Charting The Way

Leaders are the ones who keep faith with the past, keep step with the present, and keep the promise to posterity.
Harold J. Seymour

Isa 6:9-11
He said, "Go, and tell this people: “Keep on listening, but do not perceive; keep on looking, but do not understand.' "Render the hearts of this people insensitive, their ears dull, and their eyes dim, otherwise they might see with their eyes, hear with their ears, understand with their hearts, and return and be healed." Then I said, "Lord, how long?" And He answered, "Until cities are devastated and without inhabitant, houses are without people and the land is utterly desolate, NASU

Eleanor Roosevelt, former First Lady, had this perspective on leadership, “Perhaps in His wisdom the Almighty is trying to show us that a leader may chart the way, may point out the road to lasting peace, but that many leaders and many people’s must do the building.” I agree whole heartedly, for no one does anything great, alone. It takes the strength and persistence of many who are focused on one goal.

In the Church that goal is for all to be created in the image of Jesus Christ. That is the mission and the goal of the church. This means that in today’s world we must find a way to fit the truth’s that have made us successful in the past, into today and beyond. It takes unified focus and dedication. Dull ears, dim eyes, and un-understanding hearts will not find the future of God’s Church in this dying world.

Perceiving God’s will for our lives is important, for if we don’t listen, we can end up just as the Israelites ended up in the past. We can avoid this devastation and utter desolation, if, and only if, we bond together on things central to the truth, and future salvation, of souls we will never see or know, until we get to heaven…God Bless.

Pastor William

Seeing Ourselves

Jesus tapped me on the shoulder and said, Bob, why are you resisting me? I said, I'm not resisting you! He said, You gonna follow me? I said, I've never thought about that before! He said, When you're not following me, you're resisting me.
Bob Dylan (1941-, American musician, singer, songwriter)

Num 32:11-13
"None of the men who came up from Egypt, from twenty years old and upward, shall see the land which I swore to Abraham, to Isaac and to Jacob; for they did not follow Me fully, except Caleb the son of Jephunneh the Kenizzite and Joshua the son of Nun, for they have followed the LORD fully.' "So the LORD'S anger burned against Israel, and He made them wander in the wilderness forty years, until the entire generation of those who had done evil in the sight of the LORD was destroyed. NASU

Following requires faith, faith requires belief, and belief leads to footsteps of obedience to Christ. One of the things that are required is just as Bob Dylan put it, recognizing where you are resisting the influence of Christ in your life. Are you doing that? Don’t answer so quickly because the real answer requires prayer and a painful self-examination of where you are right now.

Self is integrated into our frames so well that it’s like trying to see a hidden picture on a page. People see Jesus on toast and rocks and windows, but we have a hard time finding out important facts about ourselves. Jesus requires of us to examine our ways, our personalities and extract from our frame those things that we hide that we don’t want to get rid of.

Jeremiah in Lamentations 3:40-41, tells us what to do; “Let us examine and probe our ways, And let us return to the LORD. We lift up our heart and hands Toward God in heaven;” That is to say that we are not to hide anything, we show him our hands, and we lift up our hearts to Him for total exposure. In this is faith, in this is belief, and it keeps our resisting flesh under control…God Bless.

Pastor William

Do You Now Believe?

Nothing real can be threatened. Nothing unreal exists. Herein lies the peace of God.

John 16:30-33
"Now we know that You know all things, and have no need for anyone to question You; by this we believe that You came from God." Jesus answered them, "Do you now believe? "Behold, an hour is coming, and has already come, for you to be scattered, each to his own home, and to leave Me alone; and yet I am not alone, because the Father is with Me. "These things I have spoken to you, so that in Me you may have peace. In the world you have tribulation, but take courage; I have overcome the world." NASU

Do you now believe? It is a pertinent question for us today. Do you really, really believe, or do you just say that you do? Do you really believe in the authority and dominion of Christ over all of Creation and all that you see and know today? If you do then you can have peace, but without it we are hopeless.

The disciples in John 16, were in the presence of Christ, a place of easy belief, a place without an air of danger or testing. In these places it is always easy to rest. Until your faith is challenged and it appears to you that you may have been mistaken. It seems to me that in today’s world, the church is failing the test of faithfulness in those trials. Withdrawing in fear in times when Christ would step out boldly in faith.

Our faith is seen in how we react to times of testing, it was seen in how our Savior responded to a crisis, and it will be seen in us also. Mahatma Gandhi said this of Christians; “If Christians would really live according to the teachings of Christ, as found in the Bible, all of India would be Christian today.” You see what you really believe and who you really are is found through trials, and today is our time of testing, it is our day to shine for Christ…God Bless.

Pastor William