God and the Guitar!

To get from where you are right now to where God can use you will require adjustments to your life. Every person in the bible that God used to expand His Kingdom had to make changes to their life to experience the fullness of God's Peace and direction.

This past Sunday my sermon was titled, "You can't follow God and Stay where you are at the same time!"  

A LONG time ago I used to give guitar lessons.   I had many students all interested in learning how to play the guitar. All of them started with great enthusiasm. They had an image of themselves playing all of their favorite songs. What I witnessed from some of these guitar students is the same thing most of us go through with Christianity. The guitar students all started the same, they had desire, a dream, they wanted to make music playing the guitar. But then the lessons started. To learn how to play guitar requires discipline and changes to your life priorities and choices. If you want to learn how to play the guitar, some things will have to be given up to have the time to devote to practice. To get to where they wanted to be, they couldn't stay where they were.

Changes have to be made in ones life to be in a close, caring, loving relationship. Those of you who have been in relationships know this very well. A person must make changes in their life to be able to "serve" the person who we choose to be in a relationship with.

God made us to have free will. We can choose to be in a relationship with Him or not! But if we choose Him, we cannot keep everything in our life the same. It just won't work.

As Christians we have a huge responsibility, to help expand God's Kingdom here on this earth. And that responsibility has nothing to do with our social or economic status. It has everything to do with our choices and our commitment to hear God's direction for our life and then to get involved with Him as He directs. To jump into Christianity as a participating Christian will require your life to change. Not as I or anyone else think it should change but as God directs. Only He can direct the changes necessary for you to be in the center of His will.

I believe it is a real good idea to get with other Christians who are also seeking God's direction so that you can talk, pray with one another,  and discuss the the changes you feel God is asking you to make. Church is the perfect place for that. We are to come together and lift one another up in our journey to become centered in God's will.

Last Sunday I think I can sum up the sermon with this, "God can use Anyone to Accomplish Anything, if they are willing to submit and surrender their will, desires, plans, and goals to His will, desires, plans, and goals.  This is exactly what Jesus did.

From now till Easter take the time to meditate, pray, and seek God's guidance for your life. And then ask yourself if you are ready and willing to make the changes necessary so that God can accomplish great things through your life for His Kingdom.

See you soon! Love, pastor kent

This Sunday!

Move your clocks forward an hour Saturday night! Then, come join us at 9:00am at 800 North Main Street, Immanuel Methodist Church in Edwardsville. This is where two congregations are meeting as one church. The Immanuel Methodist and Praise Community Fellowship.

This Sunday, Why you Can't Follow God and Stay where You Are at the Same Time!

PCF singers and band will be leading worship and I am praying that the Holy Spirit will fill all the hearts present.

The 1,000 flower bulbs we planted last fall along the sidewalk and landscape are popping and getting ready for an amazing display. The promise is on the way. Soon, the beauty of blooms will burst forth. You too can bloom with the Holy Spirit leading your life. Come join us Sunday and learn more how to live an abundant life God's way!

Reminder: Chuck Weiss' memorial service will be held at the Irwin Chapel Funeral Home located on Maryville Road in Granite City at 11:00am Saturday morning.

Love, pastor kent

CHURCH!

As a pastor I struggle with church because:
I am not sure that the current model is helping people to become more like Jesus. If and when someone decides to become a Christian by accepting Jesus as the Son of God, they are accepting the responsibility of joining God in His mission of world redemption. And with that responsibility we are also accepting the role as being a servant to others. A servant whose primary role is always to expand God's Kingdom here in this world to those who do not yet know God. And the only way we can effectively expand God's Kingdom in this world, is when we are empowered by the Holy Spirit. It is not something we can do on our own. We are to be Holy Spirit filled people.

Now to some, even hearing such a thing as,  "We must become Holy Spirit Filled people!" will make them cringe and walk away. Why? Because too many people have developed a false image of what being Holy Spirit filled means. I cringe when I hear politicians "God Blessing this, and God Bless that state or this county."  I cringe when I watch some TV church services and see people acting like a bunch of drunk loonies because they are supposedly "filled with the Holy Spirit!"
There is no one wiser than God.
There is no one filled with more wisdom than God.
God is not going to change people into mindless idiots to represent Him to expand His Kingdom on this earth. He is smarter than that.

The bible is full of incredible stories of people who have surrendered their life to God and the results of that surrender. The greatest of these stories is the life of Jesus. If you want to know what a Spirit filled life looks like, study the life of Jesus! God did not make Him wealthy from a worldly definition. God did not give Him a lucrative place of employment. God did not make life easy for Him. He did not even give Him a long life. It was a very difficult life filled with obstacles and hardships. Yet, Jesus now has the highest place of Glory for all eternity. Look at the passage from Philippians below:

Philippians 2:5-8In your relationships with one another, have the same mindset as Christ Jesus: Who, being in very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be used to his own advantage; rather, he made himself nothing by taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness. And being found in appearance as a man, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to death—even death on a cross

So, this next Sunday I am going to look at an old testament story and at Jesus' life and ask all of you if you want to recommit your life to being a Christian. Not a Christian that is defined by someone who belongs to a church, but someone who belongs to Jesus and wants to walk in His footsteps. Here is what I know as I struggle to walk that path myself, nothing in this world can bring greater Peace, Joy, and Fulfillment than walking close with God filled with the Holy Spirit. 

