Future Hope

Whatever the future holds, what we invest in today will be a part of it. - Anon

The people often asked God 'how long O' Lord?' Every time He answered it was rather glorious. Amen!

Ahh, the future. The 'as yet' to happen! Everybody I know looks forward to a better tomorrow than today. A better future than the present. Nobody really wants their life to be bleak, dreary, unforgiving and without joy. They want better. And though God has not promised us 'tomorrow', He has already graced us with more tomorrows than we can count and has promised us a 'hope and a future.' Today should be a great day to think about what we're doing to help prepare for that future. Life is like a savings account: you only get out of it what you put into it. The great thing about God's promise though is not so much what it will bring, but the fact that God Himself will be there in the midst of it. And that is what should give us great hope and anticipation.

Until tomorrow...

Pastor Botts

"The revelation awaits an appointed time; it speaks of the end.....Though it linger, wait for it; it will certainly come and will not delay." - Habakkuk 2:3

Don't Bank on Tomorrow

Sometimes ‘later’ becomes NEVER. Do it NOW! – Anon

You might call Mordecai’s insistence for Esther to speak up life-saving. Hmm!

REGRET! A simple 6-letter easy to spell word. But the definition carries a lot of weight and can often be overpowering in our life. To wish we had opportunity to “do over” something we did wrong or “do” something beautiful we didn’t get a chance to do at all. Those missed opportunities to visit with a loved one before God called them home, missed opportunities to support a good cause, to keep our promises to our children, or honor the promises we even made to ourselves. How we invest our time is our own decision, but we must remember two things. First, our time is limited, and we don’t know how much we have. Second, the enemy plays on it, always telling us “You’ll have time for ‘that’ later, just enjoy my company right now!” God has given us today full of hope, our assignment is to turn it into joyful memories. May we invest wisely!

Until tomorrow…

Pastor Botts

“….the wise heart will know the proper time and procedure….For there is a proper time and procedure for every matter” – Ecclesiastes 8:5-6

The Currency of Life When Expressed

Time is too slow for the impatient, too swift for the aged; too long for the grieving, too short for those rejoicing; but to those who love, time is eternity. – H. VanDyke

Everyone wanted to know when the end times would be but even Jesus said he didn’t know. He did hint at preparing for eternity. Hmm!

Most of us have heard the saying “only what you do for Christ will last.” There’s great truth there but unfortunately most of us spend a great part of our life and efforts focused on the wrong goal – money. Money is not bad per se, and it is something we need to live, but TIME is actually the currency of life. And God in His wisdom made sure it’s the one thing we each possess in equal measure each day regardless of our station or lot in life. Our goal for God and His kingdom is to invest it wisely that it may pay dividends (treasures in heaven); for though it is spelled TIME, when caringly given to someone else it comes out LOVE. And that is God’s command to us.

Until tomorrow…

Pastor Botts

“A new command I give you; Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another. By this all men will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another.” – John 13:34-35

NOTE: The Youth WILL NOT be meeting on campus tonight.

Time to make the BEST investment this planet has to offer

You cannot kill time without injury to eternity. – Henry David Thoreau

Jesus told his disciples they MUST work while it is day, for it would soon come a time when they couldn’t. OUCH!

Alarms, bells, whistles, chimes, etc. We’re surrounded by gadgets that each day remind us of the time. Time is the most precious commodity on planet earth. It is even more valuable than money. We can get more money, but we cannot get more time.  Each morning we all awake with the same 24-hour timeframe with which to work. How we spend it will well determine where we go when our time is no more. The key is not to waste it on fruitless endeavors, dead-end roads, harboring resentment and hate, or meaningless living; but rather invest it in lives and projects that will make an eternal difference. Martin Luther King, Jr. said “the time is always right to do what is right.” And that time is now, for none of us is getting younger by the day.

Until tomorrow…..

Pastor Botts

“Teach us to number our days aright, that we may gain a heart of wisdom.” – Psalm 90:12

Much To Do About Today

Yesterday is experience. Tomorrow is hope. Today is getting from one to the other as best we can. – J. M. Henry

While they were in the fiery furnace, the three Hebrew boys reflected on where they came from and who they believed in, and barely noticed the consuming flames. Hmm!

Wherever we are in life, be it tolerable, comfortable, or even grand; it is probably not the best it could be, which is why tomorrow beckons. There is hope for a turnaround, improvement, come-back, step-up or whatever we desire, and we should use all of yesterday’s and life's past experiences to make the best moves possible TODAY. Today, with all of its possibilities is all we have to work with right now, and depending on how we spend/invest it, we will either welcome tomorrow with open arms or try to hide from it. God has done His part by giving us all we need this day to make it, the rest is up to us, but He is willing to assist in the decisions we make if we are willing to ask. It couldn’t hurt.

Until tomorrow…

Pastor Botts

“So don’t worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will bring its own worries. Today’s trouble is enough for today.” – Matthew 6:34 (NLT)

Investing in Good Memories

When saving for old age be sure to put away a lot of good memories. – Richard Murray

As Jesus was growing and maturing his mother Mary ‘stored up’ a lot of his actions in her heart. It served her well at the cross. Hmm!

