Bacon Bit's

Oops!

2011-05-22T20:14:00.001-07:00

Well here it is the 22nd of May and we are still here.

Another false prophet shot down in flames with his false

teaching about a false event.

The "rapture" and all of the hokey stuff that goes with it, is man

made, taken from random Bible verses, woven into a cottage

industry that has been allowed to flourish in "christian"

bookstores all over the country.

Guess what, no one, not the angels in heaven, Jesus,

or any other man knows when the end will come.

Only God in heaven knows.

End of story, get over it.

There is no Bible "code" no "hidden" message.

God created the world and all that is in it.

Man sinned.

God gave physical death as punishment for that sin.

God sent a Savior, Jesus, who died on a cross to pay

for OUR sin.

Jesus rose on the third day and is with the

Father in heaven.

Jesus sent the Holy Spirit to be with us here on earth

until we are with him in heaven.

God is the Father, God is Jesus, God is the Holy Spirit.

One God, three persons.

The Alpha and the Omega.

No beginning and no end.

God is the great I Am.

That is the message of the Bible.

God so loved the world that he gave is only begotten

son that whoever would believe in him would not perish

but have eternal life. John 3:16

Stop listening to false prophets. The last prophet was Jesus Christ.

Pass on the Gospel of Jesus Christ.

That's the message and the only one that counts.

Pastor Steve

Is God Hiding

2010-12-29T18:22:00.000-08:00

A week ago I was visiting a dear friend, a retired pastor, and his wife.

Over lunch his wife asked “Is God hiding?” I was taken aback and said no but I do believe the devil has center stage right now.

The Psalmist David wrote in Psalm 13, How long, O LORD? Will you forget me forever? How long will you hide your face from me?

David was trouble and with good reason, he had taken another mans wife and allowed that man to be killed. He had sinned and as a result had lost the son born of this illicit affair.

This pastor’s wife however had not sinned like this, she was not atoning for some great wrong and therefore in question of God.

This woman was seeing the world around her, seeing how their children were caught up in this world and wondering how everything got topsy- turvy.

All through the Old Testament we hear the same lament.

God is not hiding however and the U.S. is not being punished, as some would have you believe.

Our society is going the way of all societies and will eventually fall as all societies have.

Rome, Greece, The Third Reich, The USSR, all societies eventually fall.

Man is not a very good leader. Power corrupts, absolute power corrupts absolutely.

David new that there was hope and knew that God was not hiding from him. In Psalm 27 we read The LORD is my light and my salvation. Who is there to fear? The LORD is my life's fortress. Who is there to be afraid of?

We have a Savior who loved us so much that he died on a cross for our sins and rose again so that we would have eternal life.

God is not hiding, we are being blinded by evil.

God is not to blame for the moral character of this world.

Our hope is in the Lord. David goes on to write in Psalm 27 Evildoers closed in on me to tear me to pieces. My opponents and enemies stumbled and fell.

Even though an army sets up camp against me, my heart will not be afraid. Even though a war breaks out against me, I will still have confidence in the LORD.

I have asked one thing from the LORD. This I will seek: to remain in the LORD'S house all the days of my life in order to gaze at the LORD'S beauty and to search for an answer in his temple.

He hides me in his shelter when there is trouble. He keeps me hidden in his tent. He sets me high on a rock.

Now my head will be raised above my enemies who surround me. I will offer sacrifices with shouts of joy in his tent. I will sing and make music to praise the LORD.

Our message this Christmas to those around us is this. We serve a Risen Savior who will never let the evil one take us from him.

We celebrate His birth December 25th.

Merry Christmas!

Pastor Steve

Happy New Year!

2010-11-22T19:38:00.000-08:00

We follow a lectionary in a 3 year cycle. The year begins with 4 weeks of Advent, Christmas, 40 days of Lent, Easter, Ascension (40 days after Easter), Pentecost (50 days after Easter), Season of Pentecost and ends with Christ the King Sunday.

The 3 year cycle is A, Matthew, B, Mark and C, Luke. John fills in in each cycle for information not found in Matthew, Mark & Luke.

