Archive for May, 2009
Jeremiah 32:17-19 Ah Lord GOD! behold, thou hast made the heaven and the earth by thy great power and stretched out arm, and there is nothing too hard for thee: Thou shewest lovingkindness unto thousands, and recompensest the iniquity of the fathers into the bosom of their children after them: the Great, the Mighty God, the LORD of hosts, is his name, Great in counsel, and mighty in work: for thine eyes are open upon all the ways of the sons of men: to give every one according to his ways, and according to the fruit of his doings
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Jeremiah prays and notice how he begins his prayer. It is a lesson for all of us. He recognizes God by His name-Lord God. Then he recognizes the power of God. He has made the heaven and the earth. There is nothing too hard for Him.
He is a God of mercy and lovingkindness.
He is a judge that gives people what they deserve for their wickedness.
He is great in counsel and mighty in work.
He watches all the ways of His children to give them according to their ways.
When we pray if we would recognize who we are praying to then that might change the way we talk to Him. Do we have this awe and respect for Him? Do we believe that He is the creator of it all? Do we really believe that He always does right? Do we believe that He is the judge? Do we believe that He is watching everything that we do? He knows our thoughts and our hearts? He is God!
Prayer is more than a spiritual exercise. He is God. He can hear and do anything. I humbly come before Him today with all of my petitions knowing that He is great and can hear and answer. I will trust Him.
May 31 2009 | Daily Devos | No Comments »
Jeremiah 29:11 For I know the thoughts that I think toward you, saith the LORD, thoughts of peace, and not of evil, to give you an expected end.
God is in the midst of disciplining Israel. They have violated His principles and are feeling His anger. Yet in the midst of that discourse about their punishment a wonderful truth bursts forth on the scene.
God says that He knows what He is thinking of them. He has great plans for their lives. There is an expected, promised, and prophesied end. He will accomplish His purposes with them.
His thoughts are not evil or anger etc. He has thoughts of peace.
Even in the midst of suffering for their mistakes He says, you need to know what is on my mind about you. I love you. I have plans for your life. I do not want to harm you or see you harmed. I am not planning evil for you. I have thoughts of peace.
What a promise! Though He said this to Israel we know that this and more is the promise to us as His children. We are in Christ. All things work together for good to us. Romans 8:28-29.
What are you going through today? What is happening? Do you feel abandoned? Do you feel like God is against you? If you are born again then you can rest assured that this is not true. You must think on the right things. Philippians 4:8. You must know that He loves you. He has thoughts of peace for you.
So though it is easier preaching than it is living I encourage you right now to know that He knows what He is going to do. It is good and not evil. He has an expected end for us. He will work things out for our good. Someday we will praise Him for what He is doing right now!
He is thinking good things about you. We will be victorious in this too!
May 30 2009 | Daily Devos | No Comments »
Dear Vision
I am excited about all that God has planned for us here today. We recognize our graduates in this bulletin and so I hope you will take the time to congratulate each one of them. This afternoon we have our quarterly youth service. The entire service will be under the direction of Pastor Trent Cornwell and the youth. It has been a great blessing to all each and every time. I am really looking forward to being in this service.
Also tonight we will be having our Master Club recognition service. Things start at 5:20 p.m. so you do not want to be late. The guys have lots of special things planned so pay attention during the announcements today. This week is our Vacation Bible School. The lessons and all the materials were prepared by our own team so our VBS will be unlike any other VBS anywhere. I hope you will work at getting children to come and be with us.
This morning we look at the idea of Always Looking Unto Jesus! This is the key to everything in your life. It is the key to salvation. It is the key to a victorious life. I know you want that so please join in and worship as we study the Scriptures today.
David and Katie Gardner will be leaving for the field of Peru this Tuesday. They are missionaries out of our church. I hope you will pray for them and love them. Though this is going home for David in many ways it is a giant step for Katie and she will need every friend and encouragement she can get. Please pray for them Tuesday as they travel and then hit the ground running doing a medical clinic in the Lima area before even getting to their home.
Again I thank you for all you do. I thank you for your prayers. I thank you for your loyal service and love for our Lord. Summer is here and I thank you for being faithful to be in your place in His house, service and worship. God bless each of you.
Austin
May 30 2009 | Pastor's Desk | No Comments »
Our very own young people will be in charge of the service here on Sunday evening. Pastor Trent Cornwell and our teens will be in charge of the service.
They do this every fifth Sunday night. I have not heard anything but raving complements from our people about these evenings. So mark your calendar and set your watch. You will enjoy this Sunday evening.
