One weird Sunday!

Sunday's lesson I learned. We had a great Sunday - weird and funny but great. Read this devotional then after that I'll share what happened. You'll see they go together.

Wow once again today's devotional was just perfect for what I was thinking about - so I had to share it.
Our Counselor, by Os Hillman
But the Counselor, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in My name, will teach you all things and will remind you of everything I have said to you. - John 14:26I was driving down the interstate feeling discouraged from an appointment I had just had. A former employee's company was seeking to displace me, and my company, as their source for our services. It had been one of many difficult events during those months. As I was driving, some words popped into my mind, No weapon formed against you shall prosper. I could not tell you where those words came from other than I knew the Holy Spirit was speaking them to me; I knew they were in the Bible. I knew they were in the Old Testament.When I returned to my office that day, I searched for the key words in my concordance and found the verse. "No weapon forged against you will prevail, and you will refute every tongue that accuses you" (Is. 54:17a).Jesus said that the Holy Spirit would remind us of the things He desires us to know. There are times in our lives when the Holy Spirit speaks into our spirit words designed to encourage us or give us what we need at the moment. That is just one of the roles of the Holy Spirit in the life of the believer. The more you know God's Word, the more often you'll recall verses the Holy Spirit will bring to mind for a given situation. Study God's Word and allow the Holy Spirit to remind you of the things He desires you to know.


This is so true! I have to tell you about Sunday now. You see I had felt during the week that the invitation needed to come before the sermon for some reason. God had showed me the song by Matthew West entitled Only Grace. It was perfect, so I played it and showed the words then we had the invitation. All this was before the sermon. God touched hearts - It was way cool. But the great thing was that God already knew what was going to happen. You see the youth were preparing for a spaghetti lunch that was to happen right after the service. Some were cooking during the service. Well some bread was cooking a bit much and the stove billowed smoke. This was all going on while I was preaching what I thought to be a great sermon. We are going through the Roman Road in order to prepare the saints for works of service. Anyway I was close to the end and said that folks understand that we are sinners! Thats when the fire alarm and lights went off. Everyone thought I had set it off for dramatic affect. I didn't! We just ended and I told everyone that meant lunch was ready.

Now you see God was preparing me for the alarm all week. He knew it would happen and so had me do the invitation before the sermon. So if we listen to our counselor - He makes weird things turn out great! Cool huh?

But words will never hurt me . . .

I wanted to share a devotional I read today. I think it goes well with my blog from last week. Who are you listening to. Our self talk believes what others say and then we get defensive because we think that our value lies in what others say or think. Our value lies in the FACT that we are loved creations of the living God. We need to stay vertical and not retaliate horizontal.

Thanks to O.S. Hillman for this encouragement

When they hurled their insults at Him, He did not retaliate; when He suffered, He made no threats. Instead, He entrusted Himself to Him who judges justly. - 1 Peter 2:23

Have you ever been wrongfully accused? Oh, the need to defend and justify becomes so great. "What will people think if they believe these things are true?" we reason. Imagine what Jesus thought as they hurled insults and threats upon Him. The God of the universe had visited planet earth only to be slandered and accused of blasphemy.Jesus could have done two things in response. He could have used His power to put the people in their place. He could have responded "horizontally." He could have fixed the problem right then. However, He chose to respond in a different way. He chose to "entrust Himself to Him who judges justly." It requires great faith to entrust ourselves to God in the midst of personal assault. However, if we can do this, we will discover a level of grace and wisdom that will be birthed from this experience that we never thought possible. We will discover a freedom in God we never knew before. Whenever we suffer for righteousness without seeking to protect our reputation and rights, we are placing our total faith in the one who can redeem us. This activates God's grace in our lives and enables us to experience God's presence like never before.Ask God to give you the grace to stay vertical with Him. Avoid the temptation of responding horizontally each time some event comes into your life that you want to "fix." Entrust yourself to the one who judges justly. It may be a divine appointment for your growth to another level in grace.

Who are you listening to?

I don't know about you but as I get older - you know 16 turning 17 - ok get off the floor and quit giggling uncontrollably. Thats what my wife and kids do. Anyway as I get older my hearing is starting to do that losing the radio station thing. You know a little less clear and somewhat distorted. Too many concerts when I was a kid you know last year! Sometimes when there is a lot of talking going on or lots of fun happening, I have trouble distinguishing voices. This morning I'm learning that is not just true of my physical ears but also my spiritual ears.

This week we will be starting a look at the Roman Road. D0 you know what that is? It is a name for the passages primarily in the book of Romans that teach us about salvation. Lots of folks use these to help lead someone to placing their faith and trust in Jesus as Lord.

The first of the passages is Romans 3:23 For all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God. I used to think that most folks didn't get that they were sinners but I am now seeing that for most people it is just the opposite. They not only know that they are sinners, screwups, bad folks but they have trouble moving past that. Its an issue of distinguishing voices! Everyone has what I call self talk. You know the thoughts and conversation you have going on all the time in your mind. That self talk keeps lots of folks from experiencing the grace, mercy and freedom that there is in Jesus. That voice in our heads tells us that we are screw ups! In fact it is so loud that it is hard to hear God. It is that self talk that causes people to say things to me like "I am embarrassed to be in church because of . . ." or I don't have anything to offer to help in the ministry of my church, I'm useless." Is that true? NO! Is it reality? No!

We like to shift the blame for that voice in our heads. We will say Satan is messing with my head, or the devil made me do it. Satan has lots of power and we never need to take him for granted but don't give him more than he has. Satan can't put thoughts in your mind. Satan can't read your mind. He can't make you do something - he can only present opportunities.

Scripture says that we each have a sinful nature. It is that sinful nature that causes us to have that defeating self talk. It also causes us to make decisions that are hurtful. The antidote or hearing aid in this case is Scripture - the truth. Our self talk is giving us lies that are not reality. We have to meditate on scripture. We need to hide truth in our hearts to drown out the other voice.

Clean out your hearing aid! Hear God's voice over your own!

More to come as I work on these sermons!

Do you need a vacation?

I'm sitting here asking myself that same question. We leave for our mission trip to Kentucky in a couple of days and I'm ready to go! I am so very thankful for the awesome folks of our church who are involved in ministry. Fred G. will be preaching Sunday evening the 11th and Christopher M. will be taking the next Sunday night. Bill J. will do an awesome job on the Sunday mornings. It helps me relax to know that God has it all covered.

Over the past 3 weeks we've been talking about the importance of keeping God's commands. We've been making sure we have the 10 commands memorized and Jesus Great Commands memorized. Command #4 is one that gets abused and taken out of context so much. It says remember the sabbath day and keep it holy. Holy means set apart, special. God made the sabbath day as a gift for us. We weren't made for the sabbath. The idea is to rest! Worship is to take place every day and so the sabbath is not about worship. As a pastor I have a hard time remembering the sabbath and keeping it set apart. I rarely take an actual whole day off. That is wrong. I am breaking God's command. My attitude and body and family and church family suffer because of my disobedience.

This morning as I write this I have to say I feel drained - pooped out! I am reminding me to take some time off. I want to remind you to do the same. We should work very hard as for the Lord but we should also take time off every week to rest and be still with God. I also want to encourage you to take a vacation. It will help your attitude! Get away and even visit another church where ever you go. We will be visiting a church outside of Frankfort Kentucky on Sunday morning. I'm looking forward to being refreshed by the words of another pastor!

Remember the sabbath and keep it holy. Remember the day of rest and protect it with all you have!
Trent