Do You Have a Thankful Heart?

2 Corinthians 9:15, "Thanks be to God for His indescribable gift!"

#4 - I'm thankful for God's provision.

#5 - I'm thankful for the simple joys of life.

#6 - I'm thankful for the power of prayer.

#7 - I'm thankful for the gift of song.

O.K. I'm going to stop with number seven. I could keep going but I don't want you to leave just yet.

Listen to what Paul told the Corinthian church just before verse 15: "Now may He who supplies seed to the sower, and bread for food, supply and multiply the seed you have sown and increase the fruits of your righteousness, while you are enriched in everything for all liberality, which causes thanksgiving through us to God. For the administration of this service not only supplies the needs of the saints, but also is abounding through many thanksgivings to God, while, through the proof of this ministry, they glorify God for the obedience of your confession to the gospel of Christ, and for your liberal sharing with them and all men, and by their prayer for you, who long for you because of the exceeding grace of God in you." [10-14]

Paul is thanking the Corinthian believers for their love gift to the church of Jerusalem. What an awesome thought: Because of their obedience there was much thanksgiving going up to God on their behalf!!!

If you are truly thankful this holiday season - share it with others. They in turn with give thanksgiving as well!

May the Lord bless you all. May you be able to recount with your family and friends all the great things that God has done for you. May your thanksgiving turn hearts to Him!

**Join us tonight for a special Thanksgiving Eve service here at PBC > 7:00pm.

Thanksgiving Week

The week of Thanksgiving is upon us. Just a few more days and the majority of us will be spending time with family, eating turkey, hunting, and watching a little football.

Don't forget to take time to be thankful.

The Bible teaches us to give thanks in all things. This week I'm simply going to post things for which I am thankful. I hope this will serve as a lead up to this wonderful holiday.

#1 - I'm thankful for my salvation. On Dec. 18, 1991 I accepted Jesus Christ as my Lord and Savior. Thank you Lord for saving me!

#2 - I'm thankful for my family. Jennifer and I have been married for 14 years and have two wonderful children. My whole family knows Jesus!

#3 - I'm thankful for PBC. This church has blessed my life in so many ways. To God be the glory for the great things He has done.

Tomorrow I will post a few more things that I'm thankful for. No post on Thanksgiving Day - I'm sure that you understand.

May the Lord bless you all on this Thanksgiving Holiday.

PBC will be having a Thanksgiving Eve service on Wed. night @ 7:00pm. Come and be thankful with us & share in communion.

He Forgot

Today's reading comes from "God Came Near" by Max Lucado.

"I was thanking the Father today for His mercy. I began listing the sins He'd forgiven. One by one I thanked God for forgiving my stumbles and tumbles. My motives were pure and my heart was thankful, but my understanding of God was wrong. It was when I used the word 'remember' that it hit me.

"'Remember the time I...' I was about to thank God for another act of mercy. But I stopped. Something was wrong. The word 'remember' seemed displaced. It was an off-key note in a sonata, a misspelled word in a poem. It was a baseball game in December. It didn't fit. 'Does He remember?'

"Then I remembered. I remembered His words. 'And I will remember their sins no more.'

"Wow! Now, that is a promise.

"God doesn't just forgive, He forgets. He erases the board. He destroys the evidence. He burns the microfilm. He clears the computer.

"He doesn't remember my mistakes. For all the things He does do, this is one thing He refuses to do. He refuses to keep a list of my wrongs. When I ask for forgiveness He doesn't pull out the clipboard and say, 'But I have already forgiven him for that five hundred and sixteen times.'

"He doesn't remember.

"'As far as the east is from the west, so far has He removed our transgressions from us.'

"'I will be merciful toward their iniquities.'

"'Even if you are stained as red as crimson, I can make you white as wool.'

"No, he doesn't remember. But I do, you do. You still remember. You're like me. You still remember what you did before you changed. In the cellar of your heart lurk the ghosts of yesterday's sins. Sins you've confessed; errors of which you've repented; damage you've done your best to repair...

"...Do yourself a favor. Purge your cellar. Exorcise your basement. Take the Roman nails of Calvary and board up the door.

"And remember...He forgot."

pp. 101-105 (Scripture References: Heb. 8:12, Psalm 103:12, Isaiah 1:18)

Winning Into Freedom

From "My Utmost for His Highest" by Oswald Chambers - November 18th entry.

