Notes of Faith June 15, 2021

Footprints  

One night I dreamed a dream. 
I was walking along the beach with my Lord. Across the dark sky flashed scenes from my life. 
For each scene, I noticed two sets of footprints in the sand, 
one belonging to me and one to my Lord. When the last scene of my life shot before me 
I looked back at the footprints in the sand 
and to my surprise, 
I noticed that many times along the path of my life 
there was only one set of footprints. 
I realized that this was at the lowest 
and saddest times of my life. 
This always bothered me 
and I questioned the Lord about my dilemma.  

“Lord, you told me when I decided to follow You,  

You would walk and talk with me all the way. But I’m aware that during the most troublesome 
times of my life there is only one set of footprints. 
I just don’t understand why, when I needed  

You most, 
You leave me.” 
He whispered, “My precious child, 
I love you and will never leave you 
never, ever, during your trials and testings.  

When you saw only one set of footprints 
it was then that I carried you.”  

©1964 Margaret Fishback Powers  

Fretting and a kitchen blender have a lot in common. With the push of a button the contents of a blender are whirled and swirled until they become a frothy mixture. In our lives, worry gnaws away at us until our lives become a churned jumble. But God doesn’t want us to live “blender-ized” lives. 

Fretting easily leads to worry; worry casts a big shadow over small problems — a shadow that should never cross our lives.  

When the outlook is not good, we should not fret. We need a change of perspective to realize that God sees tomorrow more clearly than we see yesterday. The future is completely in His hands!  

Don’t fret! Cheer up! Neither the sun, nor the Son, has gone out of business. He is with us. A new day will dawn and the Lord will bring Himself to the center of our problems.  

Remember, worry will only tie us in knots. Prayer is the only way to cut short our fretting — to cut those knots of worry and care and grant us God’s peace instead.  

Do not be anxious about anything, but in every situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus. — Philippians 4:6-7 

How can fretting lead to worry?  

What does Jesus say about the consequences of worrying in Matthew 6:27-30? 

Consider the things you worry about. 

What happens to your worry when you change your perspective and realize that God holds your tomorrow in His hands? 

Read Jeremiah 17:7-8. 

What does it look like in your life to be rooted by your trust in the Lord? How can these roots support you when worry threatens to overwhelm you? 

But blessed is the one who trusts in the Lord, whose confidence is in him. They will be like a tree planted by the water that sends out its roots by the stream. It does not fear when heat comes; its leaves are always green. It has no worries in a year of drought and never fails to bear fruit. — Jeremiah 17:7–8 

Then Jesus said to his disciples: “Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat; or about your body, what you will wear. For life is more than food, and the body more than clothes.” — Luke 12:22–23 

 Excerpted from Footprints by Margaret Fishback Powers, copyright Margaret Fishback Powers

This book is available and could be a good addition and reminder in your library.  We, mature in Christ, should be giving all of our concerns to the Lord.  He has all things in His hands, sovereignly in control, and has our best interest in His plans.

Prov 3:5-6
5 Trust in the Lord with all your heart
And do not lean on your own understanding.
6 In all your ways acknowledge Him,
And He will make your paths straight.
NASU

Pastor Dale

Notes of Faith June 14, 2021

Article by Marshall Segal
Staff writer, desiringGod.org

When was the last time you saw the grace of God?

Did you know that we can see grace — that the unmerited favor of God sometimes breaks into our world in ways that we can perceive? We know that we can because Barnabas saw grace in the blossoming church at Antioch. Luke welcomes us into what he experienced:

When he came and saw the grace of God, he was glad, and he exhorted them all to remain faithful to the Lord with steadfast purpose. (Acts 11:23)

When Barnabas visited the church, he saw the grace of God, he was glad, and he exhorted them to remain faithful. He saw the grace of God. What must that have been like — for grace to rise up from the gospel he preached and unfold before him untamed and irresistible, for lifeless souls to come alive to God and become fountains of good, for a church to sprout, as green as spring, from the ashes of sin? Oh, for grace to see as he saw.

And God still gives such grace — and such eyes to see what he has done — if we, like Barnabas, learn how to look.

What Does Grace Look Like?

Why did Barnabas come to Antioch? Persecution had driven faithful men from the church in Jerusalem to places like Phoenicia and Cyprus and Antioch (Acts 11:20). These men were forced out of their homes into strange places filled with strange people (many of whom would hate what they believed). Yet they kept holding out hope to whomever they met. “And the hand of the Lord was with them, and a great number who believed turned to the Lord” (Acts 11:21). They trusted God, they loved the lost, and grace fell among them.

“How might the tone and aroma of our lives change if we responded to grace like God does?”

The apostles heard what was happening (Acts 11:22), and they wanted to hear more, so they sent Barnabas. And when he came, he “saw the grace of God” (Acts 11:23). As he walked around the city, grace was not just a concept or a theological term, but a living and surprising work of God. It was God himself working in a weak and wayward people. But what specifically did he see?

Well, we’ve already seen the clearest answer: “The hand of the Lord was with them, and a great number who believed turned to the Lord” (Acts 11:21). Barnabas saw many Greek people believing in Jesus (Acts 11:20). He saw God breathing on dead bones (and Gentiles bones, at that), raising them with spiritual flesh and muscle. He saw souls walking out of the graves of bitterness, worldliness, covetousness, and sexual immorality.

And as God added to their number, Barnabas also saw grace building and unleashing the church. Like the church in Jerusalem, the church in Antioch surely “devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching and the fellowship, to the breaking of bread and the prayers” (Acts 2:42). They gathered regularly, gave generously, and shared boldly (Acts 2:44–47). Barnabas was watching God intervene in a city, a city like yours or mine — rescuing the lost, conquering sin, unleashing forgiveness, reconciling relationships, inspiring love, providing for the needy, building his kingdom. He was witnessing a miracle community — sinful people bathed in the mercy of God, declaring the mercy of God, and loving each other in Christ. Grace was saving, redeeming, restoring, uniting, transforming, equipping, and sending — all in ways he could witness. Barnabas saw the grace of God.

