Daily Bible Reading: Psalm 88 & 89

Good Morning World!

We've been busy trying to renovate our house, and what a mess that can be!  Drywall, dust and dirt everywhere!  So I apologize for not being on very regularly lately.

Psalm 88
The note in the margin of my Bible says that this Psalm is a prayer for those facing Death.  I am not sure if that is true or not as I wasn't around when it was written, but I can tell that it is for those who are having a bad day and are looking to God for fresh new mercies!

Sometimes life knocks us down and we don't know where to turn, but Jesus is the friend that sticks closer than a brother!  We may feel like we are as good as dead, but Jesus' mercies are new every morning!  We may want to die, but Jesus is our saviour and healer! 

Before you give up, look to Jesus he will take care of you, and help you find the answers you seek!  Trust Jesus Christ and He will direct your path!

Psalm 89
This song of Ethan is a very challenging Psalm.  for 2/3rd's of the song Ethan is praising and worshiping God for His mercy and promises, and then dives into the question that has been driving him the whole time: God have you forsaken us, are you going to bring us out of captivity?  Are you going to remember the promises that you made?

This is interesting because there is no indication in the first 30 odd verses that Ethan is upset or would like to ask God a question.  There is nothing but praise and worship in those first verses!

Too often we get caught up in the questions of life, and we forget that God is still Good all the Time!  It doesn't matter how you feel or what you are going through Jesus loves and cares for you all the time!  The first thing out of our mouth before any questions is praise, worship and thanksgiving!  If we are going to have a great lasting relationship with God our saviour Jesus Christ then we need to learn how to stay in touch with Him!

Yours for Thanksgiving,
Pastor Fred

Daily Bible Reading -- Psalm 74 & 75

Good Morning World!

There is something satisfying about a personal, intimate relationship with Jesus Christ.  Especially when times are tough.  As Simon & Garfunkel sang, "Like a Bridge Over Troubled Waters", and another song, "Lean on Me when you're not strong"  These songs have been a source of refuge for many, because the words are so true.  We all need someone to lean on!

Psalm 74
This is another Psalm of passionate prayer and supplication.  The writer isn't David, but Asaph, and he is pleading with God for a desperate rescue.  In pleading with God Asaph begins to remind God of His covenants and promises to Israel.  Sometimes it is necessary to us to remind God what He said He would do.  It isn't so much for God's benefit as our own benefit.  Sometimes, it does us good to remember what God said He would do, and we must then make sure we are living up to our end of the bargain.  God is merciful and kind.   God is full of love and tender compassion.  However, God also loves a good contract.  He made many contracts with Israel and other throughout the Bible, and still continues to do so today.  So, if you are having a "go through"  try reminding you and God what the contract says, and then make sure that you are at least keeping your side.  You can be most assured that God will keep His side!

Psalm 75
Another song of Asaph.  I'm not sure of the time line, but I would like to submit that is was after the previous song of supplication.  Here we have a song of deliverance and rejoicing!  What wondrous things happen when we trust in the Lord, and we both keep our side of the contract!  God is good and greatly to be praised!  He deals righteously with the foolish and wicked, and raises up the righteous.  He takes care of His own and doesn't let the destroyer overcome them!

Praise the Lord and keep your trust in Him.  He will deliver and save you!
Yours for trust,
Pastor Fred

Daily Bible Reading -- Psalm 60 - 61

Good Morning World!

I find it amazing how much we as humans rely on a schedule of events for our day to run smoothly.  This amazes me because our days rarely go according to plan!  For example this morning I am at the computer blogging before 7 a.m. because I was up cleaning the college building before 6 a.m., which is my regular schedule for each morning.  I haven't blogged all last week because I had a friend cleaning for me so I could help my wife with the baby's schedule.  The moral of the story is -- because I broke some of  my daily routine certain parts of my day became undo-able!  May I suggest something before we move on to Psalms?  If you have a good schedule that is keeping you close to Jesus don't change it unless you will get closer to Jesus!

Psalm 60
This chapter seems to indicate a fight between family members.  It is never pleasant to wage war with a member of you family.  We must seek a peaceful solution as quickly as possible.  We must seek the wisdom of Jesus as much as possible.  Jesus declared that a house divided against itself will fall.  We must pray for peace in the family daily, and ever seek to keep the peace within the family so we call all serve Jesus to the best of our ability.

