Mission on the Home-Front

Week #2 was underway for Mission on the Home-Front. We were at Renee Kelley's home today with several men, and a couple teens, who did some much needed work there...

The two existing decks on the house were secured and a third was started. The frame-work was completed, and now it can be measured for the floor and the railings. Then, they got working on some railing for the steps to the basement...there were none before. That will be completed in the future as well.

Missions on the Home-Front will continue in the next two weeks...

Stay tuned for more updates!

And don't get caught sleeping on the job like Greg here...we need your help!

All-Mighty!

I have been trying to improve myself lately by expanding my vocabulary. So I have been recieving a word a day from dictionary.com to help me do just that. Words like panjandrum, turpitude and doof have been regularly coming to my e-mail and I have learned a few and can relate to a few too.

One particular word that made me immediately think of another was this...panacea. Panacea is a noun that is defined as "a remedy for all diseases, evils and problems; a universal medicine; a cure-all." You are probably thinking the same way I am. I immediately thought of Jesus being this world's PANACEA! He is the cure-all and universal medicine for all of man-kind's evils and diseases. Not just in the physical, but in the emotional, mental and even (and most importantly) the spiritual! He is the cure all for us with all of our deficiencies and failures...aren't you thankful? I know that I am!

Two Scriptures for your consideration...

Isaiah 53:3-5 - He was despised and forsaken of men, a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief; and like one from whom men hide their face, He was despised, and we did not esteem Him. [4] Surely our griefs He Himself bore, and our sorrows He carried; yet we ourselves esteemed Him stricken, smitten of God, and afflicted. [5] But He was pierced through for our transgressions, He was crushed for our iniquities; the chastening for our well-being fell upon Him, and by His scourging we are healed.
Ephesians 1:22-23 (NASB) And He put all things in subjection under His feet, and gave Him as head over all things to the church, [23] which is His body, the fulness of Him who fills all in all.

Jesus is our panacea!

He abrogated our moral turpitude so that we are now unabridged.

Blame it on ... myself?

It seems that in the society we live in today, the idea of blame is very accepted. We even hear it in Church all the time, "It's his fault I am like this. It's my job... It's my wife..." It seems that it is everyone elses fault that things go bad in our lives but our own. Excuses and blame - they are as old as Methuselah. Adam blamed Eve for his eating the apple; Eve blamed the serpent; and we blame Adam and Eve for our problems.
Today, the criminology world will tell us that people are a product of their society too. The same thing. It isn't little Johnny's fault that he stole from someone, his mother was mean to him. How silly does that sound? Very. True is that we become who we choose to become. We are what we choose to be. I gave illustration of this on Sunday by siting my own life - raised in a non-Christian home, and yet I am a pastor today. Make sense? Not really, but yet it does to me. Because I made the choices to be what I am today, in conjunction with Christ's working in me. Understand?
I happened to read this in Proverbs today. Proverbs 19:3 - "People ruin their lives by their own foolishness and then are angry at the Lord." Isn't that the truth? We make bad choices in life and try to blame it on everyone else. What's more is that people believe this stuff, but not God! He makes us face our own music and take responsibility for our actions. The truth is that we will one day too.
So, instead of blaming the world for your problems - take responsibility for your troubles and face up to the need to make some changes in your life. Don't be angry at God anymore, but instead come to Him for help to bring about changes in your life for the better. He won't make you change, but you can do it with the resource of His power being available to you to do so. 1 Corinthians 4:20 (NLT) - For the Kingdom of God is not just fancy talk; it is living by God's power!

JUST DO IT!

These are the words of Jesus in John 14:15 - "If you love Me, you will keep my commandments." As I read them, it made me flash back to yesterday's message I shared in the morning service...

Once again, the Lord laid another message on my heart during the Worship Service, and instead of preaching what I had prepared, I shared from the book of Acts in second half of chapter 5. This is where the disciples are preaching, and once again placed into prison. BUT, an angel of the Lord came and opened the prison doors for them to get out and begin to preach once again in the streets. The next the Sadducees knew of these guys was when they were actually preaching. Very cool!

My poin that I wanted to make with this passage of Scripture was in regard to how we get put into a common prison, just like the apostles were; but not because we are standing up for the Lord, but by the bad choices of our lives. We "christians" sometimes get caught up with the things of this world and the appetites of the flesh and what begins to happen is that we find ourselves bound up in a prison with no witness, when we should be outside the Church walls sharing the Gospel of Jesus with others who need to hear.

Now - everyone agreed that we want to see the world come to know Jesus as Savior...and everyone also agreed that we are supposed to be the ones doing it. The trouble is that we get side-tracked. So we have to determine to stay focused and win some victories over the enemy who so easily entangles us in his traps.

