Last Sunday we celebrated Christ’s birth, and we made bold proclamations about who he is and what he came to do. We aren’t the only ones to make such proclamations. Such announcements have been made for 2,000 years concerning this baby born in Bethlehem, and those who have heard of this child have had to decide what to do with him. Is he the Son of God or is this all a bunch of nonsense? The wise men faced the same questions, and their actions teach us the proper way to approach the King of the Jews.

On this Sunday, we’ve had the joy of the ordination and installation of new officers in our church. It is a very special Sunday for these Deacons and Elders. In fact, this calling is very special. After all, these are the leaders of our church. Their names are now on the back of our bulletin covers. Their pictures will be found on the bulletin board in the foyer. These are the up-front people who will make major decisions that affect the health and well-being of our church. These are the people on the forefront of ministry in the church, affecting the lives of so many, from: visitors, short and long-term members, missionaries and mission areas from Newport to Bangladesh.

Clearly, here was "a man on a mission." This saying, indicating a person of relentless drive, perfectly describes the young Pharisee Saul headed for Damascus. We were first introduced to this young man at Stephen’s martyrdom. Luke tells us, "Saul was there, giving approval to his death.” In fact, as a time of great persecution then erupted, “Saul began to destroy the church. Going from house to house, he dragged off men and women and put them in prison."

"Amazing grace! how sweet the sound – That saved a wretch like me! I once was lost, but now am found, Was blind but now I see." These familiar words were penned by John Newton, an unlikely convert, having turned in life from trading in slaves. They could have also been penned centuries earlier by another unlikely convert, the Pharisee Saul. No one would have expected John Newton to become a Christian, much less a pastor. Even more so, no one would’ve expected Saul to become a follower of Christ. He, of course, had been trying to destroy every follower of Christ upon whom he could lay his hands.

Miracles are a funny sort of thing. Some people see so many miracles everyday that they seem to know no boundary between ordinary and miraculous. Others refuse to see miracles, believing in only that which can be rationally measured, quantified and understood. The rest of us find ourselves somewhere between these two poles, wanting to believe that God is at work in the world in ways that cannot be explained and yet fearing that we will be tricked by some huckster offering hope and a way out of despair.

As we continue our study of the book of Acts, we find that the witness of the Church is continuing to move “out of the neighborhood.” Called to be Christ’s witnesses in Jerusalem, Judea, Samaria, and to the ends of the earth, the apostles are now going to be seen taking the Gospel to the Gentiles.

"I have some good news to tell you!" Who doesn’t like to hear such an opening line as this? Such a line brings with it a sense of expectation of good things to come and a sense of earnest anticipation. It gets even better when we can note that God can be found in the Good News. And this is precisely what may be seen in our passage for this morning.

If "a rose by any other name is still a rose," is it also true that a Christian by any other name is still a Christian? I’m not trying to be confusing here. We are always tempted to serve two or more masters, and the name Christian roles off our tongues with such ease that I’m not sure we know what it means or that by claiming it as our own we are excluding all other masters. There is a whole subculture of all things Christian: Christian cookbooks, Christian exercise videos, Christian music, Christian art, Christian coffee mugs, Christian bumper stickers, Christian magazines, Christian books and even Christian T-shirts. All of these things can be purchased at your local Christian bookstore. Unfortunately, none of these things reveals what Christian means.

It was my first pastorate, a small, rural congregation located in central Ohio. I was the first full-time pastor the church had had in years. As a result, they were quite happy and so was I. Now, I wasn’t so proud of my seminary degree that I thought I had it all together as a pastor! That’s why I accepted the invitation of a seasoned, retired Episcopal pastor to come over to his house for a visit. He was very gracious, offering me some books from his personal library that he no longer needed. He showed me how he had learned to preach with notes, cutting paper into half sheets. It’s a practice I’ve kept to this very day.

What does it take to start a real, life changing, society altering revolution? In answer to this question, in our call to worship (Romans 1:16,17) you will find a few verses which God used to bring forth a mighty Reformer and a Reformation of the Church of such magnitude that it is, perhaps, without parallel. It was these verses that changed an Augustinian monk by the name of Martin Luther into a Reformer. These verses shook him up and then he used them to shake up the Church by calling for reform.