King — Matthew presents Jesus as King. It was written primarily for the Jew, for He is the Son of David. His royal genealogy is given in Matthew 1. In Matthew 5-7, in the Sermon on the Mount, we have the manifesto of the King, containing the laws of His kingdom.

Servant — Mark depicts Jesus as Servant, written to the Romans, there is no genealogy. Why? People are not interested in the genealogy of a servant. More miracles are found here than in any other Gospel. Romans cared little for words; far more for deeds.

Man — Luke sets forth Jesus as the perfect Man. It was written to the Greeks; His genealogy goes back to Adam, the first man, instead of to Abraham. As a perfect Man, He is seen much in prayer and with angels ministering to Him.

God — John portrays Jesus as the Son of God. Written to all who will believe, with the purpose of leading people to Christ (Joh_20:31), everything in this Gospel illustrates and demonstrates His divine relationship. The opening verse carries us back to “the beginning.”

Dr. W. H. Griffith Thomas gives the pictures of the Gospels in this way:

Matthew is concerned with the coming of a Promised Savior

Mark is concerned with the life of a Powerful Savior

Luke is concerned with the grace of a Perfect Savior

John is concerned with the possession of a Personal Savior

The point of the lectionary is to start and finish with Jesus coming as the Savior of the world and returning as King of the world for final judgment.

Everything in betweens explains how Jesus accomplished his mission to save the world and why. It also gives us the guidelines to follow as Christians.

God created the world but gave his creation free will, because of free will some angels rebelled, led by Lucifer and were kicked out of Heaven and man rebelled and ate the forbidden fruit.

God was angry and decreed that man would die, but in the same breath he for-told of a Savior for man's eternal soul.

Why didn't God create perfection? He did create perfection. But man's very nature leads to imperfection. Only in heaven can there be total perfection.

When Christ returns he will judge the living and the dead but our judgment is known if we have lived in Christ.

Our works will not save us. Our actions will not save us. Our money and processions will not save us.

Only our faith in Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior will save us.

So why bother to come to church and continue to confess our sins and pray for forgiveness. Why do we continue to pray at all since God knows our very thoughts?

We gather weekly to be with other believers and to be strengthened by them and to strengthen them. We confess our sins and pray for forgiveness daily because we sin daily. We pray because that is conversation with God. If we stop conversing we start to drift away.

We need the fellowship of other believers because this world is too harsh to be in alone. Evil flourishes and police protection is not enough to shield us.

We need the fellowship of other believers to get us through the trials and tribulations of life. The births and deaths of loved ones. The ups and downs of our relationship's.

God does not take our loved ones or turn our children on us. The world turns our children and original sin takes our loved ones. If we did not have the unbreakable promise of Jesus Christ it would be hopeless.

We cannot manage on our own and we do have a God who understands what we are going through.

We may have trouble along the way understanding God's ways but that is what the fellowship of other believers is for.

God created us and loves us so much that even though we rebelled against his perfect world and wanted to be like him, all knowing, all powerfull, he sent his Son to be our salvation,to take our place on the cross and to be washed in blood as white as snow.

Because of Christ we are Holy in God's sight and because of Christ we are indeed forgiven and freed!

Amen

Easter

2010-04-24T16:19:00.000-07:00

He Is Risen......He is Risen Indeed

Wow, we have celebrated the resurrection of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ once again.

As Christians we are redeemed by Christ's sacrifice on the cross for our sins. Unlike other religions Christians follow a Risen Savior. Jesus is alive and well thank you and is with us always.

I watched the classic Jesus Christ Super Star the week of Easter and while I love the music I was again reminded of it great flaws. Jesus is man and God, not just a man. While Mary Magdalene certainly loved Jesus, it wasn't sexual and the movie ended before the greatest part, Jesus' resurrection.

What a moving and great teaching tool this movie could have been if these three points had been addressed properly.

The continued "World View" that everyone in our government and around the world is pushing is nothing more or less than communism in it most base sense.

The only way we can have a on world government is with the entire world poor being run by the few wealthy rulers who keep control by supplying everything we need. We will have no freedoms and will have no identity.

Heaven will also be like this but with a few major changes.

We will all be one people saved by the blood of the lamb. We will spend our day worshiping and praising God and we will want for nothing and we will have everything we need. We will be unique and have the identity of God's chosen people.

