From Observing to Participating
October 11, 2026Pastor Patrick presented today's message, "From Observing to Participating." A video of today's message is here on YouTube. It may help to be familiar with the message but that is not required to enjoy the thoughts below.
Today's message comes on the 6th of 12 weeks in the Book of Mark.
Pastor Patrick mentioned that the word apostle in Greek (ἀπόστολος) means "one who is sent." Here's a discussion that takes this notion a little deeper: The Sent Ones.
When Patrick mentioned that God often develops our faith by putting us in impossible situations, my mind rushed to several Old Testament examples: Noah, Abraham, Lot, Joseph, Moses, Joshua, Daniel, Israelites in exile, etc. Check out this article: Why does God put us through tests?
Likewise, here are some other Old and New Testament examples of God Uses What We Have.
Lastly, here are other examples of God's Invitation to Participate.
Bonus
Is America Rome?
The Jeremy Boreing Show offers: Is America Rome? Three Historians Debate Decline, Faith & Agency (Ep. 57). The three historians are Jeremy Ryan Slate (of Command Your Brand) and expert on the Roman Empire, Spencer Klavan (Oxford Classicist/Author), and Stephen Kent (Columnist and Commentator). The video is 133 minutes, so buckle up...
From the video description: "China's central bank just bought more gold in a single month than it has in nearly three years - its 22nd consecutive month of buying, at record prices. They're not doing it because gold is cheap. They're doing it because they've made a decision about what the next hundred years looks like. Do we act like a civilization that plans to be here in twenty years? Or are we living through our own version of Rome's slow fade?"
Questions discussed are these (and more):
Is any of this fixable, or is it already over?
Are we failing our civilization?
Will future civilizations look at our spacecraft and skyscrapers like we look at pyramids and aqueducts and ask, "How on earth did they make that?"
Is the Fall of the West overstated or is it too late?
Is our downfall not only inevitable but at hand?
What can history tell us about our current moment and give us lessons to save the West.
Are we doomed to repeat the past or can we break the historical cycle?
Has science demystified the world or do we have more questions than ever about religion and the spiritual? Has science reached its limit to answer the big questions?
We know how gravity works, but we don't know what it is. There's so much in the unseen world.
Will AI be a force for good or bad? Yes.
Bonus2
Pikes Peak Looks Like Mt. Sinai
I took this image of Pikes Peak very recently (10/13/26). The image seemed familiar to me but not like Pikes Peak is familiar to me. I finally realized that it reminded me of images I'd seen of Mt. Sinai, including "doctored up" images representing the moment of the delivery of the Ten Commandments (see below).
Here are some relevant quotes from the Ten Commandments text (Exodus 19-20):
19:9 The Lord said to Moses, "I am going to come to you in a dense cloud, so that the people will hear me speaking with you and will always put their trust in you."
19:16 On the morning of the third day there was thunder and lightning, with a thick cloud over the mountain, and a very loud trumpet blast. Everyone in the camp trembled.
19:18 Mount Sinai was covered with smoke, because the Lord descended on it in fire. The smoke billowed up from it like smoke from a furnace, and the whole mountain[b] trembled violently.
20:18-19 When the people saw the thunder and lightning and heard the trumpet and saw the mountain in smoke, they trembled with fear. They stayed at a distance and said to Moses, "Speak to us yourself and we will listen. But do not have God speak to us or we will die."
20:20 Moses said to the people, "Do not be afraid. God has come to test you, so that the fear of God will be with you to keep you from sinning."
20:21 The people remained at a distance, while Moses approached the thick darkness where God was.