Psalm 61
I would call this a song of trust and relationship.  These are attributes we must have with Jesus in our life.  We must trust Jesus is our shelter, our covert in the time of storm.  We must have a relationship with Jesus so that we may abide with Him forever, and daily perform our vows.  There is something special about abiding in His tabernacle, and learning from Him daily.  However, we can only transform our tabernacle into His tabernacle when we have a relationship with Him, and have surrendered every part of our lives to Him.

We surrender to Jesus through repenting of our selfish, sinful ways giving our lives into His control through baptism in Jesus name, which gives us family access through His name.  Finally, we become a full tabernacle and family member when we allow the DNA of heaven to flow through us and over flow through the infilling of the Holy Ghost as we speak in a heavenly language.

Let's stop fighting family. Let the prince of peace come into your life and recreate your tabernacle into something of beauty, something of use to the kingdom of heaven!

Yours for trust and relationship with Jesus!
Pastor Fred

No More Fear? Daily Bible Reading -- Psalm 56

Good Morning world!

First I must apologize for vanishing these past few days.  Finally, the business we bought was able to be moved, but that was barely the beginning!  Then came the setup!  Much work and many hours later we are open, but still not finished.  On top of that the weather has been quite cold and the church water froze, so we had to cancel our Sunday service.  There may have seemed like much against us these weekend, however, God is still good all the time, and we are starting to see the light at the end of all the boxes!

Also, please pray for us as my wife is now due with our fifth child.  We always claim the promises of scripture, but will still be grateful if you would pray that everything goes well again.  This will most likely be our last child, and we are expecting that this one will be a surprise and a blessing as our other four have been.  (I will keep you updated on the new arrival.)

Psalm 56

 ¹ Be merciful to me, O God, for man would swallow me up;
         Fighting all day he oppresses me.
 ² My enemies would hound me all day,
         For there are many who fight against me, O Most High.
        
 ³ Whenever I am afraid,
         I will trust in You.
 ⁴ In God (I will praise His word),
         In God I have put my trust;
         I will not fear.
         What can flesh do to me?
        
 ⁵ All day they twist my words;
         All their thoughts are against me for evil.
 ⁶ They gather together,
         They hide, they mark my steps,
         When they lie in wait for my life.
 ⁷ Shall they escape by iniquity?
         In anger cast down the peoples, O God!
        
 ⁸ You number my wanderings;
         Put my tears into Your bottle;
         Are they not in Your book?
 ⁹ When I cry out to You,
         Then my enemies will turn back;
         This I know, because God is for me.
 ¹⁰ In God (I will praise His word),
         In the LORD (I will praise His word),
 ¹¹ In God I have put my trust;
         I will not be afraid.
         What can man do to me?
        
 ¹² Vows made to You are binding upon me, O God;
         I will render praises to You,
 ¹³ For You have delivered my soul from death.
         Have You not kept my feet from falling,
         That I may walk before God
         In the light of the living? (Psalm 56, New King James Version)

I've noted three key verses this morning that speak wonderful things to me.  1. Verse 3 "What time I am afraid, I will trust in you!"  I've preached from this verse before, and probably will again.  It doesn't matter what goes on in life we all feel the twinge of fear at times.  I am not someone given to fear much, but there have been times when I have felt my heart pump faster and the adrenaline pump through my veins.  Fear can paralyze the body, soul and mind! We ought always to trust in Jesus, but especially when we are afraid.  Jesus didn't give us the spirit of fear, and it is He alone that can alleviate our fears.

2. Verse 9 "...because God is for me."  this continues the though above, and reminds me of the verse in Romans 8 that says, "If God be for us who can be against us?"  Why do I trust Jesus?  Why do I fear less when I put my problems in His care?  Because, He is for me, and if Jesus is in my corner there is no one who can defeat me!

3. Verse 11 "What can man do to me?"  Too often we rely on reputation, and are more concerned about what others will think of us than reality.  Ask yourself this question, "If I am trusting in Jesus, and He is on my side, what can man do to me that will destroy or hurt me?"  The answer is NOTHING!  Another verse comes to mind.  "Don't fear man who can only kill the body, fear God who can destroy the body and cast your soul into hell fire!" (paraphrased)  Why are we so concerned about what mankind thinks?  Live for Jesus like its the last thing you will ever do and everything else will come together!

