"God Will Help You Understand" 

Luke 24:45-49 "He opened their understanding, that they might comprehend the scriptures. Then He said to them, thus it is written, and thus it was necessary for the Christ to suffer and to rise from the dead the third day, and that repentance and remission of sins should be preached in His name to all nations, beginning at Jerusalem. And you are witnesses of these things. Behold, I send the promise of My Father upon you, but tarry in the city of Jerusalem until you are endued with power from on high."

God truly desires for us to understand and comprehend His Word. Before He shares Luke's words on The Great Commission,  He specifically anoints them with a supernatural understanding of what He is about to tell them. He then explains why He came, and died and resurrected and why. Then, He promises The Holy Spirit so they can continue to comprehend and understand His Word after Pentecost. God keeps providing every opportunity and possibility for us to know Him through His Word. Our comprehension and understanding can improve. He has given every believer at salvation the Holy Spirit to reveal the meaning of His Word. Read the passage again and know His desire is for you and me to know Him through His Word. Talk to Him about this whenever you open The Bible.

In His Word,
Pastor Fred 

 "HOPE" 

 By: J. Hampton Keathley III

ROMANS 8:24-25 For in hope we have been saved, but hope that is seen is not hope; for why does one also hope for what he sees? 25 But if we hope for what we do not see, with perseverance we wait eagerly for it.     

What is hope? Is it a wishy washy maybe or a kind of unsure optimism? The modern idea of hope is “to wish for, to expect, but without certainty of the fulfillment; to desire very much, but with no real assurance of getting your desire.”

In Scripture, according to the Hebrew and Greek words translated by the word “hope” and according to the biblical usage, hope is an indication of certainty. “Hope” in Scripture means “a strong and confident expectation.” Though archaic today in modern terms, hope is akin to trust and a confident expectation.

Hope may refer to the activity of hoping, or to the object hoped for—the content of one’s hope. By its very nature, hope stresses two things: (a) futurity, and (b) invisibility. It deals with things we can’t see or haven’t received or both.

Biblically, from the standpoint of the object hoped for, hope is synonymous with salvation and its many blessings, past, present, and future, as promised in Scripture. This is true even with what we have already received as believers because these blessings come under the category of what we cannot see. We may see some of the results, but it still requires faith and hope. For example, we do not see the justifying work of God, the imputation of Christ’s righteousness to our account, nor do we see the indwelling of the Holy Spirit when we are saved, nor our co-union with Christ. We believe this to be a reality, but this is a matter of our hope. We believe in the testimony of God in the Word and hope for the results in our lives.

In summary, hope is the confident expectation, the sure certainty that what God has promised in the Word is true, has occurred, and or will in accordance with God’s sure Word.

David Cunningham

Made In HIS Image  <><

"Outsiders"  Colossians 4:5 "Walk in wisdom toward those who are outside, redeeming the time." Those "outside" mentioned here are unbelievers. Believers are called to so live that they establish the credibility of the Christian faith and that they make the most of every evangelistic opportunity. We are commissioned to deport ourselves in such a way that we draw people to the light. We are to let our lights shine, by letting Christ shine through us. Believers must stay close together so we can be even brighter unified. Today l will endeavor to be a light, to wisely shine so all can see His love and His truth. He is love, He is light. It is time to shine for Him. He came to redeem, we stay to redeem the time He gave us for His purposes. I hope everyone comes inside. I pray they see His light. I hope we shine for Him, l pray for revival, renewal and restoration. Inside, outside and everywhere for everyone. Time is precious. So are people. Let's be wise toward those who need Him.Those He loves. In Him, Pastor Fred

"Too Much Serving?" 

Luke 10:40a " But Martha was distracted with much serving.."

It is possible to be so busy doing things we think are important, even serving Jesus, that we are distracted from the one thing that is necessary.

In Matthew 13 in the Parable of the Sower, Jesus said that the worries of this age and the deceitfulness of wealth can choke God's word, preventing it from producing fruit in our lives (verse 22). In the passage above, Jesus did not rebuke or criticize Martha. He did not say that her service to Him was bad. He simply said that Mary's hunger to learn from Him had caused her to choose what was the most important.

