COME ALONG AND WALK A WAY WITH ME....

As we walk along, may I share with you some recollections of days now behind us? Some are my personal memories, others are passed down or learned through someone, somewhere. Each holds a special place in my mind as markers or sign posts as if on a map to guide future travels. History, when consulted regularly and in earnest can help in not repeating terrible events. When headed down the wrong road-SAY SOMETHING.

Grandma Elsie May used to speak about Hugo Freer, her Great Great Grandfather who lived at the time of the reformation, the Protestant period throughout Europe. A most violent period of our collective history. If you ever get the opportunity to read Foxe's Book of Martyrs, your view of mankind will change forever. Grandpa Hugo, a Godly and devoted simple man of faith likely witnessed, and perhaps suffered for what he believed in this era. Grandma Elsie was adamant that Prayer was all that got Hugo through this violent period. .....brethren, pray for us that the word of the Lord will spread rapidly and be glorified, just as it did also with you;  and that we will be rescued from perverse and evil men; for not all have faith.- 2Th 3:1-2

See that big old building over there? That used to be Grant Junior High School. The school day began in 7th, 8th, and 9th grades with morning announcements over the in-class speaker system, followed by the Pledge of Allegiance, ending in a daily prayer. Every student stood for these last two morning offerings.

Same story in elementary school. We would stand, and pray to start the day. Somewhere in the mid sixties, somebody got offended. WE SHOULD HAVE SAID SOMETHING!

By the time I joined the Army, those who got offended about"pray to start the day" and suddenly people were spitting on us as we moved through airports heading overseas to serve in foreign lands. "Baby killers, murderers" they shouted as they spat! For a young soldier, a mountain boy, this was tough NOT to respond!! { I wanted to POP this one long haired guy so bad...but ... } Orders were orders!

Be of sober spirit, be on the alert. Your adversary, the devil, prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour.-1Pe 5:8

By the time I retired from the Army, computers satellite TV and cell phones had been invented. Out of 23 years wearing the uniform of a soldier, nearly 15 were spent in some other country. I left the U.S. as an 18 year old, with a blessed innocence still easily found in the American society. When I returned to CONUS (Continental United States), I again left behind a wonderful sense of innocence in the overseas country I was leaving and I was blown away how ugly, hateful and downright selfish people had allowed themselves to become here at home. It was like somebody threw a light switch while I was gone -- Personal responsibility vanished. Gone! Prayer in school was outdone by removing God completely from school, college, and the public square life. Our lord was gleefully replaced by a fellow named SATAN.   "How you have fallen from heaven, O star of the morning, son of the dawn! You have been cut down to the earth, You who have weakened the nations! - Isa 14:12

Well, will you look at the hour? Walking along, talking, remembering, recalling the "Good Old Days". Time sure flys by! Just up ahead is a fork in the road. One fork leads to the right, the other to the left. Its time to make a final decision; Which way to go? The decision is not political one. It is a decision of survival. Both directions lead to an eternity. Its not a question of politics.

It is a question of right and wrong, good and evil, Heaven or Hell. God has given us the "TWO MINUTE WARNING". Its decision time beloved. Two destinations, ETERNAL DARKNESS and ANGUISH, or ETERNAL LIGHT WITH THE JOY OF OUR MAKER. Its a personal decision, I know. BUT....it IS YOUR DECISION.

Well, here we are at the fork in the road. Thanks for walking along. Its decision time!   "Behold, I am coming quickly, and My reward is with Me, to render to every man according to what he has done.   "I am the Alpha and the Omega, the first and the last, the beginning and the end."- Rev 22:12-13

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UNDER DIVINE CONTROL

In times of trial and tribulation, Prayer becomes the divine connection to Godly rescues. This is something often overlooked when we are overwhelmed by the chaos that results from events like hurricanes, tornadoes, floods, earthquakes and this Covid Pestilence. In the latter part of March 2020, we learned of the horrible impact of this invisible virus. Now what?

And we know that God causes all things to work together for good to those who love God, to those who are called according to His purpose.-Rom 8:28

  For Linda and me at CESM [Christ Eternal Senior Ministries] Our Lord not only heard our prayers and pleadings, He granted us remarkable favor by returning to us a method to continue preaching the Good News of JESUS CHRIST to the precious souls that were now protected and sequestered behind doors and walls; all others would have to wait outside. When the doors closed, we prayed. God opened another door for us through the WORD. 

