The Power of Perseverance (2)

'...We shall reap if we do not lose heart.' Galatians 6:9 NKJV

Good morning,

I want to encourage you today not to give up. There's a awesome story, really it's a legend about a soldier being court-martialed before Alexander the Great. Believing the verdict was unjust, the soldier asked to appeal it. The conqueror informed him that there was no one higher to whom he could plead his case. 'In that case,' the soldier replied, 'I appeal my case from Alexander the Small to Alexander the Great.' In each of us there is a lesser self and a greater self struggling for supremacy. Your lesser self says, 'Not enough people believe in me. I'll never make it.' Your greater self says, 'My faith in God and in myself is enough; I can make it.' Your lesser self says, 'It's taking too long to realize my dream.' Your greater self says, 'Dreams are realized one day at a time.' Your lesser self says, 'Enough is enough! I've taken too many hits.' Your greater self says, 'I've come too far to give up now.' Your lesser self says, 'I don't have the strength to hold on to my dream.' Your greater self says, 'Hold on a little longer; the darkest hour is just before the dawn.' After speaking about being shipwrecked, stoned, imprisoned, betrayed, hungry, thirsty, sleepless, cold and naked, Paul, who was resolute in his purpose and relentless in the pursuit of it, writes: 'Who is weak, and I am not weak...' (2 Corinthians 11:29 NKJV) Where does that kind of strength and tenacity come from? God! The assignment God gives you will never be greater than the grace He provides. I understand this all to well. When I was a young man just starting out in ministry this was like the battle going on for whom I was to become. "We shall reap if we do not lose heart" Galatians 6:9 So draw on His strength, keep pressing ahead, pursue your goal and you will prevail. You are loved...

PS.. Invite a friend this weekend to service. It may just change someone's life...

THE POWER OF PERSEVERANCE (1)

'Let us not grow weary while doing good.' Galatians 6:9
I thought what a better way to warm you up to my message this weekend on being "Walking Sermons" than to share a few thoughts on doing good. One of the great themes of the Bible is-perseverance. Paul, who refused to quit, wrote: 'Let us not grow weary while doing good, for in due season we shall reap if we do not lose heart.' Ralph Waldo Emerson said, 'The great majority of men are bundles of beginnings.' Are you merely a starter, or are you also a finisher? When the enthusiasm for a new idea fades, when the odds against you increase and the results diminish, when it looks as if success is impossible, you must keep forging ahead. One of the stories Amy and I are going to share Sunday is something that happened in the parking lot after service last week. We had a Holy Spirit party in the parking lot. But No matter what happens in life keep going! Admiral Robert Peary attempted to reach the North Pole seven times before he finally succeeded. Oscar Hammerstein produced five shows on Broadway that were flops before staging Oklahoma, which was seen by almost five million people during a record-breaking run of 2,212 performances. Quitting is more about who you are, than where you are or what you're up against. We all have our excuses. The truth is, external things don't stop us; it's what happens to us on the inside! Most of us stop ourselves from reaching our potential. We can pretend that people, things, and situations outside of ourselves are to blame, but in reality most failures are just the result of a lack of bulldog-like tenacity. Leonardo da Vinci said, 'Obstacles cannot crush me. Every obstacle yields to stern resolve. He who is fixed on a star, does not change his mind.' You must have a mindset to tenaciously pursue your dream. The only guarantee for failure is to stop trying. There is no insurmountable barrier, except your own inherent lack of purpose and persistence. So don't give up. God doesn't on you! Just a update on Josh Keever. He went home from the hospital yesterday with lots of bumps and bruises, but nothing else wrong with him. Praise God! The officer who was at the scene said if the person had been going 5 miles faster it would have been a different outcome. God is our protector! Thank you Lord for protecting Josh and making him a walking testimony to your goodness....amen

