A Fresh Fire

Most would agree that we need a revival throughout the Evangelical Church today.  I think that there are several definitions or thoughts out there on just what that revival should be or look like.  I ran across this quote in my cyber travels and thought it would be interesting to share and see what some of you thought about it.  Here it is and I look forward to your responses…

“The chief danger of the Church today is that it is

trying to get on the same side as the world, instead

of turning the world upside down. Our Master

expects us to accomplish results, even if they bring

opposition and conflict. Anything is better than

compromise, apathy, and paralysis. God give to us

an intense cry for the old-time power of the Gospel

and the Holy Ghost!”

A. B. Simpson

 

The Diamond in the Rough

As I was looking over the morning news on the web, I see the story of yet another teen whose life has ended tragically in a recent car wreck.  As I sat there and read the article feeling sad for the friends and family and their loss I noticed that they are going to be gathering to remember the life of this young man at his memorial service. 

It is wonderful to see that above all things this young man will be remembered as one who had a relationship with Jesus.  Because of that relationship, this family has a comfort in the midst of the pain, a ray of hope in the darkness and a diamond in the roughest of the rough.

My heart and prayers go out to this family and community during this time of loss and also to the other families and boys who survived.

Blog on Blogging

Okay, I started out with the greatest of intentions about keeping up with my blog and engaging in other’s as well and I have not done such a great job at it. 

In conversatons with some of you who maintain blogs I have surmised that I am missing out on some great learning and “Iron Sharpening”.  I am going to make an effort to be more active.  Most of you who know me…know that I am full of opinions…amongst other things.  So please forgive my lack of participation of the last few months and I look forward to reading and sharing with all of you.

In Christ

Ken

“It’s the Most Wonderful Time of the Year!”

The stores have been selling Christmas items since Labor Day.  After Halloween the real push for the holidays begins and Thanksgiving is a warm-up for Christmas and then one week later it will be the New Year!  It is the holiday “three-peat” of food, fun and fellowship.  I am amazed at how this year has flown by in a whir.  As I get older they seem to be clicking by a little faster.

 The holiday season is, and has always been, the best time of the year for family and friends to reunite and share a meal, tell old family stories (especially embarrassing ones that involve you), laugh at all of those same jokes you have heard Uncle “So-n-So” tell a hundred times, and just plain spend some quality time with your family.

 What could be better than that?  Everyone loves the holiday season, right?  Sadly, the answer to that question is “No”! 

 This time of the year between Thanksgiving and New Years has the highest suicide rate of any other time.  People are under enormous amounts of pressure ranging from financial strains, domestic disputes, and the loss of loved ones.  Yes the holidays can be very lonely and dismal for some.  I am a firm believer that a lot of these problems are rooted in the very fact that the main reason for the holidays is largely ignored by most and scantly remembered by some.  Our society has taken Christ out of the season and replaced Him with an “X” and that has repercussions that filter into all of our lives.  But, that is another “blog” for a different day.

 I want us to focus today on what we can do to help these individuals out through these times.  All of us know someone who has lost loved ones, jobs, and had rocky marriages and various other troubles in their life.  Let’s make it a point this season to give that person a call and invite them over for a cup of coffee, share a conversation, or drop by to see them and let them know you were thinking about them.  You never know when you dial the phone what “triggers” you might be stopping from being pulled.  Let’s share the love of Christ with those who are in the most need of it.

  I urge you to seek God in prayer and ask Him to put on your heart someone that might need comfort and love this holiday season.  Call that old high school friend you have not seen in years and just let them know that you were thinking about them and that you are praying for them.  Call that person you might have had a quarrel with and put to rest any bitterness between you.  If you do these things, it will mean so much more than anything you put under a tree. 

 Give the true gift of LIFE, give the true gift of LOVE, give the message of JESUS CHRIST! 

May Jesus be the center of your season this year…and every year!

In Christ

Pastor Ken 

It’s Never Too Late, ‘Till It’s Too Late!

