Standing During Challenges

It’s better to be a lion for a day than a sheep all your life. – E. Kenny

Little scrawny Gideon was hiding in a winepress threshing wheat when God called him to battle. After finding his courage the rest was easy!

The world today preaches a ‘tainted’ tolerance. We’re to tolerate everyone and their views and desires except when it comes to promoting Christ and his kingdom. This only works to the advantage of the enemy. We took prayer out of schools – look at schools today. We’ve spared the rod on our children – look at children today. This was not the example Jesus gave. Everyday he was challenged by the ‘religious right’ and everyday he stood his ground and told them what his Father said. Jesus had a backbone then and he should have one still today. As Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. once said, “It’s not so much the noise of the bad; it’s the silence of the good.” God is expecting us to be witnesses not observationists.

Until tomorrow…

Pastor Botts

“Therefore put on the full armor of God, so that when the day of evil comes, you may be able to stand your ground, and after you have done everything, to stand. Stand firm then…..” Ephesians 6:13-14

Opportunities to Give Glory

There is no good arguing with the inevitable. The only argument available for a chilling wind is to put on your overcoat. – J. R. Lowell

Abraham bargained with God over Sodom & Gomorrah, asking him to spare the city if he could find 10 righteous souls there. WE KNOW HOW IT ENDED!

Here it is Monday again, just like clockwork it always follows Sunday. There is nothing we can do to stop it for it is by God’s Divine design it happens this way. But we can prepare ourselves to meet and greet the day as an opportunity to further the kingdom of God, because that’s exactly what it is. We are alive and well for his purposes, so whatever comes our way today (whether positive or negative) can and should be used to give God the glory.

Until tomorrow…

Pastor Botts

“As the rain and snow come down from heaven, and do not return to it without watering the earth and making it flourish…..so is my word that goes out from my mouth: It will not return to me empty, but will accomplish what I desire and achieve the purpose for which I sent it.” – Isaiah 55:10-11

Shine It Up Good

Elbow grease is the best polish. – English Proverb

Paul held the Macedonian church up as an example not so much for the money they gave, but because they gave themselves. Hmm!

A beautifully waxed car is a sight to behold. The polished chrome reflecting like a mirror and the paint gleaming like it’s almost wet. And just as important as the wax you select is the amount of effort you put into applying and ‘rubbing out’ the wax. If you want the shine you‘ve got to give the effort. The life we live for Christ is the same, for us to appear like Christ requires that we give the effort to become like Christ. God does not wave a magic wand over us and all of a sudden we’re completely changed. It takes effort to “put off the old man and his sinful desires” and walk in the newness of life. To “put on Christ” actually takes effort. To walk like him, talk like him, love like him takes great effort, but if we want to be a light and shine for him we’ve got to use a little ‘elbow grease.’ Are you game?

Until Monday………

Pastor Botts

“….continue to work out your salvation with fear and trembling, for it is God who works in you to will and to act according to his good purpose.” – Philippians 2:12-13