We must work. In fact, we cannot obey God's word if we don't do what He tells us to do. But if we are so busy with the affairs of life, even ministry, that we are distracted from God's word, we are crowding out the one thing that Jesus said is necessary.

For the Kingdom,
Pastor Fred

 "The Perfect Church" 

Acts 6:1 " In those days, as the disciples were increasing in number, there arose a complaint…"

The church is not a place for perfect people. As a matter of fact, far from it. The Book of Acts is an amazing journal of the early church. It tells of God's power, the spread of His Good News, the persecution of believers, conversions of faith, acts of compassion and church strife. Wait a second, didn't the Holy Spirit come to them at Pentecost? Didn't they share with each other and welcome new people to the faith? Didn't they worship, study, pray and fellowship? Yes, but they also disagreed, fought, showed favoritism, were lazy and weak, caved into temptation, sued each other, were divisive, unforgiving, idolatrous, chaotic and immoral. Yes, inside the church.

Answer me this... if the Bible isn't real or true, wouldn't you leave the ugliest parts out? The church is not a place for perfect people. Or for pretending to be perfect either. If you are perfect you will not fit. But, just because we are imperfect, doesn't mean we should not improve or should justify unchristian attitudes or behavior. We are a work In progress, and we must do better, for the sake of Christ. God help the church. We need it. Help us pastors too.

So, l encourage you to come to church. Together we can do better. Jesus loves you and He is perfect at that, and we are working on it. 

Join us in seeking His help. God loves His church, His bride. 
Pastor Fred 

Ps... the complaint was about favoritism.

"Seeing but not believing" 

Acts 4:14-15

"But since they could see the man who had been healed standing there with them, there was nothing they could say. So they ordered them to withdraw from the Sanhedrin and then conferred together."

When we don't want to believe it or receive it we won't.  Even clear evidence, unless heart-changing, will not compel us to change our minds.  Facts can get twisted, stories get spun, and we seldom reconsider anything.  The truth or evidence may shut us up momentarily but it doesn't necessarily change our minds, or certainly not our hearts.

If we don't need or want a Savior, we will deny everything we see in order to not surrender.  Such is the nature of humans. We are a tenacious lot when it comes to protecting the status quo.  Defending it even.  Even destroying anything that challenges us to change.

So if we can just remove from our lives anyone who disagrees with us then we are just fine. Denial is a funny process, isn't it?  Sure helps the status quo when we can find like-minded folks to concur.  At least let us be in our denial and not challenge us.  After all, if you don't disagree you agree, right?  This is how we get and stay entrenched.

Please don't.  Seeing can be believing. Let us ask to see what He is showing us, not just what we want to see.

Open my eyes Lord,
Pastor Fred

"With Fervent Desire" 

Luke 22:1-71 the Passover Celebration of Jesus.

The story within the story, many years ago when the Holy Spirit shed His revelational light upon this verse I was amazed at how desperately in Love Jesus was and is in love with me.

Then He said to them, "With fervent desire I have desired to eat this Passover with you before I suffer” (Luke 22:15)

With FERVENT DESIRE I have DESIRED? Why would a man, THE MAN, desire to be the Lamb of God? Words have meaning and it is important to know WHO says the words, in this case it is directly from Jesus, God Himself.

Fervent desire is “epithymia” which a longing, a lust (in a good sense here) for something. Followed by another desire; Desire is “epithymeo” which is to set the heart upon, i.e. long for What did Jesus desire so intensely I wondered? He so graciously said it was not a WHAT but WHO..me! So personal a relationship can be found in these words found in Hebrews 12:2, “looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher of faith, who for the JOY that was set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.”

I study so I may know Him and who I am now. “That the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give unto you the spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of HIM: The eyes of your understanding being enlightened; that ye may know what is the hope of HIS calling, and what the riches of the glory of HIS inheritance in the saints” (Eph 1:17-18)

How passionately He desires to be our all; God, Lord, King, Friend, Brother, Shepherd and especially the Groom and me the Bride! Go ahead and have a fervent desire to be in His presence because the Greater One, The Holy Spirit lives in YOU!

But God, who is rich in mercy, for his great love wherewith HE loved us, (Eph 2:4)

Extravagant Worship, is there any other kind?
Greg Metcalf