So do we? Do we see the grace of God in our church, in our families, in our neighborhoods? Or have we started taking it for granted? Are we too busy or distracted to notice anymore? Has the saving and sanctifying grace of God ceased to surprise us?

Does Grace Still Affect You?

Barnabas, however, not only saw the grace of God; he also rejoiced in what he saw. “When he came and saw the grace of God, he was glad.” You might think, Well of course he was glad. But how often do we see the grace of God and yet feel nothing? How often do we grow dull to what God is doing in us and around us?

As we regain our ability to see all that God is doing around us, Satan will do what he can to make grace seem unremarkable. But Jesus says, “There is joy before the angels of God over one sinner who repents” (Luke 15:10). Even angels peek over the galaxies between us to see the grace that God has given us in Christ (1 Peter 1:10–12).

God himself does not tire of the wonders of his grace: “The Lord your God is in your midst, a mighty one who will save,” Zephaniah 3:17 says. “He will rejoice over you with gladness; he will quiet you by his love; he will exult over you with loud singing.” How might the tone and aroma of our lives change if we responded to grace like God does — with a happiness so full and strong that it forced us to sing?

And so we pray, “Restore to me the joy of your salvation” (Psalm 51:12). We don’t want to see grace and merely believe and obey; we want to be glad. More than anything, we want to rejoice in grace wherever we find it because the glorious grace of God is most glorified in us when we are most satisfied in him.

Let Grace Make You Hungry

Seeing all that Barnabas saw, what would he now say to the church in Antioch? What would you say to a new and flourishing church like theirs? “He exhorted them all to remain faithful to the Lord with steadfast purpose” (Acts 11:23). As he watched and enjoyed the grace of God breaking out in Antioch, why would Barnabas charge them to remain faithful with steadfast purpose?

Because he knew just how easily we fall from grace into spiritual laziness and complacency. For some, the continual strain of adversity and temptation eventually wears us down and leaves us disillusioned. Following Christ is unavoidably hard, like carrying a Roman cross (Luke 9:23) — so hard we can often be tempted to lay ours down. For others, the experience of blessing can subtly make us spiritually sleepy and negligent. We begin to rush through Bible reading, to pray a little less, to spend more of our time and money on ourselves, to let our minds wander in worship. Experiencing the merciful intervention of God can leave us feeling strangely entitled to the merciful intervention of God.

“True grace nurtures love where the weeds of laziness, selfishness, and pride might have grown.”

Both groups need to be reminded, again and again, to remain faithful with steadfast purpose — to not take tomorrow’s faithfulness for granted, but to press in and be ready to “seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness” (Matthew 6:33). When a healthy soul witnesses grace, it makes him all the more hungry for grace, all the more dependent on God, all the more vigilant before temptation. True grace nurtures love where the weeds of laziness, selfishness, and pride might have grown.

So, learn to look for the grace of God, fighting the obliviousness that often comes with familiarity. And rejoice in what you find, asking God to give you the pure and full-hearted pleasure he feels over his grace, ever expecting to see and experience even more tomorrow than you have today.

The grace of God is all around us.  We would be blessed if we would see with spiritual eyes and see the work God is doing.  He has never stopped working!  May we continue to participate in offering the grace of God to those around us who cannot see it.  May we speak the truth of the Word of God and live God’s grace to us that they might also see!

Pastor Dale

Notes of Faith June 13, 2021

This is to my Father’s glory... — John 15:8

When I was growing up, my family spent two weeks every summer at a Christian camp that catered to families and singles of all ages, races, and socioeconomic backgrounds.

It didn’t matter what denomination you came from, or whether you liked traditional or contemporary worship; we were united by a love of Scripture, a belief in the power of the Holy Spirit, and a desire to draw closer to Jesus.

I remember the older woman who came every year from someplace in New Jersey. If you asked her what time it was, she never looked at her watch. Instead, her face would light up and she’d say, “It’s time to praise the Lord!”

At the time, I thought she was a little bit crazy. I mean, I usually did want to know what time it was so I wouldn’t be late for lunch, arts and crafts, or the goofy worship-slash-exercise class held outside on the lawn, called Devotion in Motion. Sometimes, though, I didn’t really care what time it was. Sometimes I just wanted to hear her say it:

It’s time to praise the Lord!

The phrase seemed funny then, coming at random intervals and when there didn’t seem to be any reason for praise. As I’ve gotten older, though, I’ve begun to realize that old gal was onto something. It’s always a good time to praise God — particularly when you may otherwise feel discouraged, anxious, or weak.

Which happens, right? There are plenty of times when we may not feel like giving God praise, times when grief, disappointment, worry, or even just plain old fatigue fills the radar screen of our emotions. But as my friend Sara Hagerty says, that’s actually the best time to adore.

“Adoration,” she writes, “never requires us to shut down our emotions. On the contrary, it invites us to bring them — all of them — to God. God does not want our polished pretenses... He wants us to come honestly. So He invites us to wrestle.”1

And as we wrestle — as we show up and (as Sara puts it) “sing your way into the truth”—something happens. The very act of praising (even when we don’t feel like it in the midst of our pain) releases the power of God into our lives.

Fern Nichols, founder of Moms in Prayer International, understands this transformation. Praise, she writes, “changes our attitude; brings an awareness of God’s presence; defeats Satan; releases God’s power; brings a victorious perspective; provides peace; wards off the spirits of self-pity, depression, and discouragement; and produces strength in an anxious heart.”2

In short, praise opens the door to hope.

