My Neighbor

"Several years ago, a friend told me about a man named Roy who lived in our neighborhood. Roy had a very serious heart ailment, and there was nothing more that could be done for him. So he had been discharged from the hospital and was basically sent home to die.

My neighbor said to me, "Roy is not a Christian, but he has been to one of your crusades. Maybe you should try and talk to him."

One morning, my wife and I were out walking when my neighbor pointed out Roy to us. So we walked over to him and introduced ourselves. As we talked, it became clear that Roy was not a believer. He had a lot of questions.

Every day, we ran into him and would talk a little bit more. Then I gave Roy a copy of my book, Life. Any Questions?, which presents the gospel message. I encouraged him to take the book home and read it and then asked if we could talk again.

Roy came back the next day and said, "I read your whole book." He had more questions. We talked a little bit more, but Roy still did not seem ready to make a commitment to Christ.

One morning, as we were having family devotions, I looked out the window. There was Roy, standing in front of our house. He was out on a walk and had stopped to rest, right in front of our house.

Here we were, reading the Bible, and Roy was standing there. I sensed it was time. So I walked outside and said, "Roy, let's talk a little more." As we talked, I said, "Roy, I think you need to settle this right now. You need to get right with God. Why don't you pray right now and give your life to Christ?"

He said, "I'm ready to do that."

"Great," I said. So we prayed, and Roy asked the Lord to come into his life.

The next morning, we saw Roy. He had a big smile on his face. He said he had just been singing "Jesus Loves Me." Every time we saw Roy, it seemed like he had grown a little more.

His son-in-law told me later that Roy went to his whole family and announced, "You are looking at a brand-new Christian right now!"

Some time later, Roy's son-in-law knocked on our door. He said, "Roy died last night. I wanted to tell you."

Certainly there was sadness. But there also was the joy of knowing that Roy was in his new body in heaven. I thought to myself, "What if I had been too busy?" We can make up so many excuses. But God had provided me with a wonderful opportunity to talk with Roy.

So why take the time to share the gospel and hold events like the Harvest Crusades? The answer is obvious: It's the value of a soul.

God values the Roys of the world. He values you. And He values me. Yet in our culture today, we often place the greatest value on that which, for the most part, has no value. Meanwhile, we completely ignore that which has the greatest value.

Is anything worth more than a soul? The answer, obviously, is no. God values the human soul. And so should we." - Pastor Greg

July 5, 2011 - Massive Dust Cloud - Pheonix, Arizona

"Behold, He is coming with clouds, and every eye will see Him, even they who pierced Him. And all the tribes of the earth will mourn because of Him. Even so, Amen." - Revelation 1:7

His peace in the eye of the storm - John 14:27 - "Peace I leave with you, My peace I give to you; not as the world gives do I give to you. Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid."- Jesus

The Day We Face the Music

There Will Be a Day When We Face the Music

"But if you do not do so, then take note, you have sinned against the Lord; and be sure your sin will find you out." Numbers 32:23

"Remember in 1990, the band Milli Vanilli was awarded a Grammy for Best New Artist. They were quite successful in their day, selling millions of albums. But then it was revealed that they did not do the vocals on their own recordings. Some other studio singers had done them. Their Grammy was returned. There came a moment when Milli Vanilli had to face the music.

There are some who are putting on a good show right now as Christians. They have just about everyone convinced. One day, they will face the music, that which is hidden will be revealed. There will be nowhere to hide, and they will realize the only people they were fooling were themselves. That is why Jesus said, "So then, because you are lukewarm, and neither cold nor hot, I will vomit you out of My mouth" (Revelation 3:16).

What does it mean to be lukewarm? It is a person pretending to be a Christian who is not. To be lukewarm is to be a genuine imitation, a fake. One day we all will stand before God himself. And even if someone has done a brilliant job of fooling others, they, too, will have to face the music." - Pastor Greg

May we not play games with God. Come to Jesus today and tell Him you need His forgiveness and that you need Him to be your Saviour... and really start living with Jesus as Lord of your life.

