressed. They helped him see what the Bible makes clear – that when we give our lives to Jesus, we instantly become perfectly righteous in God’s sight.
This was a major theme during the Protestant Reformation. Christians, the Bible teaches, are simul justus et peccator – simultaneously sinful and righteous.
The Roman Catholic church called this idea a “legal fiction.” “God can’t declare you righteous when you’re not,” they said. “You can’t be justified before God until all your remaining sin has been purged” (which is what led to the invention of the unbiblical idea believers have to spend time in purgatory following our death, where our remaining sin is ultimately “purged.”
Stearman says that reading 2 Corinthians 5:21 was what led him to finally come face to face with the reality of God’s grace “God made Him, who knew no sin to be sin, for us, that we might be made the righteousness of God in Him.” That verse – that idea – was a game changer for Stearman.
“This is actually basic stuff,” he says, “but as I said, I didn’t know it back then, and learning it changed my life. Galatians 1:6 says we’re accepted in the Beloved, who is Jesus Christ. We’re already accepted, so we don’t have to work to earn God’s favor, or blessings; He already considers us worthy to receive them.”
Landing in Pittsburgh after a snow storm, he began scratching out the lyrics for a new song.
And its told that the angels
Lift their hearts and rejoice,
When one traveler turns homeward
From his way, to the Lord.
If somewhere someone’s turning,
He’s giving his all,
Then God’s grace, like the snow,
Is beginning to fall!
As you look out on a snow-covered Little Rock this week, think about the blanket of God’s grace that covers your sin – past, present and future.
And thank God again for His grace in your life.
As I noted above, our plans for this week have changed because of the weather. No Men’s Institute on Thursday. No New Members Classes on Friday and Saturday.
But unless there’s a fresh round of snow that comes our way next week, the Roots Student Ministries hangout time (https://redeemerlr.org/events/saturday-hangout-at-the-perkins-jan-18) at the Perkins’ home is still a go!
Guys, there’s a great opportunity ahead for fellowship and spiritual encouragement with other men. We have a Men’s Breakfast set for Saturday, January 25. Click here (https://redeemerlr.org/events/men-s-breakfast-jan-25) to sign up so we can know how many eggs to scramble!
_______________________________________________________
Our spring Women’s Bible Study will start the first week in February. The study will take you through the book of Genesis, using Nancy Guthrie’s book The Promised One.
Details and registration are up and ready on our website. Click here (https://redeemerlr.churchcenter.com/registrations/events/2696826) for info.
This week, we continue our journey through the New City Catechism in our Sunday worship service. Here is this week’s question and answer:
Question: What is God?
Answer: God is the creator and sustainer of everyone and everything. He is eternal, infinite, and unchangeable in his power and perfection, goodness and glory, wisdom justice, and truth. Nothing happens except through him and by his will.
Here’s a link to a video where Dr. Michael Allen talks about this week’s question and answer.
(https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xp9okkDHBcE&list=PLupASslH3jS03tN7B3deLIlQPmfMblyTv&index=10&t=50s)
And here’s the link to the song based on this week’s question.
(https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BOxY8-VEGPM)
In Revelation 16, we read about a great conflict that will set the stage for the end of the age – the battle of Armageddon. While many people see this battle as a military conflict that will take place on a battlefield north of Jerusalem in Israel, there are a number of good reasons to understand this conflict in a very different way. We’ll explore different ways of thinking about the battle of Armageddon as we turn again to Revelation 16 this Sunday.
See you in church.
Soli Deo Gloria!
Pastor Bob
Resource Info
