News

April 11, 2024

Dear First Pres,

Growing up, this time of year was always buzzing at my house. Not just because of all the normal spring activities (we have plenty of those coming up for FPC, check out our event calendar for details), but also because my parents’ house is surrounded by orange trees. And, during this time of year, when the blossoms are out, the bees are also out in force. It was always a bit unsettling to walk outside and hear the literal buzz of thousands of bees doing their work all around our house. 

Now, we only have one tree at our house here in Fresno. But as you can see from the photo, it’s in bloom and the bees are busy. The bees may be a bit unsettling for some, but they’re also a sign of the season – a season of new life, new growth, new opportunities. It’s the season of spring.

On Sunday we launched a new sermon series called The Call to Faith. We’re going to spend the next several weeks focused on the story of God’s gracious call to Abraham and Sarah. They were called to step out in faith, to leave their country, network and household and go to the place the Lord would reveal. Walter Brueggamann, a well-known Old Testament scholar, calls it a story of promise and faith. 

“The promise is God’s power and will to create a new future sharply discontinuous with the past and the present. The promise is God’s resolve to form a new community wrought only by miracle and reliant only on God’s faithfulness. Faith as response is the capacity to embrace that announced future with such passion that the present can be relinquished for the sake of that future.”

I love this sentence about faith. Abraham was willing to leave where he was and go to the new territory, even yet unknown and unseen. He was willing to relinquish his present for the sake of God’s declared future. Why? It was because of the LORD’s gracious and promising call. 

Do you believe the LORD has a call on your life? What is it? Do you believe the promises that go with it? Are you willing to relinquish what needs to be relinquished and embrace God’s announced future? 

In the midst of this abundant spring, I pray that each of us will individually and collectively hear the LORD’s call to faith. May the opportunities for growth in Christ be pollinated by His Spirit. And may there indeed be new growth, new life and new territory as we embrace God’s promised future in Christ Jesus.

Blessings,

Jeremy

P.S.  You’re not going to want to miss this Sunday as 10 of our young people are coming into church membership through the public proclamation of their faith in Jesus. It’s going to be a great day.

Jeremy Vaccaro's picture
Jeremy Vaccaro
Senior Pastor

April 4, 2024

Dear First Pres,

   Christ is risen! He is risen indeed! What a wonderful celebration of the Lord’s resurrection we had on Sunday. I pray you all were encouraged as much as I was.

   One of the ways I was encouraged was by all the folks who helped to make our Easter celebration happen. We had greeters, ushers, choir singers, worship leaders, musicians, sound techs, screen techs, live-stream techs, Sunday School leaders, Nursery workers, goodie makers, the reception set-up crew, the reception clean-up crew, photo booth workers, bulletin designers, bulletin stuffers, the pew crew, the prayer team, a busy custodian and a bunch of hospitable hosts in the pews. Thank you for making it such a great morning of worship.

    I’m also encouraged because I know the Holy Spirit was at work among us. Praise God that He works in us and through us while we worship Him. I talked to one of our first-time guests who was deeply impacted by the service. She joyfully declared, “I’ll be back!” It truly seemed like God was working a new beginning in her heart. What a joy it will be to see how God brings that new beginning to fruition.
 
   One of the main questions I asked in my Easter sermon was this: what new beginning is the Holy Spirit stirring in you? Maybe something stirred immediately in your heart and mind. If that was true for you, what have you done since Sunday to lean into that new beginning? Sometimes it’s easy to ignore the promptings of the Spirit, but it’s never good. Pay attention to what the Lord was stirring in you. Pray about it. Talk to others about it. And do something about it.
 

 For others, I’m sure, you didn’t hear anything in the moment. But guess what? The Easter season continues all the way until Pentecost on May 19. If the prayer during Lent is asking the Lord what He needs to chip away in our lives to make us more like Jesus, the prayer during Easter season is asking what new thing the Holy Spirit wants to plant in us. So, even if nothing stirred during Sunday’s service, use this season to intentionally seek the Lord on this question.
 
