Last Day of 2012

Ideas and goals for Praise Community Fellowship for 2013.

The following four ideas I know we will be initiating in 2013. 

1.) Sunday evening fellowship. There have been several groups of PCF family members that have been meeting at local restaurants after the Sunday services. Starting next Sunday, January 6th, we will announce where the fellowship will meet after the service so anyone wishing to join in is welcome.

2.) Informal fellowship Wednesdays for men.  I have over the past several weeks been meeting informally with a couple of guys from PCF just to talk about anything and everything. Starting this Wednesday any guy wishing to join us, we will be meeting at Breadco at 9:00 am.  There is no agenda to these gatherings. Just come and share what ever is on your mind.  Gals, I am more than willing to do the same for you. If you are interested let me know.

3.) Bible Study.  I have had several people express an interest in a bible study class. I will be contacting a couple of people who expressed a interest in leading a bible study class and will keep everyone posted on when this class will start.

4.) Weekly Youth Group meetings.  Vickie Gabriel has done a wonderful job in launching our youth group from scratch this past year.  She got the group up and running and has done some wonderful things with the kids ending the year with an amazing Christmas party a Beverly Farm. This coming year Andy Darbon has agreed to step in a start a weekly youth group and between Vickie, Elizabeth, and a few other volunteers it looks like we will have a growing, dynamic youth program continuing in 2013.  Look for more announcements soon.

On the wish list for 2013

1.) A marriage enhancement class.

2.) A solid plan for our future growth and development.

3.) Prayer meeting, and a dedicated prayer team. (Those who feel a special calling to pray for others)

4.) Sunday school for our youth.

I am sure there are many other ideas and dreams many of you have for our wonderful new church. Your church. Send me your ideas and dreams and I will include them in a future blog. 

We are called to bring Jesus into peoples lives. That is our #1 priority and purpose. Why? Because when a person gets to know Jesus, their life is going to change for the better. It's that simple. People who get close to Jesus and His teachings will help make this world a better place. Step up and become part of the dream.  God has a plan for your life, and it is a wonderful plan. But, it is up to you to go to Him and seek His will. Prayer, bible study, worship, and fellowship are ways in which God can reveal His plan to you. Don't wait like I did for so many years trying to do it "my way."  The best way is Gods way! I want all of you to experience that no matter what your current circumstances, and no matter what your current frustrations may be. Let this year be a blessing to you and your family. Get to know Jesus!    Love, Kent

Tonights service Sunday December 30th, 2012

Close this year and kick off a new one with your Praise Community Fellowship Family. I hope you can join us this evening as we close the door on 2012 and set the stage for a brand new year. This is the time for new beginnings. If you have struggled in 2012 or just need to kick it up a notch and need some encouragement and hope for 2013, come and join us tonight as we take a peek at the possibilities for the year ahead. Hope to see you tonight at 6:30!

God has a plan for your life!    Sincerely, Kent

December 24th 2012, Christmas Eve

Blessings to all. I'm getting ready to light a fire in my fire place. I had to go outside, get the wood, carry it in the house, clean out some of the ashes that had accumulated in the fire place, place the wood in the fire place and now finally I can light it. It will take about 15 minutes before it gets good and hot so I can enjoy the warmth.

Last night I talked about how Christians sometimes wait for a feeling before they act on love.  Stop waiting to feel like a loving person, just start loving.  What do I mean just start loving.  

Waiting till you feel like a loving person before you love someone is like sitting in front of a fire place trying to get warm except the fireplace has no wood and is not lit. You could sit there all winter and never get warm.

Jesus told his disciples, "If you love me, you will obey my commandments."  He didn't say if you love me, you will get a warm fuzzy feeling inside!"

What were His commandments?  Love God with all our heart, mind, and strength, and to love others as much as we love ourselves.  But loving always consists of doing something.

Jesus told us when we were loving Him in Matthew.

The Sheep and the Goats

³¹ “When the Son of Man comes^(A) in his glory, and all the angels with him, he will sit on his glorious throne.^(B) 32 All the nations will be gathered before him, and he will separate^(C) the people one from another as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats.^(D) 33 He will put the sheep on his right and the goats on his left.

³⁴ “Then the King will say to those on his right, ‘Come, you who are blessed by my Father; take your inheritance, the kingdom^(E) prepared for you since the creation of the world.^(F) 35 For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you invited me in,^(G) 36 I needed clothes and you clothed me,^(H) I was sick and you looked after me,^(I) I was in prison and you came to visit me.’^(J)

³⁷ “Then the righteous will answer him, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you something to drink? ³⁸ When did we see you a stranger and invite you in, or needing clothes and clothe you? ³⁹ When did we see you sick or in prison and go to visit you?’

