A little preface to the scriptures - The true children of God were be persecuted by those who claimed to be children. “These people say they are mine. They honor me with their lips, but their hearts are far away. And their worship of me amounts to nothing more than human laws learned by rote” (vrs. 13). But when the Lord begins His acts of destruction, He always watches out for and protects His kids.

When you are going through some tough situations here is God’s promise. “Soon-and it will not be very long-the wilderness of Lebanon will be a fertile field once again. And the fertile fields will become a lush and fertile forest. In that day deaf people will hear words read from a book, and blind people will see through the gloom and darkness. The humble will be filled with fresh joy from the Lord. Those who are poor will rejoice in the Holy One of Israel.”

Notice who will receive the promise:

1. Those who are blind. This is not talking about physical blindness.
2. Those who are deaf.
3. Those who are humble (does not have pride).
4. Those who are poor (poor in spirit).

As a friend of David, I am happy to see him following after God in a new adventure. As a coworker, I hate to see him leave. So this morning when I get the chance, I’ll let the air out of his tires as he begins to box things up.

If you missed Sunday Mornings service, you missed a great service. When people come prayed up and ready to worship, it sure makes my job a lot easier. God shows up when we are on our knees. We need God. He provides every breath of air we breathe. Our own strength, our own wealth, and our own hard work cannot get us where we need to go. We need God every moment.

And we also need each other. If one stumbles, the other is there to pick him up. I am glad to be a part of the worship team at Faith.

Thanks for all you do.

I am currently going through the book of Isaiah, gleaning from it what I can. One thing that I have continually noticed was this idea that the God of the Old Testament is different than the God of the New Testament. We tribute God with Holiness, Sacrificial, Righteousness and Judgement. He is the God of punishment. That is until Jesus arrives. But what I am finding in Isaiah is that He continually shows mercy and grace to people. He watches out for every individual who seeks after Him.

So I am getting to that point where Isaiah is prophicing about the end time. “In that day the Lord will punish the fallen angels in the heavens and the proud rulers of the nations on earth.” “Woo Hoo!” I shouted. That was until I was reading my commentary which does not view some of these prophicies as the “end time” but states that most of these had taken place much earlier.

Here is what was said for this verse.

“There is a rabbinical saying, to the effect that ‘God never destroys a nation without having first of all destroyed its prince…’ Just as, according to the scriptural view, both good and evil angels attach themselves to particular men, and an elevated state of mind may sometimes afford a glimpse of this encircling company and this conflict of spirits; so do angels contend for the rule over nations and kingdoms, either to guide them in the way of God or to lead them astray from God; and therefore the judgment upon the nations which the prophet here foretells will be a judgment upon angels also. The kingdom of spirits has its own history running parallel to the destinies of men.”

Compare this with Ephesians 6:12.

Looks like we need to pick out boy’s names again. What are a few good ones?

As many have already known, God is in the process to move our beloved Bro. David to another ministry. We are excited that we have men of God who are following after God’s movement.

But now that I am the only staff member in the office, I would like for me as well as the church to keep their priorities straight. So to help me keep my priorities straight, what would you say must be on my priority list? You choose. Let me know what you think.

I read this quote today in an undisclosed book. Let me know what you think about it.

“In a sense, much of a [successful ministry] is about creating a culture of discipline. It all starts with disciplined people. The transition begins not by trying to discipline the wrong people into the right behaviors, but by getting self-disciplined people on the bus in the first place. Next we have disciplined thought. You need the discipline to confront the brutal facts of reality, while retaining resolute faith that you can and will create a path to [success]…Finally, we have disciplined action…This order is important. The comparison [ministries] often tried to jump right to disciplined action. But disciplined action without self-disciplined people is impossible to sustain, and disciplined action without self-discipline people is impossible to sustain, and disciplined action without disciplined thought is a recipe for disaster” (Jim Collins).

What do you think about this?

BUT WE WILL BE HAVING CHOIR ON SUNDAY