Honoring Mothers

May 2018

Message from Pastor Tom,

Our Mothers usually start their day sipping a cup of coffee and smiling as the sunlight shines across their immaculate countertops. The only sounds they hear are the chirping of the birds outside the window and the flipping of the pages of their Bible as they breathe deeply, softly and settle in for their daily devotions with God… Not!

The reality however is most mothers’ mornings look nothing like this, in fact, how many of us really get to experience a morning such as this? We live in a busy culture where it’s often difficult for us to slow down, let alone clear our minds of the continuous busy every-day thoughts in order to sit quietly with God’s Word and concentrate on it or listen for God's soft voice for guidance. With some, the Lord may not seem as urgent as the other tasks in our lives, but I do know the Lord is much more important. In fact our very lives depend on it.

When one does take the time to meditate and read the Bible, the insight we receive from God's Word reminds us of God’s constant presence and strengthening for whatever lies ahead for us, just as Jesus knew how His Father's love could and did strengthen Him. The Father gave Jesus the encouragement and strength He needed as He went to the cross to pay our sin debt in full. So in this month of May, we want to honor all the mothers who share their strength and encouragement, who freely bestow and demonstrate their love endlessly in all kinds of ways and situations, especially the ones who have left large holes in our hearts upon their passing as well. Just as Jesus loved His mother deeply, our boundless love for our mother will never end. He knew she was just a woman like any other, yes special because she was His mother, but human and normal, likely to worry or misunderstand just like our mothers do. There is no doubt Jesus loved His mother, for John 19:24-27 explains when Jesus was dying on the cross, He showed deep love for His mother by asking John to take care of her.

As we celebrate and remember our own mothers, let's start taking the time to read the Bible and meditate upon the Lord’s Word so we can understand the greatest love story ever told, God's Love for mankind. We should strive to glorify the Lord every moment we’re alive, it is important to be aware of the future events. The reason is found in 1 Thessalonians 4:13, “So that you will not grieve as do the rest who have no hope.” In fact, verse 18 tells us to comfort each other with the understanding of what will happen when Jesus returns. Knowing the pain we encounter in this life from tragedy, loss, fear, and sickness. God gives all Christians a glimpse of the wonderful future in store for those who believe.

Heidi and I wish a very Happy Mother's day to all you beautiful ladies. May God richly bless the mothers who unselfishly give of themselves, always tending to the needs of others before their own. We pray you will know God’s love more abundantly in your life and know how much you are valued as a mother and a wife.

Thank you for taking the time to read this, as always I hope it spiritually enriches you. Have a very blessed Mother’s Day and safe Memorial Day, as we honor the men and women who have died in military service for the United States of America.

Blessings from a Pastor and his wife,

Tom and Heidi

A wife of noble character who can find? She is worth far more than rubies. Her husband has full confidence in her and lacks nothing of value. She brings him good, not harm, all the days of her life. Proverbs 31:10-12 (NIV)

He Has Risen

He is Risen, He is Risen indeed!

April 2018

Message from Pastor Tom,                                                                                                 

You definitely knew it was March for sure since I got a little windy last month in my message, but hey, March is a windy month. Now we come to April, which is one of my favorite months with the Resurrection of Jesus, and of course, December being another when we recognize our dear Savior’s birth. Two great things happen in April, one being the celebration of our RISEN Lord Jesus Christ, Hallelujah! With the second being the celebration of Heidi and my 37^th wedding anniversary, which was planned all those years ago to coincide with Easter. Yet the highlight this month is the cornerstone of our Christian faith, the resurrection of our Savior, and what better month to do it in? April means spring, and spring is a time of renewal with the trees budding, the grass turning green, and flowers blooming. It is finally getting warmer, and everyone is happily attending their allergies, while beginning to make plans for summer vacation when school is out.

What is important for us to reflect on during Easter time is the physical pain Jesus endured on Good Friday so through His Resurrection we can live forever with Him. Therefore, let us also think about the purpose of our own pain. Everyone reading this is going through or has gone through something painful. All of us have faced trials and tribulations and will most likely face more. We can either let adversity make us bitter or better. Our adversity can serve as a stepping-stone, or stumbling block. It’s up to us! Jesus’ passion and suffering produced the opportunity for the salvation of the world. Our suffering ultimately makes us more like Jesus (Philippians 3:10) and gives us future opportunities to minister to others. Although we may not understand it now, pain always serves a purpose! Nowhere do we see this more clearly than in the life of Jesus. In the garden of Gethsemane, Jesus is nearly overcome with anguish and distress. He tells the disciples, “My soul is crushed with grief to the point of death” (Matthew 26:38).  He cries out to His Father, using a term of intimate endearment, “Abba, Father, all things are possible for You. Take this cup away from Me; not what I will, but what You will” (Mark 14:36). He will say this two more times as swollen drops of sweat fall to the ground like blood.

