Finding Your Mission

Posted on January 7, 2013 by PastorBobLifeGate

The study of Nehemiah is fascinating because it is a study of human nature. In Nehemiah chapter 1, Nehemiah is faced with the bad news his home town Jerusalem  is destroyed. Things were supposed to be better there by now. He probably thought, “What about the promises of God that predicted the rebuilding of the city of Jerusalem?” Things were not working out as they were supposed to. Does that sound familiar to your story? Where is God when you need Him?

Nehemiah began a four month process of transformation. During that time he fasted and prayed and God gave him a plan. Nehemiah went from being a spectator to the man that would lead in the rebuilding of the wall of Jerusalem. God transformed Nehemiah from a cup bearer  to a governor, military leader,and builder. What a transformation!!!

Nehemiah’s story is your story. God wants to transform you into a productive disciple of Christ, not a spectator. Seek Him with all you have and watch what God can do in your life. See ya. Pastor Bob

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Indescribable

Posted on December 17, 2012 by PastorBobLifeGate

As a practice, I read through the Bible every year. I determine that when I read, I want to get something every time out of the Word of God. “God speak to me, today.” Today, I was reading in Revelations 21 where the Apostle John describes the New Jerusalem. John describes the best he can the size and the beauty with the gold and precious stones but it is indescribable. It is beyond our understanding. 

Think about the size for example. If the notes in my Bible are correct, the city is about 1400 miles wide and long. That would be roughly from the east coast of the USA to somewhere in Arkansas. And that would be approximately the width of the United States. That my friends is a big city.

But that is only a small portion of the equation. The city is 1400 miles high. It is three dimensional. Now that is a big city. What would be the population of a city that is half the size of the United States and 1400 miles high. New York City is maybe 30 miles across and its tallest building is about a fifth of a miles high.

We are talking about a big city. But think about the power of the God that controls that big, big city. That my friends is our God. Put your problems next to that big city and the God that controls that city and they don’t seem so big. Trust God today with your problems. God loves you. Come see us. Pastor Bob 

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We win

Posted on December 7, 2012 by PastorBobLifeGate

How do you know in a game if you are winning? In football you know if you have more points than the opposing team at the end of the game you win. But what about in life? How do you know you are winning? Jesus said, in John 13:35, “By this all men will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another.” Our people gave of themselves to volunteer to help Sandy victims and that, my friend, is a win. Come see us. Pastor Bob

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Working at the Shore

Posted on December 7, 2012 by PastorBobLifeGate

Working at the Shore

We win

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No hope

Posted on October 4, 2012 by PastorBobLifeGate

King Hezekiah of Judah lived in Jerusalem where the Assyrians had placed a siege. He was out numbered, low on food and water, and up against the most ruthless army around at that time. 2 Kings 19 records this amazing story in history of how one man can made a difference. Hezekiah had brought reforms to Judah and led his people back to the Lord. But the storms of life still came. He was faced with an impossible situation. There was no hope, except in God. God did the impossible and delivered his people.

God can do the impossible in your life as well. He is not limited to you limitations, he is not confined to your resources. He is all-powerful and wants to work in your life. Give Him a chance. Seek Him with your whole heart and watch what he does. Pastor Bob

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God does the significant during the insignificant times.

Posted on September 13, 2012 by PastorBobLifeGate

The life of David teaches us many principles. For example, when Saul failed as king, the prophet Samuel was sent to Jesse to anoint one of his sons as king. David was the youngest of eight brothers and wasn’t even there among the brothers to be given the chance to be picked by Samuel. After Samuel had gone through all the other seven brothers and God didn’t pick any of them, David was brought in…from taking care of sheep. The Lord said, “He’s the one.”

This is where the story is kind of funny. What did David do then? I’ll tell you what he didn’t do. He didn’t enroll at the local community college to take some leadership courses since he was going to be king. He didn’t go get a new wardrobe to look more kingly. He went back to taking care of sheep. Here is the point. David learned the significant during the seemly insignificant time of taking care of sheep. What did he learn?

He learned about faithfulness and hanging in there when things are tough. He learned about dependence on God. He fought the bear and the lion and would use that personal history to give him courage to stand against Goliath when no one else could. 

Imagine the prayer life he developed under the stars every night. His relationship with God would be the strength that would carry him through his life. It was this foundation during his insignificant time of taking care of sheep that he would learn significant life lessons.

