We have issues with God we have

• -mental issues
• -moral issues
• -Me issues

A popular song from last century said God is watching us from a distance. That’s how we like God. At a distance. We often miss what the Lord is doing because

• He comes in ways we didn’t expect
• He says unfamiliar things we’ve never heard
• He does things we never thought we’d see

God often offends our minds to expose our hearts, he can make us uncomfortable

• Absolute truth shakes up lies and pretension
• Absolute holiness shakes up sin and sinners
• Pure love exposes Me for what it is

And so we set Him at a distance, a remote God or we deny his exsistence altogether.

Hear about it Sunday January 15,    8:30,    10:30

• Colossians 3:23                          The dilligent earner
• I Timothy 6:6-8                          The prudent consumer
• Proverbs 22:7                              The cautious debtor
• Luke 12:20, Proverbs 21:20      The wise saver
• II Corinthians 8:1-5                    The generous giver

All we do including our money making should be done for the Lord. When we spend we need watch that we not fall into materialism or consumerism, for our life does not consist in the abundance of our possessions. Being in debt is a form of bondage, we do well to avoid as much debt as we can. Saving is good but our trust must be in God and our money available for his purposes. Our giving should be done gladly and generously.

Take money and make a difference for Jesus Christ in this world and you will have treasure in heaven. By the way it’s not our money anyhow, it’s God’s money in our hands.

• I will give thanks to the Lord with my whole heart
• I will tell of all Your wonders
• I will be glad and exult in You
• I will sing praise to Your name, O Most High

All of these practices actually will enhance our own well being. They are good for us.

God said something about David, the writer of this Psalm, he said that David was a man after God’s own heart. Motivation and sincerity are always noticed by God. David loved God and that love was expressed by being thankful, by giving testimony, by being glad and exulting in God and by praising Him.

There’s a little praise song that goes like this, ” The greatest thing in all my life is loving you, I want to love you more.”

When the greatest thing in your life is loving God then you will thank Him, brag on Him, exult in Him and praise Him with a whole and sincere heart. You will enjoy His grace and extend His glory……   You will be glad.

Sunday November 20.  8:30 and 10:30 AM.

• Fight the good fight
• Finish the race
• Keep the faith

A man who lives for God, a man who follows Jesus, a man who obeys the Holy Spirit, is a man who will find himself in a fight. The fight is there for every man who will stand up to it. The devil doesn’t fight a man unless he has to, he doesn’t bother the man who has quit fighting.

A Godly man loves God, and His love of God shapes and colors his life.

Sunday Nov. 13.  8:30 & 10:30

It is good for us all to reflect upon persons in our lives that God has used to reach us and bless us. Steve and his wife Candy are such persons for me. They discerned that God had a call upon my life before I was mature enough in the faith to recognize it myself, and they gently guided me and provided me with opportunities to make my own discovery.

Because of my pathological fear of public speaking I was a hard nut to crack and actually never did even share my testimony in the church Steve pastored. I played guitar for Wednesday night praise songs but I sat in the pew behind everyone and wouldn’t get up front. I couldn’t pray out loud until I almost was a preacher myself and had to. When I was a new preacher I wrote out my prayers and read them. I’ll probably retire before I achieve a level of sufficiency.

Thank God He counts faithfulness and following as things of great value. Thank God he brings others into our lives from whom we can learn what matters.

• It burns but it doesn’t burn up, down or out. Because God set the fire. Who sets the fire makes all the difference.
• It functions like a witness that draws Moses to God
• It burns but is not consumed because God’s fire is a purifying fire. It consumes what is unholy.

The church needs to get back to being about what God is about

Christians need to get back to being about what God is about

• Fire has to do with passion. We need to be on fire with the fire of God. We need God’s passion.
• Fire has to do with power. When we are on fire with God’s fire we become a witness that draws people to God. We need God’s power.
• Fire has to do with purity. God’s fire burns away whatever is ungodly about us. We need God’s purity.

Every Christian, every church needs to be a bush set on fire by God, burning with His passion, His power, His purity.

Man-made fires don’t do God’s work. God sets His own fire.

• Philippians 1:21 – For me to live is Christ
• Philippians 3:14 – I press on toward the goal
• Philippians 4:4 -  Rejoice in the Lord always

As Christians we are called to a life committed to God’s purposes. Paul lived for;

• The glory of Christ
• The advancement of the Gospel

Isaiah 66:12 – God said peace would overflow Jerusalem like a river. If we want to experience God’s supernatural peace then we need to be where God’s river is flowing, we need to be about what God is doing.

This past Sunday after preaching about the peace of God, I was praying for someone who was praying at the altar and I experienced the supernatural peace of God wash over me like rivers of blessing. I needed that. Thank you Lord!

Romans 12:2              Proverbs 23:7                       Proverbs 4:23

Proverbs 11:20           Romans 8:6                 II Corinthians 10:5

Luke 11:35                   Colossians 3:2                       Isaiah 26:3

• October 9 – Finding peace through your prayer life. Philippians 4:6-7
• October 16 – Finding peace through your thought life. Philippians 4:8
• October 23 – Finding peace through your faith life. Philippians 4:9

Three foundational truths;

• Don’t look for peace in your circumstances. If you find it you’ll lose it. To insist on circumstantial peace will result in increased anxiety.
• The cure for anxiety is the peace of God. Not human generated but supernatural.
• The peace of God is not a quick fix. It is the fruit of a lifestyle, a benefit of disciplined Christian living.

Sunday at 8:30AM and 10:30AM

Sunday is World Communion Sunday when Christians the world over celebrate the sacrament of the Lord’s Supper. I will preach a short message on Matthew 8:19-20 in which we are reminded that Jesus had nothing but the robe he wore. What he gave up for us was his life itself.