If Jesus had died on the cross and not risen, he would have indeed just been a man. Jesus did rise however and prove that he is God.

To those who see this as foolishness, I pray that the Holy Spirit will touch their heart and let them know the Jesus I know.

I will leave you with the words of and easter hymn written by Alfred H. Ackley to express his faith in a living Christ.

He Lives

“Why should I worship a dead Jew?”

This challenging question was posed by a sincere young Jewish student who had been attending evangelistic meetings conducted by the author and composer of this hymn, Alfred H. Ackley.

Mr. Ackley’s answer to this searching question, ultimately prompted the writing of this popular gospel hymn, He Lives.

The composer answered his inquirer: He lives! I tell you, He is not dead, but lives here and now! Jesus Christ is more alive today than ever before. I can prove it by my own experience, as well as the testimony of countless thousands.

Mr. Ackley’s forthright, emphatic answer, together with his subsequent successful effort to win the man for Christ, flowered forth into song and crystallized into a convincing sermon in hymn on He Lives!

So he sat down at the piano and voiced that conclusion in song. He says, The thought of His ever-living presence brought the music promptly and easily.

++++++++++
He Lives

(1) I serve a risen Savior,
He's in the world today;
I know that he is living,
whatever men may say;
I see His hand of mercy,
I hear His voice of cheer,
And just the time I need Him
He's always near.

(2) He lives, He lives,
Christ Jesus lives today!
he walks with me and talks with me
along life's narrow way.
He lives, He lives,
salvation to impart!
You ask me how I know He lives?
He lives within my heart.

(3) In all the world around me
I see His loving care,
And though my heart grows weary
I never will despair;
I know that He is leading
through all the stormy blast
The day of His appearing
will come at last.

(4) Rejoice, rejoice, O Christian,
lift up your voice and sing
Eternal hallelujahs
to Jesus Christ the King!
The Hope of all who seek Him,
the Help of all who find,
None other is so loving,
so good and kind.

Is it Lent already? Is the end near?

2010-03-08T10:59:00.000-08:00

Wow, where has the time gone. First it was Christ Mass and now it is Lent.

The Pitchers and Catchers reported for Spring Training and the first weekend of games saw most of them rained out.

We have received more rain so far this year than all of last year. 6.2" last year and 9.45" already this year. Maybe it is time to rethink everything, maybe the end is near!

Well actually it is. Jesus told his disciples and anyone who would listen that the end was near. He told us that earthquakes, famine , war and pestilence would be the signs of the coming of the end.

He also told us that every generation would be sure that the end was coming now.

When will the end come? I don't know and to tell you the truth I don't care. Jesus when asked said that neither He nor the Angels in heaven knew, only God the Father knows. He did however tell us to be ready because the end would sneak in like a thief in the night when we least expected it.

I think the only end we need be concerned about is our own end. The end of the world may be thousands of years off but the end of your world may be in the next few minutes.

If the end of our world finds us without Christ as our Lord and Savior then our eternity will be in hell.

Putting off planning is human nature. As an insurance man for 20 years before entering the Ministry, I often found that when I paid a claim, the deceased had done no planning whatsover for his or her families survival after they were gone. Often times the house needed to be sold, schools needed to be changed, a job had to found for the remaining spouse. The children many times had their lives uprooted and many times fell in with bad company because of the time alone left on their hands because the reaming parent was doing all they could to put bread on the table. When I would attempt to preplan most people would put it off saying I have plenty of time for that later.

It is the same with our salvation. Many people think they have plenty of time for that later. The point is our salvation is not up to us. If it were we would never be saved, we would keep putting it off.

We are saved by God's grace and only by the Holy Spirit can we come to know Christ. Nothing we do can change that.

If the Holy Spirit has not convicted us of our sin we cannot come to Christ and ask for forgiveness. We have nothing whatsover to do with our salvation. Salvation is truly Amazing Grace.

Once convicted however we do have something to do with staying in God's grace. Jesus will never turn his back on us, we however can turn our back on Christ. Not by just by words or actions but by our thoughts. If we decide that Jesus is not the one true God, if we decide that Jesus is not the only way to salvation, if we decide that there are other avenues to heaven, then we run the risk of turning our back on Jesus and giving away our salvation.

