Good Morning Everyone,

Our theme for this month: “Faith”

Our Bible verse for today: “For You are great and perform wonders; You alone are God. Teach me Your way, Yahweh, and I will live by Your truth. Give me an undivided mind to fear Your name. But You, Lord, are a compassionate and gracious God, slow to anger and rich in faithful love and truth.” Psalm 86: 10-11; 15 (HCSB)

Our thought for today: “God has a pretty God track record.”

As I write this I have just returned from a two week mission trip to the Andes Mountains in Peru. It was a wonderfully successful mission. A team of twenty-four from the USA and Canada joined in partnership with a team of four American missionary kids who served as translators for us, along with six Peruvian Christians who also served as translators, as well as two Peruvian pastors and a Peruvian medical doctor.

Our team conducted seven free medical and dental clinics which also included distribution of reading glasses, a spiritual pharmacy where people received spiritual counsel and prayer, distribution of hundreds of evangelistic tracts and Bibles, and a recreational ministry for the children. It was one of the most successful mission trips I have ever had the privilege to lead. We served over 850 medical patients, more than 200 dental patients, we dispensed almost 2500 free prescriptions, gave out approximately 400 pairs of reading glasses, prayed with approximately 500 people, and witnessed more than 100 profess faith in Jesus as Lord and Savior.

But I have to admit that during the months and weeks leading up to the mission trip I was anxious about it. As a busy pastor who was also serving as the mission planner, I was worried that I was forgetting something, or that important details would be missed, or that someone else wouldn’t do their part, etc. I forgot that the mission trip was really God’s not mine, and that He was more concerned about the successful outcome of it than I was. And, He was much better able to pull it all together than I would ever be. In short, I wasn’t living (or mission planning) by faith.

In Psalm 86 King David addressed a great truth that helps us during times when we’re relying on our own abilities rather than God’s faithfulness. Essentially David reminded himself that “God is God, and I am not.” “God is great and He performs wonders and miracles, while I am not great and I do not perform wonders and miracles.” As David noted, God is compassionate and loving and gracious, and what David needed was an undivided, undistracted mind that was focused on God rather than on himself and his on own abilities.

How did David know these things to be true about God? The same way I should have known them to be true regarding the planning and execution of the mission trip – by experience. The fact is that God has a pretty good track record. With respect to mission trips, He has always come through before. Therefore I should have known that He would preside over the details of this mission trip too.

The same is true in your life regarding the issues you are facing. God is Sovereign over it all. He is there and He is involved. And, He has a pretty good tract record of working things out in your life too. Therefore you can have faith in Him for today, and for all of your tomorrows too.

God Bless,

Pastor Jim

Good Morning Everyone,

This morning I leave on a two week mission trip to Peru. I will be taking a twenty-five member team to conduct free medical and dental clinics in the Andes Mountains north of Cusco.

Usually when I go on these mission trips, in the weeks before the trip, I double-up on my daily writing. Therefore by the time I leave the country I have all the daily devotional messages for the next two weeks prepared in advance. Then Allen Foster sends them out for me each day. Unfortunately this time I wasn’t able to do that. Life and ministry has been so busy that I simply did not have the time to write the extra devotional messages.

That being the case, this will have to be the last daily devotional until I get back in two weeks. I plan to resume sending them on Monday July 20^th. Thanks for your understanding. Please pray for our mission team. Please pray for safe travel, that all of our supplies will make it through Peruvian Customs ok, and please pray for fruitful ministry.

Our theme for this month: “Faith”

Our Bible verse for today: “Thus says the Lord of hosts: Old men and old women shall again sit in the streets of Jerusalem, each with staff in hand because of their great age. And the streets of the city shall be full of boys and girls playing in its streets. Thus says the Lord of hosts: Even though it seems impossible to the remnant of this people in these days, should it also seem impossible to me, says the Lord of hosts?” Zechariah 8:4-6 (NRSV)

Our thought for today: “With the Lord there is always the promise of better days ahead.”

In yesterday’s devotional we considered the sad state of affairs the people of Israel found themselves in. The city of Jerusalem was still in ruins. The Temple had yet to be rebuilt. They were surrounded by hostile people who conspired for their ruin. The prospect of rebuilding the city and restoring the Temple seemed impossible.

