Where does the Time go?

I was reminded this week that I have not put anything on this blog since July. My first question is where does the time go? I was sure I updated just a few weeks ago. As I get older a few weeks turns into a few months.

God has kept me busy and blessed me and the church family with so much since July. We have had guests every week, some from out of town just passing through and some like the couple Sunday that said they have lived in Mesquite for 6 years and have been going to come to church, but have been busy. (Bet they haven’t been on there blog for a while!). I continue to be amazed at how people view church. I have to remind the church family that we are not a time share. They are welcome every week, not just once a month or once every 6 months. I guess some people feel like if they show up every once in a while that they are doing there duty to God. On the other hand after they sat through one of my long messages they may feel like they have suffered long enough for a while and need the time to unwind. I guess we will leave that between them and God.
Vic and I have recently completed 11 years in this ministry, the one that we said we would do for 5 years and then move to another area. We have learned that there is God’s plan and there is our plan! So far God’s plan is that we continue to be blessed by pastoring a wonderful church 100 miles from our main home. He has given us so much to make the journey so worth while. Each week we give God thanks for all he has done for us and praise him for the opportunity that He has given us both.

Recently I ran into a group of people who came against God a few years ago and tried to destroy His church. I once again was so thankful that God had taken these folks out of the fellowship and allowed us to grow in unity instead of the dysfunction of a few who felt like they knew better than God how a church should be ran. They are now in there fifth year of trying to do it their way. It is a very sad situation and our hearts hurt for people who will not admit that they have sinned against God and continue to try and build a church on there own strength. Again there is God’s plan and there is our plan. I am grateful that God is still in control at FBC and that He will build His church and each one of us must see it as a privilege to serve.

As we get ready for the holiday season, I am looking forward to seeing what He will do in the upcoming months. We are planning our annual Thanksgiving dinner and a time of putting the Thanks back into Thanksgiving. As soon as that is over we will be getting ready for our Christmas Celebration. This year will be a great challenge as Christmas eve is on a Saturday! We will have our Candlelight Service and then do only one service on Sunday.
Stay tuned and I will try and be more diligent in keeping this post current.

You Have the Power to Say No
by Rick Warren

“So, dear brothers, you have no obligation anymore to your old sinful nature to do what it begs you to do.” Romans 8:12 (LB)

I don’t know about you, but I have to admit there were a lot of things I could not say ‘no’ to before the Holy Spirit came into my life. I wanted to say ‘no’, but I didn’t.

It really doesn’t matter what you call them, but we all have compulsions, habits, lusts, drives, desires or attractions that make us feel like we have no choice but to do them. You just can’t help yourself. You just can’t say ‘no’.

But if you’ve accepted Jesus Christ into your life, you can say ‘no’. Romans 8:9 says, “You are not controlled by your sinful nature. You are now controlled by the Spirit if you have the Spirit of God living in you. Anyone who does not have the Spirit of Christ living in them does not belong to Christ” (NLT).

Now you will still have those desires. But the Holy Spirit will give you the power to say ‘no’ to them; you do not have to satisfy those desires. This is the difference the Spirit of God makes in you. This is how God sets you free from your compulsions.

The worst kind of slave is being a slave to your own natural desires. Some people say, “Well, if it’s natural, why should I limit it?” A lot of things seem natural. It’s natural to be self-centered, but acting on that desire might not be good for your kids or your spouse.

Natural doesn’t mean it’s always good. I might have a natural desire to cheat you out of all your money, but that doesn’t mean I should do it. But when I’ve accepted Christ into my life, I have the Holy Spirit to help power my decisions and say ‘no’ to the natural and ‘yes’ to the spiritually mature choice.

Remember What Jesus Did For You

Remember What Jesus Did For You by Rick Warren

“So now there is no condemnation for those who belong to Christ Jesus. For the power of the life-giving Spirit has freed you through Christ Jesus from the power of sin that leads to death.” Romans 8:1-2 (NLT)

Shame is a destructive emotion. It is a form of condemnation that can rob you of happiness in life and tear you down.

God doesn’t want you to go through life with a load of guilt and shame. That’s why he sent Jesus Christ to set you free.

Jesus won the victory for you through his death and resurrection, so if you want to live a life free of shame, you need to remind yourself daily of what Jesus did for you.

Romans 8:1 says, “There is no condemnation for those who belong to Christ Jesus” (NLT). If you are a believer, if you have accepted Jesus as your Lord and Savior, there is no reason for shame or guilt in your life.

