FAVORITE DEVOTIONAL FROM MY WIFE, VICKI

 Something I have noticed about Christians who go through grief is they become super dynamic as they allow God to mold their hearts throughout their grief experience.

1. They live a life of LOVE- they extravagantly love God & others.
2. They place themselves under authority and wise counsel- they respect & honor God, their parents/in-laws, government, & employer.
3. They actively and purposely develop the fruits of the Spirit into their lives--LOVE, JOY, PEACE, PATIENCE, KINDNESS, GOODNESS, FAITHFULNESS, GENTLENESS, & SELF-CONTROL.
4. They are sensitive to the heart of God--what brings God joy will bring a Christian joy..and what breaks God's heart will break a Christ follower's heart.
5. They approach life, and others, with an eternal perspective--they desire to love and build God's kingdom and they desire to love, encourage, and build others up.
6. They live a life of PEACE-- they strive to have harmony in all their relationships, families, marriage, and homes. They don't take revenge. They do good to others.
7. They strive to live lives of faithfulness...and are GIVERS, not takers ...in their marriage, parenting, families, relationships, homes, business, and finances.
8. They have a heart for the less fortunate and hurting. They actively minister to widows, orphans, the fatherless, the grieving, poor, and the struggling.
9. They have a heart for evangelism and missions. They love what God has done so much in their own life that they desire to share their testimony and faith with others. 
10. They live a life of FAITH and HOPE--they understand that life on earth is not the final destination. Hardships strengthen their faith and hope. Trials refine them and sharpen them for God's use and ultimate purpose. They live out their life purpose with joy.
11. They live a life of service. They seek ways to be an asset to others instead of a liability. They look for ways to bless others. They are more than willing to roll up their sleeves to help God, their family, friends, church, and others.
12. They seek to live a life of WISDOM and refrain from living a life of foolishness. They give God complete access and “say-so” in their life and life choices.
13. They live a life of self control instead of self indulgence. They seek to live morally, ethically, and responsibly, and have a conscience about how best to carry out God's purpose for their life. They understand boundaries and implement wise ones. 
14. They live life on God's schedule instead of their own schedule. They seek to develop and establish a wise schedule that maintains harmony in their home, church, school, and workplace. Since they understand how precious time truly is, they wisely redeem the time God entrusts to them.
15. They respect and implement COMMUNITY--They "do life" with others. They take time to enjoy God, life, family, friends, loved ones, church, as well as each moment God blesses them with...in the good times and the bad. They rejoice with those who rejoice and mourn with those who mourn. They see the miracle life is and God's hand in every moment. They seek to establish strong families, marriages, churches, friendships, mentorships, and communities. Those who grieve have a powerful ability to love God, love others, and change the world.
What have you learned through your grief? I'm telling you, grief is one of the most powerful teachers you can learn life lessons from.

Why do we choose to live our life in a pit?

 Why do we choose to live our life in a pit? I often ask that question and get asked that question as to why with all that we have in our lives all that God is supplied why do we go through times of living our life in what seems to be a dark pit. 2020 certainly has created a life environment where it is easy to be in the pits. I’m reminded of the scripture and I think to myself when we talk about being in a pit it’s like Joseph in the Bible we may get thrown into a pit. Or maybe like David we may slip into the pit! Or maybe you feel like Elijah you just want to find a pit and jump in it. And of course there is Job, we may  just realize that life is the pits. The question is not whether we will face pits in our life? The question is what will we do when we find ourselves in the pit? David cried out to God from the pit and God not only heard but he helped. And just as he helped David, God will help you. Have you allowed the pit moments of life to define who you are? I want to suggest to you today that you avoid the temptation to become comfortable in the pit, it is so easy for us to.So starting today let’s refuse to throw a pit-y  party let’s say goodbye to pit-iful living and remember that Jesus came out of the tomb so that we could come up out of the pit.

May God keep you safe, and be light that takes you from the pit!

We survived 2020, while seeing God’s hand at work!

 We survived 2020, while seeing God’s hand at work!  We have lived through one of the most frustrating years of the 20 years of my ministry here in Mesquite Nevada. We saw in March of last year the government start to shut down everything, in fact reluctantly we shut the church down for Easter of 2020. And that is a burden that I’ll have for a long time, because I don’t believe it was God‘s will for us to ever ever shut down his church. I believe shutting down the church just played right into the hands of Satan, in fact I believe he probably celebrates every time the doors closed on the church or someone stays at home because they’re afraid. I’m not making light of the virus, I know it’s out there, and I know it’s serious. I know that people have lost their lives and continue to. I also know that the mortality rate is extremely low and I believe that many people are going to have illness in their life, whether it’s from the pandemic or not. 

During the close of 2020 we saw God do amazing work with regards to his church. In the middle of all that was going on God opened the door for us to be able to move into a new church home in 2021 twice as large as the current facility. In spite of all the darkness we’ve seen and are living through in these days, I see a tremendous bright light ahead of us as God guides and directs us with this new building to be able to reach more and more people in our community with the love of Jesus Christ. I’m excited to be a part of it, I thought that I may be retiring this year or maybe next year but God seems to have a different plan. So I’ll continue to faithfully serve him,  reach as many people as I can with the message and the good news of Jesus, and wait to see what God has in mind.  So stay with me over the next few months and I’ll try to keep my blog more current than I have since I haven’t done anything on it for almost 2 years shame on me. But starting today I’m gonna try to at least once a week give you an update on what’s going on at First Baptist Church Mesquite. May God bless you and keep you safe and healthy. Pastor Bill