HATE EVIL

Prov 8:13
13 "The fear of the LORD is to hate evil;
Pride and arrogance and the evil way
And the perverted mouth, I hate. NASU
** What is the fear of the Lord?.... to hate evil? Notice later it says: Prov 9:10 The fear of the LORD is the beginning of wisdom…. So we can say that the fear of the Lord is when we start hating evil and this is what brings wisdom by hating evil. I’ve been told that you’re not suppose to hate anything but that’s not so…. HATE EVIL. A lot of people don’t like war and I’m not particularly fond of it either BUT if you have wisdom you have to hate and destroy evil. We see North Korea right now testing nuclear weapons so they can bully other nations into do what they want them to do. Look at Iran, who has said on camera that the only thing they want in life is to destroy Israel and now they are trying to finish making nuclear weapons. Both have tested missiles to see if they can reach other countries to destroy them. However, what constitutes evil? Here we are back at the big controversy…. What is truth? Until we know what truth is, we can’t compare to what would justify evil. God is truth…. Jesus said, “I am the way the TRUTH and the life.” So we’re back to the bible. If it lines up with the Word of God it’s truth and we must stand with it…. Tell me what you think….

LIFE AND HEALTH

Prov 4:20-22
20 My son, pay attention to what I say;
listen closely to my words.
21 Do not let them out of your sight,
keep them within your heart;
22 for they are life to those who find them
and health to a man's whole body. NIV
**Life and health to our WHOLE body…. And how is it we get life and health? Keeping His words before us constantly. I think it all boils down to how bad do I want to live and be in health? If a doctor tells you to take a pill once a day and you will live long and have good health what would you do? Of course a pill that only takes 3 seconds to pop in your mouth and swallow is much easier than opening the bible and spending time drinking in the steams of life. And besides, if God just solved all our problems for us by just giving us a pill, then He would have a bunch of spoiled children running around expecting to get things without maturing. We have to open the word and read it and set it before our eyes and let it sink in to our spirit soul and body. So all the time we spend staring at that box in the corner (TV), lets take one boring program out of our day and replace it with just 30 min. of reading the word and setting it before our eyes.

WISDOM VS WORLD

Prov 3:1-2
My son, do not forget my teaching,
But let your heart keep my commandments;
2 For length of days and years of life And peace they will add to you. NASU** How do you live long? Follow the wisdom of God. Not just living long but a peaceful long life. Not forgetting His teachings seems to be a pretty easy thing to do….. yeah right! There is so much garbage in the world today that points us away from His teachings and wisdom that sometimes it’s a struggle just when you turn on your TV. His wisdom says, “don’t have sex before marriage.” And almost all the shows on TV encourage you to sleep around and test everyone out sexually before you marry them. His wisdom… “don’t murder.” And the TV is filled with murder…. If you’re a follower of wisdom then you’ll know exactly what I’m talking about. I’ll list some of what wisdom is saying and you can think of what the TV says in return. WISDOM SAYS: Don’t get drunk…. Don’t serve other gods…. Don’t commit adultery…. Don’t use Gods name in vain…. Keep your lips from filthy language…. Don’t lie…. Don’t cheat…. Don’t covet…. Be kind and compassionate…. Be a servant to all…. Give to the poor…. Attend church regularly…. Give 10 percent to the church…. Don’t divorce. SO….. how much wisdom do you find on TV? Very little if we were to be honest. Now here’s the kicker…. How much time do we spend watching TV (which has very little wisdom taught on it) compared to how much time we spend reading the Word of God?.......You tell me, it’s your life. AND…. We wonder why even Christians are not living long lives on the earth????

NOT SO WISE?

1 Kings 11:1-3
Now King Solomon loved many foreign women. Besides Pharaoh's daughter, he married women from Moab, Ammon, Edom, Sidon, and from among the Hittites. 2 The LORD had clearly instructed his people not to intermarry with those nations, because the women they married would lead them to worship their gods. Yet Solomon insisted on loving them anyway. 3 He had seven hundred wives and three hundred concubines. And sure enough, they led his heart away from the LORD. NLT
** ? I’m not sure I understand this…. I mean, I understand this but I just don’t understand this! Do you know what I mean? Here we have the most wise person in the world and even he is subject to falling away from God. God gives us rules to protect us and if we don’t follow those rules, it will lead us on a path that is without God and destined to fail. It’s not that the beauty of his wives turned him away that surprises me, (just read thru the bible and see all the men that fell) it is the fact that he could have still had all the beautiful women he wanted but not from the countries God said. I believe God wants Christians to be wealthy…. I mean lots of money and the blessings of life BUT I know why He doesn’t fulfill His blessings to them…. They couldn’t handle the increase! They would just forget about God and follow their own path. What lesson do we learn from this? OBEY GOD! It’s as simple as that and is the hardest thing for most Christians to do… Obey God.