Come learn about what some of God's greatest stories are saying to you and I today, in this life that we are living here in Edwardsville Il.  "God is Real!"  "Jesus is Real!" "The Holy Spirit is real!"

I'll see you Sunday, 9:00am and don't forget to move your clock forward an hour. The PCF singers and band will be leading worship. Make this next Sunday a life game changer for you and your family. I'll see you there! Love, pastor kent

This is Like Christianity

These are my 2016 Tulips pushing up for the first time. They were bulbs last fall when I planted them. All I had was a picture of what color and variety they were supposed to be. I have to trust that what I was planting last fall is going to be a beautiful tulip someday because when I plant the bulbs I couldn't  tell what they were going to be. As a matter of fact, there is no guarantee that they were going to bloom at all. I could plant them too deep, not deep enough.  A squirrel could dig them out and eat them. The winter could have been extremely harsh and they could have died. There are many possible deterrents that could prevent the blooms from coming into their fullness.

I decided a long time ago to bring God into my heart. I asked Him to come into me and take over my life over 40 years ago. Since then I have dug Him up. Moved Him around. Let Him lie dormant in the garage of my soul. I have put him in bad soil, haven't fertilized or weeded, neglected to water, and allowed a number of things try and uproot and destroy His presence in my life. It is an ongoing battle just like trying to have a beautiful garden. It takes work and diligence to see and enjoy the fruit.

This is the season of Easter. A time of resurrection. A time when "Blooming" is expected. I am again preparing God's bulb in my life. I am tending to it. I need it to bloom. I am tired of just looking at the picture on the box of what the bloom is supposed to look like. I want to experience the real thing.
Here are some of the instructions I am following to allow God to bloom in my life. I hope you will find them as helpful as I do.

John 14:23-24 Jesus replied, “Anyone who loves me will obey my teaching. My Father will love them, and we will come to them and make our home with them. 24 Anyone who does not love me will not obey my teaching. These words you hear are not my own; they belong to the Father who sent me.

Jesus promises if I "obey" His teaching that He will come and Make His home in me!

John 12:26 Whoever serves me must follow me; and where I am, my servant also will be. My Father will honor the one who serves me.

Proverbs 11:25Whoever brings blessing will be enriched and one who waters will himself be watered.

Mark 9:35 And he sat down and called the twelve. And he said to them, “If anyone would be first, he must be last of all and servant of all.”

We are to serve one another in love!  That is what God honors. If I want the fullness of God in my life, I must become a servant to all. I must become last and my neighbor must become first. It starts at home with your spouse and then moves out into your circle. We are to serve with love! If you serve out of obligation or with contempt in your heart you will not receive the blessing. Ask God to give you a servants heart. Jesus was a servant unto death. He is our example of how we live to experience the fullness of God and it is through serving one another in love!

NOTICE:  Chuck Weiss Funeral arrangements:
This Friday the 11th of March there will be a visitation at the Irwin Chapel Funeral Home located on Maryville Road in Granite City. The visitation will be at 4:00 to 8:00. There will be a memorial service at 11:00am Saturday at the Irwin Chapel. You can read more at the Irwin Chapel website.

Next Blog I will talk about my ongoing struggle with "Church!"

See you soon. Love, pastor kent

Sad News

Last night Chuck Wiess went to be with God. Chuck had just been moved to Meridian Village the day before his death. I will have more information about Chucks memorial service later this week.  I don't know if there is baseball in heaven but if there is I'm sure Chuck is already warming up a looking for a spot on the team! Chuck loved baseball and was quite a player in his day.

Please lift Barb and Chucks family in prayer.


Love, pastor Kent

Maybe...

Maybe if we could make Jesus the role model of all the children in this country and others, things would get better? You have to read about Him and His life to get it!

See you soon. Love, pastor Kent

It's Been a Little While!

Yes I'm still Kickin. Bonni and I had a work trip to Florida last week and then I got hit with the flu.
No matter how well we plan our schedules and lives when it comes down to it, it's going to be you and God so my suggestion is, stay close to Him because you will be meeting Him one of these days.

I am asking for prayer for

Jeff Wiles who is going to have surgery tomorrow morning at Anderson Hospital to remove his gall bladder.

Chuck Weiss who  will be moving from the hospital to Meridian Village tomorrow.

Stan Rutkowski for healing.

I hope you can find some love and peace each and every day!

See you soon! Love, pastor kent