This doesn’t mean that once you become a Christian you no longer sin or make mistakes. You will. But you are no longer condemned for them; you are no longer judged. You are free from their consequences because Jesus took the condemnation for you on the cross, so you can close the door on the past.

Remembering what Jesus did for you also gives you a new power greater than willpower. Willpower only lasts a few weeks or months before you give up and go back to your old habits and temptations. But “the power of the life-giving Spirit has freed you through Christ Jesus from the power of sin …” (Romans 8:2 NLT).

There are a lot of self-help plans out there to change yourself, and with your willpower, you might succeed at doing it for a few weeks, but your own efforts only go so far. Knowing the right thing to do doesn’t mean you have the power to do it.

Lasting change will only come when your inner nature changes. And the only thing that will change your sinful inner nature is the power of God’s life-giving Spirit.

God’s plan for lasting change is this: “He sent his own Son in a human body like ours, except that ours are sinful. God destroyed sin’s control over us by giving his Son as a sacrifice for our sins. He did this so the requirement of the law would be fully accomplished for us, who no longer follow our sinful nature but instead follow the Spirit” (Romans 8:3-4 NLT).

God's Mail Box

We have a lovely lady in our church that is a wonderful painter and writer. She sends me thoughts that God gives her. She says that God sometimes wakes her up with the thoughts. I will be sharing some with you in the future. The one today is titled "God's Mailbox" and I think we can all relate. Enjoy

GOD’S MAIL BOX A STORY BY IDA M.

Every day except Sunday we usually check our mailbox. We are usually disappointed when we find it empty. We feel even worse when all that we receive are requests for donations or ads wanting us to buy things that we do not need. We are always happy to see a letter from someone that we love.

God has a “Mailbox” also. It is large enough for all the requests from his own children. Praise is always welcome. He always likes to receive envelopes marked with a stamp of faith. He does not need a computer like man does to get e-mail from his children. He is able to receive knee-mail 24 hours a day. Knee-mails are especially welcome from one of his children who have not knee-mailed anything to him for a long time. Knee-mails of love and praise are his favorites. You will never receive a knee-mail marked “return to sender, address unknown”.

We usually expect an answer soon. Sometimes the Lord answers our “knee-mail” soon, or it can take years of waiting for the answer. He opens all of his mail as it arrives and knows what we say in our prayers no matter what language we use. He prefers letters that are written from the heart, not form letters found in a book. In his word, he teaches us how to start and end our prayers in his Lord’s Prayer that is found in the book of Luke, chapter 11 verses 2, 3 and 4, also found in Matthew 6, verses 9-13. We should never forget the love letters of praise and the thank you ones for blessings and answered prayers.

We should never send him letters bragging about our good deeds or sacrifices we think that we have made, nor catalogs with pages marked with what we want him to give us. He has already given us the greatest gift that we could ever receive, forgiveness and eternal life with him.

The mailbox of your heart will be filled with such blessings as peace, long-suffering, comfort at times of grief and loss, not just sympathy. There is also strength in times of weakness and healing when that is what is needed. In return he wants and expects us to share his love and comfort with others in need. Not like earthly treasure, the more we give to others in things like encouragement, friendship and love, the more we will still have left.

So don’t wait to use God’s mailbox, he gets his “mail” every day 24/7 delivery is the same moment it is sent, and there is no day when he is not able to receive his mail. So don’t forget to put on that stamp of faith. You don’t even have to sign your name; He knows who you are already.

Battle Signs, Part 1
by Rick Warren

“I don’t understand myself at all, for I really want to do what is right, but I can’t. I do what I don’t want to – what I hate.” Romans 7:15 (LB)

I love how gut-level honest the Apostle Paul is in Romans 7. Here he was, a mature believer, one of the greatest Christians who ever lived, sharing his struggles with his fellow believers.

And I’m so glad he did! He shared the emotional battle that is going on inside me and you and everyone who is a Christian when we try to do the right thing on our own effort.

Paul highlighted six emotional costs. Today I want to cover the first three you will experience when there is a battle going on inside you between the old and new nature.

1. You will experience confusion. Paul said, “I don’t understand myself at all, for I really want to do what is right, but I can’t …” (Romans 7:15 LB). Notice that Paul said “I”. He didn’t lay the blame on another person or an enemy. He recognized the confusion came from within himself.
2. You will experience guilt and shame. “I know perfectly well that what I am doing is wrong, and my bad conscience proves that I agree with these laws I’m breaking” (Romans 7:16 LB). The word “conscience” means “with knowledge.” So if your conscience is bothering you, it means you did something with the full knowledge it was wrong. The outcome of a bothered conscience is guilt and shame. God doesn’t want you to carry that around.
3. The outcome is compulsions and addictions. If you don’t learn how to fight the battle inside you, it will lead to compulsions and addictions. As Paul said, “I can’t help myself because I am no longer doing it. It is sin inside me that is stronger than I am …” (Romans 7:17 LB). We have a natural human nature with a built-in resistance to doing the right thing. We want to do what is easy and fun, but we don’t naturally want to do what is right and good. Sin is fun, and it can easily become habitual.

