Pastor Bob

God was showing off Sunday.  He increased our numbers and answered my prayers.  You see,  I do pray for you.  If you are on my list in our database then I pray for you.  I pray for you that God will help you with your struggles.  Why?  Because I am one of those Pastor-Teachers that I preached about on Sunday.  I can’t help it.  It is what God wants and expects me to do.  And I expect him to answer my prayers and he did.  There were many miracles on Sunday and for that I am so thankful.

But we have to move forward.  God wants to use you…for the work of the ministry.  He wants to use you…to have your prayers answered and someone’s life changed.  We’re a team.  It takes all of us.  All of us in unity.  A team.  That means if you are missing… then we are not complete.  It is like not having a center fielder in a baseball game.  Good luck winning that.   God gave gifts to you and expects you to use them.  I look forward to seeing what God is going to do in and with each and everyone of you.  See you Sunday.  Love and praying for you.  Pastor Bob

P.S.  I can’t wait to see what God is going to do Sunday.  Be there early to get a seat.

James 4:1-10 is a powerful passage of scripture.  Among other things it tells us that if we submit to God and resist the devil, he will flee from us.  The problem is that many times we don’t resist.  We don’t allow our spirit person to stand up inside of us and fight.  Part of the reason that we don’t resist is that we don’t realize the devastation that sin causes.

Isaiah 6 tells us of the prophet Isaiah’s vision as he sees the Lord in his holy temple.  Isaiah saw the holiness of God and was immediately aware of his own lack of holiness.  “Woe to me! I am ruined,” he says.

That’s what James was saying when he says in James 4:6, “Grieve, mourn, and wail.”  If we see the seriousness of sin with its end result, we will make more of an effort to resist.  Allow the Spirit of God to help you grow this week by overcoming sin, the small sins in your life.  See you next week. Pastor Bob

[Hebrews 12:1-3]

It has already been a good year.  The Phelps family has arrived.  Pastor Greg and Pam with their precious children will be such a blessing to our church.  Greg started working with the worship team on Wednesday.  Soon he will begin on the Easter production.  I can’t wait.

Dana started the Children’s Choir on Wednesday night as well.  We were so glad to see the new faces among the children and youth.

But the most important thing is about us running the race for God.  What is holding you back?  What is keeping you from having the time to put God first place in your life.  Is it TV, some activity, or is some sin holding you back.  Only you and God know.  Ask God to help you overcome and lay aside the things that are slowing you down.  See you soon.

[Isaiah 58:1-9]

What a powerful passage of scripture.  God’s chosen fast involves breaking the yoke, overcoming sin, and reaching out to others.  Charles Finney didn’t want people to pray for him because he didn’t think their prayers worked.  Ouch.  Like the Wendy’s commercial from a few years ago, we wonder “Where’s the beef” or power in our prayers.  Prayer and fasting helps you get through to God and have more power in your prayers. Try it.  You’ll see.

God wants to answer your prayers.  James 5:17 tells us that the prophet Elijah is just like us.  And he got his prayers answered.  Let’s draw closer to the Lord this week and see our prayers answered.

Charles Finney was born in 1792.  Though he wasn’t raised in a Christian home, he became converted in his early 20’s.  Before he was converted, Finney observed that the Christians around him did not get their prayers answered.  This bothered him.  He made it a life study to understand how prayer worked.  Eventually he began preaching the gospel with amazing results.  Whole towns were converted.  He gave credit for his results to his time spent in prayer and the work of the Holy Spirit.
We began our study of prayer this week looking at the Lord’s prayer.  Jesus gave us a model to help guide us.  If we are to be successful in our Christian walk we must learn to pray more effectively.  Join us.  See you Sunday.