Because We Are Drowning

"A number of years ago, I was at the beach with my son, Jonathan, who was quite young at the time. I was helping him catch waves and, as it turned out, a little riptide got hold of me. Suddenly I was no longer able to touch bottom. I realized I was getting pulled by this little riptide, and the frustrating thing was that I was so close to the shore.

It would have been extremely humiliating for me, a guy who has been around the beach all of his life, to cry out for help so close to land. So I didn't say anything. I was holding Jonathan above the water, getting pulled out a little bit more. I noticed the lifeguard was kind of looking at me, probably waiting for me to yell for help, but I did not want to do that.

I was getting pulled out a little bit further, a little bit deeper, and the lifeguard most likely thought, What an idiot! I am going to have to save this guy. He started swimming our way, and just as he got to us, I was able to get my feet on the bottom again. I told him, "I am okay. It's all right." Why wouldn't I cry out for help? I was too proud.

In the same way, we don't like to say, "I need God's help." We want to say, "I am a good person. I am a strong person." Though you may be a good man or a good woman, you have sinned, just like every one of us has sinned. And one sin is enough to keep us out of heaven. That is why we need a Savior. We need a Savior because we are drowning. He is God's gift to us." Pastor Greg

Every Pastor Needs A Pastor

Every pastor feels like he is not enough for his people,
and you are not... but Jesus is.
You are the messenger... Jesus is the Saviour.

THE PASTOR

God spoke to the Pastor’s heart
and said, "Go teach them about Me!"
So this man, who was called by God,
set out to teach so all would see.

He came to a group of people
that appeared to be all lost.
He opened up his Bible and said,
"Let me teach you about the Cross!”

Some just look dumbfounded
as he began to speak.
Some just shook their heads
and said, “This is for the weak!”

So onward he went
and more people he did find,
he opened up his Bible and said,
“Jesus healed the blind!”

But like the people before them
they just couldn’t see
what this man of God was talking about,
most said, “It’s just not for me!”

So the Pastor knelt down and prayed,
“Lord to You I want to please!”
What am I doing wrong
is it something about me?”

The Lord spoke to his heart and said,
“You are doing just what I asked,
your love for Me is greater
than any of these tasks!

When you speak they are hearing,
keep showing your love and Mine.
For most the seed has been planted,
now it just takes Me and time!”
Poem by E. P. Shagott

Every Pastor needs a Pastor.

Removing ourselves from the Equation

"I had a daughter enslaved to heroin.
Nothing worked, no rehab and there were several,
jail didn't work either and church didn't work, because she didn't want it.

But then I literally nailed her to a cross.
I wrote heroin and her name on a tiny piece of paper,
and I knelt before a tree folding that piece of paper,
and I nailed it to that tree.
Declaring to God that I surrender and at any cost
I was going to commend her back into His hands
and not interfere.

Oh, this was the hardest thing I had ever done.
For a mother wants to protect her child.
We often think we can fix them, if we just love them more.
Don't fall for that lie for we will enable them unknowingly.

When she went to jail for that last time,
oh how I wanted to visit her,
but the Holy Spirit said to me: "she is now crying mommy, mommy,
but I want her face down on bended kneed crying Lord, Lord, forgive me!"

I knew I had to stand.
I never once visited her.
She had to know we had, also suffered enough.
I believe this sobered her to face the fact,
that she had cut herself off from her family.
She had robbed us twice and I did have her arrested.
I could not allow that behavior to go on,
someone else might have shot and killed her for breaking into their home.

She finally began to see,
that if she wanted a relationship with any of us,
it had to be after she got clean.
THIS WAS THE TURNING POINT I SAW IN HER.

When she got out of jail she came to church
and asked our Pastor to lay hands on her
and pray for deliverance from this drug.
She was delivered instantly,
but she had to be ready and willing to surrender.
She had to be completely broken.

