Enter into His Presence with Thanksgiving

Oh come, let us sing to the LORD! Let us shout joyfully to the Rock of our salvation. Let us come before His presence with thanksgiving; Let us shout joyfully to Him with psalms. (Psa 95:1-2)

Notice that even if you can't sing you can make a joyful noise! Express your thankfulness to God for your many blessings. Count your many blessings. Name them one by one!

Rejoice always, pray without ceasing, in everything give thanks; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you. (1Th 5:16-18)

God wants us to always be in the mode of rejoicing in His goodness, praying, and giving thanks in every circumstance.

How in the world we do THAT?

Somehow we must rejoice, pray, and thank Him when we wake up, when we get ready to start a new day, when we drive to work, when we work, when we take our breaks, when we are home, when we are resting, when we are engaged in community activities, when we are shopping, and when we retire for the evening.

Obviously, our rejoicing, prayers, and thanks can't be limited to dinner time, bed time, church services, or special prayer meetings.

My voice You shall hear in the morning, O LORD; In the morning I will direct it to You, And I will look up. (Psa 5:3)

I will bless the LORD at all times; His praise shall continually be in my mouth.
(Psa 34:1)

But I will sing of Your power; Yes, I will sing aloud of Your mercy in the morning; For You have been my defense And refuge in the day of my trouble. (Psa 59:16)

Does God hear your voice first thing in the morning? Do you tell Him how grateful you are for His love? Do you praise Him and thank Him as you get ready for your new day? Does your praise and thanks continue throughout your day?

Evening and morning and at noon I will pray, and cry aloud, And He shall hear my voice. (Psa 55:17)

My wife, Claudia, and I want to invite you to a special Thanksgiving Eve communion service at our church this Wednesday night from 7-8 p.m. (5195 S. Washington Ave. on the east side of U.S. 1 in Titusville - about a mile north of the 405 overpass). (Main parking is to the rear of the building.)


We give thanks to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, praying always for you, . . . For this reason we also, since the day we heard it, do not cease to pray for you, and to ask that you may be filled with the knowledge of His will in all wisdom and spiritual understanding;
(Col 1:3-9)

Yours in Him,
Pastor B.

God's Elite Guard

Hard to imagine the magnificence of the two cherubim, the 15 foot high angelic guardians of the holy of holies and the ark of the covenant. It appears that they may be capable of wielding flaming swords since Genesis 3:24 says:

So He drove out the man; and He placed cherubim at the east of the garden of Eden, and a flaming sword which turned every way, to guard the way to the tree of life.
(Gen 3:24)

There is some debate as to whether the cherubim are angels that are special attendants of God, or whether they are their own separate class of created beings. In Psalm 104:4 we read:

Who makes His angels spirits, His attendants a flame of fire.

Are the angels the attendants, or are the attendants a separate group from the angels?

One thing we do know about angels is that they look after God's own.

For He shall give His angels charge over you, To keep you in all your ways. (Psa 91:11)

Another thing we do know is that there is a heavenly army (i.e., host), and

All the inhabitants of the earth are reputed as nothing; He does according to His will in the army of heaven And among the inhabitants of the earth. No one can restrain His hand Or say to Him, "What have You done?" (Dan 4:35)

This is good news for us, because this means that the Lord is the commander in chief of the heavenly army, and that no adversary can prevent Him from accomplishing His purposes.

Take comfort in knowing that though war should rise against you, your heart need not fear.


The LORD is my light and my salvation; Whom shall I fear? The LORD is the strength of my life; Of whom shall I be afraid? When the wicked came against me To eat up my flesh, My enemies and foes, They stumbled and fell. Though an army may encamp against me, My heart shall not fear; . . . For in the time of trouble He shall hide me in His pavilion; In the secret place of His tabernacle He shall hide me; He shall set me high upon a rock. And now my head shall be lifted up above my enemies all around me; Therefore I will offer sacrifices of joy in His tabernacle; I will sing, yes, I will sing praises to the LORD. Hear, O LORD, when I cry with my voice! Have mercy also upon me, and answer me. When You said, "Seek My face," My heart said to You, "Your face, LORD, I will seek." Do not hide Your face from me; Do not turn Your servant away in anger; You have been my help; Do not leave me nor forsake me, O God of my salvation. When my father and my mother forsake me, Then the LORD will take care of me. Teach me Your way, O LORD, And lead me in a smooth path, because of my enemies. Do not deliver me to the will of my adversaries; For false witnesses have risen against me, And such as breathe out violence. I would have lost heart, unless I had believed That I would see the goodness of the LORD In the land of the living. Wait on the LORD; Be of good courage, And He shall strengthen your heart; Wait, I say, on the LORD! (Psa 27:1-14)