When we look at our lives through the lens of God’s character, everything shifts. Problems that once loomed impossibly large start to shrink. Everything finds its place in light of God’s attributes: His perfect holiness reveals our flaws; His mercy allows us to confess them; His faithfulness emboldens us to come before Him with our every need... which sets the stage for His glory.

When we call on God, releasing His power through our prayers and our praise, our lives become places where He can perform. Our careers, our marriages, our finances, our friendships, our health — all of these venues, and more — are opportunities for God to showcase His splendor. That’s what Jesus is talking about in John 15:7–8 when He tells us to “ask.”

This is to My Father’s glory, He says, that you bear much fruit, showing yourselves to be My disciples.

“The true purpose of prayer,” writes R. A. Torrey, “is that God may be glorified in the answer.”3

How fitting it is, then, for us to begin our petitions with that end in mind. How natural it is for us to come before God — to enter His courts — with praise.4 And how comforting it is to know that there is not a single need we will face that God is not able, through His very nature, to address. When we are weak, He is strong. When we are uncertain, He is omniscient. When we need guidance, He is wise. When we know we’ve blown it, He is redemption and grace.

In the prayer prompts to follow, you’ll find a collection of concerns — places where we need God to show up in the face of things like anxiety, loneliness, and grief — and Scriptures that reveal His presence there. If you don’t see your particular need in the mix, try working your way through the psalms. You’ll discover a God who is sovereign, powerful, omnipresent, faithful, full of wisdom, and more. Or use the alphabet as a praise prompt, thinking of words — Awesome, Beautiful, Counselor — that describe who God is. (I like to do this when worry and fear try to keep me awake during the night. I start naming God’s names — and I’m usually asleep again before I get beyond G or H!)

God longs to reveal Himself — His character, His attributes, His nature — to us. Our struggles are His entry points, places where we can witness His goodness, His comfort, His power.

Call on Me when you are in trouble, He says, and I will rescue you, and you will give Me glory.5

And you will give Me glory. In other words, it doesn’t matter where we are or what sort of trouble we face. My little old camp friend was right: it’s always time to praise the Lord.

➢ Enter His gates with thanksgiving and His courts with praise; give thanks to Him and praise His name. For the Lord is good and His love endures forever; His faithfulness continues through all generations. (Psalm 100:4–5)

➢Though the fig tree does not bud and there are no grapes on the vines, though the olive crop fails and the fields produce no food, though there are no sheep in the pen and no cattle in the stalls, yet I will rejoice in the Lord, I will be joyful in God my Savior. (Habakkuk 3:17–18)

➢ Through the praise of children and infants You have established a stronghold against Your enemies, to silence the foe and the avenger. (Psalm 8:2)

➢ God wants to satisfy us with His presence. He longs to show us His goodness and let us know how much we are loved. As C. S. Lewis put it, “It is in the process of being worshipped that God communicates His presence to men... In commanding us to glorify Him, God is inviting us to enjoy Him.”6

➢What has been your experience with praise? Do you hold back, wondering, as Lewis once did, why an Almighty God would need, or crave, our worship “like a vain woman wanting compliments”?7 Do you wait to praise until you have a reason to rejoice? Or are you comfortable with the idea of “wrestling” in praise, worshiping God even in the midst of doubt, worry, or pain?

➢ Ask the Holy Spirit to lead you into praise. Read the psalms; sing an old hymn or a new chorus; let your adoration spill onto the pages of a prayer journal, along with your questions or pain. God welcomes it all. “Come near to Me,” he says, “and I will come near to you.”8 Open your heart and enjoy God today.

Heavenly Father . . .
➢ You are my PROTECTOR. You are a SHIELD to those who put their trust in You. (Proverbs 30:5)

➢ You are WISE. Your UNDERSTANDING has no limit. (Psalm 147:5)

➢ You are ALL-POWERFUL. You have made the heavens and the earth by your great power and outstretched arm. Nothing is too hard for You. (Jeremiah 32:17)

➢ You are a FAITHFUL FRIEND. You will never leave me or forsake me. (Hebrews 13:5)

➢ You are my COMFORT. You bind up the brokenhearted and comfort all who mourn, giving us the oil of joy and a garment of praise in place of the spirit of despair. (Isaiah 61:1–3)

➢ You are my GUIDE. You will guide me along the best pathway for my life. You will advise me and watch over me. (Psalm 32:8 NLT)

➢You KNOW me. You know everything about me. You know my thoughts; You know everything I do; You know what I’m going to say even before I say it. You place your hand of blessing on my head. (Psalm 139:1–5 NLT)

➢ You are the God of HOPE. When I am weary or

discouraged, You fill me with all joy and peace as I trust in You so that I will overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit. (Romans 15:13)

➢ You are my HEALER, physically and emotionally. You forgive all my sins and heal all my diseases. You heal my broken heart and bind up my wounds. (Psalm 103:2–3; 147:3)

➢Whatever I need, You are ABLE to bless me abundantly, so that in all things at all times, having all that I need, I will abound in every good work. (2 Corinthians 9:8)

➢ You are MERCIFUL. Because of your great love I am not consumed, for Your compassions never fail. They are new every morning; great is Your faithfulness. (Lamentations 3:22–23)

➢You are my STRENGTH. I do not need to be fearful or dismayed because You have promised to strengthen me and help me; You will uphold me with Your righteous right hand. (Isaiah 41:10)

➢You are TRUSTWORTHY. You are my strength and my shield; my heart trusts in You, and You help me. My heart leaps for joy, and with my song I praise You. (Psalm 28:7)

➢ You are my HELPER in my weakness. Even when I do not know how to pray, Your Holy Spirit intercedes for me. (Romans 8:26)

1. Sara Hagerty, Adore: A Simple Practice for Experiencing God in the Middle Minutes of Your Day (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 2020), 32, italics original.