But with God there is always the promise of better days. God has a plan and a future for those who belong to Him and who love Him. As we learned yesterday, our job is to simply be faithful in the little things – day-by-day, and trust the future to the Lord. That’s what Zechariah was calling the people to do and so in this passage, he gives them a preview of what their faithfulness will lead too – a rebuilt city, a restored Temple, safe and contented old people, and happy children playing in the streets.

Here are two additional encouraging thoughts the Lord had Zechariah deliver to His people on His behalf:

“Return to me, says the Lord of hosts, and I will return to you.” Zechariah 1:3

“Not by might, nor by power, but by my spirit, says the Lord of hosts.” Zechariah 4:6

Even in the midst of life situations that seem hopeless, with God there is always hope, there is always the promise of better days ahead. Return to Him, be faithful, trust in His might and in His power rather than in your own. In His time the sun will shine again, the birds will sing, the children will play in the streets, and your life will be back on track.

God Bless,

Pastor Jim

Good Morning Everyone,

Our theme for this month: “Faith”

Our Bible verse for today: “For whoever has despised the day of small things shall rejoice, and shall see the plummet in the hand of Zerubbabel.” Zechariah 4:10 (NRSV)

Our thought for today: “The battle of faith is won in the small things of life.”

Zechariah was one of the minor prophets of the Old Testament. He was sent by God to the people of the Jewish nation during a time when the city of Jerusalem and the Temple were in ruins. Under the leadership of the good Governor Zerubbabel the people were tasked with restoring the city and rebuilding the Temple, but the prospects of success seemed dim at best. The task was huge, and they were surrounded by enemies who wanted to deter and even destroy them.

Through a series of visions Zechariah delivered to the people a message of hope and encouragement. Part of that message involved simply being faithful to God, day-by-day, in the small stuff of life. Instead of focusing on the ultimate goal of a restored Jerusalem and a rebuilt Temple (tasks which seemed formidable and nearly impossible), Zechariah urged them to just continue being faithful in the small things. Persistent faithfulness in small things adds up to big results over the course of weeks, months, years, and a lifetime.

Richard Foster once wrote, “Frankly the battle is won or lost precisely in the trifling areas of life … It is the small fidelities that are most helpful in training the heart toward God. These thousands upon thousands of little actions of righteousness and peace and joy in the Holy Spirit slowly but surely change our heart. More than any other thing the small corners of life reveal who we truly are.”

Faithfulness in small things leads to faithfulness in big things and ultimately, to the success God wants us to have.

God Bless,

Pastor Jim

Good Morning Everyone,

 

Our theme for this month: “Faith”

 

Our Bible verse for today: “At once the father of the boy gave (an eager, piercing, inarticulate) cry with tears, and he said, Lord, I believe! (Constantly) help my weakness of faith!” Mark 9:24 (The Amplified Bible)

 

Our thought for today: “Lord increase my faith!”

 

I can relate to the father in Mark 9:24. I often feel as if my faith is seriously weak and I desperately need the Lord’s help to make it what it should be.

 

The father in this scene had a son who was demon possessed. For years an evil spirit had tormented the boy and caused him serious mental and physical problems. The father was crushed with grief over his son’s suffering and desperately wanted the boy to be healed. Jesus’ disciples tried to help but were unsuccessful. So the father now appealed to Jesus directly. Jesus gave a hint of hope when he told the father that all things were possible for those whose faith is strong enough. The problem was that the father knew his faith was not strong enough. He knew he was tired and weak and doubtful. So in anguish he cried out to Jesus to help him have stronger faith. The Amplified Bible does a good job of bringing out the man’s sense of helplessness and frustration.

 

This is me. In big things and in small, my faith is too weak. The good news is that Jesus honored the genuine desire that this man had to be stronger – to believe more, and so He granted the man’s request and healed his son. That father walked away with what he asked for – a healed son and a stronger faith.

 

This story is in the Bible for a reason. It’s there to show me that Jesus will also honor my genuine desire for stronger faith. I just need to be honest with Him, admit my weakness, and ask for His help. It’s true for you too.

 

God Bless,

Pastor Jim

Good Morning Everyone,

Our theme for this month: “Strength and Compassion”

Our Bible verse for today: “Consider it a great joy, my brothers, whenever you experience various trials, knowing that the testing of your faith produces endurance. But endurance must do its complete work, so that you may be mature and complete, lacking nothing.” James 1:2-4 (HCSB)

Our thought for today: “Tough times can make us stronger and better.”

