'The name of the Lord is a strong tower...' Proverbs 18:10 NKJVGood Morning,Thanks to everyone who wished me a Happy Birthday yesterday. Had a wonderful day with family and friends topped off by a fine meal @Texas Roadhouse. I wanted to share how awesome service was Sunday! The exclamation point being how marvolus was the moving of God's Spirit in our midst. We saw God touch many lives that brought about Spiritual break through. Our God is incredible... Today we look at what happens when we come under attack? Martin Niemoller, a former U-boat captain, was among those in Germany who spoke out against Hitler. Predictably, he was arrested and imprisoned. En route to face his accusers in court he was walking through an underground tunnel when he heard these words: 'The name of the Lord is a strong tower; the righteous run to it and are safe.' Niemoller was shocked. There was nobody around who could have said them. Had God spoken to him audibly? In the end it didn't matter because God used His Word to strengthen and encourage one of His own. Apparently a Christian guard, who knew the acoustics inside the tunnel would allow somebody to whisper into the wall and be heard up ahead, had quoted the verse. Niemoller was acquitted but he was still imprisoned for another seven years. When the prosecutor asked, 'How can we imprison a man who's been acquitted?' Hitler replied, 'Because he's my personal prisoner!' Jesus said, '...when people...persecute you and falsely say...evil against you because of Me, rejoice...great is your reward in Heaven...' (Matthew 5:11-12 NIV) Charles Swindoll writes: 'When you're punished for doing the right thing, you've a "great cloud of witnesses" surrounding you (Hebrews 12:1)...faithful men and women who extended the Kingdom and made the world a better place...at great personal cost...Take courage...you fight for the winning side.' The Bible says: '...everyone who wants to live a godly life...will suffer...' (2 Timothy 3:12 NLT) The second that prison-cell door slammed shut, Niemoller joined a distinguished league of saints willing to endure hardship in this life in order to reign with Christ in the next one. How about you? "The name of the Lord is a strong Tower"
'Launch out into the deep and let down your nets for a catch.' Luke 5:4 NKJVGood Morning,
Tonight is the last night in our week of Prayer and Amy has setup a special prayer walk in the fellowship hall that is an amazing journey of self introspection with God. Please take the time tonight to come and pray for not only your needs but of those in the body. We start @7 and when you are done you can leave or worship with the worship team while they practice, it's up to you? Sometimes you just have to launch out into new areas of your life that God is challenging you in. Let's take the step together:
Someone has said that mediocrity is just the best of the worst and the worst of the best. Is that what you want this year? If not, you must be willing to leave the safety of where you are, and go where God wants to take you. After fishing all night and catching nothing Jesus told His disciples, 'Launch out into the deep and let down your nets for a catch.' In other words, leave the safety of the shoreline and be willing to face the fury of the storm, knowing that God is with you. Helen Keller, who overcame incredible challenges, reportedly said, 'Security is a myth. The reason we don't experience it is because it doesn't exist. Avoiding danger or failure is no safer in the long run than out-right risk. Life is either a daring adventure or nothing at all.' Launching out means setting goals, establishing a plan to reach them, and becoming accountable. It requires staying in sync with God's will, confronting your fears and discovering the rewards that lie on the other side of them. It demands looking in the mirror, and respecting or correcting what you're becoming. It calls for devoting your life to something greater than yourself, even when others don't understand. It's having an 'I will fear no evil for You are with me' attitude, and attempting great things for God. As you enter this New Year, stop and recall God's goodness. Check the price tag on His will for your life against what you're already paying, and compare the rewards of both. Then, 'launch out' and don't look back!
'Devote yourselves to prayer...' Colossians 4:2 NAS
Good Morning,
This week we begin our week of prayer. This focused prayer time is set aside once a year for our church body to come together and pray for the needs of our church, community, and nation. Many of you signed up to pray for an hour a day and I pray that you will keep that commitment. Each night this week the church will be open for corporate prayer @7pm. On Thursday we will have a special prayer walk set-up for personal interspection. I hope that you can take sometime from your busy schedules to be a part of this incredible time. The bible tells us "to devote ourselves to Prayer". How do we do that?