2. Fern Nichols, Every Child Needs a Praying Mom (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 2003), 61.

3. R. A. Torrey, How to Pray (Chicago: Moody, 1900), 75.

4. Psalm 100:4.

5. Psalm 50:15 NLT.

Excerpted from Praying the Scriptures for Your Life by Jodie Berndt, copyright Jodie Berndt.

Praising God through the anxious times takes resolve! We must, as believers, decide that we’ve decided! Praising Him when things are easy is easy! Praising Him and trusting when it’s chaotic and worrisome is a whole new level of spiritual maturity.

Pastor Dale

Notes of Faith June 12, 2021

“GOD’S COMPLETE WORK OF SALVATION - Part II”
Philippians 1:6

For I am confident of this very thing, that He Who began a good work in you will perfect it until the Day of Christ Jesus.

There is nothing that will build confidence in a believer’s heart like knowing that God is continually at work in your heart.  He’s planted a foundation.  He’s been building on that foundation.  One day He will complete the work He started.  Every day draws us a little closer to that final goal.

You see, God is not a quitter.  He never leaves a job half done.  Many of us do. We start a project with a big spurt of energy.  That energy goes well for a while, then we grow weary and lay the project aside with good intentions of picking it up later and completing it.  I have some unfinished projects around the house.  I’ve got a viable excuse.  My stroke has prevented me from finishing the tasks.  However - I wonder if I would have ever finished them otherwise!

There’s one thing I do know - I am not an unfinished project.  God has laid me aside, but He is still perfecting His plan in my life.  Some days I wonder what He is doing - - but I never doubt that He is doing!

Beloved friends in Christ, do you often find yourself in this syndrome of life?  You know God is at work in your life, but for the life of you, you can’t figure out what He is up to?  Oh, we know generally that through our circumstances He is conforming us to the image of His Son, Jesus Christ (Romans 8:29).  We just can’t figure out where He is in the process!  In II Corinthians 3:18 Paul tells us that we are being changed from glory to glory, by the Spirit of the Lord.

One day all of this work will be completed - when we see Him face to face.  In I John 3:2 we read:

We know that when we see Him we shall be like Him for we shall see Him as He is.

That, my friends, will be a glorious day.  We rejoice in what He is doing now - but it’s not to be compared to what we shall be.  We should be longing for that day. 

Looking for that blessed hope and the glorious appearing of our great God and Savior, Jesus Christ. 
Titus 2:13

“Even so, come quickly, Lord Jesus!”  Amen.

Love to you all, Charles Covington

We are being made more like Jesus every day!  Sometimes it may not seem like much is happening toward that goal but God is doing His work. Keep your hope and faith strong in the One doing that work.  He is faithful! He has never failed to keep a promise.  You will be like Jesus! Help us Lord, to be patient as you work in us day by day.

 Pastor Dale

Notes of Faith June 11, 2021

One of the blessings of decision-making on a sacred pace is that there’s a definite end in sight — an answer awaits you somewhere down the road. Plus, you receive the gifts that your Father in heaven wants to bless you with. Yet I would be doing a disservice if I didn’t also speak to how painful this process often is. Most of the best things in life are painful to some degree. But the struggle makes the victory that much greater.

Why do we exercise three to four times a week or stay married when we’re fighting with our spouse? Because we realize that pain has its benefits — we are healthier, stronger, closer to others for the effort. In getting neutral as in the rest of life: no pain, no gain!

To accept that pain can be a blessing was a lasting lesson from my burnout and something that is absolutely essential to opening yourself to the Lord’s will. I know in my soul that I won’t usually get more whole without pain. On some level, I think we all know it in our heads, but pushing to get this conviction deep within, where God can change us? That’s the challenge.

You don’t typically learn your true feelings and deepest desires just because you want to; they are revealed once you’ve faced the truths you tend to hide from. Especially if you push the limits like I did for so long, you may sometimes have to soak in your pain for a while before God retrieves you from those waters. Thankfully, He really does only allow as much struggle as is necessary to bring us to the place of surrender, the place of peace and clarity that we most long for — and which abiding by a sacred pace allows us to reach.

The Secret Things of God

The Bible says, “The mind governed by the flesh is death”; it is “hostile to God.” Thus, “those who are in the realm of the flesh cannot please God” (Romans 8:6-8). The “acts of the flesh” that keep us from God’s greatest gifts include not just sexual immorality and drunkenness, but “hatred, discord, jealousy, fits of rage, selfish ambition, dissensions, factions and envy” (Galatians 5:19–21). Elsewhere, Scripture describes those deathly desires as “the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life” (1 John 2:16).

So is it any surprise that greed, pride, and fear are what pressure us when we’re letting our flesh have the final say?

Frankly, that’s where most of us spend most of our time as people born with a sin nature. But there’s another voice inside of anyone who has received a new nature through Jesus Christ. It’s the voice of the Spirit of God — and He rarely shouts. His voice resonates in our deepest self, and He has one theme: to reveal the heart and will and mind of God, so that you experience the abundant life and peace that Jesus promised those who are devoted to Him (Romans 8:6).

Human nature is to run with the answer we can explain, to go with the loud voice of consensus versus the lone whisper within, and to speed ahead with the solution that makes sense to our minds, our training, our background and experience (in other words, our “understanding”). “Don’t listen to your self-nature,” wrote Archbishop Fenelon. “Self-love whispers in one ear and God whispers in the other. The first is restless, bold, eager, and reckless. The other is simple, peaceful, and speaks but a few words in a mild, gentle voice.”1

This is a very profound truth, but it is also essential to ultimately discerning what God wants you to do: if you starve the lust of the flesh, your heart will start yearning to be satisfied. That yearning is your true desire — and God’s delight. That’s what you want to lock into and figure out. And that’s exactly what the Spirit wants to show you and reward you with if you will be patient and let Him do what He does best.

