Father, we know of the situation in which the Confession was formed. It is not difficult to see why the leaders of the church of South Africa took such a strong stand for justice and righteousness, but one wonders if it is a sin of which the whole church is guilty? Is the church too indifferent, yea, too silent on many issues? Does it do enough to address such things as greed and corruption, jealousies and excesses, pride and prejudice, hunger and poverty, racism and classism; consumerism and pleasurism? Does the church not have something to say, and something to do, about these ever present sins?

The church is meant to be the salt of the earth, the light on a hill, but many see it only as a tax free institution that does little to earn its tax exemption. All seeing, all knowing God give to the church the will and the courage to stand tall for justice and righteousness; to speak boldly and forthrightly for the powerless and the poor, the voiceless and the silenced, the hopeless and the helpless. Yes, may all for whom the joy of the Christ is unknown, because of the pain and the weariness of seeking to find a place and a purpose in the world in which they live, come to know of our concern for them and our love of them. This we ask in the name of Jesus Amen.

Father, this morning we are asking ourselves, “What does it mean to wait?” We are apt to think of it as being passive, standing around impatiently waiting for something to happen. Something we do in grocery lines, or when we go to Disneyland, or even at best waiting for our children or our wives. But when You instruct your followers to wait You are not telling them to be passive, to stand idly by but rather to be patient and trusting and at the same time eagerly looking forward to that which You are about to do. You are not asking us to stand still with our hands in our pockets, helplessly waiting for You to do something, but rather, as the disciples in Jesus day, to be anxiously looking forward to that which You were about to do.

The great mystery of our waiting is that it really is not us but You who are waiting. You waited 24 years before giving Abraham a promised son. You waited 40 years before leading the children of Israel out of the desert. You waited 2,000 years before fulfilling the promise of a Savior to the people of Israel. In today’s lesson You waited ten days before You poured out your Holy Spirit upon those who would follow You. They had to spend ten days waiting before You could release your Holy Spirit upon them. We marvel that it took only ten days. We might have thought it would be ten weeks or ten months before they would be ready for such an event in their lives.

Father God, we see this morning how You say to us, as You said to the disciples long ago, “Wait”. We are not ready for the next chapter in our lives or the life of our church until we have learned to wait. We must learn to wait until we become the people that You want us to be. We must learn to wait until we are ready to show sorrow and repentance for our sins. We must learn to wait until we are ready to acknowledge and admit that the church is not ours but Yours. We must learn to wait until we are ready to submit to Your will. The list goes on and on. Dear Jesus, we need to hear You say to us this morning, “Wait for the Lord, be strong and take heart.”

Help us Lord Jesus, to learn how to truly wait on You. This is our prayer today. Amen.

Almighty and Eternal God this week marks the beginning of the fifth week of the Post Resurrection experience. Again we pray that you would give us to know the great joy of the women and the disciples who first found the empty tomb. We can only imagine how they lived in eager anticipation for Him to appear even more than the recorded times. Is it possible that there were other times that He showed Himself to them? One can only imagine them waking up each morning wondering if they would see him that day. Where would it be? What would He say to them? We have only to remember the words of the Apostle John who wrote: “Jesus did many other things as well. If every one of them were written down, I suppose that even the whole world, would not have room, for the books that would be written.”

While our minds inquire into the number of appearances, and our hearts wish to know what Christ might have said and did on those occasions, we do know, that each resurrection appearance brought great joy to all who saw him. They rejoiced because Christ was alive. They rejoiced because they knew that their sins were forgiven. They rejoice because they had an ever present Lord. This week we remember that they had the joy of knowing that Satan had been disarmed. The promise you made in the Garden of Eden had been fulfilled, for in Calvary’s cross Jesus had crushed Satan’s head.. Satan no longer had free reign of the Garden. Satan no longer could do what he wanted with the people of God. They now had power over Satan. He would never again hold the human race in bondage. Others may walk in a demon haunted world, but not believers in Christ. No longer did anyone have to be a victim of the merciless hold of Satan. Paul witnessed to the Roman powers that God had opened the eyes of the Gentiles and delivered them from darkness to light and from the power of Satan to God.

