Tuesday, November 26, 2013
Tuesday, October 29, 2013
The Difference
PK’s Corner
November 2013
Luke 18:14 “I tell you, this man went down to his home justified rather than the other; for all who exalt themselves will be humbled, but all who humble themselves will be exalted.’
Do you know the difference between a tax
collector and a Pharisee? Both were in
the temple, both were praying to God, both were men of prayer. The difference was this, the Pharisee saw
himself as a shining example of what a godly man should be and thus did not see
his own short comings and sins. The tax
collector knew what he had done and was doing.
He knew that heaven was not for people like him. The tax collector knew that all he could ask
for was mercy, he deserved nothing. Interestingly
enough, the tax collector left blessed by God.
When the end of time comes, there will
be a separation of people. Some will go
to be in Heaven, and others will go to Hell.
What we often forget is the only difference between the two peoples is
that while both were sinners, only those bound for heaven asked for forgiveness
and mercy.
People seem to have forgotten about
consequences, and have start trying to justify their mistakes and sins. It hurts us to think that we might have to
regret something, so we hide it in our locker and tell people that we have it
all under control. The reality is oh so
different.
Asking for forgiveness is the first step
to a new life in Christ. Asking for
forgiveness means you are ready to let God work in you to become a new creation. We are all called to be new creations, but
only if we accept Christ.
Heaven and Hell is a choice. You can choose to live in heaven, or can
choose to live in a place where it is always hot, no air conditioning. I pray you will choose Heaven and God’s
forgiveness in your life. ( …for
further reading look at Luke 18:9-14)
Amen
Thursday, August 29, 2013
Meeting
PK’s Corner
September
2013
Hebrews
10:24-25 And
let us consider how to provoke one another to love and good deeds, not
neglecting to meet together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging one
another, and all the more as you see the Day approaching.
According to recent polls, regular
attendance at church consists of 1.8 times per month. Now, I don’t know about you, but I always understood regular attendance to mean being at church every time the doors were
open. Today we are seeing a mass exodus
from the church and in order to make it look less bad, we have adjusted
requirements for attendance. This is not
the way of God, nor the intention of the church.
The writer of Hebrews knew the human
condition all too well. It is too easy
to wake up on the Lord’s Day and say, “It’s too hot, I’ll go to church next
week” or “It’s too cold, maybe it will be warmer next week”. We can find excuses upon excuses for not
coming to church. But Hebrews tells us
to not accept excuses.
To stop the decline of the church in
this country, it seems that there is one thing we have not tried...
Encouragement. When was the last time
you encouraged someone to attend worship with you? When was the last time you overrode
objections so your friend could be at church?
When did your church last adjust a worship time, or prayer time so that
others could come?
The church has been called to change
lives, but unless we as the body of the church encourage people to attend and
be part of a faith community, the church is impotent and spiritual death
becomes the norm. We cannot allow this
to happen.
Here is my challenge to you for this
month; Think of 10 people who are not regular church attendees. (Regular being
at least once a week) Now take it upon
yourself to encourage those persons to come to church with you. Go out of your way to help them with rides,
or to over ride whatever their objections will be. By doing this you will be working for the
Kingdom and we can stop this exodus from the church.
God has given us a great gift that is
meant to be shared, please share it.
Amen
Tuesday, July 30, 2013
Rural Work
PK’s Corner August 2013
Matthew 9:37-38
Then he said to his disciples, ‘The harvest is
plentiful, but the laborers are few; therefore ask the Lord of the harvest to send
out laborers into his harvest.’
I have spent most of my life in rural communities. The town I grew up in had more cows than
people, and more dogs than kids. In fact
my dad often jokes about living on “poke and plum” street, it is where you poke
your head out of the window and you are plum out of town. Small rural communities have been the life
blood of this country since its founding, and still they have a lot to offer.
But, it seems the church and the world would just as soon leave
them behind. Big farming is making the
family owned farm untenable, and factories are shutting down that brought hope
to the economy of the rural communities around them. Whole denominations are turning their back on
the people of those rural areas for the more lucrative crowds of urban
communities.
We need to stop letting this happen, and we can start right
here. These rural areas are areas of
harvest that can bring change to a hurting world. People in these areas need to know Christ and
what Christ can do in their lives. We as
a church need to start working the rural fields again, and start harvesting
what was planted and then plant what will be harvested later.
It isn’t easy work, but it is a mission. It is a mission that Doniphan and Neelyville
UMC will share in as we explore and implement ways to change the world through
these rural communities. We don’t have
to do a mission trip to Honduras to reach people for Christ, we have our
mission cut out for us right here.
In the coming months, I ask that you lift up our mission in
prayer, and that you pray the Lord will send workers to the field. We have people in our midst that need to know
Christ, and we need to get to work.
Amen
Tuesday, July 2, 2013
A Blue Elephant Gun
PK’s Corner July 2013
John 8:11
She said, ‘No one, sir.’ And Jesus said, ‘Neither do I condemn
you. Go your way, and from now on do not sin again.’
There
is a children’s joke about how do you shoot a blue elephant, and then it asks
how you shoot a pink elephant. Elephants
are wonderful animals, and a lot of fun to talk about, until you have one in
your room. The elephant in the room is
that thing you know is going on, but you don’t talk about it.
