Memorial Day 2010

Here's the last video for Memorial Day, but his one seemed very appropriate...lest we forget.

Lest We Forget

Just in case you miss church this morning...

Lest We Forget

Sometimes we need another reminder.

Lest We Forget

As we prepare for a long holiday weekend, I pray you might more fully realize what Memorial Day is all about.

Surrender...With Every Breath!

During last night’s Bible study we wrapped up the study on the Book of Acts with an extra lesson that repeatedly took us to the word ‘surrender,’ then today I read this from Henry & Melvin Blackaby’s book, Experiencing the Spirit. “There comes a time in your life when the Lord opens your eyes to understand what the Christian life is meant to be. It isn’t just going to heaven when you die; it’s dying to self on earth and allowing Him to live through you. Once that is clear in your heart, once you’ve chosen to release everything to Him, then you’ll know freedom like never before. The burden of service dissipates, and the Spirit will carry you into the Father’s perfect will. In that place you’ll experience the mighty power of God. There are no more excuses for inactivity; there is no more justification for shallow character. There is only the Lord and our willingness to trust Him and respond to the Holy Spirit. So the question comes to each of us: Who is the Holy Spirit to me? What have I done with Him? Or perhaps better expressed, What has He done with me?
Well put, but I must struggle with one point he made and affirm another. To say ‘there comes a time in your life when the Lord opens your eyes to understand’ conveys to me that I have no control over the matter. Not so! God longs that every eye is opened, but, as hard as God tries there are some who refuse to see. Said another way, if our eyes are not opened it is not that God hasn’t tried, it’s that we haven’t complied…and God has given us the free will to choose not to see. However, Blackaby hit the nail on the head when he stated ‘once you’ve chosen to release everything to Him, you’ll know freedom like never before.’ I would go a step further and say that our minds cannot even conceive the freedom God has in store for us in Christ…but the only way to receive this freedom is to surrender what we have. For some this is scarry, but trust me, it’s a win-win situation for us!

Did You Feel It?

Grief is a powerfully debilitating emotion to wrestle with. This past weekend was a tremendous day of celebration at Beulah UMC…it was Pentecost and Confirmation rolled into one service (and shouldn’t we all confirm our faith on Pentecost?), but I had the blah’s. On Saturday I had been feeling poorly and on Sunday morning I still felt puny, but as I was having prayer prior to the service it came to mind that Monday was our daughter’s Hannah’s birthday. Now that sounds innocent enough, but that means it was also our daughter Emily’s birthday. She would have been 27, but we lost her just over four years ago. Now, I can usually contain my grief to specific days like her birthday and not the day before or after, but Sunday morning I didn’t give a rip about church or about worship. I could have easily cancelled church, that is until the service began. I am convinced the presence of the Holy Spirit (or at least our awareness of the Spirit’s presence) is directly proportional to our need and receptiveness. I was in tremendous need Sunday morning and looking back, most receptive. God spoke to me as the praise team opened the service, assuring me that I could and would lead worship, not because it was my job or because I had baptisms to perform…but because I needed to seek His face and He would give me the strength and desire to do so. And guess what, He did. I probably need to apologize for the sermon and other ramblings during the service, but as worship progressed God continued to speak and to affirm…it might have been only to me and sensed only by me, but the Spirit was moving like a mighty rushing wind.

Daily Dying To Self

Here is something I read recently from Experiencing the Spirit, by Henry & Melvin Blackaby. It’s good stuff…

“You may have given your life to Christ, but have you understood that you must yield your life to the work of the Holy Spirit? There is no such thing as a once-for-all decision in the Christian life; it’s a daily dying to self—daily seeking Him and bowing to His lordship. That Spirit-led lifestyle must start somewhere; have you made the deliberate decision to allow the Holy Spirit to have complete access to your life? That question can be answered more easily by asking it another way: do you make decisions based upon your ability to achieve the results or upon the Spirit’s leading and equipping? Don’t determine your response to God by looking at your gifts. Look at your Lord and say, “Yes, Lord! I know your Spirit is present to enable me as I obey You. Thank You, Lord!”
Ouch! That is good…but at times it hurts! Daily dying to self…I didn’t need to hear that again. Not looking at my gifts to say yes to God…isn’t that where everyone looks? Surrendering to God totally and for the moment…sounds tough, too tough. Well the truth is if Jesus is Lord there’s no need to wrestle with the decision to obey…we just need to know what is it He wants of us and then we need to trust. That must have been what John Sammis was thinking when he penned these words, “what he says we will do, where he sends we will go; never fear, only trust and obey.”