Another Steve Sermon

Here is Steve's sermon from the Easter series at our church. Hope you enjoy!




Behold Your King (Matthew 27:26-31) from Steve Reynolds on Vimeo.

S is for Steve & Laura's Super Summer

Summer officially started for Laura and me yesterday with my last test out of the way. Hurray! Laura decided to begin the summer with a trip to Salt Lake City for a friend's wedding while I began the summer with a trip to the library and the purchase of a textbook for my summer course in three weeks (yeah, I really know how to live the life). So, in the spirit of summer, I wanted to let everyone know our summer goals & wishes! Laura may be forced to add some things to this list later (since I am doing it without her knowledge or permission):

STEVE & LAURA'S TOP TEN SUMMER GOALS/PLANS/WISHES/ASPIRATIONS:

1) Get more exercise than during the semester (because San Francisco is the most beautiful summer city around), including several expeditions in the area such as (but hopefully not limited to) hikes at Muir Woods and Muir Beach

2) Read books that don't have anything to do with class. This must break down into sub-wishes because I (Steve) already have my summer reading plans:

           2a) Read Daniel (my ambition neighbor who is super cool and writes like a champ) & Mike Blackaby's, When Worlds Collide
          
           2b) Read as many Charles Spurgeon sermons as possible

           2c) Read Francis Schaeffer's apologetics trilogy (this guy is awesome, btw)

3) Memorize at least one book of the Bible

4) Go to Salt Lake (Laura), L.A. (Laura), Mississippi, and Seattle. While there, see as many friends and family as possible.

5) Do some preaching (Steve...cuz Laura's a girl....just kidding...but seriously...)

6) Plan/lead the coolest VBS @ SFMBC ever (Laura)

7) Make a good grade in a Christian Ethics summer course

8) Plan something cool for our anniversary (we are open to suggestions for cool things within California)

9) Look more like this guy...

10) Hang out with neighbors and friends at GGBTS


There you go! We will keep you folks updated throughout the summer (since we have more time to blog)! Most of our blogs this summer will be about these things (hopefully). A couple of these are already in the works, so I am excited. I will continue a preaching series on Ruth next week @ SFMBC & Laura is in Salt Lake already. Let the summer roll!

Thank you all for prayer and support!

Love,
Steve and Laura

 

Happy Easter

It has been such a wonderful Easter weekend. Yesterday our college group put on a music outreach event. We had about 50 people come. It was so much fun and a time of very sincere worship. Pictures will hopefully be coming soon!

This morning we woke up to a beautiful rainbow. It was a sweet reminder of how the Lord keeps all of his promises.

After Church we went out to a great lunch at the Olive Garden with our Mississippi friend Carlena. It was nice to be around a Mississippi girl with family so far away.

 This is a picture of us in our Easter outfits. Yes Easter is quite a bit more casual here. We were some of the most dressed up people in church. Before you judge California too much... we always remember, of course, it is the heart behind the worship that matters not the outward appearance.

Finally, we wrapped up the day with some of our neighbors at an Easter Dinner. A big shout out to the Blackabys! Thanks for hosting and always being cool!!

For the Least of These

"In the same way we also, when we were children, were enslaved to the elementary principles of the world. But when the fullness of time had come, god sent forth his Son, born of woman, born under law, to redeem those who were under the law, so that we might receive adoption as sons. And because you are sons, God has sent the Spirit of his Son into our hearts, crying, "Abba! Father!" So you are no longer a slave, but a son, and if a son, then an heir through God." Galatians 4:3-7

I remember one intense moment from my childhood. Like most children, I had some odd behaviors when I came to the area of sleeping. My mom tells me that I would lay backwards with my feet to the wall and just kick the wall until I fell asleep; weird, I know, but this story involves another odd behavior. Sometimes, I would lay on the floor so that I could talk to my older brother across the hall with my parents thinking I was asleep. While most of you may find this cute, and I certainly agree, this one particular night ended badly. I was laying on the floor, and I fell asleep this way. Well, I also had another odd behavior of rolling around in my sleep. Moments (or maybe hours) later, I found myself stuck under my bed. Now many of you may be laughing now (as I am also), but you must remember that I was just a young boy of maybe 5 years and 50 lbs. As I woke up and tried to pry myself out, I immediately realized that there was no way out; I was going to die under my bed! So I started screaming for my mom and dad. I screamed for what seemed to be hours. Just as I thought I was going to give up my screaming to save my oxygen in case I died, my dad came to my rescue and pulled the bed up. My parents then comforted me and put me back to sleep.

Now, many of you may still be laughing, but this was a horrific night in my life; I have written poems and stuff of this horror! I can still remember screaming for my parents in thought that I would never escape. Some of you may have similar experiences. If you do, I bet you can remember the fear and pain. Then, as we scream, "Dad! Mom!" someone finally arrives and rescues you in what seems to be easy fashion. I think of my Christian life in this way. At just the moment when I was going to give up, at just the moment when I thought no one was there, at just the moment when we felt there was no escape, we were rescued by our Father. What makes this more beautiful is that this Father, this God, didn't even have to save us. But he did. And now, I can cry "Abba! Father!" in my pain, and he hears me. He has adopted me as His own son.