Every
church has an elephant. The elephant can
vary from infidelity issues to questionable business practices in the
congregation. Everyone knows, or thinks
they know what is going on, but we don’t talk about it. It makes for some very uncomfortable
situations. Rumors start, and instead of
church, you end up with hurt, pain and misunderstanding. Meanwhile, the elephant drains the resources
and the energy of the church, and yet the elephant continues to be in the room.
As a
church, we want to love, but addressing the issues may mean making others
uncomfortable. In the scripture today,
the dialogue is between a woman caught in adultery and Jesus. The Pharisees came to Jesus with her and
asked what to do, by law she was to be stoned.
Jesus told them that the one of them without sin was to throw the first
stone. Thus we have an elephant in the
room. We can talk about the desire of
the Pharisees for political and spiritual fallout from what Jesus could have
said. We can talk about the unjustness
of a law, or the justness of that law, but the bottom line is, someone watched
her commit adultery, else they could not accuse her.
But
what happened after every one left?
Jesus tells her that he does not accuse her, but to go and sin no
more. Jesus did not give her a blank
check, nor did he give his approval, he knew who she was and what she did, but
he did not accuse her, and only told her to go and sin no more.
Elephants
are hard to manage at times, but they need not be dealt with in an angry and
self-righteous manner. Elephants need to
be dealt with in love and we need to seek understanding. As a church we need to offer correction, love
and hope to all parties affected by the elephant. To approach an elephant with self-righteous
anger is a mistake that can only increase the damage and fall out. Love, Prayer, Counseling, Correction,
Encouragement, these are the tools we need to use and we need in our own lives,
because the elephant is in us also.
When
the elephant makes itself known, let’s follow Jesus and not accuse, but help
the elephant to sin no more.
And
now the joke: How do you shoot a blue elephant?
You use a blue elephant gun. How
do you shoot a pink elephant? You hold
its nose until it turns blue then you shoot it with the blue elephant gun.
God
Bless
Amen.
Tuesday, June 4, 2013
Turning
PK’s Corner June 2013
Galatians 1:6 “ I am astonished that you are so quickly deserting the one who called you in the grace of Christ and are turning to a different gospel…”
I believe in God the father Almighty, maker of heaven and earth…, thus starts the Apostle’s Creed, the nutshell statement of our faith as Christians. This is the short form of what we believe as followers of Christ. Yet, we have so many churches and so many in our churches running away from this belief.
Paul was astounded that the church in Galatia was turning from
the teachings he and other ministers had taught them. They were following poor advice about what it
meant to be and what was required to become a Christian. Galatia was being led down a road of false
teaching and darkness. I look at the
world today and I wonder if we are any better off.
Today, many churches teach a feel good gospel. In fact it has become so epidemic that people
leave a church because “It had nothing for me”.
I find that rather humorous in a sad way since Christ called us to “pick
up our cross and follow me”, not pick up our Latte at the door and enjoy the
show. We are at risk of losing the
message of Jesus because we are uncomfortable with what is taught. We turn from the truth to live in the lies
that the world would have us to believe.
Following Christ is about forgetting ourselves, not about
comfort. Following Christ is about
putting God first in our lives. Yes,
that means church before entertainment, tithes before bills, and worship before
diversions. God calls us to partake of
him, and that means putting God first.
Until God comes first in our lives, our lives will be filled with
meaningless trivial activities.
God puts us first on his to do list. We are first in his thoughts. Christ came to earth, not as an afterthought
but as a first choice to bring salvation to us.
We need to stop turning away, and start turning to God.
In the coming month, I challenge you to put God first. Not just in word, but in action. Be at church every Sunday, schedule your life
around worship and prayer, and make God the priority in your worship, praise
and life.
Stop turning away and start turning into the person God has
called you to be
Amen.
Thursday, April 25, 2013
Shelter
PK’s Corner May
2013
Psalm 61:4 “Let me abide
in your tent forever,
find refuge under the shelter of your wings”.
find refuge under the shelter of your wings”.
Yesterday, I looked out of
my window and noticed that in the bush just outside a nest had been built, and
on the nest was a Mourning Dove. She sat
there in that place of relative safety and quiet warming her eggs. She was looking at the window and may have
spied me, but she remained calm and quiet.
The bush outside is in a
sheltered place. It is on the end of the
house where there is shelter from the wind and rain. This is probably the best place for a nest
and this bird knew that.
God offers us refuge in a
world that is fraught with storms and upheavals. But we seem to desire standing in the storm
than finding shelter in God’s wings.
When you consider that almost one half of the people in any given town
is unchurched, then you must realize that there are many who do not know what
true shelter is.
God calls us to abide in
him, to seek protection from the storms of life and find refuge in his
holiness. Why do we not listen, and for
those of us that do, why are we not sharing that good news with others?
God calls out to us to
take shelter, to ease our burdens and to simply believe on him. I pray that someday we can all find refuge
under the shelter of his wings, but until then, we need to show people where
that refuge is.
The Mourning Dove got it
right, why can’t we?
Amen
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