Wednesday, March 23, 2011
Something to think about.
Faith is not receiving from Jesus what we want, it’s accepting from Him what we get. Adrian Rodgers.
Pastor's Corner
for Sunday March 27th
He will get you to the other side.
Jesus said to his disciples, “Let’s cross to the other side of the lake.” (Mark 4:35) It had been a busy day for Jesus and so he soon fell asleep in the boat and a fierce storm arose and the disciples fearing that they would drown urgently woke Jesus saying, “Teacher, don’t you even care that we are going to drown?” Well, Jesus got up and calmed to storm and everyone felt a lot happier. The daily devotion “streams in the desert” makes two important points about this story that I would like to share with you. The first is that though these disciples were obeying Jesus clear instruction to cross the lake they ran into a life threatening storm! How often are we not puzzled by similar circumstances in our lives? We hear God clear instruction; we are obeying His clear teaching and next thing we know we are in the midst of a fierce storm that threatens to destroy us, and we wonder “Why is God allowing this to happen?! I’m doing what He wants! I just don’t understand.” And, we may even feel that this “obedience” thing just doesn’t work. Perhaps God is testing us to see if we obey Him so that life will be easy or because He is God and worthy of our obedience. Perhaps it’s a time of faith building. There are many possible explanations, but what ever happens, keep trusting!
The second thing we can draw from this story is that Jesus said “cross to the other side” not, “go into the middle and drown”! Jesus has a destiny for us and it’s not drowning in the middle, it’s reaching the other side! So no matter how frightening things may become know this: He will get you to the other side!
Pastor Don
He will get you to the other side.
Jesus said to his disciples, “Let’s cross to the other side of the lake.” (Mark 4:35) It had been a busy day for Jesus and so he soon fell asleep in the boat and a fierce storm arose and the disciples fearing that they would drown urgently woke Jesus saying, “Teacher, don’t you even care that we are going to drown?” Well, Jesus got up and calmed to storm and everyone felt a lot happier. The daily devotion “streams in the desert” makes two important points about this story that I would like to share with you. The first is that though these disciples were obeying Jesus clear instruction to cross the lake they ran into a life threatening storm! How often are we not puzzled by similar circumstances in our lives? We hear God clear instruction; we are obeying His clear teaching and next thing we know we are in the midst of a fierce storm that threatens to destroy us, and we wonder “Why is God allowing this to happen?! I’m doing what He wants! I just don’t understand.” And, we may even feel that this “obedience” thing just doesn’t work. Perhaps God is testing us to see if we obey Him so that life will be easy or because He is God and worthy of our obedience. Perhaps it’s a time of faith building. There are many possible explanations, but what ever happens, keep trusting!
The second thing we can draw from this story is that Jesus said “cross to the other side” not, “go into the middle and drown”! Jesus has a destiny for us and it’s not drowning in the middle, it’s reaching the other side! So no matter how frightening things may become know this: He will get you to the other side!
Pastor Don
Wednesday, March 16, 2011
Something to think about.
When we do that which is hard, life becomes easy. When we do that which is easy, life becomes hard.
Pastor's Corner
for Sunday March 20th
No Grave Deep Enough
Did you hear about the man who was about to be rescued after spending a long time ship-wrecked on a tiny deserted island. The sailor in charge of the rescue team stepped onto the beach and handed the man a stack of newspapers. "Compliments of the Captain," the sailor said. "He would like you to glance at the headlines to see if you'd still like to be rescued!" I can relate! Sometimes the headlines make us feel that evil is winning. It seems that every week some high official or prominent person is caught in a scandal and it would seem that the majority of people don’t care! Christian ministries are being shut down. Things we as Christians took for granted are being challenged every day. It can become quite discouraging. But then we remember, we believe that Jesus rose from the dead! Every time we take communion we are reminded that there was no grave deep enough, no seal imposing enough, no stone heavy enough, no evil strong enough to keep our Savior in the grave. He is risen! And we are more than conquerors through Him!
Pastor Don.
No Grave Deep Enough
Did you hear about the man who was about to be rescued after spending a long time ship-wrecked on a tiny deserted island. The sailor in charge of the rescue team stepped onto the beach and handed the man a stack of newspapers. "Compliments of the Captain," the sailor said. "He would like you to glance at the headlines to see if you'd still like to be rescued!" I can relate! Sometimes the headlines make us feel that evil is winning. It seems that every week some high official or prominent person is caught in a scandal and it would seem that the majority of people don’t care! Christian ministries are being shut down. Things we as Christians took for granted are being challenged every day. It can become quite discouraging. But then we remember, we believe that Jesus rose from the dead! Every time we take communion we are reminded that there was no grave deep enough, no seal imposing enough, no stone heavy enough, no evil strong enough to keep our Savior in the grave. He is risen! And we are more than conquerors through Him!
Pastor Don.
Tuesday, March 8, 2011
Pastor's Corner
for Sunday March 13th
All things means ALL THINGS!
Rom 8:28 tells us that “we know that in ALL things God works for the good of those who love him.” All things means ALL THINGS! Everything that affects the life of the believer is under God’s control and therefore is a part of His will for us. That is a hard truth to get our minds around sometimes because we are much more willing to attribute the pleasant events of our life to the hand of God than we are the painful experiences.
We find it difficult to believe that an act of deliberate cruelty intended by the offender to hurt us is really being used by God for our good. If we are to take Paul literally, included in the “all things” are those painful experiences we face; it includes the sin of others and our own sins too. “All things” means there is nothing which falls outside of God’s control and which works contrary to our good. How do we know that this is true? Because we see it demonstrated in the crucifixion of Jesus – here God takes the raw evil of Satan working through the hands of sinful men and turns it into the greatest “good”. That all who put their trust in Jesus will have eternal life! If God can turn that evil on its head the bad stuff in your life is a piece of cake!
Pastor Don.
All things means ALL THINGS!
Rom 8:28 tells us that “we know that in ALL things God works for the good of those who love him.” All things means ALL THINGS! Everything that affects the life of the believer is under God’s control and therefore is a part of His will for us. That is a hard truth to get our minds around sometimes because we are much more willing to attribute the pleasant events of our life to the hand of God than we are the painful experiences.
We find it difficult to believe that an act of deliberate cruelty intended by the offender to hurt us is really being used by God for our good. If we are to take Paul literally, included in the “all things” are those painful experiences we face; it includes the sin of others and our own sins too. “All things” means there is nothing which falls outside of God’s control and which works contrary to our good. How do we know that this is true? Because we see it demonstrated in the crucifixion of Jesus – here God takes the raw evil of Satan working through the hands of sinful men and turns it into the greatest “good”. That all who put their trust in Jesus will have eternal life! If God can turn that evil on its head the bad stuff in your life is a piece of cake!
Pastor Don.
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