Merry Christmas

Isaiah 1:18
Come now, and let us reason together, saith the LORD: though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they be red like crimson, they shall be as wool.

Wow what a great Christmas snow storm! I always say, if it’s going to be cold, it might as well snow! We spent the afternoon and evening with my family in Independence. It was a great time to spend with family. Samuel and Elisabeth really raked it in tonight and they will do even better tomorrow (or later this morning). Amy is placing the last gifts under the tree right now and we will be tucking in to rise and shine and open up the gift of God’s Word and share the true meaning for Christmas from Luke 2. I pray my children are enthusiastic about the gift of eternal life and the gifts of the Spirit as they are for their Christmas gifts. Children are great teachers and reminders of what our attitude toward the provision of our Heavenly Father should be.

Merry Christmas, I pray the Lord bless you and your family this Christmas!

Feliz Navidad

Feliz Navidad, Spanish for Merry Christmas. This morning before leaving for church one of our team members sent me some video of the ministry from Juarez, Mexico. It was a blessing to see the members of Igeslia Batista De Valle singing the Hallelujah Choir, you can distinguish Hallelujah in any language! Someday we will all be gathered around the throne, all people redeemed from all kindred and tongues from all nations, praising God for his unspeakable gift. It will be a glorious time.

This morning's service at HBF was a great blessing. I pray that those wrestling with their eternal decisions make one for Christ TODAY. This is the second time our Christmas service fell on out regularly schedule communion and it was a blessing to have Christmas Communion together before going out to proclaim Jesus to the world. I want to give praise to God for the members in particular of HBF. Everything from the greeters, to the praise, to Heartland Harmony (Jamming I might add), to the video leading up to the sermon was excellent! Today was just another kiss from God upon our little ministry in the heart of America. I don't think I would have wanted to be anywhere else in the world. Having said that it is a blessing to know that members of HBF are united in churches around our county, and even the world on any given Sunday working together to tell the world that Jesus is God, Peace on Earth, Good will toward men!

If you get this in time for Sunday evening Prayer Meeting at 6:00 p.m.; I will be showing the video sent up from Juarez. Please don't forget to pray for the team of three as they fly back to Kansas City tonight.

Seizing Our Opportunity To Share Christ - Christmas 2009

This post is particularly targeted to HBF Family and friends. This morning we had our Men's breakfast, it was awesome! Jim Slocumb busted the bread and encouraged our hearts to demonstrate the evidence of our salvation in Love. The breakfast was excellent but the spiritual bread was outstanding.

Tonight Real Life and Instruction's for Life Fellowship Classes went Caroling at Golden Years in Harrisonville. What a great way to minister to folks who need a touch of love and grace.

Tomorrow (Sunday) evening Clearly His will be combining forces with Heartland Harmony to bring home the reality of Christmas to our guests and our congregation. While it's great to be fed and encouraged by the Word of God, please remember that this is an excellent opportunity to invite guest's who may never attend a normal Sunday Service.

Pastor's Pick

I heard Tal and Acacia today on Air One and they immediately caught my ear. Their parents had a ministry to the inner city of Portland, Maine. In 1991, the entire family spent a year in Russia ministering in the city formerly known as Stalingrad with Salvation Army.

They have a groovy sound built upon scripture. You might give them a listen. Yahweh and Garbage In are my favorites thus far. The song Drifting Away has found play on some pop Television program.

Blindness

2 Kings 25:6-7
So they took the king, and brought him up to the king of Babylon to Riblah; and they gave judgment upon him. 7 And they slew the sons of Zedekiah before his eyes, and put out the eyes of Zedekiah, and bound him with fetters of brass, and carried him to Babylon.

The king of Babylon didn’t play with Zedekiah! Can you imagine the last thing you see is your sons being slain in cold blood? As I read this today, it reminded me of how truly wicked and cruel the world is and how incredibly irresponsible Zedekiah was. He was king in Jerusalem under Babylonian reign. While I would applaud him for standing against Babylon, he had no power with God so his efforts were in vain. In fact he terribly offended God in following after the traditions of Manasseh and Jeroboam who turned Israel to idolatry, even defiling the very temple of God.

Zedekiah was certainly no Josiah, his heart was not tender to the words of God and he paid dearly for trying to preserve his kingdom instead of God’s Kingdom. God points out in 2 Kings 24:19 that after 11 years of ruling in Jerusalem that he was as evil as Jehoiakim before him.

Here is the devotional thought God brought to me from the life of Zedekiah. When we who are in a position to follow God , instead turn to idolatry (which is also defined as covetousness in Colossians 3:5) we risk seeing our children destroyed by the world right before our eyes.

This passage serves as a strong admonition to me to follow the Lord with all my heart, mind, soul and strength. While Satan would like to blind me, he will not be so nice to my heritage. The last thing The Father heard his son say before he died was, “Father forgive them for they know not what they do.” Praise God for Jesus tender heart and God's amazing grace!

