Arise and Walk

Suffering has been stronger than all other teaching, and has taught me to understand what your heart used to be. I have been bent and broken, but - I hope - into a better shape. --Charles Dickens







2 Corinthians 12:7b - 10
Therefore, so that I would not exalt myself, a thorn in the flesh was given to me, a messenger of Satan to torment me so I would not exalt myself. Concerning this, I pleaded with the Lord three times to take it away from me. But He said to me, "My grace is sufficient for you, for power is perfected in weakness." Therefore, I will most gladly boast all the more about my weaknesses, so that Christ's power may reside in me. So because of Christ, I am pleased in weaknesses, in insults, in catastrophes, in persecutions, and in pressures. For when I am weak, then I am strong.

Pain and suffering is an many faceted subject in the bible, and in The Word of God there are over twenty one definitions for those two words.  There is suffering of all types that we experience in life.  Some of it is because of our own bad decisions, and sometimes it is the result of the decisions of others, but face it, it is a real part of life that none of us will escape.

God's Word clearly teaches us that we will experience different varieties of suffering. We will suffer because of our faith, and Jesus clearly warned us of this. He said if they persecuted me, they will persecute you, no puzzle there, it's straight to the point. Jesus suffered and we too will suffer that same kind of rejection.

But...when it comes to the suffering that comes because of the effects of time on our bodies, it is plain that Jesus had great compassion with our experience of aging, death and disease.  The shortest but loudest verse in the Bible is "Jesus Wept."  The pain and suffering of ageing and disease impacts us all, and doesn't discriminate by age, nationality or economic status.

You and I can rejoice that God did not leave us in this miserable state, but sent His Son to rescue us from this terrible fate.  We will suffer, but only for a "little while," even though sometimes it seems to drag on for longer than we would like.  Jesus also sees you and I just as He saw Lazarus, and He still speaks to us in our pain, and through our sufferings, and shows us a little more of who we are and who He is.  The very same Savior still calls out to you and I. He calls us out of our darkness and can loosen our bonds and cause us to arise and walk!

God Bless
Pastor William

What is WRONG with People???



What In The World!!!!



Let's pray that the human race never escapes from Earth to spread its iniquity elsewhere.

C. S. Lewis

Dueteronomy 32: 43 
"Rejoice with him, O heavens;  bow down to him, all gods,  for he avenges the blood of his children  and takes vengeance on his adversaries.  He repays those who hate him  and cleanses his people's land."

We look around the world and the changes that are taking place and it is a much different world than it was fifty years ago. Now we all agree that washing machines and dishwashers are great, and so are the lights in the house and the cool air that we enjoy in our homes, but some things should never change, and those are God's great and precious truths.


We are living in an age that is lost in desire. God's precious Word had put walls around us and protected us from getting lost in those desires. Today they laugh at God's Word, and His people and even change God's truths to justify their sin. Not only that, they openly threaten God's people who object to those things that go against God's truth. Our government can show "respect" for all other "religions," but Christianity why? Because it has "real" power, not popularity.


We are force fed homosexuality on the air in our schools and it even is trying to penetrate our faith. We have seen Christian leaders fail miserably in the public forum and we have watched Satan rush the open flood gates to destroy the hope of those that trust in God. Some will read this devotion and call us narrowminded or bigoted, but we will wait until the day of judgement comes, and God plainly says, "he who endures to the end will be saved."


Their was a day that the word "gay" was used to describe happiness and holiday cheer, and today it has been redefined to mean something twisted and full of death, as described in "God's" Word. You and I have no reason to feel threatened by those that defend a selfish, and fruitless relationship. I shudder to think about children raised in these relationships; to think that this is the "norm." If that is ever defined as the norm in our society then it is a ticking timebomb that will quickly implode. I don't hate anyone, I choose to let God's Word define my world, not a society absorbed in self desire, and self motivation, but if I stand up for what is right, it is not always "popular" to the small estimated 1.7% of our world trying so hard to force us to accept their sin...God Bless


Pastor William

Leading Follows Loving

 

“To love at all is to be vulnerable. Love anything and your heart will be wrung and possibly broken. If you want to make sure of keeping it intact you must give it to no one, not even an animal. Wrap it carefully round with hobbies and little luxuries; avoid all entanglements. Lock it up safe in the casket or coffin of your selfishness. But in that casket, safe, dark, motionless, airless, it will change. It will not be broken; it will become unbreakable, impenetrable, irredeemable. To love is to be vulnerable.”
C.S. Lewis
1 Peter 1: 1-3
Therefore, as a fellow elder and witness to the sufferings of the •Messiah and also a participant in the glory about to be revealed, I exhort the elders among you:  Shepherd God’s flock among you, not overseeing out of compulsion but freely, according to God’s will; not for the money but eagerly;  not lording it over those entrusted to you, but being examples to the flock.

