What a day!

It's beautiful outside. Enjoy the day and if you can, come join us this evening at 6:30 for worship.
It could be a wonderful way to end the weekend celebration, with friends and family at Praise Community Fellowship.

The stone has been rolled away and He who was crucified dead and buried now lives eternally. He has given us a path, and the keys to the kingdom. All we need to do is claim them.

Tonight I will "try" and put a tape measure, a jet engine, a gymnast, and a baseball player into a story to help us understand the message of easter.

Hope to see you all this evening.  Love, pastor Kent

Easter Service

Sermon tomorrow evening: "This Changes Everything for Everyone Forever!"

Come join the RTP choir and celebrate with us tomorrow at 6:30pm. All are welcome.

See you then.  Love, pastor Kent

Good Friday?

Why do we call the day Christ was crucified "Good?"

I'm sure most have asked the question, "Why do we call the day Christ was crucified good?"
After researching this question I have come to the conclusion that "Good Friday" like many other terms not found in the bible, has unknown origins and no one really knows why we call it Good Friday.

It is another man made, and somewhat confusing term.  There are people who say that "Good" refers to the goodness God showed to mankind by allowing His son to be crucified for our sins. But there is no official origin of the term that I could find.

 Today we think about the suffering Christ endured on the cross. Though there is really no way to prove the actual times, it appears Christ was nailed to the cross about 9:00am. At noon the sky turned dark and it wasn't until three in the afternoon after suffering for six hours that Jesus cried out and surrendered His spirit.

John 19:30

When he had received the drink, Jesus said, “It is finished.” With that, he bowed his head and gave up his spirit.

Don't let the name distract from the historical event. The significance of the day is not about what we call it but why we observe it. Even the name Easter comes from a pagan holiday and, like good friday, is not found in the bible. But again it is not about the name of the day but the reason we celebrate the day.

This Sunday we will come together to celebrate what Jesus has accomplished for us.

John 15:13

Greater love has no one than this: to lay down one’s life for one’s friends.

Are you a friend of Jesus?

God has a great plan for your life. It begins and ends with you accepting His Son Jesus as your Lord and Savior.  

See you Sunday!   Love, Pastor Kent

Reality

A story of confronting ironies.

I consider myself a realist. In other words I am always seeking the truth, the bottom line, the real deal about this life and what it means. I have discovered that love changes everything.
I have also discovered that it is impossible to live your life in a state of love without also living in a state of continual forgiveness.

I have learned that once you can completely accept your own mortality and the mortality of all those you love that there is a huge release of fear in this life. Part of this release is from grasping the reality that there is something beyond this short life. That there is something on the other side of this reality. Something better.

But there are many things that I continue to try and understand. I have said many times before and I am going to continue  stating that, " I am seeking the truth like everyone else."  I do not claim to know "the truth" but  I am moving toward the truth as I continue to study and pray.

The irony.  So I have been praying more than I have ever prayed in my life. One of the things I pray for is the healing of other people who are injured or ill. Yesterday as I was hobbling into the grocery store because of my bad back (snow shoveling), I realized how ironic my situation was. Here I am praying for the healing of some seriously ill people and I cannot even walk straight myself because of my injury.   "Healer, heal thy self" is the thought that came to mind. In one way kind of funny but in another kind of ..... I'm not even sure what to call it.

My thought is, what would a person who has very limited faith think of a person like me who believes in the power of prayer, yet cannot even heal his own back?  Listen, I can understand this kind of thinking because of what I experienced with my son Ben when he was little. I took him to a church where there was a healer. Ben went in handicapped and came out handicapped. That experience affected me, not my faith but it affected my approach toward religion. I knew then that I could not rely on what others told me about God. I would have to find out on my own. Do my own research and experimentation.

I am still experimenting. I know that is not a word that is often used in the church but I found that is exactly how I increased my faith. I would experiment with Gods word and prayer. I have discovered and grown immensely because of my experiments. The bible calls it faith. Step out and do this or pray like this. I call it experimenting. What happens if I really do act on the prompting of the inner voice that says, forgive this person and see what happens?  What would happen if I gave the money I have to this cause when I certainly could use that money myself for other things? 

What would happen if I did something wonderful for someone anonymously who has been vey unpleasant to me?  To me these were experiments, things I read about in the bible and then actually applied them to my life.  The results were miraculous.

As we approach Easter Sunday, a time when some people come to church for that annual dose of Jesus, I wonder how many also see the irony in much of what Christians are claiming?

Where is the hope, the joy, the healing, the forgiveness, the peace that we claim to have?
It is not always an easy thing to answer. But there is something that God is offering all of us. Hope.

Jesus brings hope. That is where the real spiritual journey begins. People start the journey if they can be given the message of hope. My back hurts, but I have hope. My son Ben is still handicapped but I have hope. Everyday I am one day closer to having my journey end on this earth, but I have hope. I pray for the sick, for the hurting, and for the broken because I have hope.

Here is the irony. We as Christians have something that will change peoples lives for the better now and for eternity. It is the greatest gift anyone could ever receive. We just forget ourselves sometimes how wonderful the gift is. 