It’s no secret that life is fleeting. You finish school, work a little while and before you know it the ‘golden years’ are upon you. Those years where we spent time building and raising a family, acquiring material wealth, building a nestegg, and finding our true self just zipped by. If we’re fortunate we learn the secret of the ‘golden years’ early on. Life is in the living not the acquiring, for what is acquired or accumulated can vanish very quickly. But good memories can never be lost or stolen and are a true treasure and measure of one’s lifetime of achievements. All the money in the world can’t erase a sad, regret-filled life, and God wants us to enjoy the life He’s given so today we need to invest in good memories.

Until tomorrow…..

Pastor Botts 

“The memory of the righteous will be a blessing, but the name of the wicked will rot.” – Proverbs 10:7

Today's scripture reading: Proverbs 29

Today's scripture reading question: Using verse 18 as instruction: What plan or goal do you need to set before yourself?

Hope For Tomorrow

Yesterday is experience. Tomorrow is hope. Today is getting from one to the other as best we can. – J. M. Henry

While they were in the fiery furnace, the three Hebrew boys reflected on where they came from and who they believed in, and barely noticed the consuming flames. Hmm!

Wherever we are in life, be it tolerable, comfortable, or even grand; it is probably not the best it could be, which is why tomorrow beckons. There is hope for a turnaround, improvement, come-back, step-up or whatever we desire, and we should use all of yesterday’s and yesteryear’s experiences to make the best moves possible TODAY. Today, with all of its possibilities is all we have to work with right now, and depending on how we spend/invest it, we will either welcome tomorrow with open arms or try to hide from it. God has done His part by giving us all we need this day to make it, the rest is up to us, but He is willing to assist in the decisions we make if we are willing to ask. It couldn’t hurt.

Until tomorrow…..

Pastor Botts

“So don’t worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will bring its own worries. Today’s trouble is enough for today.” – Matthew 6:34 (NLT)

Time: Eternal Love

Time is too slow for the impatient, too swift for the aged; too long for the grieving, too short for those rejoicing; but to those who love, time is eternity. – H. VanDyke

Everyone wanted to know when the end times would be but even Jesus said he didn’t know. He did hint at preparing for eternity. Hmm!

Most of us have heard the saying “only what you do for Christ will last.” There’s great truth there but unfortunately most of us spend a great part of our life and efforts focused on the wrong goal – money. Money is not bad per se, and it is something we need to live, but TIME is actually the currency of life. And God in His wisdom made sure it’s the one thing we each possess in equal measure each day regardless of our station or lot in life. Our goal for God and His kingdom is to invest it wisely that it may pay dividends (treasures in heaven); for though it is spelled TIME, when caringly given to someone else it comes out LOVE. And that is God’s command to us.

Until tomorrow…….

Pastor Botts

“A new command I give you; Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another. By this all men will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another.” – John 13:34-35

Reaping Investments

Don’t anticipate your ship coming in to port if you’ve never sent one out. – Anon

Joseph told Pharaoh he needed to prepare for the future for severe famine was on the way. With Joseph in charge the Egyptians never faced want. Wow!

It’s amazing how often people think things will magically work out. They often hold out for the day their ‘luck’ will change and everything will fall into line when ‘their ship’ comes in. But just as we would never go to a bank to withdraw money when we’ve never deposited any or expect a paycheck for a job we’ve never worked, it’s just as foolish to expect our life to be changed by an event that cannot happen because we’ve done nothing to cause it to happen. It’s amazing how we often expect our lives to become more godly and Christ like when we don’t do the things to cause it to happen. To reap the rewards of an investment you must invest. Today is another opportunity God has given us to prepare.

Until tomorrow….

Pastor Botts

“If my people, who are called by my name, will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then will I hear from heaven and will forgive their sin and will heal their land.” – II Chronicles 7:14

Stick With It

A rolling stone gathers no moss; nor anything else. – Sparks

The Israelites continually tried to live like their neighbors and hold on to God; they got neither. Hmm!

We’ve seen it in others lives - The lack to stick with something long enough to make it work, the refusal to invest time into something worthwhile, the life without aim or direction – and often we muse about it. But the same can often be said of us. For just as often we wonder why we have not come to know God more intimately or know His Word more deeply. To do so requires time, patience, and discipline; often in short supply in our busy lives. To know God takes intimacy, which takes time. God has never been in a hurry so why should we be. If we really want to know Him and have Him in our lives, we need to stop casually doing drive-by service and just park for awhile.

Until Monday…..

Pastor Botts

“One thing I ask of the Lord, this is what I seek: that I may dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life, to gaze upon the beauty of the Lord and to seek him in his temple.” – Psalm 27:4

Invest in Preparation

Don’t anticipate your ship coming in to port if you’ve never sent one out. – Anon

Joseph told Pharaoh he needed to prepare for the future for severe famine was on the way. With Joseph in charge the Egyptians never faced want. Wow!

It’s amazing how often people think things will magically work out. They often hold out for the day their ‘luck’ will change and everything will fall into line when ‘their ship’ comes in. But just as we would never go to a bank to withdraw money when we’ve never deposited any or expect a paycheck for a job we’ve never worked, it’s just as foolish to expect our life to be changed by an event that cannot happen because we’ve done nothing to cause it to happen. It’s amazing how we often expect our lives to become more godly and Christ like when we don’t do the things to cause it to happen. To reap the rewards of an investment you must invest. Today is another opportunity God has given us to prepare.

Until tomorrow….

Pastor Botts

“If my people, who are called by my name, will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then will I hear from heaven and will forgive their sin and will heal their land.” – II Chronicles 7:14