"If the Son makes you free, you shall be free indeed." (John 8:36)

"If there is even a trace of individual self-satisfaction left in us, it always says, 'I can't surrender,' or 'I can't be free.' But the spiritual part of our being never says 'I can't'; it simply soaks up everything around it. Our spirit hungers for more and more. It is the way we are built. We are designed with a great capacity for God, but sin, our own individuality, and wrong thinking keep us from getting to Him. God delivers us from sin - we have to deliver ourselves from our individuality. This means offering our natural life to God and sacrificing it to Him, so He may transform it into spiritual life through our obedience.

"God pays no attention to our natural individuality in the development of our spiritual life. His plan runs right through our natural life. We must see to it that we aid and assist God, and not stand against Him by saying, 'I can't do that.' God will not discipline us; we must discipline ourselves. God will not bring our 'arguments...and every thought into captivity to the obedience of Christ' (2 Cor. 10:5) - we have to do it. Don't say, 'Oh, Lord, I suffer from wandering thoughts.' Don't suffer from wandering thoughts. Stop listening to the tyranny of your individual natural life and win freedom into the spiritual life.

"'If the Son makes you free...' Do not substitute Savior for Son in this passage. The Savior has set us free from sin, but this is the freedom that comes from being set free from myself by the Son. It is what Paul meant in Galatians 2:20 when he said, 'I have been crucified with Christ...' His individuality had been broken and his spirit had been united with his Lord; not just merged into Him, but made one with Him. '...you shall be free indeed' - free to the very core of your being; free from the inside to the outside. We tend to rely on our own energy, instead of being energized by the power that comes from identification with Jesus."

*Let the Son set you free today!

The Show Must Go On

I woke up this morning with my internal jukebox playing full blast. The song? "The Show Must Go On" by Queen.

Allow me to post a couple of lines with the chorus and then you can ask yourself if you ever feel this way:

"I guess I'm learning
I must be warmer now..
I'll soon be turning round the corner now.
Outside the dawn is breaking,
But inside in the dark I'm aching to be free!

The Show must go on!
The Show must go on! Yeah!
Ooh! Inside my heart is breaking!
My make-up may be flaking!
But my smile, still, stays on!"

It seems to me that more people feel this way than we may let on. Regardless of how we feel - there are kids to raise, a job to do, a spouse to care for, a ministry to perform. The list goes on and on. The sad part in all of this is that there is a great number of church goers who are aching to be free from something.

This past Sunday I asked our church if we would rather run a showboat or a lifeboat. We can concern ourselves with how this thing called church comes off or we can spend our time, energy, and resources to rescue people. I want to command the lifeboat!

A word of encouragement for those who feel compelled to keep the smile going. If you continue to mask your pain, your problems, your sin - You Will Lose. However, the moment that you decide you aren't going to allow yourself to live in this game - YOU CAN BE SET FREE. I know that it may get messy but you cannot continue to live this way. 1 John 1:9 tells us: "If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive our sins and cleanse us from all unrighteousness." If the show MUST go on you don't have to fake it! Why not allow God to set you free?

One of the great things about PBC is that we have found a place where we can be real. There isn't a perfect person in the whole lot. This doesn't mean that we aren't willing to live disciplined lives but it also doesn't mean that we are going to cover up our junk. We are real with God and we are real with each other. There is no other way to live.

I hope that you have found a fellowship of believers where you can do the same. I hope that you have entered into relationships that allow you to be free. If you haven't then the lyrics I posted earlier will be your reality. I know there are times that we have to pick ourselves up and take care of responsibilities but it cannot become a way of life. Jesus longs to set you free.

The Pursuit

There are many things about this time of year that I enjoy: Leaves changing color, Thanksgiving, & Football just to name of few. But one of my favorite hobbies during this time of year is Deer Hunting.

In his book, "A Look at Life from a Deer Stand", Steve Chapman shares some wonderful analogies and devotional thoughts through the experience of deer hunting. One of my favorites is "Going Deeper." I don't actually own the book so I'm going to attempt to share what I got from this reading.

Steve was sharing about some of his earliest experiences in deer hunting. One of those experiences came from some frustration over his evening hunts. He had placed his stand near the edge of a field since most of the deer filter out of the woods to feed. However, the deer always got there too late to shoot. An older gentleman told him, "You need to go deeper!" What Steve found out was that if he placed his stand deeper into the woods then he would be able to see these deer before it got dark.

What's the spiritual application? I wonder how many people are simply frustrated in their Christian life because they aren't experiencing God any differently than when they started? You need to go deeper! If there is one thing that I have learned about my relationship with God is that it's always a call to go deeper: Deeper in the Word, Deeper in Prayer, Deeper in my Faith, & Deeper in my Sharing. It's like a lot of other disciplines in life. If you are trying to get stronger by lifting weights - eventually you have to add more weights. If you are trying to prepare for a marathon - then you can't run 1 mile a day and plan on getting to that place.

