The Lord's Patience

 

Dear friends,

The weather seems to be moving toward the changing of the seasons. It has been much cooler in recent days. There were reports of frost in areas to our north Sunday morning.

 

Our local network of churches met on Sunday afternoon, and it was encouraging to hear how the Lord is working in each of those ministries. There were reports of increasing church attendance, and growth in the areas of youth groups and Bible studies. Small churches sometimes get overlooked in the grand scheme of things, but I believe they have a big part in God’s plan for getting the Good News out to the world.

 

In this age of anti-Christian thought, we must be reminded that the Bible is true, and that it contains the Word of God. The skeptics would have us think believing in a loving and just God is a myth. This is a lie from the devil and is designed to make us doubt.

 

I’m reminded of the words of Peter’s second letter. “Above all, you must understand that in the last days scoffers will come, scoffing and following their own evil desires. They will say, ‘Where is this ‘coming’ He promised? Ever since our ancestors died, everything goes on as it has since the beginning of creation.’ But they deliberately forget that long ago by God’s word the heavens came into being and the earth was formed out of water and by water. By these waters also the world of that time was deluged and destroyed. By the same word the present heavens and earth are reserved for fire, being kept for the day of judgment and destruction of the ungodly.

 

But do not forget this one thing, dear friends: With the Lord a day is like a thousand years, and a thousand years are like a day. The Lord is not slow in keeping His promise, as some understand slowness. Instead, He is patient with you, not wanting anyone to perish, but everyone to come to repentance” (2 Peter 3:3-9).

 

The Lord desires everyone to come to Him, accepting His salvation through faith in Jesus Christ. If you have not done that, why are you waiting? He is patiently waiting for you to admit your sin, repent (turn from) it, and believe that Jesus came to save all who will believe. Do not reject His offer.

 

For Him,

Pastor Jerry

Hearing Aid

 

Hello friends,

Don’t you just love this October weather? It isn’t often we get to this point without a killing frost to put an end to the gardening season. I have said I enjoy fall weather, but this is exceptional.

In recent years, I have gotten to the point of needing hearing aids. I was under the impression that having them would be the solution to asking people to repeat themselves in a conversation. It seemed to create a worse problem in communicating with my lovely wife. Guess what? They are not the perfect answer. There is a spiritual application in this.

Hearing aids work well one-on-one, but in a crowd, there is just noise. I was told I would hear sounds I hadn’t heard in some time, and it is true. I hadn’t noticed, but I was missing the sounds of birds and crickets among other sounds.

It could be that way for hearing God’s voice. Scripture tells us to listen to the voice of the Lord. He does not always speak with a loud unmistakable voice, most times it is a still quiet prompting from His Holy Spirit.

If we haven’t heard from Him in a while, maybe it is time to get away from the noisy crowd (that is, the world) and tune in to Him. It won’t involve hearing aids, just getting away to a quiet place. Getting away from the noise of the world will allow us to hear His still, small voice. In the book of 1 Kings, we read of the prophet Elijah complaining to God. “Then a great and powerful wind tore the mountains apart and shattered the rocks before the Lord, but the Lord was not in the wind. After the wind there was an earthquake. After the earthquake came a fire, but the Lord was not in the fire. And after the fire came a gentle whisper.

There are many scriptures that tell of God speaking in a loud voice to His people. These were unmistakable signs of God’s presence. Today, He speaks to us through other believers but also through the quiet nudging of the Holy Spirit. A daily quiet time away from worldly distractions will allow us to hear that still small voice of God.

My hearing aids are helpful, but to have meaningful conversation with my spouse requires special attention to her voice.

Listening for His voice,

Pastor Jerry

On Aging

 Dear friends,

Here we are at the beginning of a new month. Another reason I like October is that I get to observe another birthday. I have reached number 81 as of today. God has blessed me with more years than I could have imagined when I was younger.

One might wonder how to become wise as our years advance. We all can remember when we were young and unwise, sometimes getting into trouble because of the lack of wisdom. Scripture has good advice on achieving wisdom. Psalm 111:10 reminds us, “The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom; all who follow His instructions have good understanding.” In Proverbs we read, “Blessed is the man who finds wisdom, the man who gains understanding” (Proverbs 3:13).

We are encouraged to persevere in our faith as we advance in years, knowing the Lord will be with us: Even to your old age and gray hairs I am He, I am He who will sustain you. I have made you and I will carry you; I will sustain you and I will rescue you” (Isaiah 46:4). Moses asked this of God, “Teach us to number our days aright, that we may gain a heart of wisdom.

As we age, we remember the lessons we learned in our early years. Wisdom is using those lessons in a practical way. As it says, the beginning of wisdom is the fear of the Lord, not that we are afraid of Him but we respect and acknowledge God as our creator, giving Him all the honor and glory that is due Him. When we do that, He gives us wisdom to apply what His word teaches us.

Someone once said, “I became old and wise because God protected me when I was young and stupid.” I might add this observation; we are still here because there is more God wants us to do for Him. It begins with this: “For my Father’s will is that everyone who looks to the Son and believes in Him shall have eternal life” ( John 6:40 

I leave you with this from Solomon. “Now all has been heard; here is the conclusion of the matter: Fear God and keep his commandments, for this is the whole duty of man. 14 For God will bring every deed into judgment, including every hidden thing, whether it is good or evil.” Ecclesiastes 12:13-14.

Living for Him,

Pastor Jerry