Are You Trusting God for Anything?

When I look at much of my life I realize that most of the time I have  held onto the reigns and did all the planning, effort and work to get what "I" wanted. Then I read a verse like Proverbs 3:5:

"Trust in the Lord with all your Heart., and do not lean on your own understanding!"

How many of us are trusting God for the supernatural? Something that only God can do? Only God can change a persons heart and move in someones life in such a way that they make a 180 degree turn. That happened to Saul of Tarsus. He went from hating the Christians to becoming one of the biggest voices for Jesus!  That is why we have our assignment to pray for that one special person until God acts in their life. There is power in prayer.  As you continue to pray for your special person, become aware of the Holy Spirit's prompting in your own life. The Spirit may need you to be the voice, the love, the answer to someone else's prayer. 

When we put God at the center of our life, put Him in charge of all things, we are aligning ourselves to His power, His direction, His blessing. Stop living your life independently from God. Put Him in the drivers seat and see where He will take you! I can promise you this, it will be an adventure of great blessing!  Is it real?   Watch this video! When God enters a life!

I will be in touch!  See you soon! Love, pastor kent

Music Worship Leaders Take Note!

For all the years that I have been involved in worship music, I have to confess that too often, not always but way too often, I was disconnected from Gods Spirit when I played on Sundays. What a shame. 

Worship leaders and worship bands have a huge responsibility! Huge! When music is brought into the sanctuary by those who have prepared themselves for worship, God inhabits their music! Music opens the soul to the message. Lives change because the barriers have been broken allowing the Holy Spirit to enter a persons life. Combine prayer with music and stand back! God is going to enter the house!

Colossians 3:16 Let the message of Christ dwell among you richly as you teach and admonish one another with all wisdom through psalms, hymns, and songs from the Spirit, singing to God with gratitude in your hearts.

It starts with each individual who has volunteered to stand up before a congregation to bring the Spirit of God through music to the congregation. That is why preparation is so important! 

Jim Cymbala tells a story of a Sunday when a man came to his church with a loaded gun. He came to hurt or kill someone and then the Brooklyn Tabernacle choir started the worship service. Their praises and songs contained the Spirit of God because they were worshipping in Spirit and in Truth. The man who came with hate in his heart was broken and brought the gun to the alter and threw it down. He came with hate and left changed with hope! 

Unfortunately true worship has all but disappeared from many churches today. No wonder people can easily find 1000 excuses why not to attend church. 

When the Holy Spirit is released by true worship and God comes into the sanctuary and you experience the living God, there is nothing that could keep you from getting to church on Sunday no matter when the service is held. Let me tell all of you who follow this blog, I'm getting charged up! Lifted up! Energized! Refreshed! And you can too. Let true worship begin now! 

Keep lifting your special person in prayer! Ask God to fill your life with His wisdom and Spirit! 

See you soon! Love, pastor kent

I continue to Recharge

Yesterday I spent the morning with Steve St. Pierre over in North City St. Louis. He gave me a first hand look at the Restore St. Louis Ministry and how the organization is bringing people from all walks of life together! We took to the streets and went to some of their work sites as Steve shared story after story of God answering prayer in many times miraculous ways.

Testimony after testimony from Steve and the young people working there confirm God is alive and well and is available to all of us who choose to walk in His Kingdom here and now!  Harambee, which means to "Pull together!" is the name of one of the ministries that takes youth and teaches them about work and team effort. This group goes out and tuck points buildings. I was amazed at the the job these kids are doing. I have tuck pointed in my day and it is an art and hard work. The kids ages are from 12 on up to 18 work together which includes putting up scaffolding. grinding, mixing cement, and tuck pointing.  The Harambee teams are restoring the mortar joints on old homes and buildings in North St. Louis and the kids do get paid for their work. I hope to have some videos I took yesterday up on the website www.praisecommunityfellowship soon.

God is real and He is answering prayer and accomplishing great things through those who are willing to to step out in faith for His Kingdom. Here is a link to Restore St. Louis and their ministries. Steve has invited me to bring a group over anytime to see this amazing inner city ministry in action. Go to Restore St. Louis

Please continue to pray for that one special person and watch God move in their life. I want to remind you that this is an ongoing prayer. Keep praying fervently and daily for them until God moves in their life.