But you have to make a conscious decision: will you feed your greed or the desires of God?

Like a hungry infant, our greed will always take whatever it can get — it just wants to be fed. And if we feed it and wait five minutes, it will either want more, or it will demand something different to make it happy. When our heart’s desires are met, we are truly satisfied, and the contentment lasts.

Know Who Your Friends Are

Once I burned out, the number-one thing that allowed me to grow was the discomfort I’d tried so hard to avoid — pain. A lot of people fear pain when, more often than not, we have pain because of fear. Truth be told, fear is the enemy we need to slay, not pain.

Therapy itself was a lot of pain — but it wasn’t as agonizing as the way I’d been living my life. That one fact has trained me to go on the offensive and attack my dragons (my fears) before they attack me. Whenever I need to slay this beast, I try to remember that a dragon is never as bad as we think.

So much of it is hollow, a façade with no substance, an ugly face. As soon as I’ve jabbed at my fear a few times with the sword of truth (the words of the Bible), it shrivels up like a punctured balloon. And that’s when I see: there’s no need to bail out of my internal pain; it’s actually a friend that I should try to embrace.

While pain is your friend, sin is not. But oh, how it seems to be! By that I mean, sin has been a companion my whole life — a tagalong who has served my selfish purposes and supported my every whim and insecurity. But once I realize this is a dysfunctional relationship, one that is actually hurting me, I can start to step back.

Let me repeat: sin deceptively seems your friend, but pain actually is your friend. The operating room isn’t a fun place, but every time you go through another procedure, your condition should get better; you’re a little less sick. When I gave up drinking for a year and a half — just in case I was an alcoholic — boy, did it hurt initially! Same with ending my bond with materialism. In both instances it felt like I was giving up an old friend. And in many ways, I was. An old friend who was toxic and dysfunctional, to be sure, but still a companion and always available.

As we mature, though, that “friend” we used to party with can become a drain — someone we no longer enjoy so much because our values have changed. And as I get some distance from the relation- ship, I see how destructive it has been. I’m ready to move on; I don’t want us to be associated anymore. At that point, when I’m finally ready to turn loose of this relationship, the Lord will take away the pull of that friend to the degree I surrender. His role is to take it away; it’s mine to surrender. I will grieve this loss because my sin has been so much a part of my life, but the more I grieve, the cleaner the break will eventually be.

The only way this happens, however, is if I am surrendering my will. No process works if we don’t yearn to truly give up our old ways for better ones.

As we choose to listen, the Lord will speak in the pain of surrender. Three years after I sold half of Texon to a Detroit utility, the buyer exercised its option to purchase the other half. During the negotiations, my contact at the utility quit.

His replacement did not want to buy all of Texon, and so we decided to sell our crude-oil division to a third party. I immediately found a buyer and negotiated for almost a year — but I had forgotten to seek God’s direction. (Yes, I should’ve known better. But you can see from this example that I’m still very much a work in progress.) Once I finally did get neutral, I strongly sensed in my gut that I was not supposed to sell. I respectfully discontinued the negotiations, but it cost me a year of my life, which was such a waste — and completely avoidable — if I had aligned my steps with God’s in the beginning.

We sold that division ten years later for eight times more money. But the main thing, in retrospect, was not the money. I believe God did not want me to sell initially because He had unfinished business in me that could only be accomplished through pain.

Yes, pain.

I do believe God sometimes lets us have our momentary desires, even though they will produce pain, because we will be better off by being miserable for a time and growing through the experience. Either way, it makes me think of this little-known Francois Fenelon quote: “Slowly you will learn all the troubles in your life... are really cures to the poison of your old nature. Learn to bear these sufferings in patience and in meekness.”2 Fenelon also remarked, “I agonize and cry when the cross is working within me, but when it is over, I look back in admiration for what God has accomplished.”3

To process through the four steps enables our fear and pride and selfishness to “be named, surrendered, and nailed to the Cross,” as my daughter Tanya says it. We are shown where “the fear of man” — that pull toward peer pressure or people-pleasing — may be moving us, or where our pride is getting in the way. Practicing decision-making at a slower pace allows us to admit, “Lord I am afraid of what people will think. So I’m going to surrender this and try to hear what you think.”

Going through the pain also reveals what your personal red flags are — the things you thought you’d healed from, the things that send you back to your Bible, your pad of paper, back to your knees to refocus on the Lord’s will rather than your own.

Pain is unavoidable. You can try and skim by it, but you actually set yourself up for even more of it when you take that approach. I’m not pain-avoidant like I was in my twenties and thirties, yet even after all these years of practicing these four steps over and over, I do sometimes forget how deliberate you must be to reach the place of peace in your gut. Anytime I go through the process on a major decision, I’m reminded again.

I want us all to recognize the positives of pain rather than running from it. To focus on the gains — to keep my eyes on the prize — is key for me, particularly when I’m in the middle of the fight. Though everybody’s battles are different, I’ve never gone through difficulty and struggle and not come out better for it. The process of slowing down to a sacred pace until we’ve gotten neutral may not be painless, but it is very effective. And it comes with a peaceful conclusion. If you want to know God’s will, be willing to do what it takes.

Even if it means giving up some old friends and finding some new ones.

