Merry Christmas eveybody! I hope everyone is enjoying their holiday season. Things have been going well for me and God has been blessing. We just got through with our christmas banquets here at PGPC in Sebastopol, MS. I was able to help with the entertainment, one of my hobbies. I'll try to post some pictures when possible. I just wanted to take a moment to share this with you.
This is a time of year that is a happy and joyful occasion. The mood is always light and people tend to be positive. This time of year holds many great memories of christmas in the past. Times that we gathered together with family. For one single day, we forgot about all of our problems and cares, and it seemed that everything was right in the world.
But if you would take a moment and journey with me to another house not far from your's, or perhaps to the other side of town, maybe even on the other side of the world. To the man that is down on his luck and work has long since run out. He stumbles through the night wondering how he will ever make it in this cold and cruel world. No one extends a helping hand or offers a word of encouragement. Perhaps the only person that said merry christmas to him was the salvation army attendant ringing their bell.
I see a light glowing in an upstairs apartment window on the darker side of town. A young mother sits with her child. The husband and father long gone, unwilling to commit himself to being a provider. This great burden has fallen upon her and she hardly seems to be able to withstand the weight of it. She doesn't fit in her church. The youth look at her like she is filth, the young couple's feel that she is not apart of their group. While everyone lavishes in prosperity and happiness, she struggles to work two or three jobs to have a somewhat decent christmas for her little girl. People pass her all day long, but in the midst of the crowd she feels alone and as an outcast. There is nothing merry about christmas to her, just the worst pain and loneliness imaginable.
As the fog moves in on this cold december night, I see a man sitting alone on a park bench. A street light shining above him. While he speaks no words, one can feel that this is a somber and dark moment. As he left work that afternoon, everyone in the office slapped backs and high fived each other, happy to be off work and talking about what christmas had in store for them. No one seemed to notice how he hung back, out of character for this individual. You see, it was hard for him to join the festivities, knowing that his boss just fired him. He walks outside of the office. His head swirling, his mind going a thousand different directions. He has a wife and kids to think about after all. It had been a hard year already, what would his wife say? What would his kids think? He left his car in the parking lot and started walking. "If I can't do any better than this for my family, then what am I doing? They don't need me! What a failure I have been to them!! I could just end it all, they don't need me any more!"
Up ahead on the distance, a subway car slows to a stop. A father and his children climb aboard. His kids seem rather rambuctious. A man sitting across from the family seems annoyed by it. The father sits there with a dazed expression on his face, oblivious to how his kids are behaving. the kids just sem to be a little out of control. People move away from them. The father does nothing to stop them. To everyone around he seems uncaring and unconcerened. The other passenger sits there and bites his tongue as long as he possibly can, but his aggravation gets the better of him. Hey speaks up "Sir, your children are out of control! Can't you do something about it?!" The father seems to awaken out of a fog. He looks around at his children and says to the man, "I'm sorry sir, you see, there mother just died, and we were heading home from the hospital. I guess none of us know how to cope with it just yet. Please forgive us."
Perhaps you've encountered these people as you've shopped and joined the hustle and bustle of the holiday season. What did you do? Did you have a kind word for them? Or perhaps we were preoccupied with other things. Christmas to some people is a horrible memory, and a dark and lonely time. But let us rember one thing this Christmas season, that Jesus Christ is the only one that can bring joy and peace. And if we are the light of the world, then let your light shine and put the Merry back into someone's Christmas.
-God Bless
Tuesday, December 13, 2011
Monday, December 5, 2011
Crank Up The Heat!
I'm sure many of us have enjoyed the change in the weather recently. Some of us have complained about the weather for months, but give it a week or two and we'll start complaining about the cold:)
It won't be much longer until the cold settles in for the winter. (Of course this all depends upon where you live.) As the temperature drops on the outside, it begins to affect the inside. And unless your a tightwad or a mountain man, your gonna crank up the heat on the thermostat. The colder it gets on the outside, will require some adjustment on the inside to keep the temperature the same.
What we see going on in the natural, is also going on in the spiritual world and within the church. As the days seem to go by more hastily, this world becomes more evil and corrupt. I don't believe that there is any news that would shock us anymore, we've heard it all it seems. The pressure is increasing and the temperature is dropping. Spineless, emergent, compromising churches have already felt the shift in temperature and have done nothing to adjust the inside. They are being frozen by the winds of apathy and complacency.