Have a blessed day!
Pastor Fred

Save Me! Daily Bible Reading -- Psalm 54

Good Morning World!

Satellites are a wonderful invention.  I gazed up into the dark abyss this morning, as I returned to my van after cleaning.  The brightness of a few of the stars or planets lead me to believe they were probably satellites.  I began to wonder if I could see much detail through my sons telescope.  We had looked at the moon last night and saw the craters and mountains, so why can we not see some detail on a satellite.  Suddenly I realized something slightly related and yet totally different.  I am a satellite.  What?  Yes!  I am a satellite sending and receiving information, data and relationship to and from Jesus Christ.  If all of the believers could focus their signals, it would amplify the transmission around the world!  I can only imagine what would happen!

Psalm 54

Have you ever felt betrayed?  Have you ever trusted someone to hide a secret, but they betrayed you trust?  Have you ever needed to hide from something, but someone you trusted gave you away?  That is exactly the background of this Chapter. (According to the pre-notes anyway.)
David was forced to hide from king Saul for many years, because Saul found out the God had chosen David as king instead of him.  During one of David's undercover operations he stayed with the Ziphims.  They welcomed him in and then turned around and told Saul David's location.  This betrayal is very much like many situations that we all face.  In a world where trust is thin and loyalty a thing of the past many are betrayed daily.
We must learn to do as David did.  Worship through the pain.  God will deliver just desserts!  God will avenge your pain!  Jesus has delivered and He will deliver again.  Don't be so discouraged that you can't get back up.  Trust in Jesus He will never let you down no matter what men will do to you!

Yours for trusting Jesus
Pastor Fred

The Mysterious Ways of God

Looking back over the past few days I can see how God was trying to prepare me for what happened on Monday! Looking back I wonder why it didn't dawn on me! For some reason we never expect a sermon to be for us; we never expect God to deal with "me", but He does, and when it happens we almost always start the "name and blame" game. Then we look back and realize, "Oh, Jesus was trying to communicate His plans, why didn't I notice and listen?"

By now you are wondering, "what in the world is this crazy preacher talking about?" That's what you are about to find out!

The Mysterious Ways of God!

Let me start at the result, and then go back to the beginning so you will understand everything, as I slowly perceived the hand of God at work.

I received a call on my cell phone while at my Church office with some very disturbing news.
The owner of one of the stores I clean called me up and informed me that they would not be renewing my cleaning contract. The renewal date fast approaching. At first this was a major blow, as it was one of my main sources of income each month!

I fussed and complained and was quite upset with Jesus for letting this happen to me. I mean come on, I try so hard to make ends me and keep this Church open and running, but around every turn there is something to climb over, push through, dig around or drill through! It does get frustrating at times, but as my wonderful wife later said, "Honey, it will be ok. Everything will work out fine....God doesn't shut a door if He doesn't have a better one open!"

WOW! What words of wisdom!

Now let me go back to where I should have realized Jesus was letting me know something was going to take place. (He could have begun to talk to me much earlier, but my little pea brain can only see back this far.) Saturday evening I was once again privileged to participate in a community Gospel concert, which was going to raise money for our "Green Bay Community Living Association." There was a great list of singers from the area. I was fourth on the list, and due to my businesses cleaning schedule I couldn't stay for the whole concert leaving shortly after my turn was up. Anyway the song sung just before I was up struck me very strongly and ministered to me in such a way that I used it in my Sunday Morning sermon. The young lady singing, Crystal Woodford, sang about letting go, and letting Jesus take the wheel! It was a very powerful message.
So, Sunday morning I preached about "Jesus Take the Wheel." It was a good message about our constant human trait, which causes us the think that we are better than Jesus, and we are always trying to take control of our own lives. This we ought not to do, but we should rather let go of the steering wheel of life, and let Jesus have control of the direction we are going to take! We ought to get up each morning and find out what direction He would have us take! If we would just learn to listen and follow Jesus would tell and direct us, which way to go!

"What you Preach is What you Get!"