Scripture tells us this:

Matthew 24:10-13 GW(10) Then many will lose faith. They will betray and hate each other.(11) Many false prophets will appear and deceive many people.(12) And because there will be more and more lawlessness, most people's love will grow cold.(13) But the person who endures to the end will be saved.

1 Timothy 1:18-19 GW(18) Timothy, my child, I'm giving you this order about the prophecies that are still coming to you: Use these prophecies in faith and with a clear conscience to fight this noble war.(19) Some have refused to let their faith guide their conscience and their faith has been destroyed like a wrecked ship.

1 Timothy 6:20-21 GW(20) Timothy, guard the Good News which has been entrusted to you. Turn away from pointless discussions and the claims of false knowledge that people use to oppose the Christian faith.(21) Although some claim to have knowledge, they have abandoned the faith. God's good will be with all of you.

2 Peter 3:17 GW(17) Dear friends, you already know these things. So be on your guard not to be carried away by the deception of people who have no principles. Then you won't fall from your firm position.

2 Peter 1:5-9 GW(5) Because of this, make every effort to add integrity to your faith; and to integrity add knowledge;(6) to knowledge add self-control; to self-control add endurance; to endurance add godliness;(7) to godliness add Christian affection; and to Christian affection add love.(8) If you have these qualities and they are increasing, it demonstrates that your knowledge about our Lord Jesus Christ is living and productive.(9) If these qualities aren't present in your life, you're shortsighted and have forgotten that you were cleansed from your past sins.

This Lenten season should be one of soul searching and a renewal of our faith. Do not worry about the end of the world, only be concerned about the end of YOUR world.

Stay in the Faith!

Merry CHRISTmass

2009-12-15T15:16:00.001-08:00

Merry CHRISTmass!

What a way to start a blog, my first foray into posting my thoughts online for anyone to see.

I admit I have shied away from doing this for a number of reasons but the number one reason is I am bound to really tick someone off and it will be posted and copyable for anyone who wants it.

Every year the same old fight begins about saying Merry Christmas or Happy Holidays.

Christians mark the birth of Christ on Christmas even though he wasn't born on December 25th.

Christ was actually born in March or April.

The date chosen for the celebration was taken from celebrations for the Winter Solstice.

Saint Nicholas, a real person, the Bishop of Myra, had a reputation for secret gift giving, such as putting coins in the shoes of those who left them out for him. He became the model for Santa Clause and the celebration was merged from December 5th, St Nicholas ever to December 25th, Christmas Eve.

What does any of this have to do with Christ?

Interestingly St. Nicholas was a person who believed in Jesus the Christ so he wouldn't have a problem with this.

Why do so many Christians and non-Christians have a problem?

The exact date of Jesus' birth has nothing to do with our salvation, the exact date of Jesus' death has nothing to do with our salvation. The fact that Jesus rose from the dead three days after his death has everything to do with our salvation.

The fact that Christians embrace Christmas as the birth of Christ allows them to celebrate His first coming and look forward to His second coming.

The time of year allows families to have a reason to reunite and Peace on Earth, Good Will to Men, becomes a slogan , at least for a little while.

If you have Jesus Christ in your heart and submit to Him as Lord and Savior then the exact date of birth or death is irrelevant.

If during the Christmas season you go out of your way to spread peace and goodwill among you fellow man great.

Instead of complaining and wringing our hands about a store saying Merry Christmas, Happy Holidays, Happy Hanakkah or Eid Al Adha, we should take this as an opportunity to share our faith with people who are at least trying to be in a festive mood.

The fact that Jesus's birth signals the coming of the Messiah long promised from God should be reason to celebrate any day.

As a Christian I hope this holiday season you have the opportunity to hear Jesus' story get to know Him as I do.

Jesus came to save ALL of mankind. That includes you, your relatives, your friends, your neighbor, your coworkers, people you like and people you don't like.

Jesus came that all who have faith in Him can have eternal life.

The story doesn't change, it is the same today as it was yesterday and will be the same tomorrow.

Merry CHRISTmas!

Pastor Steve