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"Father, Forgive My Tears... I Will Trust You"

4/29/2016

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         Without a doubt: It was uncomfortable for the Children of Israel to be in the wilderness ..

         But look at what God had just delivered them from! Years of oppression and slavery ... being whipped and tortured ... and yet God delivered them from all of this and Pharaoh and his army! 

         But now they were in the wilderness and were wondering, "How are we going to make it?" Since they didn't know the future - and all they could see was the desert sand, and a little bit of food (manna) and water ... they were afraid they were going to die right there. Their fear and torment in the moment, caused them to doubt God and His great love and faithfulness toward them (sorry for the difficulty in the journey, but there weren't jet planes, cruise ships or Uber back then to make the trip any easier).

         The truth was (although it was impossible for them to see it in the moment): Their lives were shifting - and the discomfort was about to bring about a change far greater than they could ever imagine - a place that would fulfill their deepest of dreams - coming out of a place of bondage and preparing to enter a Promised Land!

        All they had to do was cut God a break and TRUST GOD through a few days of discomfort ... Instead: They whined. They complained. They yelled at God and said, "Did you bring us out here to die?"

        Today... in light of my life, and my uncomfortable and fearful circumstances... I am asking God to forgive my whining and crying heart... and I am choosing instead to say, "You are loving. You are good. And, while I don't know what the last chapter holds ... I signed up to follow You and to trust You - and I am not going to quit now. I pray I haven't been disqualified from this test yet because of the fear and whimper that originally rose from my heart... because, the truth is: I can't wait to see what You have ahead!"
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It's So True... Love Never Fails!

4/26/2016

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          For the longest time, I spent my days in fear about whether what I said or what I did might offend someone or hurt someone's feelings.  Oftentimes, I would just stand in a corner of a room filled with people and not say a thing, for fear that I might offend someone or say the wrong thing.
          Of course, I realize a lot of people might hear me share something like this and they would be like, "Tom, lighten up!  What's the big deal?"
          I realize now, that a lot of my fear was instilled in me by physical abuse in my childhood ... for whenever I crossed my drunken father, it might mean a beating that would threaten my very life (at least, to me it felt that way!).
         Nonetheless, as I grew older, whenever I offended someone - or hurt someone's feelings - I especially felt guilty and heartbroken about what I had done.  For that reason, I was (for the most part) a very well-behaved young man.  But, I was always overwhelmed by a sense of fear, that I might say or do something wrong.
         Then I discovered the beauty of 1 Corinthians 13, the "Love Chapter" in the Bible.

                              Love is patient, love is kind and is not jealous; love does not brag 
                              and is not arrogant, does not act unbecomingly; it does not seek
                              its own, is not provoked,does not take into account a wrong 
                              suffered, does not rejoice in unrighteousness, but rejoices with the                                               truth; bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things,
                              endures all things.  Love never fails... now (abide) faith, hope, love, abide                                 these three; but the greatest of these is love.  (1 Cor 13:4-8 and 13)

          I would later learn the joy of replacing the word "love" with the name "God" in each instance of the passage ... and thus, become amazingly overwhelmed by the goodness and greatness of God's great love for me.  For, God is patient.  God is kind.  And, I realized we could do that switch, because scripture also tells us that "God is love" (1 John 4:8), and love is who God is!
         Of course, I wanted to love like God loved - so I would take this exercise and replace my name wherever the word "love" is found.  Reading it like this: "Tom is patient.  Tom is kind... Tom does not take into account a wrong suffered..." Ouch!  It's tough for me to love like God loves!
         But then I realized: in my own strength it is impossible to love like God loves!
         Later, there was a movement where everyone asked the question, "What Would Jesus Say?" and "What Would Jesus Do?"  There were bracelets with WWJS and WWJD that people wore as reminders to speak like Jesus and to act like Jesus.  And these were wonderful reminders... but even then... it seemed so hard to catch myself from those moments of acting in my flesh and hurting someone's feelings.
         Then, I discovered the key!... Found earlier in 1 Corinthians the beauty of who you are in the heart and eyes of God is expressed ... "Do you not know that you are a temple of God and that the Spirit of God dwells in you?" (1 Corinthians 3:16).
         That means: God's very presence lives and dwells inside of you.  If you have given your life to Christ and accepted Him as your Savior ... now His presence lives inside of you by the power of the Holy Spirit!
        So...
        This truth has totally changed my perspective (most of the time!) ... for now I have discovered that when I let God's love fill my heart - and I let His love overflow through my words and my actions - then God's love flows through me in this moment, and amazing things happen as they are ignited by the Spirit of God!
           His love, flowing in, around, and through my life ... never fails!
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Dark?  Chaotic? God's about to turn the light on!

