“For who in all of heaven can compare with the Lord? What mightiest angel is anything like the Lord? The highest angelic powers stand in awe of God. He is far more awesome than all who surround his throne. O Lord God of Heaven’s Armies! Where is there anyone as mighty as you, O Lord? You are entirely faithful.” (Psalms‬ ‭89:6-8 NLT)

The first half of Psalm 89 sings of the faithfulness of our God. We recognize faithfulness, yet we, ourselves, are hard pressed to reproduce it. We have moments marked by intense commitment and then entire years marred by by lackluster obedience. But our God is, as the psalmist points out, entirely faithful. If we could do a biopsy on our Heavenly Father, we’d find faithfulness at every cross-section. Faithfulness is woven into the fiber of His being.

He is entirely faithful. That’s Who we are working with and for. That’s Why we worship. James 1:8 tells us that in Him there is no shadow or turning. The AMP expounds a bit:

“Every good thing given and every perfect gift is from above; it comes down from the Father of lights [the Creator and Sustainer of the heavens], in whom there is no variation [no rising or setting] or shadow cast by His turning [for He is perfect and never changes].” (JAMES‬ ‭1:17‬ AMP)

Our church turns forty today and it’s a big deal.  The mission and mindset of this body of believers has been fairly faithful for four long decades. The brick and mortar still stand and people mostly make their way here each Sunday morning. The pastors, Rob and I, and all the fine folks who have gone before us, have been somewhat faithful for most of these past forty years. We’ve tried hard, but we are each only human and we mess up, we get off course. The body of Christ attempts at faithfulness, but we are all still amateurs.

Our God, however, has been ENTIRELY faithful, for always. Six thousand years of written human history testifies to His faithfulness. He didn’t become faithful when He decided to have some kids. He didn’t grow into it because of the pressures of His job. He just is. He is, was and will be always be faithful. It’s because of Him that we have any inkling of what faithfulness might mean.

Today we celebrate forty years of Algona Faith and it might be tempting to look back and acknowledge the steadfastness of the men and women who had the vision and tenacity to plant this church. It might be tempting to recount the past ministries established and to try to tally the total of the lives reached for Christ. It might be tempting to stretch an arm around and pat ourselves on the back.

But before we do any of that, let’s pause at the forefront of today and give glory to the One who has been truly faithful to this body of believers and to this community forever. Our God is entirely faithful. Today we revel in His faithfulness to our church. Today we give credit where credit is due.

Lord, we thank You for Your entirely faithful nature. We can learn so much from You. Thank You for Your faithfulness to Your people and Your faithfulness to Your mission. Today we celebrate all that You have done in and through this church. We bend our knee and humbly ask that You would do it again. Have Your way in our hearts and in Algona and the surrounding areas. Be made famous in this place today, O Faithful One. Amen.

“The teachers of the law and the chief priests looked for a way to arrest him immediately, because they knew he had spoken this parable against them. But they were afraid of the people.” (Luke 20:19 NIV)

Jesus tells the story of the landowner and the tenants and the Pharisees knew precisely who He was talking about. They felt convicted. They faced the same decision we each do when we know that God is nudging at the sin in our hearts.

We have two potential responses when the Word or the Spirit of God ‘tells a story against us.’ We can confess or we can cover up. Let’s explore our options.

Confession wipes the slate clean because Christ meets our confession with His grace. His sacrifice on the cross is an altar that stands throughout time; the blood shed on that blackest Friday flows backward and forward throughout history. 

Our instinct, however, is covering up. We all fight the Adam and Eve heritage, we want to go into hiding when God comes calling. We feel the pinprick of God’s word against our spiritual skin and it hurts because it’s true, so our sin nature pulls back to save itself. Self will also seek to self-protect if we allow it. Sin sends us skittering into dark places so we can hold on to what feels good. Unfortunately though, willfully unconfessed sin always escalates. Greed grows into theft. Disdain in to slander. Lust into adultery. Hatred into murder and lies to cover it up. And so on.

What might it have looked like if the Pharisees had felt conviction and responded with confession? If the scales had fallen from their eyes and they’d knelt at Jesus’ feet and called Him Lord? What might that look in our own lives?

I know one thing for certain, authentic confession to a living Savior changes the trajectory of our lives. One small decision toward Christ magnified through a lifetime equals a dynamic change in our eternal address, to say nothing of individual Kingdom contribution. 

It seems to me that the Pharisees had something in common with old Pharoah in the days of the great Exodus. Hardened hearts ruled their courts. They could not see God’s man in their midst. And each they missed the deep and lasting blessing of bending their knee to the Almighty.

“I gave an account of my ways and you answered me; teach me your decrees.” (Psalm 119:26 NIV)

“I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit in you; I will remove from you your heart of stone and give you a heart of flesh. And I will put my Spirit in you and move you to follow my decrees and be careful to keep my laws. Then you will live in the land I gave your ancestors; you will be my people, and I will be your God.” (Ezekiel 36:26-28 NIV)

Confession good for the soul because God meets our brokenness with His mercy. He makes a way out from under our sin and into Him. He beings with our heart and breathes on us again, remaking us into His people once more.

Lord, thank You for the powerful pull of conviction. You are good to tug on our hearts when we have wandered off course. Help us recognize Your pull and respond rightly. That tug we feel is not as much away from sin as it is toward You. May we remember that when we are held in sin’s grip. May we confess and fall into Your courts of mercy and grace. Thank You for the cross and the deep and wide shadow it casts. May we be quick to crawl into it whenever we require forgiveness. Amen.

“You are the most excellent of men and your lips have been anointed with grace, since God has blessed you forever.” (Psalm 45:2 NIV)

This psalm is a wedding song and this morning I read it and wondered, why do we get married and stop singing? A godly marriage is a forever blessing. A spouse of noble character is the gift that keeps on giving.

Forgive me, as I am a bit self-reflective this morning. My dear Rob and I will have been married twenty years next month. It’s unfathomable, really, that two nervous teenagers could stand in the sight of God and friends and make vows we didn’t grasp and yet this commitment has somehow stuck for two full decades!

I believed that day, with all my heart, that I was marrying the most excellent of men. I still do. I’m not sure why I’m not better about telling him. Why do we let the business of life get in the way of the business of loving? Love lasts forever, all the other stuff quickly fades under the sun. 

Day to day living has a way of keeping us from complimenting our husbands. We humans have what is called a negativity bias. It’s an unfortunate side effect of the fall. We see the bad things louder than the good things and we repeat that story until it’s all that we can hear. We can’t afford to do this with our mate.

When it comes to husbands, I know that I have a good one. He is faithful, loyal, honest. He is hardworking, diligent. He is smart, meticulous and methodical. He loves God with every bit of his being. He is most excellent. He mine. And I plan on reminding him of all of this today. Might your remind your spouse as well? 

Perhaps husbands who are regularly told that they are the best, will believe that they are the best, and therefore behave as best.

Lord, help us make regular, healthy contributions to our spouse’s ego. May we still believe that they are ‘most excellent’. May we continue to pursue our spouse, and You, in all we do. Amen.