Herman Melville wrote of a great white whale. And in his tragic tale, the whale takes center stage. But Melville’s magnum opus pales in comparison to the tale of the prophet Jonah – swallowed alive by a great fish, then spit out three days later. Melville’s work is fiction, but the events in Jonah are real historical events. Jonah was actually swallowed up and spit out by this fish at a real time in history, yet still, the fish is not the central theme of chapter 2. Rather, the One who is central is Jonah’s God.

In the first chapter of Jonah, we see that Jonah flees from his God, but his God pursues him. God is sovereign over all things, even over His prophet who is fleeing from His commands. Jonah was called to go to the people of Nineveh but ran away–he sought to chart out his own course. But God sent a storm to rage on the sea which Jonah was attempting to use as an escape route. Jonah was tossed into the sea to cause the storm to cease from its raging. But this was not the end of Jonah.

Jonah 1:17 says, “And the LORD appointed a great fish to swallow up Jonah. And Jonah was in the belly of the fish three days and three nights.” This fish was appointed by God to swallow up Jonah in order that Jonah would live. And in the belly of this fish, we see in chapter 2, Jonah calls out to God. In Jonah’s prayer we see the power and the sovereignty of Jonah’s God, and we also see the faithfulness of God to deliver His people. We see especially that God is absolutely sovereign in the salvation of His people: “Salvation belongs to the LORD!” (Jonah 2:9)

This is a truth that comforted Jonah’s soul once again, and the truth that many have noted is the theme that runs through the entire book of Jonah. Jonah’s time in the belly of the fish for three days and three nights also points us to the one who died for sinners and on the third Day was raised from death. It is there, in the death of Christ for sinners and His victorious resurrection that we see most clearly that “Salvation belongs to the LORD!”

We meet on the square in Pottsville, right next to historic Potts’ Inn at 10:30 am for worship.  Get directions here or contact us for more info.  Or join us on Facebook Live @PottsvilleARP or YouTube. 

As a recovering software engineer, the anthropology of software fascinates me far more than the technology.   Ideally, software is designed to automate and simplify human labor.  Or as Tony Reinke wrote, technology pushes back some effects of The Fall.  But more often than not technology, once deployed, outgrows its design.  Growing beyond automating human work, it defines it. Human work and behavior mimic the software designed to mimic its master.  It is an inevitable turn of events, a constant ebb and flow between who runs the show – man or machine. 

This is true not only of our work, but also our relationships.  Our tech now mediates the mechanics of relationships.  We no longer visit neighbors, we follow them.  We don’t talk to friends, we message them.  If this was a simple equivocation, then ‘OK.’  But social media is more than a new medium for communication.  It has become a virtual kabuki where actors market an assumed identity, not one that actually exists.   Is it any wonder that in such a world, even biological certainty falls victim to how I identify.

The phrase ‘going viral’ used to carry only bad connotations. But social media has made ‘going viral’ the goal of influencers, extroverts, and narcissists of all stripes. It means you are getting noticed. And all of us want to get noticed. Our online identity is digitally rendered. So, setting up a social media profile is no simple matter, less about who I am and more about who I want people to believe I am.

While Brad Paisley’s song, Online is a little off-color, his social commentary rings true when he sings ”I’m so much cooler online.”  Do people who view your profile wonder who you really are and what you are really like?  Now take that one step further.  Do those who view your spiritual profile, your profession of faith and your ‘life and conversation,’ wonder who you really are?  Are you WYSIWIG or is your profile as a witness of the Lord Jesus Christ a tidy bit of historical fiction?

At the beginning of the gospel many came to John the Baptist wanting to view John’s profile.  In John 1, the religious establishment in Jerusalem sent inquisitors to unearth John’s real identity.  But John’s concern was not who he was, but what he was – a witness.   What mattered most what not what John’s life said about John, but what it said about Jesus.

John comes out of nowhere.  Like Clint Eastwood in a spaghetti western, he is an apocalyptic figure.  Dressed in the prophetic garb of Elijah, he was fanatically different from the long line of false Messiah’s who filled the 400-year silence since the prophet Malachi.  His preaching was changing lives.  Those who cared nothing for ritual purity sought real purity – not the cleansing of the Pharisee’s ritual baptism but a spiritual baptism that washed away much more than dirt. 

His whole ministry and identity was as a witness to the ‘Lamb who takes away the sin of the world.”  And in that he is an exemplar for us. John is the last of the Old Testament prophets and the first of Jesus’ evangelists.  He is a radical, a revolutionary.  Surely this extremist is not the paradigm for the “profile of a disciple?”  Is this what we are to emulate?  Jesus later commented on this question when he was asked about greatness.  He said of John.