That is true of our lives as well. We learn life lessons doing things that may not be our calling if we let the Lord teach us. Have a great day. Pastor Bob

 

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Ascribe to the Lord Glory and Strength Psalms 29

Posted on July 12, 2012 by PastorBobLifeGate

The success of our Christian lives depends on our relationship with the Lord. Psalms 29 speaks of ascribing to the Lord glory and strength. What that means is that when we recognize who our God is, something happens. The struggles we have no longer seem so big because we serve a powerful God. When we pray we pray to that powerful God. It is easy to believe for answers to prayer when your God is big enough.  

Remember our God is a faith God. He responds to faith. Hebrews 11:6 says that it is impossible to please God without faith. So when we pray believe that God hears you. If he hears you then there is a good chance He will answer your prayer.

Recognize who you are serving. Then be determined to get to know our God. PB  

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Growing fruit

Posted on April 12, 2012 by PastorBobLifeGate

The hardest part of my day is being me. My wife has it so easy since she gets to be her. She doesn’t know how hard it is to be me. “Practice kindness,” she says. Easy for her to say, she’s….well…her. She doesn’t have the flash temper like me. She wakes up in the morning and is just happy…at least once she has her coffee. Things go wrong and she says, “it will be okay.”

I must admit that I struggle to let the fruit of the Spirit grow in my life. Last week I struggle to praise God while I sent 3 hours getting to work because of an accident on the turnpike. But God is working in me helping me to go beyond wha

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Ouch

Posted on April 10, 2012 by PastorBobLifeGate

Sunday I began the adventure of seeing if I could fit in one of my suits. I have 3 suits…from this century.  I refuse to buy any more suits at my present Sumo wrestling weight. Sunday was the day that I reached the max…actually beyond max of one of the suits to contain my growing belly. It was a sad day. Something had to change or nothing was going to fit.

Week after week, I had blown off working out because of injuries and not wanting to try anything new. The day of reckoning had arrived…I reckon I had better do something.

At the same time, I had been thinking about buying a new lap top. I travel all the time and the one I had was six years old and had been dropped hard twice. Everything still worked…most of the time but the day was approaching when…well, you know…it would pass…and all the pictures, sermons, etc. with it.   So I ventured to the Apple Store to buy…an apple. Thirty minutes later, I was the proud owner of a new computer.

I get it home and unwrap it expecting it to have life changing qualities. Being the tech savvy guy that I am I discover quickly that the new macs don’t display the hard drive on the desk top. What kind of #$% would do that. Forty-five minutes later we find (my son-in-law) out how to display it on the desktop.

Then I notice there is no iMovie or idvd. I finally figure out how to display iMovie and load some video clips. I just wanted to see if idvd worked. iMovie was so different and there was no idvd program. You have to buy it separately. All the changes irritated me so much that in the morning I was going to take the computer back.

Then the Lord showed me that change is sometimes painful. It is that way spiritually. We get comfortable in our spiritual routine and become resistant to change…God’s change. Yes, it hurts (I am sore today from working out with weights yesterday) to change, but change is necessary or we become obsolete and unnecessary. I don’t want to be obsolete like an old 8 track tape player (some of you don’t even know what that is). I want God to use me now. I want to be pliable in His hands to make all the changes He wants to make in me. Let God change you. It hurts but it is worth it. Pastor Bob

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The voice of the Lord

Posted on April 9, 2012 by PastorBobLifeGate

The “Voice of the Lord” is an interesting study. We see it used first in Genesis 3:8 where Adam and Eve are hiding from the Lord after they have sinned. The NIV translates it the sound of the Lord. We see the “Voice of the Lord” used next in Deut. 5:25, where Moses reiterates the 10 commandments to the children of Israel. Then he reminds them of how they were afraid of the Lord and asked Moses  to have God speak only to him. Then Moses could tell them what God said.

There is a message in this fear that the children of Israel had. Back in the garden, Adam only became afraid of the Lord and hid when he sinned. The children of the Israel were constantly sinning and thus were afraid of the Lord. A sinful life creates a flawed relationship with God and thus damages our communication and communion with God. That is why the Apostle John tells us to confess our sins to God (I John 1:9) With sin out of the way we can restore our relationship with God.

We need to have the voice of the Lord in our lives. He needs to have open communication with us. Get sin out of the way and let God speak to you. Pastor Bob

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