DRCC Worship March 22, 2020

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Wrapping my head around things.

I write this blog entry this week in the hope that as I type, God will help me center my mind.  This week I have attended two visitations and one funeral. The funeral being for a young girl killed in a tragic auto accident in my former community. In each of these celebration of life events, I saw families and communities come together in unprecedented ways.

Two days ago, I received the message that my estranged eldest brother living in California, had a stroke and fell striking his head. He is brain dead, waiting for his children to arrive prior to his being allowed to pass away as equipment is turned off.

I mourn those who lost dear loved ones this week, and I celebrate the love that these families had for one another in life and in death. But how do I wrap my head around my brother’s death, how do I wrap my head around a brother who did vile and evil things in his life? How do I wrap my head around those that he hurt, those that he wounded? How do I wrap my head around the hurt and ceasing of relationship that occurred in our family relationship with him?

Do I mourn his death? Truly I struggle with this as I celebrate for those that he hurt in this life, those that will never have to think about him again in the word “living”. As a minister of the Gospel I am often asked if certain people are in heaven or in hell, and in the case of my eldest brother, I would lean more to his being in hell. At the end of the day, this is God's choice and never mine.

What do I mourn of my brother? I mourn the brother that loved and protected me as a child. (there are all too few of these memories).  I mourn for my mother in the fact that my brother will always be her child, and you cannot break a mother’s love. I mourn for his wife and children, and I mourn for the relationship that they should have had with him and he with them. I mourn for my brothers and sisters who should have had an older brother to look up to, and older brother that could have been our mentor and not our enemy.

My only solace, and my only hope in this life is that before his death, an opportunity came before him to accept Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior. My prayer was that he was able to come before Jesus as ask for forgiveness and to seek repentance. If this occurred, then I will see a new older brother in heaven. Yes, the only hope that I have in my life is Jesus Crucified, Resurrected and Coming Back!

This week, I observed love, relationship, and many coming together in the love and grace of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.

So, as I wrap my head around this week, I continue to place my everything at the foot of the cross as I fall into the loving arms of my Savior. My prayer is that we all be present in His name for all that have lost loved ones, and that when families and communities come together the name of Jesus is proclaimed and that His love for others is the true witness and the true constant.

Psalm 34:18-19 English Standard Version (ESV)

¹⁸ The Lord is near to the brokenhearted
    and saves the crushed in spirit.

¹⁹ Many are the afflictions of the righteous,
    but the Lord delivers him out of them all.

My hope is based on nothing less than Jesus Christ and His righteousness.

Pastor Tim.

I Know What Love Is!

1Therefore if you have any encouragement from being united with Christ, if any comfort from his love, if any common sharing in the Spirit, if any tenderness and compassion, 2 then make my joy complete by being like-minded, having the same love, being one in spirit and of one mind. 3 Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit. Rather, in humility value others above yourselves, 4 not looking to your own interests but each of you to the interests of the others.

megachurch

[ˈmeɡəCHərCH]

NOUN

mega-church (noun)

1. a church with an unusually large congregation, typically one preaching a conservative or evangelical form of Christianity.
2. The previous is the dictionary definition of the terminology "Mega Church" This blog post is in no way blasting or condemning those that consider themselves Mega Churches, but i come to you in this blog asking, "what makes a church Mega"? From the one to the many, does Mega mean many, and what is the definition and call for the many in worship and ministry of Jesus Christ? 

3. 

   The Needs of the One Outweigh the Needs of the Many!

   
   
4. As I approach this topic, my inner Star Trek comes out when I think of the Star Trek Movie, "The Wrath of Kahn" when Spock states: " The needs of the one outweigh the needs of the many" This makes me think of Matthew 18:12-14 in regards of the one lost sheep. 
5. The Parable of the Lost Sheep is one of the parables of Jesus. It appears in the Gospels of Matthew and Luke. It is about a shepherd who leaves his flock of ninety-nine sheep in order to find the one which is lost. It is the first member of a trilogy about redemption that Jesus tells after the Pharisees and religious leaders accuse him of welcoming and eating with "sinners." The two parables that follow are those of the Lost Coin and the Prodigal Son. The parable of the Good shepherd, a pericope found in John 10:1-21, derives from it Matthew.

For me the definition of Mega Church is when a body of believers still can focus on the sheep as well as the whole flock. Beloved, what we see in the Philippians text is Paul telling us about our own humility and that we must thinks of others in the same importance that we think of ourselves.  

If a church, if a house of worship can take care of the one as well as they take care of the all, than they truly are a Mega. If a church can focus on the love for one as much as the love of many, if a church can go after the one lost sheep as well as the whole flock, then Mega truly fits the definition of that Body of Christ Ministry. 