Here is the story:

From one Sunday to the other everything suddenly changed. No longer could we conduct in-person church services and preaching the Gospel was reduced to a double sided printed Sunday sermon.

We prayed, "O Mighty God of mercy, Precious Lord Jesus, open a door to us to a method to continue reaching and preaching to the nearly 50 children of Yours now imprisoned behind these walls. Father, Give us a solution, Amen". That very night as I was paging through a realtor's website on the internet, I saw a photo of a small low-power FM transmitter. The realtor uses this device to play a repeating message to potential clients as they drive by a house for sale. GOD provided the answer to our prayer in that immediate moment. {God has shown me that COINCIDENCE is not real. God is!}

Over the next three weeks, door after door was opened to us pointing out what we needed, where it was located, and how much we already had and did not know it! By Easter Sunday, we had all we needed to deliver LIVE the Gospel of Jesus Christ unhindered right through walls and beyond closed doors directly to the ears of our loyal and precious souls who join us remotely via FM Radio!!

Our car is now the Sunday morning pulpit providing three 45-minute full church services to three facilities. Two by direct broadcast, one indirect. The entire services are broadcast from inside the car. Here you see us set up in the parking lot at one Assisted Living Facility. The old survey tripod was collecting dust in the garage, along with the mast that used to be a tree saw that broke years ago. The antenna and the FM Transmitter in the car were complements of AMAZON.

Microphone, headphones and sermon is clamped to the steering wheel.

The inexpensive audio mixer came through Best Buy. I already had the laptop and the 300 watt inverter on the floor board.

In the back seat rests the FM Transmitter, the 1/2 watt unit does the job for us. The fellows who build this device are up North and really, by the grace of God,  arranged for all the pieces to fall into place so that we could go LIVE on Easter Sunday. The First LIVE BROADCAST was at Pine Level Baptist Church carrying a LIVE Service to cars parked in the church lot --properly distanced- with Pastor Brian at the Pulpit. It was WONDERFUL.

From that day to today, and into the immediate future, our tiny SERMON in a SUITCASE Ministery continues each week as we Preach and share the Good News of Jesus to those Senior Light Bearers as the church comes to them every Lord's Day on Sunday. Everything we need we carry with us. For the exception of the mast and tripod, it all fits in this carrier that GOD arranged for us to have.

No matter what you face, always go to prayer FIRST, and constantly plead. Prayer works!  None of this progress would have been possible absent prayer.  PRAYER WORKS through HIS divine will to accomplish HIS plan and deliver HIS word.  PRAYER WORKS!

THANK-YOU ALMIGHTY GOD, YOUR WILL BE DONE!

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ADDICTED TO LOVE

A dear friend wrote a superb missive recently about a wondrous power that God has anointed for our unlimited use. Each day it seems that there is a new high that has been reached demonstrating man's insatiable hunger for the vulgar and violent outbursts of pure satanic hatred. The media clamors for more and more. The TV Viewers are glued to the 48 inch flat screen windows on today's world, neatly scattered amongst hundreds of channels that each cry out for your undivided complete attention. And don't even get me started about the poison of the internet!

God created the world, and in His creation man has learned the art of SIN well. Sin is a poison that absolutely leads to eternal death. God also made the antidote to this poison, bringing eternal relief to those to consume it regularly. It is my drug of choice. It is addictive. I am hooked....on GOD's LOVE.

Keep yourselves in the love of God, waiting anxiously for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ to eternal life. "Abide in Me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself unless it abides in the vine, so neither can you unless you abide in Me.  "I am the vine, you are the branches; he who abides in Me and I in him, he bears much fruit, for apart from Me you can do nothing. -Jud 1:21, Joh 15:4-5

When I am filled to overflowing being witness to the wretchedness that only human beings can unleash on each other, my solace, my peace can be regained when I open my Bible and refresh my soul with the word of God; The fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law. -Gal 5:22-23

Joh 15:8-10  "My Father is glorified by this, that you bear much fruit, and so prove to be My disciples.  "Just as the Father has loved Me, I have also loved you; abide in My love.   "If you keep My commandments, you will abide in My love; just as I have kept My Father's commandments and abide in His love.

