Come Unto Me!

August 21, 2011
“Incline your ear, and come unto me: hear, and your soul shall live; and I will make an everlasting covenant with you, even the sure mercies of David.”  −Isaiah 55:3

The call from the heart of God has always been “Come!”  Come unto me, come and hear!  Come ye after Me and I will make you fishers of men. Come apart into a desert place and rest. All that labour come unto me … We hear the admonition of Jesus half brother James as he calls for the saints to “draw nigh to God.”  There is a cry in the heart of the Lord that His saints might “come” into His presence.  As we enter the message today, it is with the solemn thought that God is calling unto His people in this moment and time! Calling us to draw near and to “Incline our ears to hear” His call. For when we “hear” our soul shall live and the Everlasting Covenant is in full force accompanied by the “sure mercies of David.”  Even in the lowest moments of David’s life, he drew near to God, and God received him with mercy and promise.  John the Revelator wrote under the inspiration of the Holy Ghost and over and over there was warning: “He that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith unto the Churches!” Hear what the Spirit of the Lord is saying, it is the still small voice of the Lord that drawing souls unto Himself.  All that will hear, All that will come, will experience the goodness of God, the mercy of His grace.  On several occasions as Jesus spoke in parables, He talked about seed time and harvest in these parables. He said “The Seed is the Word of God.” As He described the Seed that fell among thorns and the Seed that fell upon good ground, the scripture concludes with “When He had said these things, He cried, He that hath ears to hear, let him hear.  So has we hear what the Word is saying may we have ears to hear, and respond to “Come” into His presence with thanksgiving, joyful, and with gladness and singing, for “times of refreshing come from the presence of the Lord!  Come unto Jesus for rest, come apart into the desert place, and He will minister unto you, He will feed you and give you sweet rest.  Let us hear what the Spirit is saying to the Church …
Let us come into His Rest, loving you, Pastor

Trusting in His Holy Word!

August 14, 2011 “Trusting in His Holy Word!”

I hear the stains of that wonderful song; “I’ve come this far by faith, trusting in His Holy Word … He’s never failed me yet …”  It is a timeless song, an older song, but one that never leaves the heart and soul! Trusting in the Lord is one of the most important issues of life.  We are often drawn to the “arm of flesh” rather then the Word of God.  It is easier to trust in man or the things that we see, but the writer of the Psalms warns us: “It is better to trust in the Lord than to put confidence in man.”  The Wisdom Literature of God’s Holy Word teaches us to: “Trust in the Lord with all thine heart; and lean not unto thine own understanding. In all thy ways knowledge Him, and He shall direct thy paths.” − Proverbs 3:5-6.  If we are a born-again Christian we know this, it is a powerful and well known passage of scripture.  But knowing it and practicing it is yet another thought.  Usually the first thing we do in a crisis is to try to figure out how to fix it, why did this happen, whose fault it is, etc, And sometimes God gets blamed.  We are being called upon to “Trust” the Lord in the circumstances of our life. It is necessary to practice our ability to “Trust the Lord!”  Over and over in the Psalms, we hear the Word of God plead with us to place our “Trust” in God.  Paul writes to the Church and talks of those who first trusted in Christ [He is the Word!]  It happened when they heard the Word of Truth, believed, and were sealed with the Holy Spirit of Promise!  There are “Blessings” that come with “Trusting in the Lord!”  “ How excellent is thy lovingkindness, O God! therefore the children of men put their Trust under the shadow of Thy wings.”  ─ “What time I am afraid, I will Trust in Thee. In God I will praise His Word, in God I have put my Trust;”  ─ “But it is good for me to draw near to God: I have put my Trust in the Lord God …” ─ “O taste and see that the Lord is good: blessed is the man that Trusteth in Him.”  ─ “Thou wilt keep him in perfect Peace, whose mind is stayed on Thee: because he Trusteth in Thee. Trust ye in the Lord for ever: for in the LORD JEHOVAH is everlasting strength:” This is our Strength, the power of God’s Word encouraging us in our life’s journey!
Loving you and Trusting in His Holy Word!  Pastor

Continual Praise

August 7, 2011

“I will bless the Lord at all times: His Praise shall continually be in my mouth.” C  Psalm 34:1
An explanation of “Continual” is: “Continual implies enduring existence often through constant renewal – reoccurring thoughts without fear …”  Let’s meditate on this as we think about “Continual Praise!”  The Holy Spirit prompted David of the Old Testament to sing out Psalms that speak of Continual Praise, Truth and the Goodness of God. It is quite thought-provoking to think about God’s Continual Truth, and His awesome Continual goodness to us in the land of the living.  Psalm 27 is a song of great distress, a time of discouragement that David was going through, he recalls;  “I had fainted, unless I had believed to see the Goodness of the Lord in the land of the living. Wait on the Lord: be of good courage, and He shall strengthen thine heart: wait, I say, on the Lord.”  We have all had times of waiting, and here, we are encouraged to wait, to remember the Goodness of the Lord.  It would be a great period of waiting if we could do it with “Continual Praise” in the midst of our waiting. “Enduring through constant renewal!” Renewing ourselves in our Faith, our commitment to Christ, Continually giving thanks for His Mercy endures forever.  Our God is a “Continual” God.  He never gives up on us! He is a Faithful God.  He sent His Son to Redeem us, and He blessed us with His Precious Holy Ghost.  The Psalmist wrote in the 52^nd Psalm, “… the Goodness of God endureth Continually!”  We are admonished in Psalm 70; “Let all those that seek thee rejoice and be glad in Thee: and let such as love Thy Salvation say continually, Let God be magnified!”  We serve a God that said:  “Neverthelese I Am Continually with Thee:”  O let the Church enter into Continual Praise and Worship for in Christ we have the Peace that passes all understanding!   Loving you, Pastor

“I will Hope Continually, and will Praise Thee more and more …!” Psalm 71