Sun. July 8 (Don Rempel Boschman)

Don Rempel Boschman contrasted the reactions of the Amish community to that of the Virginia Tech community when gunmen killed several members in each community. The depth and sincerity of the forgiveness found in the first community contrasted sharply with the struggle to forgive found in the second. Don asked us “Why was this so?” Why do the Amish, so set apart, bring forth forgiveness more quickly, more fully than the no-less-Bible-and God-believing Virginia Tech community? To answer, Don walked us through Daniel 1 which, as an introduction to the miraculous stories to follow later in the book, introduces us to Daniel and his friends cajoling their jailer into allowing them to eat vegetables rather than the tainted food they were commanded to eat. Don noted that obedience to God as written in Daniel begins with small things - eat vegetables - so that when obedience is commanded in the big things - trial by lion or furnace, for instance - one’s obedience to God is both ingrained and trustworthy. You do as God commands because you can do no other. As people struggle with big things - smoking, pornography, faithfulness in marriage - their success or failure is often pre-ordained by how faithful they have been to the small trials set before them. Don asked one worshipper struggling with big issues to give up coffee for a day as a training ground for faithfulness. Success in small things leads to success in big things, if only we allow God his time and our trust to make it so. [AP] Listen to the sermon audio MP3 recording from Sunday July 8th using your browser's preferred media player.