⁴⁰ “The King will reply, ‘Truly I tell you, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you did for me.’^(K)

⁴¹ “Then he will say to those on his left, ‘Depart from me,^(L) you who are cursed, into the eternal fire^(M)prepared for the devil and his angels.^(N) 42 For I was hungry and you gave me nothing to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me nothing to drink, ⁴³ I was a stranger and you did not invite me in, I needed clothes and you did not clothe me, I was sick and in prison and you did not look after me.’

⁴⁴ “They also will answer, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry or thirsty or a stranger or needing clothes or sick or in prison, and did not help you?’

⁴⁵ “He will reply, ‘Truly I tell you, whatever you did not do for one of the least of these, you did not do for me.’^(O)

⁴⁶ “Then they will go away to eternal punishment, but the righteous to eternal life.^(P)”^(Q)

 

^{You have to stoke the fire before the feeling of warmth will come.} Go get some wood and build yourself a nice fire then.

^{Merry Christmas!   Love, Kent}

Come Join us Sunday

The sermon topic on Sunday December 23rd will be "Come Let Us Adore Him"

I hope all of you will join us this Sunday for a wonderful candle light Christmas communion service at 6:30pm.

Come join the fellowship, the music, and the worship. All are welcome, come as you are.

Love, Kent

I accepted Jesus, now what?

Last night we had a wonderful service. At least a half a dozen people made the decision to accept Jesus as their personal savior. But now what?   Accepting the Lord is the beginning of a new life. Your sins are forgiven and you are now a member of Gods family of believers.

Accepting Jesus as your personal savior is a very personal experience. Everyones experience is unique. Some become very emotional and are convicted of their past sins feeling great remorse and a new inner courage and strength to become a better person. Others may not experience any particular feeling or emotion and wonder if anything took place. Still others find they have a great appetite for Gods word and have a great desire to start reading the bible.

The main thing you as a new believer should understand is this, you are a new person because you made a conscious decision to believe that Jesus is the Christ. That He can and did forgive you of your sins, past, present and future. That you now are promised eternal life.

You are now a what Jesus calls a reborn or born again person, a spiritually new person like a new born infant. But in this case you are a spiritual newborn person.  But, just like a newborn baby, you need special care and feeding to grow properly and stay spiritually healthy.

If you made the decision for Jesus last night, I would suggest you get in contact with me and let me set you up with a spiritual mentor who can help guide you on your spiritual journey. Just like joining the gym to get into shape, you are now signed up and have a membership card to Christianity. You are now a Christian. However, just like joining the gym does not help you get into physical shape, making the decision for Jesus does not automatically make you in spiritual shape.

To get into physical shape you must go to the gym and use the equipment, the weights, the treadmill, the machines. It takes a commitment, it takes time, it takes an effort on your part if you want to be rewarded with results.

Developing your spiritual life is no different. It takes a commitment to learn, study, pray, worship, and get the full benefits of living a Christian life. It does not happen automatically just because you "signed up!"

You have taken a huge, very important step,  the most important thing. You have made the decision to accept Jesus as your personal Lord and Savior. Congratulations and a warm welcome to a brand new life.  I hope I will be hearing from you soon!   Love, Kent

Tonight, December 16th Service

Christmas Requires a Decision

Tonight will be a great service to bring someone who you want to hear the Gospel. After such a tragic week we need to go to Jesus and find peace. 

Let the spirit of God dwell among us tonight!   Sincerely, Kent

About the School tragedy

Let me quote a scripture from Matthew 2:18.  "A voice was heard in Ramah, lamentation, weeping, and great mourning, Rachel weeping for her children, refusing to be comforted, because they are no more."

This scripture was used by Matthew as a prophetic scripture originally found in Jeremiah 31:15.

The beginning of Matthew tells the Christmas story. The tragedy that happened today is as bad as it gets when it comes to human behavior and the scripture fits this situation perfectly.

I was working on my sermon this morning when the news broke. I was working on a joyful, uplifting sermon when all this happened. Now what? How can there be joy when so many families have lost their most precious gift, a child.   Why?

I have struggled all day with this news. I have cried, I have prayed and I have thought about what to say.

God is still God, Jesus is still alive and well and He now has 20 beautiful children with Him in Paradise. The world is no worse today than it was when Matthew recorded the above scripture when Herod had all the male children put to death from 2 years old and younger because of His anger over the fact that the wise men who were seeking Jesus had tricked him. We don't know the motive behind the shooter today but it doesn't matter anyway. What is done is done.

There are no possible words anyone could have for the parents of the children who have died in this tragedy. In this case we are called to weep with those who weep. So some will ask, "How could a loving God allow this to happen?"  Questions like that are using the wrong perspective. We try and understand things in this fallen world from our extremely limited perspective. God sees all, knows all, and is in control of all things.

What we are really asking is, God "IF" you loved us, you wouldn't let this kind of thing happen.
We are trapped in our own world view. The truth is God has already answered once and for all how much He loves us by allowing His own son to die on the cross for you and I and anyone who accepts His son Jesus.