Remember Stan Rutkowski in your prayers!

See you soon! Being restored daily, pastor kent

Refreshment

Bonni and I are in a time of Spiritual refreshment. In yesterdays sermon I spoke of the absolute necessity of staying connected and getting recharged.  But it is not just the pastor, or praise team that needs to be refreshed, all of Gods children need the same.

If your faith has been put on autopilot, if your connection to God is weak, if your life energy is being zapped on day to day issues and struggles then you also desperately need the refreshment that only God can provided. Just like charging your cell phone is necessary if you want it to work, you too must be recharged. Open your bible starting today but before you start reading, ask God to refresh your spirit.

My time of refreshment is already yielding results in my spiritual life. When you reconnect with God you are connected to the most powerful source in the universe where "ALL things become possible!"

Pray, read you your bible, and then pray more. Jesus said, "Ask and you will receive!"  Stay connected and watch how your interpretation of life changes! Same day, same job, same routine and even the same problems look completely different when you refresh yourself with God's spirit.

Yesterday I gave everyone a very important assignment. I asked everyone at the service to pick one person that they knew who could use the wisdom and love of Jesus in their life. I am asking everyone to focus on that one person by lifting them up daily in prayer. Prayer is powerful. Let's watch what God will do in that person's life. This is an ongoing project. I don't want you to pray for that person once and then forget about them. I want you to pray for that person often every day. Lift them up. Ask God to open the door to their heart so that they may receive the love and forgiveness of Jesus and begin enjoying a whole new life experience! Let's become active Christians using the power that God has given us.

There is so much God is laying on my heart I'm about to explode! Just know that you and I and all Christians must take the time and discipline to be refreshed everyday by Gods word and Spirit. Start today!

Let's all be praying for the healing of Stan Rutkowski. Stan is at the Edwardsville care and rehab center located at the corner of rte 143 and St. Mary's Drive Edwardsville. He is in the B wing. He would love to have a visit.

Great things are on the way! See you soon. Love, pastor kent

We are Back!

Bonni and I got back today from an amazing pastors conference in Naperville Il. put on by pastor Jim Cymbala and the Brooklyn Tabernacle.  I hope to see everyone tomorrow at church. I'll be giving the message and look forward to sharing some of our experiences.

It's Fathers Day Tomorrow!  Our Heavenly Father will be looking for you!

ANNOUNCEMENT: Sally McLauchlan visited the Glen-Ed Pantry and they are in need of Ketchup, Mustard, and Jelly. If you can help with this need please bring these items to church tomorrow at 9:00 and Sally will get it to the pantry!

See you tomorrow at 9:00AM  Love, pastor kent

Worship right now!

Learn to worship God at all times. I find this to be life changing. I can worship God while having my morning coffee, mowing, going out to eat, having a glass of wine or a beer with friends, at the store, while getting gas, while at work, you get the picture.

God is why I have this life. God is why I can see, and hear….although not that well anymore…and taste and feel. God made me to worship Him.

Let's start right now. How? By thinking about Him and being grateful. Thank Him, talk to Him. Listen to Him.

It's another way to making your life "amazing!"

See you Sunday, Fathers Day.  Love, pastor kent

Change Your Life Into Amazing Right Now!

One of the reasons I became a believer is because I "experimented" with things that the bible teaches and I found much peace.

Here is something simple to try that will begin changing your life into amazing. Smile more when you are with people. There is amazing power in a happy face. Practice it and see what happens!

Proverbs 15:30The cheerful look of a messenger brings joy to your heart  and good news gives health to your body.

As Christians, we are all messengers! What message is being broadcast by your face?

This coming Sunday is fathers day! Come join PCF and Immanuel Methodist at 9:00 am. I will be giving the message and the PCF Praise team will be singing with happy faces!

See you Sunday! Love, pastor kent

Change Your Life Into Amazing….Right Now

 Just as a review from a couple of days ago, I started thinking about things in my life that I can change that would make not only my life better, but also the lives of all those who I interact with. I am focusing on things in my control. We started with never talking negative about anyone, ever!