So you are maybe saying to yourself, "hey, I wish my leaders were more like that." You wouldn't be alone of course in saying that, but you may want to take a step back like I did this morning to grasp the fullness of what Peter is saying to "All" of us. I think that the key word in these verses is the word "Example."

I have seen some consumed with the desire to be an "Overseer."  In my years as a supervisor I have personally heard a fellow supervisor say something to this effect, " I will walk on whoever and walk through whatever to get to the top." I remember the affect that had on my view of this person, because it instantly made me wary of everything that he said, and did.

Of course, by the grace of God, I was able to get past this because of an older more experienced supervisor who showed me by the way he lived, what it was to be a leader. After that I was "blessed"  to follow God's call into the ministry. Wow! It made supervision look easy.  I chose this picture of Mother Theresa because of the way she led by love and led others to follow her, and establish an order after her. Simply because of the risks she took in the ways that she loved others.

You see this verse is for all of us, not just "elders." Why would I say that? It's because I have never seen an effective leader who wasn't also a good follower.  We all can get lifted up and conceited in our Christian walk, and begin to dish out advice to others, and even sometimes speak against our "Elders" and "Overseers," which instantly puts us in the dangerous place of "Leading" those around us astray.Hebrews 13:17, gives insight: "Obey your leaders and submit to them, for they keep watch over your souls as those who will give an account, so that they can do this with joy and not with grief, for that would be unprofitable for you."

So many pastors, and church members, have locked their hearts away because of hurt, and you may be one of them, but to love is to take a risk.  Have you hidden your heart away so others can't hurt it? Has it gotten easier for you to just be "friends," but not brothers and sisters in Christ? It's the biggest problem in our churches today, love'em on Sundays, but don't get involved... so my question is this, just how can we be examples in the "Family of God" with distracted hearts, selfish hearts, or hearts locked up and hid away...God Bless
Pastor William

Are You Ready?

It is not a question of God allowing or not allowing things to happen. It is part of living. Some things we do to ourselves, other things we do to each other. Our Father knows about every bird which falls to the ground, but He does not always prevent it from falling. What are we to learn from this? That our response to what happens is more important than what happens. Here is a mystery: one man’s experience drives him to curse God, while another man’s identical experience drives him to bless God. Your response to what happens is more important than what happens.

Chip Brogden




1Peter 4: 18, 1918
 And   "If the righteous is scarcely saved,  what will become of the ungodly and the sinner?"   Therefore let those who suffer according to God's will entrust their souls to a faithful Creator while doing good.

I believe that this is an important fact for all those that identify themselves with the cause of Christ, regardless what name you might put over the top of what you believe.  Have you researched what it is that you have decided to dedicate your life too? C.S. Lewis said it well, "pain insists upon being attended to. God whispers to us in our pleasures, speaks in our conscience, but shouts in our pains: it is His megaphone to rouse a deaf world."

God constantly from the very beginning knew our habit of forgetting who He was, again a good reason for God to call Himself, "I AM."  We have such short memories. "Yahweh" gave his beloved children instructions for different ceremonies for His people to come and gather and remember what He had done for them, in the deserts, in the valleys and finally on the cross. It wasn't an easy journey for any that chose to follow Him. It was marked with suffering and with sacrifice, something we tend to "forget" in the country and the world that we live in.

Americans are the most spoiled people in the world.  We have so many blessings and we are so unaccustomed to suffering that we do not know how to handle it, and our enemy knows it. Hence Satan's request to God after he had taken all of Job:s possessions and his children, "let me touch his flesh and he will curse "You."   This should cause us also to remember God's Word to us in 2 Timothy 3:1; But understand this, that ^yin the last days there will come times of difficulty."

Are you and I ready to answer those questions without banging our heads in frustration? Will we be faithful witnesses when things get rough? When the fig tree has no blossoms and no fruit is on the vine, and everything is collapsing around us, family, possessions and our faith is on trial before God and "The World."  Not without prayer, not without fellowship and the encouragement of the family of God.  We must be reminded every day where the power comes from, and fall at His feet for strength, for we, more than all before us, live in the "Last Days. We must continue to do good, and trust God through all that happens around us that He is in complete control of our lives...God Bless.

Pastor William