Remember the Power of Prayer

"Ask and it shall be given to you, seek and you shall find and knock and it shall be opened unto you." Matthew 7:7

Scripture for Today

Jeremiah 18:3-4-"So I went down to the potter's house, and I saw him working at the wheel. 4 But the pot he was shaping from the clay was marred in his hands; so the potter formed it into another pot, shaping it as seemed best to him. "

A True Superhero

When you think of superheroes you probably think of people like, Superman, Batman, Spiderman or Mr. Incredible. However, these superheroes are fictional characters who really have no power at all. They are simply created by cartoonist and they fight evil and always win out. One thing that is true, is that we have a real superhero right here on earth and His name is Jesus Christ. He said in Matthew 28:18-"All power is given unto me both in heaven and earth." In Mark chapter 9 verses 2-9 tell us the story of Jesus going up to a mountain top with His disciples and there he was transfigured and the disciples seen Him in his true power and awesome authority. I would say he was much more powerful than any superhero we can think of or imagine. Jesus has the power to save our souls, heal our bodies, cause the winds and nature to obey Him, and His power is eternal. He really is a superhero. He will alway defeat our enemey and He will never fail us. Put your trust in the Lord today.

I Needed to Use This Today

Today was quite an eventful day. Everything that could go wrong went wrong. It started when our battery supply ran out at church and was then followed by technical difficulties with our sound system and then our powerpoint multi-media system went down. Talk about bad things happening at once. I could have used the "Easy" button. However, I am reminded of the scripture in Romans 8:28-"For we know that all things work together for good to them who love God, the called according to His purpose." God is in control and I really am thankful for that promise in His word. He will always work things out for our benefit and there is a reason for everything, even when bad things happen to us. God bless.

Are You Offended?

Jesus told us in Matthew 18:7-“Woe to the world because of offenses! For offenses must come, but woe to that man by whom the offense comes! “It never ceases to amaze me, the way our enemy, Satan, uses our offenses and our subsequent hurt feelings to conquer marriages, relationships, churches — even entire nations! Many of us are not careful enough about the things we say and more importantly, we get offended way too easily. It’s like an analogy I sometimes use to describe what happens when we get offended. If you are holding a baby and his little arm swats you in the face, would you take offense to that? Of course not! We know the little guy didn’t intend to hurt us. We respond with a sigh or laughter or something to that effect. But if it is a friend, a family member or a brother or sister in the church who offends us with a little swat of his words or actions, we are undone. We expect more from them! What hypocrisy! We become angry and we want to defend ourselves, fight back or leave forever.
Jesus said NO! He said that even if someone despitefully uses us, that means on purpose, that we are to respond in love! Jesus tells us in Matthew 5:44-“But I say to you, love your enemies, bless those who curse you, do good to those who hate you, and pray for those who spitefully use you and persecute you.” We as human beings are troubled and sinful. We are not perfect and we should never expect others to be, no matter what their positions are in the church. God is perfect and He is the one from whom our expectations should come — no man. Am I talking to you today? We are all guilty of this one way or another. Let’s give our offenses to the Lord. Allow Him wash over us today. Allow Him Heal us. Get us back to where we need to be. The Lord told us in Matthew 6:14-15-“For if you forgive men their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you. But if you do not forgive men their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses.” Don’t let offenses rob you of God’s blessing and victory in your life. You can be free from offenses.

Scripture for Today

Home From Vacation

Last night we finally arrived back home in Indiana following our week-long vacation in St. Louis. It was nice to get away and see our family and visit all the sights and attractions in St. Louis. My kids had a great time and we got to relax and rest. However, I was so happy to see the welcome sign once we made it back to Indiana. Hope you all have a great week. I will be posting periodically this week. I have to catch up with everything. God bless.

Great Day at the Ballpark

My family and I are finishing up our vacation here in St. Louis and today was the highlight of the trip for me. My daughter Madison and I went to Busch Stadium and watched the St. Louis Cardinals game against the San Diego Padres. My mom, who just happens to work for Rawlings, got us two tickets to the game and the seats were field level, right behind the Cardinals dugout. The view was great and the game was even better as Albert Pujols (batting here in the sixth inning) had four runs batted in to lead the Cardinals to a 6-5 win over the Padres. My daughter Madison will never forget this day because she was given a baseball by Cardinals center fielder Rick Ankiel after he caught it for the final out of the seventh inning. It was great and tommorow we head home after a nice vacation. Have a great Sunday everyone and I will post again next week.

Enjoying Vacation in Steamy St. Louis

We are still in St. Louis and enjoying time with family and getting some much needed rest and relaxation. We have visited Grant's Farm, the City Museum and Six Flags and still have the St. Louis Zoo and the Cardinals baseball game on our agenda. It has been enjoyable seeing my family and the only real set back is the steamy, humid weather. We will be returning home Sunday and hope you all have a great weekend. God bless.

