It’s 2:47 a.m. New Year’s Eve 2019 as I am trying to write this week’s Words from the Pastor. Crazy to be awake this early in the morning I know, but if you can’t sleep you might as well try to do something productive, I suppose. We had a wonderful and blessed New Year’s Community Service last Sunday and if you missed it you missed a blessing, I think. All four of the evangelical churches in the area came together under one roof and all praised God together. It was a beautiful thing and a great way to kick-start the new year. I believe God was glorified in it and the Holy Spirit was there big time. Thank you, Lord! We are ready to start this new year with a full head of steam and turn our community upside down for Jesus!
But what happens when we wake up January 1st and the same ole same ole happens? Or maybe we can hold on to the spark until the 1st of February but then we fall back into the same routine and the same kind of pressure and the same…you know the drill. What do you do then?
Now Naomi and I heat our home with a woodstove. And I am the “Keeper of the Flame” so’s to speak. It’s my job to cut the wood, load the wood in the pickup, bring the wood home, unload it from the truck and stack it, split the big logs so they will fit through the door of our woodstove, cut kindling, bring the wood in, lay up the fire and light it. Then, to ensure that the house is warm I get up early and stoke the fire and add more wood. That way when my queen wakes up and comes out of our bedroom, she can be warm. Happy wife happy life I always say! And it doesn’t end there. After the wood burns there are ashes to clean out of the stove and haul off and clean up. And I do all of this because we don’t want to pay a $300.00 electric bill by operating our heat-pump. And I enjoy it, actually.
That’s the same way we need to be in our relationship with the Lord isn’t it? We, as disciples of Jesus Christ, need to keep our spiritual fire burning. We need to be, “Doers of the Word and not hearers only (James 1:22).” It isn’t a once-a-week come to church because that’s what I am supposed to do thing, it is an everyday die to myself, take up my cross and follow Jesus thing (Luke 9:23)! It is becoming a new creation in Christ (II Corinthians 5:17), putting off that old self and putting on the new! And doing that day in and day out, keeping the fire of the Holy Spirit stoked in our hearts.
I have had people come to me and tell me they are going to leave the church because they don’t feel that they’re “Getting fed.” And when I ask them what that means, not getting fed, they usually spit and sputter and aren’t sure what to say. And then I get personal with them and ask them how much time are they are spending in the Bible during the week? and they will usually answer me, “Not too much preacher.” So, I ask them how they can expect to get fed at church when they aren’t even putting the effort into feeding themselves in the first place? If we have been a Christian for a while, then we should be feeding ourselves and helping feed others. If we are disciples of Christ, disciples meaning followers or apprentices of Christ, then we need to be doing what He told us to do, loving our neighbor and sharing His Gospel. Lord, help me be the Christian man that I need to be to glorify You.
Please let me know if you need anything. Naomi and I love you all. -Pastor Steve

Words from the Pastor

Here we are heading towards Christmas day a very rapid pace! I am never really ready but I always look forward to Christmas day. Family and friends. Food and fellowship. It’s a wonderful time of year for me and my family! But some of folks aren’t as ready or as blessed as I am. I read that the suicide rate really increases this time of year. And that is because people have lost all hope. There is nothing for them, they think, left here. But I hope that you and I know different. Our hope is built on nothing less than Jesus blood and righteousness! But that doesn’t negate the fact that there are people that need hope, need a friend and they need someone to share the love of Jesus with them. And I don’t mean preaching at them, I mean being a friend to them and loving on them and being a shoulder for them to lean on. It seems that people are more open to the gospel of Christ during this Christmas season then any other season.

Depression is real though brothers and sisters. I have seen how it can affect people first hand. I have seen how it destroys family’s and takes away hope. I read the other day that if you rearrange the letters in the word depression you can spell “I Pressed On.” Paul mentions pressing on in his letter to the Church at Philippi. Philippians 3:14 says, “I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus.” And if anyone had the right to suffer from depression it would be the Apostle Paul. He was writing this Epistle from prison, he had been shipwrecked, he had been stoned and left for dead and on and on. But he was still pressing on. Still had his eye on the prize.

I think the best way to stand firm and to stand is found in Ephesians 6:10-18: “Finally, be strong in the Lord and in his mighty power. Put on the full armor of God, so that you can take your stand against the devil’s schemes. For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms. Therefore put on the full armor of God, so that when the day of evil comes, you may be able to stand your ground, and after you have done everything, to stand. Stand firm then, with the belt of truth buckled around your waist, with the breastplate of righteousness in place, and with your feet fitted with the readiness that comes from the gospel of peace. In addition to all this, take up the shield of faith, with which you can extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one. Take the helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God.” Did you read that part? “…so that when the day of evil comes, you may be able to stand your ground, and after you have done everything, to stand.” Paul is saying that if you want to overcome your fear, overcome your depression, over come your anxiety, then put on the full armor of God and STAND! Acknowledge that God can do anything and that He loves you and He wants you to be an overcomer and He wants you to stand. Pray this prayer every morning and allow God to do a work in you. Go through every verse and put on the armor that He has given you to wear as a child of God. I think you will be amazed at what happens!

Please let me know if you need anything. You pray for me and I’ll pray for you. Naomi and I love you all. -Pastor Steve

Words from the Pastor
How do you view things in your life? When a hard thing comes along in your life, what is your first reaction? When something happens in my life, I don’t always think of rejoicing about it immediately. There are all kinds of things that, if I allow it, would bring me down. Health, wealth and relationships just to name a few. Why do you think that happens, that we don’t immediately rejoice? Why is it that the first thing we do when there is a hardship in our lives we worry or lash out at whoever brings on the hardship? Most likely it’s because we forget that it is God (Who allows these hard things in our lives for a reason) in control. If you read Psalm 139 you will see that God has our lives planed out even before we are conceived. He knows us better than we know ourselves. Here is what Psalms 139:1-2 says: “You have searched me, LORD, and you know me. You know when I sit and when I rise; you perceive my thoughts from afar.”
So, if God has searched me and knows me, knows even when I stand up or sit down, why do I worry and fret? Because I forget that the Creator of the universe has my best interest in mind and wants what is best for me here on earth. You see, God can see the end from the beginning and knows what it will take to get us from point a to point b in our life here on earth. And remember, He wants us to live a victorious Christian life and victorious doesn’t always mean that things are going right. Victorious means that even when things aren’t going as planned, we can rejoice and thank God for them. Remember what Paul tells us in I Thessalonians 5:16-18? “Rejoice always, pray continually, give thanks in all circumstances; for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus.” This is how you and I can both have and live a victorious Christian life! Always rejoicing, praying continually and constantly giving Him thanks for all of our circumstances.
And did you read that? The phrase, “for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus.” Have you ever wondered what God’s will was for you? Have you ever agonized over not knowing which way to turn and wondering what God wanted you to do? Paul makes it pretty plain here in this passage. #1 Rejoice. #2 Pray. #3 Give thanks. We need to only trust God that He knows what He is doing and that He cares enough about you that He is going to make whatever is happening in your life work together for your good, somehow, someway.
So, as we head into this Thanksgiving Season let’s try and remember this. God’s desire is for us to #1 Rejoice. #2 Pray. #3 Give thanks. Maybe I should put that on our refrigerator as a reminder that God is in control. We do not need to worry or fret, we just need to trust God with a childlike faith.
God is good. Happy Thanksgiving.
Please let me know if you need anything. You pray for me and I’ll pray for you. Naomi and I love you all. -Pastor Steve

Here are the instructions on how to pack your shoe boxes.

How to Pack a Shoebox