In our Lenten series on the Cross-centered life, so far we’ve looked at how the Gospel of Jesus Christ is something worth fighting for; in a sense - something non-negotiable, an essential tenet of our life in Christ. We’ve also looked at how a person comes into a position of right-standing or righteousness in God’s sight. This occurs by grace alone through faith alone in Christ alone. The Christian life is thus the Christ-centered life, and the Christ-centered life is the Cross-centered life, because it is by the Cross of Christ that we are redeemed, purchased and set free at the cost of His own life.

So far, in our Cross-centered Life series, we’ve seen that, when we come to believe and trust in Christ, several things begin to happen and are set in motion. We are justified, declared not-guilty in the sight of our divine Creator and Judge. A relationship of right-standing with God now exists, the God whose love for us is constant, so that we can not only be saved by grace, but live by grace as well.

The passion Paul expressed at the beginning of this letter indicates to us that the Gospel was very much worth fighting for. In continued explanation, Paul expressed to the Galatians that we are saved by God’s grace alone in Jesus Christ alone, and not by any meritorious acts on our part, not by circumcision or the observance of dietary laws, rituals or ceremonies. He implored them to turn a deaf ear to the false teachers in their midst who had told them that faith in Christ was not enough. No, they were saved by grace alone and they were to live by grace alone. Period!

It was a showdown unlike any "OK Corral" either before or since. The only reason we know about it is the fact that Jesus told his disciples about it. There were only the two of them, “The Prince of Darkness Grim” and the Son of God. As Luke tells us in his Gospel, "Jesus, full of the Holy Spirit, returned from the Jordan and was led by the Spirit in the desert, where for 40 days He was tempted by the devil."

In the text before us tonight we’re told that, "Having loved his own who were in the world, [Jesus] now showed them the full extent of his love" (John 13:1). I’ve been thinking about Jesus’ actions on the final night of his life, and although I have tried, I just cannot comprehend his sacrificial love.

Someone might at one time have called him just a big talker - all talk and no action. Full of pride and presumption, he boasted of his own deep commitment. Others might run away and flee, but not him; oh, no, not Peter! But when it came time to prove his commitment, Peter ran away in the Garden of Gethsemane with all the rest. In fact, he even denied knowing Jesus out of fear to a mere servant girl.

I am not a member of the "greatest generation." No, I am a proud member of Generation X, the generation born after 1969 that invented the term slacker. As a member of Generation X, I often find myself wondering why the 60’s won’t die. That whole decade just keeps fading away and then coming back to life in our popular culture. Every few years we’re reminded of how good the 60’s were: there was love, and there was peace. At least that’s what we’re told to remember. It may be more accurate to say that there was a great hope and a desire for peace, but it never really existed. No matter how often they pop up, the promises of that culture always leave us wanting, for we can never create our own peace.

It was always an interesting question being asked of anxious candidates, standing before the presbytery with fear and trembling, as they were being examined for ordination to the ministry of the Word and Sacrament. For several years running, upon examination in my last presbytery, these candidates were asked for the names of their favorite books in the Bible. They were asked for the names and also for the reasons why they chose these particular books to be among their favorites.

There are so many passages in the Bible that speak of the nature and importance of family life and so many of them will be chosen for this special day. But as we look upon these brief but very succinct verses before us this morning, I believe that we will find a great deal for us to think about when it comes to parenting and family life. Let’s look at these instructions more closely as we consider “family matters” together on this Mother’s Day.

I have a confession to make to all of you this morning. Now, before your mind goes off running somewhere, let me tell you exactly what my confession is! In all of the sermons I’ve ever preached … estimated to be some 1400 sermons or more … I’ve never preached a sermon on the subject of pastoral authority. Not even once. It always seemed to me to be as if I would be calling attention to myself, in the fact that I am a pastor.

