(October 8, 2010)Prayer House News!

Jim Cumbie's funeral will be on Monday at our church. Visitation will start at 10:00am with the service starting at 12:00pm.
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Devotional!
Faith

Think of our Lord’s death. This should have settled the debate between the power of the visible vs. the invisible for every one of us. Man and all his visible force was set against Christ, and initially it appeared that man was successful. However, God triumphed over all of it, and secured eternal blessings even for those opposed to His Son. This culminating act of man’s evil should teach us how the power God gave man became subject to man’s fallen nature and was used by him for the worst purposes. Now man has disqualified himself forever from holding power, seeing that he has used all he had to crucify the Son of God. It seems that man used to have power to do things. Now it seems that man’s power is an ability to die. The most powerful thing man can do now is to die to his current situation and completely entrust himself to God.

This is the scene at Stephen’s martyrdom. All the visible forces were directed against him in vain. Apparently he was left unsupported and friendless, and yet never was any man more sustained by the invisible power of God. Being full of the Holy Spirit, having his eyes fixed on heaven, he sees the glory of God and Jesus. Now he is completely at ease – though all around him is the gnashing of the teeth of the religious council, and the pain inflicted by the stoning of his body. None of these things overcame him. He was not only tranquil and composed, but he was able to act in behalf of others. He knelt down and prayed for them. This is the nature Jesus displayed on the cross while being crucified, abandoned by all his disciples, he prays and says, “Father forgive them.”

That is the new power we now possess. It’s the power to die to our current situation and display mercy, while completely trusting in the invisible. Here is the issue of faith. In order to have it you must fully abandon yourself to God. You cannot rely on friends – they will leave you. You cannot rely on the visible – it will turn you against God. You must rely soley on God.

With the death of Stephen, the first martyr, his mantle must now drop upon every true saint. We must simultaneously understand that all we face in this life is death to the visible with the hope of the glory of God ahead of us.

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Medication: A Merry Heart


The Little Boy A little boy walked down the beach, and as he did, he spied a matronly woman sitting under a beach umbrella on the sand. He walked up to her and asked, "Are you a Christian?" "Yes.". "Do you read your Bible every day?" She nodded her head, "Yes." Do you pray often?" the boy asked next, and again she answered, "Yes." With that he asked his final question, "Will you hold my quarter while I go swimming?"

(October 7, 2010)
Prayer House News!

Betty Schwer's funeral will be at our church this morning. The showing will go from 9:00am to 11:00am with the funeral beginning at that time.
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Jim Cumbie passed away yesterday afternoon. Please pray for the family.
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Devotional!
Faith
That which is visible not only suits our human nature but it ultimately turns us against God. When Jesus warned his disciples, on the eve of his rejection, to remember Lot’s wife, He taught them that helplessness of any kind or the absence of the visible, should not be considered a hindrance to them.

Just think of the comparison here. Abraham was called out of his native land to follow the Lord not knowing where he was going. He was to simply trust in the invisible. Then we have Lot and his wife who are called to something similar. They are to leave what they trusted in the most and never look back. However, when Lot’s wife looks back to the visible instead of trusting in the invisible she turns into a pillar of salt.

Do you see it yet? Faith is trusting in what you cannot see. It’s putting your hopes and dreams in the hands of the Lord entirely. Without the ability to trust God –we then put our trust in the visible subsequently, in order to justify our position we must turn against God. We always turn against God when we seek to justify our hope in the things of this world. You see, the battle of faith is whether or not you can believe God subsequently, if you cannot really trust Him you must speak against faith in order to justify your trust in the visible.

Let me give you a simple example. When my son was born we purchased our very first new car. It was a Chevy Cavalier wagon. We had to carry a lot of stuff with a new baby. This was really a cheap car and had a little 4-cylinder engine. After a few thousand miles. I think it was about two miles after the warranty ran out. The motor developed a serious knock in it. I grew up in a garage and I could tell that this was a piston rod coming loose. I took it to a garage one time to get it tuned up before leaving for Florida. The mechanic heard the motor and said that he wouldn’t drive it across town much less to Florida. However, we didn’t have any money, that’s why we had to go to Florida, we had a conference to do. So I simply put my trust in the invisible and drove that car with a knocking engine for the next two years. Finally I bought a brand new car. This car was a lot nicer with a new motor and I noticed that I no longer needed the same level of faith to drive a new car. So even though I didn’t purposely turn against God – the visible began to work against faith in my life.
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Medication: A Merry Heart

Frankfurt Airport

(One of those things that supposedly actually happened...)