In the simple and masterful Commandments of our Lord, we have a clear template to which our behavior, one human to another, should be regulated; By this we know that we have come to know Him, if we keep His commandments.  The one who says, "I have come to know Him," and does not keep His commandments, is a liar, and the truth is not in him;  but whoever keeps His word, in him the love of God has truly been perfected. By this we know that we are in Him:  the one who says he abides in Him ought himself to walk in the same manner as He walked.-1Jn 2:3-6

And this commandment we have from Him, that the one who loves God should love his brother also.  "This is My commandment, that you love one another, just as I have loved you.-1Jn 4:21, Joh 15:12 This clearly includes those who we find hard, very hard to love. God never said it would be easy, only that HE would be with us, guiding our walk -- All the way!

The ultimate expression and gift of LOVE came to us through the horror of the Cross. But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.-Rom 5:8

We have come to know and have believed the love which God has for us. God is love, and the one who abides in love abides in God, and God abides in him.   By this, love is perfected with us, so that we may have confidence in the day of judgment; because as He is, so also are we in this world.-1Jn 4:16-17

If I am to be addicted to anything O Lord Jesus, I pray that I be hopelessly Addicted to Your LOVE, Amen

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FINISH THE RACE

FINISH THE RACE, FINISH WELL!

 

Brethren, I do not regard myself as having laid hold of it yet; but one thing I do: forgetting what lies behind and reaching forward to what lies ahead,  I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus. -Php 3:13-14

When we answer the call of God and invite Jesus to come into us, we are filled to the brim with the Holy Spirit. This spirit instantly becomes our resident guide and counselor. His spirit constantly communicates with our spirit in a language we cannot comprehend. By speaking to us from deep inside using the voice of our own conscience (that little voice of reason that resonates in our gut) we are capable of knowing and being led in our walk with Christ. The Apostle Paul alludes to his race to the finish line where his crown and prize awaits. A prize to which we all pursue!

Do you not know that those who run in a race all run, but only one receives the prize? Run in such a way that you may win.   Everyone who competes in the games exercises self-control in all things. They then do it to receive a perishable wreath, but we an imperishable.-1Co 9:24-25

In this race we do not compete one with the other. The goal is to FINISH, to stay true to the end. To not quit mid-stream, or fall by the wayside. As we run this marathon, we have ample opportunity along the way to share the joy and promise that the Christ gave to us, reflecting His light to others. We all hope to cross that line and have in our hands the ripe fruit of the labors in His name.

"Father, I desire that they also, whom You have given Me, be with Me where I am, so that they may see My glory which You have given Me, for You loved Me before the foundation of the world...so that the name of our Lord Jesus will be glorified in you, and you in Him, according to the grace of our God and the Lord Jesus Christ."-Joh 17:24, 2Th 1:12

Therefore, since we have so great a cloud of witnesses surrounding us, let us also lay aside every encumbrance and the sin which so easily entangles us, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us,   fixing our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of faith, who for the joy set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God. For I am confident of this very thing, that He who began a good work in you will perfect it until the day of Christ Jesus.-Heb 12:1-2,Php 1:6

Keep your focus, maintain the pace, control the body and cross that finish line.

FINISH THE RACE....FINISH WELL.

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THE BEST IS YET TO COME

THE BEST IS YET TO COME

As a true "Late Bloomer" there is so much appreciation in my heart for what Jesus did when He shed His blood on that old rugged cross. He purchased me and He purchased you who after His call, we finally answered with a prayerful invitation to fill us with the Holy Spirit and discharge the sentence of death we carried. It was a hallowed moment that filled us with peace and a sense of eternal safety.

Let us not rest on our backsides as if our work has ended,  for you have not as yet come to the resting place and the inheritance which the LORD your God is giving you.- Deu 12:9 Look around and see all the violence, the hate, the division, the looting, the shooting, the ABSENCE of the PRESENCE of GOD!   "Arise and go, For this is no place of rest Because of the uncleanness that brings on destruction, A painful destruction.-Mic 2:10 There is work to do while the SON shines. God gave us the talents and skills that we are expected to use to share our knowledge of Him and His wondrous grace to everyone that we see and who will hear. We know not the precious soul that the Lord will touch, softening the heart to repentance, through the sharing that we do. It is not a time to rest.  So there remains a Sabbath rest for the people of God.- Heb 4:9

This hope we have as an anchor of the soul, a hope both sure and steadfast and one which enters within the veil,   where Jesus has entered as a forerunner for us, having become a high priest forever according to the order of Melchizedek.-Heb 6:19-20

