Happy Ressurection Day!!

A celebration of life!

Resurrection Day...The victory for the Christian!

Do we really understand the Gospel?

Jesus paid it all...all to Him I owe.

He took our place in sin

John 19:28-30 (niv)

²⁸ Later, knowing that everything had now been finished, and so that Scripture would be fulfilled, Jesus said, “I am thirsty.” ²⁹ A jar of wine vinegar was there, so they soaked a sponge in it, put the sponge on a stalk of the hyssop plant, and lifted it to Jesus’ lips. ³⁰ When he had received the drink, Jesus said,

“It is finished.”

With that, he bowed his head

and gave up his spirit.

"Finished"...that is the word of the day, week, month, year, decade, century...OK, you get the point just how big and important that word is..."Finished"...at that point, Jesus had filled His obligation to us...He set us free and gave us eternal life! I'd say that's something to celebrate!!

Today, Pastor Cherry hit a home run with his sermon...very inspirational...in fact, the whole day was incredible! I have video of the sermon, of Pastor Cherry and his daughter singing, And of a baptism Pastor Cherry did for one of our parishioners! Wow, New life!!! Amen!!!

Throughout the week I am planning to post some video clips and share some highlights of Easter Sunday at the "Church in the Wildwood"!!

“It is finished.”

Significant beyond words!!

Easter Sunday!

1 Peter 1:3(niv)    

 ³ Praise be to the God and Father of our
Lord Jesus Christ!
In his great mercy he has given us New Birth
 into a living hope through the
resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead,

What a beautiful scripture for a beautiful day! 

We would love to see you on Easter Sunday! Pastor Cherry will be baptizing at least one member of the congregation...what a perfect day for such a wonderful event! New Birth, how exciting!! If Easter, the celebration of the resurrection of Jesus Christ inspires you and touches you in a way that you would like to be born again...join us, get baptized, welcome a New Birth!!

Service starts at 11:00am, Soup and Salad fellowship at 12:00...We really hope to see you on Easter Sunday!!!

Grace and Blessings to all! 

God would like to have a word with you...It's called the Bible!

How do we deal...with sin?...with prayer?

Today, Pastor Ron Molina teaches more about "True Faith" and the book of James...

We have learned about "True Faith"...seen

in how we deal with trials

in how we treat others

  in what we say

Today we learn how "True Faith" can be seen

in how we deal with sin

and,

           in how we deal with prayer                      

True Faith can be seen in how we deal with sin...
James 4:1-17(niv)
 ¹ What causes fights and quarrels among you? Don’t they come from your desires that battle within you? ² You desire but do not have, so you kill. You covet but you cannot get what you want, so you quarrel and fight. You do not have because you do not ask God. ³ When you ask, you do not receive, because you ask with wrong motives, that you may spend what you get on your pleasures.
 ⁴ You adulterous people, don’t you know that friendship with the world means enmity against God? Therefore, anyone who chooses to be a friend of the world becomes an enemy of God. ⁵ Or do you think Scripture says without reason that he jealously longs for the spirit he has caused to dwell in us? ⁶ But he gives us more grace. That is why Scripture says:  “God opposes the proud  but shows favor to the humble.” ⁷ Submit yourselves, then, to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you. ⁸ Come near to God and he will come near to you. Wash your hands, you sinners, and purify your hearts, you double-minded. ⁹ Grieve, mourn and wail. Change your laughter to mourning and your joy to gloom. ¹⁰ Humble yourselves before the Lord, and he will lift you up. ¹¹ Brothers and sisters, do not slander one another. Anyone who speaks against a brother or sister^[d] or judges them speaks against the law and judges it. When you judge the law, you are not keeping it, but sitting in judgment on it. ¹² There is only one Lawgiver and Judge, the one who is able to save and destroy. But you—who are you to judge your neighbor? ¹³ Now listen, you who say, “Today or tomorrow we will go to this or that city, spend a year there, carry on business and make money.” ¹⁴ Why, you do not even know what will happen tomorrow. What is your life? You are a mist that appears for a little while and then vanishes. ¹⁵ Instead, you ought to say, “If it is the Lord’s will, we will live and do this or that.” ¹⁶ As it is, you boast in your arrogant schemes. All such boasting is evil. ¹⁷ If anyone, then, knows the good they ought to do and doesn’t do it, it is sin for them.

