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Pastor's Points June 2018

Dear Church Family,
This month I want to encourage you all to persevere!!  Do not give up.  We are tempted to quit in so many areas of our lives.  We are tempted to quit diets, work out routines, bible    reading plans, and we are even tempted to quit on relationships that we are in.  But as believers we must be marked by perseverance.

Newt Gingrich says that…  Perseverance is the hard work you do after you get tired of   doing the hard work you already did.  We must hang in there.  We cannot become weary in  doing well.  Our goal in this life should be to finish well and live a life that honors God.

Ravi Zacharias says that…"Beginning well is a momentary thing; finishing well is a lifelong thing."

But it is often hard to continue on in life because we often feel as if we are not making any progress.  Consider this excerpt out of the diary of John Wesley…
Sunday, A.M., May 5:    Preached in St. Anne's. Was asked not to come back anymore.
Sunday, P.M., May 5:    Preached in St. John's. Deacons said "Get out and stay out."
Sunday, A.M., May 12:  Preached in St. Jude's. Can't go back there, either.
Sunday, A.M., May 19:  Preached in St. Somebody Else's. Deacons called special meeting and said I couldn’t return.
Sunday, P.M., May 19:  Preached on street. Kicked off street.
Sunday, A.M., May 26:  Preached in meadow. Chased out of meadow as a bull was turned loose during service.
Sunday, A.M., June 2:    Preached out at the edge of town. Kicked off the highway.
Sunday, P.M., June 2:    Afternoon, preached in a pasture. Ten thousand people came out to hear me.

Life is hard for us all.  Often we feel as if we are making no progress, but we have got to hang in there and keep living for the Lord.  But the reality of life is that it is hard.  Consider Romans 5:2-5
² Through him we have also obtained access by faith^[a] into this grace in which we stand, and we^[b] rejoice^[c] in hope of the glory of God. ³ Not only that, but we rejoice in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance, ⁴ and endurance produces character, and character produces hope, ⁵ and hope does not put us to shame, because God's love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us.

WE have got to have the right attitude when hard times come our way.  If we have placed our faith in Jesus as our Savior and Lord we need to remember that we now have access to the unmerited favor of God on our lives. We have been forgiven.  We have been made new, and we have all hope for eternity.  No matter what comes our way in this life.

So we can rejoice in our sufferings.  We can endure our sufferings knowing that God will use them ultimately for our good!!  But we must keep our focus on the Lord in life and not the hardships that come our way.  You cannot quit!!  You must endure to the end!!  Quitting is not an option!!

On March 6, 1987, Eamon Coughlan, the Irish world record holder at 1500 meters, was running in a qualifying heat at the World Indoor Track Championships in Indianapolis. With two and a half laps left, he was tripped. He fell, but he got up and with great effort managed to catch the leaders. With only 20 yards left in the race, he was in third place, good enough to qualify for the finals. He looked over his shoulder to the inside, and, seeing no one, he let up. But another runner, charging hard on the outside, passed Coughlan a yard before the finish, thus eliminating him from the finals.

Coughlan's great comeback effort was rendered worthless by taking his eyes off the finish line. It's tempting to let up when the sights around us look favorable. But we finish well in the Christian race only when we fix our eyes on the goal: Jesus Christ

I love you and I love being your pastor!

Pastor's Points May 2018

Dear Church Family,
I pray that you and your family are doing well and are enjoying the blessings of God that He provides in our lives!  We have so much to be thankful for.  I know our church  family has been blessed in great ways!  I have no answer as to why, other than the good pleasure of God upon us.  God has been drawing people to our church and we are growing in numbers and in our financial support as well.  Last year we finished a little less than 100% of our budget so we adjusted our 2018 budget to reflect this.  But so far in 2018 we are ahead of budget by about 10%!  This level of giving will fund the ministries of our church as well allow us to give more to our North American and International missions ministries!  All I can say is thank you God and thank you all for being faithful to give out of God’s blessings in your lives.  I am so excited to see what God is going to continue to do among us as we serve Him together.
In the month of May we have many things to celebrate, but one group that we will honor is our recent graduates.  It is a great achievement to graduate whether it be high school or college.  But the one thing that I have learned in this life is that we must be continual learners throughout our lives.  Especially as followers of Jesus.  We never graduate or arrive spiritually in this life.  I love what David Mathis has to say about ongoing learning.  He says…

“Wisdom does not come automatically with age (Job 32:8–9). You’ll find plenty of foolish old fogies out there.

For many aged saints, gray hair and a good head go hand in hand. But for others, far too many others, length of life only entrenches stubbornness, irritability, and careless ways of thinking and living. Life experience may increase inevitably with age, but without some long-term pattern of receptivity and intentionality, multiplied experiences will only create more    confusion than clarity.

For Christians in particular, the stakes are even higher for cultivating holy curiosity and the mindset of a lifelong    learner. Teaching and learning are at the very heart of our faith. To be a “disciple” means to be a “learner.” Our Master is the consummate teacher, and the central task of his under shepherds in the local church is teaching (Titus 1:9; 1 Timothy 3:2; 5:17; Hebrews 13:7; Matthew 28:20). God designed the church to be a community of lifelong learners under the  earthly guidance of leaders who are teachers at heart.

The Christian faith is not a finite course of study for the front-end of adulthood. Our mindset shouldn’t be to first do our learning and then spend the rest of our lives drawing from that original deposit of knowledge. Rather, ongoing health in the Christian life is inextricably linked to ongoing learning.”

Let’s keep loving and learning together for the glory of God!

 I love you and I love being your pastor!