Today I want to teach you a very powerful three word prayer. A prayer that is necessary to help you on your walk to becoming amazing. Maybe I should be saying,  "Becoming more amazing than you already are!"

The three word prayer: "Change me Lord!"

We need God's power to help us make the changes necessary to become Amazing!

Our prayer list:
Stan Rutkowski
Mary Knapp
Bob Heuchert   We are asking for healing for all three.  Prayer is powerful!

News: I spoke with Faye Heuchert this morning and she informed me that our church is feeding about 90 kids every day through the SAKS program. This is really amazing. Faye said she could use more volunteers to help distribute the lunches. If you could spare an hour here and there please contact Faye Heuchert.

Pray for one another with a heart filled with love!  See you soon! Love, pastor kent
 

Special Message from Pastor Kent

I want to address our new arrangement with Immanuel Methodist because I feel as if there is still some confusion. First, we are not becoming Methodists, and Immanuel Methodist are not becoming Praise Community Fellowshipers (you like that word?). We are trying something very unique. We are two separate churches coming together to worship at the same service. Pastor Jackie and I meet regularly and talk about how to make this work for both congregations. Originally, when I first brought this to the board, I said that we would have the 2nd and 4th Sunday's and Immanuel would do the 1st and third Sundays. But when Jackie and I sat down to develop the schedule there were some things that were already on their schedule that kept this from working perfectly. This coming Sunday is an example. This is the Immanuel Methodist Youth Sunday. The youth will be doing the entire service.
June 21st, which is fathers day, I will be giving the message and our praise band will be providing the music. Pastor Jackie and I met this morning and have decided we will be both participating in "all "the services with one of us giving the sermon about every other week.

Why are we doing this?   There are several reasons.

1.) Our attendance drops in the summer as does Immanuel Methodist.
2.) Noon in the summer is not exactly a great time to expect people to show up at church.
3.) Bonni and I needed a respite to catch a breath as we move forward. I have addressed this in previous blogs.
4.) You get the wonderful diversity and opportunity  of hearing someone other than me every Sunday.
5.) There is synergy when the church has more people in it.
6.) I believe, as does Pastor Jackie, that together our congregations can do some great things together. We are already doing that with the SAKS program.
7.) Bonni and I have some traveling scheduled this summer and there will always be a pastor available in my absence or in Pastor Jackies absence.
8.) We are again breaking new territory with this arrangement. Two different congregations coming together to worship the same God is awesome! It is much closer to what Jesus wants from all of us, to come together!

So, there is church every Sunday this summer at 9:00 am!  It will be an adventure!  Don't Worry, Be Happy!

See you soon!   Love, pastor kent

Change Your Life for the Better….Right Now!

The reason there has not been a blog update this past week is because Bonni and I were in Florida. Now it is time to get back at it! We attended our new combined service yesterday with Immanuel Methodist at 9:00 am and it was wonderful!  We will continue this arrangement through the summer meeting every Sunday at 9:00 am.

Change Your Life into Amazing……Right Now!
I'm going to start a new series of Blogs with the above title!  I don't know about you but I need a lot of work in a lot of area's. So, while on vacation, I pondered all the things in my life that I have control over that I could change to make this life experience better, happier, more joyful. Then I realized that if I am successful at changing these changeable things, not only would I be making my life experience better, but it would also make other people's life experience much better. I'm talking about the people who have put up with me and interact with me on a regular basis. So my goal is to take control over the things in my life that I need to change, that are changeable.

So here is the first change I am going to be working on. "I will from this moment on not talk negative about anyone!  EVER! Nadda, Nix,  None!" And that begins by not "thinking" negative about anyone.
Let's face it, how can I love everyone as Jesus commanded and then talk negative about someone. Now I know most of you are not guilty of this time consuming, energy consuming, spirit grieving habit, but if you are, then please join me on this life enhancing change! I am starting RIGHT NOW!   Wow, what a relief! I feel better already!

Stay tuned for many more Let's Become Amazing, Right Now Idea's!

Our prayer list:
Stan Rutkowski at Edwardsville Care and Rehab Center for healing.
Mary Knapp for healing of her eyes from surgery!
Bob Heuchert  Brad's brother  for healing after an operation!