Month: December 2017

Wait till your father gets home!

/ pastorpete51 / 2 Comments

For the Lord disciplines the one He loves and chastises every son whom He receives…For they disciplined us for a short time as it seemed best to them, but He disciplines us for our good, that we may share His holiness. Hebrews 12:6; 10

“Go sit on your bed till your father gets home!” were the most dreaded words of my childhood. The time till he came with the inevitable correction was the worst punishment of all. My parents were not perfect but they taught me some important things about God which I missed at those moments. They showed that I belonged to their family. They regularly punished me but they never spanked the neighbor’s kids! Secondly, they were determined that I was going to grow up and become an adult. If they felt I was incapable they would have just patted me on the head and given up.P1030491

But in spite of their best efforts I came to the conclusion that I was displeasing and that the last thing they wanted to do was to spend time with me. Maybe you not only have also shared some of my boyhood experiences. Today’s hardships and setbacks cry out, “God doesn’t care about you! You aren’t worth His time! Why not just give up hoping that you could ever please Him!” But the cold hard truth is that God loved you so much that He gave His Son to die in your place. You are so worth His time that He wants to be with you for all eternity. He is so pleased to call you His son that He disciplines you now so He can share His Holy presence with you forever! What a wonderful heavenly Father we have! What small discipline we receive now tells us that we are loved so much that He wants to be with us forever!

150 Fear Nots

/ pastorpete51 / Leave a comment

Some of our dearest friends at times pooh-pooh our fears. They insist we are silly, unreasonable or wrong-headed by the things that make us lie awake at night. But did you know that in the Bible God takes our fears very seriously? In fact God lovingly and patiently tells us 150 times in the Bible. “Fear not!” – or in some translations – “Don’t be Afraid!” Rather than lecturing s about our fault God offers us a promise, a reminder and a solution.

Fear not, for I am with you; Be not dismayed, for I am your God.
I will strengthen you, Yes, I will help you, I will uphold you with My righteous right hand.’ Isaiah 41:10

He has promised to be with us. He doesn’t tell us like the doctor, “Take three of these, drink lots of water and call me tomorrow.” No God promises to constantly remain at our side. He is there through the sleepless nights and He keeps us close especially when we are afraid. Then God reminds us that not only will He be with us but that He will strengthen us.  He isn’t simply hanging around. He will pour out on us the oil and wine of His presence when we have been wounded and carried us when we can’t go on. Last of all our God is a very practical God. When the apostle Peter tried walking out on the water toward Jesus we are told that he became afraid and started to sink. I am so glad that Jesus didn’t just stand there with his arms folded saying, “Come on Peter you can do it!”

No! We are told that as Peter began to sink Jesus immediately reached down and took his hand. I am so glad that on days when I feel I am sinking out of sight that His solution is not a lecture but a strong right hand that will hold me and help me to walk into this New Year with Him with all 150 “Fear Nots”!

 

1514290874188_image.jpg

No Looking Back!

/ pastorpete51 / Leave a comment

Brothers I do not consider that I have made it my own; but one thing I do: forgetting what lies behind and straining forward to what lies ahead. I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus. Philippians 3: 13-14

For those who have seen the classic film, “Chariots of Fire” one of the unforgettable scenes is of the race between Eric Liddell and Harold Abrams. They are side by side as the approach the finish line but then, Harold Abrams turns his head to see where Eric is and in that fateful second he loses by a stride. For us to run and win our race  we need to learn both how to remember and how to forget.

Forgetting what lies behind means not turning our head to look back at things that once called us in other directions. Thinking back to what might have been only keeps us from breaking through to what can still be. We don’t forget what God has done but we need to let go of the memories of our steps away from Him.

On that day Eric Liddell won his race because instead of looking back he remembered to look ahead, beyond the finish line. We are also in a race and across our finish line Jesus is standing and holding out the prize. Eternal life with Him is worth more than all the world can offer us today. With Him is peace and joy th

KIMG1136

at are greater than any fear, heartache or suffering in this world. We still have a long way to go to finish our race, but with God’s help we can run our race all the way home       to Him – without ever looking back!