From the Moderator
This is the time of rain showers and plants sprouting
everywhere. The season dictates that freezing
overnight temperatures fade away as the newness
calls for warmth. Ecclesiastes 3: 1 puts this into
perspective when it says: “For everything there is a
season, and a time for every matter under heaven: …
” the season of one’s life; the season of the church;
the season of Jesus Christ. We are the church and
God has given us only a relatively short time to
venture through and share his gift. What do we do to
grow God’s disciples for the life of the Church? How
do we reach the lost for Him? Is it always through a
certain age group or social class? How do we relate
to Jesus in our contacts with others?
Today is always the right time to share our testimony with others. Each day is a fresh start with yesterday only a record of the travels that we cannot do again. We all have been called to “go and tell” our individual story of faith to others. In doing so we plant seeds for Christ just as our farmers plant seeds with the faith they will grow and produce a crop. Our “faith” crop just needs to planted and prayed over and trusted into God’s care. He will make the transformation happen in the individuals with open hearts. The spring-time of their lives will be warm with the newness of their faith and then a new building of testimony occurs.
We must all be disciples for Christ and that calls for positive, loving, caring attitudes that provide fertile soil for the new children of God to receive the same calling by the Holy Spirit that we have experienced. Positive attitudes and uplifting spirits build on God’s plan to bring new children into the Kingdom. Churches working together with the same goal can do so much more than those who find themselves in different stages of understanding when it comes to outside issues. Those issues will always try to slow or stop the work of the church in its outreach for new disciples.
For many years I have seen discussion turn us away from God’s plan and toward humanity’s plan which causes the season of life to change its course. God seems to take a back seat to what we humans want at times and the harvest become more difficult to complete. Since God has created time and the seasons of our lives, we should lean on Him and seek his will before our own in all matters. Deuteronomy 32: 2 says: Let my teaching fall like rain and my words descend like dew, like showers on new grass, like abundant rain on tender plants. God has always called us to look to him for teaching and the truth of his words. Here we can never go wrong. He speaks of things new because of him and not because of us. He is the springtime for each of us; the newness of life itself. In his Word we find only truth and lovingkindness.
Psalm 40: 3 says: He put a new song in my mouth, a hymn of praise to our God. Many will see and fear and put their trust in the Lord. It is through God’s Word that we can be saved and the church will flourish. It is through the Word that we believe and are given new life. The call to each of us is to hold fast to God’s Word and not to the issues of society that seek to divide us and cause us to turn away from God. The church depends on believers always turning to God in matters of humanity and not turning to our own selfish ambitions. Our personal testimony, our manner of living our faith, our study of the Word, and our participation in the family of the church all go hand in hand to be God’s chosen people.
What, therefore, is our season? With Satan vigorously at work to draw us away from God, our season is right now and continues every day left in our earthly walk. We have a tremendous responsibility to seek God’s face in our daily lives. Prayer, study, sharing, and worship will assist us in gaining the strength to grow the church in spite of Satan’s pull to draw us away. Psalm 98: 1 says it quite plainly: Sing to the Lord a new song, for he has done great things; his right hand and his holy arm have worked salvation for him.
God bless.
Pastor Ellis
Today is always the right time to share our testimony with others. Each day is a fresh start with yesterday only a record of the travels that we cannot do again. We all have been called to “go and tell” our individual story of faith to others. In doing so we plant seeds for Christ just as our farmers plant seeds with the faith they will grow and produce a crop. Our “faith” crop just needs to planted and prayed over and trusted into God’s care. He will make the transformation happen in the individuals with open hearts. The spring-time of their lives will be warm with the newness of their faith and then a new building of testimony occurs.
We must all be disciples for Christ and that calls for positive, loving, caring attitudes that provide fertile soil for the new children of God to receive the same calling by the Holy Spirit that we have experienced. Positive attitudes and uplifting spirits build on God’s plan to bring new children into the Kingdom. Churches working together with the same goal can do so much more than those who find themselves in different stages of understanding when it comes to outside issues. Those issues will always try to slow or stop the work of the church in its outreach for new disciples.
For many years I have seen discussion turn us away from God’s plan and toward humanity’s plan which causes the season of life to change its course. God seems to take a back seat to what we humans want at times and the harvest become more difficult to complete. Since God has created time and the seasons of our lives, we should lean on Him and seek his will before our own in all matters. Deuteronomy 32: 2 says: Let my teaching fall like rain and my words descend like dew, like showers on new grass, like abundant rain on tender plants. God has always called us to look to him for teaching and the truth of his words. Here we can never go wrong. He speaks of things new because of him and not because of us. He is the springtime for each of us; the newness of life itself. In his Word we find only truth and lovingkindness.
Psalm 40: 3 says: He put a new song in my mouth, a hymn of praise to our God. Many will see and fear and put their trust in the Lord. It is through God’s Word that we can be saved and the church will flourish. It is through the Word that we believe and are given new life. The call to each of us is to hold fast to God’s Word and not to the issues of society that seek to divide us and cause us to turn away from God. The church depends on believers always turning to God in matters of humanity and not turning to our own selfish ambitions. Our personal testimony, our manner of living our faith, our study of the Word, and our participation in the family of the church all go hand in hand to be God’s chosen people.
What, therefore, is our season? With Satan vigorously at work to draw us away from God, our season is right now and continues every day left in our earthly walk. We have a tremendous responsibility to seek God’s face in our daily lives. Prayer, study, sharing, and worship will assist us in gaining the strength to grow the church in spite of Satan’s pull to draw us away. Psalm 98: 1 says it quite plainly: Sing to the Lord a new song, for he has done great things; his right hand and his holy arm have worked salvation for him.
God bless.
Pastor Ellis
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