1. Francois Fenelon, The Seeking Heart, Library of Spiritual Classics vol. 4 (Sargent, GA: SeedSowers, 1992), 52.

2. Francois Fenelon in Gene Edwards, “The Hidden Cross,” 100 Days in the Secret Place: Classic Writings from Madame Guyon, Francois Fenelon, and Michael Molinos on the Deeper Christian Life (Shippensburg, PA: Destiny Image, 2015), 33.

3. Fenelon, “The Value of the Cross,” 100 Days, 34.

Excerpted from Sacred Pace by Terry Looper, copyright Terry Looper.

None of us start down a road looking for pain; we look for joy, financial blessing, fun, happiness, good relationships… not pain. But, the Lord knows what an effective tool pain is in our lives.  Seek healing and restoration from the Lord, while learning through the process the lessons of the Master that make you more like Him!

Pastor Dale

Notes of Faith June 10, 2021

 “GOD’S COMPLETE WORK OF SALVATION - Part I”

Philippians 1:6

Salvation to many consists of just one or two features: “You must be born again” or “Redeemed, Reconciled.”  However, the work of salvation is much more complex and involved than just these features.  Philippians 1:6 is one of the most comprehensive verses in the Bible depicting the whole scope of God’s marvelous salvation package:

For I am confident of this very thing, that He Who began a good work in you will perfect it until the Day of Christ Jesus.

Note several outstanding facts evident in this statement:

1.   There is a good work begun - perpetuated and completed in the believer’s life.

 2.   One person is involved in all three features - “He.”

 3.   The confidence this produces in the life.

 4.   The truths of verse 6 melt down out of verses 3, 4, & 5.  Paul thanked God for the believers.  He prayed for them in view of something he observed in their lives, namely their continual participation in the things of God - “from the first day until now.”  This gave Paul a strong confidence of a divine work taking place in their midst as seen in verse 6 - a good work, started, continued and ultimately completed in the lives of this flock.  He doesn’t say good works (although that is true) but a good work.  This is the work of salvation.  Salvation has a beginning, it continues, and it has a completion point - just like physical life.  Physical life consists not just in being born.  That is where it begins.  Then there is the whole growth process that takes a lifetime.

      The beginning of this good work of salvation consists of regeneration, justification, reconciliation, etc.  This puts us in the family and gives us a position before a Holy God.  It also gives God a base of operation.  We are not to remain babies all of our lives.  We are to move on from there.  He begins this initial work but He also continues the work.  This we call progressive sanctification - a lifetime of work by the Holy Spirit.  He takes us from one degree of glory to another degree of glory to yet another as we stay centered in the Word.  He takes us through one experience of growth after another.  This is one of the truths alluded to by our Lord in Matthew 16:18, “I will build my church.”  He builds His church by adding members to the body and then building up the body spiritually through the Word (cf. II Cor. 3:18).

      This building up will continue until He comes for us, until the Day of Christ Jesus.  Paul said to the Roman believers in Romans 13:14, “our salvation is nearer than when we believed.”  He is pointing to the final phase.

Love to you all,  Charles Covington

It is exciting to see how God is building His church here at Community Grace Brethren. We have experienced much during the last year BUT most of it was “good” as God defines good.  A Korean church began meeting at our facility in January of 2020, and our own Juan Carlos Silva is planting a Latino church here as well.  Praise God for not only giving us hope but showing us proof of His provision and love for what belongs to Him, even during a world-wide pandemic!  The work of salvation will continue and it will continue until God has finished the work!  Amen!

Pastor Dale

Notes of Faith June 9, 2021

 You may relate, but there are times that I struggle to keep the faith. Faith like that of the Shunammite woman. Have you heard her story? Let’s look.  

“One day Elisha went to Shunem. A prominent woman who lived there persuaded him to eat some food. So whenever he passed by, he stopped there to eat. Then she said to her husband, “I know that the one who often passes by here is a holy man of God, so let’s make a small, walled-in upper room and put a bed, a table, a chair, and a lamp there for him. Whenever he comes, he can stay there.”  

One day he came there and stopped at the upstairs room to lie down. He ordered his attendant Gehazi, “Call this Shunammite woman.” So he called her, and she stood before him. Then he said to Gehazi, “Say to her, ‘Look, you’ve gone to all this trouble for us. What can we do for you? Can we speak on your behalf to the king or to the commander of the army?’” She answered, “I am living among my own people.” So he asked, “Then what should be done for her?” Gehazi answered, “Well, she has no son, and her husband is old.”  

“Call her,” Elisha said. So Gehazi called her, and she stood in the doorway. Elisha said, “At this time next year you will have a son in your arms.” Then she said, “No, my Lord. Man of God, do not lie to your servant.” The woman conceived and gave birth to a son at the same time the following year, as Elisha had promised her. The child grew, and one day went out to his father and the harvesters. Suddenly he complained to his father, “My head! My head!” His father told his servant, “Carry him to his mother.”  

So he picked him up and took him to his mother. The child sat on her lap until noon and then died. She went up and laid him on the bed of the man of God, shut him in, and left. She summoned her husband and said, “Please send me one of the servants and one of the donkeys, so I can hurry to the man of God and come back again.” But he said, “Why go to him today? It’s not a New Moon or a Sabbath.”  

She replied, “Everything is alright.” Then she saddled the donkey and said to her servant, “Go fast; don’t slow the pace for me unless I tell you.” So she came to the man of God at Mount Carmel.  

When the man of God saw her at a distance, he said to his attendant Gehazi, “Look, there’s the Shunammite woman. Run out to meet her and ask, ‘Are you all right? Is your husband all right? Is your son all right?’” And she answered, “Everything’s alright.” When she came up to the man of God at the mountain, she clung to his feet. Gehazi came to push her away, but the man of God said, “Leave her alone — she is in severe anguish, and the Lord has hidden it from me. He hasn’t told me.”  