God has felt the pain. God endured the same thing we are all experiencing in this tragedy, grief. But because He loves us so much, we will get to experience life the way it was originally meant to be in the next world. We have been called to eternal life because of our advocate and savior Jesus. A life eternal without such tragedies.  A place where there will be no more tears, no more sickness, no more hate, no more death. That is why I preach he gospel. That is why my life has been changed.  We are loved so much even in the midst of such unspeakable tragedies that we can go on and know with assurance that there is something much better to come. There is something to look forward to.

As David spoke when he lost his young son, "He will no longer come to me but I will go to him!"  There is hope. This is the season of hope even in the face of this tragedy. Jesus is you hope!  He has an answer. Put this tragedy into your "Life Refocus plan". It is the perfect time to do so.    What in this life are the real important things?  What have I been taking for granted? What trivial little things am I complaining about? What more could I possibly ask for this Christmas other than my health and the health of my friends and family?   Are you ready?

As Jesus taught us in His word,

Luke 12:39-40

³⁹ But know this, that if the master of the house had known what hour the thief would come, he would have watched and not allowed his house to be broken into. ⁴⁰ Therefore you also be ready, for the Son of Man is coming at an hour you do not expect.”

Let us all be ready!  Accept the gift of Jesus. I was going to rewrite my entire sermon for this Sunday because of this tragedy but I have changed my mind. I will continue with my original plan to preach o the joy of the gospel because we need to hear the hope found in the story of Christmas. Please pray for the families who have lost their children. We will have a special prayer for them on Sunday. But we will not let our Joy of the Lord be stolen by the enemy.  Jesus is real, He has a plan for you. Accept Him into your life.  Sincerely, and with love, Kent

If you need to talk, 618-334-3575.

Friday December 14th, 2012

Pray!  Please lift up all the families of the tragic shootings in the Connecticut school. They will need our prayers. Very saddened, Kent

"Keep the Spirit Alive" campaign

If you haven't noticed there were a couple of typos on the "Keep the Spirit Alive campaign tickets we handed out last night at the service. To correct this you can go to our website www.praisecommunityfellowship.com and download corrected campaign tickets that you can print out yourself.

Lets have fun with this.   Thanks Amber, great idea!

Monday December 10th, 2012

Love is Worthless as a Concept!

Love requires action. However, before action is taken, the circumstances of the "object of our affection" must be considered. Bonni and I help sponsor four children, two in Haiti and two in Zambia. These children live in extremely poor conditions. One way we can love people is to tell them we love them and are praying for them. So, I could write to my children every week and tell them how much I love them and that I am praying for their circumstances to improve. If this is all I did for them it obviously would not be very helpful to them in their circumstances.

Look carefully at the immediate need when you decide to love someone. The kids in this example obviously need prayers and need to feel loved, but without food, clothing and medical help, they won't live long. Their immediate need is food, clothing and shelter, and medicine.  My love for them must include these things first. That is what will impact and improve their life.

When you go to the emergency room for a serious injury or illness, the admitting personnel asses your condition and then prioritize what is most needed and in what order.  They call that triage. (Triage  /ˈtriːɑːʒ/ (UK English) or /triːˈɑːʒ/ (US English)) is the process of determining the priority of patients' treatments based on the severity of their condition. This rations patient treatment efficiently when resources are insufficient for all to be treated immediately.)

We as Christians who want to follow Jesus by doing for others also need to learn how to asses or triage what the needs are for those who need to be loved.

There are times when I think a silent prayer may be the perfect way to love someone in a public situation. But many times loving requires us to step out of our comfort zone and get our hands dirty, in other words get involved. There is always a risk when you get involved but Jesus did just that, He got involved with people. And, many times the people He got involved with were the ones that society ignored or avoided.

As we approach Christmas, may I make a suggestion to all of you. Do a quick inventory of all of your assets (STUFF). I'm talking financially, look in your closets, your garage, your attic, your junk drawers, (I think we have 4 of them) look at everything you have and then ask yourself this age old question,"What would Jesus do if He had all this stuff knowing that there are huge needs in this world?"  Make this Christmas special for yourself, give generously, abundantly by going out and loving people in the way they need to be loved.

See you all next Sunday.   Love Kent

Thursday December 6th, 2012

This Sunday, Dec. the 9th we are back at 6:30 pm in the sanctuary to praise and worship!

Raise the Praise 2012 was a great success thanks to all the dedicated volunteers. Again we came together after months of hard work to make an impact for Gods work of caring for those who cannot care for themselves. As I stated in one of my messages a couple of weeks ago, "It is easy to stop one person, but it is very difficult to stop 100 people all going in the same direction."

We are in the season of Advent preparing ourselves for the true Christmas miracle of God coming to earth to live as a man and to teach us and give us a new covenant. Come celebrate the season with us this season as we look at what our church, Praise Community Fellowship stands for and how to make this Christmas the best Christmas ever!

The Praise Choir will be singing and I look forward to seeing everyone Sunday at 6:30 pm.  See you there!    Love, Kent