Listen, I am a very "black and white" type of guy. What I mean by that is that if we say we are going to live for Christ, and be a witness, then we just must do it. Nothing frustrates me more than to see a "Christian" sit and struggle and strive in their sin when they know they should not be in it in the first place. Does anyone agree with me. If that is so, then we better "turn right, and go straight" as they say. As my Assistant Pastor says all the time to me, using the Nike slogan, "Just Do It!" And we must...

Which brings me back, full circle to John 14:15 - "If you love me???" That really could stand to be the question, couldn't it? Do we love Him? Are we really in this for Christ, or just so we don't end up in hell? We have to ask ourselves these questions sometime!!! Ask youself even now..."do I love Him?" Then, if you say you do...then, keep His commandments!

Blessings to you, and keep your head in the fight! Fight faithfully! Semper Fi!

MISSION on the HOME-FRONT

Matthew 22:37-39 tells us this...You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind. [38] This is the great and foremost commandment. [39] The second is like it, You shall love your neighbor as yourself.
With these few verses in mind, it has been an ambition of mine to see our Church be involved in helping others in our own area. We have taken three missions trip to the Gulf Coast area to help the victims of the infamous Hurricane Katrina, and we have loved it and know it is the right thing to do. However, I have always felt that we ought to be involved with people right around us in PA too. Now, my dream has finally come to pass. This weekend our Youth Group kicked it off by helping a widow in our Church get her lawn raked and seeded so that it would not be full of rocks and weeds. They are doing a great job! I am so proud.
We are going to continue to help by having a group of men go over next week and begin to secure a couple decks, build a new one and install some light fixtures. Then, in the coming weeks we hope to put up some insulation and other things too. Hopefully this will spill over into other people's homes and lives.
Plus, what I am trusting to see is that while we are a blessing to this mother of three, we will in turn, be blessed by serving. That is what it is all about...helping, serving, and blessing others! Jesus did it when He fed the 5,000 didn't He?
Now, let me throw one other verse in for good measure...Matthew 7:12 - Therefore, however you want people to treat you, so treat them, for this is the Law and the Prophets. Just as Matthew 22:37-39 wraps up the whole Law, some 600 Jewish laws; Matthew 7:12 encompasses them all. All would agree that it is a great principle to live by. Give it a whirl! That is what we are doing!

Who do you chauffeur around?

Please don't be offended by this joke I came across, but I thought it was great - plus, it has a great point if we want to see it.

Billy Graham was returning to Charlotte after a speaking engagement and when his plane arrived there was a limousine there to transport him to his home.

As he prepared to get into the limo, he stopped and spoke to the driver. "You know" he said, "I am 87 years old and I have never driven a limousine. Would you mind if I drove it for a while?" The driver said, "No problem. Have at it." Billy gets into the driver's seat and they head off down the highway.

A short distance away sat a rookie State Trooper operating his first speed trap. The long black limo went by him doing 70 in a 55 mph zone. The trooper pulled out and easily caught the limo and he got out of his patrol car to begin the procedure.

The young trooper walked up to the driver's door and when the glass was rolled down, he was surprised to see who was driving. He immediately excused himself and went back to his car and called his supervisor.

He told the supervisor, "I know we are supposed to enforce the law... But I also know that important people are given certain courtesies. I need to know what I should do because I have stopped a very important person." The supervisor asked, "Is it the governor?" The young trooper said, " No, he's more important than that." The supervisor said, "Oh, so it's the president." The young trooper said, "No, he's even more important than that.

The supervisor finally asked, "Well then, who is it?" The young trooper said, "I think it's Jesus, because he's got Billy Graham for a chauffeur!"

I know, it may be a little corny, but it does have a great point. It was because of who Billy Graham was that made the officer believe Jesus was there in the back. Which makes me contemplate just who would people believe you or I am chauffeuring around if we were there. The hope is that Jesus would be assumed too.

It is like that old saying which was so popular some years back, "If you we accused of being a Christian, would there be enough evidence to prove it?"

Matthew 5:16, Let your light so shine before men that they will see your good works and glorify your Father in Heaven.

Be Encouraged!

One of my Board Members said this a few weeks ago, and I haven't been able to forget it since he said it. It is pretty cool...

Don't break down, break through!

Be encouraged to press through and gain victory over that which wants to gain victory over you. Remember that we are more than conquerors through Christ Jesus our Lord!

Looking Ahead!