Are any of these sounding familiar in your life? Talk to God about your concerns, but then listen for his guidance about what you should do. Tomorrow I’ll show you three more.

Are You in a Battle?

Ok, it's time to reactivate the blog and start postings. Over the next few days we will follow Rick Warren as he answers some pretty important questions. Enjoy.

Are You in a Battle?
by Rick Warren

“So you see how it is: my new life tells me to do right, but the old nature that is still inside me loves to sin. Oh, what a terrible predicament I’m in!” Romans 7:24a (LB)

Do you ever question whether you are really a Christian? You accept Christ and everything is going so well, but then you begin to feel like there is always a struggle to do the right thing, and you are not always successful. What happened?

The Apostle Paul struggled too. In Romans 7:15-23 he shared his personal struggles. He explained they were the struggles of his old nature, before he became a believer, conflicting with his new nature, received through the grace of Jesus Christ.

You will have similar struggles and temptations right up until the day you enter heaven. Paul says you will continue to lose the battle between the two natures if you rely only on your willpower. You can’t just say, “I’m going to stop sinning.” It won’t work. It will only lead to frustration.

Over the next several days, I want to explain to you some of the frustrations the Bible says you will face if you continue to try to win this battle on your own. And then I want to show you the three things Paul says will help you get the victory. So stick with me!

Tuesday, April 26, 2011

Heaven's 24-hour Emergency Hot Line by Rick Warren

Trust me in your times of trouble, and I will rescue you, and you will give me glory. Psalm 50:15 (NLT) "If you love me and truly know who I am, I will RESCUE you and keep you safe." Psalm 91:14 (CEV) God wants you to ask him for help when you are in trouble. He says, “Call on me in times of trouble. I will rescue you, and you will honor me.” (Psalm 50:15 GW) I call this a “microwave” prayer because it is quick and to the point: Help! SOS! Mayday! For instance, when temptation strikes and you don’t have time for a long conversation with God -- simply cry out! David, Daniel, Peter, Paul, and millions of others have prayed this kind of instant prayer for help in trouble. The Bible guarantees that our cry for help will be heard because Jesus is sympathetic to our struggle. He faced the same kind of problems we do. He “understands our weaknesses, for he faced all of the same temptations we do, yet he did not sin.” (Hebrews 4:15 NLT) If God is waiting to help us, why don’t we turn to him more often? Honestly, sometimes we don’t want to be helped! At that moment we think we know what’s best for us more than God does. At other times we’re embarrassed to ask God for help. But the Bible says, “Let us have confidence, then, and approach God’s throne, where there is grace. There we will receive mercy and find grace to help us just when we need it.” (Hebrews 4:16 TEV) God’s love is everlasting, and his patience endures forever. Ask him for help and then watch how he provides.

Hope for Real Relationships Comes When You Trust God
by Tom Holladay

“Trust God all the time. Tell him all your problems, because God is our protection.” Psalm 62:8 (NCV)

"Love is a feeling, but it is also an action."

What do you do with the feelings that come from disappointment in a relationship? You can’t stuff them away; they are just going to pop out somewhere else. You need to trust God and tell him all your problems because he is your protection.

Tell him you are angry or disappointed, or that you feel nothing. In those times when you feel nothing, when you feel like you’ve lost the love, go to God and tell him that -- then trust him. Hebrews 10:23 teaches us, “We can trust God to do what he promised” (NCV). And he promises to pour his love into our hearts.

Love is a feeling, but it is also an action. And when you lose the feeling to love someone, move forward with the action of loving them and that will help you reclaim your feelings of love. Is this hypocritical? No, it’s being human. We all lose the feeling to love at sometime. It usually happens when we decide to live with a problem instead of talking it out or openly facing it.

Start by telling God your feelings about the problem. From there, he can begin to give you the strength to talk to your loved one about it. As you do this, God will begin to restore your feeling of love for that person. He does what Lamentations 5:21 says, “Turn us around and bring us back to you again! That is our only hope! Give us back the joys we used to have!” (LB).