Through the promises uttered by the Lord woven in fine thread in scripture we are confident that all that has been promised will indeed be; "In My Father's house are many dwelling places; if it were not so, I would have told you; for I go to prepare a place for you.  (3)  "If I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and receive you to Myself, that where I am, there you may be also.-Joh 14:2-3

But I am hard-pressed from both directions, having the desire to depart and be with Christ, for that is very much better.-Php 1:23 Paul knew that the time of his departure from the earth was closing. Instead of giving in, he rose to continue sharing the Gospel to his last breath. By the very grace of God, the Apostle continued the work and in the process his heavenly wealth enlarged with each passing day. Paul's example encourages us to "store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys, and where thieves do not break in or steal;   for where your treasure is, there your heart will be also. Therefore if you have been raised up with Christ, keep seeking the things above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God.   Set your mind on the things above, not on the things that are on earth.-Mat 6:20-21, Col 3:1-2

John, [the apostle whom Jesus loved..] was selected to witness and to record for all time, the Revelation of Jesus to the world. With every Godly promise made in the past, each has come to be. So shall the prophesy uttered by Jesus and recalled by John be a guarantee in our future as we who believe will see it come;

And I heard a loud voice from the throne, saying, "Behold, the tabernacle of God is among men, and He will dwell among them, and they shall be His people, and God Himself will be among them,  and He will wipe away every tear from their eyes; and there will no longer be any death; there will no longer be any mourning, or crying, or pain; the first things have passed away."   And He who sits on the throne said, "Behold, I am making all things new." And He *said, "Write, for these words are faithful and true."-Rev 21:3-5

This is not a time to rest. We are called to a great harvest. Share the Gospel.

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PRAYER -- CRYING UNTO JESUS

PRAYER -- CRYING UNTO JESUS

Texas resident and accomplished Bible Teacher and powerful Preacher, Michael Snyder shares with us his rendering of a wonderful and timely message of hope in the awesome power of prayer. Perhaps this will be as helpful to you and it has been for me. A fresh perspective into our prayer life:

“Behold, a woman of Canaan came out of the same coasts, and cried unto Him.” ( Matthew 15:22).  

In this prayer the Syro-Phoenician woman cried with intense feeling. Would it not have been more modest for her to speak gently to this soul-redeeming Savior, who hears before we pray, than to cry or shout? Was Christ so hard to be entreated? The disciples afterward complained of her crying after them, but there were reasons for her loud praying that are applicable to us.

First, Need cannot blush. The pinching necessity of the saints is not bound by the law of modesty. Hunger cannot be ashamed. I mourn in my complaint, says David, and make a noise ( Psalm 55:2). Like a crane or a swallow, so did I chatter, says Hezekiah: I did mourn as a dove ( Isaiah 38:14).  

Second, Fervor is a heavenly ingredient in prayer, even though God hears prayer only as offered in Christ and not because of its warmth. Therefore the prayers of the saints are called their crying: Out of the depths have I cried ( Psalm 130:1).  Jesus, our pattern for prayer, offered up prayers and supplications with strong crying and tears( Hebrews 5:7). 

Third, There is a sort of violence offered to God in fervent prayer. I will not let thee go, said Jacob to his Lord (Genesis 32:26).  When Moses was wrestling in prayer for the people, God answered, Now therefore let me alone ( Exodus 32:10).  All these are good reasons for urgent prayer, but we must consider of the hindrance that keep poor sinners from this kind of praying. 

We might say, I have not so much as a voice. Yes, but there are other voices besides those that are articulate. For example, there is a voice in tears: The Lord hath heard the voice of my weeping (Psalm 6:8). A baby has no prayers for the breast, but the mother can interpret his weeping. 

All my ways of expressing prayer are imperfect. In God’s book, a look toward heaven or an uplifting of the eyes is set down as prayer: In the mourning will I direct my prayer unto thee, and will look up ( Psalm 5:3). What is prayer but a pouring out of the soul to God? Faith will find another outlet if one be stopped. Feeling breaks out in looks when voice is lacking, just as smoke pours out of the windows when the door is shut. Dying Stephen looked up to heaven by the window of the soul to give notice that a poor friend was on his way, and that was prayer enough. If I were ready to sink into hell, I should wish no more than to send one longing look to heaven. There are many love-looks of the saints lying in the bosom of Christ.

Original script: Samuel Rutherford. From: A Sermon Crying unto Jesus 

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