THANK YOU

I just want to take this time to thank all the men and women that have given and are giving their lives to serve our country.... THANK YOU SO VERY MUCH! I thank God for every one of you for helping to keep our country FREE. May God bless each of you and place a blessing upon you so much that you would not have enough room to receive it. I pray that you would be in good health and that your families would be strong and be filled with unity, peace and life.

T H A N K Y O U !!!!

HIDER OR SEEKER?

1 Kings 8:20-21
20 "Now the LORD has fulfilled His word which He spoke; for I have risen in place of my father David and sit on the throne of Israel, as the LORD promised, and have built the house for the name of the LORD, the God of Israel. 21 "There I have set a place for the ark, in which is the covenant of the LORD, which He made with our fathers when He brought them from the land of Egypt." NASU
** This whole chapter is filled with Solomon confirming what God had promised. When you read it, underline all the places where it implies and says that God promised something to someone and you’ll find that it is amazing. Isn’t it true that without the promises of God we don’t have anything to stand on? His promises are there in His word from cover to cover and when you believe in His promises it brings hope to your life. Promise to save us, promise to have a place waiting for all who believe in Him. Promises for healing of sickness and disease. Promises for a good life and provision. Everything you would ever need here on earth, He has a promise to provide….. the catch? You mean there’s a catch? Yep, “Seek FIRST His kingdom and His righteousness and ALL these things will be given you.” That’s why Solomon could stand up and for 66 verses praise God for all the things He had promised and they came to pass, because Solomon was a seeker of God. How about you? Are you a hider or a seeker?

HIS HOUSE

1 Kings 7:36
36 Carvings of cherubim, lions, and palm trees decorated the panels and supports wherever there was room, and there were wreaths all around. NLT
** Thirteen years it took to finish Solomon’s house… WOW! This must have been an amazing place for all the time that was put in building it. And to think that money wasn’t an option…. Everything was the best of the best, nothing held back. This shows me that God wants the best for us. Often times we (Christians) get criticized for anything above normal that we do or get and yet I can walk through places all over this country and see amazing buildings and places that were built with sin and corruptness. Just walk thru a casino and you’ll see that massive amounts of money was spent to make the place look prosperous. Now walk into a church and see the worn out pews, old out dated sound systems, carpet with holes and stains in it….. I believe the church should be the most exciting place to go! That our sound should be the best and that all the stuff inside of the building should express what the Christians are like who attend there. I bought a BMW the other day (used… not new but it looks really nice) and a few weeks into it I started to feel guilty because I was driving what the world would consider a high class vehicle…. It took me about a day to get over it and to realize that I can not allow the world to limit what God wants to do in my life. He wants us to have great things both here on earth and in heaven. If it were not so then why didn’t Solomon just cut back and live in a less elaborate house and spend the money on the poor? And by the way…. He decorated with palm trees…. I like that!

SAME SEX MARRAIGE?

Rom 1:25-27
25 They exchanged the truth of God for a lie, and worshiped and served created things rather than the Creator — who is forever praised. Amen.
26 Because of this, God gave them over to shameful lusts. Even their women exchanged natural relations for unnatural ones. 27 In the same way the men also abandoned natural relations with women and were inflamed with lust for one another. Men committed indecent acts with other men, and received in themselves the due penalty for their perversion.NIV** Ok…. So does it get any more plain than this? I just don’t understand when it is written so clear in scripture and not only in the old testament but here in the new testament that same sex relationships are evil in the sight of God…. Now don’t get me wrong and yes there are plenty of other sins we people can get ourselves into but in the bible, God’s anger is more elevated when there is homosexuality than any other sin. The problem is, people think that the church hates homosexuals and that is not true. The church should always have a heart to love the sinner but hate the sin. So should the church allow homosexuals to attend? I’m not sure that a homosexual would really want to attend a church that is preaching and teaching the pure word of God because sooner or later, if the homosexual has not turned from the lifestyle, they will be offended because the word of God continually speaks against it. As a pastor I would treat a homosexual the same as anyone who comes in with a habitual sin attached to their lives. If they (anyone with a habitual sin) are not in some way working at cleansing their lives from this sin (whatever it may be), they will need to move on….. sound harsh? Then read 1 cor 5 and Paul sets the example of how sin is to be treated in the church. I’m sure I’ve opened a can of worms today but this is where our country is right now.