That is my prayer for you. Whether you are a husband or a wife who needs to let go of a disappointment or misunderstanding -- or if you need to accept the differences you have with a close friend -- I pray that God will begin to bring back your joy. But it’s a process, and it begins when you decide to trust God and tell him your feelings.

TAKE GOD AT HIS WORD

Saturday, February 12, 2011

Take God at His Word by Buddy Owens

“I am convinced that God, who began this good work in you, will carry it through to completion” (Philippians 1:6 GWT). "But let me warn you: expect to be challenged. The Devil doesn't want you to be free, so he will whisper old lies to you." This week’s devotionals are by Buddy Owens, teaching pastor at Saddleback Church and author of ‘The Way of a Worshiper’. Lasting change doesn’t start with you. It starts with God. And it all begins when you say, “Yes Lord, I’m taking you at your word.” God isn’t asking you to make a promise that you can’t keep. He is asking you to receive a promise that only he can keep. When you confess your faith, you are receiving God’s promises into your life, and he always keeps his promises. When you confess your faith, you are taking God at his Word, and you can! He loves you – you have his Word on it (John 3:16). You are forgiven – you have his Word on it (Psalm 103:3). You belong to him – you have his Word on it (Romans 1:6). He will never leave you or give up on you – you have his Word on it (Hebrews 13:5). He will meet your needs – you have his Word on it (Philippians 4:19). He has a plan and a purpose for your life – you have his Word on it (Jeremiah 29:11). As you build your life on the Word of God, he will truly make you into a new person – a total makeover from the inside out. And what God starts, he will finish. “I am convinced that God, who began this good work in you, will carry it through to completion” (Philippians 1:6 GWT). Your responsibility it to confess it. Let it renovate your life. “Be made new in the attitude of your minds.” But let me warn you: expect to be challenged. The Devil doesn’t want you to be free, so he will whisper old lies to you. He’ll try to discourage you and accuse you. He will bring up your past to haunt and harass you. But, as Greg Laurie says, “Whenever the Devil tries to remind you of your past, remind him of his future.” And start confessing your faith. What lies do you still believe? What is keeping you from walking in the freedom and joy of the Lord? Start declaring the truth of the God’s Word and then act on that truth. And that will truly make a new you.

Saturday, February 05, 2011

Choose Faith and Acknowledge God's Control
by Tom Holladay

“Everything in the heavens and earth is yours, O Lord … we adore you as being in control of everything.” 1 Chronicles 29:11 (LB)

"Why do we worry? Because we try to do what only God can do. We try to control the uncontrollable, explain the unexplainable, do the undoable, stop the unstoppable, fix the unfixable, bear the unbearable; and then we wonder why we are messed up."

When Jesus rebuked the wind and the waves in Matthew 8 the disciples were amazed and asked each other, “Who is this that even the winds and the sea obey him?” (Matthew 8:27 LB).

In that moment, they acknowledged God’s control. They realized there was no reason to worry because the God who commands galaxies with a word and holds molecules together with his power was right there in their boat.

Why do we worry? Because we try to do what only God can do. We try to control the uncontrollable, explain the unexplainable, do the undoable, stop the unstoppable, fix the unfixable, bear the unbearable; and then we wonder why we are messed up.

Only God is in control. That may leave you wondering, “If God is in control, why doesn’t he change this, or do that, or make this thing better?” Honestly, I don’t know. But I do know that I trust him. And I have found time and again that he is trustworthy. This world is not all there is. There is an eternity to come where everything will be made right and just.

God has allowed evil for a time, but it will not be forever. So I’m going to put my trust in him because he is the only one in control.

In the meantime, what should you do? Jesus says, “Don’t be anxious about tomorrow. God will take care of your tomorrow, too. Live one day at a time” (Matthew 6:34 LB).

This doesn’t mean you don’t plan for the future. You should continue to set goals; in fact the Bible says it’s wise to set goals. But once you set those goals that might guide your direction, then you live one day at a time. If you decide to worry about what is going to happen tomorrow, you’ll miss out on what God wants you to do today.