Then she said, “Did I ask my Lord for a son? Didn’t I say, ‘Do not lie to me?’”  

So Elisha said to Gehazi, “Tuck your mantle under your belt, take my staff with you, and go. If you meet anyone, don’t stop to greet him, and if a man greets you, don’t answer him. Then place my staff on the boy’s face.” The boy’s mother said to Elisha, “As the Lord lives and as you yourself live, I will not leave you.”  

So he got up and followed her. Gehazi went ahead of them and placed the staff on the boy’s face, but there was no sound or sign of life, so he went back to meet Elisha and told him, “The boy didn’t wake up.”  

"When Elisha got to the house, he discovered the boy lying dead on his bed. So he went in, closed the door behind the two of them, and prayed to the Lord. Then he went up and lay on the boy: he put mouth to mouth, eye to eye, hand to hand. While he bent down over him, the boy’s flesh became warm. Elisha got up, went into the house, and paced back and forth. Then he went up and bent down over him again. The boy sneezed seven times and opened his eyes."  
2 Kings 4: 8-35 CSB 

In 2 Kings 4:17 God promised the woman a son which she gave birth to a year later. Years go by, and she watches her promise grow. Life was good until one day it wasn’t. The boy fell ill, and not just sick, but the Bible says, “he died.” What a blow that must have been. Her promise from the Lord was dead. The promise she had prayed for and cared for, the promise God didn’t have to give her but chose to give her.  

Can you relate? Perhaps you’ve not lost a child, but you’ve lost a dream. You’ve heard the voice of God, stepped out in faith, only to find your dream looking lifeless?  

John 16:33 reminds us that in this life, we will have trouble.

Sometimes life throws us surprises, and not the good kind.  

It could be a diagnosis, a financial struggle, a rebellious child, marriage issues, or a host of other things. No matter what problem has wedged its way between you and your promise, don’t start mourning just yet. It may not be as lifeless as it looks.  

If you read on down, about 2 Kings 4:23, the Bible says, while the Shunammite woman’s son lay dead, she goes on her way, saying, “it will be well.” Call me crazy, but it doesn’t seem too well to me. Her son is dead. It’s over, let the tears flow! Nope. Not this momma. She responded with faith in the Promise-Giver. Momma was looking past her circumstances and straight at her promise. I hate to admit this to you, but too often I respond the opposite. I put more faith in my circumstances than I do in God’s promises. But I am learning that the way we react to our situations is often the very thing that determines whether our promise lives or dies. Had the Shunammite momma mourned her loss and never went to the man of God, her promise most likely would’ve died and stayed that way. There was no one else with the power to bring her son to life. And friend,  

there is no one besides God that has the power to revive your promise.  

My question for you is this: how are you responding? Where have you put your faith? In your circumstances or in the Promise-Giver? God wants to breathe life back into your promise, despite how things appear.  

God will always accomplish what He says He will.  

So my word that comes from my mouth will not return to me empty, but it will accomplish what I please and will prosper in what I send it to do. — Isaiah 55:11 CSB 

Daily Prayer:  

Father, today I’m tired. I’m tired of the circumstances that lie to me and distract me from the promise You have for me. Lord, today I am choosing to trust Your word over my life and over my situations. I know that not one word from Your mouth will return void. Although things may LOOK lifeless, I am confident You can bring them to life again. Lord, I love You, and I wait for Your promise. In Jesus name. Amen.  

Excerpted from Chasing Jesus by Cassie Downs, copyright Cassie Downs. 

Have faith in the struggle. Whatever it is that you are going through, keep your eyes on the Promise-Giver. What He allows may be confusing at times, but He is with you and for you. Wait for His promises.

Pastor Dale

Notes of Faith June 8, 2021

Don’t be deceived, my dear brothers and sisters. Every good and perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of the heavenly lights, who does not change like shifting shadows. He chose to give us birth through the word of truth, that we might be a kind of firstfruits of all He created. — James 1:16–18 

There’s this guy in the city who sings everywhere — coffeehouses, street corners, music festivals, churches... anywhere he can draw a crowd. His voice has that gritty edge, and his songs churn up all kinds of emotions in those who listen. They make you think. Even cry.  

His beat-up, twelve-string guitar looks like a yard-sale reject: it’s covered with surfing stickers, duct tape, and “graffiti” from friends (notes, doodles, and autographs).

Amazingly, though, he manages to pull incredible beauty out of something so ugly.  

This guy is talented, yet — like his guitar — his life is pretty messy. It started out that way.  

His mom and dad abandoned him when he was a small boy, pawning him off on his grandparents. There he was, just out of diapers and barely able to talk, and his young heart was already torn and bruised. He actually started believing that he was so unlovable, so flawed, that his parents couldn’t stand to be around him. And when they ended up getting a divorce, he blamed himself for that too. Slowly a toxic mix of shame, self- loathing, and rage began to bubble inside.  

Things got messier through the years, mostly because of alcohol and drug abuse during his teen years. He plunged deep into the Rastafari movement as a young man, searching for meaning to his life, but he ended up becoming more confused (not to mention really, really high all the time). He hit rock bottom at age twenty-four and spent time behind bars for using and dealing drugs.  

And then he met Jesus.  

After that, everything began to fall in place... right? He did a “Christian 180,” and now he has a perfect life.  

Not exactly.  

Despite ten years of “trying to get things right,” his life is still pretty messy.  

He reads his Bible, he prays, he devours every spiritual growth book he can get his hands on, he serves in church, he hangs out with Christ-following friends — he does all kinds of Christian things that Christians are supposed to do, and yet he still slips on life’s messes and falls flat on his face.  