She has now been clean for a little over a year
and has completed her rehab this month.
She also, has gotten a degree in medical assisting
and bought her own car.
Praise God, she is doing very well.

She attends regular church meetings along with small group
and she often speaks at these meetings.
She tells the other girls at rehab about Jesus
and then brings them to meet me and we pray with them.
We have led a few of them to the Lord in the past year. PTL

God will not force himself on anyone,
they must want to be delivered and healed.

But he is faithful and just to do so,
we just must remove ourselves from the equation.
Who knows better than God, after all?" - Rechandle Schofield

Many times, we parents can be 'part' of the enablers.
May we learn something from this mother's words.

Surrendered moms and dads on bended knees before their Lord,
will hear the whispers of the Holy Spirit for their children
and make the tough decisions. THIS I PRAY.

What Happens When A Believer Dies

- - - - -
What about my loved ones who have died?
Where are they now?
In the time between our death and Christ’s return, what happens?
- - - - -

When speaking about the period between the death of the body and the resurrection of the body, the Bible doesn’t shout; it just whispers. But in these whispers, a firm voice is heard. This authoritative voice assures us that, at death, the Christian immediately enters into the presence of God and enjoys conscious fellowship with the Father and with those who have gone before.

Isn’t this the promise that Jesus gave the thief on the cross? Earlier the thief had rebuked Jesus. Now he repents and asks for mercy. “Remember me when you come into your kingdom” (Luke 23:42). Likely, the thief is praying that he be remembered in some distant time in the future when the kingdom comes. He didn’t expect an immediate answer. But he received one: “I tell you the truth, today you will be with me in paradise” (v. 43). The primary message of this passage is God’s unlimited and surprising grace. But a secondary message is the immediate translation of the saved into the presence of God. The soul of the believer journeys home, while the body of the believer awaits the resurrection.

Some don’t agree with this thought. They propose an intermediate period of purgation, a “holding tank” in which we are punished for our sins. This “purgatory” is the place where, for an undetermined length of time, we receive what our sins deserve so that we can rightly receive what God has prepared.

But two things trouble me about this teaching. For one, none of us can endure what our sins deserve. For another, Jesus already has. The Bible teaches that the wages of sin is death, not purgatory (see Rom. 6:23). The Bible also teaches that Jesus became our purgatory and took our punishment: “When he had brought about the purgation of sins, he took his seat at the right hand of Majesty on high” (Heb. 1:3 neb). There is no purgatory because purgatory occurred at Calvary.

Others feel that while the body is buried, the soul is asleep. They come by their conviction honestly enough. Seven different times in two different epistles, Paul uses the term sleep to refer to death (see 1 Cor. 11:30; 15:6, 18, 20; 1 Thess. 4:13–15). One could certainly deduce that the time spent between death and the return of Christ is spent sleeping. (And, if such is the case, who would complain? We could certainly use the rest!)

But there is one problem. The Bible refers to some who have already died, and they are anything but asleep. Their bodies are sleeping, but their souls are wide awake. Revelation 6:9–11 refers to the souls of martyrs who cry out for justice on the earth. Matthew 17:3 speaks of Moses and Elijah, who appeared on the Mount of Transfiguration with Jesus. Even Samuel, who came back from the grave, was described wearing a robe and having the appearance of a god (1 Sam. 28:13–14). And what about the cloud of witnesses who surround us (Heb. 12:1)? Couldn’t these be the heroes of our faith and the loved ones of our lives who have gone before?

I think so. When it is cold on earth, we can take comfort in knowing that our loved ones are in the warm arms of God. We don’t like to say good-bye to those whom we love. It is right for us to weep, but there is no need for us to despair. They had pain here. They have no pain there. They struggled here. They have no struggles there. You and I might wonder why God took them home. But they don’t. They understand. They are, at this very moment, at peace in the presence of God.
by Max Lucado