Christmas 2012: Follow That Star

Good Morning World!
This will be the last segment of our Christmas series, and hopefully it will the most thought provoking of all.

We have been studying about many things so that we can prepare our hearts and minds for a proper spiritual celebration of the Birth of the Messiah - Jesus Christ.  We have talked about the value and necessity of “Trust & Obey”, and “Faith, Love & Giving” now we are going to talk about the importance of the Birth and our reaction to it.


Let us look specifically at the wisemen again.  I don’t know if they were working in their labs altogether or if they lived in different villages or countries, but one thing for sure brought them together - a new star.  This new star brought an emotional and physical response. They must follow that star!  No matter what perils lay ahead.  No matter the consequence or cost they were going to follow that star to the ends of the earth!

In Matthew 2:10  The Bible tells us that when they say the star they were exceedingly joyful!
10 When they saw the star, they rejoiced with exceeding great joy.

We must try to imagine in our small way the beauty and immensity of this desire.  They have just travelled approximately two years of their lives chasing something that seems to be always just over the next hill, and now they are on their last legs and the end is really in sight!  They’ve heard prophecy of this new King’s birth and His birth place!  They know that they are on the right track - finally their faith and endurance is paying off!  They find the star again and continue their journey!

A. How does this story and response apply to us today.

It can attract attention in many areas of our lives, however, I am just going to draw your attention to one area with a couple thoughts.

Luke 19
9 And Jesus said unto him, This day is salvation come to this house, forsomuch as he also is a son of Abraham.   10  For the Son of man is come to seek and to save that which was lost.

Romans 1
16 For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ: for it is the power of God unto salvation to every one that believeth; to the Jew first, and also to the Greek.  17 For therein is the righteousness of God revealed from faith to faith: as it is written, The just shall live by faith.

I am going to talk about the purpose of Jesus Chirst; the reason for His birth.  John the writer of the Gospel according to John tells us the He is the light and the darkness cannot overcome it.  So let us look at ourselves as lost flies.  We are nothing and our lives are many times meaningless, but all of a sudden we see a light glimmer in the distance, and like the wisemen we must follow that star of light!  So we turn our eyes into the light and we fly without ever knowing what will befall us, but we are following the light.

Many times like a fly we end up at the end of someone elses prank, or a trap which tries to do away with us, but there is something else to this light; it is different somehow.  We follow it inspite of the emotions that are crying us down.

B.  Let me pause here for a thought provoking siesta.

Recently I have had the opportunity to have conversation with a few people who have chosen to set their faith aside and no longer believe.  Life has taken its toll on these people, and because of it they have made this very important choice.  Not to diminish their life story or experience, but it is like they fly who is looking for the sunlight, but keeps getting fooled by the light of the fly zapper.  They keep getting bounced from one false light to another, and when life brings you down and you have no one to turn to for guidance in truth and righteousness it can very easily turn you aside and bring you to the point of laying aside a once precious thing.  We must be careful that we don’t trap ourselves in something that is shallow and will not really bring us any spiritual relief when we need it most.  There are so many false lights out their and at this time of year it can be so easy to get trapped by them, please don’t follow any light.  However, I encourage you to follow The Light - Jesus Christ.

Following men will lead you to disaster and devastation of mind, soul and spirit, but when we follow Jesus we find rest and peace in the midst of the storm.

------------------------
C. Back to our parable of light

When we hear the Gospel in Truth for the first time the light of it wells up in us and can overwhelm us, but I encourage you, as it takes a moment to adjust to the light first thing in the morning when you open your eyes so, it can take a moment to adjust to the saving light of Jesus Christ the first time you meet Him.

As the Bible indicates Jesus did come to seek and save that which was lost.  Not just people, but relationships, and not just any relationship, but a relationship with you personally!  Each one of us must find the light of the Star of Bethlehem to lead us to truth and a relationship with our Saviour Jesus Christ.

This Christmas I encourage you to look beyond the wrapping paper and food, and view the nativity in a new light.  Find a quiet place in your life and contemplate the creator and saviour, who came to find you!  The lighthouse light is bright, and the rocks of life are sharp, which one will you find yourself in.  Will your follow the life saving light, or will you ignore it because of past bad experiences and end up in the rocks of life? Will you find new life this Christmas, or will you participate in reminiscing about the old life, which leads to death and destruction?

