And The Oscar Goes...........

Micah 6:8 ESV 

He has told you, O man, what is good; and what does the Lord require of you but to do justice, and to love kindness, and to walk humbly with your God?

Philippians 4:13ESV

13 I can do all things through him who strengthens me.

Last night the Oscar Awards were televised and many were awarded the prized gold statue(s) in celebration and commemoration of their acting skills, and acting achievements. Some were awarded the golden statues in celebration and commemoration of their skills in making a movie look and sound realistic in appearance .

Yet, at the end of the day these awards and these actors were only portraying a certain event or a certain character(s). Often those is society will either live their live vicariously through the actors, and even confuse some of them with reality.

The message that I want to communicate this morning is in the fact that those of us that are not winning gold statues are not to be envious, but rather to praise the eternal reward that awaits those that follow Christ Jesus.

None of the awards last night went to those that clothed and fed the poor, those that helped to heal the sick, those that form relationships with the downtrodden. As we journey through this season of Lent we must focus on the cross in which Christ Jesus sacrificed himself for our eternal reward.

A golden statue can never give one the strength that they need to endure, it can never give us the will to go out as the Body of Christ to the world and for the world. We that follow Christ go out in ministry not for the acclamation, not for the pats on the back, but rather in the fact  it is who God has made and called us to be. 

Beloved, my prayer for you today is in the knowledge that we that follow Christ have already achieved the victory and that Christ paid the price for our eternal reward. this prize can never be represented or fulfilled by a gold statue, only a wooden cross and an empty tomb achieved that.

You are all winners in Christ, go out today shouting and claiming the victory.

Pastor Tim.

The True Reality

John 3:16-17 ESV

“For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him." 

It seems like every time that we turn on the television or open a magazine we are bombarded by the characters that are called "Reality TV." Often these so called reality television shows are the farthest from reality and instead are societies menu on how to behave badly.

This morning I want to address the true reality that modern society and so called reality television shows fail to address. This Wednesday is not only Ash Wednesday, but it is the beginning of the forty days of lent.

  

The forty days of lent are the true reality that the world needs to focus on. The reality is that God loves us so much that he sent his Son to love us, teach us, heal us, be arrested by us, be beaten by us, be crucified by us and finally be resurrected by God.

Beloved, the true reality that the world truly needs is less of the supposed real world and more of the real Jesus Christ, who came to save our lives and to make them eternal. The true reality that Kim and Khloe Kardashian and all the other so called reality stars must understand is 

 Jesus Christ 

Is 

The true reality and the salvation of the

 Life that 

We 

Lead!

My prayer for you this week is those that call themselves Christ followers will reach out to the world this Lenten season, and profess the true reality that the world needs to hear and to live.

  "For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life. For god did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him.

My friends go out this day living and loving the true reality of the world by loving others and by sharing the love and witness of Christ Jesus. By doing this, we have truly made reality by creating "Survivors!" that will live eternally instead of surviving on an island.  

Pastor Tim.

The Sea The Shore and God

Mightier than the thunders of many waters,

    mightier than the waves of the sea,

    the Lord on high is mighty! Psalm 93:4

Often in our lives we will encounter storms and rough sea's. When these times occur we look to calm sea's and the shore to bring us peace and stability.

When troubles occur, when we feel like we are drowning in the high seas of life, God is our lifeguard and our calmer of the sea's. He provides us with the shore to stop the raging waters.

Beloved, God is our shore. He is well acquainted with trouble, and He will never be overtaken by it. God is the one who consumes the waves, and he is its limitation. 

God is our shore and He will not let you sink. When we hear the waters of life begin to create waves, may you know that you are never far from the shore. 

Friends, God controls the waves and God is the shore that will not let the troubles of life drown you in a sea of raging troubles and problems. 

My prayer for you all today is that you always remember to swim to the shore when the waters get rough.

 He stilled the storm to a whisper; the waves of the sea were hushed. Psalm 107:29

You Are Beautiful

1 Peter 3:3-4 ESV 

Do not let your adorning be external—the braiding of hair and the putting on of gold jewelry, or the clothing you wear— but let your adorning be the hidden person of the heart with the imperishable beauty of a gentle and quiet spirit, which in God's sight is very precious.

These days when viewing television, movies, and magazines we are overwhelmed with pictures and articles about having the perfect body, the perfect clothes and accessories as to make us the most beautiful people that the world dictates.

Today's text from 1 Peter 3:3-4 speaks about the beauty that God sees in us and has created in us, rather than how the world views what is beautiful. Many people in today's society believe that their outward appearance must be based on what the world claims as fashionable and stylish.

