Sunday Reflections - November 24, 2015

A THANKSGIVING PRAYER

     One of my favorite books that I open often is called, “The Valley of Vision.” It’s a collection of Puritan prayers. I’m challenged and convicted with every prayer because it makes my prayer life look lightweight when I read the thought provoking words from the heart of these lovers of God. Here’s a prayer of Thanksgiving. I hope it inspires you.

O my God,

Thou fairest, greatest, first of all objects,

my heart admires, adores, loves thee,

for my little vessel is as full as it can be,

and I would pour out all that fullness before thee in ceaseless flow.

When I think upon and converse with thee

ten thousand delightful thoughts spring up,

ten thousand sources of pleasure are unsealed,

ten thousand refreshing joys spread over my heart,

crowding into every moment of happiness.

I bless thee for the soul thou hast created,

for adorning it, sanctifying it,

though it is fixed in barren soil;

for the body thou hast given me,

for preserving its strength and vigour,

for providing senses to enjoy delights,

for the ease and freedom of my limbs,

for hands, eyes, ears that do thy bidding;

for thy royal bounty providing my daily support,

for a full table and overflowing cup,

for appetite, taste, sweetness,

for social joys of relatives and friends,

for ability to serve others,

for a heart that feels sorrows and necessities,

for a mind to care for my fellow-men,

for opportunities of spreading happiness around,

for loved ones in the joys of heaven,

for my own expectation of seeing thee clearly,

I love thee above the powers of language to express,

for what thou art to thy creatures.

Increase my love, O my God, through time and eternity.

This is my prayer for each of you as I think about my Deer Flat Family. Each of you are a blessing to me, and an even greater blessing to God. I pray that each of you will have a wonderful and meaningful time of Thanksgiving this week, whether with friends, family, neighbors or strangers! I am loving you!

A couple of quick reminders I want you to know about:

 1.     Lunch with the Lands this upcoming Sunday after second service in the Youth Room. Darin and Jill Land have been appointed as career missionaries to Asia. Darin will serve as Asia Regional Assistant with a focus on leadership development. Once Darin and Jill have secured adequate partnership for their Missionary Support Account, they will return to Manila where they have served faithfully for the last seven years. While Darin and Jill will continue their connection with Asia Pacific Nazarene Theological Seminary, their primary work will be helping to develop and implement a strategy to train and credential Free Methodist leaders across Asia. They will also help support and launch a new outreach ministry to young adults in metro Manila.

     2. Someone in the church needs a car and can pay $2,000.  If you’ve got something dependable, please let us know and we’ll link you up.

  

     3. An amazing Sunday awaits you this weekend.  We’ll be looking at Ezekiel 38 and I promise, it will be eye opening!

I can’t wait to see you this Lord’s Day.  I Love My Church!

Pastor D

Sunday Reflections - November 12, 2015

HAVE YOU NOTICED ANYTHING CONCERNING

HAPPENING IN OUR WORLD?

   Jesus rebuked the Pharisees for not recognizing the signs of His first coming. The religious leaders of His day had full knowledge of the prophecies of the Messiah, yet these religious leaders ignored the signs and still rejected Him. Being a meteorologist, forecasting the weather and discerning the signs of the times go hand in hand for me. Unlike the religious leaders of the first century, I refuse to ignore the signs of the Lord's return!

     What are the signs of the Lord's return? How do these signs show us that the Lord's return is soon? Jesus refers to these signs as "birth pangs." Here are the "birth pangs" Jesus told us to watch for:

          •   Wars and rumors of wars

          •   World wars

          •   Famines

          •   Pestilences

          •   Earthquakes in diverse places

          •   Fearful sights and great signs in the heavens

          •   False prophets

          •   Persecution

   The signs of the Lord's return will be like "birth pangs," in that they will be increasing in frequency and intensity before Jesus returns. Therefore, we can use the "birth pangs" to gauge how close we are to the Lord's return. The "birth pangs" occurring on a regional scale today, are moving continuously to a world scale. So, what I hear Jesus saying is that when these "birth pangs" begin to have large-scale consequences, on the verge of becoming global, we know the Lord's return is imminent:

   The greatest sign that shows where we are in regard to the end times is that Israel is a nation again. The Jewish people are returning from exile. After nearly two thousand years of rejection, God is going to call them His people again, according to Hosea 1 and Romans 9, but first He must deal with their transgression of the Law.

   God is not going to wait for several generations to deal with Israel. God has brought His chosen people out of exile to deal with their transgression, in preparation for the coming Messiah. Many people, including myself, believe that the sign of the fig tree in Matthew 24 and Luke 21 show that God is going to fulfill all these signs within the life of the generation who witnessed the rebirth of Israel as a nation.