The choice this Christmas is up to you.  Follow the light of the Gospel of Jesus Christ to salvation and freedom, or disregard it as another fraud and end up broken on the rocky shore of life....

A Formula for Success? Daily Bible Reading -- Psalm 50

Good Morning World!  How is it in your corner of this round globe we call home?  Are you praying for those who have been ravaged in the earthquake? What are you doing to make your world better?  Just a thought.
(My mouse or browser isn't working right so no pictures to day - sorry!)
Psalm 50

"Whoso offers praise glorifies Me: and to him that orders his conversation aright will I show the salvation of God!"

May I present to you a key to success! This Psalm of Asaph resonates the two universal poles of spirituality.  On one hand we have the true follower of God; one to whom God is showing a better way to worship.  On the other hand we have those who live their lives in denial of God, and do nothing to please Him.  If you want to through stones - fine, yet there is really no in between.  We may try to look at life through rose colored glasses, but the fact still remains there is right and there is wrong.

One thing that struck me as interestingly wonderful in this chapter, was the fact that the writer is prophecying about the time of Jesus Christ and His relationship with humanity through the institution of the Church.  God will no longer accept the bloody sacrifices that was required, rather He is looking for a heart of worship.  Jesus is looking for true worshipers who are willing to follow and He will deliver you from you troubles!

On the other hand we have God severely judging those who have refused to follow Him, and have gone their own way.  It is interesting that prophet writes these words:

"These things you have done, and I kept in silence; you thought that I was altogether such an one as yourself: but I will reprove you, and set them in order before thine eyes."

This verse describes how many people feel about God.  Either He doesn't exist because He isn't punishing me or He doesn't care what I do.  Well I'm afraid one day your thine bubble will be burst!  One day God will reprove all sin and those who commit sin.  It may be today for you or it may be down the road, but rest assured one day all those who don't follow Jesus will be reproved!

What is the hurry you say?  Time isn't your friend, and the only reason you have time is because Jesus is giving you time to make the right decision.  Jesus is giving you opportunities to repent and turn from your current path of destruction toward the path of Life!  We have laid before you a choice.  We have given you a formula for true success.  Give it to Jesus and follow Him or go it alone, and fall into a terrible trap called sin!  The choice is yours; life or death.

Yours for true Success,
Pastor Fred

Daily Bible Reading & Devotion -- Psalm 23 & 24

Good Morning World! Good Morning Brothers and Sisters in the Lord Jesus Christ!

Yesterday was our first real snow day! Over 30 cm or 12 inches of snow fell in the night! We've had a few dustings of snow this fall, however, it has been relatively mild, and then the barometer flipped upside down and the cold wind blew down from the north!

Needless to say my morning yesterday was a little cramped for time, so I am going to include yesterdays reading with this mornings. God Bless.

December 2 & 3 2009

Psalm 23

As this is commonly called the Shepherd Psalm one can't help but feel extra secure after reading this chapter. Just knowing that Jesus is our shepherd watching out for us, and directing our path is a great comfort! Sometimes I wonder why I'm travelling the road that I'm on, but when I look back and see the blessing I've gained and the curses I've missed all I can do is praise Him!

Trust in Jesus and rest in His unchanging, unfailing arms!

Psalm 24

We've all heard songs taken from this chapter, and what a great worship song this Psalm makes! How well it goes with Psalm 23 too! Who better to be our shepherd than the one who owns the whole earth? Here we have another illustration of God's greatness and expectations of humanity. The question is raised as to how it will be possible to get into the presence of the Almighty, not just where we are, but rather where He is. The answer is very instructive: Those who have clean hands (don't sin outwardly), a clean heart (don't sin inwardly), no arrogance or pride, nor someone who has deceived another. A person with this resume will be a direct recipient of God's favor and blessings!

