Our Character...

Today, Pastor Cherry encourages us to examine our character.

Character...what does our character look like? Do we change our character like we change our clothes...work clothes to church clothes? Do we have daily character and then Christian character?


In scripture we read about David's character...
1 Samuel 30:1-6 (NIV)

¹ David and his men reached Ziklag on the third day. Now the Amalekites had raided the Negev and Ziklag. They had attacked Ziklag and burned it, ² and had taken captive the women and everyone else in it, both young and old. They killed none of them, but carried them off as they went on their way.  ³ When David and his men reached Ziklag, they found it destroyed by fire and their wives and sons and daughters taken captive. ⁴ So David and his men wept aloud until they had no strength left to weep. ⁵ David’s two wives had been captured—Ahinoam of Jezreel and Abigail, the widow of Nabal of Carmel. ⁶ David was greatly distressed because the men were talking of stoning him; each one was bitter in spirit because of his sons and daughters. But David found strength in the LORD his God.

...and Saul's character...
1 Samuel 28:3-9 (NIV)

³ Now Samuel was dead, and all Israel had mourned for him and buried him in his own town of Ramah. Saul had expelled the mediums and spiritists from the land. ⁴ The Philistines assembled and came and set up camp at Shunem, while Saul gathered all Israel and set up camp at Gilboa. ⁵ When Saul saw the Philistine army, he was afraid; terror filled his heart. ⁶ He inquired of the LORD, but the LORD did not answer him by dreams or Urim or prophets. ⁷ Saul then said to his attendants,

“Find me a woman who is a medium, so I may go and inquire of her.”

“There is one in Endor,” they said. ⁸ So Saul disguised himself, putting on other clothes, and at night he and two men went to the woman. “Consult a spirit for me,” he said, “and bring up for me the one I name.” ⁹ But the woman said to him, “Surely you know what Saul has done. He has cut off the mediums and spiritists from the land. Why have you set a trap for my life to bring about my death?”

When tough times come...Saul goes to a witch...

David goes to GOD! David seeks out the Lord!
David...A man after God's own heart! 

That is David's character...no matter the sin or the trouble he may find himself in, David knows to seek out the Lord ...

David found strength in the LORD his God.

What does our character say about us?

Who do we seek out for strength?

David goes to God...DO WE?

"Where the rubber meets the road"...

In the book of James, we read about a faith that works!

Today, Pastor Molina likened a faith that works to buying a set of tires. Actually, it’s a great analogy!

When acquiring a set of tires, we are to trust the person at the tire store whom which we ask the questions. This person will have extensive knowledge of the products and will be quick to back it up with written information. After all is said and done, with this new found wisdom, we will make a decision on which tires we will have faith in…to serve our needs and protect our family..."where the rubber meets the road"…so to speak!

Knowledge is raw information...Wisdom is knowing how to use that information.

We had the knowledge that we needed tires, but we needed wisdom to choose the right ones! If we will ask a tire professional to inform us at length regarding tires…why don’t we go to God’s word to inform ourselves about faith?!

Anyone seeking wisdom, let him Ask!!

James 1:5 (NIV)

5 If any of you lacks wisdom, you should ask God, who gives generously to all without finding fault, and it will be given to you.

As with the tire specialist, we should trust the wisdom shared with us from the
Bible…without doubt!

Ask!!

God wants to be involved in every aspect of our lives….
if it matters to us, it matters to Him!!

James 1:6-8 (NIV)

6 But when you ask, you must believe and not doubt, because the one who doubts is like a wave of the sea, blown and tossed by the wind. 7 That person should not expect to receive anything from the Lord. 8 Such a person is double-minded and unstable in all they do.

Are you double-minded?  If so,  Ask…Lord, help me with my unbelief!