The German controllers at Frankfurt Airport were a
short-tempered lot. They not only expected you to know your
parking location but how to get there without any assistance
from them. So it was with some amusement that we (PanAm 747)
listened to the following exchange between Frankfurt ground
and a British Airways 747 (radio call Speedbird 206) after
landing.

Speedbird 206: "Good morning Frankfurt, Speedbird 206 clear
of the active."

Ground: "Good Morning, taxi to your gate." The British
Airways 747 pulled onto the main taxiway and stopped.

Ground: "Speedbird, do you not know where you are going?"

Speedbird 206: "Stand by, ground, I'm looking up the gate
location now."

Ground (impatiently): "Speedbird 206, have you never flown
to Frankfurt before?"

Speedbird 206 (coolly): "Yes, in 1944. But I didn't stop."

(October 6, 2010)
Prayer House News!


Betty Schwer went to be with the Lord on Saturday morning. Her funeral will be at our church on Thursday morning. The showing will go from 9:00am to 11:00am with the funeral beginning at that time.
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This week is Family Week which means we have a trimmed down schedule. There will be no mid-week services. I hope you get to spend extra time with your family.
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Jim Cumbie is in dire need of a miracle. Please continue to pray for him.
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Devotional!
Faith

In every instance we see that when faith works, it is independent of visible means. Abraham is called to break with all visible means of support and to simply follow the Lord to a land that he will show him. And Abraham went out not knowing where he was going. I want us to go to the setting where God gave the promise to Abraham that all nations would be blessed, and see something that I think will be important to us.

What I want us to see is that not only does faith work independent of visible means, but how possessing the visible means actually hinders faith.


Genesis 18:16-23 When the men got up to leave, they looked down toward Sodom, and Abraham walked along with them to see them on their way. (17) Then the LORD said, "Shall I hide from Abraham what I am about to do? (18) Abraham will surely become a great and powerful nation, and all nations on earth will be blessed through him. (19) For I have chosen him, so that he will direct his children and his household after him to keep the way of the LORD by doing what is right and just, so that the LORD will bring about for Abraham what he has promised him." (20) Then the LORD said, "The outcry against Sodom and Gomorrah is so great and their sin so grievous (21) that I will go down and see if what they have done is as bad as the outcry that has reached me. If not, I will know." (22) The men turned away and went toward Sodom, but Abraham remained standing before the LORD. (23) Then Abraham approached him and said: "Will you sweep away the righteous with the wicked?

The men getting up to leave are the angels of the Lord that had come to talk with Abraham. In verse 18 we see the promise that all nations will be blessed by the faith of Abraham. But after they share this with him they turn their attention to the city of Sodom. The thought of them destroying Sodom concerns Abraham even to the point of approaching the Lord and asking him, "Will you sweep away the righteous with the wicked? The reason this bothered Abraham so was because of his nephew Lot who was living in Sodom at the time. But why was Lot living there?

Genesis 13:10 Lot looked up and saw that the whole plain of the Jordan was well watered, like the garden of the LORD, like the land of Egypt, toward Zoar. (This was before the LORD destroyed Sodom and Gomorrah.) (11) So Lot chose for himself the whole plain of the Jordan and set out toward the east. The two men parted company: (12) Abram lived in the land of Canaan, while Lot lived among the cities of the plain and pitched his tents near Sodom. (13) Now the men of Sodom were wicked and were sinning greatly against the LORD.

The green fields of Sodom met the eye of Lot, subsequently he turned from the invisible path of faith to acquire the visible. Lot didn’t show any reluctance to go away from Abraham. He didn’t express any unwillingness to part from his uncle. He should have been civil enough to have given the choice back again to Abraham. But we don’t find any instance of deference or respect to his uncle in this matter.

Here is what we must understand, the visible is ever ready to support and attract the heart that is dropping from faith. It is so simple to give up on faith and to latch on to the visible. Our human tendency is that when we acquire the visible we acquire confidence. Have you ever noticed the swagger of someone who has just purchased something new. Maybe it’s the latest model of a car, or house, maybe it’s just some new clothes, regardless of what it is, there is a tendency to acquire a bit of self-confidence with it. The problem is that along with that self-confidence faith is obscured.

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Medication: A Merry Heart

Four Men in a Car

Four men rode in a car: a mechanical engineer, an electrical
engineer, a chemical engineer, and a computer engineer.

The car stalled out.

The mechanical engineer said, "It must be the pistons; let's
repair them and be on our way."

The electrical engineer said, "It has to be the spark plugs;
we'll replace them and be ready to roll in no time at all."

The chemical engineer said. "No, it's got to be bad gas;
we'll flush the system and be on our way."

They turned to the computer engineer. "What do you think we
should do?" they asked.