Yours in Him,
Pastor B.

The Holy Spirit brought us what Jesus bought us!

Did you know that the Space Shuttle delivers cargo through the darkness of space?

Did you know that the Holy Spirit delivers cargo through the darkness of this world?

Jesus bought us a precious gift when He died on the cross and rose from the grave 2,000 years ago, but who was going to deliver the precious cargo of everlasting life?

Man sits in darkness with no hope, blinded by his sin and his adversary, the devil.

But even if our gospel is veiled, it is veiled to those who are perishing, whose minds the god of this age has blinded, who do not believe, lest the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God, should shine on them. (2Co 4:3-4)

But Praise God that in the midst of the darkness God launched the Holy Spirit who carried the precious cargo of new life in Christ to a dying world. Praise God that in the midst of my darkness God launched the Holy Spirit who carried the precious gift of new life in Christ to me!

In our Christian heritage we are careful to remember what was accomplished on Mount Calvary and those last words of Jesus, "It is finished." But even though the payment of our sin had been finished there in Calvary, the delivery of what had been purchased had yet to be made! The Holy Spirit had yet to be launched!

And then on another mountain, Mount Olivet, a risen Jesus spoke those last words before His ascension to His throne, "But you shall receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you shall be witnesses to Me". The Holy Spirit was about to be launched!

Power! Power in the Holy Spirit! When a Christian says, "I have no power", what they are really saying is, "I have no power in the Holy Spirit". The Holy Spirit doesn't want to dock at your station and have you admire Him. He wants you to open up those bay doors and receive the victory that He has brought to you. It's a victory that Christ bought for you, but that you must take personal delivery of.

Don't pray for the Holy Spirit if you are a Christian, because He has already docked in you. Pray for the power! And when you pray for the power He will come upon you!!

The early Christians prayed for the power to boldly procliam Christ's word, and they got room shaking Holy Spirit power!

Now, Lord, look on their threats, and grant to Your servants that with all boldness they may speak Your word, by stretching out Your hand to heal, and that signs and wonders may be done through the name of Your holy Servant Jesus." And when they had prayed, the place where they were assembled together was shaken; and they were all filled with the Holy Spirit, and they spoke the word of God with boldness. (Act 4:29-31)

Pray for the power to be His witness, and watch what shakes out!!!

Yours in Him,

Pastor B.

By the way, did you know that the shuttle is mentioned in the Old Testament book of Job?

The Narrow Gate and Farmer Brown's Garden

"Enter by the narrow gate; for wide is the gate and broad is the way that leads to destruction, and there are many who go in by it. Because narrow is the gate and difficult is the way which leads to life, and there are few who find it. (Mat 7:13-14)

Peter Rabbit was a naughty boy who got himself in trouble feasting on the delights of Farmer Brown's garden. He had great trouble finding, and then getting safely to, the narrow gate that he knew would lead to safety.

Fortunately for Peter, he found his way to the narrow gate and was able to escape to safety. But I'm sure there were many rabbits that didn't make it to through that narrow gate alive. (In the picture, Farmer Brown with his rake is pursuing Peter, trying to catch him before he makes it through the narrow gate.)

Most, if not all of us have found ourselves caught up in the things of the world at one time or another. While that in itself is a problem, the far greater danger is that the the things of the world can mesmerize us into spiritual oblivion. Once immersed in the things of the world, we may never find our way out of its garden of delights, and may not find our way back to that narrow gate.