My next and final point is to ask another question. Who is able to attain to this tall order? The answer is very simple - NO ONE! That is why again I say - Look to Jesus the author and finisher of your faith! Without Him we are nothing, and can do nothing good. However, with and in Christ we can do all things!

I can be sinless inside and out through the salvation that Jesus Christ offers! I can live above the curse of sin through the infilling of the Holy Spirit of Jesus Christ living within me! I can overcome all sin that would come against me through the Name Of Jesus Christ that was put on me in Baptism when my sins were remitted!

If you would like to find this same peace and joy please call on Jesus today! If you need some spiritual guidance please email or call!

Have a great day!

Pastor Fred

Daily Bible Reading & Devotion -- Psalm 22

Good Morning World! God is Great and Greatly to be Praised!

December 1, 2009

Psalm 22

What a fitting Psalm to read on the first day of advent! I realize it doesn't have anything to do with the birth of the Saviour but it does have everything to do with the reason he came, and the purpose that he was born - His death and resurrection.

I wonder how Jehovah put this song in David's heart and soul,

because as a song writer myself I know that a truly affective song comes from experience. Maybe, God put the same feelings upon David that Christ would have over 2,000 years later. Using this thought process leads me to another conclusion. When we go through a dark time in our life is God allowing us to feel what Jesus felt, so we can better understand the victory that He fought for on Calvary? If you'll notice most of the chapter is the despair of a broken soul. Yet, in the end there is nothing but rejoicing at the salvation of the Lord! There is an anthem that all people will praise God for what Christ Jesus went through!

The next time you find yourself in a dark place pick of the scriptures, read Psalm 22 and rejoice because God has given you an opportunity to feel a little piece of what Jesus went through for your sins!

Yours for victory over sin!

Pastor Fred

Our Senses are dead!

Last night in our community one of the Banks had their alarm go off. This in itself may not seem to extraordinary, exept for the fact that it was still going the next moring when I wrote this post! The alarm has been going for about 12 hours straight so far, and probably will continue for another 3 hours when the Bank opens and the staff return! There are many questions as to why the bank manager and alarm company would allow this to happen, but that has nothing to do with this post!

Because the alarm has been going so long it has become a part of the background noise from the community, and you notice it, but don't really pay attention to it. The noise is trying to alert someone that something bad has happened or was attempted, but no one seems to care anymore, because it has been going for so long!

You know that is exact what seems to have happened with the Word of God, the Gospel, and the voice of Jesus!? We have heard the wonderful sound going out around the world for so long that the message of a saviour doesn't seem to affect us anymore! Jesus has knocked on the door of our heart so long that we don't even seem to notice that constant thud on the door anymore.

The end is coming upon us fast, and Jesus will be returning in physical form sooner than later, so stop and listen to the alarms around you trying to warn you of impending doom! Jesus loves you and doesn't want you to perish in the fire that will destroy this earth.

Stop and take a breath and realize that your life just isn't going anywhere! Call on the name of Jesus! Repent of your sins and turn from your wicked ways! Find someone to baptize you "In the Name of Jesus Christ for the REMISSION of your sins", and Jesus will come into your life and fill you with the Holy Spirit of promise, which is the ernest of our inheritance!

Don't let the warnings of the preachers, the knocking of Jesus and the alarms of the signs of the time become background noise in your life! Wake up! Take action for the sake of your Soul!

Make sure you are ready to meet your maker!

Yours for awakened senses!

Pastor Fred

Jesus is Looking for Just ONE!

The other day I was listening to the radio (www.klove.com), and one of the short programs came on. I don't remember who the guy was or what the program was, but I do remember what he said. As a matter of fact I incorporated it into our Thursday night Bible Study lesson.

Ezekiel 22:30
30And I sought for a man among them, that should make up the hedge, and stand in the gap before me for the land, that I should not destroy it: but I found none.

God doesn't want to pour out His wrath upon us, and is search, yea looking for ONE to stand in the gap, and intercede on behave on a nation, the continent, the world!

Did you know or realize that every major revival in the Bible and in this world since the early church has started with ONE person getting ahold of God, and spreading the message to another ONE, and another ONE!