It seems that I have been dealing with people a lot lately who have trouble with looking on their past and allowing it to hold them down. Now, I know that there should be a fair amount of remourse for our sins, but we should not be condemned by it - especially if it is under the blood. Romans 8 tells us that there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ! For as much as the enemy/devil/satan would love to condemn you with your sins and horrible deeds of the past, you MUST not stay focused on it. In fact, you have to look forward to your future in the Lord!
Paul put it like this, Philippians 3:13 - Brethren, I do not regard myself as having laid hold of it yet; but one thing I do: forgetting what lies behind and reaching forward to what lies ahead. We too, have to forget the past and press on towards what lies ahead of us. Another warning of sorts is in Luke 17:32, which says, Remember Lot's wife. Why? Well, she looked back and should not have. She let the past bring death to her life, and if we look back, we only do the same thing - die. Because satan will use it as leverage against us. And, even though we have already been forgiven and set free from it because of the work of Jesus on the Cross, we (by looking back) are overwhelmed with it and are condemned!
I have heard it put like this... You can't drive your car forward by looking in your rear-view mirror. How practical is that? You have to look straight ahead! So - LOOK AHEAD!
Hebrews 12:2 - fixing our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of faith, who for the joy set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.

Stay Sharp!

I came across this short story that makes a great point. Let me know what you think...

Two lumberjacks challenged each other to an eight-hour woodchopping contest.
The first contestant chopped for hours on end, taking only a ten-minute lunch.
The second challenger chopped at a steady pace but took several breaks throughout the day, including a long lunch.
At the end of eight hours, the first lumberjack was irritated to discover that his opponent had chopped more wood than he had.
"How did that happen?" questioned the first lumberjack.
His challenger smiled and replied, "Every time I took a break, I sharpened my ax."

So the question that needs to be asked is, "Are you working harder or smarter?"

It seems that we sometimes work fevorishly to do for the Lord, and we forget to pray and seek His face. Then we wonder why we have little to no response. Have we been working too hard? Have we forgotten to be smart? By that I mean, that we have to remember this is God's deal, and He is the one who makes this all happen anyhow, not us. So we have to, and must, lean upon Him to accomplish the work. Our might will never work.

Zechariah 4:6 - "Not by might, nor by power, but by My Spirit says the Lord!"

Reconciliation!

As I have briefly mentioned in the last blog, we are holding "revival" meetings in our Church this week with Evangelist Carl Harris. I must say that God is doing some beautiful things in these meetings. One word to sum it all up is this, RECONCILIATION!
What we are experiencing and seeing take place is just what we read of in I Corinthians 5:18 & 19..."All this newness of life is from God, who brought us back to himself through what Christ did. And God has given us the task of reconciling people to him. For God was in Christ, reconciling the world to himself, no longer counting people's sins against them. This is the wonderful message he has given us to tell others." NLT
Now, I know that there was an original reconciliation that took place when we were first saved, we were accepted and brought back into fellowship with the Lord. However, it seems that God also is doing a restorative work of drawing in people who have lived on the fringe for so long. No longer do they have to live that way though. God is revealing Himself to them and they are being fast-forwarded into an intimate relationship with Him like when they first came to Him. Which reminds me of one other verse...Joel 2:25 - "Then I will make up to you for the years that the swarming locust has eaten..." NASB Again, God restored and reconciles, amen?!

Let me tell you, it is like seeing the pieces of a puzzle come back together in the lives of people once again. Awesome! And that is something that only the power of a loving God can do through the power of the Holy Spirit. That is why we still need the Holy Spirit today - and that is why He is still here working on this earth today too.

Let me tell you, if you are in need of restoration and reconciliation, simply call upon the Lord, and you will find Him, and He can do the same in you...

What a summer!

Wow! What a summer it has been. It seems that it has just flown by with a flurry of activity. We had a week of revival in DuBois, PA where several churches joined together to seek God, and I was able to speak one night on the subject of the Holy Spirit. The local Ministerium hosted a great outreach with Steve Carrier from The Power Team in conjuction with our County Fair. A great praise the Lord to that weekend because about 200 people made commitments to live for Jesus Christ. Then, we also went on a missions trip to New Orleans with 21 of our people. Can anyone say "too busy?" I can.
With all that happening, my family and I were able to go to Plymouth, MA for a few days and enjoy a whale watch and I got to go deep sea fishing. Fun!
With all that said, I am currently trying to just get back to a normal cadence, and also hold a week of revival services with Evangelist Carl Harris - this week. Yesterday was a great day in God's house too. It is great to see people hear from God and then respond to Him. A lot of that was happening, thank God. Looking forward to more of it as the services continue...
Well, I have got to run - always busy - but I will try to get more regular here once again. Phew! LOL!