Comfort

Bible Text Deuteronomy 31:8 (NIV) “The Lord himself goes before you and will be with you; he will never leave you nor forsake you. Do not be afraid; do not be discouraged.”

What an amazing promise we are given in this verse. The promise that the Lord will never ever leave us, that He goes before us and will always be with us. It’s like He takes us by the hand, holding on tight, He instructs us to not be afraid and to not be discouraged. In fact, it sounds like a command, doesn’t it?  Do not be afraid.  Do not be discouraged.

When we go through a challenging situation or difficult life circumstance, the enemy works hard at dragging us back toward discouragement.  And as we look at the current chaos in America, we can experience feelings of discouragement. How easy is it to leap from discouragement to fear? But when fear and discouragement creep in, take a fresh look at Deuteronomy 31:8, and be reminded of the Lord’s promise: Before us, with us, never fails us, never forsakes us. Now that’s a promise worth holding on to! And that’s real Comfort!

Prayer: Dear Lord, I confess that I feel discouraged occasionally and sometimes I move into feelings of fear, too, especially when I see the condition of the world around me. Thank You, Lord, for Your words of comfort, that You will go before me and be with me, that You will never leave me nor forsake me. Given the uncertainty of the world we live in today, this brings me much comfort. Thank you, Father for this promise. Lord, I also ask that you would go before America and be with her, that You would never leave her nor forsake her. Comfort her in Jesus’ name. Amen

by Ann Goehner

“American Pie” at the Farmers Market

Bible Text Proverbs 29:18 [paraphrased] Where people reject God’s revealed truth, the nation perishes.  But blessed are those who heed His instruction.

On July 9, 2016, I went to the farmers’ market in our town.  A guitarist entertaining us with oldies, was virtually ignored until he began a song that has 877 words.  Soon a group of ten or so gathered to enjoy Don McLean’s, 1971 Grammy Award winning epic, “American Pie”.  We looked like a happy crew, tapping our toes and softly voicing the lyrics, but by the third chorus, I felt a lump in my throat, and tears began welling up.  What was wrong with me?  

1. “American Pie” is an emotional paradox.  While the music is frolicking fun, the lyrics relate tragic events from 1959-1970.  Each calamity leads to the phrase “the day the music died,” before returning to the chorus, which concludes ominously: “This’ll be the day that I die.”  

2. The farmers’ market sing-along occurred only thirty-six hours after an assassin gunned down five police officers in Dallas, turning up the heat of racial tension in America.  Race riots — common in the 1960s — are plaguing our nation once again.  

3. “American Pie” testifies to the Baby Boomers’ confidence that we were going to change the world.  And “American Pie” displays the failure of that generation, and all later ones, to evade the decline of our nation.  

My heart always grows heaviest at the final event described in “American Pie.”  It goes like this:

I went down to the sacred store

Where I’d heard the music years before

But the man there said the music wouldn’t play

And in the streets the children screamed

The lovers cried, and the poets dreamed 

But not a word was spoken

The church bells all were broken

And the three men I admire most

The Father, Son, and the Holy Ghost

They caught the last train for the coast

The day the music died

One could interpret these lines several ways, but here is my take.  Religion in America has become institutional, hollow, and ineffective.  We followers of Christ in America have failed to invite our neighbors to know God.  Therefore, the Triune God has every right to pull out and leave us to our own devices.  We can see this happening on several fronts.  The results aren’t pretty.

Prayer: Father God, awake US now.  While the US appears to be happy, we are hollow.  We confess we have often focused on ourselves, failing to demonstrate the love of Christ to others.  Pour out Your Holy Spirit upon US.  Teach US the music of Your holiness, love, and kindness, so that many hearts will turn to Your kind heart and accept Your reign over US.  Amen. 

By Pastor Phil Bickel

Right in Candidate

Bible Text Revelation 3:19-20 [paraphrased]  Jesus said: “I’m only tough with those I love.  Take My discipline seriously and turn from your wrong choices.  Here I stand, knocking on your door.  Hear Me calling.  Open the door, and I’ll come right in.  Let’s sit down to supper and talk things over.” 

 

We Americans need a right in candidate.  “Hold on,” you’re probably thinking, “don’t you mean a write in candidate?” “No!” We need a right in candidate, and His name is Jesus Christ.  He sees the wrong choices we are making, on various sides of today’s issues.  None of us is entirely innocent.  We each have contributed to the bad moral choices of our nation.  All along, Jesus has been rapping loudly on our doors, but we can’t hear Him above the racket of our blaming and shaming anyone who disagrees with us.  We all need to get serious about Jesus’ warning.  

What would happen if we each repented of our nation’s immorality and our own personal contribution to it? Jesus would come right in!  Right in-to our hearts and right in-to the heartbeat of America. 