If we would stop focusing on reaching EVERYONE, and just get out and reach ONE we can and will bring Jesus to the Whole World in a matter of years!

Back to our radio program. The announcer was talking about our current rate of evangelizing the world, and that it would take an impossible amount of years to reach the world. However, he went on to describe a method that can reach the entire world in just a matter of years!
(This can also be proven through math give or take a couple years)

If ONE person would go out and reach another ONE person. Then, he/she would disciple that one person for one year, so that they knew Jesus, His Word and had a relationship with Him. After that year the two would go out and reach another ONE person each; that would be four people. Those two new ones would be discipled for ONE year. Next those four would go out and reach out to another ONE person each; that would be eight! ....and this process of reaching the lost and discipleship would continue every year ONE person to effectively start the ball rolling that would reach the entire population of planet earth in approximately ................ (guess)...........
..................................
................................
32 years......!!!!!!!!

Isn't that amazing! So get off your rear end, and get out and just find ONE! If every true Christian and child of God would do this, we could effectively evangelize the world in a matter of years!

I did the math for my community, and in 5 years I could help 100 people find Jesus, learn to know Him and love Him. In 10 years we could reach 3,200 people which would be everyone in my community. Within another 3 years we could reach the rest of the Green Bay Area! And to top it off within 18 years from now we could reach over 819,000 souls. That is more people than who live within Newfoundland and Labrador! All because ONE person stood in the gap and reached out to another ONE!

Be THE ONE!

Yours for reaching the world,
Pastor Fred

PS> It sure feels great to be back in the saddle! It's been a crazy summer so far, but God has been real good. I'll tell you about it sometime!

Your Life is Like a cloud of steam....

We find in James these words:

Jam 4:13-15 BBE How foolish it is to say, Today or tomorrow we will go into this town, and be there for a year and do business there and get wealth: (14) When you are not certain what will take place tomorrow. What is your life? It is a mist, which is seen for a little time and then is gone. (15) But the right thing to say would be, If it is the Lord's pleasure and if we are still living, we will do this and that.

Your life is like a cloud of steam, it rises up for a moment then is gone. You saw the form of something for a moment but it vanished, before you could determine what it was. Mist, Steam, Clouds, Smoke all figments of something great, but that is now gone!

What is your life? What are you doing with your life in the short time you have left? Time is all you have, and it is very fleeting and short! What are your ambitions, goals, desires? Are they worthy of the time needed to do them?

Don't waste the time you have, rather aim at what is really important in life, and seize the day! Don't let it be said of you when you are dead and gone, "They were a nice person, but I don't remember anything that they did...."

Rather let it be said of you, "They were a child of God," or "That was a true Christian, who showed the love of God everywhere," or "Their life was full of God's Love." What will be the epitaph on your tomb?

Paul wrote these words:

2Co 6:1-2 BBE We then, working together with God, make our request to you not to take the grace of God to no purpose. (2) For he says, I have given ear to you at a good time, and I have been your helper in a day of salvation: see, now is the good time; now is the day of salvation:

You don't have to wait for God, God is waiting for you. Today is always a good day to turn your life around and get in with the "God Gang"! Don't waste your life anymore let Jesus show you a better way!

Yours for Time well spent,
Pastor Fred

The Crossroad of Change

HAPPY NEW YEAR's EVE!

The end of the year. What a promising, yet sobering thought. As this last day of the year is on a Sunday I've taken the opportunity to force myself to objectively scan this past year. I was aiming to see what I'd done and had not done. Then in my praying and retrospect I came across a sermon I preached at the beginning of 2006. I decided the best way to find out what I was supposed to do last year is read my goals, and so I read.

I was uplifted and devastated all at the same time! I had forgotten what God had inspired me to preach and do last year! After reading the message in its entirety I realized that I had let people, and negative spiritual influences keep me from attaining my God given goals. And as I look at where I am today I see that instead of going forward it would seem I've gone back a ways.

Nevertheless, I am making this last day of 2006 a day of crossroads. A day in which I remember the past in order to ensure the future. I will not make the same mistakes twice! In reading my goal setting sermon I found at least one major area in which I didn't maintain myself.

