Words from the Pastor
Well Happy March!! With all the moisture maybe it will warm up here and we will have a wonderful spring with green feed and fat cattle! Pretty soon we’ll be wishing for cooler weather and we’ll be missing the snow. I myself am glad that it doesn’t stay around very long. Someone once said that if you don’t like the weather her in Southern Arizona just wait for 10 minutes and it will change! How true that is. But isn’t it great to know that God will never ever change?
The Scripture tells us in Hebrews 13:8 that, “Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever.” Just to know that He is as sure as the sunrise and sunset and that we can depend on Him should give us the greatest joy ever. But it is so easy to get carried away with all the stuff of the world and get burdened down with things that don’t matter in the long run. Paul goes on to tell us in the 9th verse of Hebrews 13, “Do not be carried away by all kinds of strange teachings. It is good for our hearts to be strengthened by grace, not by eating ceremonial foods, which is of no benefit to those who do so.” So, if we read verse 8 and verse 9 together the writer is telling us that Jesus is the same day in and day out forever and that we need to pay attention to what we get carried away with.
What is a “strange teaching?” Well, according to verse 9 it’s not depending on grace alone for our salvation, it’s depending on “Fluff.” Such as, “You have to dress this way for God to love you. You have to wear your hair this way to be accepted into the Kingdom. You can’t eat that kind of food and be a Christian.” Some religions put a lot of rules and regulations on people to be Christians, but Jesus said that He is the way the truth and the life, not this extra “fluff.”
So, does that mean that we don’t try and change after we become Christians? No, not at all. That’s what the Christian walk is all about, changing from our old self and putting on our new self. Paul told king Agrippa this, “…I preached that they should repent and turn to God and demonstrate their repentance by their deeds (Acts 26:20).” Did you read that? And demonstrate their repentance by their deeds. In other words, change your ways. Stop doing what you were doing and start serving God. Start doing what Jesus told you to do and that is to love your neighbor as yourself. Brothers and sisters, if we could do that then we could start to see a revival in this Nation like we have never seen! If we as Christians could just love as Jesus tells us to love we would see a whole new dimension to what the church could do in the world today! I would love to be a part of that, wouldn’t you? I know that God is working in all of your lives to bring about His will for you and those you can touch for Him. Let Him do that work and see what happens to the darkness around us!
Please let me know if you need anything. Naomi and I love you all. -Pastor Steve