Lets come together this Easter and remind each other of the Hope we do have in Jesus.

God has a wonderful pal for your life. Start sharing it!   Love, pastor Kent

Finding God in your Daily Routine

It is easier for me to stay in tune with God now that I am a Pastor. But for many, keeping God in your day to day routines can be a challenge. I mean when you are in the thick of your day at work with all the challenges, pressures, and demands, it is not that easy to be meditating on God.

A thought.  We live in New Testament Times. That means the Holy Spirit lives within you.

Remember the Trinity! Make a trinity with everyone you deal with. You, God, the other person. Everyone!  Allow God to become the third person with every conversation. If you begin picturing all relationships this way, no matter what type of relationship it is, I find it much easier to hear Gods prompting in all situations.

Make yourself a conduit for Gods actions and wisdom. Tune in. God is always trying to get our attention. Allow Him to begin guiding you in all that your daily routines.

A good question to ponder. "Are you willing to do whatever God leads you to do?"
If your immediate answer is, "It depends."  You are still missing what God has for you.

I have used this example in a sermon but here is what I am talking about. When I owned a landscape company I was prompted, in my inner spirit, to but a bicycle for one of my employees children. He had  a little girl and did not have the money to buy her one.   I convinced myself that if I bought the bike,  it may cause problems with my other employees so I forgot about it...(or so I thought!) That was 27 years ago and I am still thinking about it. I missed being a blessing and I missed receiving a blessing by being obedient to Gods prompting. How often do we do this?   I know in my life I have done that too many times. I let my own reasoning, which will almost always lead us away from God, interfere with the prompting of God.

The bible speaks plainly on this in this story. Here Jesus directly told a young man what to do.

Matthew 19:16-2 

Jesus Counsels the Rich Young Ruler

¹⁶ Now behold, one came and said to Him, “Good Teacher, what good thing shall I do that I may have eternal life?”

¹⁷ So He said to him, “Why do you call Me good? No one is good but One, that is, God. But if you want to enter into life, keep the commandments.”

¹⁸ He said to Him, “Which ones?”

Jesus said, “‘You shall not murder,’ ‘You shall not commit adultery,’ ‘You shall not steal,’ ‘You shall not bear false witness,’ ¹⁹ ‘Honor your father and your mother, and, ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ ”

²⁰ The young man said to Him, “All these things I have kept from my youth. What do I still lack?”

²¹ Jesus said to him, “If you want to be perfect, go, sell what you have and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; and come, follow Me.”

²² But when the young man heard that saying, he went away sorrowful, for he had great possessions.

You never know what God might have to say to you or me. Just be open and obedient.

Hope to see you this Sunday. God has a great plan for your life. Listen closely and then begin the journey.  Love, pastor Kent

Easter Service

This Sunday Praise Community Fellowship will celebrate Easter. The RTP choir will be singing, we will be sharing communion and worshipping our Lord and Savior. Please come join us at 6:30pm Easter Sunday.

What does the rest of the year hold for Praise Community Fellowship?

Rusty will be appointing a committee to look at all the possibilities for our next phase of growth. This will be a transitional year for us at Praise Community Fellowship. We have a goal of finding a new location for services in 6 months. We have been blessed by Esic Baptist church by being so welcoming to us but they too are planning their future and will soon be hiring a new pastor. I spoke with Gary Dollar a couple of weeks ago and we both agreed that with the progress of both our churches it would be a good time for us to begin planning for our new location. 

At this point there is no plan in place as to where we will go, that is why it is vital for all of us to take this to God in prayer to see where He will lead us. We will probably have to go to another interim location until we are directed as to what God has planned for us.

This weeks schedule.

Wednesday evening prayer meeting in the sanctuary.
Thursday evening is Maundy Thursday. Esic will have a service at 7:00pm all are invited to attend.

On another note. While shoveling snow yesterday I threw my back out and could certainly use some healing prayer. Currently I am very crooked, cannot straighten up. I will be going to see Dr. Coy today.

Near the end of the Last Supper, after Judas had departed, Christ said to His disciples, "A new commandment I give unto you: That you love one another, as I have loved you, that you also love one another."

God has a wonderful plan for your life! You are actually in it right now. You may be on hold, you may be in training, or you may be deliberately delaying it, but there is a plan for your life.

Hope to see everyone Sunday.  Love, Pastor Kent

Need Help

Below is a message from Terry Coy.

Children's Home and Aid has a youth service client who is a young mother that needs assistance. Please see her story below and let me know if you or someone in your community might have some of the items she is in need of. The items can be used.

·         A crib for her baby-she has outgrown her bassinet. 

·         an exer-saucer

·         summer clothes (female) size 3-6 or 6-9mths.

·         summer clothes (male) size 4T and shoes size 9 toddler

·         dresser/chest of drawers for baby’s clothes

·         double stroller

·         twin bed and mattress for the mother

·         A dresser for mom (a long dress would be best for the room but anything will be better than the one she has now)

You can reach Terry at terrycoy@gmail.com

Sincerely, Pastor Kent