James 1:19-22 (NIV)

19 My dear brothers and sisters, take note of this:

Everyone should be quick to listen, slow to speak and slow to become angry, 20 because human anger does not produce the righteousness that God desires. 21 Therefore, get rid of all moral filth and the evil that is so prevalent and humbly accept the word planted in you, which can save you. 22 Do not merely listen to the word, and so deceive yourselves.

Do what it says.

God knows best!!!

The Season of Lent...

During Lent we follow Jesus from his adult ministry, through his suffering, to his crucifixion and death.  

Lent is a time of stripping down to essentials, as each Christian focuses on thier individual relationship with God. It is a time when Christians remember our baptisms, when Jesus washed away our sins, giving us newness of life to celebrate in the triumph of Palm Sunday and the glory of Easter. A time of letting go of the bondage of sin...wow...what a great time to get baptised if you're not. And a perfect time to strengthen our relationship with God. 

Lent is a special time of prayer, penance, sacrifice and good works in preparation of the celebration of Easter.
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Lenten - relating to Lent: happening in or suitable for Lent, especially in being meager
[ Old English lencten "spring" < Germanic]
　
Lent - period before Easter in Christian calendar: the period of 40 weekdays before Easter observed in some Christian churches as a period of prayer, penance, fasting, and self-denial.
This period, starting on Ash Wednesday in Western churches, commemorates the 40 days that Jesus Christ spent fasting in the wilderness.
　
[Shortening of Lenten ]
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This is a very brief summery (if you can even call it that) of the Season of Lent. Below you will find a few links that can give you a much better insight of Lent. Please, take the time to read, learn and obseve the Season of Lent!
 http://www.cin.org/users/james/files/lent.htm
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lent
http://www.sundayschoollessons.com/lent.htm

It's not what you do...It's who you know

Are you are a person of great deeds...dedicated volunteering, donating of items, generous disaster relief contributions, sharing your home with orphans, solid in your tithing… whatever you might do in the name of "philanthropy" make sure you are doing it with the right backing!

The 4 reasons deeds of philanthropy are usually done are…
..Because you HAVE to (ordered to, by your spouse, parents or the law)
..Because it makes you look good to your family, friends and community
..Because you are a genuinely good person and want to help and do the right thing
..Because of Lordship, it pleases Him for us to do good works and to give him the glory

Which of these are your reason for doing good works? Remember, everything in our lives should be about getting into heaven, and getting into heaven is NOT about what we do…BUT who we know!

Do you know God?

If you do…Listen to Him, and obey Him!

If you don’t…then get to know Him!

Find a trusted spiritual leader, read your Bible, learn!!

This weeks sermon was more on Lordship!

Scriptures to read and study...

Luke 6:39

Luke 46

Luke 47

Luke 19:41-44

Matt 7

8.9 Earthquake, 13 foot Tsunami

An earthquake rocked he northeast coast of Japan less than 2 hours ago. I was watching Fox News when the alert hit the air. At first it was said to be a 7.9, then was upgraded to an 8.8, then to an 8.9. That is in the top 7 worst earthquakes on earth...ever!! At least what modern technology knows of. And then, a tremor hit...7.4! This is bad, very bad.

An area flooded by the tsunami in Iwaki, was Fukushima Prefecture in Japan. Japanese technology is such that choppers were deployed almost immediately after an earthquake struck, giving the world the first ever aerial view of the actual tsunami hitting land. It looked more like the special effects in a movie rather than real life. Fukushima Prefecture is devastated.

Those houses, buildings, and cars...probably had a lot of God's people in them. It's a horrible thought. We will no doubt be hearing about the loss of life in the next hours, days, and it may take months to get a total for lives lost.

This devastation will not be in Japan alone. It is expected to hit many other places in the world. Tsunami warnings are out for many different countries as well as parts of the US.

Please take the time to think about the people that have been and will be touched by this event, and say prayers, lots of prayers. God is truly their only hope.

