Independence, Freedom, and Accountability

1 Peter 2:16 ESV

Live as people who are free, not using your freedom as a cover-up for evil, but living as servants of God.

As we gather next weekend to celebrate the 4^th of July and America’s independence, we will gather with friends and family as to celebrate the adoption of the United States Declaration of Independence. We will attend parades and fireworks, as well as many cookouts as to celebrate the fact that as citizens of this great country we are free from oppression. But this question of freedom and independence, what does it mean for people of faith?

Does this freedom mean that followers of Christ do not have responsibilities? Does it mean that we are not allowed to do certain things with this freedom? As those that profess Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior, we are not free to partake of the things that the world has to offer that go against God’s wishes for His people. We are not free to sin, we are not free to live in contempt of God, and we are not free to break the laws of a civil society.

As followers of Christ we were given eternal freedom and eternal life because of Christ’s death on the cross and his overcoming death three days later. We are not to treat others as our servants but we are to truly understand that we are “servants”, servants of God!

As we celebrate our earthly freedom, let us make sure that we as servants of God follow and submit ourselves to the will of God. This freedom was given to us by the love of God, whom  we are accountable.

Beloved have a great Independence Day and as you go out in celebration of your earthly freedom, never forget the freedom of access that God has given us, to Him. With our God given freedom comes responsibilities and accountability

This is the Freedom That God Has Made.

Proclaimer or Complainer?

Ephesians 2:20-22 ESV

Built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Christ Jesus himself being the cornerstone, in whom the whole structure, being joined together, grows into a holy temple in the Lord. In him you also are being built together into a dwelling place for God by the Spirit.

1 Corinthians 3:9 ESV

For we are God's fellow workers. You are God's field, God's building.

If you look close enough you will see many articles written and many pastors preaching about the demise of the church. We will hear of low attendance numbers and those that drift away from the church.

Do these problems exist? Yes they do, but as much as we talk about decline, we must talk about how Christ is working within His church and His great message that they are proclaiming to the world.

Beloved, churches are feeding the hungry, and clothing the naked, and housing the homeless, and healing the sick. Yes, the church has had better days. Yes, the church has had better attendance in the past. But, God is still present and still at work, these are the things that we need to be proclaiming to the world.

Our obligation and our call is to uplift the name of Christ, the Savior of the universe, the Savior of you and me. My prayer and my call for you this week is that you lift up the Church that you proclaim what God’s church is still doing.

The church is not the building but rather the souls that sit in the pews. Our call is not to preach depression, but rather optimism. We are called to proclaim the “Good News” and let the world deal with the bad news that will be with it always.

This is the Day that the Lord has made.

Pastor Tim.

Tim's Topics: Facing the Week and Facing it Whole!

Tim's Topics: Facing the Week and Facing it Whole!: Matthew 6:25-34   ESV “Therefore I tell you, do not be anxious about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink, nor about y...

Facing the Week and Facing it Whole!

Matthew 6:25-34 ESV

“Therefore I tell you, do not be anxious about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink, nor about your body, what you will put on. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothing? Look at the birds of the air: they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not of more value than they? And which of you by being anxious can add a single hour to his span of life? And why are you anxious about clothing? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow: they neither toil nor spin, yet I tell you, even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these. ...

As we approach our Monday morning, we also approach the beginning of anxiousness for the week that lies ahead. Whether it is work deadlines, work expectations, children’s sporting events, spousal events, or even just anxiousness in trying to find time to rest and relax.

Yes, often our lives are about lists and meeting the expectations of others, while worrying about the ramifications if we are unable to meet or complete everything that is expected of us.

The message in the Gospel of Matthew is meant to help us to place our lives in perspective, as we understand what is truly important. Even though our schedules are hectic and at times even impossible to complete, our task as followers of Christ is to take a deep breath and place our trust (our wholeness) in the promises of God.

When we place our whole trust in God, we truly know that whatever happens in our earthly world, God’s divine care will truly be there when you need it. He will supply your needs and will sustain you in ways that the world cannot even imagine, and fulfill you with a wholeness that the longest “to do” list could not even come close to meeting.

This is the day that the Lord has made.

Pastor Tim.

It's OK to Let Go!

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.

Recently our youngest child graduated from high school, and soon he will be leaving for further education away from us. I often think back to the early days of my children, such as their birth, their first sounds and first steps. One of the more vivid memories that comes to my mind is the very first day that we dropped our child off at Kindergarten. I’m sure that many of us remember that day when they cried and we cried as we entrusted our children to strangers.

Dropping our kids off somewhere for the first time is an experience that we all can share, along with the emotions that came with it. Now our kids are graduating from high school and will soon be entering the world via jobs, college, or the military. Yes, it is time to let go and to watch our children take what we have taught them and to go out into the world on their own accord.

Letting go is something that parents always talk about, and something that all parents find hard to do. Yes, they will occasionally call us for advice and they will more often call us for extra money. We are now moving from our parenting roles in raising our children and moving toward our parental roles as nurturers and supporters.

The grace that I leave all of us with today is that hopefully we have done the best that we could in training our children, not only in the ways of the world, but more importantly in the ways of Jesus Christ.

