If you love me, keep my Commandments!

In John 14:15 Jesus told His disciples, "If you love me, keep my commandments."

What are the commandments that Jesus was talking about? I think the answer is found in
Matthew 22:34-40

" ³⁴ But when the Pharisees heard that He had silenced the Sadducees, they gathered together. ³⁵ Then one of them, a lawyer, asked Him a question, testing Him, and saying, ³⁶ “Teacher, which is the great commandment in the law?”³⁷ Jesus said to him, “‘You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind. ³⁸ This is the first and great commandment. ³⁹ And the second is like it: ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself. ⁴⁰ On these two commandments hang all the Law and the Prophets.”

When we love God and love our neighbor as much as we love ourselves all the laws of God will be fulfilled. If you love another person as much as you love yourself you won't cheat or steal from anyone. You won't lie or talk badly about anyone. You will respect another persons property and their reputation.

A practicing Christian is aware of this kind of love and strives to fulfill this command from Jesus. To love others as much as we love ourselves is a major undertaking for most of us. It is only through the empowerment of the Holy Spirit and constant fellowship with God that we can approach fulfilling this command. Why? This may hard for you to believe, but people are hard to love sometimes. But that is what we are called to do as practicing Christians. Turn the other cheek, forgive and forget, pray for our enemies, do good to those who are mean to us.

There was another mystery regarding these two commands that Jesus gave, "How can I love God?" Someone who is out there somewhere and who is the ruler of the universe. I mean what do I have to do to Love Him?

I think Jesus answers this for us in

Matthew 25:34-40

³⁴ Then the King will say to those on His right hand, ‘Come, you blessed of My Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world: ³⁵ for I was hungry and you gave Me food; I was thirsty and you gave Me drink; I was a stranger and you took Me in; ³⁶ I was naked and you clothed Me; I was sick and you visited Me; I was in prison and you came to Me.’

³⁷ “Then the righteous will answer Him, saying, ‘Lord, when did we see You hungry and feed You, or thirsty and give You drink? ³⁸ When did we see You a stranger and take You in, or naked and clotheYou? ³⁹ Or when did we see You sick, or in prison, and come to You?’ ⁴⁰ And the King will answer and say to them, ‘Assuredly, I say to you, inasmuch as you did it to one of the least of these My brethren, you did it to Me.’

We love God by loving those who have needs that we can fulfill. Jesus made being a practicing Christian practical. He gave us a method of loving God and loving one another. Which leads me back to the question I asked last night, "Are you a practicing Christian?"

There is a blessing in loving the unlovable, doing good to those who persecute us, and in feeding the poor, clothing the naked, befriending the stranger.   It is my prayer for Praise Community Fellowship that we learn to fulfill these commandments to our greatest ability. Will we fail at times? I hate to say yes but we are human and we will.  The good news is, we are going to continue to become better and better practicing Christians!  God has a plan for your life!   Love you all, sincerely, Kent

Friday October 26th, 2012

Greetings PCF family. This Sunday at 6:30pm I am excited to announce that we will have another very special guest to be part of the sermon. We will be hearing from Dr. Michael Beatty,M.D. F.A.C.s.

I promise you won't want to miss this service. Dr. Beatty is not only a well respected plastic surgeon but a member of Esic Baptist Church and a regular member of our family at Praise Community Fellowship. Dr. Beatty and his wonderful wife Dr. Ann Beatty are both very respected in their professions and are both practicing Christians!

The title of this Sundays sermon is, "Are you a Practicing Christian?"

Coem and bring a friend! The RTP choir will be singing along with special songs by Emily Ottwein, Steve and Debbie Loucks, and Jack Tweston.

Come and be blessed this Sunday. Come and meet the living God. Come and find the answer that you are looking for.

Love, Kent

Tuesday October 23rd, 2012

God is with you right now as much as He is on Sunday at worship service. He does't change, we do.

I once was having a conversation with someone at church at a rehearsal in the middle of the week and the person let a cuss word fly during the conversation. They immediately went whoops, I forgot I was in church.  I laughed and said, "What, do you think God does not hear you cuss when you are outside of these walls?" 

The church building is a place to meet. It has no more Holy value than a hardware store. In the old testament God did dwell in the temple but we live in new testament times. We have an amazing new way to know God. In 1 Corinthians 3:16 it says

¹⁶ Don’t you know that you yourselves are God’s temple and that God’s Spirit dwells in your midst?

You cannot hide from God because His Holy Spirit is with you. You are the Holy temple of God!  Imagine the creator of everything lives within you!  That is powerful. 