If there's ever been a time when the Apostolic church needs to take a stand for truth, righteousness, and holiness, the time is now. We've got to kindle the fire on the inside to ward off what is stirring on the outside. Now is not the time to follow the fad of letting down on holiness.
Hebrews 12:14 Follow peace with all men, and holiness, without which no man shall see the Lord.
1 Peter 1:16 Because it is written, Be ye holy; for I am holy.
When your full of the Holy Ghost and are striving to have a relationship with God, you should have some personal convictions. Holiness must be more than standards and rules but we must pray for a spirit of holiness. The condition of the heart will be reflected in the outward appearance and lifestyle.
We must increase our prayer. The effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man or woman still avails much. Prayer is what makes the difference . It is one of the main elements of revival and a move of God. We must strive to pray in the Holy Ghost and enter into the Holy of Holies. That is where things are broken in the spirit and prayers are answered.
And as the winds of comprimise and complacency grow colder we cannot leave spirit filled praise and worship behind. We must remember that music in and of itself is not what creates an atmosphere for God to move, but it's our praise and worship. David said I will enter into his gates with thanksgiving, and into his courts with praise. When I step through the doors of the church I want there to be a praise in my heart and a song on my lips. I won't be concerned if visitors are watching. They need to see a red hot apostolic worship service!! I don't want the devil to be comfortable in a cool, complacent environment.
Prayer and worship are two close allies that support each other. Without one or the other we cannot be a succesful revival church.
Evangelism has got to become important to us! What a great time of year to tell somebody about Jesus. The church must be a refuge to the people of our communities. We are the light of the world, a city on a hill that cannot be hidden. A beacon of hope to troubled souls, a lighthouse to those lost on the seas of life. Everyone else can bow to pressure but in 2012 I'm believing God for mighty revival in our churches. Why don't we crank up the heat a little and see the kingdom of God go fourth?
It won't be much longer until the cold settles in for the winter. (Of course this all depends upon where you live.) As the temperature drops on the outside, it begins to affect the inside. And unless your a tightwad or a mountain man, your gonna crank up the heat on the thermostat. The colder it gets on the outside, will require some adjustment on the inside to keep the temperature the same.
What we see going on in the natural, is also going on in the spiritual world and within the church. As the days seem to go by more hastily, this world becomes more evil and corrupt. I don't believe that there is any news that would shock us anymore, we've heard it all it seems. The pressure is increasing and the temperature is dropping. Spineless, emergent, compromising churches have already felt the shift in temperature and have done nothing to adjust the inside. They are being frozen by the winds of apathy and complacency.
If there's ever been a time when the Apostolic church needs to take a stand for truth, righteousness, and holiness, the time is now. We've got to kindle the fire on the inside to ward off what is stirring on the outside. Now is not the time to follow the fad of letting down on holiness.
Hebrews 12:14 Follow peace with all men, and holiness, without which no man shall see the Lord.
1 Peter 1:16 Because it is written, Be ye holy; for I am holy.
When your full of the Holy Ghost and are striving to have a relationship with God, you should have some personal convictions. Holiness must be more than standards and rules but we must pray for a spirit of holiness. The condition of the heart will be reflected in the outward appearance and lifestyle.
We must increase our prayer. The effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man or woman still avails much. Prayer is what makes the difference . It is one of the main elements of revival and a move of God. We must strive to pray in the Holy Ghost and enter into the Holy of Holies. That is where things are broken in the spirit and prayers are answered.
And as the winds of comprimise and complacency grow colder we cannot leave spirit filled praise and worship behind. We must remember that music in and of itself is not what creates an atmosphere for God to move, but it's our praise and worship. David said I will enter into his gates with thanksgiving, and into his courts with praise. When I step through the doors of the church I want there to be a praise in my heart and a song on my lips. I won't be concerned if visitors are watching. They need to see a red hot apostolic worship service!! I don't want the devil to be comfortable in a cool, complacent environment.
Prayer and worship are two close allies that support each other. Without one or the other we cannot be a succesful revival church.
Evangelism has got to become important to us! What a great time of year to tell somebody about Jesus. The church must be a refuge to the people of our communities. We are the light of the world, a city on a hill that cannot be hidden. A beacon of hope to troubled souls, a lighthouse to those lost on the seas of life. Everyone else can bow to pressure but in 2012 I'm believing God for mighty revival in our churches. Why don't we crank up the heat a little and see the kingdom of God go fourth?
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)