One little girl threw one of her shoes under the bed before going to sleep. When her mom asked why, she replied, 'My Sunday school teacher said if I have to get down by my bed in the morning and look for my shoe, it'll remind me to say my prayers while I'm there.' If it helps, throw your shoe's under the bed! Prayer is the life force that sustains us spiritually. David wrote and we sang this song Sunday: 'As the deer pants for streams of water, so my soul pants for You...My soul thirsts for God, for the living God. When can I go and meet with God?' (Psalm 42:1-2 NIV) In his book, The Power and Blessing, Pastor Jack Hayford writes: 'I had gone on vacation, and I needed it! It was delightful to get to the beach. But about the fourth day...I found I was feeling empty inside. Then it occurred to me that for four days I hadn't read a word of Scripture, prayed a prayer or sung a song of praise. It was just kind of 'Let's get away from it all.' We were so involved with church that we didn't want to do anything 'godly' for a while. But suddenly I was called back by the inner hollowness I felt. Through that experience I learned that I can't recover at a physical or emotional level, if I neglect the spiritual level.' The Bible says: 'Devote yourselves to prayer, keeping alert in it with an attitude of thanksgiving.' Only when you've spent time in God's presence and drawn strength from Him, will you be equal to the challenges you face on any given day.
'...Your faith has made you well.' Luke 17:19 NKJVGood Morning,
It doesn't get any better than 50 some degrees in December. I was reading out Psalms this morning in 130:5 "I wait for the Lord my soul waits, and in his word I put my hope". That reading so encouraged me and lifted my faith today. It is through His word that we see the promises He has for us to believe, to lift our faith. Luke records something special about faith: 'As He...passed through...Samaria...there met Him ten...lepers, who... lifted up their voices and said, 'Jesus, Master, have mercy on us!' So when He saw them, He said...'Go, show yourselves to the priests.' And so it was that as they went, they were cleansed.' (Luke 17:11-14 NKJV) In Christ's day lepers were social outcasts, so they lived together in a colony. But the problem is, you can't get well hanging around people who are as messed up as you are. That's why you need to bring the problem to Jesus. Notice the words, 'He passed through.' Jesus didn't go to the leper colony, He was just passing through. What do you do when you're losing your life, your family, your joy, your finances etc, and Jesus doesn't seem to be looking in your direction? You can get frustrated when it feels like He's blessing everybody but you, and wonder, 'Lord, when is my turn coming? I've served You faithfully, yet it seems like everybody else is the object of Your attention.' It's time to cry out, 'Jesus, have mercy on me!' Away with dignity and decorum, desperate people pray desperate prayers and God responds to their prayers. Notice, when Jesus was passing by these lepers they did not shout, 'Unclean,' as the law required. No, they broke protocol. When you're in a bad situation, sometimes you have to break out in order to break through. You've got to do what David did: 'I cried to the Lord with my voice, and He heard me from His holy hill.' (Psalm 3:4 NJKV) Come on, if you want an answer, put your faith to work!
'...Your faith has made you well.' Luke 17:19 NKJVGood Morning,
You get the two for one deal today. I make up these devotions for future use and grabbed the wrong one. Oh well I know you'll enjoy one from the past. Maybe one of you needed to hear that today and if that's so...please e-mail me and let me know. I pray that these touch you're lives everyday they are sent. Not enough coffee in the system but here we go again. The Syrian army had surrounded the city of Samaria and its population was dying of starvation. Having lived off scraps of bread that folks threw over the wall each day, four lepers quickly assessed that they were in trouble. They said, 'Why sit here until we die?' (2 Kings 7:3 TLB) So they went into the enemy's camp, only to discover God had worked a miracle, causing the Syrians to flee in terror, leaving behind them food, water and riches. What do we learn from these four lepers? When you put your faith into action, God will go to work on your behalf. But you have to rise up and say, 'If I'm going to die, I'm going to do it reaching for something, building something, going after something.' When it feels like you are down for the count of ten, you have to rise up and say, 'I shall not die, but live, and declare the works of the Lord.' (Psalm 118:17 NKJV) That kind of faith gets God's attention every time.When you get desperate enough you won't care who God uses, you'll be willing to receive any help He sends your way. Naaman the leper, a five-star general in the Syrian army, humbled himself and became willing to listen to a girl who washed dishes and made beds in his house. (That's because she had an answer from God!) He was even willing to dip seven times in the dirtiest river around, in order to come up clean. (2 Kings 5:1-19) Faith says, 'I don't care where I have to go, what I have to do or who I have to listen to, whatever God says, I'll do it.'