If you want to grow in your experience with God - you have to go deeper. Knowing God needs to become your greatest pursuit! I promise you this: It's not as hard as deer hunting. Why? Because God wants to be caught by you!

As you prepare for the weekend, I want to encourage you to set aside some time to read the Bible. Dive into it with the expectation that God is going to speak to you. Set aside some time for prayer. Don't get complacent here...it's far too easy to miss the intimacy with God in your prayer life. One other thing: Share your faith with someone else. Deer hunters love to share their experiences (even with those who may not hunt). In the same way, go out and share with others how God saved you, how He has blessed your life, and what you are currently learning from His Word.

Who knows...Maybe in your pursuit of Him, God will be able to catch someone that He has been pursuing!

Do You Know Jesus?

I realize that many of you who read this blog are believers. However, every now and then this question needs to be asked: Do you know Jesus?

You're not here by accident. God loves you. He wants you to have a personal relationship with Him through Jesus, His Son. There is just one thing that separates you from God. That one thing is sin.

The Bible describes sin in many ways. Most simply, sin is our failure to measure up to God’s holiness and His righteous standards. We sin by things we do, choices we make, attitudes we show, and thoughts we entertain. We also sin when we fail to do right things. The Bible affirms our own experience – “there is none righteous, not even one.” No matter how good we try to be, none of us does right things all the time.

People tend to divide themselves into groups - good people and bad people. But God says that every person who has ever lived is a sinner, and that any sin separates us from God. No matter how we might classify ourselves, this includes you and me. We are all sinners.

"For all have sinned and come short of the glory of God." Romans 3:23

Many people are confused about the way to God. Some think they will be punished or rewarded according to how good they are. Some think they should make things right in their lives before they try to come to God. Others find it hard to understand how Jesus could love them when other people don't seem to. But I have great news for you! God DOES love you! More than you can ever imagine! And there's nothing you can do to make Him stop! Yes, our sins demand punishment - the punishment of death and separation from God. But, because of His great love, God sent His only Son Jesus to die for our sins.

"God demonstrates His own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us." Romans 5:8

For you to come to God you have to get rid of your sin problem. But, in our own strength, not one of us can do this! You can't make yourself right with God by being a better person. Only God can rescue us from our sins. He is willing to do this not because of anything you can offer Him, but JUST BECAUSE HE LOVES YOU!

"He saved us, not because of righteous things we had done, but because of His mercy." Titus 3:5

It's God's grace that allows you to come to Him - not your efforts to "clean up your life" or work your way to Heaven. You can't earn it. It's a free gift.

"For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith - and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God - not by works, so that no one can boast." Ephesians 2:8-9

For you to come to God, the penalty for your sin must be paid. God's gift to you is His son, Jesus, who paid the debt for you when He died on the Cross.

"For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Jesus Christ our Lord." Romans 6:23

Jesus paid the price for your sin and mine by giving His life on a cross at a place called Calvary, just outside of the city walls of Jerusalem in ancient Israel. God brought Jesus back from the dead. He provided the way for you to have a personal relationship with Him through Jesus. When we realize how deeply our sin grieves the heart of God and how desperately we need a Savior, we are ready to receive God's offer of salvation. To admit we are sinners means turning away from our sin and selfishness and turning to follow Jesus. The Bible word for this is "repentance" - to change our thinking about how grievous sin is, so our thinking is in line with God's.

All that's left for you to do is to accept the gift that Jesus is holding out for you right now.

"If you confess with your mouth, "Jesus is Lord," and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. For it is with your heart that you believe and are justified, and it is with your mouth that you confess and are saved." Romans 10:9-10

God says that if you believe in His son, Jesus, you can live forever with Him in glory.

"For God so loved the world that He gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish, but have eternal life." John 3:16

Are you ready to accept the gift of eternal life that Jesus is offering you right now? Let's review what this commitment involves:

I acknowledge I am a sinner in need of a Savior - this is to repent or turn away from sin

I believe in my heart that God raised Jesus from the dead - this is to trust that Jesus paid the full penalty for my sins

I confess Jesus as my Lord and my God - this is to surrender control of my life to Jesus

I receive Jesus as my Savior forever - this is to accept that God has done for me and in me what He promised

You can do this through a simple prayer of faith. I you have never prayed before then I encourage you to simply talk to God as if He is in the room with you. If you accept Christ through this blog entry then please leave a comment so that I can rejoice with you. I encourage you to go out and find a church home where you can grow in relationship with other believers. If you live in our area then PBC is a good place to start.