Look at the signs of the times listed in scripture and then look around at our world:

          - Famines and pestilences - Due to increase in natural disasters and war

          - Satellite technology

          - People from all over the world will be able to view the two dead witnesses listed in                 Revelation 13

          - Computer technology

          - A cashless society

          - Global currency

          - All other currencies will crumble

          - Rampant immorality and hedonism

          - Increase in selfishness and resistance to absolute truth

    It appears to me that a "perfect storm" is brewing. Since Israel has been back in the land, we have seen an explosion in technology and travel, now called the "Information Age."     Constantly, there are wars and rumors of wars. There has also been a drastic increase in the intensity in natural disasters. In just the last few years, these disasters have become a threat to the global food supply.

     Immorality is certainly on the rise, with legalized abortion and gay marriage and more. Hedonism has helped to lead the world into the credit crises we are in, which is threatening to collapse economies around the globe.

   Because of the credit crisis, there have been calls to form a new global currency. This could easily be instituted as a cashless currency. Cash is not widely used anymore, due to advances in computer technology. The technology of the mark of the beast is here, as computer chips are already being embedded in animals, and people who have diseases, such as Alzheimer's.

   For the next FOUR weeks we’re going to be taking a good look at the forecast for the future as laid out in the Bible. Here’s a great question:  IS IT POSSIBLE WE COULD BE LIVING IN THE LAST DAYS?  Let’s talk about it this Sunday. Why not invite someone to attend with you? This issue is on most people’s minds. I am looking forward to seeing you this Sunday!

For Him and For You,

Pastor D

Sunday Reflections - November 5, 2015

This Sunday Will Be Outstanding – Here’s why…

"I thank my God every time I remember you." - Philippians 1:3

We’re going to take time this Sunday to honor our military personnel. It’s a chance to remember all those living, and also a chance to pay respect to all those who died serving our country in war. A great question is, “Why would we celebrate Veterans Day at Church?”    

Anyone could easily give the generic answer — because these individuals served our country — and that would be true enough.

But, have you ever really stopped and taken the time to realize just how much these people sacrificed? Barely out of high school, these heroes took unimaginable risks to protect not only American interests, but the interests of the oppressed in other countries; sometimes even without the gratitude of the American people.

We celebrate Veterans Day because as long as there are heroes to stand against the evils of the world, there will be us, the people, to remember and honor what they have done.

For most of us, rarely do we pause to think about how much veterans have truly sacrificed for the American cause. We tend to picture veterans as older men and women, overlooking the fact that many were most likely drafted right out of high school.

How would you feel if instead of going to college, you were going to Korea or Viet Nam where there was a great chance you would never be coming home? How would you feel saying good-bye to your mom and dad, knowing it might be forever?

Bearing this in mind makes it easy to appreciate what these people have done not only for us, but for the world. One example…

Back in 1945, as Allied troops moved across Europe in a series of offensives against Nazi Germany, they began to encounter tens of thousands of concentration camp prisoners. Many of these prisoners had survived “death marches” into the interior of Germany from camps in occupied Poland. These prisoners were suffering from starvation and disease and unspeakable torture.

US forces liberated the Buchenwald concentration camp near Weimar, Germany, on April 11, 1945, a few days after the Nazis began evacuating the camp. American forces liberated more than 20,000 prisoners at Buchenwald. They also liberated Dora-Mittelbau, Flossenburg, Dachau, and Mauthausen.  

Liberators confronted unspeakable conditions in the Nazi camps, where piles of corpses lay unburied. Only after the liberation of these camps was the full scope of Nazi horrors exposed to the world. The small percentage of those who survived resembled skeletons because of the demands of forced labor, the lack of food, and compounded by months and years of maltreatment. Many were so weak that they could hardly move. Disease remained an ever-present danger, and many of the camps had to be burned down to prevent the spread of epidemics. Survivors of the camps faced a long and difficult road to recovery.

In so many of the areas of the world where the United States has been involved in battle, human rights violations and atrocities have loomed large. Last Sunday was designated as the day to pray for the Persecuted Church. It’s hard to believe that in 2015 there are still places in the world where there is no freedom, especially the freedom of worship. We are most fortunate. We live in the wealthiest nation on the earth - free to attend the church of our choice, to own as many Bibles as we can afford, there’s no limits on the number of children we have, we can vote for the leaders of our government, and even write a letter to the editor of the newspaper when we disagree with the decisions they make.

And why can we enjoy these freedoms? Because the men and women in our armed forces understand that freedom has a cost. And since the birth of our nation, brave men and women have stepped forward, weighed the cost and chose to lay down their lives in service to their fellow countrymen.

Jesus said, “Greater love has no one than this, that someone lay down his life for his friends” (John 15.13). This is the picture I saw time and time again as we prayed over those of our families, friends and flock being deployed - Soldiers going out on mission, into extremely dangerous territory, knowing that even with all the body armor and protection, there’s still a very real possibility that one or more of them might not come home. Yet they went, day after day, putting their lives in danger to protect fellow soldiers, and certainly the people of the United States of America.

I can’t wait to see you this Sunday. Why not invite a Vet? The Honorable Dan Eismann, a decorated veteran, will be speaking and will underscore the significance of spiritual living.  Come expecting an unforgettable time at Deer Flat.

Loving You and Him,

Pastor D