Sunday evening I felt is God's plan for us to be in the Middle Arm Church for service. So, Saturday I'd made arrangements with Rev. Glenn Christopherson, and he gladly invited us down for a visit. I immensely enjoyed the service! God's presence moved in during the worship service, and a young lady reached out, and Jesus touched her greatly! Having the altar service first, Rev. Christopherson decided to shorten his message, which was about the fact that our walk with God will have mountains and will have valleys. We will have ups, and we will have downs. He talked about the fact that no matter whether we are in an up or down it is necessary to "look up to the hills from whence comes our help, our help comes from the Lord!" Instead of looking down, we must look up so we can see where we are going, and which direction we should take!

Now what are the odds of hearing two messages in the same day from two different preachers and two different Churches during two different services? This is no coincidence. Jesus was trying to prepare me for a bump in the road, a valley if you will. Jesus sees all, knows all and understands all. I don't know if it was God's will that I loose this contract, but I do know Jesus saw the phone call coming and began to prepare my spirit for this obstacle.

If we would just listen to our own advice some times, and look around to the signs that Jesus is giving us we would be much better off, and more prepared for everything that comes our way! Never question the mysterious ways of God, and never brush a sermon off, as if it is for someone else! Jesus may very well be talking to YOU!

Yours for a prepared spirit,
Pastor Fred

Learning from their mistakes

In studying for the Home Bible Study I teach weekly, another one of God's purposes has become very clear. It is so very important, yet we often neglect it because of our own stubborn natures. "Pride comes before a fall, and a haughty spirit before destruction." This is a quote from the wisdom of king Solomon, and is the reason we miss out on many of the simple straight forward truths of the Word of God.

Our study this week was a survey of Israel's entering Canaan, conquering it and dividing the inheritance. We ended with the reign of the first three kings Saul, David and Solomon. However, before we can get to any of the above events we must first study Moses' last sermon. Parts of which are in Deuteronomy 28 and 30.

Moses gives a blessing and a cursing upon Israel. A blessing for obedience to the commands and laws of God, and a cursing for the disobedience of those commands and laws. He presented life and good, death and destruction. It was up to Israel to choose which path to take.

Moses died, and Israel, under the leadership of Joshua, divided and conquered the land of Canaan.

The Bible tells us in Judges that Israel served God throughout the life of Joshua, and throughout the lives of the elders who out lived Joshua, but soon after the final elder died, they left God's ways and followed the pagan, unholy ways of the peoples around them. Israel looked around and saw the ways of the people they were living among, and began to serve their gods.

Guess what happened? Exactly what Moses told them would happen! The Bible tells us that God punished them until they were sore distressed, and cried out to God. And as Moses said, when they cried out to God for help, He gave them a judge to deliver them. This happened 16 times until the time of Samuel. After whose time Israel asked for a king, which is another message altogether.

1 Corinthians 10:5-12 tells us that we must learn from their mistakes so that we don't fall in the same way!

Here is the moral to the story.

1. Follow, Trust and Obedience brings life, health and prosperity.
2. Neglect, Doubt and Disobedience brings death, sickness and poverty.

People often wonder why they are going through the circumstances they face, and the simple answer my be that God is trying to bring them to repentance for the sin and evil in their life! Don't blame the devil for every bad thing that happens. Instead, repent of your sins and turn to God, and He will prosper your path!

Yours for following the ways of God,
Pastor Fred

He Never Sleeps!

What in the world are you doing up at 5:50 am on a Saturday Morning?! Saturday is the day of the week that you're supposed to sleep in!

I was thinking this very thing this morning when I got up at 10 minutes to six. What? Yeah, I was up that early on a Saturday. I own a janitorial business, and I find that getting up early is easier than staying up late. And besides that I need to keep my customers happy, so I get up even on the days when I should be relaxing, and go to work.

While cleaning this morning the thought occurred to me that Jesus is much the same. He is the head of the Church; the people in this world who have truly obeyed the scripture and been born again of water and spirit. Jesus, the scripture tells us, is like a watchman on the wall; He never slumber nor sleeps. He is always looking out for His people. He never sleeps in. He never doses off, and misses a call. No, Jesus never sleeps! He is always on call. He Always is ready to take care of His own!

I'm so glad that I serve a God and Saviour that is on me side. Who always has me best interest at heart; even if I don't think so! Thank you Jesus for being with me through the thick and thin! Thank you Jesus for preparing the path before me, and ordering my steps! Thank you for never sleeping!

Yours for Christ,
Pastor Fred