JUST FUN STUFF TO READ TODAY

Through the eyes of a child:
The Children's Bible in a Nutshell:

In the beginning, which occurred near the start, there was nothing but God, darkness, and some gas.The Bible says,
'The Lord thy God is one, but I think He must be a lot older than that. Anyway, God said, 'Give me a light!' and someone did. Then God made the world.
He split the Adam and made Eve. Adam and Eve were naked, but they weren't embarrassed because mirrors hadn't been invented yet.

Adam and Eve disobeyed God by eating one bad apple, so they were driven from the Garden of Eden. Not sure what they were driven in though, because they didn't have cars.

Adam and Eve had a son, Cain, who hated his brother as long as he was Abel.
Pretty soon all of the early people died off, except for Methuselah, who lived to be like a million or something.

One of the next important people was Noah, who was a good guy, but one of his kids was kind of a Ham. Noah built a large boat and put his family and some
animals on it. He asked some other people to join him, but they said they would have to take a rain check. After Noah came Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. Jacob was more famous than his brother, Esau, because Esau sold Jacob his birthmark in exchange for some pot roast. Jacob had a son named Joseph who wore a really loud sports coat.

Another important Bible guy is Moses, whose real name was Charlton Heston. Moses led the Israel Lights out of Egyptand away from the evil Pharaoh after God sent ten plagues on Pharaoh's people. These plagues included frogs, mice, lice, bowels, and no cable.
God fed the Israel Lights every day with manicotti.Then he gave them His Top Ten Commandments.These include: don't lie, cheat, smoke, dance, or covet your neighbor's stuff.

Oh, yeah, I just thought of one more: Humor thy father and thy mother.

One of Moses' best helpers was Joshua who was the first Bible guy to use spies. Joshua fought the battle of Geritol and the fence fell over on the town.

After Joshua, came David. He got to be king by killing a giant with a slingshot. He had a son named Solomon who had about 300 wives and 500 porcupines. My
teacher says he was wise, but that doesn't sound very wise to me.

After Solomon there were a bunch of major league prophets.One of these was Jonah, who was swallowed by a big whale and then barfed up on the shore. There were also some minor league prophets, but I guess we don't have to worry about them.

After the Old Testament came the New Testament.
Jesus is the star of The New. He was born in Bethlehem in a barn.
(I wish I had been born in a barn too, because my mom is always saying to me, 'Close the door! Were you born in a barn?' It would be nice to say, 'As a matter of fact, I was.')

During His life, Jesus had many arguments with sinners like the Pharisees and the Democrats.

Jesus also had twelve opossums. The worst one was Judas Asparagus. Judas was so evil that they named a terrible vegetable after him.
Jesus was a great man. He healed many leopards and even preached to some Germans on the Mount.
But the Democrats and all those guys put Jesus on trial before Pontius the Pilot. Pilot didn't stick up for Jesus. He just washed his hands instead.Anyways, Jesus died for our sins, then came back to life again. He went up to Heaven but will be back at the end of the Aluminum. His return is foretold in the book of Revolution.

COME QUICKLY JESUS

1 Thess 4:16-18
16 For the Lord himself will come down from heaven, with a loud command, with the voice of the archangel and with the trumpet call of God, and the dead in Christ will rise first. 17 After that, we who are still alive and are left will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. And so we will be with the Lord forever. 18 Therefore encourage each other with these words.
NIV
** J…. One day, and I believe it is real soon, we are going to hear the sound of the trumpet of God and in the blink of an eye, we will see HIM, the one who died for us is coming to get us! All of our loved ones in the Lord who have gone before us will be there with Him ready to meet us. Oh what a day that will be! There will be singing and dancing and celebrating like you’ve never seen. No more crying, sorrow, pain or nothing evil. Even so, come quickly Jesus!

