Packing a suitcase for vacation and running through a perpetual mental list of things to do before leaving is just a couple of things that one does to prepare for a trip. I will pack a bathing suit if I have the hope of swimming in the ocean and I’ll pack skis if I am planning a trip to the mountains. I would look pretty silly if I reached to my destination point on the beaches of the Atlantic, and unloaded my car full of ski equipment. The point is this; the hope that I have during the time that I prepare for my trip will help me to prepare correctly. Do you remember Paul telling us in Romans 8, that we are saved by hope? Now think about this in association with our lives. We go through are daily lives preparing for everything from breakfast to retirement. Some prepare for their days by going over their written list because they want to be sure to complete all that they had hoped to accomplish. Let’s say that I wanted to accomplish a big job on a particular day. The hope that I have of doing this will cause me to arrange my schedule, plan my breaks and do certain jobs at certain times. I will do the small jobs that I can do alone while I am waiting for my buddy to arrive to help me with the bigger ones. Do you understand what I mean? If I sat around idle until my buddy arrived then not only did I lose precious time during the day but also I would still have all those little jobs to accomplish. Hope escapes us like smoke escaping out the window of a burning house when we fail to prepare. I am not playing with words here. True hope causes me to prepare and preparation increases my hope. It’s like the joy of the Lord gives you strength. When you joy in the Lord, He gives you more of Himself and the more joy you receive. The more joy you receive the stronger you become. The stronger you become the more joy you will experience. See how it works?!

Now, back to preparing correctly. I am planning a trip (and it’s not just on a vacation to Myrtle Beach). I’m preparing to go to Heaven and meeting with the Creator, the Mighty God! I don’t need to pack any luggage but I do need to prepare my soul. I know that God saved me by the Blood of Jesus Christ, but I also know that He still desires to separate from my heart all the worldly desires that have accumulated in me over the years when I hadn’t lived for Him. We must remember that we are heading for the Marriage Supper of the Lamb and we shall be presented as the bride… We must prepare accordingly!
Have a good week! Pastor Jim

The other day I had to replace the headlight on Robin’s truck. UGH! I am amazed at how just four little screws can be such a test of faith! It doesn’t help that I have these huge fingers that have no mechanical ability at all. Nevertheless, with screwdriver, pliers and sledgehammer, (just kidding) I went to work. While I was attempting to put one of the screws back into place it fell through the backside of the grill into and past the engine compartment. It must have hit twenty things before it fell into silence. And out of sight as well! UGH! Oh, did I tell you that I was working on it in the dirt driveway? “Well, that screw is history. I’ll never find that thing amongst the grass and stones.” I wasn’t even sure it landed underneath the truck! Then I remembered this magnet that I have hanging in the garage for just these purposes. With magnet in hand, I crouched down under the truck, estimated the approximant area where it could have landed, took account for wind velocity, rotation of the earth, gravitational pull… just kidding. I just waved that magnet close to the ground where I thought it might have landed. Voila! The screw fastened to that magnet like a lost child finding its mother’s arms! Despite all this tomfoolery, God broke into this whole scenario with one quick lesson. He said, “Did you notice that the magnet was more useful than your eyes in this situation? The magnet helped you find what your eyes couldn’t see.” That is exactly what faith does for the believer. Faith is like a magnet and God is like the lost screw! “That’s so cool, Lord.” I thought. “But You’re not lost.”
No, God is not lost. But during some times He seems to hide Himself, doesn’t He? Isaiah said, “Truly God, You are a God who hides Himself.” David lamented, “Why. O Lord, do you stand far off? Why do you hide yourself in times of trouble?” And then, Satan has a way to jump right in there with doubt and fear. Two things that will destroy faith! Well, Beloved, My Bible says, “Behold, I am with you always.” It will take more than our eyes to see God within our circumstances during times of trial. It will take faith. You see, God does not reveal Himself in the circumstances of our lives. God reveals Himself through His Word! Then, through faith in that Word, we can see God’s intervention in the circumstances of our lives! That’s how it works! The Bible says that, by faith, Moses regarded disgrace for the sake of Christ as of greater value than all the treasures of Egypt, because he was looking ahead to his reward. He persevered because he saw him who is invisible! So, let us fix our eyes on not what is seen but rather what is unseen. For what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal!
Have a great week!
Pastor Jim