But things are different now because we have "The King." The King is Lebron James, a 21 year old professional basketball player with a gift for shooting a round ball through a round hoop. Lebron is special. He so special that Nike has painted an advertisement on the side of a building next to the arena in Cleveland that is 60 feet high and long. In the ad, Lebron is floating through the air toward the basketball hoop and the words, “We Are All Witnesses,” written below him in the ad, proclaim The King’s greatness. Imagine 20,000 people gathered together in an arena to witness basketball greatness. Their eyes are focused on The King, the one man who can bring glory to a city that is accustomed to defeat and shame. Believe it or not Hebrews 12:1-3 is full of images taken from the ancient sporting world. The phrase “cloud of witnesses” appears only once in scripture but it is found in other ancient writings and it always refers to spectators who have come to watch a sporting event.

It was a period of waiting, trusting, praying and gathering together. In the book of Acts, we are told that the apostles "all joined together constantly in prayer, along with the women and Mary the mother of Jesus, and with His brothers."

I faced temptation this week and, of course, didn’t we all in one way or another! For me, it was the temptation to preach a sermon on the subject of fatherhood. And you might think this to be rather strange. "Why not, pastor? Why not preach a sermon on the family on Father’s Day?" I didn’t give in to the temptation of preaching on the very significant and worthwhile subject of fatherhood and the family for the reason that the Lord has laid another family on my heart – and that is the family of God.

For some reason, we often expect our lives to be cozy, uneventful three hour tours on calm seas. This is, of course, what we sign up for when we come to follow Jesus, isn’t it? We expect that he will set a smooth course for us, so that with him on our side, we will do the things we really want to do. We like to think that Jesus is all about taking care of what we want. When we sign on with Jesus, we might expect a normal, uneventful ride, but in our sin stained world, normal doesn’t exist. We discover an unsettling truth in the midst of the storms of life: Jesus is the Lord of the universe.

"Here’s the church, here’s the steeple, open the doors, and here’s all the people." As youngsters, many of us learned this little ditty. But the older we get, the more we all come to realize that the church is not the building, the steeple, or the doors; the church is the people themselves. There lies the church, and in this fact there can be found great strength, but in this fact there can also be found at times a source of deep frustration.

This morning, we consider the nature of the holiness of the Church. The Bible and the great creeds of the Church speak of the Church as being "holy." For example, the Nicene Creed, which we’ve affirmed this morning, states our belief in the "one, holy, catholic and apostolic Church."

As I read our lesson from Mark this morning, you may have wondered why I stopped at the beginning of the story. Mark 6:30-34 really serves as a prelude to the feeding of the 5,000. These five verses tell us how Jesus, his disciples and this great multitude of people wound up in a deserted place without any food. Most often these five verses are lumped together with the feeding of the 5,000 and that great miracle gets our attention while these opening verses are pushed to the side.

One day Jesus fed a crowd of over 5,000 and that led the crowd to believe that they had found their own superhero. The day after he had fed them they searched high and low for him. In the scripture before us today, it is clear that the people were so focused on the material bread that Jesus had given to them that they could not see the spiritual reality of what Jesus was offering. They just wanted Jesus to keep giving them bread; they wanted security and prosperity in an unpredictable and often unkind world. Truth be told, we all want security and prosperity. Jesus might give us those things, but that is not why he came. He came to bring life, and if you want to live, you must be filled with Jesus. Nothing else can sustain your life.

"He doesn’t have a prayer!" "He doesn’t have a prayer of a chance!" Ever hear this line? It’s usually said in a situation that appears desperate, with little hope for success or perhaps even survival. That must have been what some thought or even said when the apostle Peter was arrested, immediately following the beheading of the apostle James.

"Nothing lasts forever" – at least that’s what we’re told. Some things do last longer than others, but it seems to be true - nothing lasts forever Our text before us this morning has the very same message … but to a point. While so much before us and about us do not last forever, there is yet that which does.

If we were to gather the men in the sanctuary today and ask them if they’ve ever been lost, they might admit to confusion about where they were one time or that they’ve wondered how to get to where they wanted to go, but they’d probably have great difficulty admitting that they’ve been lost. That’s why we won’t ask for directions. If we stop to ask for directions, we’re really admitting that you’re lost.

