We just celebrated the greatest of all events in all of history - the Resurrection of Jesus Christ! It is the most crucial element to the Christian faith. Jesus is no longer on the cross, and He is no longer in the grave - but He is risen - JUST AS HE SAID HE WOULD!
Knowing that and hoping all of you believe that, listen to these words from the apostle Paul:
1 Corinthians 15: 54-57
"...Death is swallowed up in victory." "O Death where is your sting? O Hades, where is your victory?" The sting of death is sin, and the strength of sin is the law. But thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ."
We have been given victory over sin and death because of what Jesus Christ has done for us! Now that is awesome!
We don't have to live defeated any longer if we have placed our faith and trust in the One who conquered it ALL. Victory has been given to us. So knowing that, listen to the last verse in that same chapter:
Verse 58:
Therefore, my beloved brethren, be steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, knowing that your labor is not in vain in the Lord.
Are you standing and building on the solid foundation - Jesus Christ? If you are - you can't lose! Abound in the work of the Lord. Attempt great things for God. Get out of your comfort zone, share your faith, find the place God would have you serve, use the talents God has given you!
And most of all - Do it for HIS Glory!!
Wednesday, April 23, 2014
Wednesday, April 9, 2014
Aren't you glad He hears?
There seems to be such a need for God's people to be praying, continually! With what is going on in our world and the people we know that need healing, aren't you glad God hears our prayers? So many Bible verses and songs are running through my head right now, but I just want to share a few.
One of the songs we have been singing lately is so powerful, read these words, or sing them.
Whom Shall I Fear (The God of Angel Armies)
God hears, God answers and God is still all about doing miracles TODAY!
One of the songs we have been singing lately is so powerful, read these words, or sing them.
Whom Shall I Fear (The God of Angel Armies)
You hear me when I call
You are my morning song
Though darkness fills the night
It cannot hide the light
You are my morning song
Though darkness fills the night
It cannot hide the light
Whom shall I fear?
You crush the enemy
Underneath my feet
You are my Sword and Shield
Though troubles linger still
Underneath my feet
You are my Sword and Shield
Though troubles linger still
Whom shall I fear?
I know Who goes before me
I know Who stands behind
The God of angel armies
Is always by my side
The One who reigns forever
He is a Friend of mine
The God of angel armies
Is always by my side
I know Who stands behind
The God of angel armies
Is always by my side
The One who reigns forever
He is a Friend of mine
The God of angel armies
Is always by my side
My strength is in Your name
For You alone can save
You will deliver me
Yours is the victory
For You alone can save
You will deliver me
Yours is the victory
Whom shall I fear?
Whom shall I fear?
Whom shall I fear?
And nothing formed against me shall stand
You hold the whole world in your hands
I'm holding onto Your promises
You are faithful
You are faithful
You hold the whole world in your hands
I'm holding onto Your promises
You are faithful
You are faithful
And nothing formed against me shall stand
You hold the whole world in your hands
I'm holding onto Your promises
You are faithful
You are faithful
You are faithful
You hold the whole world in your hands
I'm holding onto Your promises
You are faithful
You are faithful
You are faithful
I know Who goes before me
I know Who stands behind
The God of angel armies
Is always by my side
The One who reigns forever
He is a Friend of mine
The God of angel armies
Is always by my side
I know Who stands behind
The God of angel armies
Is always by my side
The One who reigns forever
He is a Friend of mine
The God of angel armies
Is always by my side
According to Scripture we should fear only the Lord. Jesus has conquered all, which makes us Super-conquerors!!
There are so many we could mention by name that desperately need our prayers and need healing from the Great Physician, but I want to take a moment to encourage you to pray for Ben Sauer and Jim Kelly. Most of you already are, but let's all continually lift these and other up. Casting our cares and petitions to the Lord because He cares more than we do. Let's pray without ceasing! May we not be anxious for anything, but in everything with pray and petition let our requests be made known to God. And the next verse is one of my favorites - And the peace of God will be beyond our comprehension.
We aren't taking God by surprise with anything we pray about, because He knows everything. But we are still commanded to pray, so let's get busy.
God hears, God answers and God is still all about doing miracles TODAY!
Monday, March 3, 2014
Find us Faithful
I had the privilege earlier today to listen to Johnny Hunt speak at a conference I am attending in Syracuse. He quoted words to an old time favorite song of mine called Find Us Faithful by Steve Green. He highlighted this phrase from the song: "Oh may all who come behind us find us faithful, may the fire of our devotion light their way. May the footprints that we leave, lead them to believe and the lives we live inspire them to obey."
If you are a follower of Jesus Christ these words should be our cry! I want to leave a legacy for others to follow. I know I am so far from perfect and have a long way to go to get to where God wants me to be, but this truly is my desire!
God is faithful! I want to be so faithful to Him! I pray that the way that I live and the footprints that I leave inspires others to follow me because I am following Him!
On another note, I ask that you would be praying for a good friend - Joe Peters who's beautiful wife went home to be with her Heavenly Father this past week. We are having a memorial service this Thursday to celebrate Joanie life! Please pray for many family members who don't know Jesus would come to faith in Christ!