I have many times quoted the Scripture, “Casting all your care upon the Lord, for he careth for you.”1Pe.5:7 That scripture allows me to hand over those anxieties in life that are too big for me. It’s true, I have to admit it, no apologies, no qualifications; sometimes life is too big for me to handle! Do you know when I can handle life? It’s usually only when things are going the way that I want them to. You know the scenario; belly full and contented to the bone, happy and feeling good physically. I have free time to myself and not a pressure in sight. Yeah, you’re right; those moments are in my dreams! I didn’t realize at first, but when the Lord accepted me into His family I received a Watcher over my soul. He is kind and loving and His wisdom is incomparable. He is powerful and possesses all knowledge (He knows what is coming up in my life). I can handle life because God handles it for me. Some folks say that that is using God as a crutch and that I should learn to be victorious and an overcomer. Well, my answer is, I have! With God in me and with me, I can do all things! But there is one thing that I believe no one can overcome and that is keeping safe from unseen dangers. How can one protect oneself from what they do not see? This is why ambushes are so effective when someone wants to overpower someone or something else. Forget ambushes, you and I know that life is full of hidden dangers that are not necessarily ambushes. For instance, the other day I was taking Eli, our dog, out to his chain. It is something that I do without thinking or worrying that something may happen to me. But at the exact time that I decided to take Eli out and in just the right place where I would pick up his chain –was a wasp! No kidding, in all of the square footage that is considered “my yard” this wasp decided to be right on that little hook where I was about to put my hand. If I hadn’t seen it, it most definitely would have stung me. Grant it, I could have handled the discomfort of a wasp sting. And it may seem insignificant considering all the pain and suffering in this world, but that just accentuates God’s care over me all the more, does it not? He cares for us all in that same way. When I reached down to pick up that little hook after the wasp was gone a little smile came upon my face as God spoke to my heart. “You’re welcome.” He said knowing that “Thank You, Jesus!” was soon to come from my mouth. This little moment of Divine intervention blessed my day and enabled me to charge into my work knowing that Someone “had my back.” Life is so much sweeter without the worry and anxiety that God alleviates with His Presence. Thank you Lord for Your promise to be with us always! May your walk with the Lord be a blessing!