Now go about your day knowing that you have within you the creator of the entire universe and everything in it!   If that doesn't change your perspective no matter what it is you are facing, I'm not sure what will!

See you all soon. God as a plan for your life.  Love, Kent

Saturday October 20th, 2012

Hello and happy Saturday everyone, hope to see everyone tomorrow evening at 6:30. We will meet to celebrate all that God has for us. We are a place to bring the hurting, the struggling, the confused, and those wanting to reconnect with the living God. Come join this wonderful new church family.

IMPORTANT NOTICE:   I know we lack parking space. God knows we lack parking space, however we have been notified by the apartment complex owners that if anyone from our congregation parks on their lot, they will be towed!  Please use the soccer field for additional parking. 

Need volunteers for parking lot help!  We could use three or four persons to help facilitate parking before services. If you are wiling to volunteer bring a flash light.   Volunteers would be responsible for getting cars lined up in a logical order in the soccer field area as well as monitoring the apartment lot so that we do  not violate their space.  Thank you in advance for your help. Volunteers should be out on lot by 6:10.

God has a plan for your life! And it is an extraordinary plan! No matter what circumstances you find your self in at this moment, God can get you back on track.    See you soon.   Love, Kent

Monday, October 15th, 2012

                             Our seeds have been planted!

Last night I used two scriptures, James 2:14-23 and Matthew 14:13-21. In James it stressed that faith without works is dead, in other words if you do nothing with your faith, nothing changes. 

In Matthew we see what God can do when we take what ever provision we have and use it to bless others. When we share our provision when a need is presented to us, we are joining God's work and His plans. And when you join God, you can expect miracles to happen. Too many times we get it backwards. We decide what projects we are going to spend our time and talents on and then ask God to bless us. Sometimes that can work, but many times, especially when it comes to churches, it seems as if God is the last one consulted when planning begins.

All of you who generously gave to African Vision of Hope last night have joined God, just as the disciples did in the story of the feeding of the 5,000. As I mentioned, God knows we could certainly use a bigger parking lot and a bigger sanctuary. I believe the best way to find out if it is Gods will for us to continue to grow this ministry is to continue Helping, doing, sharing, caring and loving people in need in real ways as these needs are presented to us. That, and lots and lots of prayer and scripture study.

Last night we planted seeds into good soil and we will continue to plant into the needs that arise around us. That is what this ministry is all about. Then, when God chooses, if He chooses, our parking lot and sanctuary needs will materialize.  We will the know without a doubt that God is leading this ministry. I know this may not make common sense but I want this congregation to experience how God works in Spiritual ways which are way beyond what we could possibly think or imagine. 

Look at these other scriptures regarding giving to a need.

• Proverbs 19:17 "He who has pity on the poor, lends to the Lord, And He will pay back what he has given."  Imagine that you have loaned to the Lord and He is going to pay you back!
• Proverbs 28:27 "He who gives to the poor will not lack, But He who hides his eyes will have many curses."
• Proverbs 22:9 "He who has a generous eye will be blessed, for he gives of his bread to the poor."

The bottom line, God wants to bless you but you have to do your part. Make God the center of your work life, your relationship life, your family life, your financial life, and your entertainment life and watch how your life will change for the better.  More peace, more joy!

Experience the fullness of God by allowing God to be your fullness.

I want everyone who comes to Praise Community Fellowship to be lifted up and to experience the Miraculous living God. Live expectantly. Become aware of Gods prompting in your heart. Don't miss the opportunity to be a blessing in someones life when you have the means to do so. 

God has a plan for your life!  See you all soon, Love, Kent

PS. Wasn't last night wonderful?

Don't miss it!

All I'm saying is, you won't want to miss this Sunday's service!!!!   There will be a blessing in it for all who attend. Come and be blessed. Come and experience the reality of the living God! Surprise guest.  This Sunday at 6:30 Praise Community Fellowship.

Love, Kent

October 11th 2012

This Sunday we will be going a little deeper into the discussion Allowing God to be God. If you missed last Sundays sermon you may want to listen to the replay from the website.

I will be picking up from where we left off and continuing the message on how we choose how much God we allow into our lives. It is my desire for everyone at Praise Community Fellowship to experience the fullness of Gods mighty power.

Bonni will be directing the Praise Choir and we have a new lead vocalist, Richard Ladd, who is an amazing tenor, singing a special song.

I hope you can come join us this Sunday at 6:30. There will also be a surprise guest.

I will see you all Sunday!    Love, Kent

“You are loved and cherished, dearly, forever.”

God has a message to everyone of us in this world, "You are loved and cherished, dearly, forever!"