But Lord it is hard for us to understand how the devil has been disarmed and disabled when he is so busy, so active in our world. He is on Wall Street, he is on main street. He is in our halls of government and in our places of power. He is in our schools and in our homes. He uses our tools of communication and technology for his gain. But though he continues to make his presence known we have the ability to withstand his attacks. James and Peter both call us to resist the Evil One, and in Christ’s name we can order him out of our lives. Paul tells us to put on the whole armor of God. We need not be defenseless. It is possible for us to withstand the attacks of the devil. God, you have proven through the resurrection of our Lord that you have the upper hand. The devil has been defanged. Hallellujah, what a Savior!

Help us O God to claim the victory which is ours over death, the devil and every demon that seeks to wrest us out of the hands of our Savior. Give us that victory is our prayer. Amen.

Eternal God and Everlasting Father, who called time into existence when you said, “Let there be lights in the firmament of the heavens to divide the day from the night; and let them be for signs and seasons, and for days and years.” It is already the beginning of the fourth week since we celebrated and commemorated the resurrection of your Son our Savior from death and the grave. This fact alone reminds us how quickly the words, ‘He is not here, he is risen” and the words of Matthew: “So they went out quickly with fear and great joy” fade from our memories. And yet this was the event that was for the earliest of believers, the immediate assurance that the rabbi of Galilee was the promised Messiah. It was this event that dried their tears, strengthened their knees and sent them on a pilgrimage that has changed the world. They had a risen, ever living Lord. In time all of his disciples would sing, “We serve a risen Savior, He is in the world today. I know that he is living whatever men man say: I see His had of mercy, I hear His voice of cheer and just the time I need him He is always near. He lives, He lives, Christ Jesus lives today.”

Matthew testifies that Christ, in his last words to his disciples said, “Go into all the world and I am with you always even to the end of the age”. Paul went to prison for preaching that Christ was alive. Oh, to be sure in a few short weeks the resurrected one would ascend to your right hand, but the marvel was that He would also remain with us on earth. As are forefathers wrote: “In his human nature Christ is not now on earth, but in his divinity, majesty, grace and Spirit he is not absent from us for a moment.’ And again we have been taught that in the Holy Supper of our Lord, Christ’s presence is in and around every little piece of bread and every swallow from the cup.

Father God, we plead with you, give us to rejoice even though four weeks have past since we celebrated the resurrection of our Lord. He is alive! He is with us here in this house of worship. He is with us in our work place; He is with us on the freeway. He is with us when we stand at the open grave. He is with us in the operating room. He is with us in the long night hours. Men have testified of Christ’s presence with them in their prison cell. Missionaries have told of Christ being with them in the darkest jungles.

Father, may the assurance of the women at the tomb and the disciples on the shores of the Sea of Galilee be our experience. May the song in our hearts be: “Because He lives I can face tomorrow, because He lives all fear is gone; because I know He holds the future and life is worth the living just because He lives.” This is our prayer in this fourth post resurrection week. Amen and Amen.

Righteous God, forgive us for failing to radiate the joy of forgiveness. You have said in your Word that “If we confess our sins you are faithful and just to forgive us of our sins and cleanse us from all unrighteousness.” You said, “For I will forgive their wickedness and I will remember their sin no more.” Father can it really be that as far as the east is from the west so far have you removed our sins from us? We who find it so hard to forgive ourselves, how is it possible that you can forgive us? But such is the good news of the Gospel. Christ died for us. He died and rose again that we might know that our sins, the sins of our youth, the secret sins known only to you; all our failures, all our mistakes, all our wrong decisions have been covered with the blood of the Savior. We stand even now holy and blameless in your sight. Lord, help us not to confuse our position with our condition. Over each one of us this week you have written: “Forgiven”. Grant O God that all who pray this prayer may know the joy of that forgiveness. Not until we have grasped that truth will we be able to forgive ourselves, which for many is the greatest sin of all.. This is our prayer, in the Holy name of Jesus. Amen

Welcome to the El Dorado Park Community Church web-site.  Our website has been officially launched .  Twice a month Pastor Chet will Post a new blog topic.  Feel free to check in and chat with him in this area. Until then let us know what you think about our site or stop by and say hello.  Blessings, EPCC