PASTOR'S CORNER

"I have prayed for thee." Luke 22:32 "How encouraging is the thought of the Redeemer’s never-ceasing intercession for us. When we pray, He pleads for us; and when we are not praying, He is advocating our cause, and by His supplications shielding us from unseen dangers…. We little know what we owe to our Saviour’s prayers. When we reach the hill-tops of heaven, and look back upon all the way whereby the Lord our God hath led us, how we shall praise Him who, before the eternal throne, undid the mischief which Satan was doing upon earth. How shall we thank Him because He never held His peace, but day and night pointed to the wounds upon His hands, and carried our names upon His breasplate!" Charles Spurgeon

Do you love Him above everything? Not some but everything?

Unless I’m badly mistaken, one of the main reasons so many of God’s children don’t have a significant prayer life is not so much that we don’t want to, but that we don’t plan to. If you want to take a four-week vacation, you don’t just get up one summer morning and say, "Hey, let’s go today!" You won’t have anything ready. You won’t know where to go. Nothing has been planned. But that is how many of us treat prayer. We get up day after day and realize that significant times of prayer should be a part of our life, but nothing’s ever ready. We don’t know where to go. Nothing has been planned. No time. No place. No procedure. And we all know that the opposite of planning is not a wonderful flow of deep, spontaneous experiences in prayer. The opposite of planning is the rut. If you don’t plan a vacation you will probably stay home and watch TV. The natural, unplanned flow of spiritual life sinks to the lowest ebb of vitality. There is a race to be run and a fight to be fought. If...

You therefore must endure hardship as a good soldier of Jesus Christ. No one engaged in warfare entangles himself with the affairs of this life, that he may please him who enlisted him as a soldier. And also if anyone competes in athletics, he is not crowned unless he competes according to the rules. Hardworking farmer must be first to partake of the crops. 2 Timothy 2:3-6 . There are some days when I say to myself “What’s the point in trying? Why do I put my family and myself through the pain of defeat? Nobody is listening anyways.” Do you feel this way some days? Or is this just me? Why do we try so hard when we know nine times out ten it only leads to frustration, pain, rejection or worse - being hurt by the people around you? I guess the big question is, ‘Why would a holy and perfect God allow me and you to go through such trying days?’ The answer is: why wouldn’t He? We are all sinners, accursed, haters of God. The only reason we are not put to death is because of what King Jesus ...

What are you saved from? Are you saved? Can you answer those questions? Your soul depends on it. Can you say as Paul said "I have been crucified with Christ; it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself for me". Gal 2:20. Can you say that RIGHT NOW?

"As my personal understanding of the interior life has developed, I have learned that apart from the well-known Scriptural calls to prayer, there are two great human reasons we ought to pray. The first is because of what prayer does to our character. Prayer is like a time exposure to God. Our souls function like photographic plates, and Christ’s shining image is the light. The more we expose our lives to the white-hot sun of His righteous life (for, say, five, ten, fifteen, thirty minutes, or an hour a day), the more His image will be burned into our character - His love, His compassion, His truth, His integrity, His humility. This was true of General William Harrison, who maintained a disciplined devotional life for over seventy years. People say his presence brought a distinct sense of Christ. The second corresponding reason is that prayer bends our wills to God’s will." -- Kent Hughes

LORD send me! Is this your heart Christian? Are you willing to go to the ends of the earth even if it calls you to give up everything you have? NOW GO!

Preachers, do you care? Do you love God`s people (saved/unsaved)? Do you stand and proclaim His truth with love and urgency? We MUST Preach with a PASSION for those who are going to perish! This is my plea to every peacher in this lost world.

(A Puritan's Prayer) O CHANGELESS GOD, Under the conviction of thy Spirit I learn that the more I do, the worse I am, the more I know, the less I know, the more I love, the more there is to love. O wretched man that I am! O Lord, I have a wild heart, and cannot stand before thee; I am like a bird before a man. How little I love thy truth and ways! I neglect prayer, by thinking I have prayed enough and earnestly, by knowing thou hast saved my soul. Of all hypocrites, grant that I may not be an evangelical hypocrite, who sins more safely because grace abounds, who tells his lusts that Christ’s blood cleanseth them, who reasons that God cannot cast him into hell, for he is saved, who loves evangelical preaching, churches, Christians, but lives unholily. My mind is a bucket without a bottom, with no spiritual understanding, no desire for the Lord’s Day, ever learning but never reaching the truth, always at the gospe...

We must proclaim the gospel in its fullest. MAN-UP PASTORS

The power to change a sinners life! Praise God for opening our eyes to His glory through the written Word. To Him be the glory for His goodness and love towards us through Jesus Christ our Lord.

(A Puritan Prayer) BLESSED LORD JESUS, Before thy cross I kneel and see the heinousness of my sin, my iniquity that caused thee to be ‘made a curse’, the evil that excites the severity of divine wrath. Show me the enormity of my guilt by the crown of thorns, the pierced hands and feet, the bruised body, the dying cries. Thy blood is the blood of incarnate God, its worth infinite, its value beyond all thought. Infinite must be the evil and guilt that demands such a price. Sin is my malady, my monster, my foe, my viper, born in my birth, alive in my life, strong in my character, dominating my faculties, following me as a shadow, intermingling with my every thought, my chain that holds me captive in the empire of my soul. Sinner that I am, why should the sun give me light, the air supply breath, the earth bear my tread, its fruits nourish me, its creatures subserve my ends? Yet thy compassions yearn over me, thy heart haste...