   Finally, this coming Sunday we start a new sermon series focused on the life of Abraham and Sarah found in Genesis 12-25. The series is called “The Call to Faith.” When Abram heard the word of the Lord, he obeyed. His obedience, by God’s grace, led to an incredible new beginning in his life and for the world. Whatever new beginnings the Holy Spirit stirs in our hearts, it’s never just for us. So, may the Holy Spirit stir our hearts to faith and obedience for the sake of what God wants to do through us.
 
   Happy Easter, and may God bring His new beginnings in us and through us. 

 

Blessings,

Jeremy

 

Jeremy Vaccaro's picture
Jeremy Vaccaro
Senior Pastor

March 28, 2024

Dear First Pres,

   On Tuesday evening, our church’s oldest active member passed away. Dr. Malcom Masten was 104 years old and he’d been a member of FPC Fresno since May 31, 1953. Last time I saw Dr. Masten (as most of us called him) was at a memorial service for another long-time FPC member. When I greeted him, Dr. Masten did what he always did over the eleven years that I knew him. He looked at me with a sparkle in his eyes, gave me a firm handshake and greeted me warmly. I’m going to miss that.

  I’m sure Dr. Masten was ready. I know he missed his bride of 79 years, LaVerne, who died in 2022. He lived a long, fruitful life. And, I know that his hope was secure in Christ Jesus. Still, his death is yet another reminder that this world is not the way it was meant to be.

   When Jesus encountered Mary and the others who were grieving the death of His friend, Lazarus, John tells us that Jesus was “deeply moved in spirit and troubled” (John 11:33). Then, after telling us that “Jesus wept” (11:35), we read that when Jesus got to the tomb He was “once more deeply moved” (11:38). The words there mean that Jesus was angry and disturbed. So, what was it that got Jesus so upset? John doesn’t tell us exactly, but what seems apparent to me is that Jesus was angry at the reality of death itself.  

   Death is an intruder in this world. It was not part of God’s original design, and it will not be part of God’s restored eternal design. 1 Corinthians 15:26 says, “The last enemy to be destroyed is death.” 

   That’s why this Holy Week is such an important time of remembering and celebrating. First, we remember that the way God defeated death was for God the Son to submit Himself to it in our place. As the old hymn so elegantly begins, “‘Man of Sorrows!’ What a name, for the Son of God who came, ruined sinners to reclaim! Hallelujah, what a Savior!” But then, on Resurrection Sunday, we celebrate that Jesus truly is the One who swallowed up death in victory. And so we sing with the Easter hymn, “Crown Him the Lord of life; who triumphed o’er the grave, who rose victorious to the strife, for those He came to save. His glories now we sing, who died and rose on high, who died eternal life to bring, and lives that death may die.”

   As a foretaste of that great victory to come and the life available through Him, when Jesus arrived at the tomb of his friend, deeply moved, He called out in a loud voice, “Lazarus, come out!” Then, in the next verse, John simply but profoundly writes, “The dead man came out” (see John 11:43-44a).

   This world isn’t the way it’s supposed to be, the evidence of that is apparent to us all. But in the Crucified, Risen, Reigning and Returning Christ Jesus there is certain hope for His Kingdom to be on earth as it is in heaven.

   No matter what kind of evidence of our broken world you’re experiencing this week. I pray you hear the call of Jesus to live in His resurrection power, grace, victory and hope. And I invite you to join me in praying that all who join us for worship tonight and Sunday morning will heed His call to life. 

Blessings, 

Jeremy

Jeremy Vaccaro's picture
Jeremy Vaccaro
Senior Pastor

March 21, 2024

Dear First Pres,

   “Lift up your heads, O you gates; be lifted up, you ancient doors, that the King of glory may come in. Who is this King of glory? The LORD strong and mighty, the LORD mighty in battle. Lift up your heads, O you gates; lift them up, you ancient doors, that the King of glory may come in. Who is he, this King of glory? The LORD Almighty – he is the King of glory” (Psalm 24:7-10)

   This Sunday we celebrate Palm Sunday. As we launch into the Holy week, we remember the way that Jesus rode into Jerusalem on a small donkey in fulfillment of Zechariah 9:9. It was a different image of the King than we see in Psalm 24. Still, the crowd gave Him a kingly welcome that day: they spread their cloaks and tree branches on the road and they shouted “Hosanna to the Son of David!” 