God has been sending this message to us since the time of Adam and Eve, "“You are loved and cherished, dearly, forever.”  and “You have nothing to fear.”

These two messages can change your  life if you could only believe in the one who sends them to you. Imagine being lost somewhere in the Alaskan wilderness out in the middle of nowhere. Many of us have experienced that very feeling when life has fallen apart around us. You are alone, afraid, have no idea which way to start walking. You have no food or water and maybe not enough clothing for the harsh cold nights. Panic sets in. Then, as the night begins to approach you see a light in the distance. You walk rapidly toward the light and you discover a small cabin. Inside you find three experienced outdoorsman. They are experts at survival and have radios to call for help. Your entire experience of the situation changes immediately from panic and fear to, "It's going to be OK!"  "I am safe now!"

That is exactly what God has been saying through His word for centuries. You are safe, "if" you come to the light. I am here waiting for you. Stop fighting life and worrying about survival,   "You are loved and cherished, dearly forever!" and "You have nothing to fear!"

God has a plan for your life. Come join us this Sunday, October the 14th at 6:30. Come to the light in the wilderness of life.

Love, Kent

Monday October 8th 20

We have begun a new chapter in Praise Community Fellowship. Last night we kicked off weekly  Sunday night services. The sermon last night, Letting God be God, I hope inspired all of you to think about how big and all encompassing our God really is. He owns everything, He created everything, and is in control of everything!

That being said, do you think a God with those credentials is going to let a new church such as ours flounder because we lack a big enough parking lot or too small a sanctuary? We are called to be the salt and light of the world. To love one another, forgive one another, to help one another, and first and far most to put God first in every area of our lives.

Last night my message centered on how God does things that many times may not make rational sense to us. We are called instead to do what makes Spiritual sense, and we find out what makes spiritual sense from the bible and from prayer.

It is my goal to have every member of Praise Community Fellowship, experience the mightiness of God in a personal way, but to accomplish that, each and everyone of you will have to be willing to step out in faith in some area of your life.

Last night I read from 1 Corinthians 2:14 which says,

"But the natural man does not receive the things of the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to Him; nor can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned."

And in John 15:7 we read,

"If you abide in Me, and My words abide in you, you will ask what you desire, and it shall be done for you."

We worship a mighty God, let Him be God in your life so that you can experience all that He has for you. As I tried to communicate in my sermon last night, His promises are real but we have to "DO" something in our lives to allow His blessings to flow.  That doing starts by understanding His word and what Jesus taught us in the bible.

God will show up in a powerful way when you are ready to let Him take over your life!  It may not make rational sense with what He requires of you, but take it from personal experience, He will change your life in a powerful and wonderful way. But it is up to you. We are given free choice. To accept all He has to ignore and do it our own way. You choose.

I hope you choose Gods way, because then you will be able to sing with understanding and with enthusiasm, "Take the shackels off my feet so I can dance!"

Love, Kent   See you all next Sunday!

This Sunday October 7th, 2012

Sermon Topic: The Reason Many Don't Experience God 

This coming Sunday, the 7th, we will begin our weekly services starting at 6:30pm.  We have come a long way since our first meeting in Jim and Sue Ebersoldt's basement. We will be discussing what lies before us and what the bible tells us about some of the decisions we must make.

Come and join us as we seek the living God and all that He has for us as a new church and what He has for you and your family. We will celebrate with music, fellowship, the word of God, and Holy Communion.

I have taken several prayer walks this week as I have sought guidance about this Sundays service. We are going to discus some very interesting questions about our faith and belief in Gods word. Where do we stand? Do we understand? How can we allow God to be God? I promise it is going to be challenging. God is a miracle working God!

I think this Sunday's service will help you in any struggle you may be dealing with. Be blessed, God has a plan for you personally.

I hope to see all of you Sunday at 6:30.  Sincerely and with Love, Kent

October 2, 2012

A reminder that we will be meeting this Sunday October 7th at 6:30 and it will be a communion Sunday. I hope you can join us for fellowship, praise and worship.

The little church at 1000 Esic drive is busy. Raise the Praise choir rehearsals on Monday nights, meetings during the week, planning committees, board meetings, mission meetings, youth groups, bible study and Sunday school Sunday mornings, you would almost think we are a growing church.

• What does God have planned for us and what is our responsibility to make it happen?  

We will be addressing these questions and more as we move into a regular Sunday night worship.

Please continue to pray daily for guidance and direction. God is the only one with the perfect plan for us and the congregation of Esic church.

God has a plan for your life!    Sincerely, Kent Schuette