The Hidden Killer

Preparing for a new remodeling project, I opened a closet door that revealed a killer. Let me back up a few millennium to the words of the prophet Daniel (2:22); 

"He (the God of heaven) reveals deep and hidden things (even in the closet); He knows what lies in darkness (under the house), and light dwells with Him."

As i opened that door, I wondered if previously there were a fire and smoke damage, NOPE... black mold. It doesn't take much time checking your phone what prolonged exposure can do to the human body. There are various methods of remediating black mold. Sure, you can spray it in some cases... but on this bad boy, it has go to. We will suit up in HASMAT, spray it down with some ZEP, make gentle cuts, remove the sheet rock and any affected areas, bag and seal it, and cast it as far as the east is from the west (landfill) Then, and only then can we begin rebuilding the house. 

It's the same way in our lives isn't it...?  The 'Hidden Killers' are lurking in the darkest reaches of our hearts. Prolonged exposure seems to find its way out of the closets of our lives. Eventually, these killers spread their toxic dust particles and reveal themselves in the forms of anger, hatred, unforgiveness, pride, self-destruction, abuse... the list could go on, but you get the idea.

No amount of scrubbing, self-help books, psyche meds, career or wardrobe changes, human effort, or the care of others can cure the exposure to our own self-destruction. "Oh great... why not just drive off a cliff or walk into a blizzard...?"  So what's a person to do with the ugliness hidden in our hearts?

Almost hidden in the ugliness of that '6-panel door' is a cross. I've seen this model door for a long time and have never noticed the cross until today. You see, in the background, the Spirit of God convicts us of sin, convinces us of the grace of God in Jesus Christ and conspires with the providence of the Father to convert our hearts to Him. 

Whatever you do, don't wait until you think you are ready to call for a certificate of occupancy (heaven) to open that door. Today, turn to the Lord, He alone can handle your not so... Hidden Killers. He will take you, cleanse you with His blood, wash away the toxins that seek to destroy you. He will then begin building a life...

In Christ!

Forgetfulness

    I was speaking with my best friend the other day and shared with him the stark reality of aging: MEMORY! He told me about a dietary supplement, the name of which I would never remember. Being the good friend he is, he took a picture of it and sent it to me. 

Possibly you or your parents have said things such as:

• "What was I supposed to get at the market?"
• "What did i come in here to get...?"
• "What's that person's name?"

Yes, I constantly make shopping lists, alarms and reminders on my phone. We all can do that. But are we remembering what the Lord has promised us?

As I was reading from Deuteronomy 7-8. Within these words are 2 very critical commands that apply to our daily walk with God:

• "Remember..."
• "...do not forget..."

"Remember how the Lord..." and "...do not forget the Lord your God..." (Deut. 8:2,11)  Moses was at the end of his life, camped up with the other Israelites who, (all but Moses), were about to cross over into the promise land. It's here that Moses reflects back and under the guidance of the Holy Spirit writes down the blessings associated with remembering the Lord, along with the punitive measures regarding forgetting the Lord. 

    Certainly there are things in our lives that we just assume forget. I do recall the words of the Apostle Paul, concerning our failures...

"Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead."

The next time you forget something, take a second to remember the Lord and give thanks. Don't allow forgetfulness to rob you of the joy we have... In Christ!

Crimson, Clover, and My Lawn

    The 60's were an amazing period for the music industry. Mind you, groups like the Stones, Who, Beatles were at the top of what would become rock music legends. Now take Tommy James and The Shondells. They had a few hit songs; however, when Crimson and Clover was released the soft sounds and lyrical content caught the listeners ears. The song jumped to #1 in 1969. Yes, the year of Woodstock. 

    Decades later I find Crimson and clover at odds with one another... in my lawn. Crimson is a notable color expressing love and well, clover is the enemy and evil in my lawn. The two in my mind and lawn do not go together. Thus I am often at an impasse each spring and early fall to combat the evil empire of clover.

    My life is very much like Crimson and Clover.  It's here that I find the coexistence of sin and the grace of our loving God. Now I can fret over the weeds of sinful desires by ignoring them, giving into them. Or I can weed them out by allowing the Holy Spirit to eradicate them from my life in His way through the transforming power of God's loving grace. (Romans 12:1-2)

    In God's kingdom it's much the same. Recorded for us in Matthew's gospel (13:24-30, 36-43) is a powerful lesson for us. There is coming a time when the gathering will take place. The Lord will send His angels to gather up both the causes and sowers of evil. At that time they will both be cast into a fiery furnace.  As for today, I need to do a daily examination of my own life. I cannot concern myself with my neighbor's life to the neglect of my own. I have to tend to my own life first by digging into the Bible daily.

    It's God's grace and love that motivates me to continue day after day in tending to my own life. In the end, I make it my goal to live at peace with everyone, work hard with my own hands and my own business. (1 Thessalonians 4:11-12). It's in this that the clover seems to find less a stronghold and the radiance of a live lived well... 

In Christ.

Can We Get Along?

 It's been a while, but I'm back and ready to share a few things. But first, let me explain. For those of you who know me, there have been a few changes, but with those changes have come some great blessings. 