   The wonderful thing about Jesus is that He is both the fulfillment of Zechariah 9:9 – the king coming with salvation “gentle and riding on a donkey” – and the fulfillment of Psalm 24 – the king of glory, “strong and mighty.” Psalm 24 reminds us that the long-awaited King, the One we really need to bring His Kingdom here as it is in heaven, is the LORD Himself. Zechariah 9 reminds us that He is a gentle and humble King who brings salvation. Jesus is that King. He is the Lion of Judah and the Lamb of God. He is the One who conquered death by suffering through His own humiliating death. He is the One we remember and celebrate and worship this weekend, and throughout the Holy week.

   But Psalm 24 also raises a wonderful question for us. 

   Will you lift your head? Will you open your doors so that the King of glory may come in?

   I’m not sure how this season of Lent has been for you, but I truly encourage you to spend these final days of Lent opening every door and window of your life to let the life of King Jesus shine in every room, in every closet, in every dark corner, and in every hidden compartment. 

   For me, a key part of that is participating in worship on Palm Sunday, Maundy Thursday (7 p.m.) and Resurrection Sunday (normal worship times). I encourage you to do the same.

Blessings, 

Jeremy

Jeremy Vaccaro's picture
Jeremy Vaccaro
Senior Pastor

March 14, 2024

Dear First Pres,

   Pershendetje (“greetings” in Albanian)! Thanks so much for your prayers during my trip to Albania last week. Despite being delayed a day on my trip home, it was a wonderful time. I had the privilege of discovering the providence and mercy of God with the Bible students from Albania, Canada, USA, England, Germany, Kenya, Nigeria, Kazakhstan, Serbia, Australia, the Netherlands and Switzerland as we spent the week meditating on Ezra/Nehemiah. I brought greetings from First Presbyterian Church to both the churches of Erseke and Bilisht as I preached on Sunday in Erseke and led Wednesday night Bible study in Bilisht. I spent one-on-one time with our beloved missionary partners: Mark Stoscher & Eric Gundy. I enjoyed dinner with Zach & Besa Oaks (Zach is a son of our church) in their apartment in Bilisht. I visited with the Mayor of Erseke and his team who spent some time in Fresno last year. I had dozens of meaningful conversations with students. And, of course, I had a great time connecting with Linda Osborne, a member of our congregation, who has been serving as the “Mommy Linda” of the Bible School for several years.  

   Yes, it was exhausting, and it was wonderful.

   Thanks for being the kind of congregation who celebrates when the Senior Pastor is invited into these kinds of experiences. I’m sorry I missed two Sundays (was only planning to miss one), but I am grateful for the privilege of joining in the mission of God in Albania for the week.

   We really do have an amazing God who is working all around the world through His Spirit-empowered Church for His Kingdom to come on earth as it is in heaven. And He is working right here in Fresno in and through us. Praise Him!

  That’s why it is a privilege to simply invite friends, family and neighbors into the life of our congregation throughout the year, but especially at times like Easter. For those who grew up completely separate from church or Christianity, Resurrection Sunday may not be that big of a deal. But for anyone who has any kind of Christian church background, there is likely a bit more of an openness to be at church on Easter than any other particular Sunday.

   Who is the Lord putting on your heart to invite this year? Have you put a yard sign in front of your house? Have you grabbed some invitations from the Sanctuary Entry to give to neighbors and friends? Are you prayerfully asking the Lord to ready your heart for the kairos (opportune) moments of sharing your faith or inviting others into our community?

   I’m praying everyday that the Lord stirs our hearts (mine included) more and more for our neighbors who have yet to believe the good news of Jesus. May we be a people quick to join Him in the mission of God around the world and in our own cul-de-sacs.

Blessings, 

Jeremy

Jeremy Vaccaro's picture
Jeremy Vaccaro
Senior Pastor