By faith Moses, when he became of age, refused to be called the son of Pharaoh's daughter, choosing rather to suffer affliction with the people of God than to enjoy the passing pleasures of sin, esteeming the reproach of Christ greater riches than the treasures in Egypt; for he looked to the reward. (Heb 11:24-26)

Moses felt that bearing the suffering and shame of Christ was a greater treasure than enjoying the fame, fortune, power, and luxuries of all Egypt.

Therefore let us go forth to Him, outside the camp, bearing His reproach. For here we have no continuing city, but we seek the one to come. (Heb 13:13-14)

We are foreigners behind enemy lines here on earth in this life. We are seeking a kingdom yet to come. In the mean time we are God's Resistance movement, if you will. On the other side of the narrow gate can be suffering and shame for a season, but it ultimately leads to safety and glory that far exceeds the enticements of Farmer Brown's garden.

Yours in Him,
Pastor B.

Fearing God with Our Tongue

Take a look at the sins which Christian leaders were dealing with back in the late 1st century in the days after the death of the last living apostle (John).

2:1 And the teaching of the second commandment is this: 2 You shall not murder. You shall not commit adultery; you shall not seduce boys; you shall not fornicate. You shall not steal. You shall not be a fortune-teller; you shall not practice sorcery. You shall not kill a child by abortion nor slay it when born. You shall not covet anything that belongs to your neighbor. 3 You shall not commit perjury; you shall not give false testimony; you shall not speak evil; you shall not bear malice; 4 you shall not be double-minded or double-tongued, for a double-tongue is a snare of death. 5 Your word shall not be false or empty, but confirmed by deeds. 6 You shall not be greedy or rapacious or hypocritical or malicious or arrogant. You shall not take up an evil plot against your neighbor. 7 You shall not hate anyone, but some you shall rebuke, and some you shall pray for, and some you shall love more than your own soul. - Didache

Thou shalt not commit fornication, thou shalt not commit
adultery, thou shalt not corrupt boys. The word of God shall not
come forth from thee where any are unclean. Thou shalt not make a
difference in a person to reprove him for a transgression. Thou shalt
be meek, thou shalt be quiet, thou shalt be fearing the words
which thou hast heard. Thou shalt not bear a grudge against thy
brother.

Thou shalt not doubt whether a thing shall be or not be. Thou shalt
not take the name of the Lord in vain. Thou shalt love thy
neighbor more than thine own soul. Thou shalt not murder a child by
abortion, nor again shalt thou kill it when it is born. Thou shalt
not withhold thy hand from thy son or daughter, but from their youth
thou shalt teach them the fear of God. - Barnabas 19:4-5

Other than the command to not slay a child when it is born, it looks like the 1st century world struggled with the same moral issues that the 21st century world struggles with, and it is reported that cultures within China, India, Pakistan, and others have condoned the killing of unwanted children when they are born, particularly female children.

But isn't it interesting that even in these early writings of the church fathers that the sin of thinking and speaking badly of one another is in the lists with murder and adultery and sorcery.

So what is our problem? Why is the tongue such a problem? Jesus said in Matthew 12:36 that we will be held accountable, not just for our bad words, but for our "idle" words. In James 3:8 we read that noone can tame the tongue, that it is an unruly evil, and full of deadly poison. Wow!

Someone that is truly meek and humble is not likely to use their tongue to criticize and tear down others. It is the arrogant and the prideful that readily criticize and find fault, and top of that justify their critical speaking.

The fear of the LORD is the beginning of knowledge, But fools despise wisdom and instruction.
(Pro 1:7)

The beginning of truly knowing the Lord, and understanding His ways is fearing Him. Respecting Him and His word enough to submit, confess our sins, and turn from our sin, rather than justifying it. Some would call this repentance. It's a choice. Justify our sin, or repent of our sin. Many of us can't imagine ourselves ever justifying murder, but can we imagine ourselves justifying a critical and judgmental spirit and evil speaking? Let's fear our God with our tongue, as well as our deeds.

And whatever you do in word or deed, do all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through Him.
(Col 3:17)

Yours in Him,
Pastor B.

