Innocent Children of Sandy Hook Elementary

As I was looking through Facebook I came across this picture and poem. My heart is still heavy over the loss of these innocent children and adults.

'Twas 11 days before Christmas, around 9:38
When 20 beautiful children stormed through heaven's gate.
Their smiles were contagious, their laughter filled the air.
They could hardly believe all the beauty they saw there.
They were filled with such joy, they didn't know what to say.
They remembered nothing of what had happened earlier that day.
"Where are we?" asked a little girl, as quiet as a mouse.
"This is heaven," declared a small boy. "We're spending Christmas at God's house."
When what to their wondering eyes did appear,
But Jesus, their Savior, the children gathered near.
He looked at them and smiled, and they smiled just the same.
Then He opened His arms and He called them by name.
And in that moment was joy, that only heaven can bring
Those children all flew into the arms of their King
And as they lingered in the warmth of His embrace,
One small girl turned and looked at Jesus' face.
And as if He could read all the questions she had
He gently whispered to her, "I'll take care of mom and dad."
Then He looked down on earth, the world far below
He saw all of the hurt, the sorrow, and woe
Then He closed His eyes and He outstretched His hand,
"Let My power and presence re-enter this land!"
"May this country be delivered from the hands of fools"
"I'm taking back my nation. I'm taking back my schools!"
Then He and the children stood up without a sound.
"Come now my children, let me show you around."
Excitement filled the space, some skipped and some ran.
All displaying enthusiasm that only a small child can.
And I heard Him proclaim as He walked out of sight,
"In the midst of this darkness, I AM STILL THE LIGHT."

Written by Cameo Smith, Mt. Wolf, PA

In Matthew 2:16-18, it speaks of Herod realizing he was outwitted by the Magi when they did not disclose where Jesus was. Herod was threatened by the presence of an Almighty King he heard so much about. He ordered the death of all the boys under 2 years old in Bethlehem and its vicinity. In verse 18 it says, “A voice is heard in Ramah, weeping and great mourning, Rachel weeping for her children and refusing to be comforted, because they are no more.” This did not make it in any other historical accounts in the Bible, yet it doesn’t make it any less tragic. Our world today is still filled with brokenness and pain. It doesn’t ever get any easier to deal with innocent deaths.

Let me encourage you to pray for the families and ask the Lord to help you comfort those who mourn. God did not cause this massacre at Sandy Hook Elementary just like He didn’t in Bethlehem many years ago. There are people still today who make wrong, ungodly choices that kill innocent life. But I know that my God promises to never leave us nor forsake us in these times. Pray for God to use you as a vessel of healing for those who are questioning and hurting.

It has been good to participate in the Jesse Tree this year. It has brought so much meaning and depth in our family's Christmas on recalling God’s hand throughout history. On Sunday I hear the special quartet is going to return and sing a song to help us bring in Christmas. Some of you may remember them from last year. You won’t want to miss it.

Tonight is going to be a wonderful time of bringing in the Hope of Christ in this broken world we live in. Come and join us as we bring our families and hold them just a little tighter because we can…

Joy in Jesus!

Pastor Mike

Christmas Season is Here, Spread the Word

The children did a fantastic job with the Christmas Musical on Sunday. We have some real talent in our church. God has blessed us so. I thank the Lord for the adults we have who work with our children from the nursery through the teen years. Look one up this week and thank them for the love and time they give to our families in nurturing the talents and gifts of our children.

There are so many events to attend to make your Christmas like none other. Tonight there are going to be several go around to shut-ins and nursing homes to give a little encouragement to our senior adults. I want to encourage you to come and join in with our church to spread the love of Christ. We are meeting at 6:45 in the Family Life Center.

We have two more Advent Sundays left. I hear a special quartet will be coming again on Christmas Sunday. Many exciting things have been happening in our services. Don’t miss a beat. God is doing a mighty work in our church. Also, a week from tonight, there will be a Christmas concert and artists drawing a mural throughout the service. Let’s not forget our Christmas Eve Service. We will again have two choices (4:30 or 6:00pm) to make it more convenient for friends and family.

Augustine was once accosted by a heathen who showed him his idol and said, “Here is my god; where is thine?” Augustine replied, “I cannot show you my God; not because there is no God to show but because you have no eyes to see Him.”^[1]

Pray for those around you to have eyes to see the meaning of Christmas. God still helps wise men find Him when they seek with their whole heart. There are many opportunities to invite others to an event this Christmas season. Pray for them to have eyes that seek a Savior and then go out and invite. God has been preparing the soil for a long time, what are you waiting for?

