From the Pastor's desk...

November 19, 2018

Has it ever occurred to you that no Americans were more underprivileged than that small handful of people from the Mayflower who started the custom of setting aside a day of Thanksgiving to Almighty God? They had no homes and no government agency to help them build homes.  They had no means of transportation, other than their legs. Their only food came from the sea and the forest, and they had to get it themselves.  They had no money and no place to spend it if they had any.  And they had no amusements except what they made for themselves. However, God blessed their faithfulness to Him and their spirit of thankfulness. It often takes faith to express an attitude of thanksgiving.   In John chapter six, we read that Jesus once took fives loaves of bread and just two small fish, lifted them up to our Heavenly Father and gave thanks for the food that they had. Because of the spirit of thanksgiving, God multiplied that small amount of food, over 5,000 people were fed and there were also leftovers for take outs.

Before Jesus raised Lazarus from the dead, He prayed and said, “Father, I thank You that You have heard Me,”  (John 11:41).  Because of the spirit of thanksgiving Lazarus was raised from the dead.

In spite of the trials and great difficulties you may be facing this week, you still have many reasons to express gratitude to God.  God will honor and bless your spirit of thanksgiving.  I want you to know that I am very thankful for you.  I’m grateful that you are interested in this ministry.  May our Lord richly bless you today.

October 30, 2018

“And there is a time to be silent and there is a time to speak,”  (Ecclesiastes 3:7b).

The tongue – what a powerful organ. Without the tongue, no mother could sing her baby to sleep. No teacher could stretch the mind of students. No attorney could defend the truth in court. No Pastor could comfort a troubled soul. Our entire world would be reduced to unintelligible grunts. Seldom do we pause to realize just how valuable this strange muscle in our mouths really is.

But the tongue is a volatile as it is vital.  “The tongue also is a fire, a world of evil among the parts of the body. It corrupts the whole body, sets the whole course of one’s life on fire, and is itself set on fire by hell,”

(James 3:6).

Did you ever open your mouth when you should have kept it shut, hmmmmmmm?  Did you ever keep your mouth shut when you should have opened it, hmmmmmmmmmmmm?

I want to share with you three Biblical truths concerning the tongue.

• The tongue contains an awesome power for good or evil.
• No person can control his/her tongue by their own power.
• We must submit our tongue to the power of the Holy Spirit.

May our prayer be, “Set a guard over my mouth, Lord; keep watch over the door of my lips.”

Jesus said, “For the mouth speaks what the heart is full of.  For by your words you will be acquitted, and by your words you will be condemned. Everyone will have to give account on the day of judgment for every empty word they have spoken.”

 “Set a guard over my mouth, Lord; keep watch over the door of my lips,” (Psalm 141:3)

(James 3:1-6)

October 22, 2018

“And Abraham called the name of the place, The Lord Will Provide; as it is said to this day, ‘In the Mount of the Lord it shall be provided.’” (Genesis 22:14)

Because of their faith and trust in God, Abraham and Sarah knew that God would have to raise Isaac (their long promised son)  back to life if Abraham sacrificed him as God had asked. That’s why Abraham said to his men, “Stay here with the donkey; the lad (Isaac) and I will go yonder and worship, and we will come back to you.”

As Abraham took the knife  to slay Isaac, God spoke to him. Abraham lifted his eyes and looked, there was behind him a ram caught in a thicket by its horns (Genesis 22:13).  God provided just as He had promised.

God said of Abraham, “He did not waver at the promises of God through unbelief, but was strengthened in faith, giving glory to God” (Romans 4:20).  Abraham is also called, “The father of all who believe,” (Romans 4:11).

God has also promised to provide for you and me.  He promised us that He will provide  His presence, His power, and His love. No matter what difficulty you are facing today trust God to keep His word to you just as He did to Abraham. He will provide for you.  E. Stanley Jones once said, “Surrender to Christ or surrender to chaos.”  The choice is ours to make.

October 8, 2018

Yesterday was “World Wide Communion Sunday.”   Many people around the world participated in a Communion Service.  John Wesley once said, “The Lord’s Supper is the greatest evangelistic tool we have.”  Wesley taught that Communion should be served to believers and non-believers alike.  He said, “The Communion Service is a greater aid to evangelism than a cross on a church building or on a necklace.”

Our purposes in participating in the Communion Service should be:

• To Remember: Jesus said, “Do this in remembrance of Me.”
• To Rejoice: “You proclaim the Lord’s death till He comes.”
• To Repent: “Let a man examine himself, and so let him eat of the bread and drink of the cup.”
• To Reconcile: Because of Jesus’ sacrificial death on the cross we are able to be reconciled to God and enjoy fellowship with Him.  We are all on equal standing at the Lord’s table.

When we participate in the Communion Service it should cause us to rejoice knowing that because of our faith in Jesus, one day we will be able to sit down at the Father’s Table with Jesus and fellowship with Him forever.

September 25, 2018

“If My people who are called by My name will humble themselves, and pray and seek My face, and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from Heaven, and will forgive their sin and heal their land,”                 (II Chronicles 7:14).

Someone once gave this prescription for revival. “First, let a few Christians (need not be many) get thoroughly right with God themselves.  This is the prime essential.  If this is not done, the rest I’m about to say will come to nothing. Second, let them bind themselves together in a prayer group to pray for revival until God opens the heavens and comes down. Third, let them put themselves at the disposal of God for Him to use as He sees fit in winning others to Christ. That is all!  This prescription has never failed, because it cannot fail.”

Why do many loved ones remain unsaved?  Why do problems (physical, spiritual and financial) continue to plague many lives? Why do our efforts to live the Christian life seem to end in futility and defeat sometimes?  Could it be that our failures are prayer failures?

