Pastor Bob

Someone recently told me that he had gone through some painful difficulties. Then he said to me, God doesn’t waste pain. Wow, what a statement, but is it true? If you are having pain, then that must mean that God is trying to get your attention and teach you something. What does the Bible tell us? Hebrews 5:8 sheds some light. “Although he was a son, he learned obedience from what he suffered…” Jesus learned through suffering.

Hebrews 12:11 says “No discipline seems pleasant at the time , but painful. Later on, however, it produces a harvest of righteousness and peace for those who have been trained by it.”  At the vary least, we should use pain to drive us to God. At least ask the question, “What are you trying to teach me, Lord.” Then open your heart to receive from the true and living God.  Pastor Bob

Philippians 4:4 says “Rejoice in the Lord always. I will say it again: Rejoice!” The Apostle Paul writes this from prison. How is this possible for him to be in such a difficult situation and still rejoice? Paul has a life set on eternity. He realizes that this life is temporary. With his focus on eternity, difficulties in this life mean so much less. So let’s refocus our lives on the future in eternity. Rejoice!!!

We have been studying the 7 churches in Revelation.  From each church we learn something.  From the first church, Ephesus, we learn that we must look at our hearts and make sure we haven’t lost our first love.  The church of Smyrna is told to hang in there in the midst of tribulation.  It is only for a short time, Jesus says.  Also they are rich, if not in this life, in the one to come.  The church at Pergamum had allowed sin to remain in the church.  The church at Thyatira had compromised with the world.  It looked good on the outside but was not a healthy church.  We can’t compromise with the world.

Why do we study these churches?  Because it is the end times and Jesus is coming soon and these churches show us areas we need to change.  What a great day to serve the Lord!!!  See you soon.  Pastor Bob

In Matthew 11, Jesus looks at the generation of his day.  He said you couldn’t please them. John the Baptist lived in the wilderness, ate bugs, and dressed in animal skins.  People said he had a demon.  Jesus, on the other hand mixed with people, ate and drank with them and they called him a glutton and a drunk.  They even referred to him as a “friend of sinners.”   Was he a” friend of sinners?”  If you mean, did he care for them, then the answer is yes.  If you mean did he condone their sin, the answer is no.  What is the point?  The point is that we as Christians need to mix with sinners.  We need to care for them.  Not condone their sin, but love them in spite of their sin.  You can only do this with God’s help.  Okay, “friend of sinners”, let get busy reaching the world.  Pastor Bob

As I talked about in the last blog,  what do you do when people ask difficult questions about God, and you don’t know the answer?  The best thing you can do is share your personal experience. People may say they don’t believe in God or believe the Bible is the word of God but what can they say to your personal experience. When you share what God has done in your life, it gives the opportunity for the Holy Spirit to touch their heart.  Even if they show no visible need and seem to handle everything okay, be assured that there is something missing in their life.  God has designed us to fellowship with him.

As far as the bad stuff that happens in this world, yes, there is a sin nature in man.  There is also a devil who wants to do harm to you.  Whether someone believes that or not does not change the truth.  God is not intimidated by peoples’ lack of faith in him and is not wringing his hands in heaven wondering what he is going to do next.  The fact that we don’t understand God’s reason for allowing certain things to happen in this world only shows that He is God.  What kind of a God would he be if we could understand everything about Him.  Our God is big and powerful and beyond our understanding with our finite minds.  That may not satisfy everyone’s questions but it is a start.  God bless.  Pastor Bob

I just worked with a talented young man (Young man is anyone younger than me) that asked me some interesting questions.  “If God is such a good God, how can he let little children starve to death?  How can he allow all the evil in the world?  What about all the wars that are caused by religious fanatics,  the Crusades, the Spanish Inquisition, …even 9-11?  How do you know which God is real?”  We had a somewhat lengthy discussion about religion and God, whether he is real or not and what role he plays in life…anyone’s life.  I have to tell you, I don’t have all the answers, in fact I don’t have very many answers, but I do have a perspective on this discussion.

This discussion is common in what is called a “Post-modern world.”  The Modern world said, ” Man is basically good and he just needs to be educated properly and he will do the right thing.” “Education is the answer.”  “Science is the answer.”  Wrong!!!  Continuous wars and a society that is crumbling around us has left the belief that education and science can solve everything pretty much disproved.  Education is not the answer and man will not do the right thing if left to his own.  Look at the news from the last few weeks.  Everywhere you look, man proves he does not do the right thing.  This has caused some to believe, “Obviously there is no god or at least not one that cares in me.  I have to make things happen for myself.”  This has raised up a generation that doesn’t necessarily believe the Bible is the Word of God and that all the standard beliefs about God are true.  They come with a distrust for what used to be conventional wisdom or belief.

Don’t get me wrong, I am all for the over-achiever but to take the true and living God out of the equation is a mistake.  So what is the answer?  What do you say to those that have no hope in a true and living God?  First of all, I recount my own experience.  What can someone say against personal testimony?  The Bible says, that the Holy Spirit will give a direct witness in your spirit if you have become part of the family of God, if you have accepted Jesus as Lord and Savior. Every moment of every day, I have that direct witness.  No one can take that away from me.  It is such a comfort to know that I have made peace with Almighty God.  I have a hope that someone in the world that has not accepted Jesus into their hearts does not have.  They may have “no visible needs,” but they are lost without Christ.   That part of their heart can be covered up with “stuff”, possessions, and activities for awhile , but true “peace that passes all understanding” is never there.

“Yea, but what about all that bad stuff that is happening in the world.”  Well, it doesn’t help much to talk about the sin nature of man and the fall of man because usually the person you are talking to says they don’t believe the Bible.  To them, it is just a book written by man.  (Continued later)

P.S.  Think about your answer and I’ll continue this discussion when I get back in the US.  Pastor Bob

God bless America!!!  God bless those that serve others in the military, both active and reserves.  Thanks for giving of yourselves so that we could be free in this country to worship God and have so many freedoms that other countries don’t have.    Thanks you for your sacrifice.  Thanks you for your courage.  Thank you to the families that pay the sacrifice of giving of their loved ones, their children, brothers and sisters, and mothers and fathers.  Thank you for the giving of their time spent away from their family members and sometimes the ultimate sacrifice…the giving of their lives for us…yes, you and me.  Let’s honor their sacrifice and pray for our country.  Pray that America will use the freedoms that we have to worship God and live for him.  Have a great Memorial Day.  Pastor Bob

Last Sunday we started our prayer DVD series by Jim Cymbala, pastor of Brooklyn Tabernacle in NYC.  What a moving experience to listen to Jim Cymbala explain how prayer changed his church.  It is exciting to hear how God worked somewhere else in other people’s lives but I want to see God move right here.   To make that happen we have to pray and that is what we did Sunday night after the DVD.  God is moving.  I can’t wait till Sunday to see what God is going to do. Pray more.  Believe more.  God wants to reveal himself to you.

Just as I preached Sunday, God is looking for those of us that will stand in the gap for our families.  We have to refuse to give up.  Pray to God and believe that God hears.  God does want to answer our prayers.  Join us Sunday night at 6:00 PM, June 5th for the second session in our prayer series.  Hope to see you there.  Pastor Bob