A little behind....

To those of you that visit regularly, please forgive my two week absence. I have been busier than normal, and lost track of time. As many of you know, in the retirement of our Pastor, I had been called upon to Preach / Teach the Wednesday night Prayer Meeting Services at our local Church. This has been both a Blessing for me, as well as a challenge.

While our Dear Precious Heavenly Father gave me a mind to articulate thoughts on paper, I am not the most fluent or polished public speaker. So I am challenged in that area, I also realized the in depth study time that it takes to prepare a biblically accurate and spiritually accountable message each week was pressing. That combined with my High School / College age Sunday School Class, and these 50+ year old brains cells get stretched quite a bit.

I have been blessed with a full time Information Technology job all week long (40+ Hours), combined with some very rewarding extra-curricular activity in flying and time seems to mysteriously disappear. So, in the end, all of that was said to offer an apology and a promise to try to do better. God has been ministering to my heart through the works of Alistair Begg and our new Pastor, Alan Kilian. I hope to share some of this great material with you in the near future.

Take Care and God Bless,

RC

Something to think about.....

Dear Loved Ones... 

Until the sin in our lives causes us to pause and tremble, until that sin grips our heart with pain... We will never truly be free from the sin Christ paid to redeem us from. For if we dabble or play in the offerings of the world - we begin to rank and marginalize sin. We justify our actions by those that we think are worse in others. All the time, forgetting God's position on sin.

In God's eyes - steeling twenty cent pencil from the office is as much an infringement on the Law as slicing your neighbor's throat. In Matthew 5 Christ said "blessed are they that mourn". That mourning is over our sinful wicked ways, and those that understand that sin separates us from the fellowship of the Lord - will be comforted by the Holy Spirit. For those that are poor in Spirit, understanding, believing and trusting Christ is our only hope to be in God's presence - shutter when they have infringed on His Grace, through the selfish acts of sin. 

Examine your hearts, lay those infractions at the foot of the cross, repent and then turn away and walk with Christ. Grow in Christ. Love Christ. Exalt Christ and then bask in the freedom from sin as it was meant to be. Then when He either calls you Home, or He returns to take us - you will see the face of God.

Go in Christ - and Keep Going...

RC

When Did You Last Allow Him To Touch Your Heart?

Hmm, does that question prick your memory? Or, does it draw out a warm thought, and many memories of the walk? Or, does that question somehow bring a sense of loss? Do you know that warm peace at heart that He blesses us with when the walk is close and personal? Or, do you find your relationship with Him distant and at times aloof? Let me challenge your hearts this morning with a quick New Testament story as illustration, and call to purpose for all that claim the Name of Jesus Christ!

Matthew 14 verse 14 reading through 21; (14) And Jesus went forth, and saw a great multitude, and was moved with compassion toward them, and he healed their sick. (15) And when it was evening, his disciples came to him, saying, This is a desert place, and the time is now past; send the multitude away, that they may go into the villages, and buy themselves victuals. (16) But Jesus said unto them, They need not depart; give ye them to eat. (17) And they say unto him, We have here but five loaves, and two fishes. (18) He said, Bring them hither to me. (19) And he commanded the multitude to sit down on the grass, and took the five loaves, and the two fishes, and looking up to heaven, he blessed, and brake, and gave the loaves to his disciples, and the disciples to the multitude. (20) And they did all eat, and were filled: and they took up of the fragments that remained twelve baskets full. (21) And they that had eaten were about five thousand men, beside women and children.

Look at verse 14 again; "And Jesus went forth, and saw a great multitude, and was moved with compassion……."

Matthew accurately verbalized Christ’s heart by stating that He was moved with compassion. Then later Matthew reports that when the disciples wanted to send the people away Christ said “they need not depart”. He had compassion for these people, yet He knew in His heart, that there was purpose in what He was about to do. Now permit me the liberty to tell you about this purpose.

Christ’s heart was moved, He loved these people. In that very moment as the Son of God, He knew that some of these people would cry for His destruction, yet He loved them and was moved with compassion. He told the 12, don’t send them away, we will feed them. Even then with the compassion for these people, He saw the opportunity to teach us a lesson in Righteousness and Holiness. He used this moment to show us that in all things we do, we give the Glory for His work in us to the Father. That in this moment in front of more than 5000 people He would subtly show the Power of God in Him by performing this miracle and then give the Father the Glory.

This is our purpose… This is our destiny… This is why He created us, to be moved in His Love, in His Compassion and in His Power to act. Our deeds, our loving notes, our gentle hugs in a moment of grief, our firm arms to help in the time of need, they point to Him that is in us. Then, when He opens the door to point to Himself, we are to give Him the Glory and the Praise. Not mechanical, not by force, but by the very Love, Mercy and Grace He has so willingly bestowed on us. So when was the last time you allowed Him to touch your heart? To see your neighbors and coworkers in the Light of His Mercy, in the Power of His Grace, and in the Warmth of His Love…

To escape His Judgment, they must see Him in us, hear Him in our words, and be touched by His Love in our deeds. When they do, point to HIM, give Him the Glory, then they will Praise Him through the conviction of their sin. They will want the forgiveness, the love, the mercy, and the grace that HE shows them through our attitudes and fruit of His spirit in us. Yes friend, when we truly walk with Him, we will know Him and desire to be more like Him. His presence in us will convict and draw those seeking unto Him. Take down the walls that the world has taught you to build in your life. Let Christ Jesus touch your heart today and fulfill your purpose – Praise God in all that you do. God Bless You and Keep you this Week, I’ll be praying for You, and He will watch over you… Maybe this very week, He will give you an opportunity to point to Him – watch for Him… Trace His Hand in your life, and Keep Going!!!