We need to be reminded that our prayer time is not a “waste of time.”  God is really listening to us when we pray.  Heaven is not closed to your heart’s cry.

Please agree with me in prayer this week that we would see God manifest Himself to us as we agree in prayer.

Has God revealed Himself to you recently?   A few days ago my attitude needed to be “adjusted.”  While I was driving I was becoming “overly concerned”  about several issues and was wondering to myself how and when those issues would get resolved.

As I pulled away from a stop sign, I noticed a wild turkey emerging from the woods.  I applied the brakes and focused on that turkey.  Following behind that turkey were seven very young turkeys. Those young turkeys safely crossed the road behind their mother.  Immediately I became convicted.  I was reminded of the words of Jesus. “Why do you worry? Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your Heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they?”

My attitude quickly changed.  As I continued on my way,  I began to thank God for His Word and by faith thanked Him for the resolutions to the issues I had been “overly concerned”   about.

The presence of God surrounds us all.  If we look for Him, we will see Him.

August 24, 2018

I’ve had the privilege of officiating at many wedding ceremonies during my thirty years of Pastoral ministry. That is a Pastoral responsibility that can be very rewarding to me.  It is a joy to witness a couple mature in their relationship with God and with each other. A wedding service is not only a legal ceremony, it is a spiritual one as well.  It is also a time of worship.

The first institution created by God was the home. The home was sanctified by God, honored by Jesus Christ and is to be respected by men and women.  Of all the institutions on earth, there is none so important as the home. As the home goes, so goes the church and all of society.  America’s greatest problem today is not a drug problem or a violence problem.  America’s biggest problem today is the breakdown and lack of Christian homes.

There are three basic biblical truths about Christian marriage:

• Husbands and wives are first subject to the Lordship of Jesus Christ, then mutually subject to one another.
• The husband is to be the spiritual leader of the home in the same way that Christ is the leader of the church.

1. Loving
2. Sacrificial
3. Caring
4. Responsible
5. Committed and Consistent

• It is the desire of God’s heart to do whatever it takes to keep the marriage together, and for each couple to experience His love through the other.

Were you ever caught unprepared for something?  That is a terrible feeling, isn’t it?  I’ve learned the hard way that it always pays huge dividends to be prepared.

Noah worked a very long time to “prepare”  the Ark that God had instructed him to build.  Noah was to cover the ark with pitch (Genesis 6:14).  The Greek word for pitch is kaphar which means, “atonement.” I’m sure Noah was mocked and ridiculed very much by neighbors and acquaintances as the months and years passed by.  However, just as God had said, the rains did eventually arrive and those who were once mocking Noah now wanted him to open the door to let them in. However, Noah did not have the authority to open the door.

Jesus told us that as it was in Noah’s day, so shall it be prior to His return (Matthew 24:7).  Friends, we are living in those days now.  The Lord Jesus will return for His church soon, just as He said.  How do we become prepared for Jesus’ return?  “For if when we were enemies we were reconciled to God through the death of His Son, much more, having been reconciled, we shall be saved by His life. And not only that, but we also rejoice in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have now received the atonement (Romans 5:10,11).

 Noah’s ark is a type or symbol of the church.  Are you really prepared for Jesus’ return?  Are you encouraging others to be prepared?  Now is the time to prepare.  Just as the rain fell in Noah’s day,  Jesus is returning for His church.   May we all be prepared!

July 16, 2018

“Wait for the Lord; be of good courage, be strong and take heart and wait, I say, for the Lord!” (Psalm 27:14)

David encourages us to “wait on the lord and to be of good courage.”  That word wait means “to bind together, to expect.”  When we are bound together with the Lord we will be courageous in the difficult times  and expectantly watch for God’s hand to move.

Every child of God faces difficulties from time to time. Sometimes, when we’re living through difficult days, it seems as though they will never end.  The Lord Jesus warned us that we would experience difficult days.  “In the world you will have tribulations, but be of good cheer, I have overcome the world.” (John 16:33).

Have you ever noticed why many of God’s people mentioned in the Bible are remembered so well? When you think of David, what comes to your mind?  Probably Goliath, correct?   When you think of Daniel, what comes to your mind? Probably the lions’ den, right?  In the midst of great difficulty these and others received strength and courage through their relationship with God.  You and I can do the same.

We also can be victorious in life through an intimate relationship with Jesus. He will strengthen our hearts. May we be people of great courage, and may our faith in God conquer our fears.

July 11, 2018

“The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom; a good understanding have all those who do His commandments,”  (Psalm 111:10).

I saw a bumper sticker recently that read, “If you think education is expensive, try ignorance.”

I believe most of us can relate to that comment.  God’s Word states that His people perish or suffer from the lack of knowledge (Hosea 4:6).  In that same passage God says,  “Because you have rejected knowledge, I also will reject you from being priest for Me.”

The Bible also states in Daniel 12:4 that in the last day man’s “knowledge” would increase.  Just think of how much knowledge mankind has gained just over the last 50 years.  But are we really coming to the knowledge of the truth?  Have we really learned that God can be trusted and that He will never leave us and that He will always be faithful to His children?  Are we understanding the meaning and purpose of life?

Someone once said, “There are ten things I wish I had learned before I was twenty-one.”

• That being a Christian is really important.
• That my life’s vocation would be what it is.
• That my health after 30 would depend to a great degree on what I ate before I was 21.
• That I really am a trustee of my money and possessions.
• That being neatly and sensibly dressed is an asset.
• That habits are difficult to break after you turn 21.
• That worthwhile things require time, patience and work.
• That the world gives a person just about what he deserves.
• That a thorough education brings not only better wages, but the best of everything.
• That absolute truthfulness in everything is invaluable.
• And one more extra thought:  That my parents weren’t “Old Fogies”  after all.