Wednesday Thoughts

When it comes to the things of God, we have to be careful that we don't measure excellence by the worlds standards.

What is the world interested in?  Numbers. How many, how much, how profitable, how big, growth rate.
Aren't the numbers important? Maybe. But in a different way. God wants above all else, for us to love Him, and worship Him, and to make Him number one in our life. Look at the ten commandments. What are the first two?

1.) You shall have no other Gods before me!  In other words, I'm it! Don't look elsewhere. Don't make anything more important the me. As you can see most everyone fails right here with commandment number one. We have many things we put before God.

2.) You shall not make for yourself a carved image, any likeness of anything that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth; you shall not bow down to them nor serve them. For I, the Lord your God, am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children to the third and fourth generations of those who hate me, but showing mercy to thousands, to those who love Me and keep My commandments.
How many "things" in our life become our obsession?

Yes Kent but that was the old testament and we are new testament people! Correct, and here is what Jesus said,"

Matthew 22:36-40

36 “Teacher, which is the greatest commandment in the Law?”

37 Jesus replied: “‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.’ 38 This is the first and greatest commandment. 39 And the second is like it: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ 40 All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments.”

You have to love Jesus! He keeps it simple and to the point. Jesus took all the law that had ever been given and breaks it down to two things: 

1.) Love God with everything you've got.

2.) Love your neighbor as much as you love your self!

You cannot make Christianity any simpler than this. So today, Wednesday November 19th, think about your life. Where is God on your priority list? And where is your love meter with everyone else in your life? Now, make the necessary adjustments and get on with it!  Amen!

Announcements: 

Reminder,  there will be NO SERVICE this coming Sunday November the 23rd, because Bonni and I are out of town for Thanks Giving. We will meet again on November 30th! 

Donna Bowers has Christmas Gift requests from Beverly Farm. We will  have to make an all out effort to get the requests filled since the gifts are needed by December 12th. We have 50 requests!

Suggestion: Pray for our church and our dedicated volunteers and leaders. We are a people waiting on God, loving God, loving people. Do not become discouraged!  Look to the stories of the bible. There were many times of trial but God always came through for those who waited on Him and trusted Him.

Jeremiah 29:1 "For I know the plans I have for you, declares the Lord, plans for welfare and not for evil, to give you a future and a hope."

Joshua 1:9 "Have I not commanded you? Be strong and courageous. Do not be frightened, and do not be dismayed, for the Lord your God is with you wherever you go.”

1 Corinthians 15:58" Therefore, my beloved brothers, be steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, knowing that in the Lord your labor is not in vain."

2 Corinthians 4:17-18"For this light momentary affliction is preparing for us an eternal weight of glory beyond all comparison, 18 as we look not to the things that are seen but to the things that are unseen. For the things that are seen are transient, but the things that are unseen are eternal."

Proverbs 3:5-6English Standard Version (ESV)

5 Trust in the Lord with all your heart,
    and do not lean on your own understanding.
6 In all your ways acknowledge him,
    and he will make straight your paths.

God has spoken, let's walk in His ways and trust Him!  If you have suggestions are requests please email me kent@praisecommunityfellowship.com

See you soon! Love, pastor kent

                           

Jesus

Jesus! He's not just for Sunday mornings anymore.

Love, pastor kent

Art History

Michelangelo can teach us something about "sanctification."  Michelangelo carved the statue "David" at the beginning of the 1500's. He, like many great sculptures, said that the image of David is already in the block of stone, I just need to release it by removing the stone that was un-necessary. It is a process of chiseling, grinding, carving meticulously with great skill and care.

Christianity is the only religion in the world with such an audacious claim found in Galatians: "I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me."

When you accept Jesus as your Lord and savior, Jesus comes to live "in" you. The problem is we are still a very carnal being when that happens. Our old self still has a mind of its own. It is opposed to the things of God. The process of sanctification is the removing of all the old self, the selfishness, the anger, the strife, the unforgiving heart, jealousy, and on and on until Christ is revealed through us. We become Christ to the world as we allow ourselves to be sanctified. We must be retooled and reshaped into a useful vessel for Gods purposes. 
Isaiah 64:8 "We are the clay, you are the potter; we are the work of your hand." 

Isaiah 45:9 ""Woe to those who quarrel with their Maker, those who are nothing but potsherds among the potsherds on the ground. Does the clay say to the potter, 'What are you making?' Does your work say, 'The potter has no hands'?"

1 Corinthians 3:16  "Do you not know that you are God's temple and that God's spirit dwells in you?"

How do I allow God to transform me? Two words, Submit and surrender! You must allow God to remove the things in your life that are hiding Jesus! I mentioned some of them above but the bible has more to say about these things which hinder Jesus from shining out through us. Read the bible! Pray. Listen. Obey!