One of the many things I set out to do was to maintain a personal intimate relationship with Jesus in order to foster personal evangelism. Which means in short that I wanted to get close to Jesus so I could lead more people to His side for their own personal salvation.

Because I took the time and made myself look back I identified areas that I need to change and work on. I believe that this is very important for all of us. It takes strength, character, courage and a willingness to face our own personal skeletons and demons.

It is impossible to make positive changes without first looking back and finding the problems and their roots. We must look backward and inward. We must be willing to face the music. We must not fear what we will find.

We all have things in our live that must change! Please make the next 24 hours worth while, and make those personal changes that will take you closer to Jesus. Don't let a habit, character flaw, a grudge, a hurt, jealousy, bitterness, hate, lifestyle keep you away from Jesus, and put you in Hell! Rather join me at the Crossroad of Change, and together we will change our lives so that Jesus can be apart of our lives.

Change is never easy, but it is always essential, important and impossible to escape. The problem with change is that you can do it willingly or eventually you will be forced to change. Changing willingly ensures that you can change for the good, and maintain control. But, when you are forced to change it is rarely for your good or benefit. Please make the right change today! Today is the day of salvation!

Yours for Positive Change in Jesus,
Pastor Fred

The Hound of Heaven

• God never lets you go without a fight!
• Jesus is the hound of heaven who will fight all hell for you!

(sorry about the length of the poem. However, as it is one of the greatest poems ever written and a classic, I chose to keep it in its entirety.)

The Hound of Heaven

I FLED Him down the nights and down the days

I fled Him down the arches of the years

I fled Him down the labyrinthine ways

Of my own mind, and in the midst of tears

I hid from him, and under running laughter.

Up vistaed hopes I sped;

And shot precipitated

Adown titanic glooms of chasme d hears

From those strong feet that followed, followed after

But with unhurrying chase

And unperturbèd pace,

Deliberate speed, majestic instancy,

They beat, and a Voice beat,

More instant than the feet:

"All things betray thee who betrayest me."

I pleaded, outlaw-wise,

By many a hearted casement, curtained red,

Trellised with inter-twining charities,

(For though I knew His love who followèd,

Yet was I sore adread,

Lest having Him, I should have nought beside);

But if one little casement parted wide,

The gust of his approach would clash it to.

Fear wist not to evade as Love wist to pursue.

Across the margent of the world I fled,

And troubled the gold gateways of the stars,

Smiting for shelter on their clangèd bars,

Fretted to dulcet jars

And silvern chatter the pale ports o' the moon.

I said to Dawn: be sudden, to Eve: be soon,

With thy young skyey blossoms heap me over

From this tremendous Lover!

Float thy vague veil about me lest He see!

I tempted all His servitors but to find

My own betrayal in their constancy,

In faith to Him their fickleness to me,

Their traitorous trueness and their loyal deceit.

To all swift things for swiftness did I sue,

Clung to the whistling mane of every wind,

But whether they swept, smoothly fleet,

The long savannahs of the blue,

Or whether, Thunder-driven,

They clanged His chariot thwart a heaven,

Plashy with flying lightnings round the spurn o' their feet --

Fear wist not to evade as Love wist to pursue.

Still with unhurrying chase

And unperturbe d pace

Deliberate speed, majestic instancy,


Came on the following Feet,

And a Voice above their beat --

"Naught shelters thee, who wilt not shelter Me."

I sought no more that after which I strayed

In face of Man or Maid.

But still within the little childrens' eyes

Seems something, something that replies,

They at least are for me, surely for me!

I turned me to them very wistfully;

But just as their young eyes grew sudden fair

With dawning answers there,

Their angel plucked them from me by the hair.

"Come then, ye other children, Nature's -- share

With me" (said I) "your delicate fellowship;

Let me greet you lip to lip,

Let me twine with you caresses,

Wantoning,

With our Lady Mother's vagrant tresses,

Banqueting

With her in her wind-walled palace,

Underneath her azured dais,

Quaffing, as your taintless way is,

From a chalice,

Lucent weeping out of the dayspring."

So it was done.

I in their delicate fellowship was one.