Have a great week!
Pastor Jim

Have you seen the panhandlers on the street corners? They hold signs that read: “Will work for food”. Well, my question is simply, “Who doesn’t?” Please do not think that I am being callous about the plight of the poor but I don’t fully understand holding a sign on a street corner. If I am willing to work, then I am going to work! If the only job I can find is digging ditches or flipping burgers, then that’s what I’ll do. I have been working since I was eleven years old and I did whatever I had to do. I once had a job of pulling nails out of 2x4s. One time I worked at a train wreck that was carrying canned cheese. For three dollars an hour I spent two days up to my neck in stinky cheese –Yuck! I believe the premise; “If a man doesn’t work, he doesn’t eat.” Over the years I have seen a different attitude about work in the eyes of the under privileged. One that really gets to me is when they think that certain work is beneath them. Their families go without certain necessities but “God forbid” that they would humiliate themselves by applying for a job at McDonalds. I have seen people act like the church owed it to them to provide them with groceries and yet they could spend 50 bucks for a carton of cigarettes! Go figure. I worked in a food pantry down in Zanesville and you would not believe the number of times able bodied men and women would come and get food with all kinds of reasons why they couldn’t work. And because, in their own eyes, their excuses were legitimate, they tried to make you feel like you owed them something. Do you know what I think? I think some people work hard at trying not to work!
Now, you may be asking yourself, “Pastor Jim, why are you getting down on the unemployed?” Please do not misunderstand. I have no problem helping the poor. In fact, the Bible even commands that we do. No, I am talking about those folks who just don’t want to work. Think about this: If God ordained that we would work by the sweat of our brow until death, and then someone tries to get through life some other way, then isn’t he actually in rebellion against God’s word? If God says that we should work and we think that we would rather not… then we are actually saying that our way is better than God’s. Notice, that I haven’t even brought up the Gospel or Jesus Christ. Do you see that man could be in rebellion of God’s Word without even a thought of Jesus Christ? Jesus Christ is the Word of God and when man rebels against any words of God, then technically, he rebels against Christ. I know that this is hard to accept but in reality, trying to get through life without carrying your load in the work place is just plain sinful and should be repented of. The problem why this little subject might be so volatile is the fact that there are some folks who (because of truly legitimate reasons) cannot work. And then, there are those who actually could work but don’t. People who are truly disabled should be cared for but remember, even Joni Erickson Tada, who is paralyzed from the neck down, works for a living. This is a heart matter and no one knows what is in the heart of man except the man himself. A man could tell me that he can’t work because of his health and be lying out his teeth –but I wouldn’t know. Only the man himself and God would know the truth. And on the day he stood before God, he’d wish that he would have never scorned God’s Word!

They say that if you work your fingers to the bone, your reward is –boney fingers! Since the dawn of civilization and in particular, the fall of man, we have been working and sweating and working and sweating some more. Of course, we have no one to blame except ourselves. But for Pete’s sake can’t we catch a break? Is there any possibility for reward better than boney fingers? When the Lord told Adam that he would now have to toil the earth by the sweat of his brow He didn’t promise him any rewards –just sweat! And for all you Optimists, let me just say God was as negative here as one can be. Listen to what He says: “Cursed is the ground because of you; through painful toil you will eat of it all the days of your life. It will produce thorns and thistles for you, and you will eat the plants of the field. By the sweat of your brow you will eat your food until you return to the ground, since from it, you were taken; for dust you are and to dust you will return.” In other words, because of man’s sin, the ground is cursed and we are sentenced to hard labor until death. Doesn’t sound very pleasant to me; does it you?

But God, being the merciful God that He is, has enabled us to profit from our labor. He has also given us opportunities to be rewarded along our way back to the soil. Solomon tells us that finding satisfaction in our work and being contented during the days of our lives is a gift from God. “What does the worker gain from his toil? I have seen the burden God has laid on men. He has made everything beautiful in its time. He has also set eternity in the hearts of men; yet they cannot fathom what God has done from beginning to end. I know there is nothing better for men than to be happy and do good while they live. That everyone may eat and drink, and find satisfaction in all his toil –this is the gift of God.” Eccl.3:9-13 We will labor by the sweat of our brows –period! But those who can be content and happy while they do are blessed in this life. It would be a terrible thing to go through life constantly complaining about our work, always looking for short cuts so that we don’t have to put forth the effort and then, finally, dying a miserable death penniless. And believe me, one second after death –nobody has any money! Hotdogs go down much better when you’re not complaining that all you have to eat are hotdogs! Solomon tells us that when a man finds satisfaction in his work, God’s hand is upon him and who can eat or find any enjoyment without Him? If your lot in life is difficult and you just go around complaining about it and trying to skirt responsibility, don’t boast about how God is in your life. Because if I was God and had to listen to you complain all the time, I think I would allow just any little thing to irritate you. Then think about how happy you would be! My friends, God has made a way in this life so that even though we may toil and sweat, we may also find it rewarding. Oh, by the way, God does offer us a new hope for all of our labor. Our labor for the Lord that is! “Always give yourselves fully to the work of the Lord, because you know that your labor in the Lord is not in vain.” 1Cor.15:58

Have a great week!
Pastor Jim