Hello From St. Louis

My family and I are in St. Louis and just started our week-long vacation. We are getting plenty of rest and relaxation and enjoying the sunshine and most of all getting a chance to unwind. We have a week of activities planned so it should be an eventful week. I will check in again this week. Hope everyone has a good week and God bless.

Monday Morning Cup of Joe

I hope you had a blessed weekend. Mine was very busy, but that's always the case when you're a pastor. I am on vacation starting today and will be on vacation this week. My family and I are traveling out of town for vacation, so I will try to enter as many postings as I can and keep in touch. My prayer this week is that God will bless you with His peace and joy and that you will continue to walk in His spirit and enjoy His many blessings. God bless everyone and have a great week.

Message From God's Word

"Give, and it will be given to you. A good measure, pressed down, shaken together and running over, will be poured into your lap. For with the measure you use, it will be measured to you." (Luke 6:38)

Chaplain Duty Ends Today

Today ended my week-long shift as a volunteer chaplain at our local hospital here in Lebanon. I really enjoyed getting to visit the patients and being able to be a help to our local community. I didn't have much time to get to my blog every day of the week like I would have liked, but at least I got a few entries in this week. I hope you're having a blessed weekend and I will post again soon.

It's A Delicate Balance

Psalm 139:13-14-"For you created my inmost being; you knit me together in my mother's womb. 14 I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made; your works are wonderful, I know that full well. "
It is safe to say that of all of God's creation, human beings are his most complex and intricate masterpieces. Our bodies alone are marvels to behold. Every muscle, ligament and tendon has a specific function to perform and yet cannot fulfill that function without the aid of other parts of the same body. If one muscle becomes too strong at the cost of another muscle becoming weak, the delicate balance God intended is compromised and can lead to major injury. Sports physiologists and trainers work closely with modern day athletes to ensure that their overall fitness is the best that it can be. This can bring frustration to young athletes who specialize in only one event. A weight lifter might grumble at the cardiovascular training he must endure. His focus is understandably on developing strong muscles in his arms and legs and in his mind, this can be better accomplished in a gym, rather than in running around a track. Yet his coaches know the strain that each lift can bring to an athlete's heart during heavy competition as blood is sent pumping to each muscle used in a lift. Great caution is taken to ensure that all his muscles are equally as strong; a weak back can end a lifter's career. A shattered kneecap because of a ligament popping in a lift can lead to crippling life long pain. A gymnast worries that her flexibility will be compromised and that her strength training might yield muscle bulk. She finds the weight repetitions to be boring and unchallenging. She'd much rather be out doing back flips than chest presses. Without strong tendons and ligaments, however, the gymnast runs a great risk of serious injury to her bones. As my disability progresses, I have seen this principle in effect on a daily basis. Over the past couple of years, I have seen a marked decrease in function in my hands. Although my brain sends signals to my fingers to perform certain tasks, my fingers lack the strength and sensitivity to follow through. I have gained a new appreciation for the complex series of hand and finger movement that is involved of picking up a dime off the floor, for example. As my handwriting deteriorates, I remember the joy I felt as a young child as I orchestrated ligaments, muscles, tendons and bones to grasp the pencil and slowly print my name. I know that if I am not careful and overexert any muscle in my feet, legs, hands and arms, that I face the serious risk of permanent damage. Physical therapists developed an exercise program for me that is gentle enough not to tax any muscle group, yet slows the progress of my disorder. If I seriously overextend one finger to compensate for the weakness in the next, I know that I only further the progression overall. God created our spirits to be in balance in the same way he created our bodies to be in balance. Although he has gifted each of us with specific natural talents and spiritual giftings, as our heavenly 'trainer' he reminds us not to neglect our overall spiritual well-being. We fall into the trap of neglecting other areas in our spiritual walk through an over emphasis or blind focus on what we consider our specialty. After all, that specialty keeps us interested usually comes relatively easy to us. In the arena of prayer, God calls us to be well-rounded athletes. While we might naturally draw to one aspect of prayer, he desires us to be prayer pentathlon warriors. He calls us to be proficient in all forms of prayer, although we may be more gifted in one event more than the rest. Unlike physical athletes who are forced to retire after relatively short careers, prayer athletes continue their training long into old age, continuing to strengthen, master and hone their skills.

Scripture Message for Today

"Yet a time is coming and has now come when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth, for they are the kind of worshipers the Father seeks. God is spirit, and his worshipers must worship in spirit and in truth." (John 4:23-24)

Monday Message From God's Word

Pray Continually

The Apostle Paul gives us a simple instruction in 1 Thessalonians 5:17-"Pray without ceasing." or to put it another way, "Pray Continually" Job made it a practice to get up early and to sanctify his sons every morning. His mind was not occupied with a business deal or controlled by the monetary system. Instead, Job did what we must do. That is, when we arise each morning, we are to praise and worship Jesus Christ, and take in Bible doctrine. Oh, for the discipline of patience. Job said, "I do not know that my children have sinned, but maybe they have. Just in case, I am going to intercede for them early in the morning." So, he interceded for his seven sons and three daughters. He knew what was best in bringing up his children. He knew that in Mark 9:42, "Whosoever offends one of these little ones," offended the Lord. He knew, "the way of the wicked [is] as darkness: they know not at what they stumble (Proverbs 4:19). He said to God, "Maybe they will stumble today... if we do not help." He did not allow his life to be a stumbling block to his children. It is easy to wait until we have a need to pray, but we need to learn to have dedication to praying even before we see a need. It should be a part of our life.