Prayer: Dear Jesus, I’m starting to get it.  You are offering to come right into our lives, to sit right down at our kitchen tables, to enter right into our conversations, and to help us discover what You would have us do.  Not until we allow You right in, can things turn out right.

By Pastor Phil Bickel

What Have We Done in the Last 40 Years?

What have we done in the last 40 years? We have driven God out of our schools. We have removed His commandments from our courts. We have taken the mention of His name out of the public square. We have banned Him from our morals. We have engaged in the worship of Moloch, the idol of the old testament era, and the people of Israel. Moloch, before whom people sacrificed their children. In the last 40 years, I have watched as we have sacrificed over 50 million of our children. The Israelites killed thousands, we’ve killed millions. And we boast about it. We have seen in our time how a nation can turn its back on what is true and abandon that which our ancestors paid for with their lives. We have seen a land that has rewritten the law of God even as we’ve rewritten our constitution. We have changed what for millennia God has decreed as one man, one woman committed together for life. And, we say we have the right to rewrite that. Can anyone do those things without consequences? There will be a day of reckoning. It will come. And at that point it’s very easy for us to get up on our high horses and say, “Amen, brother you preach it, Chris. At least the church is moving in the way God would have us move!”

But, here’s what I’ve seen in the last 40 years in the church. I’ve watched mainline Christianity abandon the truths of the Bible and simply adopt self-help and entertainment as their gods. I’ve seen mainline Christianity that says, “Ah, but we are holding fast to the word of God.” We have institutionalized the Holy Spirit, and I use that word, that verb, in the very real sense of the term. We have institutionalized Him, we have put Him away, and we have said, “Well, He comes to you when you get baptized, now sit back and enjoy your life and don’t think about this anymore.” And God says, “Unless you live by the Spirit you are living in the flesh. Unless you walk in the Spirit, you are walking in the flesh. Unless you walk in the Spirit, you do not know the Living God, and you do not know His Messiah.” Because you are worshiping a false God, two-thirds of the Trinity at best, one-third at worst, and none in many instances.  Is God pleased? What is He saying? His heart is breaking, and He’s calling His people back to Himself!

Prayer: Have mercy on us, Father! You have stood by as America has abandoned the truths of the Bible, as the church as abandoned Your truth and I, too, have done this. Lord, I ask for forgiveness for my part in this. I have not always stood strong for you, forgive the church and forgive America. Give me strength to walk in Your will, give the church that same strength, that America would once again walk in Your way, and in Your will.  Amen

From Pastor Dodge’s teaching, “Real People…Real God: Moses – Idolatry” https://youtu.be/rNTgpEJjVfg

Last Days

Bible Text Romans 8:38-39 (KJV) For I am persuaded, that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come, Nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.

In these last times, Jesus is calling us back to Himself.  That isn’t accomplished through mindless religion, or through halfhearted faith, but through wholehearted commitment to Him. It’s about having a true relationship with Him! The times we live in can be pretty unsettling due to the unsure nature of events happening in the world around us. But as Paul said, Romans 8 is a truth we can hang on to! NOTHING can separate us from God’s love, not our hurts or pains, not what’s going on around us, NOTHING can separate us from the love that God has for us because of what the Savior did for us!

We all need a Savior and Jesus is that Savior. What He offers is not a little religious instruction and not merely a little spiritual knowledge. What Jesus offers is Himself and that changes EVERYTHING!

Prayer: Thank Jesus that because of what He did on the cross, nothing can separate you from the love God has for you. Talk to God about your relationship with Him….

Quoted from Pastor Dodge’s “Last Days” series. For more information on “Last Days,” go to http://www.awakeusnow.com/the-last-days.html

Revival in America

Bible Text Jeremiah 29:12-13 ‘You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart. Then you will call on me and come and pray to me, and I will listen to you. ‘

I have seen God move in remarkable and incredible ways in the lives of individuals in my life, in the lives of my friends, and my family. I’ve also seen the enemy push back in ways that I could not have imagined, but as I read the scripture I say to myself, “It shouldn’t have surprised me,” because it’s always been the case.

But, I know something else and that is that God keeps His Word! And the Word He speaks will not fall to the ground. It will be accomplished to His glory. As a result, I believe what God is saying is that He is going to do a mighty thing. I don’t know if I’m going to live to see it, but He did say the day was coming when people will listen to His voice, when they would hear Him, when they would return to Him. And, that is what I pray for.  That is revival.

Prayer: Lord, move in power over America and her people and do a mighty thing. Bring her to her knees in humility before You. Bring forth a revival in this nation, Lord, and let now be the time when people will listen to Your voice, hear You and return to You. This is the prayer of our hearts. Amen.

From Pastor Chris Dodge’s series entitled “Real People. Real God.” This teaching is from “Samuel: Listening” at https://youtu.be/LT9mNX8tllE