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 Pastor's Notes
Greetings and grace to
you in the wonderful name of our Lord Jesus Christ. By the time you receive this newsletter
I will be on the ground in the Holy Land!
I never dreamed of walking that hallowed ground before our Lord
returned, but because of your love and generosity, you have bestowed upon me
such a love gift that this preacher doesn’t have words to express the
abundance that is within his heart.
Thank you! Those words
cannot express what is in my heart and my appreciation and praise to our Father
for you. I can’t wait to
return and share with you all that you have made possible and all that the Lord
will reveal during our tour.
The Lord blessed in a
great way during our Christian Life Convention. You faithfully presented yourself unto
Him during the Returning to Holiness preparation study and each night of the
convention. The Lord spoke to me
personally through Bro. Don’s sermons and I praise Him for this. May we continue on with the Lord and
walk in agreement with Him to His glory!
December promises its own
blessings. Christmas Lunch on
December 11th, and I will be sharing photos and highlights from the
Holy Land during the morning worship service that Sunday. On December 18th the Adult
and Children’s Choirs will be presenting Light Looked Down. You will be blessed by this Christmas
cantata. Invite a lost or
unchurched family member, friend or neighbor to come with you. That evening will have a special candle
light service. Wednesday, December
21st we will distribute gifts, food baskets and fruit baskets as
well as go out Christmas caroling beginning at 6:00 p.m., returning to cookies,
hot chocolate and a time of fellowship.
Christmas Sunday, Dec. 25th, we will have morning worship
service at 10:00 a.m. PLEASE TAKE
NOTE OF THE CHANGE!
41And when
he was come near, he beheld the city, and wept over it, 42Saying, If
thou hadst known, even thou, at least in this thy day, the things which belong
unto thy peace! but now they are hid from thine eyes.
43For the days shall come upon
thee, that thine enemies shall cast a trench about thee, and compass thee
round, and keep thee in on every side, 44And shall lay thee even
with the ground, and thy children within thee; and they shall not leave in thee
one stone upon another; because thou knewest not the time of thy visitation.
(Luke 19:41-42)
Today we have the
advantage of having the whole inspired Word of God, the Bible, to read and know
not only the past, but to help understand the present and the future. The above verses record the lamenting
Words of Christ during the last week of His earthly life as He looked over
Jerusalem. Indeed that did not know
the day in which they lived and Who it was that was walking among them anointed
and sent to preach the gospel, healing the brokenhearted, preaching deliverance
to the captives, and recovering the sight of the blind and setting at liberty
all that would believe! They
could have known Him and possessed peace then. Instead Israel has only known wrath,
defeat at the hands of the enemy and even the things they loved, including their
beloved Temple, were destroyed. I
wonder if we understand the day in which we live, and how possibly close we are
to our visitation? Today, “Jerusalem
shall be trodden down of the Gentiles, until the times of the Gentiles be
fulfilled” (Luke 21:24b), because of their unbelief and rejection
of the Messiah, the Lord Jesus Christ.
If God’s judgment, being pronounced, and now clearly seen to have
been put into effect upon His most beloved city, where does that leave everyone
else? Surely we in America are not
exempt! Surely we must wake up and
turn to the Lord, trusting and living for Him alone! I leave you with the Words the Lord
inspired Paul to write to the Romans regarding this matter. “11 And that, knowing the
time, that now it is high time to awake out of sleep: for now is our salvation
nearer than when we believed. 12The night is far spent, the day is
at hand: let us therefore cast off the works of darkness, and let us put on the
armour of light. 13 Let us walk honestly, as in the day; not in
rioting and drunkenness, not in chambering and wantonness, not in strife and
envying. 14But put ye on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make not
provision for the flesh, to fulfil the lusts thereof.” (Romans 13:11-14)
By His
grace,
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