I’m sure you’ve heard the old saying “What doesn’t kill you will make you stronger.” Although that’s often said in a playful and teasing way to poke fun at a difficult situation and to lighten things up a bit, there’s also some truth to it. This is what James was writing about in James 1:2-4. Tough times can teach us and strengthen us and we can come out of those tough times stronger and better. This is true for individual Christians and for entire churches, and it’s also true for the Christian community at-large.

There’s been much attention paid recently to the seismic moral shift which has taken place in our country. There has been much discussion and concern about what this means for religious liberty. All indications are that as Bible-believing Christians who are committed to living by Biblical principles, we will be faced with increasing criticism, legal challenges, and various degrees of persecution.

While none of us want that, and we’re certainly not inviting it, we shouldn’t shrink from it either. In fact, in some ways, it will actually be good for us. I believe that for those who will be Acts 5:29 Christians – for those individuals, churches and denominations who will obey God rather than men – we will end up stronger and better as a result.

2000 years of Christian history proves this to be true. Historically the Christian church has always been at its best, it has always been strongest and most effective, when it has been faced with persecution. The early church in the book of Acts faced terrible opposition, and they ended up spreading the Gospel to the entire known world. Those we have come to call “The Pilgrims” faced great persecution for their faith in England, and it resulted in them establishing what became the greatest nation the world has ever known (The USA). Few Christians anywhere have ever faced as much government opposition, for as long, as the Christians in China. Yet there are now more Christians in the nation of China than in any other country on earth. In all those cases the opposition they faced actually made them stronger and better and more effective for the cause of Christ.

I encourage all of us to resolve to just lean into the tough times ahead; to face them with boldness and courage and confidence; to be faithful in the spirit of Acts 5:29; and to let the Lord refine us and shape us, grow us and strengthen us, through the purifying fires of trials and opposition. Tough times really can make us stronger and better.

God Bless,

Pastor Jim

Good Morning Everyone,

Our theme for this month: “Strength and Compassion”

Our Bible verse for today: “I found it necessary to write to you to contend for the faith that was delivered to the saints once and for all.” Jude 3 (HCSB)

Our thought for today: “Dangerous times call for people of strong faith.”

These are indeed challenging times we live in. For Christians in the USA the cultural  landscape has changed quickly and dramatically, and we increasingly find ourselves out of step with much of what is being promoted in our society as right and good. It might be popular and widely accepted, but it is unbiblical.

As Bible-believing Christians who are committed to remaining faithful to Biblical principles, there are two Biblical injunctions which will have to govern our personal conduct and our interaction with others. The first is Acts 5:29, “We must obey God rather than men.” We must be resolved to remain faithful and obedient to the standards God has set, regardless of the pressures or consequences.

And second, we must do what Jude called his readers to in Jude 3, we must contend for the faith. It’s not enough to simply obey Biblical truth in our personal lives but we must also share Biblical truth with others. We must speak the truth in love. A little later in that same letter, in verses 22-23 Jude continued, “Have mercy on those who doubt, save others by snatching them from the fire;”

“Have mercy, save others, snatch them from the fire.” That won’t happen if we remain silent.

Many years ago my family and I were enjoying a winter vacation in the mountains of Southern California. We were staying in a rented cabin right on the lakeshore. It was cold, and the lake was partially frozen, but the ice wasn’t thick enough to walk on. At one point I was standing in the kitchen looking out the window towards the lake and I saw my twelve year old daughter hand-in-hand with my toddler son, walking on the partially frozen ice about 15 yards from shore. Needless to say I burst out of the cabin, sprinted to the lake, and frantically called for them to return to the shore. They were on thin ice and in great danger and so of course I took immediate action to alert them to it.

Many in our society today are on thin ice and in great danger. They have wandered far from God’s standards of morality and it is up to us who know better to sound the alarm and speak the truth. Doing so may not be popular or welcomed, but it must be done just the same.

By the way, my daughter was irritated with me for insisting they come off of the ice. She didn’t understand the danger she was in and so she didn’t appreciate my intervention. But I spoke it anyway.

God Bless,

Pastor Jim

Good Morning Everyone,

Our theme for this month: “Strength and Compassion”

Our Bible verse for today: “They came to Jerusalem, and He went into the temple complex and began to throw out those buying and selling in the temple. He overturned the money changers tables and the chairs of those selling doves, and would not permit anyone to carry goods through the temple complex.” Mark 11:15-16 (HCSB)

Our thought for today: “Sometimes we should get angry”

I love the image of Jesus we teach to our children in Sunday school. There we see the smiling good Shepherd marching across the flannel graph tenderly caring for His little sheep. He is kind and gentle, happy and comforting, sort of a first century version of Mr. Rogers. It’s an accurate portrayal. Sometimes that is Jesus.