Remarried in November 2023 to Susan (Graham) Cunningham is at the top of the list. We grew up across the street from each other. I loved to irritate her to no end back when we were in grade school. Little does one realize that irritating a pretty girl at age 7-11 is actually a form of expressing one's interest in "going steady". The decades passed and we reconnected on Facebook of all places! I was in the process of deleting my account when I noticed I had a friend request from her. Long and wonderful story, we video dated and after insuring that she had passed my "7 Rules for Dating Paul" we were engaged and were soon after married. This brings me to my point in random fashion; "Can We Get Along?"

For those of you who are just finding out about me, you should know that I have a German Shepherd. His name is 'Schweinsteiger'. To his credit he has six tear drops, 3 under each eye (3 cats, 2 possums and a deer). One of those cats on Christmas morning a few years ago and yes, the Baby Jesus was watching. 

Marriage to Susan has brought another interesting wrinkle into the home... a cat. Knowing Schweinsteiger's propensity for feline violence, it was a concern. However, he adjusted over time. The telling moment was Evie' (female cat) ability to throw 6 punches in a matter of 1.3 seconds to his nose. Girls do have a way of changing boys! Now they walk past each other with little or no concern for one another. She drinks from his water bowl while standing in his food bowl. Somehow, they have figured out how to 'Get Along'. 

And that is today's subject; Can We Get Along?  If you've read previous year's postings you would figure out that I was quite... hmmm... unpolitically correct and rather expressive. I don't hide the fact nor do I apologize for most comments on politics. So today I return to that subject but from a different place. Can  We  Get  Along ?

The last time i posted a political point, the. national debt was over half its level right now. Our culture is at a perilous place in history. Without a movement of the Spirit of God, we will continue the descent into chaos and into open civil war of the worst sorts. The worst sort being where there are no sides or uniforms, just everyone for themselves. The answer to my question is one we will all have to answer on an individual level but not just the populous... it applies I believe more to the the federal establishment of our government. 

I wonder sometimes if both sides get together in the dark moments of the day to discuss 'what can we do to perpetuate the chaos and our control over the people?' I sometimes muse and envision party leaders smoking cigars or vaping, drinking shots of Jack in the darkness of night and scheming tomorrow's headlines. Call me cynical, you are probably right. Remember this...

Romans 12:18; "As far as it depends on you, live at peace with everyone..." 

If Schweinsteiger can Get Along with Evie... we can Get Along... 

In Christ!

The First Fifteen Plays

   Under Bill Walsh and George Seifert (former head coaches) of the San Francisco 49er's, and quarterbacks Joe Montana and eventually Steve Young, the 49er's would script the first fifteen plays of their offense. This insured that regardless of where the team was on the field, they had a customized, defined purpose and plan for success to begin each game. Under this offensive system, the 49ers went on to win 4 Super Bowls.

  On the desktop of my office computer used to sit a file entitled 'Sunday Game Plan'. The Sunday Game Plan was written, largely in part, because there were a number of things that I needed to perform in sequence each Sunday morning upon my arrival in preparation for worship. (1) Login and print message copies (2) Upload the message Powerpoint to the church server (3) Unlock the building (4) Drink glass of orange juice... (8) Spend time in prayer and reflection for the service and message... On and on it went. Over the years our volunteer base and deacon ministries have grown to a point that I no longer need the 'Sunday Game Plan'. But I still have my game plan etched in my mind. 

   Having the game plan has allowed me to be more organized mentally, physically, and spiritually to worship and serve my church but also provided a greater opportunity for the Holy Spirit to move in my life and service to the church.

   This past Sunday's worship service was by far the best time of worship I believe I have ever had to be a part of. As I looked back Sunday night I wondered what it was that helped jump the service into a higher level - what I came up with was the whole idea of 'expectancy'. Though I had just spoken about 'expectancy' it seemed that had already been occurring across the congregation. The level of expectancy of the Holy Spirit's presence and transforming our lives on Sunday was what I would call 'thick' and 'static'. 

   Let me encourage you to do a few things on Saturday sometime in preparation for corporate worship:

1. Take a Mental Inventory: Review your week; struggles, temptations, the busyness, devotion times, confession of any sin. As best as possible, just clear your mind of the week's junk and keep the good stuff (what the Lord told you in His Word...)
2. Get Ready for Church: I know it's Saturday, but if Sunday mornings are hectic with the kids baths, clothes... shift that to Saturday. If need be, go as far as to set out clothes, prepare Sunday's dinner in the crock pot. I know, I know ladies... you won't know what mood you'll be in so this doesn't make sense to you. However, your male children and husband are easy!
3. Pray: Sometime Saturday begin praying that the Lord speaks to you. Pray for the message that it is communicated clearly. Pray that the Holy Spirit empowers all of the volunteers on the worship team as they lead as well as those who are serving in the children's ministry that make the parent's worship experience even that more meaningful and that the children's ministry volunteers are blessed for their faithfulness!

There's a lot we could cover here but honestly here's the deal: Preparation leads to Expectation and Expectation leads to a powerful Manifestation!

See you on Sunday, expecting our Great God to knock our socks off again!