John 3:16 ('Nuff said)

Max Lucado refers to John 3:16 as the "Hope Diamond" of Scripture. Can we argue with that assessment?

I don't know of any other single verse that is memorized (or quoted) as much as John 3:16. There is great power, great freedom, and great revelation wrapped up in this one verse. When it comes to understanding the love of God for the world and the gift of salvation wrapped up in Jesus - John 3:16 says it all!

I heard a message yesterday by Drew Landry that brought out some wonderful aspects of this verse. He said that there is one thing that is missed in the translation from Greek to English and that is that the verse reads "The God." Think about that with me... "The God" of the world loved so much that He gave... WOW! Is the current century any different that the 1st century? Do we not live in an age when there are many gods that could be followed? Is there not a vast number of religions in the world? Maybe we need to introduce our generation/culture afresh to "The God" of the world. The one and only God is Jehovah God and He loves us so much that He did something.

God gave. Isn't that so true of God? God always demonstrates His goodness to us. He gave us life. He is the one who created us and He is the one who redeems us. What He gave is truly significant. He gave His one and only begotten Son. He gave the only one of His kind. He gave Himself wrapped up in human flesh as a sacrifice for the sins of the world. Why? He did this because He loves His creation. Man had fallen far from God. Man had went in his own direction. However, God still loved and because He loved - He did something about it.

The result: SALVATION TO ALL WHO BELIEVE! I'm so glad that God has opened the door to all of us for eternal life. Even better than that is to know that we can have eternal life if we simply believe. Don't listen to anyone who tries to add to God's Word. If you need to be saved today, all you have to do is put your faith and trust in God's gift of salvation. That is it!

We have a young lady in our church that has been bombarded by those who think you must add something to your faith in order to be saved. In their belief system you must DO SOMETHING else. Faith alone can't save you {In their words}. But God's Word says different! God's Word says that "Whoever believes in Him will not be put to shame." (Rom. 10:11) In fact, just a couple verses ahead of that, the Bible says that "if you confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus and believe in your heart that God has raised Him from the dead, you will be saved." And if you drop down a couple verses from verse 11 you will read, "Whoever calls on the name of the Lord will be saved."

The point of this is to understand that God has done everything in regards to our salvation. John 3:16 can stand alone because the remainder of God's Word assures us of its great promise: Anyone - Everyone - who puts their belief in Jesus Christ will have eternal life.

Praise God for His great love toward us! Praise God for the gift of Jesus Christ for our sin!

John 3:16...'Nuff said!

What Are We Thirsty For?

I have been blessed to hear some wonderful messages from the Word of God this week. Our state convention (SBCV) is having its Annual Homecoming. The theme for this year is "Pushing Back the Darkness through Evangelism."

Here is a sample of the couple of messages that God used in my life yesterday.

Dr. Gray Allison preached from Jude 20-25 with this in mind: "We are not going to be the witnesses we need to be until we are who we need to be!"

That is why Paul urged Jude to:
1) Build himself up
2) Pray in the Holy Spirit
3) Stay in the Love of God
4) Look for the 2nd Coming

It's only after we apply these principles to our life can we expect to reach out to those around us. Some we will have compassion upon while others will be saved through a fear of God's judgement.

Then in our evening session we heard a message from Dr. Tom Elliff. Elliff preached from Psalm 42 and asked the question: What are we thirsty for?

1) Essence of Thirst is a Sense of Longing
2) Existence of Thirst is a Sign of Life
3) Extent of Thirst is a Sign of Labor
4) Exclusiveness of Thirst is a Sign of Love

In the end we saw the altar in front of the church filled with men and women asking God to give them a thirst for Him and for lost souls.

I must say that God has used these messages in a great way to bring refreshment to my soul. I have a greater longing to see God move in me. But I also have a greater longing to see God move in the lives of others.

Join me today by getting before God and asking Him to make you thirsty for His presence, His power, and His purpose in your life.

Only then can we expect to push back the darkness!

The Approval of God or Man?

I was flipping through Tommy Tenney's book "God's Favorite House" when I came across this statement: "If you are a preacher, a teacher, a worship leader, or hold any position of responsibility in the local body, don't waster God's precious anointing by running after man's approval. Use it to prepare the Bride for the King."

AMEN!!!!!

The last thing the church needs is a "man pleaser." Too many preachers today are doing their best to keep from provoking people. They work so hard as to not hurt any one's feelings or make someone feel as though they are wrong. This type of mentality is producing churches that do not know what sin looks like.

One particular denomination has adopted the phrase "Open Hears. Open Doors. Open Minds." Isn't that sweet! Why not just put up a banner that says, "We don't care what you do but please grace us with your presence and you will be fully accepted." Maybe it's not quite as catchy.