Beloved, my prayer for you this week is that you know that God loves you and created you beautifully and without blemish. So go out this week in confidence and in the knowledge that God has given you a beauty and a spirit that is precious in His sight.

This is the day that the Lord has made. 

Inflating Our Faith

Romans 10:17 ESV 

So faith comes from hearing, and hearing through the word of Christ.

One cannot turn on any media source these days without hearing about the story of the under inflated footballs from the AFC Playoff Game. Yes, all eyes are turned and all ears are closely checking to see if cheating took place in a championship game. This news event has even come up with the name "Inflategate", as to describe and proclaim its importance to the world.  

One often wishes that the world would pay as much attention to the word of God as to inflate our spirits, our lives, and everything that we do on this earth. The Apostle Paul's Epistle (letter) to the Church at Rome, gives the church advice on how to increase their faith and how to be a legitimate faith community in Rome. 

The Apostle Paul tells us this morning that our faith can be increased by just utilizing the ears that God gave us as to truly listen for Christ's word for our lives. When Christ's people stray from scripture, their faith lives begin to deflate, just like a football that has had the air taken out of it.Only by being in God's word through Christ Jesus can we truly live faith lives that are full and ready to win souls for God.

My prayer for you all this week is that you will take time to study God's word and to listen for God's call for your lives. Instead of trying to figure out if properly inflated footballs are the reason for winning and losing games, may we all surround ourselves in the word and promises of God that Christ lived, died and arose for. Let us go out in the knowledge that God's word will always leave us pumped up and ready to play and to win souls for Christ Jesus

This is the day that the Lord has made.

The Light That Still Shines Today!

The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it. John 1:5 ESV

As we celebrated Martin Luther King Day last Monday, we celebrated the life of a man that promoted non-violence to the people, as they demonstrated for civil rights. Often this non-violence would be met with violence and anger, and at the end of the day non-violence won the day as well as the battle for civil rights. 

The non-violence of Reverend Doctor King, I often attribute as being the light of Christ, while the violence that they faced can be attributed to the darkness. Let us all go in the knowledge this day that just as much as Dr. King can be thought of as the champion of civil rights, he must also be thought as a minister that helped to bring the light of Jesus Christ into a world that was facing a dark time in its history.

As we think of Dr. King today and celebrate his life and his ministry, may we encourage ourselves to again be the light of Jesus Christ for a world in which many still live in darkness. The message that Dr. King needs us to still communicate, is the fact that we are all equal in the eyes of God, and that we were all made in God's image.

My friends, the words of Dr. King still can be preached to the world around us. We must remember The Reverend Doctor Martin Luther King, as we continue his ministry as God's shining light that reaches to every dark place that exists in this world.

This holiday is much more than getting off work or school, it is even bigger than Dr. King himself. The fact is that today is our wake-up call to be the light of Jesus Christ to a suffering world. My prayer for all of us this day is that we will remember the life and ministry of Dr. King, not as in the past, but as in a ministry that is still needed and alive and at work this very day.

We that call ourselves followers of Jesus Christ are his shining light that must continue to brighten a world in which people still live in bondage, poverty, and under the darkness of hatred and despair. Just as Martin Luther King was God's earthly vessel of shining light, we need to be the current light carriers to the world that we live in today.

Shine on today and well into the future.

This is the day that the Lord has made.

"Morning Ralph, Morning Sam!"

Hebrews 10:24-25 ESV

And let us consider how to stir up one another to love and good works, not neglecting to meet together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another, and all the more as you see the Day drawing near.

In the old Looney Tunes cartoons there were two characters, Ralph E. Wolf and Sam Sheepdog. In these stories nothing changed, day after day the same thing, the same routine. Ralph and Sam would fight all day until it was shift change at which time they would clock out for the day and two like characters would clock in and begin the same fighting and the same routine.

 I will save the fighting part for another blog, and focus today on the routine of these two animated characters. When we get into a routine we place ourselves in a position for normalcy, which is often good in our work lives. But when we get ourselves into positions of normalcy in our faith lives we find ourselves in positions in which ministry opportunities may have passed us by.

At the beginning of this new week I encourage all to step outside of your boxes of normalcy in regards to your faith lives. We are called to stir each other up as to love one another and to do the work that God calls has called us to.

My prayer for us all this week is that we will think outside the box in regards to our faith and ministry as the Body of Christ. Shake things up, and encourage one another as Christ calls us to do. Be exited, smile and greet all that you meet in the love and grace that we have been given.  Let us not be like the wolf and the sheepdog: “Morning Ralph, Morning Sam”, day in and day out.

May you feel and live out the excitement and passion that we have been given as followers of Jesus Christ, and knock out the walls of the box of faith that we sometimes enclose ourselves in.

This is the day that the Lord has made.