Josiah's Find

One of my favorite men of the Old Testament is Josiah. His name means “whom Jehovah heals”. In so many ways, King Josiah is a representation of the climate and culture of the church toady. Josiah’s wicked grandfather Manasseh did everything he could to bring the wrath of God upon the people of God. He desecrated the temple, worshipped pagan gods, sacrificed his sons to false gods, etc. His wickedness was so great, that God recorded that Manasseh was more wicked than the pagan that inhabited the promise land before the children of Israel entered the promise land.

Because of Manasseh’s wickedness, God promised certain wrath to the children of Israel. God told Manasseh that the evil that would come to Jerusalem and Judah was so great that it would cause both the ears of them that heard it to tingle. It was the worst of times. Despite God’s justified wrath, he allowed Manasseh and his son Amon to reign in Jerusalem. This reminds me of the climate today. Just as in the days of Noah many really don’t believe judgment is nigh. The bible even predicts this kind of apathy as the Day of the Lord approaches. While 1 Thessalonians 5:9 is clear that we are not appointed to wrath, it doesn’t mean that God’s judgment and subsequent redemption of Israel is not once again at the door.

Luke 17:26-30
And as it was in the days of Noe[Noah], so shall it be also in the days of the Son of man. 27 They did eat, they drank, they married wives, they were given in marriage, until the day that Noe entered into the ark, and the flood came, and destroyed them all. 28 Likewise also as it was in the days of Lot; they did eat, they drank, they bought, they sold, they planted, they builded; 29 But the same day that Lot went out of Sodom it rained fire and brimstone from heaven, and destroyed them all. 30 Even thus shall it be in the day when the Son of man is revealed.

In the midst of God’s justified wrath is a glimmer of grace. Just as we find space for repentance in 2 Peter 3. In a chapter dedicated to informing us of the pending wrath and reconciliation, God places a wonderful admonition to repent while there is still opportunity.

2 Peter 3:9
The Lord is not slack concerning his promise, as some men count slackness; but is longsuffering to us-ward, not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance.

We see the character of God in his restraint. Just as He forgave the thief on the cross, so to, he forgives those who turn to him with a broken heart. It is our receptiveness to God’s promises that really dictates relationship with him. Josiah began his reign as a youth of only eight years old. He didn’t really have a life outside of being king of Jerusalem and Judah. His mother or whoever brought him up must have done a good job, for when Hilkiah was cleaning out the temple and found a copy of the book of the law, he delivered it to Shaphan to read before the king and to King Josiah’s credit, he received the word as it is in truth the very words of God (1 Thessalonians 2:13). It was Josiah’s attitude toward the Word of God that ensured his success and the salvation of God’s people, if only for a short 31 year reign of this king.

2 Kings 22:19-20
Because thine heart was tender, and thou hast humbled thyself before the LORD, when thou heardest what I spake against this place, and against the inhabitants thereof, that they should become a desolation and a curse, and hast rent thy clothes, and wept before me; I also have heard thee, saith the LORD. 20 Behold therefore, I will gather thee unto thy fathers, and thou shalt be gathered into thy grave in peace; and thine eyes shall not see all the evil which I will bring upon this place. And they brought the king word again.

Because Josiah’s heart was tender, the Lord paused his disciplinary action upon the nation of Israel, to afford Josiah and the people of Israel a revival. Once again we see the mighty character of Christ who would rather suffer God’s wrath himself, than allow us to go head long into damnation.

Today we live in a time much like Josiah’s. According to Revelation 3:17-20, it is a time of misplaced priorities. We say one thing (we are rich and increased with goods), while the spiritual reality is another. We think we are covered, clothed, yet before God we are stitchless and ashamed. It is a time when the religion Goes on unencumbered because we have discovered the systems that work to draw people to our churches, yet all too often Jesus is not in the service. A time when personal worship is crowded by a myriad of other gods and the Word of God is scarcely found in the conscience of those who claim to be the very temple of God. A time where Christ is present, yet few have consulted his mind to consider what he says about our place in history.

Oh that we would once again discover the power of our relationship with God in His Word. That alone is the source of revival. That today is the call of Christ, as he stands at the door and knocks asking us to once again open the rusty hinge of the Word of God and lay our eyes afresh upon his promises. He desires that we are truly filled with His riches and clothed with his righteousness.

It was a wonderful day when Hilkiah and Shaphan found the book of the law. It was even more wonderful when it was read before the Lord and received. Because these men found the Word, Josiah, Jerusalem and Judah found grace and mercy in the sight of the Lord.

Christmas season is upon us. In the midst of our religious and traditional holiday, I pray everyone discovers the Word of God fresh and new as the greatest gift we have every received is found in the coming of Christ to this earth to die for our sins. It is the gift of the Word of God that seals the promise of eternal life to all that call upon his name.