REAL LIFE

1 Thess 3:8
8 For now we really live, since you are standing firm in the Lord. NIV
** Real life? Is that what we’re talking about here? Paul says “Real Life” is to see others standing firm in the Lord that have been taught by him. It is a wonderful thing to see those you have discipled still walking faithful and true to their calling. Standing firm in the Lord is not only a blessing you those who stand firm but also to those who have taught them how to stand firm. I also know that it is a sad thing to behold when you have put lots and lots of time into someone why has given their lives to Jesus and you think that they are walking strong and next time you hear about them or see them, they are walking in the ways of the world. I don’t know why many people are so different in this area…. I can lead one person to the Lord who is quiet and don’t seem excited about their new relationship with the Lord and they take off learning and growing in the Lord tremendously and then someone else who seems so excited to have found Christ and yet in only a few days they are back to the old ways of the world.

I SIN THEY PAY

2 Sam 24:24-25
24 But the king replied to Araunah, "No, I insist on paying you for it. I will not sacrifice to the LORD my God burnt offerings that cost me nothing."
So David bought the threshing floor and the oxen and paid fifty shekels of silver for them. 25 David built an altar to the LORD there and sacrificed burnt offerings and fellowship offerings. Then the LORD answered prayer in behalf of the land, and the plague on Israel was stopped. NIV
** The cost of sacrifice….. you’d think that the name itself explains what needs to happen. Yet today we find very few people sacrificing things to please the Lord. David found himself in a very dire situation after sinning. For his sin….. the people will suffer! Now I know what you’re thinking because I thought the very same thing. Why do others have to suffer for the sin of one man? The answer? I don’t know!!!! J But one thing I do know….. one man of authority can sin and the whole nation can suffer from it. What does this mean to me and you? Count the cost of your sins….. Sin will cost you every time no matter how secret you are about it. Someone including you will have to pay for what you did wrong. This country will have to pay for the abortions we are allowing our administration to sign for. There is no other way around this reaping except for repentance on the leader and those who put them in leadership. Then there needs to be a sacrifice, something that cost us to offer to God so reaping of the sin will stop. We need to show God that we are serious about repentance. What do I do now? I do as David did…. “search my heart o God and find any wicked way in me.” As a leader I walk worthy of the calling and I try to not make sinful mistakes that CFC will suffer for. How about you? What will you do?

THE JOY OF THE LORD

1 Thess 1:6
6 You became imitators of us and of the Lord; in spite of severe suffering, you welcomed the message with the joy given by the Holy Spirit. NIV
** No matter what the cost! How important is His message to us? Are we willing to suffer for it? I love this verse because even though they were suffering because of the message, they still kept their joy. Many of our church is going thru trials and attacks from the enemy. KEEP THE JOY!!!! Don’t let satan steal your joy! The scripture is very clear that “the joy of the Lord is YOUR STRENGTH.” I want to share my favorite verse with all of you:
Heb 10:23-24
23 Let us hold unswervingly to the hope we profess, for he who promised is faithful. NIVHE IS FAITHFUL!!!!!!!

HIDDING IN YOUR BOX

First of all I just want to say HAPPY BIRTHDAY to the most wonderful woman on the face of this planet….. Tandi my wife! I love you sweet face and I’m glad that on this day God new that I would need a helper and someone to walk beside me and He brought forth you “my Eve.” My life has never been the same since you said I do. I speak blessings on you and pray that God will grant you everything that you desire both now and the days to come.

Ok now for the journal:
Ps 55:12-14
12 If an enemy were insulting me,
I could endure it; if a foe were raising himself against me, I could hide from him.
13 But it is you, a man like myself, my companion, my close friend, 14 with whom I once enjoyed sweet fellowship as we walked with the throng at the house of God. NIV
** This is so true….. it is not the people outside of the church that say bad things about me or the church that troubles me, it’s those I know and love and those who have walked with me. It is so easy not to have relationships in the church because of this very verse. We are so afraid that we will get disappointed or get our feelings hurt so we just stay in our little boxes and become very careful of who we let in because we’ve been hurt so many times in the past. But I say… what kind of life is that? What a sad day it would be to close the door to being friends with other people who have such wonderful lives to share. Will we get hurt? Definitely. Will they fail us? Probably yes. but that’s just life! There is no perfect people, especially you and me. So I suppose we will be as much as a burden to others as others are to us…… so what are you waiting for? Tear down the walls of your little box and get to know those who labor among you and enjoy life!