The computer engineer shrugged and said, "Let's get out of
the car, close the doors, then get back in and try
restarting it."

(October 5, 2010)
Prayer House News!


Betty Schwer went to be with the Lord on Saturday morning. Her funeral will be at our church on Thursday morning. The showing will go from 9:00am to 11:00am with the funeral beginning at that time.
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This week is Family Week which means we have a trimmed down schedule. There will be no mid-week services. I hope you get to spend extra time with your family.
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We are still working this week at Genesis House. If you can help us either morning or evening it would be greatly appreciated. Just drop by at 39th Ave. and 93rd St. We could really use some ladies to help get the kitchen in order and to do cleaning!
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Devotional!
Faith

Part of the dilemma we face as believers is our affuence. We trust much more in the visible than we do the invisible. I have traveled in many third-world countries where it is very easy to assume you are superior of the people of that country because of the abundance of our nation. When Americans travel abroad they are basically looked upon as wealthy. Their perceived wealth can cause a haughtiness that you can smell a mile away. I remember dealing with a man in Seoul, Korea about a piece of jewelry I wanted to buy for Lou Ann (they say diamonds are a girls best friend – well I didn’t want my wife to have a friend better than me – so I got her pearls instead). In South Korea you never pay the price listed – you offer and counter-offer, until you get it to a price you want to pay. The man would not come down at all and so I finally said to him that I wasn’t going to buy it. When I started to walk away he said, “Why won’t you buy it?” I said, “I simply cannot afford it.” He looked at me and said, “That’s not the reason.” He couldn’t believe that I possibly didn’t have enough money because I was an American.

It is quite easy for a man to feel self-confidence, and a sense of superiority in himself, when he is the possessor of effectual means, or the visible. Subsequently, he gets diverted from seeking the invisible. Faith counts on God when there is no such possession – no means. Just think of Eve, she was influenced by what was visible and subsequently gave up on God for the influence of what the visible offered her. She turned her heart from the Word of God because of the power of the visible. Some of you men will put all of your time and efforts to attain the visible and yet spend very little time tending the invisible. It takes faith to pray to a God you don’t see physically. It takes faith to pay your tithe to a spiritual organization that can only promise heavenly benefits.


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Medication: A Merry Heart


At the Library

One afternoon while I was visiting my library, I noticed a
group of preschoolers gathered for story time. The book they
were reading was, "There Was an Old Lady Who Swallowed a
Fly."

After the librarian finished the first page, she asked the
children, "Do you think she'll die?"

"Nope," a little girl in the back said. "I saw this last
night on 'Fear Factor.'"

(October 4, 2010)
Prayer House News!

We had a great weekend. On Sunday morning a handful of people walked the aisle and surrendered their lives to Christ.
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Betty Schwer went to be with the Lord on Saturday morning. Her funeral will be at our church on Wednesday morning. More details will be coming.
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This week is Family Week which means we have a trimmed down schedule. There will be no mid-week services. I hope you get to spend extra time with your family.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
We are still working this week at Genesis House. If you can help us either morning or evening it would be greatly appreciated. Just drop by at 39th Ave. and 93rd St.
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Devotional!
Faith

Galatians 3:8-9, The Scripture foresaw that God would justify the Gentiles by faith, and announced the gospel in advance to Abraham: "All nations will be blessed through you." (9) So those who have faith are blessed along with Abraham, the man of faith.


Since Chapter three of Galatians deals so much with faith I thought it would be worth dealing with the subject somewhat today. Basically it talks about the fact that we are saved when, by faith, we accept Jesus as our Savior, and how Abraham is the example of someone who lived by faith.

As I was studying this whole issue of Abraham believing God and how God promised to bless all nations through this one man I was awe-struck with the fact that all of mankind has been affected by this one man’s faith. Faith is a most amazing subject. If we attempt to do anything in this life without either the visible means to do it or without faith in God is pure foolishness. However, this also defines the fight of faith. We are much more prone to rely on visible means than we are on faith.

Having the visible means to do whatever it is we need to do satisfies the natural mind. Subsequently self-reliance rises up in a conflict with the life of faith. No matter how we try to silence self-reliance, and live by faith, the possession of things makes it very difficult. You see, there must be either the visible means to rely on, or there must be faith in the Invisible to accomplish anything. As Christians we have a conflict going on between the visible and the invisible. And there is a tendency to be so buoyed up by the possession of the visible that the invisible is disregarded and overlooked.

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Medication: A Merry Heart


Fairy Tales

A little girl asked her father, "Daddy? Do all fairy tales
begin with 'Once upon a time'?"

He replied, "No, a whole series of fairy tales begins with
'If elected I promise...'"