Pastor Campbell in SA

 We have pastor Joe Campbell for both services today. I am looking forward to hear what he has to say. I wondered if he would still come after his wife died. But he is here. 

There were a few times as pastor Campbell ministered that I felt like he was on the verge of tears. It proved to me that grieving is proof that you loved. He spoke on marriage and family and you could tell he missed Connie.

I had a brief chance to say hi this morning. Maybe I will have a chance to talk to him tonight. We have something in common now.

Thank You Lord for Your Blessings [Live]

A Joy Filled Thanksgiving Day

 Pastor Martinez, in his Thanksgiving eve sermon, made an interesting comment.

"Laughter is faith made audible."

The joy of the Lord really is our strength!

Have a joy filled Thanksgiving day today!

Our Only Job

 "And this gospel of the kingdom will be preached in all the world as a witness to all the nations, and then the end will come." Mat.24:14

There seems to be much confusion in the world as to the role of the church. Most unsaved people seem to have a clear understanding about what role the local church is to play in society.  They start schools or food banks because they think that this is our responsibility.

In this verse it tells us as a local church what the focus of our church ought to be. Jesus said that a mark of the end times is evangelism. Preaching the gospel in all the world. It is not building cathedrals or professional worship teams. It is not producing music or publishing books. It is to be salt and light by the medium of preaching.

Jesus said that by preaching we become a witness to the nations. We, by preaching, testify to the reality of God. And that preaching is what we must do until the end of the age.

The church age is defined by Jesus as a preaching age. God had only one son, and He made him a preacher. God has only one church, one that preaches the Gospel to the whole world. Our Fellowship has been faithful to do this. Will we take up the mantle and continue to do God's will? 

Jesus told us that a mark of the end times is deception. Staying faithful to preach the gospel is the best way to avoid being deceived. This is our only job.

Simple But Not Understood.

 This morning we watched an old clip of pastor Wayman Mitchell preaching in Perth. It is always good to hear pastor preach. We had a time of questions or comments afterwards and 4 men raised their hands to talk. Of those 4 men, not one of them understood or comprehended the important topic that pastor Mitchell was preaching about. It was pretty basic Fellowship ministry, but these men got it all wrong.

My prayer for this church is that it will grow in grace and in the knowledge of Jesus Christ.

Pastor Mitchell spent a lot of time and money to preach around the world to keep our Fellowship on track. I wonder how many other places where he preached did his words go right over their heads? I got it, but I'm not sure if anyone else in the room understood what he said.

Growing Old In Church

 One big question that we all will face one day is how to serve the Lord as we get old. This is a topic for which there is very little usable information available. One common thread is that the elderly are a resource of wisdom that could help the younger generation. Except that first, young people do not care what we think, and second, we tend to tell young people what we did when we were young.

One pastor used Moses and Abraham as examples of old people to follow. Moses was 120 years old when he died. Abraham was 175 years old when he died. To these men, 80 is middle aged. What they did at 80 is not the same as what we can do at 80.

One thing that one pastor said involves prayer. We can pray for others no matter our age. Another thing is just being kind to people. A smile, a kind word of encouragement.

Another pastor suggested that the old folks might make good greeters at the front door at church. Especially when our pastors do not stand at the door to greet people as they come in. That might work.

We have age appropriate Bible study for teens and young adults. In our elderly Bible study we talk about things that none of us can still do. Maybe we need an age appropriate group for us.

We live in such a youth oriented society and a youth oriented Fellowship that growing old you feel unwanted and useless.  I am grateful that the Lord does not cast us off as we get older.

Our Unique Place

Our Fellowship in it's younger years developed a one size fits all approach to ministry. One message for everyone. One expression for everyone. But as we have grown up, some of our Fellowship churches have begun to realize that in Christ all men (and women) are not created equal. And this is expressed in scripture.

"For as we have many members in one body, but all the members do not have the same function." Romans 12:4

"Having then gifts differing according to the grace that is given to us, let us use them:" Romans 12:6

A sign of maturity in a local church is when it's members find their unique gift from God and use it to benefit the whole church.

All ministry is a gift of grace. None of it is a result of anything that we do. We can be found faithful and be put into the ministry. We can be disqualified from ministry. But in the end we minister with the amount of grace that God gives us.