  

If you have been anywhere near a TV set or the Internet this week, I am sure you have seen the tragedy of the I-35 bridge collapse in Minneapolis.  The death toll this morning as I am writing is at 5 and climbing with numerous injuries to others who were spared.  My thoughts and prayers go out those people and their families.How does this kind of thing happen?  Who is responsible? It was reported that for years they have known about problems with this bridge.  They can attribute some of the problem from the beginning due to some faulty welding, and later due to cracks and other problems noticed in the nineties.  Yet some team of “experts” came in and deemed the bridge “Structurally Deficient” and then continued to use the bridge.  I have been across this very bridge when I was a truck driver during the early 90’s.  Does it not outrage us that we knew something was wrong and just let it go.  The consequences of these actions are being painfully felt by those affected by this collapse.  BOTTOM LINE:  THIS COULD HAVE BEEN AVOIDED. Just like this horrible bridge incident could have been avoided, there is something else that comes to my mind that we can avoid that is even worse.  One day it will be our time to pass from this life to the next.  We all will stand judgement before a Holy and Just God.  Wouldn’t it be shame to suffer eternal consequences because of something we had prior knowledge of.  Just like that bridge we are all faulty due to sin.  We can see the “Cracks” in our lives if we take an honest look at ourselves and just like that bridge, if we let those cracks go unattended tragedy will befall us. Jesus Christ made a way for us to fix our “cracks” (sin) by dying on the Cross.  All we need to do is realize that we have sin on our life, accept Christ as our Savior for those sins, put our faith and trust in Him and follow Him.  OUR CRACKS ARE FIXED!!  TRAGEDY HAS BEEN AVOIDED!  WE CAN HAVE ETERNAL LIFE! Don’t put off fixing what is broke today because tommorow may never come.  If you would have told the people before they crossed that bridge that they would never see the other side, they would probably have laughed in your face. The engineers who inspected that bridge gambled that it would be okay even though it had “structural deficiencies” and they lost at a great cost. Are you willing to gamble with your eternity? in Christ’s unfailing Love, Pastor Ken

The Real Deal

Driving down the road, I look up and see a billboard for a certain fast-food establishment and on this billboard is a picture of a cheeseburger that, with just a quick glance, sends your mind to thinking “mmm boy I could sure go for one of those right now. 

This cheeseburger has lettuce so green and fresh looking it looks as if it just came out of the garden and the tomato is a thick slab of perfect red and ripeness.  The other items such as the onions, pickles and cheese are piled high and they all rest on a bun that is golden brown and appears that it just came right out of “mama’s” oven.  I know you might be thinking that if Pastor Ken is seeing all this on a billboard at 65 miles per hour, he needs to be watching the road a little more.  However the picture does its job and I whip off at the next exit and pull into a parking spot and march myself into the restaurant to get myself one of those magnificent creations.

I place my order and then I sit down at the table and eagerly await.  Not too much time passes and my order arrives.  As I unwrap my burger I began to notice a few things.  The paper which it is wrapped in has been soaked through with grease, the top bun is hard and tough from staleness and the bottom bun is soggy with grease.  The fresh dark green lettuce I had pictured has been replaced with wilted, faded out lime-green colored lettuce.  The tomato is a pale pink and thin enough to read a newpaper through.  Half of the cheese is on the wrapper.  I am thinking “this is not the burger that I crossed 3 lanes of traffic at 65 miles per hour for.  Nonetheless, it is what I ended up with.

Has this ever happened to you.  Doesn’t that just chap your hide in the worst way.  False advertising really gets my “goat”.  If you advertise a “sumptuous” cheeseburger then sell one!

It is kind of the same way when we call ourselves Christians.  We shout from the roof tops to the world that we are a christian and everyone looks our way.  We dress a certain way, we have the Jesus fish on our car, we listen to Christian radio and at first glance the world says “Wow, now there goes a Christian”.  Until someone happens to accidently pull out in front of the car with the “Jesus fish” and the “Christian” driver makes obscene gestures and yells profanity out his window. 

To call ourselves Christians is to say that we are trying to emulate Christ.  All too often we find ourselves looking like the old soggy, greasy cheeseburger instead of the fresh and tasty one.  If we are advertising that we are Christian then we need to deliver what we are selling.  The world has enough hypocrits without Christians adding to the numbers.

Let us ask ourselves today where we stand.  Are our actions Christ-like?  Are we leading people to the Truth or are we just “mis-leading” them. 

“If you say you “IS” a Christian, then act like you “IS”!

In Christ

Pastor Ken