Our worship team will be singing a song at the service called: We win in the end. Look it up on youtube and listen to the powerful message. I'm asking for prayer for the entire service for God to get all the glory and lives to be changed by His truth!!
If you are a follower of Jesus Christ these words should be our cry! I want to leave a legacy for others to follow. I know I am so far from perfect and have a long way to go to get to where God wants me to be, but this truly is my desire!
God is faithful! I want to be so faithful to Him! I pray that the way that I live and the footprints that I leave inspires others to follow me because I am following Him!
On another note, I ask that you would be praying for a good friend - Joe Peters who's beautiful wife went home to be with her Heavenly Father this past week. We are having a memorial service this Thursday to celebrate Joanie life! Please pray for many family members who don't know Jesus would come to faith in Christ!
Our worship team will be singing a song at the service called: We win in the end. Look it up on youtube and listen to the powerful message. I'm asking for prayer for the entire service for God to get all the glory and lives to be changed by His truth!!
Tuesday, February 18, 2014
A New Song
If you haven't figured it out yet by reading my previous blogs...I love music!! This past Sunday our worship team sang a new song (they did an awesome job I might add) called "Oceans." Let me encourage you to take some time to listen to it. I hope it is on our website very soon if it's not already. There is such a powerful message in the lyrics and my 2 favorite sentences are:
"Spirit lead me where my trust is without borders."
"Take me deeper than my feet could ever wander."
These are words that I want to echo all the time. I have a tendency to rely upon my own strength way too much, but this is my heart's cry.
God wants us to do exactly what the words of this song says - trust HIM! Go farther than where we are today. How do I know that? Listen to this great passage:
* Ephesians 3:20-21
Now to Him who is able to do exceedingly abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that works in us, to Him be glory in the church by Christ Jesus to all generations, forever and ever. Amen!
May God's Holy Spirit lead us, and we allow His Spirit to lead us to trust Him more and take us to places and to people like never before.
Let's all make this our prayer and desire!!
"Spirit lead me where my trust is without borders."
"Take me deeper than my feet could ever wander."
These are words that I want to echo all the time. I have a tendency to rely upon my own strength way too much, but this is my heart's cry.
God wants us to do exactly what the words of this song says - trust HIM! Go farther than where we are today. How do I know that? Listen to this great passage:
* Ephesians 3:20-21
Now to Him who is able to do exceedingly abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that works in us, to Him be glory in the church by Christ Jesus to all generations, forever and ever. Amen!
May God's Holy Spirit lead us, and we allow His Spirit to lead us to trust Him more and take us to places and to people like never before.
Let's all make this our prayer and desire!!
Tuesday, February 4, 2014
Got Faith?
I was just reading through the 11th chapter of Hebrews which is known as the Hall of Faith. I challenge you to read it for yourself. The phrase "by faith" starts each sentence about the individual that the writer is speaking about. I love reading through this chapter every once in a while to remind myself that God did amazing, miraculous things through these ordinary men and women, that have a nature just like ours.
They were obedient to what God had called them to do, even when they didn't have all the details and instructions or anything that often holds us back from going "all in" for God.
What kind of faith do I have? What kind of faith do you have?
I thought about another passage of Scripture that has a subtitle: The Cost of Discipleship found in Luke 9. The conversation went like this: Jesus I will follow You wherever You go...but first I need to go and bury my father. Another person said, I need to go say goodbye to my family first. That sounds like all of us doesn't it? Well, I guess I should speak for myself; I am so good at making excuses. Listen to Jesus' response to these people: "No one, having put his hand to the plow, and looking back, is fit for the kingdom of God."
The message I believe putting these to two things together is: You can be like those who trusted God even though they couldn't see the future, but who knew the One who did hold the future. Or you can be like these that SAID they wanted to follow Jesus but put conditions on that.
God wants us to TOTALLY trust Him...you in?
They were obedient to what God had called them to do, even when they didn't have all the details and instructions or anything that often holds us back from going "all in" for God.
What kind of faith do I have? What kind of faith do you have?
I thought about another passage of Scripture that has a subtitle: The Cost of Discipleship found in Luke 9. The conversation went like this: Jesus I will follow You wherever You go...but first I need to go and bury my father. Another person said, I need to go say goodbye to my family first. That sounds like all of us doesn't it? Well, I guess I should speak for myself; I am so good at making excuses. Listen to Jesus' response to these people: "No one, having put his hand to the plow, and looking back, is fit for the kingdom of God."
The message I believe putting these to two things together is: You can be like those who trusted God even though they couldn't see the future, but who knew the One who did hold the future. Or you can be like these that SAID they wanted to follow Jesus but put conditions on that.
God wants us to TOTALLY trust Him...you in?
Monday, January 20, 2014
The Great I AM!
We sang one of the most powerful song yesterday written by Phillip, Craig and Dean called The Great I AM! It is one of my absolute favorite worship songs ever! I hope sharing the lyrics makes you sing it really loud if you know it:
I wanna be close, close to Your side
heaven is real and death is a lie.
