God's Love

 

February 2021

Message from Pastor Tom:

By now, you are all probably aware I am a little late getting this month’s blog out. Most of us also know Punxsutawney Phil has seen his shadow, and as legend holds means six additional weeks of winter coats and chilly weather. In addition, we also know whatever the weather future may be, February is known as the month for love.

Valentine's Day is fast approaching. With this pandemic, what can we do to show our loved ones how much we care?? I know some of you are bitter and becoming covid-19 fatigued. Some may even think Valentine’s Day is just another excuse to sell Hallmark cards, chocolates and marked up flower, but is there really anything wrong with setting aside a special day to celebrate love?

I firmly believe every day should be a special day for loving. Loving our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, our family and friends, and yes the ones who are also hard to love. I know I struggle with the last one too and always ask myself what Jesus would do. The answer is simple and never changes, love them just how Jesus first loved us. 1 John 4:19 states, “We love, because He first loved us” (NIV). What greater motivation could we have than to live our lives with a single-minded devotion to Love, and honor with God who makes us clean with our every thought, action, or deed? A God whose love has proven to be unconditional, unlimited and complete.

Remember this; life is our journey we experience only between birth and physical death. We must forever strive for our blessed life to reach entire sanctification with perfect love for God, as well as all humankind. The Holy Spirit indwelled within each believer gives us a spiritual resurrection allowing us to live a holy life while in our physical bodies. It is because we are still living in the flesh we will be tempted, just as Jesus Christ, as fully man was tempted, but because He was also fully God, Jesus never gave in to temptation and sin.

While it is possible we can overcome the power of sin through entire sanctification, even with perfect love, a life of holiness where we have achieved entire sanctification will not mean we are perfect. Our journey to perfection is a never-ending work in progress. We must aggressively strive for perfection with discipline and repeated acts of consecration. When we achieve entire sanctification, we can overcome the ability to sin with the help of the Holy Spirit who makes it possible for us to conquer our natural sinful nature and willingly choose not to give in to our sinful nature. What a way to celebrate love, by showing God our spiritual dedication. Shouldn’t you not want to do everything you can to be ready for the moment you finally realize what it is to be clean of sin, and see the radiant glory of the God who died to make you pure?

Heidi and I continue to ask you to join us in praying for peace for our country, our leaders and those who are persecuted racially and spiritually worldwide. Until next month, may God richly bless you and keep you, may His face shine upon you always. Happy St Valentine’s Day.

Blessings from a pastor and his wife

Let the morning bring me word of your unfailing love, for I have put my trust in you. Show me the way I should go, for to you I entrust my life. Psalm 143:8

What is Your Foundation Like?

January 2021

Message from Pastor Tom:

Happy New Year and yes, this sounds great after everything we have endured in 2020. However, Covid and some of the craziness will be with us a while longer. Most people are still working from home, struggling with home schooling their children and bouncing around their schedules, many are dealing with total loss of their businesses or employment. Does any of this sound like a really great start to the New Year? A few questions for each of us to ponder. Is my foundation a firm one, steady and unshakable, or is it a bit unstable? Can I hold up under the strain and unforgiving pressure of this worldly life alone? 

The answer to all these questions is very simply no. Not if you are trying to do it alone, if your foundation is not built solidly on our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Matthew 7:24-27 states, “Anyone who listens to my teaching and follows it is wise, like a person who builds a house on solid rock. Though the rain comes in torrents and the floodwaters rise and the winds beat against that house, it won’t collapse because it is built on bedrock. But anyone who hears my teaching and doesn’t obey it is foolish, like a person who builds a house on sand. When the rains and floods come and the winds beat against that house, it will collapse with a mighty crash.”

Trust me, I’ve been a building inspector and seen my fair share of damage and building collapse from structures built on shaky foundations. I personally find having Christ as the foundation in my life a very stabilizing and solid basis for everything I do, how I react to various situations, and also for direction in the decisions I make daily in my life. I’ve always wondered how anyone could fail to choose God, or trust in the Father’s promises, receive the guidance of the Holy Spirit, know the power of prayer and the authority of the cross?

The answer however soon becomes clear. We are not allowing the Holy Spirit to guide us in knowing what God wants and how He thinks, being more concerned with what we want and think. All of us are guilty of this at one time or another during our walk with God. But if we stay focused on God’s plan and purpose for our life, if we open our hearts and listen to that soft, small voice speaking to us, find the quiet time to be with the Lord in prayer, by shutting off that radio, TV, or cell phone, we can start working on that close personal relationship with our Lord. I know I want to experience the promise God has given to all of us, I want eternal life with the Father. What do you want? Will you take it to prayer? The line of communication is open and God is waiting to hear from each of us.

If you don’t already have a daily habit of devotion to the Lord, it’s not too late to start. Why not begin by simply looking deeply into your heart, and then ask God to draw you closer into a relationship with Him? To increase our trust in God, we must fill our minds with the truth of Scripture, remember our Father’s faithfulness to us in the past, and look for His hand working in our present situation. When our minds are renewed, our faith will be also.