For the past few weeks we've been talking about forgiveness with our girls, and the importance of forgiveness especially in the Christian life. See I think forgiveness is one of the hardest things to overcome and to do as a person, especially for the unsaved world, otherwise the whole world would be saved right now! See it's much easier to forgive as a Christian, then as a person who is lost and without hope! Why? Because the unsaved doesn't see anything other than themselves. They look in the mirror and all they see is pride, emptiness and self gratification. When the saved person looks into the mirror, they see their wretchedness, and shame on the Cross of Christ Jesus. They see their SIN They see what Jesus endured for their salvation They see Jesus and His selfless sacrifice They see His love for a fallen and broken world They see His forgiveness to all who come by repentance and faith. Jesus set the standard to which we are to follow, Jesus said "And whenever you...

My brother and pastor friend Trevor over at http://loveinthetruth.blogspot.com/ posted this. So I had to do the same. Praise His holy name! Not as a simple man who lived among us, but as King of Kings and Lord of Lords. He is to be our greatest treasure, that Pearl of great price!

Praise His holy name among the earth for such a great salvation through His Son, Jesus Christ, the greatest treasure of my life. The question is He yours?

From out of the millions of the earth God often calls a man To preach the word, and for the truth To take a royal stand. “Tis sad to see him shun the cross, Nor stand in its defense Between the fields of right and wrong: A preacher on the fence. Before him are the souls of men Bound for Heaven or Hell; An open Bible in his hand,And yet he will not tell All the truth that’s written there, It haveth an offence - The joys of Heaven, the horrors of Hell - A preacher on the fence. Now surely God has called the man To battle for the right. “Tis his to ferret out the wrong And turn on us the light. And yet he dare not tell the truth, He fears the consequence, The most disgusting thing on earth Is a preacher on the fence. If he should stand up for the wrong, The right he’d not defend; If he should stand up for the right, The wrong he would offend. His mouth is closed, he cannot speak For freedom or against. Great God deliver us from A preacher on the fence. But soon both sides will find him ou...

What Would He Find? John 2:13-25 Why does the church exist? Is it to bring Him glory? Is it to bring Him praise? Is it to grow in our sanctification? The answer to these questions is YES! We need to understand and be mindful that God intended the local church to be a corporate display of His glory and mercy, and the soul purpose of the church whether its locally ( believer's in your community) or universally (all believer's around the world) is to demonstrate to the entire world; His grace and love to fallen mankind. Does our church glorify God or self? Paul wrote “to the intent that now the manifold wisdom of God might be made known by the church to the principalities and powers in the heavenly places, according to the eternal purpose which He accomplished in Christ Jesus our Lord, Eph 3:10-11. The church’s purpose is to display the glory and wisdom of the saving work through the Son, Jesus Christ. The church’s function is to glorify God by making Him known to the com...

O LORD, The world is artful to entrap, approaches in fascinating guise, extends many a gilded bait, presents many a charming face. Let my faith scan every painted bauble, and escape every bewitching snare in a victory that overcomes all things. In my duties give me firmness, energy, zeal, devotion to thy cause, courage in thy name, love as a working grace, and all commensurate with my trust. Let faith stride forth in giant power, and love respond with energy in every act. I often mourn the absence of my beloved Lord whose smile makes earth a paradise, whose voice is sweetest music, whose presence gives all graces strength. But by unbelief I often keep him outside my door. Let faith give entrance that he may abide with me for ever. Thy Word is full of promises, flowers of sweet fragrance, fruit of refreshing flavour when culled by faith. May I be made rich in its riches, be strong in its power, be happy in its joy, abide in ...

Does your love for others surpass your? Family, children, wife, husband, friends, you church family to name a few. Do you have a sacrificial love? What do you mean by that Mike? Are you willing to sacrifice whatever it takes to please another? Better yet would you be willing to give up your own life, so that someone else could have life? Before we can answer these questions we need to understand what love means . The world defines Love this way; to have a deep, tender, unspeakable feeling of affection and solicitude toward (a person): We love our parents. I love my friends, to have a feeling of intense desire and attraction toward (a person). To have an intense emotional attachment to: loves his house, to embrace or caress. The world looks at the word love and turns it into a physical or emotional experience. That's a wrong definition of what love really means. Why? emotions and feeling are always changing constantly. They are always coming and going with every situation or exper...

O LORD MY LORD, This is thy day, the heavenly ordinance of rest, the open door of worship, the record of Jesus’ resurrection, the seal of the sabbath to come, the day when saints militant and triumphant unite in endless song. I bless thee for the throne of grace, that here free favour reigns; that open access to it is through the blood of Jesus; that the veil is torn aside and I can enter the holiest and find thee ready to hear, waiting to be gracious, inviting me to pour out my needs, encouraging my desires, ...