Truly, I say to you, among those born of women there has arisen no one greater than John the Baptist. Yet the one who is least in the kingdom of heaven is greater than he.

Matthew 11:11

John 1:19-34 reveals John’s profile and as it does, reveals to us what it means to be a witness for the Lord Jesus Christ.   John is an exemplar and not an extremist.   What does our profile look like as a witness for the Lord Jesus Christ?   Join us this Lord’s Day as we examine John 1:19-34 and consider our profile as witnesses.

We meet on the square in Pottsville, right next to historic Potts’ Inn at 10:30 am for worship.  Get directions here or contact us for more info.  Or join us on Facebook Live @PottsvilleARP or YouTube. 

The story of Christ’s coming is the most dramatic story ever told. While it reaches a beautiful high point with Jesus’ birth in Bethlehem, there is much more to this story – a story with origins in eternity past and implications in eternity future, a story of epic failure and dramatic rescue, a story that reveals a God quite different from the one our fears imagine. Come and experience the rest of this story in God’s own words and in song as we share in An Evening of Lessons and Carols together at 7:00 pm on Friday, December 24.

We meet on the square in Pottsville, right next to historic Potts’ Inn.  Get directions here or contact us for more info.  Or join us on Facebook Live @PottsvilleARP or YouTube. 

A long time ago, the Christian author, Gary Chapman, penned an important book, entitled “The Five Love Languages.” He noted that every person communicates and perceives love in one or more ‘languages.’ These languages include physical touch and closeness, acts of service, gift giving, encouraging words, and quality time. Think about that for a moment. How do you communicate and perceive love? What love language is your native tongue? Perhaps you are multi-lingual when it comes to these love languages. My mother-in-law was like this. She spoke every one of these languages fluently, but her lingua franca was without a doubt, gift giving.

Her love of gift giving was prodigious. It would be an understatement to say that she sometimes went over the top. Especially when grandchildren were involved. She was always thinking of just the apt gift. Throughout the year, whenever someone expressed a need or desire, she would purchase and wrap their heart’s desire and tuck it away in somewhere in her house. There are probably still hidden gifts wrapped and tucked away at MaMa’s. While Santa has to be told what children want, MaMa always knew. Her radar always detected exactly what would satisfy the longing hearts of her beloved.

But gift giving for her was not merely apt selection and presentation. She created a whole dramatic narrative surrounding the giving of gifts. Her true aim was to create joy. She delighted to delight. She needed to be present when the gifts were opened so that she might rejoice with the joy of the receiver. She needed to hear the squeals, see the surprise, and sense the gratitude. That was, for her, the gift received in the giving of gifts. Her greatest desire was to bring joy to others. Gifts graciously received were her greatest gift.

Christmas after Christmas, I saw, shining through the life of my mother-in-law, the heart of a Heavenly Father, who gives the gift of His Son that we might find true and abiding joy. Like my mother-in-law, our Heavenly Father delights to hear and see and receive our gratitude in response to His grace. In Luke 15, in the midst of three parables about being lost and found, Jesus twice notes that, “I tell you, there will be more joy in heaven over one sinner who repents than over ninety-nine righteous persons who need no repentance.”

Many stories in the Bible illustrate this, but no story pictures this as powerfully as that of the announcement of Jesus’ birth to the shepherds in Luke 2:8-20. Here as the Lord of glory is born into quiet obscurity the only announcement is given to shepherds, the most despised and outcast class of society. These enigmatic shepherds were the most unlikely of converts — men who were notoriously under suspicion, who were rejected from temple worship due to their habitual and ritual uncleanness, and whose word was not acceptable in the courts. If anyone had hope to receive God’s goodwill and favor because of their works it was not these men. Yet these were the men to whom God announced, “for unto you is born this day in the City of David a Savior, who is Christ the Lord.” Unto “you!” No one gave these men anything, but unto them God had given a savior!

Their response is a powerful testimony to the joy that comes when the hopeless find hope. They urgently flee Christ. Finding him, they tell everyone they meet then return to their sheep glorifying and praising God. These unlikely converts exhibit the joy of a changed life. Their priorities, their conversation, and their way of life are radically transformed. Their circumstances did not change, but they were changed in the middle of their circumstances. Men who were outcasts with God and man, were now Sons of the Most High and the first human evangelists. Their joy was uncontained and unrestrained.

Do you have that kind of joy? If not, perhaps it is because you have not experienced the grace of receiving. God has offered you a great gift. He delights for you to receive it and find joy. Join us this Lord’s Day, as we examine the story of the shepherds in Luke 2 and consider how finding Jesus changes our lives.

We meet on the square in Pottsville, right next to historic Potts’ Inn at 10:30 am for worship.  Get directions here or contact us for more info.  Or join us on Facebook Live @PottsvilleARP or YouTube.