It's the Holiday season. Let Jesus shine through you each and every day because this world needs to see Him in action. Even the simplest things matter! Kindness, joy, sharing, giving, compassion.

See you soon, in the mean time, be the church! Love, pastor kent
  

Church Cancelled for This Evening!

Due to the winter advisory we are cancelling the service for this evening!  Please send word out to others.

Noting also there will be no service next week either since Bonni and I are out of town! We will resme services, God willing and the creek don't rise on November 30th!

So, for the next two weeks, be the church! Each and every day go into the world and be a demonstration of Jesus' love, forgiveness, compassion and healing to those around you. Christianity is powerful because God is real! He will empower you to love and show compassion to help change the world for the better.

I love you and will see you soon! Pastor, kent

Tomorrow Evening…..Unplugged!

Come join your PCF family tomorrow evening. We will be celebrating a special "unplugged" service. The PCF signers and Bill will bring sounds of Joy as we meet in an intimate setting, unplugged to bring in the Holidays together and thank God for all He has given us this past year.

Come experience the living God with your spiritual family.

Announcements: 
We will be taking a count as to your interest in moving our service to noon. Again the reason for noon is so that we can continue having Bill Diggs be our Keyboard player and noon is the earliest he is available on Sundays.

There will be a Christmas tree set up with gift requests from residents at beverly Farm who do not have family. The requests are for simp items such as gloves, music Cds, caps etc…

Hope to see you all tomorrow at 6:30! Love, pastor kent

Announcements!

As the church gears up for the Holidays please look over these announcements.

1.) There will be No service on November 23rd! Holiday travel plans.

2.) The next several Sundays there will be a Christmas tree displayed by the offering box that have cards with Beverly Farm resident Christmas gift requests. There are 50 cards and these are for the people of Beverly farm who have no family. We are asking the congregation to choose several cards and buy a gift for these people for Christmas. We must have all gifts collected by December 12th which is a Friday. You can bring your gifts to the church, and if you miss that opportunity you can drop them off at Donna Bowers home at #1 Goshen Woods Estates Edwardsville.  Thank you!

3.) This Sunday I will be asking the congregation to weigh in on moving the service time from 6:30 PM to 12:00 noon.  Why noon? Because that is the earliest time we can have Bill Diggs since he is playing at Eden in the morning. Think about it, and we will vote with a show of hands just so we can see how many might be interested in having a daylight service.

4.) Whitley is a young girl battling brain cancer. She was diagnosed in January of this year, and is showing more symptoms day by day.  The family has exhausted traditional treatment options, and her tumor is inoperable.  She is unable to go to school now, and the highlight of her day is getting the mail.  So, if you can we are asking that you consider sending Whitley a card or a note that says you are thinking of her and praying for her.

I know not all of you know her, but a simple card would go far to let her know that there are lots of people thinking about her, and praying for her.  Here is here address:

Whitley Hedger

140 E Dunn Street

Edwardsville, Illinois  62025

4.) For those of you who may be curious we have no news about the Well.

It's time to focus on the season of Joy. The season we celebrate the arrival of a personal Savior available to all mankind. A Savior who saves us from death. A Savior which said:

John 10:1010 The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I have come that they may have life,and have it to the full.

See you all Sunday! Let's bring in the season with much joy!

love, pastor kent

Your Basket

We all have something in common. We all have a basket of stuff that we carry around and that basket of stuff is what defines most of our lives, unfortunately.

What's in the basket? All kinds of things. It varies from person to person but we all have a basket that we carry at all times.  The basket contains our worries, our problems, our disappointments, our anger, our frustrations, our fears, our habits (both good and bad) and for some it includes stuff!  Stuff meaning money, job, possessions, anything that we think we need that helps define us.

There is something you need to know about this basket, "You can set it down any time you want!" You have the choice to walk away from it and you also have the choice to sort it out and remove some of the items and replace them with others.

Put it into perspective. If You found out you only had 24 hours to live, would you still want to carry everything you currently have in your basket? What would become most important all of a sudden?
A better question might be, "What would you want to put into that basket for the remaining 24 hours of your life?"

Stop carrying stuff that will make no eternal difference to you. Jesus said it like this:

Matthew 6:19-24

19 “Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust[a] destroy and where thievesbreak in and steal, 20 but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys and where thieves do not break in and steal. 21 For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.

1 Peter 5:6-7

6 Humble yourselves, therefore, under God’s mighty hand, that he may lift you up in due time. 7 Cast all your anxiety on him because he cares for you.

Psalm 55:22New International Version (NIV)

22 Cast your cares on the Lord
    and he will sustain you;
he will never let
    the righteous be shaken.

LOVE, pastor kent