True Faith can be seen in how we pray...
James 5:13-20(niv)
¹³ Is anyone among you in trouble? Let them pray. Is anyone happy? Let them sing songs of praise. ¹⁴ Is anyone among you sick? Let them call the elders of the church to pray over them and anoint them with oil in the name of the Lord. ¹⁵ And the prayer offered in faith will make the sick person well; the Lord will raise them up. If they have sinned, they will be forgiven. ¹⁶ Therefore confess your sins to each other and pray for each other so that you may be healed. The prayer of a righteous person is powerful and effective.  ¹⁷ Elijah was a human being, even as we are. He prayed earnestly that it would not rain, and it did not rain on the land for three and a half years. ¹⁸ Again he prayed, and the heavens gave rain, and the earth produced its crops. ¹⁹ My brothers and sisters, if one of you should wander from the truth and someone should bring that person back,²⁰ remember this: Whoever turns a sinner from the error of their way will save them from death and cover over a multitude of sins.

Draw nearer to God...He will draw nearer to you!

Pray!!!
Pray earnestly!

Pray for those that need it!

Your prayer wasn't answered, hmm...

Watch out! You nearly broad sided that car!" My father yelled at me. "Can't you do anything right?"

Those words hurt worse than blows. I turned my head toward the elderly man in
the seat beside me, daring me to challenge him. A lump rose in my throat as I
averted my eyes. I wasn't prepared for another battle. "I saw the car, Dad.
Please don't yell at me when I'm driving." My voice was measured and steady,
sounding far calmer than I really felt. Dad glared at me, then turned away and
settled back.

At home I left Dad in front of the television and went outside to
collect my thoughts. Dark, heavy clouds hung in the air with a promise of rain.
The rumble of distant thunder seemed to echo my inner turmoil. What could I do
about him? Dad had been a lumberjack in Washington and Oregon. He had enjoyed
being outdoors and had reveled in pitting his strength against the forces of
nature. He had entered grueling lumberjack competitions, and had placed often.
The shelves in his house were filled with trophies that attested to his
prowess. The years marched on relentlessly. The first time he couldn't lift a
heavy log, he joked about it; but later that same day I saw him outside alone,
straining to lift it. He became irritable whenever anyone teased him about his
advancing age, or when he couldn't do something he had done as a younger man.

Four days after his sixty-seventh birthday, he had a heart attack. An ambulance
sped him to the hospital while a paramedic administered CPR to keep blood and
oxygen flowing. At the hospital, Dad was rushed into an operating room. He was
lucky; he survived. But something inside Dad died. His zest for life was gone.
He obstinately refused to follow doctor's orders. Suggestions and offers of
help were turned aside with sarcasm and insults. The number of visitors
thinned, then finally stopped altogether. Dad was left alone. My husband, Dick,
and I asked Dad to come live with us on our small farm. We hoped the fresh air
and rustic atmosphere would help him adjust.

Within a week after he moved in, I regretted the invitation. It seemed nothing was satisfactory. He criticized everything I did. I became frustrated and moody. Soon I was taking my pent-up
anger out on Dick. We began to bicker and argue. Alarmed, Dick sought out our
pastor and explained the situation. The clergyman set up weekly counseling
appointments for us. At the close of each session he prayed, asking God to
soothe Dad's troubled mind. But the months wore on and God was silent.
Something had to be done and it was up to me to do it.