We live in a broken world. Every Christian will at some point in our life know the pain of grieving for a loved one. When Paul told us not to "grieve as others do who have no hope" (1 Thessalonians 4:13) he did not mean we would not experience sadness. But because Jesus conquered the grave, we have confidence one day we too will meet both Jesus and our believing loved ones again. This changes everything when we come face to face with death. Our heavenly Father is faithful to keep every one of His promises. If you trust in Jesus Christ as your personal Savior, God will save you from your sin and welcome you into His family (John 1:12), without regard to merit or worth on your part. Eternal life will be yours, and He offers this gift freely to all who believe in His Son. Will you receive it today, or will you be secure in your own salvation?

Happy Easter to you and your family as we celebrate our Father’s greatest sacrifice through His Son, Jesus Christ. Heidi and I pray this Easter you receive God's Love, Grace, and His never-ending peace. Thank you for taking the time to read this, and as always, I hope it spiritually enriches you. Have a most blessed Easter.

Blessings from a Pastor and his wife,

Tom and Heidi

The times of ignorance God overlooked, but now he commands all people everywhere to repent, because he has fixed a day on which he will judge the world in righteousness by a man whom he has appointed; and of this he has given assurance to all by raising him from the dead. Acts 17:30-31

Lion or Lamb?

March 2018

Message from Pastor Tom,

As we enter this month of March, I’m sure we all remember the old saying, “In like a Lion, out like a Lamb” or “In like a Lamb, out like a Lion” whichever the case may be. So I ask you this, are you perhaps wondering whether you will have to face that beast of a lion wanting to devour you at every turn, leaving you in the wake of his destruction? Hopefully not, but this can really be true any time since most of us fear the unknown. However, when we know our enemy and are prepared to go into combat wearing our full armor of God, then we have no worries because we will be prepared for the spiritual battle raging around us, and able to dispose of the beast.

In this month's devotion, I want to assure you God is with us no matter what the battle is in our lives. God is aware of everything we have ever done for Him. Sometimes when we’re faithfully and quietly laboring away for the Lord, we don’t receive any fanfare from others. People don’t recognize the sacrifices we make. They don’t see when we are up late, or wake in the middle of the night to pray for someone, or when we’re faithfully reaching out doing God's work. Others may not be aware of it, but Jesus Christ always sees it. Yet if we are faithfully doing it for the Lord, isn’t that what truly matters anyway? God will complete the work He has begun in our lives, and He has a future for all of us. Yes, this means we will get to Heaven with our Savior Jesus Christ one day, but it also means He will complete the work of making us more and more like Him.

Church, we all know God's teachings, not only by the Scriptures, but also by the messages our pastors deliver in order to equip us with the knowledge necessary to lift the scales from our eyes, and be able to see the love God has for each and every one of us. As Christians we all know our world today is full of followers who prefer to go with the flow and let the culture and world around them just happen and form their own belief system. Yet Christian truths are based on fundamental Christian principles learned through Scripture, and it is our moral and ethical duty to lay this foundation for our families. As Christians we do not have the luxury of compromising our morals and ethics, to be all-inclusive and believe anything goes. We are soldiers in God’s Army, and we are enlisted in His service when we accept Christ into our lives. We are engaged in spiritual warfare and the battle raging around us is very real and fierce. We need to hold our ground and be prepared, by dressing in our battle gear every day.

“Finally, be strong in the Lord and in his mighty power. Let's put on the full armor of God, so that you can take our stand against the devil’s schemes” Ephesians 6:10-11 (NIV). We all need to stand strong against the evil one who wants to destroy our relationship with Jesus Christ. God’s love is immense, extensive, and deep as He cares for us. There is no doubt we are in the war, and we need to be the voice of Jesus. We live in a world that forces us to walk a fine line between good and bad. Decisions must be made daily, decisions that will invariably be either wise or foolish. A foolish decision is one that is made with a firm resistance to any type of counseling or instruction (Proverbs 1:7). Fortunately, as Christians we have the book of Proverbs to follow, a Loving God, a loving church body, and Pastors with loving hearts, chosen by God to lead His flocks. We have everything we could possibly need to successfully guide us through any type of life situation.