Wednesday, February 02, 2011

Choose Faith and Ask for Help by Rick Warren

“Don’t worry about anything; instead, pray about everything. Tell God what you need, and thank him for all he has done.” Philippians 4:6 (NLT) When faced with the reality of a situation that is overwhelming, the best thing you can do is focus on God. The disciples, in Matthew 8, knew that Jesus could do something about the storm that threatened their lives as they were tossed on the sea. Their answer to the overwhelming storm was to ask Jesus for help. “The disciples went to him and they woke him up, shouting, ‘Lord save us, we are going to drown” (Matthew 8:25 NLT). Why is it that we wait until it gets really bad before we think we have to pray? One of the keys to dealing with anxiety is to cry for help earlier because God wants to help. Instead of trying to live life on your own and let the worry overwhelm you, turn to God. He wants you to live life connected to him, talking to him, and getting connected with others because when you try to do it on our own and never ask for help, worries just multiply. Maybe it’s hard for you to admit your needs. Maybe you think no one cares. Maybe you’re convinced you know the answer and no one else does. I think a lot of people don’t ask for help because they don’t want to be a bother to anyone. It does not bother God when you ask for help. He stands ready to help you in every moment of life. “Tell God what you need and thank him for all he has done” (Philippians 4:6 NLT). Talking to God in prayer is the single most effective cure for worry, and it needs to be the attitude of your life. Our verse today gives us the formula for how this works. “Pray about everything.” First, you talk. As you talk to God about everything, you will find the anxiety level lessening in your life. “Tell God what you need.” That’s the second thing. A lot of times people go to God in prayer and tell God about everything and everyone else, but don’t share their needs with him. Tell him what you are worried about! “Thank him for all he has done.” There is something about gratitude that lessens anxiety and opens the door to peace and incredible faith in your life. No matter what you’re going through in life right now, there is something you can look back on and say, “God, I’m grateful for that.” So hang on to that.

Face Reality, Then Choose Faith

“Then Jesus got into the boat and started across the lake with his disciples. Suddenly a terrible storm came up, with waves breaking into the boat. But Jesus was sleeping.” Matthew 8:23-24 (NLT)

"The question is how can we keep from worrying when life is overwhelming and it feels like God is slow in answering?"

If you are going to deal with worry and anxiety, the first thing you have to do is face reality.

In Matthew 8, we see the reality of the situation that Jesus and the disciples faced. What they went through shows us the reality of what we have to face when life doesn’t go the way we plan.

They faced a sudden storm. This is a picture for us of unexpected problems. We often don’t know what direction a problem is going to come from or where we will be when it hits.
If you build your life around the belief that you’ll be okay this year as long as nothing goes wrong, you’re going to lose. Because something will always go wrong.
They faced waves. Waves in our life are overwhelming circumstances. For the disciples, the waves in the midst of the storm were higher than their boat. They had overwhelming circumstances. And the same thing happens to us. A storm hits our life and the circumstances of it leave us wondering, “How am I going to face that?”
They had a boat. This is a picture for us of inadequate resources. The boat wasn’t big enough to hold the waves that were coming. We face the same situation.
If only we had all the money in the world, then everything would be fine. But we don’t. If only we had all the time in the world, then everything would be fine. But we don’t. That’s just reality, and saying anything else is a lie.
Jesus was asleep in the boat. Here were the disciples in the midst of a storm and almost ready to drown, and Jesus, the one they knew could make a difference, was asleep.
This is a picture of how many of us feel when we are facing a genuine problem in life. We don’t know what to do or where to turn, and we know God knows what we’re going through. The worse it gets, the more we wonder, “God, where are you in all of this? Why don’t you do something to change the situation?”
The question is how can we keep from worrying when life is overwhelming and it feels like God is slow in answering?
Anxiety wears you out and it shortens your life, but if you have no other answers, you are going to keep worrying. Many people think the answer to worry is to somehow pretend that there is nothing to worry about. But the only way to deal with worry effectively is to face reality and then choose to face reality with faith.

Today’s devotional is by Tom Holladay, teaching pastor at Saddleback Church and author of ‘The Relationship Principles of Jesus.’

IT"S A NEW DAY TO BUILD BRIDGES AND CONTROL OUR FINANCIAL FUTURE

As we begin the new year, and the next decade, I have began two new series. This is a first and I am excited to see the response from challenging the family to build for a strong financial future while learning to build bridges to those in the community.
Sunday morning we looked at Yielding to God what is God's. We studied 1st Chronicles and the prayer that David lifted to God after the people had brought all that was needed to build the temple. He made it clear that each had brought back what belonged to God in the first place.
Sunday evening we jumped into the unknown, by looking at what it takes to build relationships with strangers! It is amazing that we are taught so many things in our lives, but we are never taught how to genuinely build two friendships. So we begin by looking at the most wonderful truth in the world, the most amazing truth in the world, the most marvelous truth in the world is this: God wants to have a relationship with me. As we studied the scripture we found that we must be proactive, stop wearing masks, find common ground, demonstrate God's love and truly care about the feelings and fears of others.