Ipod Worship!

Psalm 28:7 The Lord is my strength and my shield; My heart trusted in Him, and I am helped; Therefore my heart greatly rejoices, And with my song I will praise Him.

Have you ever heard a person sing with headphones on? It can be quite entertaining. Recently I was mowing with an ipod on and realized that I was singing loudly. Loud enough for my neighbors to hear my off key harmony??? above the sound of the mower. We even shout when we talk at times.

Why do you sing? Is it because you have a good voice, think you have a good voice, or is it because you have a song in your heart?

I have decided that I like songs about Jesus! If it is glorifying God, I will praise Him for it.

When we come together to worship, it is easy to fall into the trap of singing only the songs that I like. You know, the times where you let it all out on a certain song, then just tolerate the others. When my worship goes from God to watching others, from an active participant to a spectator.

Let us be reminded that worship really is about glorifying God. Is God worthy of me opening my heart and mouth to lift praises to Him, anytime, anywhere? Absolutely!

We all have favorites and that is natural, but let us remember the psalmist.

Therefore my heart gladly rejoices, and with my song I will praise Him.

Easter Shoes

Luke 24:6-7
He is not here, but is risen! Remember how He spoke to you when He was still in Galilee saying, "The Son of Man must be delivered into the hands of sinful men, and be crucified, and on the third day rise again."

Years ago, the popular christian group Newsong came out with the heart stirring hit, "Christmas Shoes." I imagine that most of you have heard it. It was later turned into a movie starring Rob Lowe, which began a series of movies . As I think about Easter, I should write a tune entitled "Easter Shoes."

As a boy growing up, mom would have three sets of clothes for me. School clothes, play clothes, and church clothes. Most of those years, several weeks before Easter, she would take Sheila and I to get us an Easter outfit to wear to church on that special Sunday, as we celebrate the resurrection of the Lord Jesus. I thank the Lord for parents who sacrificed greatly for us.

With the purchase of a new Easter outfit would normally come a new pair of dress shoe for Easter Sunday. We didn't have the options that we have for our kids today. Leather has come a long way!

Picture this, a plaid sport coat, pants , bow tie, and brand new black lace up shoes. Nice, but stiff, and by the end of Easter dinner, killing my feet. Can you remember? We will probably see some of the same sites this Sunday at church as we celebrate the Lord's victory over the grave.
I love to see our children in their new outfits, especially the boys, who come in pressed and leave untucked.

On one particular Easter, I was trying on shoes and mom got me my favorite pair as a boy. They were brown "wingtips", the same kind as dad wore. I loved those shoes, they made me feel good, and they were comfortable, but most importantly, I had great joy to know that I resembled my dad.

Regardless of how well I clean up this Sunday for Easter, it doesn't matter if I am not striving to look like my heavenly Father.
My prayer is that this Easter, my life reflects well of Jesus. Life will be hard sometimes, like a pair of those shoes growing up, but what joy there is to know that when people see you, that they see the love of God shining in your life.

Happy Easter, make sure you celebrate in church this Sunday!

Revival or Life Support?

Luke 14:23 And the Lord said unto the servant, Go out into the highways and hedges, and compel them to come in, that my house may be filled.

In just a few weeks we welcome Evangelist Ed Newton for our Spring Revival. He has been here before and will be a great blessing if you have not heard him. Some of my fondest memories as a boy were revival services. Dad worked second shift so mom would make us go. I would fuss for a while but once we got there it was usually a great blessing. I can remember the excitement in the two churches we attended in Dayton. The singing would raise the roof and the preaching was intense. I mean, they didn't dance around the tough subjects and called sin....sin. He would preach sin destroys, hell's hot, and heaven is real. He would preach Jesus, and stand on the truth of God's Word. The altar would be a friend in a revival.

You don't hear much talk about revival anymore. I wonder why?

When we invite people, we tend to invite other Christians most of the time. I am not sure that is exactly what the Lord meant in Luke 14:23. What used to buzz seems to have become a fizz as we have opted for "more important things." What is more important than a fresh touch of God on a life?

I used to get inundated with invitations to attend revivals from other churches, and now hardly a postcard. I wonder why? Is it because we are closer to God than ever and don't need it? Is it because we are way more busier than ever?

The longer I pastor, the more it becomes a battle. REVIVAL means to live again. The devil will do anything He can to keep a church in a life support mentality. If he can deceive a pastor, leaders, and the people, he will be happy I believe to watch us tread water in a type of ineffective spiritual coma.

Let me tell you what I am praying for. I am asking God to do something in the life of our church that only He can do. I mean the supernatural. A great movement of God as Christians get real before a Holy God and turn from sin, re-surrendering lives to Christ, the lost come to Jesus in repentance of sin, and relationships reconciled. The kind of thing we will talk about the rest of our lives. The story that is told to our grand kids about the revival that broke out in Camden, Ohio in 2010.

I look down at my feet. Draw a chalk circle around my feet, and beg the Lord to send revival, beginning in that circle. Will you join me?

What's In Your Sink?

Psalm 51:7
Purge me with hyssop and I shall be clean, wash me, and I shall be whiter than snow.

Snow was going to be my theme to share about this verse, mainly due to the fact that most Ohioans have seen enough this winter, but as I was preparing to shave, the Lord simply placed a thought in my heart in regards to my spiritual life, by using a washcloth.