Folks, I'm all for loving people where they live. I cannot expect the lost to live in any other way than lost. HOWEVER, when it comes to the Body of Christ...that's a different story. If someone has accepted Jesus as Lord and Savior then that someone's life should look like it. I'm not saying that they will be perfect but their life should be different from the lives around them. And it doesn't matter how sweet, nice, and fluffy my sermons are because in the end they won't change.

The purpose of the anointing is to bring God and man together in holy communion. God doesn't anoint us so we can get on TV, receive an invitation to Larry King Live, or to sell books and fill arena's. God anoints us to reach a world for Him. He sets us apart so that we will have a different message than that of the world.

So listen up church leaders: Shake of complacency, loose the idea that you have to accept everyone to love everyone, and don't be afraid of the truth. The truth may hurt feelings but it will set them free.

The Journey of Faith

The following story is taken from "Experiencing God" by Henry Blackaby. This is an awesome reminder of the journey of faith & God's provision. We must always remember Hebrews 11:6, "Without faith it is impossible to please God, because anyone who comes to Him must believe that He exists and that He rewards those who earnestly seek Him."

"The church that I pastored sensed we needed God to use us to reach people for Christ throughout our province. The province contained more than 200 cities, towns, and villages. This meant that we would have to start new churches. To do that, we felt God was leading us to call Len Koster to become our minister of mission outreach. He would equip the church to start churches.

"For 14 years Len had pastored small churches. Len was so committed to the Lord that he worked as a service-station attendant for 14 years in order to pastor bivocationally. Without a part-time pastor these churches would have had no pastor at all. In that time Len and his wife, Ruth, had saved seven thousand dollars, hoping one day they would have enough money to buy their own home. When Len felt absolutely convinced he ought to come help us start churches, I said, 'Len, we have no money to move you and no money to pay you.'

"He said, 'Henry, the God who has called me will help me. We will take the money from our savings, and we will move.' Later Len came into my office and said, 'Henry, my wife and I prayed and talked all night. I have worked bivocationally for 14 years, and I have no problem working to provide for my family. But the need here is so great and God's direction is so clear I believe I need to work full-time. My wife and I realized last night that the seven thousand dollars we have in the bank is God's, and He wants us to use that for our living expenses. When we have exhausted that, He will show us what to do next. So Henry, don't worry about my support.'

"When Len left the room, I fell on my face and wept before the Father. I said, 'Father, I don't understand why such a faithful couple must make this kind of sacrifice.' I saw in Len and Ruth a great faith that was demonstrated by their actions.

"Two days later I received a letter from a Presbyterian layman in Kamloops, British Columbia. It simple said, 'I understand a man named Len Koster has come to work with you. God has laid it on my heart to help support his ministry. Enclosed find a check for seven thousand dollars to be used for his support.' When I opened that letter, I got back on my knees and wept before the Father again. This time I asked Him to forgive me for not trusting Him when He told me I could.

"I called Len and said, 'Len, you have placed your life savings on the altar of sacrifice, but God has something else in the bushes. The God who says, 'I am your Provider' has just provided!' Then I told him the news. Do you know what that did in Len's life? Can you imagine what it did in our church's life? We all grew in our faith to believe God. After that we stepped out in faith time and time again, and we saw God do amazing things. We never could have experienced God that way if we had not stepped out in faith to call Len. That experience helped us learn how to trust God."

*As you reflect upon this story and the journey of faith, I want you to ask this question: "What does God have in the bushes for me?"

ENJOY THE JOURNEY!

Happy Election Day

Welcome to Tuesday, November 3, 2009 AD.

This is a day that many of you have been waiting for. It's the 1st election since Obama was sworn in as the President of the United States. I think the question is: What will you do with it? Will you make change happen or are you satisfied with the "change" you are seeing?

I truly believe that the voting that takes place this year is going to make a difference. I believe that our nation is looking at the state of Virginia to see what we will do. Are we going to continue with the leadership of the Democrat party or will we elect the Republican candidate for Governor? It's much too early to tell right now...but if you want to affect the outcome then GET OUT & VOTE.

You know what amazes me about some believers? When it comes to voting in elections or speaking out on political matters - they tend to be rather sheepish. I'm thinking: Man, if we would go in and occupy the land that God gives us we can made a real difference. Remember that God put us in the freest nation on earth for a reason. God has given us the right to speak freely, worship freely, etc. Do you think that he wants us to give those freedoms back or use those freedoms for the good of the nation?

Let's start a revolution today!!!

BELIEVERS - Go out and vote your morals. The rest will take care of itself.