The next day I sat down with the phone book and methodically called each of the mental health clinics
listed in the Yellow Pages. I explained my problem to each of the sympathetic
voices that answered. In vain. Just when I was giving up hope, one of the
voices suddenly exclaimed, "I just read something that might help you! Let me
go get the article." I listened as she read. The article described a remarkable
study done at a nursing home. All of the patients were under treatment for
chronic depression. Yet their attitudes had improved dramatically when they
were given responsibility for a dog. I drove to the animal shelter that
afternoon. After I filled out a questionnaire, a uniformed officer led me to
the kennels. The odor of disinfectant stung my nostrils as I moved down the row
of pens. Each contained five to seven dogs. Long-haired dogs, curly-haired dogs,
black dogs, spotted dogs, all jumped up, trying to reach me. I studied each one
but rejected one after the other for various reasons...too big, too small, too
much hair.

As I neared the last pen a dog in the shadows of the far corner
struggled to his feet, walked to the front of the run and sat down. It was a
pointer, one of the dog world's aristocrats. But this was a caricature of the
breed. Years had etched his face and muzzle with shades of gray. His hipbones
jutted out in lopsided triangles. But it was his eyes that caught and held my
attention. Calm and clear, they beheld me unwaveringly. I pointed to the dog.
"Can you tell me about him?" The officer looked, then shook his head in
puzzlement. "He's a funny one. Appeared out of nowhere and sat in front of the
gate. We brought him in, figuring someone would be right down to claim him.
That was two weeks ago and we've heard nothing. His time is up tomorrow." He
gestured helplessly. As the words sank in I turned to the man in horror. "You
mean you're going to kill him?" "Ma'am," he said gently, "that's our policy. We
don't have room for every unclaimed dog." I looked at the pointer again. The
calm brown eyes awaited my decision. "I'll take him," I said.

I drove home with the dog on the front seat beside me. When I reached the house I honked the horn
twice. I was helping my prize out of the car when Dad shuffled onto the front
porch. "Ta-da! Look what I got for you, Dad!" I said excitedly. Dad looked, then
wrinkled his face in disgust. "If I had wanted a dog I would have gotten one.
And I would have picked out a better specimen than that bag of bones. Keep it!
I don't want it" Dad waved his arm scornfully and turned back toward the house.
Anger rose inside me. It squeezed together my throat muscles and pounded into my
temples."You'd better get used to him, Dad. He's staying!" Dad ignored me.
"Did you hear me, Dad?" I screamed. At those words Dad whirled angrily, his
hands clenched at his sides, his eyes narrowed and blazing with hate. We stood
glaring at each other like duelists, when suddenly the pointer pulled free from
my grasp. He wobbled toward my dad and sat down in front of him. Then slowly,
carefully, he raised his paw. Dad's lower jaw trembled as he stared at the
uplifted paw. Confusion replaced the anger in his eyes. The pointer waited
patiently. Then Dad was on his knees hugging the animal. It was the beginning
of a warm and beautiful friendship.

Dad named the pointer Cheyenne. Together heand Cheyenne explored the community. They spent long hours walking down dustylanes. They spent reflective moments on the banks of streams, angling for tasty
trout. They even started to attend Sunday services together, Dad sitting in a
pew and Cheyenne lying quietly at his feet. Dad and Cheyenne were inseparable
throughout the next three years. Dad's bitterness faded, and he and Cheyenne
made many friends. Then late one night I was startled to feel Cheyenne's cold
nose burrowing through our bed covers. He had never before come into our
bedroom at night. I woke Dick, put on my robe and ran into my father's room.
Dad lay in his bed, his face serene. But his spirit had left quietly sometime
during the night.

Two days later my shock and grief deepened when I discovered
Cheyenne lying dead beside Dad's bed. I wrapped his still form in the rag rug
he had slept on. As Dick and I buried him near a favorite fishing hole, I
silently thanked the dog for the help he had given me in restoring Dad's peace
of mind.

The morning of Dad's funeral dawned overcast and dreary. This day
looks like the way I feel, I thought, as I walked down the aisle to the pews
reserved for family. I was surprised to see the many friends Dad and Cheyenne
had made filling the church. The pastor began his eulogy. It was a tribute to
both Dad and the dog who had changed his life. And then the pastor turned to
Hebrews 13:2. "Be not forgetful to entertain strangers."
"I've often thanked God for sending that angel," he said.

