The God of All Comfort! November 20, 2011

“O God, Thou art my God; early will I seek Thee: my soul thirsteth for Thee…, my flesh longeth for thee in a dry and thirsty land … To see Thy power and Thy glory, so as I have seen Thee in the Sanctuary. Because Thy lovingkindness is better than life, my lips shall praise Thee.”  ─ Psalm 63:1-3

In these trying times it is good to know that we have a God of all Comfort.  He has prepared comfort for His people.  He has sent His Son Jesus to prepare an Eternal Home for us when we commit ourselves to Him.  And the Holy Spirit has come to reinforce God’s Comfort to us.  It is in the Sanctuary of God where we sense His presence.  His Sanctuary may be the House of God, it may be in a quiet spot somewhere a lone that we meet with Him.  Most importantly we must have a daily time to communicate with our Lord and Saviour.  We must establish these moments and dedicate ourselves to talking with Him.  In His presence the things of this world are shut out and we can focus on the power of His Word, and the comfort that is granted as we place our difficulties in His hands.  David the Psalmist writes about these times when his hear longs for the Sanctuary of God, not just to go into the temple, but to feel God’s presence and comfort in his trials.  We are buffeted on every side, but we are not alone for the God of all Comfort is our portion.  Paul who has suffered much for the Kingdom of God writes these powerful Words to the Church at Corinth:  “Blessed be God, even the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of Mercies, and the God of all Comfort;”  − 2 Cor. 1:3.  Let us be “Comforted” by the Word of God that reminds us: “He will turn our mourning into Joy” – “As one whom his mother comforteth, so will I comfort you!”   Loving you & praying for you, Pastor

God’s Thoughts! November 13, 2011

“How precious also are Thy thoughts unto me, O God! How great is the sum of them! If I should count them, they are more in number than the sand: when I awake, I am still with Thee.” Psalms 139:17-18
“Thoughts” are unique!  They are private and personal, you can think them over and over, and yet no one knows what you are thinking unless you tell them. Interesting the “Thought Life” that God has included in His plan for humanity. Yet, there is someone who knows your thoughts! Of course you know that God is privy to what you think.  Perhaps though, we forget this in our haste, or anger, etc.  There is an Inspired Proverb which reminds us, ‘For as a man thinketh in his heart, so is he:’ Proverbs 23:7 This Scripture would then remind us; if our thoughts are evil, they are heard by the Lord. If our thoughts are loving and charitable, they are also heard by the Lord!  It may be that we don’t have a huge amount of time to just sit and meditate upon the Goodness of the Lord, but we can have a “Thought Life” that embraces Him daily.  His benefits are new every morning, therefore we know we are on His mind and His heart is open to us.  He is present with us throughout our day, to know our heart and our mind, and this includes our “Thoughts!” God keeps records; He has “Books!”  Revelation 20 reminds us that He sits upon the Great White Throne of judgment and Scripture reveals that “the books” were opened: along with the Book of Life. When the thoughts of God sitting in judgment, opening His Books comes into our thinking, it is a solemn moment. To the saint, the one who loves the Lord with all their heart, we hear these words from the Psalmist: “How precious also are Thy thoughts unto me, O God! How great is the sum of them!”  We have a sure Word from God that He thinks about us on a daily basis … What are our “thoughts” toward Him?  While the world dams His name, what will be the “thoughts” of His Redeemed people?  O let the Believers of Jesus Christ turn their thoughts toward heaven and let His presence be manifested in us until our “Thought Life” magnifies our Lord & Saviour daily! Thinking of you in His Love, Pastor

Sweet Savour, November 6, 2011

“Noah builded an Altar unto the Lord; and offered burnt offerings on the Altar. And the Lord smelled a Sweet Savour;…” Genesis 8:20-21
The Word of God tells us: God made a Covenant with mankind early in His Written Word. Once disobedience entered into the earth, wickedness came up quite quickly before the Lord.  He talks about it in the first Chapters of Genesis, in the beginning of time .… Genesis 6:5 “God saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every imagination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually.” There was however, a just man who found favor, that is, Grace in the eyes of the Lord because He walked with God.  If all we talk about today was this Passage of Scripture we would be left with a lot to think about. A just man, perfect in his generation, and one who walked with God! Thus when the wickedness came up before God, He made a Covenant with Noah and we continue to see the sign of that Covenant to this very day. God made this Covenant because He loved mankind. O how the Lord desires a relationship with His people today. God desires our love so much that He was willing to offer a Sacrifice whereby humanity could obtain forgiveness and be reconciled back to Him.  We know that the offering God gave was His Only Begotten Son!  What brings a “Sweet Savour” to the nostrils God?  What is a “Sweet Savour?”  It is an offering, a Sacrificial Offering that brings such a blessing to our Lord.  All through the Old Testament there were offerings: Passover Offering, burnt Offerings, Meat Offering, Peace, Sin, trespass, incense, heave, drink, wave, Atonement, etc. On and on go the offerings of God’s people in the Old Testament, but none satisfied the heart of God.  He was after the desires of His people, He was after their soul. The Sacrificial Offerings were offered by Fire and so it is today, let us embrace the “refiner’s fire” that we might offer unto our God a Sweet Smelling Savour!   Loving you, Pastor

