August 21, 2017

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Word of Encouragement

We are completing our series “Seed of Possibility” this week and I am asking everyone to read John 1:1-14 and Genesis 1:1-3 before coming to church. These passages are intimately connected and speak to the glory of our savior. I look forward to sharing with you this week just how much God cares about you and your life. Be encouraged and know that God has a plan for you and your life and your eternity. Before the world was even created he made a decision about each one of us. He decided we were worth the price of the cross. He paid for our mistakes and as believers, we get to live in the hope of a never ending relationship with Him.

I pray that you draw near to Jesus as He desires to draw near to you. It is far easier to live according to our created purpose than it is to fight against our maker. So run to God, Learn form Jesus, for His yoke is easy and His peace is certain.

~Grace & Peace~
Pastor Ernie

August 14, 2017

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Word of Encouragement

Summer is drawing to a close and it has been HOT!.  I know this because school busses are on the road; teachers are back to work;  Wal-Mart is filled with school supplies, and parents are busy getting their students ready for a great year.  My whole life moves in rhythms and this time of year through the fall has always been my very favorite season.  Each fall I am reminded that “for everything there is a season.”  One would think moving to Florida would have changed that but no.  I still anticipate “Indian summer,”  even though it never really cools down until winter.
 
One of the things I like the most is that everything seems to slow dow.  Summers are busy for everyone.  The longer I live it seems this never changes.  As fall comes, help us Lord to sit down to a different rhythm and spend time in something other than business.  So how will we discipline ourselves and to what?
 
I would encourage you to start some chair time.  Spend fifteen minutes a day in a chair with no noise, nothing to read, no planning, no strategizing, just in quiet. It is not as easy as you think and will take a few weeks to develop.  I fully expect God to respond to those who have “ears to hear.”

November 2, 2016

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Word of Encouragement

On Sunday October 30, I shared on of the most encouraging and hopeful Scripture verses I have held near to me in life:, Jeremiah 29:11: “I know the plans I have for you,” declares the Lord, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.”

It is quite amazing to become aware of just how much God cares for us. Jeremiah was in the midst of the greatest tragedy in Jewish history; Jerusalem would fall to the Babylonians in his lifetime and he would be carried off to Egypt. I have little doubt but Jeremiah responded with “that does not seem like a very good plan.” Yet is was God’s plan, and it WAS good!

God has a plan for each of our lives, a good plan, a plan to prosper us and to bless us. As Christians, we have an obligation to our faith to be happy in the plan, especially when the plan seems a bit difficult to understand. Unhappy Christians do more harm to the kingdom than any of us imagine. After all, why would a non-Christian want to accept Jesus as savior if it meant being unhappy?

Our witness to others is our joy in life through all circumstances. Be happy in your faith that others might see the joy of salvation in you.

~Grace & Peace~
Pastor Ernie