Obligations: It's All In The Call!

 Peter 1:10-11 

10 Therefore, brothers, be all the more diligent to confirm your calling and election, for if you practice these qualities you will never fall. 11 For in this way there will be richly provided for you an entrance into the eternal kingdom of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.

How many of you have ever been asked to do something at church and have felt as if you have been forced into doing something that you do not want to do? How many of you have felt that you were not prepared for the task that has been presented to you?

Sometimes we all feel that way, but when this occurs we must seriously take it to prayer and ask ourselves if this is God's call to us for ministry. Brothers and Sisters as we go through this week and consider God's call for us, let us consider if God is extending a blessing to us. 

As people of God we must understand that everything that we do for the Kingdom may not be in our comfort zones, but it truly may be in our God given skill set. When God extends a blessing to us that we refuse to take, the blessing disappears and goes into our lives as a missed opportunity.

As people that are the body of Christ we must understand that each and everyone of us has some sort of calling in regards to God's kingdom. God does not extend us gifts just to let them sit and fester, they were given to us to use as the body of Christ for His creation. James 2:26 tells us: For as the body without the spirit is dead, so faith without works is dead also.

My prayer for you this week is that you humbly consider the gifts that God has given you, and how they can best be used for the glory of God. Let us all be people of faith in our works and place our trust in the Heavenly Father to place us well. 

It's not about the work! It's about the faith!

Where has God Placed You?

Pastor Tim

A Walk On the Quiet Side!

You care for the land and water it;

    you enrich it abundantly.

The streams of God are filled with water

    to provide the people with grain,

    for so you have ordained it.

You drench its furrows and level its ridges;

    you soften it with showers and bless its crops.

You crown the year with your bounty,

    and your carts overflow with abundance.

The grasslands of the wilderness overflow;

    the hills are clothed with gladness.

The meadows are covered with flocks

    and the valleys are mantled with grain;

    they shout for joy and sing.

Psalm 65: 9-13

Well as I write this weeks blog, our first church youth have gone off to church camp where they will worship God in the majesty of His creation. They will go on hikes, they will go swimming and they fellowship with other youth that are on the same spiritual journey.

As a child and even now in adulthood I relish the walks that God and I share in the beauty of nature. Often in the quietness of the trees and flowers, and the sounds of God's creatures stirring can I truly hear God's voice.
As we go through our daily lives we often look to hear Gods voice screaming to us over the sounds of the world around us. 
My prayer for us all this day is that we don't look for God's voice in the form of a scream, instead let us look for God's whispering voice in the sound of a flowing stream, or the wind blowing through the tree's. God created the world around us as to steward. May we listen to the owner and creator when wanting directions and answers to the many questions that life raises within us.

It's Beautiful Outside

Pastor Tim

Pastor Tim's Benton Blog: Pastor Tim's "We Care" Message

Pastor Tim's Benton Blog: Pastor Tim's "We Care" Message

Pastor Tim's "We Care" Message

Pastor Tim's Benton Blog: Anniversaries and Ministry are Opportunities to Bl...

Pastor Tim's Benton Blog: Anniversaries and Ministry are Opportunities to Bl...: Isaiah 60:1-22   Arise, shine, for your light has come, and the glory of the  Lord  has risen upon you. For behold, darkness shall cov...

Anniversaries and Ministry are Opportunities to Bloom and Blossom!

Isaiah 60:1-22 

Arise, shine, for your light has come, and the glory of the Lord has risen upon you. For behold, darkness shall cover the earth, and thick darkness the peoples; but the Lord will arise upon you, and His glory will be seen upon you. And nations shall come to your light, and kings to the brightness of your rising. Lift up your eyes all around, and see; they all gather together, they come to you; your sons shall come from afar, and your daughters shall be carried on the hip. Then you shall see and be radiant; your heart shall thrill and exult, because the abundance of the sea shall be turned to you, the wealth of the nations shall come to you. ...

This Monday morning as I sit in my office and celebrate two years as minister at Benton FCC, ministry that takes root and blooms is my focus of thought. As we enter two years in ministry together, I feet the best way to express my thanks and my vision is by planting beautiful flowers in front of the church. 

Why flowers? 

1. Flowers are a beautiful expression of love, and are an expression of love that I have for the body of believers at FCC Benton. Additionally, flowers are an active expression of love that we as Christ's followers have for others.
2. Flowers that are beautifully blooming show God's activity in His creation as well as His ministry at FCC Benton.
3. Flowers in bloom are an expression and symbol of good seed that has been planted in rich soil, just as our ministry is gathered in good soil with good seeds.
4. Flowers without good sun and nutrition will surely wither and die, likewise ministry without the Son and constant nutrition in God's Word will surely whither and die.

As we enter a new season of ministry together, let us think of Isaiah chapter 60 in the thought of the Israelites coming out of darkness and entering the season of light. When flowers bloom in the sunlight and are well fed and watered beautiful flowers are seen. Likewise, when God's people are exposed to the light of God, the people of God will grow, flourish and bloom.  We are told in Isaiah that God's presence will transform the Israelites . Just like flowers that are protected and valued bloom, so do God's people in the fact that by faith we are protected and valued.

My prayer for us all this week is that we will seek out God's protection and grace in the understanding that we are God's flowers that can only rise and bloom in the light of the Son.

Look How Beautifully You Bloom!

Pastor Tim

Pastor Tim's Benton Blog: "Greater love has no one than this, that one lay...

Pastor Tim's Benton Blog:

"Greater love has no one than this, that one lay...: "Greater love has no one than this, that one lay down his life for his friends". John 15:13 As I write this blog on this M...