I wanna hear voices of angels above
singing as one
(chorus)
Hallelujah, Holy, Holy
God Almighty, the Great I AM
Who is worthy, none beside Thee
God Almighty
The Great I AM
I wanna be near, near to Your heart
loving the world and hating the dark.
I want to see dry bones living again
singing as one. (chorus)
The mountains shake before Him
the demons run and flee,
at the mention of the name
King of majesty
There is no power in hell
or any who can stand
before the power and the presence of
the Great I AM
the Great I AM (5x's)
Chorus
Just typing the words to this song gets me pumped up!
I sincerely pray that anyone who reads this would come to know the Great I AM in a personal way. There is no one who can compare, no one who loves you more than He does, and no one who wants a relationship with you more than God Himself.
God used that phrase "I am" numerous times in the Old Testament to tell people exactly who He was. In the New Testament you will find Jesus uses that same phrase to tell people who He was. And the people of Jesus day had a real problem with Him using that because they knew the Old Testament. Who did Jesus think He was to use that same phrase as God did.... Well, great question.
Let me share quickly the answer to that.
John 1:1 say - In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God!
Then a few verses later John tells us exactly how Jesus brought this whole idea full circle.
John 1:14 And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we beheld His glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth.
That is so awesome! Jesus, was God with skin on. He left heaven, freely to come to this earth and ultimately die for our sins to reconcile us to His Father.
Is today the day that you come to know the Great I AM by having a personal relationship with Jesus Christ His Son?
Pray and invite Jesus to be your Lord and Savior today!
Any questions please call the church, I would love to talk to you more about - ANYTIME!
I wanna be close, close to Your side
heaven is real and death is a lie.
I wanna hear voices of angels above
singing as one
(chorus)
Hallelujah, Holy, Holy
God Almighty, the Great I AM
Who is worthy, none beside Thee
God Almighty
The Great I AM
I wanna be near, near to Your heart
loving the world and hating the dark.
I want to see dry bones living again
singing as one. (chorus)
The mountains shake before Him
the demons run and flee,
at the mention of the name
King of majesty
There is no power in hell
or any who can stand
before the power and the presence of
the Great I AM
the Great I AM (5x's)
Chorus
Just typing the words to this song gets me pumped up!
I sincerely pray that anyone who reads this would come to know the Great I AM in a personal way. There is no one who can compare, no one who loves you more than He does, and no one who wants a relationship with you more than God Himself.
God used that phrase "I am" numerous times in the Old Testament to tell people exactly who He was. In the New Testament you will find Jesus uses that same phrase to tell people who He was. And the people of Jesus day had a real problem with Him using that because they knew the Old Testament. Who did Jesus think He was to use that same phrase as God did.... Well, great question.
Let me share quickly the answer to that.
John 1:1 say - In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God!
Then a few verses later John tells us exactly how Jesus brought this whole idea full circle.
John 1:14 And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we beheld His glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth.
That is so awesome! Jesus, was God with skin on. He left heaven, freely to come to this earth and ultimately die for our sins to reconcile us to His Father.
Is today the day that you come to know the Great I AM by having a personal relationship with Jesus Christ His Son?
Pray and invite Jesus to be your Lord and Savior today!
Any questions please call the church, I would love to talk to you more about - ANYTIME!
Monday, January 6, 2014
Sooooooo, what resolutions did you make?
With a new year comes resolutions that we make to start or stop this or that. Yesterday, Pastor Mike preached on this very subject; and did a fabulous job I might add. He quoted Jonathan Edwards who said: "I have 2 New Year's resolutions: Resolution #1 - I will live for God. Resolution #2 - If no one else does, I still will."
I love that!
Pastor Mike listed the top 10 resolutions that Americans made this year and there really weren't any that had to do with God whatsoever.
I don't ever make any resolutions each year, but if I did I would probably include some that were in the top 10 list as well - lose weight, get fit an healthier, and so on.
I guess the question should be for all of us - why don't we include God in our New Year's resolutions? If we call ourselves followers of Jesus Christ, can't we all improve on our relationship with Him each and every day? It supposed to be our top priority, isn't it?
I suggest we echo the words of Jonathan Edwards - Let's live for God, whether anyone else does or not! Let's all make it our number 1 goal to spend more time reading His love letter and asking Him for guidance and direction as we pray each and every day!
WHO'S WITH ME??
Let's all do this:
1 Peter 2:2 As a newborn baby desires milk, that we may GROW in our salvation.
I love that!
Pastor Mike listed the top 10 resolutions that Americans made this year and there really weren't any that had to do with God whatsoever.
I don't ever make any resolutions each year, but if I did I would probably include some that were in the top 10 list as well - lose weight, get fit an healthier, and so on.
I guess the question should be for all of us - why don't we include God in our New Year's resolutions? If we call ourselves followers of Jesus Christ, can't we all improve on our relationship with Him each and every day? It supposed to be our top priority, isn't it?
I suggest we echo the words of Jonathan Edwards - Let's live for God, whether anyone else does or not! Let's all make it our number 1 goal to spend more time reading His love letter and asking Him for guidance and direction as we pray each and every day!
WHO'S WITH ME??
Let's all do this:
1 Peter 2:2 As a newborn baby desires milk, that we may GROW in our salvation.
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