Beyond The 12! October 23, 2011

"Ye shall receive power, after that the Holy Ghost is come upon you: and ye shall be witnesses unto Me both in Jerusalem, and in all Judaea, and in Samaria, and unto the uttermost part of the earth." Acts 1:8

In today's message we are going to explore the Word of God that reveals to us the part of the foundation of our heritage that is the Apostles! These messages have been given under the directions of the Holy Spirit to teach us the strength of our Christian Foundation. We need to know this as “every wind of doctrine” comes forth to deceive the Body of Christ [Ephesians 4:14]. We can endure the trials and temptations, the persecutions and stresses of our day because we are founded upon the Prophets and the Apostles – permanently cemented into the Corner Stone, which is our Saviour the Lord Jesus Christ. We know this, but as wickedness seems to be rampant in our society and there are multitudes of churches that line our streets, we need to be secure in the Truth! Jesus said, “I am the Way, the Truth, and the Life!” There will be false doctrines that come in His name, but of such we are to turn away. Therefore, we must know the Truth – we must be grounded in His Foundation. [Mark 13:22-23]. The Apostles were primarily Jews. Jesus gave them the Great Commission to “go into all the world!” How then would the Gospel of Jesus Christ reach into the Gentile world? How would the Gospel go beyond the Jewish world? God had a plan. His Son’s Sacrificial Gift would go “beyond the 12” He had brought to the Last Supper. The Apostle Peter would receive a vision upon the housetop that would change his life forever. The Spirit of God would send him to a Gentile named Cornelius and prepare him for the Apostle Paul who would come to bring the Gospel message to the Gentiles. The Commission to “go into all the world” would go “beyond the 12” and reach even into our day. For the Spirit of the Lord is calling His saints everywhere to rise up and be a witness of the Gospel of Jesus Christ. May we have an ear to hear the Spirit of the Lord as He calls those “beyond the 12!” Together let us listen for His Still Small Voice within and answer, “Here am I Lord, use me!”  Loving you, Pastor

The Apostles Gathered Themselves Unto Jesus! October 16, 2011

The Apostles gathered themselves together unto Jesus, and told Him all things, both what they had done, and what they had taught.”  – Mark 6:30           

“Until the day in which Jesus was taken up, after that He through the Holy Ghost had given commandments unto the Apostles whom He had chosen: To whom also He shewed Himself alive after His Passion by many infallible proofs, being seen of them forty days, and speaking of the things pertaining to the Kingdom of God:” – Acts 1:2-3

Remembering Ephesians 2:20 where the Spirit of the Lord informs us “we are built upon the foundation of the Apostles and Prophets, Jesus Christ our Chief Corner Stone ....”  Today we embrace the portion of the foundation which are the Apostles.  Interesting to note that Jesus chose only 12 to start the Fire of His Fathers Gospel!  Sometimes we think we need hundreds in our Church or 35 for our Bible Study, But the Precious Corner Stone of our life began His work with twelve. Twelve that walked with Him, saw His miracles, heard His teachings and yet, ran and hid when the “Promise of the Father” was about to be set in motion. I wonder sometimes do we consider giving up when the crowd doesn’t seem big enough nor the attendance at a Church service seems so small?  The world was turned upside down by the twelve that Jesus choose. We learn a lot of lessons as we see Jesus teaching them, preparing them, comforting them, forgiving them, and ultimately using them for the Father’s Glory!  This is our Christian Heritage, having a foundation of Prophets and Apostles.  The Prophets suffered much to proclaim God’s Message, they foretold the “Coming Promise, the Messiah,” and now the Apostles “reveal the Promise,” the Saviour has come!  Jesus revealed Himself to the Apostles and they gathered themselves unto Him.  And in the final days of His presence with them, He imparted the Comforter. With the Comforter’s coming, we are never alone, we only need to come to “gather ourselves unto Jesus” and  His Holy Spirit sustains us! Together we are building His Temple within — loving you, Pastor