I have been blessed to marry such a wonderful, loving woman. I could tell stories of her grace and forgiveness that would make you all want to go watch Sleepless in Seattle or some other flick that you only watch when you believe in love. She loves me daily, even when I am not loveable. But the best part of this woman is not even her love for me. I know, you all know I am going to say some cliche Christian thing like "She loves God more than me" (which is absolutely true, by the way), but I really want you to understand that Laura's love for the Lord has evoked a deep, intense passion for the lost and abandoned of this world. I am blessed to have such a woman in my life to remind me that my call as a Christian does not end in some happy, comfortable Christian box (be it my church, seminary, or endless podcasts of great preachers), but goes beyond the limits of the safe and comfortable. Christ died for the hopeless. Laura has been blessed to see how God's adoption of us leads us to care for others. Adoption is biblical.

I know some of you are asking, "What is he getting at? Adoption?" Yes. I am. Many have asked Laura and me why we believe in this so much. I will tell you simply; it's biblical. You cannot read the words of Christ without encountering the command to care for those who are in need. You cannot read the words of Paul without encountering the biblical nature of adoption. And you cannot look at this world without seeing that children need both Heavenly and Earthly parents more than ever. Tonight, as I have been reading the Bible, and a girl's blog who has given up everything below the age of 20, moved to Uganda, and adopted many children (click to read her blog), I have been brought to tears at the love of God and the need of the world. Laura and I have been praying for adoption since the day we got married (literally, that has been our nightly prayer). We urge each of you to pray the same.

In Christ,
Steve


P.S. check out a few resources on adoption:

Tony Merida (Laura's old pastor) wrote a book recently, Orphanology (click to see the website)
Russell Moore, Dean of Theology at Southern Seminary, also wrote a book, Adopted for Life (click for his blog)
Christian Alliance for Orphans, website

Serving and Stress

Well, it's almost been a month since we last posted (I beat it by one day). Sorry for the lack of communication with many of you, since we know all our fans are dying to hear about our life. And, as you know, we do it all for our fans. So here you go with a quick snapshot of the last month:

St Patty's weekend was great! Mom and Dad Reynolds came and let us show them around the Bay Area for a few days. The highlight of the weekend (besides hanging out with my cool parents, of course) was getting to eat the best food around. If you know the Reynolds family, you know we plan the restaurants before any other thing in planning a vacation. We also got to tour some cool areas that Laura and I had yet to visit (such as Alcatraz and the Golden Gate Park). After fighting for 15 minutes over which house is the actual house from Full House, we moved on to Pier 39 and all that jazz. It was quite a wonderful weekend!

After our little "get away" for the weekend, Laura and I engaged in intensive Mid-Term week (which actually lasts about 2 weeks thanks to take-home tests, online tests, and in-class tests). Since then, we have been working on a massive paper on the Old Testament which has really consumed most of our last two to three weeks. All the while, we are reading and planning for our larger papers in the last month of school. Needless to say, we are ready for the latest Spring Break of our lives in another week; on a side note, I'm drafting a letter to my local Senator about planning Easter so late this year. It's absurd.

Our lives are constantly moving here, as you can tell. Aside from school, Laura and I are still leading a college ministry at our church which is going great. We are planning an event for next weekend and passing out flyers at the moment. God has also opened the door for me to preach on occasion at the church (which I am doing this weekend). He has really taught us the joy of service in the midst of a stressful life. I'm not always the easiest to deal with when I am stressed, but God has constantly taught us that He will take care of us if we follow His will. That doesn't mean it's always easy, but God definitely is being glorified in our life. I'm also glad that I have the most patient wife in the world at times when I'm a dummy (to say it nicely). God's sovereignty blows us away.

The Real St. Patrick

In honor of St. Patrick's Day, I decided to post a  "short" biography which I did for a class last semester. Through studying the man, I have found that I deeply respect his impact on global Christianity. I hope his story challenges and encourages you!   

Before we dive into his life, I should note that very few primary sources exist which speak of Patrick. For some reason, Patrick was not a man of many letters. But, in God’s sovereignty, there are two writings of Patrick which still remain to this day. In preparation, I have mainly pulled biographical information from his writing entitled St. Patrick’s Confessions in which Patrick offers a sort of autobiography. They take a form much like the writings of St. Augustine and offer major details into Patrick’s life. With all this said, we will study what we know of the life of St. Patrick.