As we ready ourselves for Passion Week at the end of the month, we all know Good Friday is the most difficult day of Holy Week. Christ’s journey turned treacherous and acutely painful in those final hours leading to His death. Jesus suffered betrayal by those who claimed to love Him. Roman soldiers scourged, humiliated and spit on Him, tormented and mocked Him, and then pierced Him with a crown of thorns. They had Jesus carry His own cross to Calvary where, again, He was mocked and insulted as Roman soldiers nailed Him to the wooden cross. The disciple Peter wrote, “For you know that God paid a ransom to save you from the empty life you inherited from your ancestors. And the ransom he paid was not mere gold or silver. He paid for you with the precious lifeblood of Christ, the sinless, spotless Lamb of God” 1 Peter 1:18-19. The blood of Jesus Christ is absolutely the most precious thing God has offered us.

So let's end this month like a lamb, not taking for granted this blood the Lamb of God shed for us to cleanse us all from our sins, as He rescues us from this wicked and worldly grind. We must remember Christ's blood is able to cleanse us from every sin, any sin, we confess to the Lord. God not only forgives us our sins, He forgets them: “For I will be propitious to their unrighteousness, and their sins I shall by no means remember anymore” Hebrews 8:12 (NKJV).

Have you confessed your sins to God? Have you truly asked Him into your heart? Do not wait another second, as if your life did not depend on it, because it truly does. The Word of God implores us to keep our eyes fixed on Jesus and bring everything to the foot of the cross, so through the most trying of times we will find the faith we need to keep pressing forward and to keep advancing the Kingdom of God.

Heidi and I pray the Lamb of God will richly bless and keep you safe from harm. Thank you for taking the time to read this and I hope it spiritually enriches you. I look forward to reading any of your comments and messages you may wish to leave.

Blessings from a Pastor and his wife,

Tom and Heidi

I am not ashamed of the gospel, because it is the power of God for the salvation of everyone who believes: first for the Jew, then for the Gentile. For in the gospel a righteousness from God is revealed, a righteousness that is by faith from first to last, just as it is written: “The righteous will live by faith” (Romans 1 NIV).

Spiritual Preparation

 

February 2018

Message from Pastor Tom,

While a lot of us are still trying to hang onto some of our New Years’ Resolutions as we have done year after year, Valentine's Day is fast approaching. Valentine's day is like an extension of Christmas. It's a socially acceptable time to talk about love, and that means talking about Jesus! It's also an easy time to recount the things you are thankful for in your loved ones. As Matthew 5:16 states, “In the same way, let your good deeds shine out for all to see, so that everyone will praise your heavenly Father” (NIV), the more love you express, the more the divine light will shine through you. So let your heart be filled with love, as it is the foundation for everything you do.

Valentine's day also reminds me of the old favorite movie Ground Hog Day, where they keep reliving the same actions day after day. Let me ask you this… in your spiritual preparation of your personal walk with Christ, are you still doing the same actions over and over again feeling you are Serving Jesus the best you can? Or ask yourself this… are you really striving to be more like Jesus? I find it helpful in one's spiritual preparation to take the time to read the life teaching of Paul’s principles and behavior, both personal and social, as they were above reproach. Our parents or other role models are typically the first to teach us our ethical boundaries, instilling a strong sense of right and wrong, teaching us how to love. How they behave has a strong impact as well, contributing to our sense of morality. Personal ethics are also developed by our feelings. When we do something that is against our morals, we feel bad, guilty or ashamed, and possibly even feel unloved. When we do something that fits into our ethical idea of what we consider “right” we feel good, proud or happy. These personal feelings help us make ethical decisions. Ethics is simply a code of conduct based on our moral principles, or what we do when no one is looking. Some people act one way when they are in a group of people where their actions can be judged, and entirely another way when they are alone. As Christians, the more we love, the more we study the Bible and develop our personal relationship with God, our moral integrity grows as the Holy Spirit drives this within us. Therefore our ethics, or code of conduct, should guide us in doing the same thing whether we are alone or in a group, because we as Christians know God is always watching and we are never truly alone. Remember, "We love because he first loved us," 1 John 4:19.

The last thing I would like to leave you in this Valentines message is this. A lot of people are empty during this time of year. They need to hear the Gospel of Jesus Christ. Let’s expend our energy there. Let’s expend our energy in proclaiming the Gospel, because the heart of the matter is that people are lost. They need Christ, and we need to take that message to them.

Heidi and I would like to wish you a very happy Valentine's Day filled with God’s love and peace. We would like to share with you again the Valentine's quotation we did last year from Gilda Radner, “Immature love says: ‘I love you because I need you.’ Mature love says: ‘I need you because I love you.’" Thank you for taking the time to read this and I hope it spiritually enriches you. As always, please do not hesitate to leave me a comment if I can be of assistance to you in any way.

Blessings from a Pastor and his wife,

Tom and Heidi Bumgarner

"Whoever pursues righteousness and love finds life, prosperity and honor."  Proverbs 21:21