The water was turned on, and the cloth laid in the bottom of the sink. I was anticipating a hot, lathery shave, so I waited. As the water ran, I picked it up carefully to not get burned, but discovered the water had not heated up and the rag was saturated with cold water.

As the faucet now began to transform into warm and now hot water, I knew I needed to get rid of the cold that was retained in the cloth, so I rang it out.

Sometimes our christian lives are like wash rags. We want to be hot for God, yet we are still saturated with cold and lukewarm spiritual water. For revival to come we need to allow the Lord to ring us out so that we are ready and receptive soil to hear from Him.

The cloth may feel like hyssop sometimes, an abrasive stone, but as the Lord cleanses, our hearts can be pure, just as white as the new fallen snow.

Any cold water lingering in your spiritual wash cloth? Give it to the Lord today!

Groundhog's Day

Corinthians 5:17 (New King James Version)
Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new.

Tomorrow, February 2, is Ground Hog's Day. A great day. One, mom and dad celebrate their 53rd anniversary, and two, the title of a great movie, in which Bill Murray keeps waking up to relive the same day, over and over. After he realizes what is happening, he begins to correct mistakes he has made in the previous day. He tries to manipulate events, getting wiser and more deceptive with each new ring of the alarm clock. Regardless of what happens in a twenty four hour span, he has to start all over at 6 a.M. the next day.

What if you could go back and re-do some of the mistakes you have made in life? Would you avoid bad decisions that had cost you? What if you could wake up with a fresh start each morning?

As a christian you can, and it is not a fictitious movie, it is the promises of God's Word. When you give your life to Christ, he clears the account, and wipes it clean. As a christian, we need to settle our sin account on a regular daily basis. God is eager to forgive us, and sometimes we drag things around with us that God is longing for us to give up and surrender to Him.

Don't let your past, rob you of the joy that is in Christ Jesus today.

If the ground hog sees his shadow, six months of bad weather left, if he doesn't only a month and a half.

Haiti Heartbreak

In my lifetime there have been plenty of natural disasters and hardships, but nothing any more than what we are witnessing in Haiti. After a team from our church returned this summer, we were reminded that the folks in Haiti didn't have anything to begin with. They were thankful for anything. Haiti is the poorest country in the Western hemisphere.

How depressing it would be to be known for what you do not have. My heart and our prayers go out to the survivors and families who have lost loved ones. Especially those who have not heard from their loved ones who may have perished or be trapped, even as I write.

Why did God allow it? If God loves us, how could he do this? These are some questions that you may soon be hearing from your friends and loved ones. How are you going to respond?

Paul wrote in the New Testament, "1 Corinthians 13:12 (The Message)
We don't yet see things clearly. We're squinting in a fog, peering through a mist. But it won't be long before the weather clears and the sun shines bright! We'll see it all then, see it all as clearly as God sees us, knowing him directly just as he knows us.

Romans 8:35-39 (New King James Version)
35 Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword? 36 As it is written: “ For Your sake we are killed all day long; We are accounted as sheep for the slaughter.”[a]37 Yet in all these things we are more than conquerors through Him who loved us. 38 For I am persuaded that neither death nor life, nor angels nor principalities nor powers, nor things present nor things to come, 39 nor height nor depth, nor any other created thing, shall be able to separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.

While we do not understand, there is a hand to reach to, a Father to collapse on.

While the false worship of voodoo is huge in Haiti, may the Lord Jesus Christ be lifted up as Christians meet the needs of hurting families. One of my preacher friends, Terry Essex has invested his life there. He has spoken for us several times. He is supposed to go back in three weeks. Pray that God uses him in a mighty way as he shares hope to those who now feel as they have no hope. Meet the needs of Brent Gambrell and New Missions as they minister

My heart aches thinking about a little boy walking around with no one and nothing. Just crying. The tears trickling down a dirty face, just waiting and looking for someone to save him.

Oh God, if my heart would hurt for those who are walking alone as well, right in Camden, without Christ.

Make me hungry to see people come to Christ. Please Lord help these people.

Christmas: A Few of My Favorite Things

I can't remember a Christmas season that I have enjoyed any more than 2009. Perhaps it is because we are all excited to spend time with our new grandson Aiden. I have been blessed to have wonderful tradition passed down to me.

So to Aiden and all of you, here are a few of my favorite things at Christmas time:

• Jesus!
• Family
• The Christmas Story from the Bible
• The Music: Favorite Carols ( Oh Holy Night, O Come All Ye Faithful)
• The buzz in the air of excitement
• Church Choir programs
• Children's choirs
• fudge
• sleds
• galoshes (boots?)
• kids
• babies
• Mom's cooking
• Salad that has mandarin oranges, marshmellows, cocunut, nuts ( You get the picture)
• Spending on others
• A great bargain
• Christmas treat bags at church
• Red Poinsettias
• Snow
• Hearing from friends
• Charlie Brown Christmas
• It's a Wonderful Life
• White Christmas
• A fire burning
• A lit tree.

And this brings me to my point. As we were gazing at our tree the other night, all but two strands of lights went out at the same time. It was very sad looking. Renee searched and found out that one strand went out, and after removing and reconnecting, it was soon shining in full beauty. That's the way it is with God. He wants to remove all of the stuff in our lives that keep Him from shining through us. When we connect with Him, people will see Christ is our lives, especially this Christmas.

Merry Christmas from Pastor Greg and Renee.