We are rejoicing together on this World Communion Sunday, aren’t we? We have members here today of the (Brazilian) Christ Is Life Presbyterian Church, members of the Brazilian Bible study that meets in our church building here in Newport, and members of our own congregation. Together with congregations all over the world, we are the "one, holy, catholic and apostolic Church."

"Jews for Jesus." You may be familiar with this name of a Christian organization and ministry. In March of last year, Jonathan Bernd, a representative of Jews for Jews, presented in our sanctuary a “Christ in the Passover” presentation. It was a fascinating presentation of reviewing the different elements of the Passover and how they point to the Messiah, our Lord Jesus Christ.

An example of an oxymoron would be "sweet and sour." Another one could be “the worst of times and the best of times.” Paul could have described his experience in Pisidian Antioch in just this way – as an oxymoron. On the one hand, it was the worst of times, with ridicule, reviling, persecution and expulsion from the region. But it was also the best of times, with Gentiles coming to faith in Jesus and being "filled with joy and with the Holy Spirit."

In our study of Acts, we’ve been following Paul on his first missionary journey – quite a journey! It appears that in each place he visited, there were positive responses given to the Gospel, with many people coming to faith in Jesus Christ. But there had also been much opposition. In fact, we’ve just read that Paul was stoned and left for dead in Lystra! Thankfully, the missionary journey was ending on a high note in Derbe and Paul and Barnabas could go home.

On Reformation Sunday we reaffirm the great biblical truths that Martin Luther and John Calvin, among others, raised up some 500 years ago: we are saved by grace alone, through faith alone, in Christ alone. We are saved not because we perform well or pass the test, but because God the Father’s love for us is beyond measure.

I knew it was coming … you knew it was coming … we all knew it was coming. It comes, after all, every first or second Sunday of November. I’m talking about Stewardship Sunday and sermons given on the subject of stewardship.

"Grateful." That’s how he always replied to my question. I’m referring to a Church of God pastor in the area where I served my first church. Now, several years later, I can’t honestly remember his name. But I do recall that, on every occasion when I asked him how he was doing, he would reply, "Grateful." "I’m grateful."

You and I, had we been given the chance to help James write his letter to the twelve tribes, probably would have tried to get James started in a different direction. "Consider it pure joy," we might write, "when your Thanksgiving table is overflowing with food fit for kings and queens."

On this past Thanksgiving Day, I trust that you had several reasons for which to give thanks. In this or in any season, there is always cause for giving thanks. But there can be no greater cause or reason for thanksgiving than that of God’s grace. It is an "amazing grace" by which we have been saved, are being saved, and will be saved in Jesus Christ.

Mary, in fact, has a prominent place in the New Testament. She should be revered and respected as the earthly mother of our Lord. There is also much from her life which is highly commendable and is in fact worthy of being called exemplary; in many ways, Mary could be considered as a role model for us in the living out of our own journey of faith.

Understanding this aspect of Mary’s humanity gives us the ability to accept Mary more easily as a role model, as an exemplary person from whom we may learn much in application to our own faith journey. But, secondly, faith does seem to be *quot;the backbone of her character." We saw this last week in Mary’s response to the angel Gabriel. And we see it this morning in Elizabeth’s characterization of Mary: "Blessed is she who has believed that what the Lord has said to her will be accomplished."

Since beginning our Advent series on the subject of Mary two Sundays ago, I’ve personally come to appreciate Mary more deeply. I trust this is true of you as well, as we’ve already looked at Mary’s obedience and faith. This morning, we come to the point of remembering Mary in her worship.

But in our passage for this morning, there is yet another side of Mary for us to consider. It is the side of Mary’s devotion. We are told that, after the shepherds had arrived and shared their experience with Mary and Joseph, "Mary treasured up all these things and pondered them in her heart." It is in this verse that we find a deep sense of devotion to the Lord.

What are we to do with this one born in a manger? How has his coming transformed your life? The text before us this morning testifies to the fact that the world did not recognize Jesus, yet he came anyway so that some might receive him and believe in him and in so doing become children of God.