Be well my friends and let your children go out to the world to walk, run, fly and soar. Yes, there may me times when they stumble, but as you have always trusted them to God, continue to do so as they grow, mature, and prosper and enter the world that God has created.

As they go with God, know that God will never leave them and also know that somewhere deep down inside all of our children, are still memories of His teaching and our teaching, His nurturing and our nurturing, His love and our love.

Mom and Dad it will be fine.

This is the day that the Lord has made.

Some Gave All!

Psalm 82:3-4 ESV

Give justice to the weak and the fatherless; maintain the right of the afflicted and the destitute. Rescue the weak and the needy; deliver them from the hand of the wicked.”

A person leaves home and family and enters the world as to defend what the hold dear from evil as to keep their loved ones from harm. Yes, a person put on a military uniform today! Yes, a person put on a police uniform today! Yes, a person put on a firefighters uniform today! Yes, someone put on an EMS or Rescue uniform today! Yes, they went out to protect, serve, and defend, and some never returned home. Yes, some gave the last full measure of devotion!

Beloved, I write this blog post this Memorial Day not only as a pastor, but as a Chaplain that has found it all too common to send cards to those that have lost loved ones in the service of our nation and our community. Just last night on a social media page that I administer, a mother communicated her grief over the murder of her police officer son two weeks ago.

As we commemorate this Memorial Day today, let us remember those that served and returned and let us remember those that served and never returned. I conclude this blog today with a prayer borrowed from Christian blog writer Mary Fairchild.

Dear Heavenly Father,

As we remember those who have made the ultimate sacrifice for the freedoms we enjoy every day, we think of how they have followed in the footsteps of your son, our Savior, Jesus Christ. Please hold our servicemen and women in your strong arms. Cover them with your sheltering grace and your presence as they stand in the gap for our protection.

We also remember the families of our troops. We ask for your unique blessings to fill their homes, and we pray your peace, provision, and strength will fill their lives.

May the members of our armed forces be supplied with courage to face each day and may they trust in the Lord's mighty power to accomplish each task. Let our military brothers and sisters feel our love and support.

In the name of Jesus. Amen.

God Cannot Forgive You! What????????????

Recently I saw a post on social media page which has me concerned. In this post it states to never forgive someone for a past action. I began to ask myself about what sin that God would not forgive, and here we several passages in which the only sin that cannot be forgiven is denying the Holy Spirit.

·         Mark 3:28-30: "Truly I tell you, all sins and blasphemes will be forgiven for the sons of men. But whoever blasphemes against the Holy Spirit will never be forgiven, but is guilty of an eternal sin. He said this because they [the Pharisees] were saying, ‘He has an evil spirit’."

·         Matthew 12:30-32: "Whoever is not with me is against me, and whoever does not gather with me scatters. And so I tell you, people will be forgiven every sin and blasphemy. But the blasphemy against the Spirit will not be forgiven. Anyone who speaks a word against the Son of Man will be forgiven, but anyone who speaks against the Holy Spirit will not be forgiven, either in this age or in the age to come."

·         Luke 12:8-10: "I tell you, whoever acknowledges me before men, the Son of Man will also acknowledge him before the angels of God. But he who disowns me before men will be disowned before the angels of God. And everyone who speaks a word against the Son of Man will be forgiven, but anyone who blasphemes against the Holy Spirit will not be forgiven."

·         Hebrews 6:4-8: "It is impossible for those who have once been enlightened, who have tasted the heavenly gift, who have shared in the Holy Spirit, who have tasted the goodness of the word of God and the powers of the coming age and who have fallen away, to be brought back to repentance. To their loss they are crucifying the Son of God all over again and subjecting him to public disgrace. Land that drinks in the rain often falling on it and that produces a crop useful to those for whom it is farmed receives the blessing of God. But land that produces thorns and thistles is worthless and is in danger of being cursed. In the end it will be burned. Even though we speak like this, dear friends, we are convinced of better things in your case — the things that have to do with salvation."

·         Hebrews 10:26-29: "If we deliberately keep on sinning after we have received the knowledge of the truth, no sacrifice for sins is left, but only a fearful expectation of judgment and of raging fire that will consume the enemies of God. Anyone who rejected the law of Moses died without mercy on the testimony of two or three witnesses. How much more severely do you think someone deserves to be punished who has trampled the Son of God underfoot, who has treated as an unholy thing the blood of the covenant that sanctified them, and who has insulted the Spirit of grace?"

My friends, what this means is basically the denial by a Christian that God is not capable of forgiving everybody, even if they should seek out God’s mercy and forgiveness. It is the Holy Spirit that brings us the present reminders that we have sin and gone against what God wishes for us and for which Jesus was crucified for.

When we deny the Holy Spirit, we deny what God is capable of and we basically label God as not being able to keep His promises, Basically we have made God an imperfect God. So when we say that we can never forgive somebody, or say that God can’t forgive them, we are the ones that are truly committing the sin of unbelief in the power and capabilities of God through the Holy Spirit.

My prayer for us all this day is that as followers of Christ we place our whole trust in Him and His power to redeem anybody. As followers of Christ it is our duty and ministry to understand that and communicate to all that God can forgive them and our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ died to keep that promise.

This is the Day that the Lord has made.

Pastor Tim