In today's teaching of ministers, some believe that visiting the home-bound and the hospitalized is not a good use of the pastors time. Maybe it is my age, but my working with the one has always best prepared be to work and minister to the many. Am I so busy and serve so many that I can no longer be the shepherd that visits the sick, the lonely, and the poor?

What I am trying to say this morning and what Paul is try to say is if we find ourselves so Mega that we have lost sight of the one, than we have become lost ourselves. If we are so Mega that our pastors don't know us, and have never met us, than as the blue grass song goes, we have truly "got above our raising"

Love the many, but never forget the one.

Pastor Tim.

Tim's Topics: A Tasty Dish

Tim's Topics: A Tasty Dish: A Tasty Dish! Our strength as a country and as a people is our diversity of cultures and the embracing of different faith beliefs. The Uni...

A Tasty Dish

A Tasty Dish!

Our strength as a country and as a people is our diversity of cultures and the embracing of different faith beliefs. The United States should think of itself as a recipe that contains so many different and awesome ingredients, that produce an excellent dish. Without my Irish Catholic born mother, I would not be here to add the this countries recipe. We are all created in God’s image, meaning all of us make a beautiful picture and a might tasty dish.

The Sikh faith believes that in death one is reincarnated. The next life is based on how they lived the last. For this Deputies faith, in his life well lived, reincarnation will occur in an outstanding new life.

Last night in Houston a Deputy was killed, this Deputy was viciously and cowardly murdered while he was protecting and serving. This Deputy was of the Sikh faith and wore a turban. He added to our tasty recipe as a country. He was well respected, loved. He was a “Great Cop”! Yet, some were more concerned about his headwear instead of the fact that he gave his life for law and order. To those haters out there, your hatred only spoils our tasty dish of a diverse and wonderful nation. Thank you for adding to our recipe Deputy Sandeep Dhaliwal.

Deputy Sheriff Sandeep Dhaliwal was shot and killed while conducting a traffic stop in the 14800 block of Willancy Court at approximately 12:45 pm.

A subject approached Deputy Dhaliwal from behind and shot him multiple time. He was flown to a local hospital where he succumbed to his wounds several hours later.

Two subjects were arrested later in the afternoon.

Deputy Dhaliwal had served with the Harris County Sheriff's Office for 10 years.

From The Old I Was, To The New I AM

2 Corinthians 5:17 ESV 

Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come.

Recently I was driving through our hometown when I saw an old structure being demolished. Yes, the old building that had been unoccupied for so long was now being torn down to make way for a new structure that would breathe life into a vacant location.

Likewise, when a person accepts Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior and is baptized, the old empty life is torn down just like that old building in our town, and replaced with something bright, shiny, and new. When the person enters the waters of baptism, they enter the waters that will take away an unoccupied heart and replace it with a new vibrant heart that is in relationship with Christ Jesus.

From the point of time that one is in new relationship with God, the person thought of in worldly terms and with a worldly heart is made new by being a new creation. Thus, having a new heart for God, instead of only a heart of worldly possibilities, the person now has a heavenly eternal reality in which the possibilities are endless.

So next time you see a building being torn down…drink from the glass half full and celebrate the new possibilities that come with tearing down and building up. Likewise, when Jesus tears down our old life and replaces it with a new life, something better will always come from it.

As we go forth this day, let us consider the building of relationships instead of the tearing down of relationships. You have the power to make new or to destroy the old. What will your choice be? I choose building up and new life in Christ.

This is the day that the Lord has made.

Pastor Tim.

Happy Role Models Day.

Proverbs 22:6 ESV

Train up a child in the way he should go; even when he is old, he will not depart from it.

This Sunday is Father’s Day, and many will celebrate with their Father’s, but also many will not. For many, their earthly fathers have passed away, or they are not in the picture, they are not involved in the lives of their children. Personally, my earthly father’s Tom and Don have passed away. Yes, this Sunday I will grieve, but a few years ago I became determined not to let my mourning define Father’s Day.

A few years ago, on Father’s Day, I went out and celebrated the positive role models in my life. It just took a card and maybe a balloon, and I would contact them to let them know how important they are in my life. Often these didn’t have children of their own, or their children were raised away from them.

The Bible tells us in: Proverbs 22:6 ESV

Train up a child in the way he should go; even when he is old, he will not depart from it. Who has trained you, who has prepared you in the ways of God and our interactions with others?

As we live our lives in love and relationship with God, let us pledge to make others loved and appreciated this Father’s Day. Maybe…. every day.

We will see our Father’s again, but while they are absent from us, role model dad’s still need our love and our appreciation.

This is the day that Lord has made.

Rejoice and be glad in it.

Pastor Tim.