Also we will be having the awards ceremony for Master Clubs. Get more information from Pastor Trent on what you can do to be involved and to help.
This next week Robert Canfield will be heading up our Vacation Bible School. It looks to be an exciting time. Are you involved? Is there something you could do to help? Should you look up someone and see what you could do?
May 29 2009 | General | No Comments »
Jeremiah 23:32 Behold, I am against them that prophesy false dreams, saith the LORD, and do tell them, and cause my people to err by their lies, and by their lightness; yet I sent them not, nor commanded them: therefore they shall not profit this people at all, saith the LORD.
God was so tired of prophets that were telling whatever they thought up and not what He said. The prophets claimed to have a dreamed a dream. He said that they were prophets of the deceit of their own hearts. They didn’t get their message from God. They got their message from their own hearts. Jeremiah 23:25-26
This is a common problem today. It is not that easy to spot because the question comes does the preacher come to the Bible with the idea that he wants to preach or does he preach what the Bible says.
I have been guilty of having a good idea and looking for Bible to support it. As you sit in the pew you need to take notes. You need to keep an open Bible in front of you. You need to see and ask yourself, Is he saying what the Bible says, what he puts there, or what I would like to hear?
God wants His Word spoken faithfully. We do not need to be so creative or clever. His Word is all we need. We need to work at understanding it. We need to work at communicating what it says. Jeremiah 23:28
God questions, Is not my Word like a fire, a hammer, etc.?
We do not need to treat the Word disrespectfully. We do not need to take it lightly or flippantly. They need a preacher that will stand and clearly say what the Bible says.
This costs us as preachers and you as hearers. It is much easier to listen to a stand up comic. It is much easier to listen to pop psychology. It is much easier to prepare for that as well.
I know that many preachers have abused expository preaching making it very boring. I know that they have used it to be lazy. But God wants His Word proclaimed faithfully. He doesn’t want it taken lightly.
I challenge you to become a student of the Word of God. I challenge you to allow God to work in your life through His Word.
May 29 2009 | Daily Devos | 1 Comment »
A little girl asked her mother, “How did the human race appear?”
The mother answered, “God made Adam and Eve and they had children and then all mankind was made.”
Two days later the girl asked her father the same question.
The father answered, “Many years ago there were apes, which evolved into monkeys, from which the human race evolved.”
The confused girl returned to her mother and said, “Mom, how is it possible that you told me the human race was created by God, and Dad said they developed from apes?”
The mother answered, “Well, dear, it is very simple. I told you about my side of the family, and your father told you about his.”
source
May 29 2009 | Joke | No Comments »
Betty sent me this. Still trying to figure out what she means by it!
May 28 2009 | General | No Comments »
Jeremiah 20:9 Then I said, I will not make mention of him, nor speak any more in his name. But his word was in mine heart as a burning fire shut up in my bones, and I was weary with forbearing, and I could not stay.
Jeremiah had gotten discouraged. He was mocked because he was a man of God. It seemed that nothing was going his way. He decided to quit preaching. But then it happened. He found out that the Word of God was deep inside of Him and that it had such power that he was unable to contain it.
I ask you the question. Have you gotten the Word of God into you? Do you spend time each day reading it? Do you memorize verses? Do you meditate on the Scriptures? Do you try to put them into practice each day?
Our relationship with God is based so much on our relationship with His Word. If you do not take time to be together with someone you will rarely develop a very good relationship. When you want to know more about God, the Lord Jesus, the Holy Spirit, you spend time in the Word. When you want to have God work in your life you spend time in the World.
Could I challenge you to set aside 5 minutes minimum each day to spend with God in His Word? With only 15 minutes a day you can finish reading the entire Bible in one year! 5 minutes is at least a starting place.
Get you a verse and memorize it. Then think about what it says. Then think of ways you can put it into practice. Let the Bible become a part of your everyday.
Be careful because it is like a burning fire. It will not be contained. It will consume you and all those around you!
May 28 2009 | Daily Devos | No Comments »
That will be the title of the message for this Thursday night. As I sit here studying I came across a great quote from John MacArthur:
If we do not understand our problems as being discipline that the Lord sends for our good, we cannot profit from them as He intends. Our reactions cannot be right if our view of what is happening is not right. The spiritual weakness mentioned in this verse Hebrews 12:5 is not that of taking our problems lightly but of taking the Lord’s discipline through them lightly. It is usually because we take our problems too seriously that we take the Lord’s discipline too lightly. Our focus is on our experience rather than on our heavenly Father and on what He wants to do for us through the experience.
May 27 2009 | General | 1 Comment »
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