Keep Shining, Church

Did you see that new sign that all the churches are putting up outside their buildings? The one that says,

"Give me your tired, your poor,

Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free,

The wretched refuse of your teeming shore.
Send these, the homeless, tempest-tost to me,

I lift my lamp beside the golden door!"

Actually I haven't ever seen the above words on a church sign, but I've often wanted to put the above words outside our own church facility.

Now granted, our church is not large, and not overflowing with natural resources and opportunity for financial freedom like the United States has always been, but shouldn't our churches be bright beacons of hope for the destitute, the needy, and the broken? Lighthouses on the rock in the midst of the storms?

The hope we offer isn't free handouts and us taking caring of people so that they don't have to take care of themselves. It's a hope in the form of deliverance in Christ, family in Christ, and eve friendship in Christ. Coming along side of people to help them grow in Christ, and glorify God in their lives.

Yes, there are many people out there that have learned to work the system, to take advantage of kind souls, and to avoid taking on responsibility for themselves and their families. But since when does a lighthouse try to determine which boats out there are up to no good, and which boats are honorable? The point is, there are darkness and storms out there, and our purpose is to stand on the rock and shine our light!

Arise, O church of Jesus Christ, and shine for the glory of God! Christ your Savior has come and has risen! And the glory of the LORD is risen upon you through the power of the Holy Spirit! Look, the earth is covered in darkness, and the people in deep darkness. But the Lord is building you into a bright and shining city on the mountain rock of the King of kings and Lord of lords! Proclaim deliverance to the captives and the broken. Proclaim deliverance to those in bondage! Beckon all to our shores where freedom and healing are in abundance. Where righteousness, peace, and joy abide in the Holy Spirit. His glory will be seen upon you as you talk and walk in the Spirit, and the nations will come to your light. Even kings will come to the brightness of your rising. Lift up your eyes and look all around. The fields are ripe for harvest, and our sons and daughters will come into the kingdom. (based on Isa 60:1-4, Is. 61:1, Mt. 5:14-16)

Praise the Lord! Keep shining, church!!

Yours in Him,
Pastor B.

His Blessing is in the Details

Then David gave his son Solomon the plans for the vestibule, its houses, its treasuries, its upper chambers, its inner chambers, and the place of the mercy seat; and the plans for all that he had by the Spirit, of the courts of the house of the LORD, of all the chambers all around, of the treasuries of the house of God, and of the treasuries for the dedicated things;
(1Ch 28:11-12)

And in the eleventh year, in the month of Bul, which is the eighth month, the house was finished in all its details and according to all its plans. So he was seven years in building it. (1Ki 6:38)


Solomon had the daunting task of building a temple to God's detailed specifications. And yet, he faithfully saw to it that the temple was finished per those detailed specifications.



Under the New Covenant, we are the temple of God.

Do you not know that you (plural) are the temple of God and that the Spirit of God dwells in you? (1Co 3:16)

having been built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Jesus Christ Himself being the chief cornerstone, in whom the whole building, being fitted together, grows into a holy temple in the Lord, in whom you also are being built together for a dwelling place of God in the Spirit. (Eph 2:20-22)

And God has given the details on how the New Covenant temple is to be built.

And Jesus came and spoke to them, saying, "All authority has been given to Me in heaven and on earth. Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all things that I have commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age." Amen. (Mat 28:18-20)

All the details are important. We have had a number of people in their sixties and seventies talking with me about getting immersed and confessing Christ in the waters of baptism. It is never to too late to get the details right. One gentleman in his seventies who committed his life to Christ in 1941, and who has been married for over fifty years, was recently immersed because he felt that God wanted him to get that detail right.

Many of you had parents that dedicated you to the Lord when you were babies. But have you gotten the details down as you have gotten old enough to understand what God requries? Whether you have never personally committed your life to Christ, whether you have never personally confessed Christ publicly in the waters of baptism, whether you have never personally used your giftings to serve the family of Christ, . . . it is never too late to get the details done right.

God has special and detailed plans for our lives. There is great blessing waiting for each of us in the details!

Yours in Him,
Pastor B.