Therefore take no thought, saying, What shall we eat? or, What shall we drink? or, Wherewithal shall we be clothed? 32 (For after all these things do the Gentiles seek:) for your heavenly Father knoweth that ye have need of all these things. 33 But seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you. (Matthew 6:31-33)
As a Christian I am indebted to the Word of God. For it is here that I find the gospel message, the salvation of my soul; the inheritance that awaits me for faithfulness to my Lord; the wonder of the Godhead, and the creation of all things. These and more are the revelations that we hold dear and close without wavering. Yet, the scripture passage I have chosen today shows us that faithful Christian living is a daily walk where I am growing in Christ, becoming more like Him in every way and trusting Him through every trial and tribulation this world can throw at me. Why do we as God’s beloved grow so anxious over those things that God has promised to give us? We act as though God is impotent to provide the basic necessities of life but pray for Him to fulfill the greatest miracles which we constantly bring to His attention. Our faithfulness to Jesus is serving Him with a deep desire to please and faith in his constant provision for our lives. If we are anxious about these small things have we not become puppets of Satan, quivering at his every pull of the strings? God tells us to seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness! I seek it today with the objective of pleasing Him. I bring myself and actions into subjection to Him. I mortify the deeds of the body and put on the righteousness of Christ (Romans 14:13). I follow Him as He leads me in the paths of righteousness for His sake (Psalm 23:3). Here is the clarion call to all of us who love Him. Trust in the Lord with all thine heart and lean not unto thy own understanding. In all thy ways acknowledge Him and He shall direct thy paths (Proverbs 3:5-6).
B.C.
“Therefore shall a man leave his father and his mother, and shall cleave unto his wife: and they shall be one flesh.” (Genesis 2:24, KJV)
My wife Michelle and I recently celebrated 27 years of marriage, a milestone in today’s world, for sure. Far too many couples are calling it quits and entering into divorce or separation. Gone it seems are the days of sticking it out! I’ve learned a lot after twenty seven years of living with the same woman. I understand what the word commitment means. At least I understand it better now than twenty seven years ago. I’ve asked myself recently amidst a fire storm of trouble experienced by Christian couples, why my marriage seems to be impervious to the assault experienced by others? I suppose there are many good and Biblical reasons for it, yet, we seem to share something unique not seen in other relationships. This past weekend I had the privilege of ministering for my parents 50th wedding anniversary. It had been a desire of theirs to exchange vows on the beach. We honored their wish and held the service in Newport RI. Although they stood together renewing their vows with the ocean as their backdrop, heavy rains prevented us from standing in the sand. Yet, the service could not have been more perfect. Family and friends gathered around them to witness what some will never know. Those witnesses came away from that moment understanding what marriage is all about. It is unconditional love and commitment between best friends! For fifty years my parents have been best friends in this thing we call life. Michelle and I have been best friends now for 27 years of marriage, and before that we dated for eight years. Some of you may be thinking that to be a long time, but for me it seems like just yesterday that I met her. We have our ups and downs, like my folks have theirs, but we remain lovingly committed to each other till death do us part.
BC
“… that thou mightest know the certainty of those things, wherein thou hast been instructed.” (Luke 1:4)
This statement of Luke introduces his gospel as an eyewitness account and an absolute testimony of our Lord! These first four verses of the gospel reveal a loss to the modern Christian in respect to the degree of importance and surety. The early church was an uncompromising body of dedicated believers that took the world by storm with their unrelenting desire to preach Christ to all even at the expense of their own lives! The power of the resurrection of Christ and the workings of the Holy Spirit among them was so powerful a force that they were willing pawns in the master’s game. What power is lacking in our lives today? Is the Holy Spirit not still empowering us when we courageously witness for our Lord? Is the resurrection of Christ diminished at all? Questions worth asking for sure, as we see an ever weakening church with each succesive generation. We Christians have as great a responsibility to Christ as the early church did. The 6.7 billion people who currently inhabit our planet are a lost generation with a destiny of hell! Are we so uncaring a people that we will not hold these truths (scriptural) to be our life blood? To be the motivation necessary to move us into action, or will we be complacent and satisfied with our meager efforts and lack of dedication to our Lord? This is a time to believe, a time to move, a time to pray, a time to effect our world for Christ!