FOOLISH ADVICE

2 Sam 15:30-31
30 David walked up the road that led to the Mount of Olives, weeping as he went. His head was covered and his feet were bare as a sign of mourning. And the people who were with him covered their heads and wept as they climbed the mountain. 31 When someone told David that his adviser Ahithophel was now backing Absalom, David prayed, "O LORD, let Ahithophel give Absalom foolish advice!" NLT
** I can’t help and read this and think of our new administration…. I weep because a new king has taken over and is leading our country away from the Christian values that blessed this country in the first place. The only reason America is blessed is because we have put God first in our country. Now look at us…. We have allowed people we have put in authority over us to walk us away from the throne of God to other thrones of false gods. America needs to be very afraid right now. We are headed for a huge cliff and it won’t be long and we will fall. I pray that as long as our administration abandons Godliness and righteousness that they would get foolish advice from their advisors. God forgive us…. We humble ourselves and pray and turn from our wicked ways. Please forgive us of our sins and turn us back to you….. Amen.

JOY OF SALVATION

Ps 51:10-13
10 Create in me a clean heart, O God,
And renew a steadfast spirit within me.
11 Do not cast me away from Your presence
And do not take Your Holy Spirit from me.
12 Restore to me the joy of Your salvation
And sustain me with a willing spirit.
13 Then I will teach transgressors Your ways,
And sinners will be converted to You. NASU** “Joy of Your salvation.” So….. you’re saying salvation should be a joy? David said, “I was glad when they said unto me, let us go into the house of the Lord.” Christians should be the most happy people on earth. Why? Because first of all, while I was still a sinner, Christ died for me! I’m going to heaven when I die. Although that is enough for me, it’s not enough for Him because He goes much farther than to save us from hell and He gives us everything that pertains to life and godliness. He supplies all my needs according to His riches in heaven. He blesses everything I put my hands to. He heals me when I’m sick and comforts me when I’m lonely. What an awesome God I serve, not out of obligation, even though I definitely am obligated to give Him all the glory, but I serve Him because I want to. I couldn’t live without Him…. He is everything to me and He never has to ask me to serve Him because I want to before He asks.

WHO YOU GOING TO TRUST?

Ps 20:7
Some trust in chariots and some in horses, but we trust in the name of the LORD our God. NIV
** Who do you put your trust in? often times when I examine my life I feel like I trust in myself more often than not. I mean I really want to believe that I trust in God in everything I do……. BUT…… what happens when He doesn’t come thru in the time that I feel like I need Him? What happens when I pray for that extreme head ache that I’m having and nothing happens and the pain does not go away? What about when my finances are hurting and I pray and I still don’t get relief? Where is my trust now? Too many times I will pop the asprin, or find an extra job….. etc to meet the need I feel like He didn’t. Not that taking the asprin or working extra is all that wrong, but WHY did I do it instead of waiting to see what He says to me? I want to trust Him more and more but I know to pass that test, I must be tested….. ouch! That’s what I don’t like about all this…. The TEST!!! Well, they will come even if we don’t like them and we will either pass or fail and if we fail, He is faithful and loves us enough to send them along again until we pass the test and become all that we need to be in Him.

MORE FAITH?

Matt 21:21-22
21 Jesus replied, "I tell you the truth, if you have faith and do not doubt, not only can you do what was done to the fig tree, but also you can say to this mountain, 'Go, throw yourself into the sea,' and it will be done. 22 If you believe, you will receive whatever you ask for in prayer." NIV
** Such great faith! Sometimes I just don’t understand faith at all. I mean, often times I have a hard time just believing for a head ache to go away and here Jesus is talking about wilting trees and moving mountains!!! Is it because we are all surrounded with so much doubt that we can’t even believe for the little things in life? I know that we have been seeing some pretty amazing moves of God in our services in the last several months and just a couple of weeks ago we had about 5 very clear healings during the meeting. It’s exciting to see God be glorified and to experience His presence more and more.