Pastor Paul

   

Walk Softly and Carry a "Selfie" Stick

September 1, 1901 at the Minnesota State Fair, the (then) Vice-President of the United States made a statement in a speech that helped shape the foreign policy of our nation for 107 years.

"Walk Softly and Carry a Big Stick; you will go far!"

The national security philosophy of TR was carried forward for over a hundred years by Republican and Democratic presidents alike. It was predicated on the fact that the core values of American exceptionalism are life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. These human values could only be protected at home and espoused abroad by a diplomatic policy backed up by robust military and the bravery to exercise military might in the face of our enemies. Our nation has fought two world wars, the cold war and the war against Islamic terrorism under these values... however...

How the mighty have fallen! Now we have a foreign policy more aptly defined by the current (lame duck) POTUS as:

"Talk Politically Correct and Carry a Selfie Stick; we Surrender!"

The idea now espoused by the administration essentially is to avoid offending the enemy of Christianity, Judaism and the whole of the civilized world by surrendering our American and human values while taking 'selfies'! Narcissism has reached what was once the highest office in the world. What a joke! If only it was a joke, right? Only we are now the joke of the planet because of the cowardice and faulty idealism called the 'Obama Doctrine of International Surrender'. 

If we think that this is a new national security philosophy that is a tragic failure to recognize the religious nature of Islamic terrorism, just go back to 1979 and you will find another impotent man in the presidency (Jimmy Carter). At the age of 17, about to turn 18, I just wanted to fight - anybody! However, when the Iran Hostage Crisis hit, it went to a different level. Only at an early age, I refused to fight under a policy or a flag of impotence and weakness. Here we are today, 35 years forward and we have the leader of the greatest military in the world surrendering to these Islamic bastards. 20 coptic Egyptian Christians are all beheaded along the seashore of Libya and blood allowed to run into the Mediterranean, a Jordanian pilot is burned alive in a cage, muslim soldiers are paraded through the crowds in Iraq inside cages (whose fates are unknown), Kayla Mueller - a 26 year-old American humanitarian volunteer killed while being held captive by ISIS, we have a Muslim terrorist Maj. Nadal Hasan serving in the U.S. Army commit premeditated murder of 13 soldiers at Fort Hood in the name of Islam, Nigerian women and children enslaved, raped and murdered... all the while the president takes selfies, refuses to recognize the real threat and all the while criticizes Christians at the National Prayer Breakfast! 

Now if you think this is a politically motivated article - you are misled. I do not consider myself a Republican or Democrat because I have come to believe that the totality of our political process is at the core of this religious hypocrisy. We are faced with some harsh realities:

Surrender to Islam; succumb to the rape and torture of our women, loss of religious freedom and speech, witness the murder of innocent Christians, Jews by the Islamic Nazis, put on a bike helmet and ride off into history as if it's a episode of 'My Little Pony' while wearing rose colored glasses thinking our world is filled with unicorns and rainbows...

Or

• Revolt against the Hypocrisy and 'Wimpification' of the American Citizen by these Politico-Religious Cowards

• Demand a Change at the Core Levels of Our Society and Government 

but if nothing else, Please do your family, friends and neighbors a favor and...

• Pray for a Great Awakening!

Hold Fast

One of my favorite books and movies is 'Master and Commander". There's a sailor on board the HMS Surprise that has the tattoo 'Hold Fast" on his fingers as a way of saying to his mates... hang on, don't let go...

Sometimes life's circumstances are like traveling on a ship on the open seas. Imagine the winds raging, waves crashing and the skies above and the waters below as dark as night. That may very well describe what you or someone you know is going through right now. I know someone who is right this moment 'holding fast' and that inspires me today to share with you the hope you, me and others share in Christ!

Interestingly, on maritime vessels in ancient times, sailors were repeatedly encouraged to "hold fast". It meant that during rough seas or perilous moments, you needed to grab ahold and not leg go of the ships rigging to save from being swept out to sea and drowning.

The Bible tells us to "hold fast" as well. Indicating our need to grab hold of Jesus and not let go of our confession of Him. There are moments of darkness when that's all there is... ultimately it comes down to that!  Whether it's a situation of neglect, betrayal, abuse, our pillow is soaked by tears as we hold our pet, or we become filled with sorrow or fear... we can "hold fast" to our confession of Jesus. We "Hold Fast' in any number of ways - prayer, reading aloud a prayer of deliverance, reading the favorite Psalm, speaking to another Christian friend, requesting prayer from the church... We are inspired by great men and women in life... here's a few samples:

• "Never, Never, Never given up" - Winston Churchill
• "When you get to the end of your rope, tie a knot and HANG ON." - FDR
• "I will never leave you or forsake you" - God
• "The best way out is always through" - Robert Frost
• "Hold fast, help is on the way, Hold fast, He's come to save the day!" - Mercy Me

Over the past several years this has become a favorite saying of mine. So whoever you are, wherever you are and whatever you are going through this minute - HOLD FAST!

Check out "Hold Fast" by Mercy Me... then share the love today and encourage someone you know with a little hope...

In Christ

Pastor Paul