BC
I was pondering over my recent move from Wednesday night Adult ministries to Youth ministries! Some would probably say, “Uh Bob, you’re the Pastor, shouldn’t you be with the adults and some subordinate teaching the teens?” I must confess that I had thought this myself, but I can’t think of a better move (ministerialy) that I’ve made in the recent past. I’ve also found and must confess that I’m enjoying it! It is refreshing to have people participating, asking questions, and giving some thought to their faith. We adults can get so complacent and stale in our faith, but these young people are just beginning to explore theirs. how refreshing to see desire for real Christian living in this mostly neglected and misunderstood constituency of ours. I am looking forward to our new program this fall with Word of Life and the opportunity we will have to challenge ourselves to better ministry as we work with the youth of our church. These are the next generation of Christians this world will have to deal with. Let’s give them the desire and enthusiasm to live faithfully. For now, I’ll continue working with the Teens right through the summer, and enjoying every minute of it. It is so invigorating, that Who knows maybe I’ll even start growing hair again?
BC
Isaiah 58:13 14 “If thou turn away thy foot from the Sabbath, from doing thy pleasure on my holy day; and call the sabbath a delight, the holy of the LORD, honourable; and shalt honour him, not doing thine own ways, nor finding thine own pleasure, nor speaking thine own words:Then shalt thou delight thyself in the LORD; and I will cause thee to ride upon the high places of the earth, and feed thee with the heritage of Jacob thy father: for the mouth of the LORD hath spoken it.”
Not the first time I’ve written on the subject of the Sabbath, and I suppose it won’t be the last; At least not until God’s people start taking it seriously! Ever since this recession, the average number of Sunday “worshippers” has dropped. Why? one would ask, doesn’t the present condition of the economy drive people to the church? yes, as we’ve seen seekers and first time visits up, all the while God’s chosen angels (tongue in cheek) are out playing or working!!!! Shame! let me say it again, Shame!!! Just because Christians are not justified by the law does not mean that a blatant negligence of His commandments is overlooked, nor indeed can be. Where are all the Bible believers? Where were you last week or the week before? Do you think that God will just excuse you for your disobedience to the scriptures? Does He not tell you to not forake the assembling of yourselves together as the manner of some is? Do you not know that you shall stand before the judgment seat of Christ and give an account? All right then, enough said. I pray that you all have a great Lord’s day this Sunday.
B.C.
PSALM 52
1 Why boastest thou thyself in mischief, O mighty man? the goodness of God endureth continually.
2 Thy tongue deviseth mischiefs; like a sharp razor, working deceitfully.
3 Thou lovest evil more than good; and lying rather than to speak righteousness. Selah.
4 Thou lovest all devouring words, O thou deceitful tongue.
5 God shall likewise destroy thee for ever, he shall take thee away, and pluck thee out of thy dwelling place, and root thee out of the land of the living. Selah.
6 The righteous also shall see, and fear, and shall laugh at him:
7 Lo, this is the man that made not God his strength; but trusted in the abundance of his riches, and strengthened himself in his wickedness.