Obey...regardless of cost!

in the Soviet Union many years ago:

The underground church was singing choruses when masked, communist soldiers stormed in with rifles. Complete silence, as the soldiers stared at the believers with wild eyes. "What are you doing here!" they shouted. "Worshipping your imaginary God?" The congregation cowered in the pews, paniced and scared!
"All those who are faithful to their God, move to the right side of the room!" a soldier yelled with great intimidation. "You will be shot for your faith. Everyone else who wishes to keep their life and go home, move to the left. You must decide to live or die right now. Those who are faithful to this imaginary 'God' will die. Those who deny him can live freely."

Just ten minutes earlier, everyone had been singing hymns equally. Now it was a question of life and death. Some moved to the left, looking sadly and apologetically to those on the right. Those on the right, closed their eyes and sat quietly in prayer.

"You on the left are free to go," yelled a sodier. Those people quickly and quietly filed out, many looking back at those who would soon be dead. When only those on the right remained, the soldiers put down their rifles and removed their masks.

"We too are Christians," they said, "but we wish to worship without hypocrites."

Which side of the church would you be on?
The Right or the Left?

Put God 1st in your life, know where in your faith you stand, and then...

Draw your line in the sand...Obey, regardless the cost!

Stay in the word. Scriptures for this week:

*John 13:1-18

*Matthew 7:21-27, 8:2, 22-36, 25:14

*Romans 10:9

*Ephesians 4:11-12, 5:22, 25

*Hebrews 13:17

Sermon on 3/06/11 by Pastor Kurt Cherry

A special "Thank You" to Pastor Ron Molina
       for guest speaking on 02/27/11

The Trail...

Matthew 7:13-14

¹³“Enter through the narrow gate. For wide is the gate and broad is the road that leads to destruction, and many enter through it.

¹⁴ But small is the gate and narrow the road that leads to life, and only a few find it.

Driving west off 395 on Dahl Road, you will see the Church in the Wildwood to your immediate right. If you continue a few miles down that same road, this is what you might see. A beautiful sunset! Do you know what it would take to get to that point on that mountain to watch the sun go down?

I can give you an idea! We have trailered horses to the yellow gate that leads to that mountain top that you see in the center of this picture. Once you have the horses out of the trailer and start up that very primitive road, the going is pretty easy. After all, you are on the horse's back...he's doing all the work!!

After a short ride on this primitive road you need to turn onto a small trail. This trail will get smaller and steeper quickly! But your horse will continue to do the work for a while longer! As the incline gets steeper…it won’t be if, but when, you will need to step off your horse and lead him because the both of you will be all but crawling up that hill!

If you go straight up, there will be a point where your horse will no longer be able to maneuver the terrain... the rocks, thick brush and extreme incline will be just to much. You will need to tie your trusty steed and continue on by yourself. If you have convinced yourself this is worth it, then just keep beating the brush and dragging your tired body up that mountain…I suggest you stop and pray a few times on this little journey, you are going to need the help!

So, you made it to the top…but the sunset is over and darkness has surrounded you. Do you still want to see a sunset from that mountain top? How much do you want it? Because now you are going to have to spend the night on that almost invisibly, very narrow little trail…in the dark, in the cold, with all the wild animal noises coming from places you can’t see. Then you will have to spend the next day…all day…without food if you forgot a lunch…by yourself, because there won’t be a lot of people willing to go through this with you…sitting there, loosing patience, getting bored, ready to give up, and then praying for the strength to stick to you commitment…and continuing to sit there…until that sun comes back around, and finally, you get to see that sunset you were so sure would be the most beautiful thing your eyes would ever witness!

Was it worth it? You bet! I think that is a simplified version of what it must be like to stay on the path that God has set for us. The path is narrow and trying, hard for us to stick to, but if we want to witness the beauty that God has promised us, we will have to stand our ground, stay our course, even if those around us won't make the trip, can't maneuver the terrain...we, you, I, need to stick it out. It will be the most important thing we ever do...the only thing that truly matters!