4/12/2016

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     In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. The earth was formless and void, and darkness was over the surface of the deep, and the Spirit of God was moving over the surface of the waters. Then God said, “Let there be light”; and there was light. God saw that the light was good; and God separated the light from the darkness. God called the light day, and the darkness He called night. And there was evening and there was morning, one day. (Genesis 1:1-5)

    "Formless and void," in the Hebrew, means "dark and full of chaos."  This is the one verse that allows, theologically, for a season of "millions of years" that Carl Sagan and other scientists allude to, in regards to the earth's existence.  This would mean the earth could have been here in a state of darkness and chaos, and God said, "Let there be light," and order came... and the creation of the world, as we know it, came into being.

     Notice the "Spirit of the Lord is moving over the surface of the waters."  The imagery here is of a bird, flapping its wings and hovering over where it will land ... like the Holy Spirit descending upon Jesus like a dove when He was baptized in the Jordan River (see Luke 3:21-22).   Here is God's presence, in the Beginning -  waiting to find the place to land - and He is stirring things up over the surface of the waters.  Hovering ... waiting ... for just the right moment to touch ground and change the entire situation of darkness and chaos, into a place where God's miracle power can go to work!

     Then God says, "Let there be light" ... and a holy separation occurs between light and darkness.  And notice: The sun and moon aren't mentioned until a few verses later (In Genesis 1:14!)  Could it be this is a separation on the earth between where the Kingdom of Light (the Kingdom of God) existed and where the kingdom of darkness would be pushed back?

     From this point on, there is divine order that enters the world (separation of light from darkness, of land and sea) ... there is new creation of plants and animals, and this beautiful world is re-made into something wonderful that are enjoying (howbeit, even now, in a fallen state) ... and man and woman are created to tend the garden, while ruling and having dominion of His creation.  God is going to work and making something miraculously beautiful, where once there was darkness and chaos.

     What would something like this mean to you and me?
  1.  God loves to come to dark and chaotic places and bring order and new life... HIS life... into that very place. 
  2. His Spirit is hovering and waiting for a place to land - waiting for the welcoming moment for such a miracle work like this to occur.
  3. Could it be that the dark and chaotic place we are sensing, is actually a place of stirring as we are under the "hovering wings of the dove" of the Holy Spirit ... and the shifting in our lives could actually mean big changes from the Lord are soon to take place?

     This message gives me hope.  And, if you are in a place of "darkness and chaos" in your life, call upon Jesus - the presence of God - to come in and bring divine order and blessing into your situation.  Invite Him in to bring a change!  And, if this is you...

     Hang on ... hang on ... the minute you invite Him in, God's gonna make something beautiful in, around, and through your life.  It's coming!
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    Pastor Tom

    5 weeks into my marriage, I developed MS - had a season in a wheelchair and was blind.  In the process, I determined to fall more and more in love with Jesus. While sick, I learned to hear God's voice and saw others healed by Jesus' loving touch.  After 7 years, I was divinely healed by the grace of God... and now, for 30 years I've been sharing the joy of "experiencing God" with others.  Have a seat!

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