Teaching Our Children

As concerned and loving parents, we prepare our children for the cruelty of the outside world. For once our little ones step outside the comfort and safety of the home, it is a scary reality that they may come face to face with drugs, alcohol, sexual situations and violence. We teach them how to recognize dangerous situations, offer strategies in case such a situation may occur, and provide wise council. Even our schools and communities try to lend a hand by sponsoring various programs and classes. While our youth are certainly in need of such worldly wisdom, God's word (the Bible) states that spiritual wisdom is much more important. "Take fast hold of instruction; let her not go: keep her; for she is thy life." (Proverbs 4:13) You see, without God, we do not have life. Sure, we may go about our daily lives, but spiritually we are dead without Him. Just as we lovingly desire what is best for our children--health, safety, happiness--we must not forget to guide and nurture them in the way of the Lord. And as we would teach our children to say no to things like alcohol and drugs, we must use the wisdom God has provided so that our kids may be able to recognize evil, and not give in to temptation. "Train up a child in the way he should go: and when he is old, he will not depart from it." (Proverbs 22:6)

God's Word for Today

HAPPY 4TH OF JULY

"Blessed is the nation whose God is the Lord" (Psalm 33:12)

A Funny Message for Gossips

The Ripple Effect

As a boy, I can recall a few occasions where I came upon a perfectly still pond or lake. In a scrambling moment, I had to find a rock or something to skip or toss into the middle of the water. It was almost a compulsion. Splash! And suddenly the perfection of the reflection would be shattered as the stone penetrated the image. Ripples would course outward in an ever-growing set of concentric circles from the point of impact. These ripples would warp the remaining image as they passed through it. It would take minutes or an hour for the surface to return to the original quiet state. Likewise, a word spoken in anger or ignorance of the situation, or without grace and mercy, can be a spiritual knife that causes grievous wounds. James 3:4-6 says, "Behold, the ships also, though they are so great and are driven by strong winds, are still directed by a very small rudder, wherever the inclination of the pilot desires. 5 So also the tongue is a small part of the body, and yet it boasts of great things. Behold, how great a forest is set aflame by such a small fire! 6 And the tongue is a fire, the very world of iniquity; the tongue is set among our members as that which defiles the entire body, and sets on fire the course of our life, and is set on fire by hell." (NAS). When this happens, ripples appear on the surface again, either for good or for ill. A life touched in either direction will ripple outward to the people they know. "Do you know what a wonderful thing that church did for us?" Or, "Did you hear what awful thing happened to?" Call it gossip, call it whatever you like. But the word will get around in either case. How many lives are affected there? Far more than one life is affected, and the ripples go out from there to others. The Bible says in Psalm 126:2-“Then our mouth was filled with laughter, and our tongue with joyful shouting; then they said among the nations, "The LORD has done great things for them." (NAS) and the Bible also says in Proverbs 15:4-“A soothing tongue is a tree of life, but perversion in it crushes the spirit.” (NAS) A tongue filled with laughter and praise is a reflection of a heart filled to overflowing with the joy of the Lord. What a joy it is just to be with someone whose heart is full. A soothing tongue, a tongue that can say "I accept you where you are," or "I appreciate your questions" without offense or bitterness, is a secure place someone can go for help without fear of judgment, condemnation or censure. The ripples that flow from this place reach far, and heal families and towns. And once those people learn to live in that security, the ripples of the love of Jesus start all over again

Nothing But Jesus

”You shall not make for yourself an idol in the form of anything in heaven above or on the earth beneath or in the waters below.” Exodus 20:4 NIV

This is the second of the Ten Commandments and shows that we are to worship only God. God forbids us to worship or use created things or even creation itself as an approach to him. The only correct image of God to worship is his son, Jesus Christ. Not trees or flowers or land. Not statues or monuments or traditions. Only Jesus. We should have no God-substitutes. When we look to anyone or anything other than Christ as our primary source of meaning, self-worth, comfort or fulfillment, we are in danger of having an idol in our lives. An idol is anything that we depend on for solutions that only God can provide. Three common types of idols are substances, behaviors and relationships that control our lives. Consider this…God doesn’t want us to serve idols because he loves us and knows what is best for us. Let us come before him daily, seeking his will and his plan for our lives. Let us worship Jesus.