Have a blessed day today as you proclaim the Name of Jesus and live out the life He has given you.

Joy in Jesus!

Pastor Mike

PS. Today is 12/12/12. Spend some time praying at 12pm today for an invite opportunity. I know, invite 12 friends to church this Sunday, we’ll make room for all your friends…. I will try to be done by 12. You get the picture…

Covenant and Blessings: Love and Choose

What an exciting service on Sunday! From the Worship of God to the Word of God and everything in between. Unfortunately we ran out of the grape juice for communion and there were about 30 people who were not able to take part. I did not hear anyone complaining. That is not the kind of people we have at our church. This is the first time I can recall this happening. It is a good problem to have but one we don’t want to repeat. We had 307 in attendance on Sunday and I believe there are many more big days to come. God is pouring out His Spirit on our church and people are responding.

I was drawn to a passage in Deuteronomy 4:37-40, where Moses is repeating an observation that he previously made. That God had delivered His people from bondage In Egypt by whatever means was available. God had everything at His fingertips so it was going to happen no matter what. It goes along with my message on Sunday concerning the Lord doing whatever it takes to fulfill His promises.

“Because He loved your ancestors and chose their descendants after them, He brought you out of Egypt by His Presence and His great strength, to drive out before you nations greater and stronger than you and to bring you into their land to give it to you for your inheritance, as it is today.” Deut. 3:37-38

Moses uses two covenantial words in these two verses: the words, “Love” and “Choose.” To love is to choose, and to choose is to love. God chose to redeem because of His Love. The Exodus deliverance was based on God’s covenant with His people. It is not based on what we have done, simply on the basis of God’s Word to us. During this Advent season we are reminded of God’s great love for us to come and redeem us. What a God we serve. Now we are asked to have covenant obedience by recognizing that God is God of all and we are to live our lives according to that knowledge.

“Acknowledge and take to heart this day that the Lord is God in heaven above and on the earth below. There is no other.”  Deuteronomy 3:39

Now we move to the last verse which summarizes what God expects. Simply put, He demands obedience to His decrees and commands. It is our privilege to follow God’s ways as He proves over and over His love for us in allowing His Son to become sin so we can fulfill the covenant stipulations. If we do, then we can expect blessing and longevity for us and our future family.

“Keep His decrees and commands, which I am giving you today, so that it may go well with you and your children after you and that you may live long in the land the Lord your God gives you for all time.”  Deuteronomy 3:40

I am looking forward to the Children’s Musical this Sunday. It’s always good when the church family comes together and experiences Advent as our children share the message.

Joy in Jesus!

Pastor Mike

From Revival to Anticipating the Birth of Christ

This week we have been in revival. Again, revival is a time where we change our schedules and come together as a church to have exponential growth occur in our church, our families, and our individual lives. Rev. Jeremiah Bolich has done a wonderful job in bringing God’s Word to the church. I want to encourage everyone to attend the last service tonight at 7 p.m. You will be glad you made the effort.

On Sunday, we will begin our series entitled, “anticipate.” It is going to be a great Advent Experience for the whole family. If you haven’t done so, come tonight and pick up your devotional guide in the foyer and be ready to begin on Saturday night. I am really looking forward to spending some time with my family focusing on this Advent season. I want to create a schedule that will bring our family’s spiritual life to a higher level. My desire as a father is to teach my children the priority we are to place God in our lives. What better way than to model it during this Advent season of preparation. Join us in this great adventure.

Today I want to bring our attention to 1 Thessalonians 4:1-12…

            ¹Finally, brothers, we instructed you how to live in order to please God, as in fact you are living. Now we ask you and urge you in the Lord Jesus to do this more and more. ² For you know what instructions we gave you by the authority of the Lord Jesus.

³ It is God’s will that you should be sanctified: that you should avoid sexual immorality; ⁴ that each of you should learn to control his own body in a way that is holy and honorable, ⁵ not in passionate lust like the heathen, who do not know God; ⁶ and that in this matter no one should wrong his brother or take advantage of him. The Lord will punish men for all such sins, as we have already told you and warned you. ⁷ For God did not call us to be impure, but to live a holy life. ⁸Therefore, he who rejects this instruction does not reject man but God, who gives you His Holy Spirit.