Keep Your Sense of Gratitude

'...Forget not all His benefits.' Psalm 103:2 NKJV

Wow is all we could say as we rushed to the hospital. We had just gotten a call from the Keever family that their son Josh had just got hit by a car. If you are a parent you know the feeling we had for Brad and Carrie. That feeling of pain and compassion for them as they rushed from work wondering how their son was. So we prayed and gave thanks to God that he would take of Josh and that his will be done. Pastor why give thanks? This situation was in His control anyway, why not thank him for the outcome. We believed that Josh would be ok and that our Gods name would be glorified as to Josh's recovery. What a testimony in this young mans life that when all the tests came back...not a broken bone or internal injury as I write this. Yes he will be very sore and very bruised and the recovery will take some time. But to Gods glory he's alive and well. That's why we can't lose site of our gratitude to God in how he takes care of us in every situation. In life when we lose that sense of gratitude for what God does for us, we lose site of the big picture. Author Philip Yancey writes, 'remember my first visit to Old Faithful in Yellowstone National Park, rings of...tourists surrounded the geyser... A large, digital clock stood beside the spot, predicting...the next eruption. My wife and I passed the countdown in the dining room of Old Faithful Inn... When the geyser went off, we tourists oohed and aahed and clicked our cameras; a few spontaneously applauded. But, glancing back...I saw that not one single waiter or busboy...looked out the huge windows. Old Faithful, grown entirely too familiar, had lost its power to impress them.' So here's the question: Why do we lose our sense of gratitude and begin to overlook God's goodness and protection in our lives?

For three reasons:

(1) Problems. If you close one eye and hold a coin close enough to your other eye, you can actually block out the light of the sun. Getting the point?
(2) Pressures. Sometimes the perks we thought would bring us pleasure end up wearing us down.
(3) People. When they disappoint us we turn sour and forget all that God has done for us. What's the solution? 'The unfailing love of the Lord never ends...Great is His faithfulness; His mercies begin afresh each morning.' (Lamentations 3:22-23 NLT) God's mercies begin each morning, and your gratitude should too. Indeed, your days should be saturated in it. Continual gratitude comes from looking beyond your blessings to their unfailing source, the Lord. His love, His faithfulness and His mercy are already at work when your eyes open each day. You are loved!

Trust God's Word, Not Your Feelings

'He...was strengthened in faith...' Romans 4:20 NKJV

Ever been in a place where you didn't know what to do? Your feelings are saying one thing but deep inside your spirit you know you shouldn't be trusting your feelings in this situation? Have you read the story of Isaac blessing his two sons when he was old, almost blind, and nearing death (Genesis 27)? When Jacob, the younger son, wanted his older brother Esau's part of the family inheritance, which was twice as much (Deuteronomy 15:17), his mother Rebekah helped him steal it. Here's how she did it. Esau was hairy and Jacob had smooth skin. So Rebekah wrapped Jacob's arms and neck in goat hair and gave him some of Esau's clothes to wear. When Jacob went in to his ageing father pretending to be Esau, his father asked him to come near so that he could feel him. His father told him that he sounded like Jacob but he felt like Esau, so he decided to trust what he felt over what he heard. As a result, he gave the birthright that was destined for his firstborn, Esau, to his second-born son, Jacob. Bottom line: he was deceived by what he felt. Now we know God was at work in all this. But the point here is, you can't always trust your feelings because they don't always line up with God's Word and they can deceive you. You say, 'I got my feelings hurt so I haven't spoken to my family in over a year.' Get over it! Learn to forgive. Refuse to remain offended. Practice love. If you let feelings rule your life they will mess you up. Feelings are like spoiled children: the more you indulge them the more they will control you. You shouldn't suppress your feelings or deny them, but you must not be led by them. Learn to trust God and his word and watch what happens! You are loved...