But there’s another, more dominant side to the personality of Jesus. Jesus was a tough guy. He traveled constantly, depended on others for His housing and food, often camped in wilderness regions. He boldly stood toe-to-toe and contended with some of the most powerful religious figures of His day, usually making them fighting mad. And sometimes, Jesus Himself got mad. Really mad. Like the day He stormed into the temple, overturning tables, making a whip and chasing out the merchants and the money changers and the herds of animals from the temple courtyard. Jesus could be gentle and compassionate when it was appropriate, but He could also be filled with righteous anger when that was called for.

Sometimes we Christians falsely assume that our Christian faith requires us to be doormats, a weak-kneed Casper Milquetoast kind of character. While it is true that we are often to “turn the other cheek”, and “bless those who curse us”, it’s also true that sometimes we have to rise up in righteous anger and act out with boldness and courage.

I encourage you to take some time to conduct a Bible word study of the word “anger”. Count how many instances in both the Old and New Testaments we find either God the Father, or Jesus, or one of the prophets, or the apostles, displaying righteous anger. You might be surprised how often that character trait is modeled for us in a positive way.

The truth is that there are things we should get angry about. Child abuse makes my blood boil. Mistreatment of the elderly makes me mad. Corrupt government officials, exploitation of the poor, persecution of my brothers and sisters for their faith – there are things that should get us fired-up enough to take bold action.

As followers of Christ we are to be kind and gentle, humble and forgiving, generous and helpful. But we must also have a deeply ingrained sense of compassion that results in us caring deeply about people and situations, and we must have the strength and the courage to stand against that which is wrong and unjust. Sometimes anger – righteous anger – is exactly what is needed.

God Bless,

Pastor Jim

Good Morning Everyone,

Our theme for this month: “Strength and Compassion”

Our Bible verse for today: “If anyone has this world’s goods and sees his brother in need but closes his eyes to him – how can the love of God reside in him? Little children, we must not love with word or speech, but with truth and action.” 1 John 3:17-18 (HCSB)

Our thought for today: “Make a difference where you are.”

Let’s face it, the world is a mess. Wars and earthquakes, famine and disease, crime and homelessness, this is a broken and bleeding world filled with lots of broken and bleeding people.

For those who have a compassionate heart and who want to do something to make things better, it can seem overwhelming. “I’m only one person with little time and little money to spare. What difference can I make?”

It’s a good question. The truth is that we cannot solve all the problems of the world. Heck, I can barely keep my bills paid and the lawn mowed. So what impact can I make in a world that seems to be drowning in a sea of pain and despair?

Obviously there’s not much that I as an individual can do to resolve the major issues afflicting the world at large. But I can make a difference right where I am. I may not be able to feed all the hungry people in Africa, but I can help to prepare and serve a meal at our local Rescue Mission. I cannot adopt and provide a loving home for all the orphans in the world, but I can sponsor a child in Zimbabwe or perhaps spend 10 days in an orphanage in Haiti just loving on the kids and playing with them.

The point is that as individuals you and I cannot solve the big problems of the world, but we can make a difference in our little corner of it, one person at a time. I can’t bless everyone, but I can bless the one in front of me at this moment.

Your strength and compassion, directed towards those the Lord brings into your world today, at this time, can make a difference. I encourage you to make it a point to make a difference right where you are. Use your strength, your compassion, your time, and the resources you do have, to be a blessing to someone in need today.

God Bless,

Pastor Jim

Good Morning Everyone,

Our theme for this month: “Strength and Compassion”

Our Bible verse for today: “Do not repay evil with evil or insult with insult, but with blessing, because to this you were called so that you may inherit a blessing.” 1 Peter 3:9 (NIV)

Our thought for today: “Bless those who curse you.”

On Wednesday June 17^th, at approximately 8:00 PM, a mentally disturbed twenty-one year old white man by the name of Dylann Roof entered a prayer meeting at the Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church in Charleston, South Carolina. The members of the all-black congregation welcomed him and invited him to participate in their prayer meeting and Bible study.