⁹ Now about brotherly love we do not need to write to you, for you yourselves have been taught by God to love each other. ¹⁰ And in fact, you do love all the brothers throughout Macedonia. Yet we urge you, brothers, to do so more and more.

¹¹ Make it your ambition to lead a quiet life, to mind your own business and to work with your hands, just as we told you, ¹² so that your daily life may win the respect of outsiders and so that you will not be dependent on anybody.

Live out the Inspired Word’s of God today! See you tonight!

Joy in Jesus!

Pastor Mike

Attributes of God #8 - Wrathful and Truthful

Hebrews 11:6

And without faith it is impossible to please God, because anyone who comes to Him must believe that He exists and that He rewards those who earnestly seek Him.

We continue on our journey as we look at the attributes of God. The ultimate goal of the Christian life is to be conformed into the likeness of Jesus Christ. We may not be able to emulate Jesus by being omnipresent, omniscient, or omnipotent, but we can allow God to pour His moral attributes into our lives in order to spill out throughout the day. Last week, the focus was on how God is wise and good. Let’s look at a few more of God’s moral attributes.

God is Wrathful

“The wrath of God is being revealed from heaven against all the godlessness and wickedness of people, who suppress the truth by their wickedness,”    Romans 1:18

God judges sin in our lives and cannot do otherwise because He is a holy, wrathful God. This seems to have a negative connotation but He is bound by his nature to punish unrighteousness. I would not want it any other way. I choose to focus on the full wrath for my sin was poured out on His one and only Son at Calvary. His wrath is a justified anger against that which would harm me. Praise the Lord for His all encompassing grace and mercy He gives us.

God is Truthful

“… in the hope of eternal life, which God, who does not lie, promised before the beginning of time.”   Titus 1:2

We know that God will never tell us a lie. We can be assured of that throughout His word. Another fact we can know is that Satan is the total opposite. Satan is the father of lies and can twist the truth to make it look good but in the end leads to death. God is truthful through and through. That is so comforting to know we can totally trust God in what His word tells us.

Spend some time today thanking the Lord for His ways. Let them be real this week as He reminds us of His love and forgiveness. Walk in them day and night. Be generous with these attributes and let God lead you as you live them out.

I have been spending a lot of time with the Aukerman family as they have been caring for Ashley. There is a deep settled peace among them. There is a big difference when we have put God in the middle of our lives. Only He can come and bring a peace for He is the creator of all things. Please continue to pray for the Aukerman family and we will update you as we hear more.

Have a blessed day!

Pastor Mike

Why Did Our Presidential Election...?

In the aftermath of the election, there are many who just feel numb. I am one of those people. I will have to admit that it was hard to get up and around today. There just seems to be a cloud floating over me today. But let me remind you that God is still God. We prayed for His will to be done and now we have to trust God even more. Read these verses below and be encouraged that the everlasting God will supply all of our needs.

“Praise be to you, Lord, the God of our father Israel, from everlasting to everlasting. Yours, Lord, is the greatness and the power and the glory and the majesty and the splendor, for everything in heaven and earth is yours. Yours, Lord, is the kingdom; you are exalted as head over all. Wealth and honor come from you; you are the ruler of all things. In your hands are strength and power to exalt and give strength to all. Now, our God, we give you thanks, and praise your glorious name.”   -- David’s Prayer in 1 Chronicles 29:24

“I know that you can do all things; no purpose of yours can be thwarted.”    -- Job 42:2

“Some trust in chariots and some in horses, but we trust in the name of the Lord our God.”   -- Psalm 20:7

“The Lord has established His throne in heaven, and His kingdom rules over all.”     --  Psalm 103:19

If Job’s faith can increase and he can find strength when there is nothing to hold on to after all he lost; if David can pray the prayers that he prayed after all that he went through; then I know that I can walk in faith and be more encouraged today than I was yesterday. After all, I gave the Lord this election and told Him that I would trust Him no matter what the results. Let’s keep praying and stop complaining. We can deal with things as they come and let God be Lord of all.

God has never been too late. His timing is always perfect. I just have to relearn that for the umpteenth time. Look up today and hear what God is doing all around the world.

Joy in Jesus!

Pastor Mike