Drew the bolt of Nature's secrecies,


I knew all the swift importings

On the wilful face of skies,

I knew how the clouds arise,

Spumèd of the wild sea-snortings.

All that's born or dies,

Rose and drooped with, made them shapers

Of mine own moods, or wailful or divine.

With them joyed and was bereaven.

I was heavy with the even,

When she lit her glimmering tapers

Round the day's dead sanctities.

I laughed in the morning's eyes.

I triumphed and I saddened with all weather,

Heaven and I wept together,

And its sweet tears were salt with mortal mine;

Against the red throb of its sunset-heart,

I laid my own to beat

And share commingling heat;

But not by that, by that was eased my human smart.

In vain my tears were wet on Heaven's grey cheek.

For ah! we know what each other says,

These things and I; In sound I speak,

Their sound is but their stir, they speak by silences.

Nature, poor step-dame, cannot slake my drouth.

Let her, if she would owe me,

Drop yon blue bosom-veil of sky, and show me

The breasts o' her tenderness;

Never did any milk of hers once bless

My thirsting mouth.

Nigh and nigh draws the chase,

With unperturbèd pace,

Deliberate speed, majestic instancy,

And past those noisèd Feet,

A Voice comes yet more fleet:

"Lo, naught contents thee who content'st nought Me."

Naked, I wait thy Love's uplifted stroke!

My harness, piece by piece, Thou hast hewn from me

And smitten me to my knee;

I am defenceless, utterly.

I slept methinks, and woke.

And slowly gazing, find me stripped in sleep.

In the rash lustihead of my young powers,

I shook the pillaring hours,

And pulled my life upon me. grimed with smears,

I stand amidst the dust o' the mounded years--

My mangled youth lies dead beneath the heap.

My days have crackled and gone up in smoke,

Have puffed and burst as sun-starts on a stream.

Yeah, faileth now even dream

The dreamer and the lute, the lutanist;

Even the linked fantasies in whose blossomy twist,

I swung the Earth, a trinket at my wrist,

Are yielding: cords of all too weak account

For earth, with heavy grief so overplussed.

Ah! is thy Love indeed

A weed, albeit an amaranthine weed,

Suffering no flowers except its own to mount?

Ah! must --

Designer Infinite --

Ah! must thou char the wood 'ere thou canst limn with it ?

My freshness spent its wavering shower i' the dust.

And now my heart is as a broken fount,

Wherein tear-drippings stagnate, spilt down ever

From the dank thoughts that shiver

Upon the sighful branches of my mind.

Such is; what is to be ?

The pulp so bitter, how shall taste the rind ?

I dimly guess what Time in mists confounds,

Yet ever and anon, a trumpet sounds

From the hid battlements of Eternity.

Those shaken mists a space unsettle,

Then round the half-glimpseèd turrets, slowly wash again.

But not 'ere him who summoneth <dt> I first have seen, enwound

With glooming robes purpureal; cypress-crowned.

His name I know, and what his trumpet saith.

Whether man's heart or life it be which yields

Thee harvest, must Thy harvest fields

Be dunged with rotten death ?

Now of that long pursuit,

Comes at hand the bruit;

That Voice is round me like a bursting sea:

"And is thy Earth so marred,

Shattered in shard on shard?

Lo, all things fly thee, for thou fliest Me.

Strange, piteous, futile thing;

Wherefore should any set thee love apart?

Seeing none but I makes much of naught" (He said),

"And human love needs human meriting;

How hast thou merited --

Of all Man's clotted clay, the dingiest clot?

Alack! Thou knowest not

How little worthy of any love thou art!

Whom wilt thou find to love ignoble thee,

Save Me, save only Me?

All which I took from thee, I did but take,

Not for thy harms,

But just that thou might'st seek it in My arms,

All which thy childs mistake

Fancies as lost, I have stored for thee at home --

Rise, clasp My hand, and come."

Halts by me that footfall --

Is my gloom, after all,

Shade of His hand, outstretched caressingly?

"Ah, fondest, blindest, weakest,

I am He Whom thou seekest!

Thou dravest love from thee, who dravest Me."

Francis Thompson