The Story

            Patrick was born around the end of the Fourth Century in an unknown town of Britain to a middle-classed family. Britain was part of the Roman Empire; now, this bit of information is extremely important to our understanding of Patrick. During this time, the Roman Empire, which had held most of the world’s power for several centuries, was on the decline due to repeated invasions by barbarian countries; Ireland was one of these barbarian countries. Patrick, being of a strong Roman family, likely grew up hearing stories of these invasions which only furthered his disgust for these foreign lands.

Patrick’s father, Calpornius, was a deacon, and his grandfather, Potitus, was a priest. This leads us to know that his family had at least claimed to be Christian. Patrick, on the other hand, claims that he “did not recognize the True God” as a young boy in his early teenage years.[1] We can expect that Patrick was wrapped up in the material things of this world as a young child in a middle-classed family and took advantage of a family which claimed Christianity. In our modern American society, we can learn much from this statement from Patrick; how many of us are merely assuming our children to know about God because we claim Christianity?

Now, somewhat immediately in Patrick’s account, we jump to the first major event in Patrick’s life. Somewhere around the age of 16, Patrick was captured by a band of Irish raiders and brought back to Ireland as a slave; this was a fairly normal occurrence at the time, and Patrick probably knew exactly what was happening. Patrick knew that he was unlikely to see his family again as he would spend the rest of his life in Ireland. Then, in his account, he notes that this event was an act of God’s supreme sovereignty. He states that he, along with the others taken captive “fully deserved to suffer like this” due to sin in their lives![2] Now, how many of us would make this type of statement when taken captive? Instead of placing blame on the Irish raiders, he placed the blame on himself!

Patrick offers little information into his life in Ireland. He tells us that he spent most of his time as a shepherd in the fields of Ireland. During this time, Patrick spent numerous hours in prayer. After all, what else is there to do in the fields? He tells us that, through these prayers and reading of Scripture, “more and more the love of God and fear of him grew strong” within him.[3] Patrick had come to know the Lord! Do you see how beautiful this is? Patrick had been sent to Ireland as a slave but had been obtained freedom through Christ in that same wretched country! No wonder Patrick sees his slavery as God’s provision in his life! Once again, there is a small lesson to be learned here; we should not be quick to judge God’s provision. Many times, God uses the hard, tough circumstances to mold us into humble servants.

After nearly six years in captivity, Patrick received a series of dreams from God which tells him that he will soon travel back home to Britain. A few days later, Patrick is told to travel nearly 200 miles on foot, jump on a boat, and sail home. Patrick follows this escape plan and finds himself on a ship to Britain. At this point, his story is vastly similar to the story of the Israelites escaping Egyptian captivity. When the ship arrives at land, they spent several days lost in wilderness; as this happens, the crew begins to grumble and complain for lack of food. Much like the Exodus story, God provides the food. Also at this time, Patrick falls into some sort of temptation by Satan, and, at some point, he is taken into captivity again. We don’t know how long this lasted because the story immediately jumps to him arriving at home in Britain. Once again, God’s sovereignty is shown throughout this story!

Arriving at home, Patrick tells of his warm reception followed by a strange dream. In the dream, he is met by a man named Victoricius who gave Patrick a letter.[4] The short letter began with the words, “The Voice of the Irish”, and continued to say, “Holy broth of a boy, we beg you, come back and walk once more among us”.[5] This dream led him to believe that God was calling him back to Ireland. Isn’t this absurd? Why on earth would God call him back to his place of captivity? Even more, why would Patrick listen to this? Well, Church, the answer is simple: Patrick believed that God had love for all peoples of all nations. Patrick doesn’t seem to question this calling and begins preparation into the ministry. For the rest of his life, Patrick can’t help but to hear and remember “the pleading of their voices”.[6]

Once again, the story leaves a huge gap. We know that he spent several years in preparation and debate as to his role as a bishop. Patrick offers insight that there were several people who didn’t agree that he was qualified to go to Ireland. In fact, this is a huge reason for him writing this Confession. Nonetheless, Patrick went to Ireland and served among the people until his death around the end of the Fifth Century. While serving in Ireland, we know that he baptized many people and led them into a life of biblical holiness; he had a passion for the monastic lifestyle, which he talked several into seeking; years later, although Patrick was not the first Christian missionary to Ireland, his name would be synonymous with Irish Christianity. This great man, who had once been forced into slavery among these people, gave the rest of his life in willing service for their souls. He most likely died on March 17, the day traditionally attributed to his death and celebrated to this day, and will forever be known as “Patrick of Ireland”.

---

[1] St. Patrick, Confessions, 26.

[2] Ibid.

[3] Ibid., 38

[4] Ibid., 45.

[5] Ibid.

[6] Ibid., 46

Steve Preaching Acts 2:42-47

This past week Steve had the opportunity to preach at San Francisco Mandarin Baptist Church. The sermon is in two parts (because Youtube only holds 15 minutes). Would love to hear your feedback! Thanks to Nick Davis and Laura for all the hard work on the video! Enjoy!

Acts 2:42-47

Contagious Love