Heidi and I ask that you join us in praying for peace for our country, our leaders and those who are persecuted racially and spiritually worldwide. Until next month, may God richly bless you and keep you, may His face shine upon you always.

Blessings from a pastor and his wife

Nevertheless, God’s solid foundation stands firm, sealed with this inscription: “The Lord knows those who are his,” and, “Everyone who confesses the name of the Lord must turn away from wickedness” 2 Timothy 2:19.

God's Gift of Grace

 

December 2020

Message from Pastor Tom:

During this past Thanksgiving holiday, I hope many of you found time to reflect on your blessings and the many things you have to be thankful for. And if you're anything like me, all your Christmas decorating was complete either before or during the Thanksgiving break, getting ready for the fast approaching Christmas season with all the splendor and anticipation this time of year brings. The wonder of watching our loved ones, children and grandchildren alike, as they look forward with hope for what’s to come. Yet for others, the Christmas season can actually be a sad and lonely time. A rather hopeless reminder of a lost loved one, the loss of employment, or an illness, especially with Covid-19 still running rampant. But no matter what has gone before, the one thing we can always be assured of, by God’s Grace we have HOPE!

It's strange how we can find it much easier to trust God’s miracle of resurrection, rather than God’s miracle of grace. We all fear failure to some extent, and most of us have been guilty at one time or another of creating an image of perfection, feeling we are somehow not worthy, falling short of God’s expectations. We're then left with trying to please God either by our works, or some other monumental accomplishments and expectations we force upon ourselves. Instead, we should remember God’s promises are always kept, God’s love is unconditional, and we don't have to do anything in order to deserve God’s grace, because it is truly a free gift. All we need to do is accept it and cherish it.

Our emphasis therefore, should be on living a full Christian life of holiness, which stresses the importance of loving God with all our heart, mind, soul and strength, and to love one another as Jesus loved us (Mark 12:30-31). God’s grace is the love and mercy He freely gives us, not because we have done anything to earn it, but because God wants us to have it so we can understand faith and what it means to live a Christian life. Ephesians 2:8-9 states, “For by grace you have been saved through faith, and this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God - not the result of works, so that no one may boast” God’s grace freely flows because of His great love for us, and we can know how much God loves us with the incredible gift of His Son, Jesus Christ, the source of our faith. This faith is what gives us our heart change when the Holy Spirit takes over our spiritual senses and gradually begins our spiritual birth. This new birth is a process allowing us to experience a new beginning living in Christ, seeing and hearing spiritually.

As God’s children we seek perfection because Jesus Christ calls us to be good Christians, building up others in the faith so we may show His grace to the unsaved. We are no longer sinners needing salvation, but born again believers seeking perfection. Since only God sees into our hearts, the only way a person can know our heart is by our actions, witnessing our good works and seeing how we live every day as children of God. When we accept Jesus Christ as our Lord and Savior and repent our sins, we do so because our mind and heart has changed. We turn away from all that dishonors God, and embrace all that brings honor and glory to Him.

While we are justified through faith in Jesus Christ alone, what we believe should be confirmed by what we do. Faith should inspire not only our living a Holy Christian life displaying Christian morals and ethics, but also performing works of service. Scripture reminds us, “In the same way, faith by itself, if it is not accompanied by action, is dead” (James 2:17). When we accept Christ as our Lord and Savior, we become transformed, turning away from behaviors rooted in sin, and toward actions that express God’s love as we strive to become as Christ-like as possible. It is by our good deeds and outward evidence of our faith we will show others the way to the Lord.

We have no better example of what it means to truly love unconditionally and without hesitation than Jesus. It is not just that Jesus sacrificed Himself in our place, but that through His resurrection we are given the perfect gift of a new life in Christ. We will therefore demonstrate the authenticity of our faith by how we live each day with the light of our Lord shining through us, as we share our love and knowledge of Christ by our deeds as willing servants of God. “If you declare with your mouth, ‘Jesus is Lord,’ and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. For it is with your heart that you believe and are justified, and it is with your mouth that you profess your faith and are saved” (Romans 10:9-10). So please this Christmas reach out for God’s Christmas gift to each and every one, the gift of His Amazing Grace. With Grace there is HOPE.

Heidi and I ask you join with us in praying for peace for our country, our new leaders and those who are racially and spiritually persecuted worldwide. Until next month, may God richly bless you and keep you, may His face shine upon you. Merry Christmas and may each of you enjoy a very happy and prosperous new year in Christ.

Blessings from a pastor and his wife

For to us a child is born, to us a son is given, and the government will be on his shoulders. And he will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace. Isaiah 9:6

Spiritual Fog

 

 

November 2020

Message from Pastor Tom:

Have you been in a Spiritual fog lately? Some of our fall days have been foggy, and a lot of people are foggy about which Americans are going to win in the final elections, or whether there will be a medical treatment for Covid soon. What does this picture above show you? Is it a train coming, or is it a clearing through the fog? With the holidays soon upon us, we are not sure exactly the outcome, as these times are foggy at best. Should we be with family, travel, or be out in public places?

