The Pastor's Desk Archived's

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9/7/2020

What is Labor Day?

          The United States Department of Labor website describes Labor Day as “the first Monday in September, which is a creation of the labor movement and is dedicated to the social and economic achievements of American workers. It constitutes a yearly national tribute to the contributions workers have made to the strength, prosperity, and well-being of our country.”
          “The first Labor Day holiday was celebrated on Tuesday, September 5, 1882, in New York City, in accordance with the plans of the Central Labor Union. The Central Labor Union held its second Labor Day holiday just a year later, on September 5, 1883. By 1894, 23 more states had adopted the holiday, and on June 28, 1894, President Grover Cleveland signed a law making the first Monday in September of each year a national holiday.”
          As we prepare our children for a new year of school, it’s important to take a minute to honor all the hard and amazing work that is going on around us. So before you get back to loving the well deserved day off, consider some beautiful Labor Day quotes!
“A man is not paid for having a head and hands, but for using them.”
– Elbert Hubbard

The Bible says:
A man shall be satisfied with good by the fruit of his mouth: and the recompence of a man's hands shall be rendered unto him. (Proverbs 12:14)

The fruit of your mouth is a reflection of your true spirituality.

As your heart speaks so does your mouth thus revealing our positive or negative inner self. Certainly the fruit of our mouth should be saturated with good and positive things. Finally, brethren, whatsoever things are true, whatsoever things are honest, whatsoever things are just, whatsoever things are pure, whatsoever things are lovely, whatsoever things are of good report; if there be any virtue, and if there be any praise, think on these things. (Philippians 4:8)

8/27/2020

Why Worship Jesus?

If Jesus is God, yes, a Christian should worship Jesus Deuteronomy 6:13 says, "Thou shalt fear the Lord thy God, and serve him, and shalt swear by his name." (KJV). Jesus quotes this during His temptation in the wilderness described in Luke 4:1–13 and Matthew 4:1–11. “Thou shalt worship the Lord thy God, and him only shalt thou serve.” Jesus echoed the command of God that God should be worshipped and only God should be worshipped. So the question becomes "Is Jesus God?"

When Jesus asked the disciples who they said He was, Peter answered "You are the Christ, the Son of the living God" (Matthew 16:16). Jesus affirmed the truth of Peter's statement when He replied, "Blessed are you, Simon Bar-Jonah! For flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but my Father who is in heaven."John 5:18 points out that Jesus "was even calling God his own Father, making himself equal with God." Jesus frequently was worshipped, as we see in the visit of the wise men (Matthew 2:11) and after His resurrection; And they worshipped him, and returned to Jerusalem with great joy: (Luke 24:52). He did not reject this worship, but He accepted it as His due. He made it clear that He felt that only God was due worship, and He accepted worship, He was claiming by His actions to be God. So by His own words and actions, Jesus affirmed that He is God. Therefore, we should worship Him.

This raises the question of whether a Christian should worship the Holy Spirit. Similar to the question of whether we should worship Jesus, the question boils down to whether the Holy Spirit is God. In the Great Commission (Matthew 28:19–20), Jesus commands His followers to "Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and the Holy Ghost:" The word "name" is singular, indicating that the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit are one. In Acts 5:3, Ananias is accused by Peter of lying to the Holy Spirit, and later in the same passage, Ananias is told, "You have not lied to man but to God" (Acts 5:4). So this affirms that the Holy Spirit is God. First Corinthians 3:16 says that Christians are "God's temple," and 1 Corinthians 6:19 says that a Christian is "temple of the Holy Ghost which is in you " In the same letter, then, God and the Holy Spirit are equated. From these and other references, we must conclude that the Holy Spirit is God. Therefore, it is appropriate for Christian to worship the Holy Spirit.

So our one God is present in three persons: the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. This is the doctrine of the Trinity. It is appropriate to worship all three, and we should be careful to ensure that our worship of one person of the Trinity does not overshadow our worship of any other person of the Trinity. And to fail to worship any member of the Trinity is sin.
Returning to the original question: yes, a Christian should worship Jesus.