For me, the past dropped into place, completing a puzzle that I had not seen before: the
sympathetic voice that had just read the right article...Cheyenne's unexpected appearance at the
animal shelter. . .his calm acceptance and complete devotion to my father. . and the proximity of
their deaths. Suddenly I understood. I knew that God had answered my prayers after all. ~UA~

If we think God hasn't answered our prayers, 

maybe we should take a better look. God knows

best how to answer our prayers and it is

very often different from what we ask for...

but, it is always exactly right!! 

True Faith...

...will be seen in what we say.

Keep our words warm and sweet...

we may have to eat them someday!

Today, Pastor Molina teaches from scriptures regarding the trouble our tongues can get us into.

James 3:5 and 6

⁵ Likewise, the tongue is a small part of the body, but it makes great boasts. Consider what a great forest is set on fire by a small spark. ⁶ The tongue also is a fire, a world of evil among the parts of the body. It corrupts the whole body, sets the whole course of one’s life on fire, and is itself set on fire by hell.

Proverbs 18:21
 ²¹ The tongue has the power of life and death,  and those who love it will eat its fruit.

Psalms141:1-4
¹ I call to you, LORD, come quickly to me; hear me when I call to you. ² May my prayer be set before you like incense; may the lifting up of my hands be like the evening sacrifice. ³ Set a guard over my mouth, LORD; keep watch over the door of my lips. ⁴ Do not let my heart be drawn to what is evil so that I take part in wicked deeds along with those who are evildoers; do not let me eat their delicacies.

Proverbs10:19
¹⁹ Sin is not ended by multiplying words, but the prudent hold their tongues.

Proverbs18:8
 ⁸ The words of a gossip are like choice morsels;  they go down to the inmost parts.

Proverbs16:26-28

²⁶ The appetite of laborers works for them; their hunger drives them on. ²⁷ A scoundrel plots evil, and on their lips it is like a scorching fire.  ²⁸ A perverse person stirs up conflict, and a gossip separates close friends.

Proverbs 26:20-25
²⁰ Without wood a fire goes out; without a gossip a quarrel dies down. ²¹ As charcoal to embers and as wood to fire, so is a quarrelsome person for kindling strife. ²² The words of a gossip are like choice morsels; they go down to the inmost parts. ²³ Like a coating of silver dross on earthenware are fervent lips with an evil heart. ²⁴ Enemies disguise themselves with their lips, but in their hearts they harbor deceit. ²⁵ Though their speech is charming, do not believe them,  for seven abominations fill their hearts.

James 3:8-11

⁸ but no human being can tame the tongue. It is a restless evil, full of deadly poison. ⁹ With the tongue we praise our Lord and Father, and with it we curse human beings, who have been made in God’s likeness. ¹⁰ Out of the same mouth come praise and cursing. My brothers and sisters, this should not be. ¹¹ Can both fresh water and salt water flow from the same spring?

Matthew12:30-35
 ³⁰ “Whoever is not with me is against me, and whoever does not gather with me scatters. ³¹ And so I tell you, every kind of sin and slander can be forgiven, but blasphemy against the Spirit will not be forgiven. ³² Anyone who speaks a word against the Son of Man will be forgiven, but anyone who speaks against the Holy Spirit will not be forgiven, either in this age or in the age to come.³³ “Make a tree good and its fruit will be good, or make a tree bad and its fruit will be bad,  for a tree is recognized by its fruit. ³⁴ You brood of vipers, how can you who are evil say anything good? For the mouth speaks what the heart is full of. ³⁵ A good man brings good things out of the good stored up in him, and an evil man brings evil things out of the evil stored up in him.

Do you gossip? Do you listen to gossip? Do you encourage gossip? Are you mean spirited and quick to verbally challenge or abuse other people?  

My brothers and sisters, this should not be.

Our tongues really can get us into trouble and cause others great pain.