A fellow Chaplain stated “God is doing so much, yet through the fog it is hard to see it.  We get some glimpse, we can see it, but we can’t see through it.  When we allow ourselves to be so consumed with everything that life brings with it, we move from a sense of obedience to God, to a short-sighted approach that stops when the fog descends down over us and puts us in a spiritual fog.” These words ring so clearly true right now. So just how do we lift the fog from around us and bring the light and happiness to the world? Well, no passage gets at this need and God's provision better than Psalm 119:105. "Your word is a lamp to my feet and a light to my path.” Did you catch that? When it talks about light, it isn’t just talking about illumination, it’s also talking about happiness. Yes, when we follow God’s Word, it’s also meant to bring us happiness. What better confirmation is there than that?

Yet you never hear people around the world saying, “We need to get back to using God’s Word as a lamp unto our feet, or as a light unto our path.”  Sometimes God’s people even fail at using God’s Word properly. The list is quite long for the need of the light only our Lord and Savior can bring to the human race, to all His creation. There are many of us in need of His light to help deal with the unexpected. We need His light to cope with new emerging difficulties. We need His light for dealing with our families, in our marriages and our parenting. We need His light for our jobs and relationships with our neighbors. We need His light for our struggles with desires and temptations that can separate us from Gods Will.

So this Thanksgiving, let’s all be thankful for the light our Lord Jesus Christ makes available to each of us. All we have to do is reach out and let His light shine through us, illuminating clearly and perfectly the path He has chosen for you and your family once the fog is finally lifted.

Heidi and I ask you join us in praying for peace for our country, our leaders and those who are racially and spiritually persecuted worldwide, and please make sure you go out and vote! Until next month, may God richly bless you and keep you, may His face shine upon you.

Blessings from a pastor and his wife

Now we see things imperfectly, like puzzling reflections in a mirror, but then we will see everything with perfect clarity. All that I know now is partial and incomplete, but then I will know everything completely, just as God now knows me completely. 1 Corinthians 13:12

God's Way is the Right Way

 

October 2020

Message from Pastor Tom:

Wow, it’s so hard to believe October is already here! This year has been anything but calm, and even though we can’t help feeling weighed down by all the unknowns with the pandemic, the elections, job futures, our schools, or just plain being able to socialize safely, with the onset of cooler temperatures and the leaves beginning to turn their brilliant colors, we can hopefully turn our thoughts towards the holidays. So just how do we let the spirit of the holidays warm our hearts and look forward to the season in times like this? The answer is quite simple… with GOD. I know being around people and going places is necessary and gives meaning to our lives. God intended us to be social and build up one another. But without being able to do that lately, I imagine many have felt empty, fearful and lost in your quiet time. In fact, I know you will if the Lord is not in your heart. “God’s way is the right way.”

If you know God’s character you will know that no one is more trustworthy than God. Satan will try to have us see God as untrustworthy. When God says He will not forsake us, He means it. “I will never leave thee nor forsake thee” Hebrews 13:5 (KJV). No one who seeks after our Lord and Savior will be disappointed. God will not forsake you. But I am here to tell those who are not interested in God, who do not seek Him, you cannot claim, or be able to receive God’s promise.

For me and my family, not serving God in some capacity is not an option. Now I am not saying we have never felt alone or been fearful. The difference is we have the Lord in our hearts and His Love and Grace to pick us up. I ask, don’t you want the same for your family also? Well you can by reading and believing in two very simple verses. They are mighty, powerful and your acceptance will give you the peace, love, and understanding of living life eternally. “For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him” John 3:16-17 (NIV).

Now take a minute and just think about how Paul’s life was turned upside down. From how he had been living, to the life God had planned for him all along. I am sure it reminds you, as it does me, of the day we accepted Jesus Christ as our Lord and Savior and how our lives forever changed. Have you really thought how your success in life will affect your Christian walk? Will you be a marvelous salvation and blessing to the Christian community? I know you can as long as we all stay the path our Lord has laid out for us, and begin our journey of faith with the Holy Spirit in our hearts and our eyes upon the cross. Then we will conquer the selfish and self-centered life we once cherished, and begin to share our lives with others. We will then give ourselves to the Lord, being one with the body of Christ in the community of believers. This allows us to reap the benefits of eternal life and achieve the Christian excellence the Lord as laid out in our own personal Paul-like conversions. “God’s way is the right way”

Heidi and I pray and ask that you pray for peace for our country, our leaders and those who are racially and spiritually persecuted worldwide. Until next month, may God richly bless you and keep you, may His face shine upon you.

 Blessings from a pastor and his wife

And this I pray, that your love may abound still more and more in knowledge and all discernment, that you may approve the things that are excellent, that you may be sincere and without offense till the day of Christ. Philippians 1:9-10