For almost an hour he sat quietly in the back pew watching and listening, not saying anything. Then around 9:00 he got up, pulled out a loaded handgun, and proceeded to murder the Pastor and eight other church members. As he was doing so he reportedly made racist remarks and accused blacks in general of “raping our women”.

It was a horrible tragedy that rocked our nation and took the lives of some very good people. Two days later, after Roof had been captured and appeared in court to be arraigned, members of the church were present in the courtroom and they were allowed to speak to the murderer. What they said shocked many people.

Instead of angrily condemning him or tearfully accusing him of his vile crimes, the members of the church said “Dylann we forgive you.” “We’re praying for you.” “We’re asking God to bless your family.” “Jesus loves you Dylann”.

Yes, they spoke words of forgiveness and blessing upon the one who had inflicted so much pain and heartache upon them. It’s not what anyone expected and it grabbed a lot of people’s attention. In fact, their response was the lead story in television news casts across the country and it was the front page headline in many newspapers.

This is the kind of thing Peter was calling for in 1 Peter 3:9. It’s what he also wrote about a few paragraphs earlier in 1 Peter 2:12, “Live such good lives among the pagans that, though you accuse you of doing wrong, they may see your good deeds and glorify God on the day he visits us.”

During his murderous rant Dylann had wrongly accused the people of “raping our women”. The people in that church of course had done no such thing. He wrongly accused them; he visited great evil upon them; but they responded to him with forgiveness and blessings. And their response brought glory to God.

It’s not easy to respond the way those church members did. It takes extraordinary spiritual strength and a highly developed sense of compassion to speak and act like that in the midst of your own pain and despair. Where does that ability come from? It comes from the Holy Spirit. It’s the fruit of a mature faith. It comes from lots of prayer and from a refusal to harbor bitterness or hatred. And it comes from a willingness to let God be the Judge.

That kind of strength and compassion is extraordinary and in fact, it is other-worldly. But it’s what God calls for from us and it is what the Holy Spirit empowers us to do if we only will.

God Bless,

Pastor Jim

Good Morning Everyone,

Our theme for this month: “Strength and Compassion”

Our Bible verse for today: “Though the fig tree does not bud and there is no fruit on the vines, though the olive crop fails and the fields produce no food, though there are no sheep in the pen and no cattle in the stalls, yet I will triumph in Yahweh; I will rejoice in the God of my salvation!” Habakkuk 3:17-18 (HCSB)

Our thought for today: “The Bible teaches us how to be a hopeful realist.”

This morning when I read the above passage from the Old Testament prophet Habakkuk, it reminded me of something else I read recently from Scott Sauls’ book “Jesus outside the Lines.”

Scott writes about the fact that far too many Christians attempt to portray what he calls a “pie in the sky”, “happy clappy” brand of Christianity. Regardless of how bad things are, they paste a phony smile on their face and they rely on superficial “Bible Band-Aids”. They say things like, “Well, God is good all the time; and all the time God is good!”

Well, yes. Ok. That’s true. But is that really how God expects us to respond to obvious hardship, pain, and suffering – with a phony smile and empty clichés? What do you do then with Bible passages like David’s mournful lament in Psalm 13:1 “Lord, how long will You forget me? How long will I store up anxious concerns within me, agony in my mind every day?” Or how about Jesus’ cry from the cross “My God, My God, why have You forsaken Me?”

No phony smiles or happy clappy nonsense there. That is real, raw, honest anguish from suffering people. So apparently then, it’s ok to be real and honest? We don’t have to pretend everything is just fine and dandy when it really isn’t? Yes, it’s ok.

This is what we read from the prophet Habakkuk. Things weren’t fine and dandy. They were a mess, and he said so. All four chapters of his little book record a time of suffering and fear for the people of Israel, and of confusion and frustration for Habakkuk. But he also records his unfailing trust in God and his hope for the future. Habakkuk learned what another Old Testament prophet had also recorded for us, “The Lord is good, a stronghold in a day of distress; He cares for those who take refuge in Him.” Nahum 1:7

What we’re about reading there is hopeful realism. It’s an honest declaration of how things really are, alongside an acknowledgement that God is sovereign and good and that we can trust Him.

The Bible doesn’t teach us to rely on superficial Bible Band-Aids or empty pie in the sky clichés. We are not to be phony people with fake smiles. We are to be realists … but “hopeful” realists.

God Bless,

Pastor Jim