Total Deliverance

'...the smell of fire was not on them.' Daniel 3:27 NKJV

Thanks team for a wonderful day yesterday. I pray you received the word openly and allowed God to speak to you. It was hard to speak on the subject of Idols. We don't necessarily think of the different things we could put first before our relationship with Jesus Christ. You could right now be in one of the biggest battles of your life and not have God first. How can that happen? Wouldn't we just Go to Him first? We should but we don't always do what we should do. This morning I want to speak to you about deliverance. Having problems? Deliverance is when God brings you out of a fiery trial that was meant to destroy you; whatever you are struggling with right now. Total deliverance is when, like the three Hebrew children, He brings you out without even the smell of smoke on you. You see, it's possible to be delivered but still be 'damaged.' You can hear it in what a person says. They speak only of the past because they stopped living at a certain point. They survived the trauma, but because they haven't dealt with it the right way they constantly refer back to it. When they talk, part of them is still 'in the fire'. Now we are not talking about some 'quick fix,' or a 'one size fits all' form of healing. Your temperament, your faith level, and the depth of your pain at the time are all determining factors in how long it takes to recover and become whole. But this much is clear: whatever was binding the three Hebrew children when they went into the fiery furnace, wasn't binding them when they came out of it. And that's what God wants to do for you too. Does that mean you're not supposed to talk about what you've been through? No, but don't talk like a victim, talk like a victor! David said: 'He also brought me up out of a horrible pit (the past)...and set my feet upon a rock (the present)...He has put a new song in my mouth-praise to our God; many will see it and fear, and will trust in the Lord.' (the future) (Psalm 40:2-3 NKJV) Your experience may be old, but your song will be new. So sing! You are loved...

Building Up Your Faith (2)

'...Building yourselves up on your...faith...' Jude 1:20 NKJV

I got up this morning with a song in my heart, opened the window and what do I see? Snow...I wanted to get all goofy and start saying the snow is of the devil and all that stuff. But I surprised myself and spoke a word of faith instead. It's just snow and so what if it's cold out. Learning to build yourself up when little annoyances pop up that really irritate you takes a change in your thought pattern. In Jude 1:20 this word 'building' is an architectural term that means to renovate. It implies tearing down what's not working for you and building up what will. When you don't understand that, you are left to believe that whatever life has handed you is just the way it is, and you have to take it. You'd be surprised at the number of people who go to church every week just to get a word to help them survive. They sing about faith and talk about it. But when you ask them, 'How are you doing?' they say, 'I'm just hanging on. I'm just hoping I can make it through.' Yes, there are times when that will truly be the case. But that should be the exception, not the rule. The Bible says, '...we are more than conquerors...' (Romans 8:37 NKJV) To be a conqueror means to fight a battle and win it. But to be more than a conqueror means to win a battle-without even having to fight it. Jesus has already fought and won the battle for you. And today He is saying, '...I give...you power...over all the power of the enemy: and nothing shall by any means hurt you.' (Luke 10:19 NKJV) You say, 'How do I get this power?' Jude says we can access this power for living by '...praying in the Holy Spirit.' (v20) And you can do it anywhere: in your car on the way to work, on your treadmill or even in your bathroom. You just need a place where you can be alone with God, praying and reading His Word, building up your faith. So go for it and see what God can do in your life. You are loved...

Building Up Your Faith (1)

'...Building yourselves up on your...faith...' Jude 1:20 NKJV

Are you ready for something big in your life? Its a great day today, rain and all, to be encouraged or to be a encouragement to someone who needs it. Many of us struggle in the area of our faith. Look at what the apostle Jude writes, 'But you, beloved, building yourselves up on your most holy faith, praying in the Holy Spirit.' Jude places the responsibility of building yourself up spiritually and strengthening your faith where it belongs-squarely on you. There are two kinds of faith: mechanical faith and intentional faith. Each time you flip on a light switch you're exercising mechanical faith. But when you face the unknown, the untried and the undone, you need intentional faith-faith that believes God to do '...exceedingly abundantly above all that [you] ask or think...' (Ephesians 3:20 NKJV) If you're proactive, your faith will grow. If you're passive, it won't. Like the action of water rushing against a riverbank, there's an erosion of faith that comes simply from living every day. If you don't do anything to secure and strengthen your faith it begins to deteriorate. Christ told the church at Ephesus to remember the heights from which they had fallen (Revelation 2:5). What a strange thing to say! If you fell from a significant height, don't you think you'd remember it? Not if the fall was so gradual that you didn't notice it. So ask yourself: 'Have those who know me best begun to notice the gleam has gone out of my eye, the joy out of my step, the peace out of my spirit and the Word of God out of my conversation?' Faith is like a muscle; if you don't exercise it consistently it will atrophy and become powerless. So the Thought for you today is: '...Strengthen the things which remain, that are ready to die...' (Revelation 3:2 NKJV) and watch Christ work in your life and build your faith! You are loved...