Today we are reminded to "treat others as God does, with Love, Grace and Mercy." Choose words that can make a positive difference to someone...

Please, Thank You, I'm sorry, I love You

...are a few words that can touch a person's heart. 

The Book of James

Sermon by Pastor Ron Molina 04.03.11 - post by krb

Handle your trials with a Christian heart...

treat each person with essential value...

be responsible and help when you can!

James, Chapter 2 (NIV)
...true Faith...a Faith that works...

Our Faith shows through in how we face trials in life...

and how we treat others

 ¹ My brothers and sisters, believers in our glorious Lord Jesus Christ must not show favoritism. ² Suppose a man comes into your meeting wearing a gold ring and fine clothes, and a poor man in filthy old clothes also comes in. ³ If you show special attention to the man wearing fine clothes and say, “Here’s a good seat for you,” but say to the poor man, “You stand there” or “Sit on the floor by my feet,” ⁴ have you not discriminated among yourselves and become judges with evil thoughts?

2 Tim 2:22 (NIV)
temptations and trials
²² Flee the evil desires of youth and pursue righteousness, faith, love and peace, along with those who call on the Lord out of a pure heart.


Matt 6:13 (NIV)
Flee
¹³ And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from the evil one

1 Cor 10 (NIV)
God will not let you be tempted beyond what you can bear
 ¹³ No temptation has overtaken you except what is common to mankind. And God is faithful; he will not let you be tempted beyond what you can bear. But when you are tempted, he will also provide a way out so that you can endure it.


Hebrews 12:1-2 and 11 (NIV)
 ¹ Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles. And let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us, ² fixing our eyes on Jesus, the pioneer and perfecter of faith.
¹¹ No discipline seems pleasant at the time, but painful. Later on, however, it produces a harvest of righteousness and peace for those who have been trained by it.

1 Sam 2 and 7 (NIV)
Hanna
⁷ The LORD sends poverty and wealth; he humbles and he exalts.

Luke 16:19-31 (NIV)
how do we treat others
¹⁹ “There was a rich man who was dressed in purple and fine linen and lived in luxury every day. ²⁰ At his gate was laid a beggar named Lazarus, covered with sores ²¹ and longing to eat what fell from the rich man’s table. Even the dogs came and licked his sores.
   ²² “The time came when the beggar died and the angels carried him to Abraham’s side. The rich man also died and was buried. ²³ In Hades, where he was in torment, he looked up and saw Abraham far away, with Lazarus by his side. ²⁴ So he called to him, ‘Father Abraham, have pity on me and send Lazarus to dip the tip of his finger in water and cool my tongue, because I am in agony in this fire.’
   ²⁵ “But Abraham replied, ‘Son, remember that in your lifetime you received your good things, while Lazarus received bad things, but now he is comforted here and you are in agony. ²⁶ And besides all this, between us and you a great chasm has been set in place, so that those who want to go from here to you cannot, nor can anyone cross over from there to us.’
   ²⁷ “He answered, ‘Then I beg you, father, send Lazarus to my family, ²⁸ for I have five brothers. Let him warn them, so that they will not also come to this place of torment.’
   ²⁹ “Abraham replied, ‘They have Moses and the Prophets; let them listen to them.’
   ³⁰ “‘No, father Abraham,’ he said, ‘but if someone from the dead goes to them, they will repent.’
   ³¹ “He said to him, ‘If they do not listen to Moses and the Prophets, they will not be convinced even if someone rises from the dead.’”

Psalms 35:9-10
Then my soul will rejoice in the LORD and delight in his salvation. ¹⁰ My whole being will exclaim,
   “Who is like you, LORD?
Psalms 68:4-5
⁴ Sing to God, sing in praise of his name, extol him who rides on the clouds^[b]; rejoice before him—his name is the LORD. ⁵ A father to the fatherless, a defender of widows,  is God in his holy dwelling.
Psalms 72:12-13
 ¹² For he will deliver the needy who cry out, the afflicted who have no one to help. ¹³ He will take pity on the weak and the needy and save the needy from death.