8 But I am like a green olive tree in the house of God: I trust in the mercy of God for ever and ever.
9 I will praise thee for ever, because thou hast done it: and I will wait on thy name; for it is good before thy saints.
I found myself listening to a conservative radio program earlier today. (If there’s no good program on Christian radio, or my praise and worship CD’s seem monotonous I do like to stay current with the times, which is nearly impossible with the rhetoric that’s dished out night after night from the “big three”.) Anyway, I really find it difficult to listen and not get riled up. I see the Socialism train coming and want to scream out, “Is everyone blind?” And then I stop myself and think, “What am I getting upset about?” Why does this passion for patriotism rear up so easily? Well I think I’ve figured it out. I’m passionate for what concerns me most! When I listen to what’s going on at the federal level, it sickens me to death. The same way my passion for Christian service is escalated and my dander goes up when I see Christians not concerned about the one thing that is certain. Christians are so easily distracted from their real duty because they have no real passion for God. They are more concerned about their jobs, retirement, health, etc. but when it comes to the gospel of Jesus Christ and the salvation of men’s souls, they are sleeping and virtually uninterested in serving the Lord. Am I sounding too harsh? That’s O.K. I’m changing my middle name to “Harsh”. I’m tired of sugar coating it (can’t remember when I did), or spoon feeding it (Never did that one either). I guess I’m just going to keep saying it as loud and clear as I can. “Is everyone Blind?”
RC
While most of America is sleeping, a diabolical plan to destroy religious freedom moves ahead at light speed! By now most of the citizens of this great country have been pretty much desensitized by the blatant abuse of our government’s trampling all over our constitutional rights, but now what may be the first bold move of “hell” to control churches has reared it’s ugly head in the state of Connecticut! The following is an excerpt from another Blogger. This is no joke! The State of Connecticut is changing legislature to move to control the Catholic Church of that state. – Yes, we are approaching the time when Christians will be forced to take a stand of faith. We have now come full circle. The problems that existed prior to the American Revolution, and were won by the blood of our forefathers is back in our face again. This is a bold and brazen move against the constitution of the USA. We are on the slippery slope!! – Bob
Connecticut vs Catholic Church March 9th 2009 The state of Connecticut is specifically targeting the Catholic Church for a mandated restructure!
From the Corner via Liberty Girl:
The [Democrat]-controlled Judiciary Committee has introduced Raised Bill 1098, a bill aimed specifically at the Catholic Church, which would remove the authority of the bishop and pastor over individual parishes and put a board of laymen in their place. Yes, we’re asking the same questions you are (Where does the legislature have the authority to do this? Isn’t this a blatant violation of the First Amendment?), but we assure you that this is not a hoax.
If the legislature can replace a bishop with a board of laymen in the Catholic Church, they can just as easily replace the governing lay structure of Congregationalist or Baptist churches with someone set up as a bishop. In fact, it was resistance to such government interference in the internal life of the church that gave birth to several of our most historic denominations. Thanks to this awful bill, our generation must now rise up to defend those hard-fought victories for religious liberty that were won for us by our ancestors.
Text of Raised bill 1098
The bill’s statement of purpose?
To revise the corporate governance provisions applicable to the Roman Catholic Church and provide for the investigation of the misappropriation of funds by religious corporations.
Either the state allows its people to practice a religion within its borders or it doesn’t, but trying to restructure a 2,000 year old church for the purpose of keeping an eye on its financial report is a violation of free speech, not to mention ethics.
Haitian Pastors January 2009
This coming year 2009, will prove to be a test of both endurance and faith! Our Haiti emphasis has been taken to new heights. Br. Ron Maggard and myself are scheduled to be in Puerto-Prince for nine week long seminars for the teaching and training of 75 - 100 Haitian pastors. I thought about the Macedonian call in Acts 16:9 and how Paul had this vision of a man calling him over. This is how we came to this place concerning Haiti; Pastor Predestine of Puerto-Prince called and asked for help! We answered as it says in Acts 16:10 "immediately we endeavoured to go into Macedonia (Haiti). But I can honestly say that an immediate endeavouring does not make one a spiritual giant of faith! For me the endeavouring was easy as I know this to be God's will for me in ministry, but it does come with a price. There are consolations with family and church which must be considered. And, just what will the outcome of all this be only God knows. Yet, I can say assuredly that there is no better place to be than in His hands, for there, is comfort and strength! Please pray for us as we endeavour to go into our Macedonia. Also see the the video on You tube which can be accessed in the right column of this page under "Blogroll".
All donations to the cause can be made to
Carelink International/Haiti
430 Center St.
Jupiter, FL 33458