In fact, he’s even dealing with some new twists to a bunch of old problems: abandonment (this time by his wife), divorce (this time his own), and imprisonment (this time by his emotions). As for that toxic shame thing, it’s still pooling and swirling inside. On some occasions, usually during weak moments, it gets the best of him. Old habits and negative ways of thinking seem to take over, and before he realizes it, he has lost the day spiritually.  

Here’s what’s changed during his decade of walking with Jesus: he doesn’t try to hide his mess.  

He’s actually pretty open about it, and he even writes songs about the things that trip him up. This brings out a sigh of relief in some believers who have heard his story. I’m not alone! they tell themselves. I can stop pretending that I have it all together, and I can start living with authenticity just like this guy. I don’t have to be afraid anymore. I can take a step toward God, warts and all.  

Others, though, write off his life as yet another depressing story and even label him hypocritical, phony, or backslidden.  

I think we should lean toward the first group, knowing that God can fix a crazy life. That’s the hope in Christ we need to communicate.  

Following Christ is about authenticity, not performance.  

It’s more about the everyday journey than a level of achievement. Even though your hang-ups and my hang-ups may be different from this guy’s, the fact is, we all still get hung up from time to time. Even as Christ-followers, we don’t always keep it together. And if we’re honest with ourselves, we know:  

We have a messy faith and a messy life. 
We fall flat on our faces — more often than we care to admit. We desperately need a Savior.  

If we’re honest with ourselves, we know we’re all a little bit like this guy.  

“There are a lot of broken people in this world,” he once said. “I’d say that all are broken, but only a few admit it. We like to believe we’re okay — that we have it all together; it makes us feel better about ourselves. I’ve learned that it’s okay to be broken. When we get to this point, we can put away all the junk that gets in the way — our efforts to ‘get things right,’ and to ‘do Christian things’... our pride, our stubborn wills, our attempts to control everything and everyone. God is our Healer. He can accomplish in us what we cannot do on our own.”1  

Wise words we need to share with a broken and hurting world.  

Lord, I know we’re all broken, and we all need You. Thank You for fixing my sometimes-crazy life. Don’t let me get buried in shame; rather, let it help me communicate Your hope with a broken world. Bring people on my path who need a healing touch. Empower me to love, share, and care. Amen.  

1. Anonymous source. Quote drawn from interview conducted by Michael Ross, August 10, 2004. 

Excerpted from Fields of Grace by Cara Whitney, copyright Cara Whitney. 

Is your life messy? Is it a little crazy? Don’t be ashamed. Take it to Jesus. Let’s go out into the world sharing that God understands our mess and loves us all, through our hurts and disasters.

Pastor Dale

Notes of Faith June 7, 2021

In all these things we are more than conquerors through Him who loved us. — Romans 8:37 

No matter what kind of trouble or challenge you face right now, overwhelming victory is yours through Christ. Not just enough victory to survive or get by. No! A super-strong victory, through Jesus, who loves and lives in you.  

The key to having victory in our lives — instead of becoming victims of others or bad circumstances — is Jesus. It is only through Him that success is ours. As you lean on Him and trust Him to give you whatever you need, you will learn by experience that you CAN do all things through Christ, who gives you the strength (Philippians 4:13).  

What kind of hard situation are you facing? Has someone in your family discovered they have a serious disease? Has your dad changed jobs, forcing you to move across the country?  

Did your nutritional habits change over the summer, and now you don’t want to face your classmates? Do you live in a dangerous neighborhood?  

No matter what you face, you are still more than a conqueror.  

God is all-powerful — more than enough for any trouble or circumstance — and His Spirit lives in us.  

I will ask the Father, and He will give you another Helper, that He may be with you forever. — John 14:16 NASB 

The Holy Spirit in us is our helper. As you spend time with God and talk to Him and share your fears, you’ll draw strength from Him. Instead of focusing on your problems, keep your attention on Jesus, the problem solver.  

Then be ready for a sweeping victory!  

Are you going through a tough situation right now? Or dealing with something from the past? Did you handle it alone? How could you handle it better with God’s help?  

Excerpted from With All Your Heart by Kristi Holl, copyright Kristi Holl  

Lord, there are things I’m worried about right now. I don’t know what to do, but I know you will get me through this. Please help me to stay calm and trust in You. Thank You for always being there.  

Pastor Dale  

Notes of Faith June 6, 2021

Encounter with Jesus

I was in the Philippines participating in a six-month Discipleship Training School operated by Youth With A Mission (YWAM). During a teaching session the previous evening, a guest teacher had strongly asserted that all Christians who wished to be fruitful and effective in their service of Christ needed to acquire and exercise a certain spiritual gift. If they didn’t, their lives and ministries would suffer for it.

This deeply troubled me, partly because I hadn’t acquired this gift, and partly because I hadn’t seen this emphasis in Scripture. I also knew Christians who both did and didn’t exercise this gift, and I didn’t observe any such correlation in their fruitfulness. But what if I were wrong? What if my misgivings were signs of resisting the Holy Spirit?

So, that morning I came to my devotions earnestly praying that God would give me understanding. I opened my Bible to the day’s reading, which happened to be chapter 15 of John’s Gospel.

Suddenly, as I began to read, it seemed as if Jesus were right there. The first 17 verses leaped off the page. The Lord’s words became intensely living and active as the Holy Spirit illumined them to me. And I heard Jesus himself strongly assert what all Christians most need to be fruitful and effective: “Whoever abides in me and I in him, he it is that bears much fruit, for apart from me you can do nothing” (John 15:5). His message for me that morning was clear: a fruitful life didn’t require a certain spiritual gift; it required trusting Jesus. Peace washed over me.

He Chose First

When I reached verse 16, what Jesus said about took my breath away. This, even more than verse 5, reformed my understanding of what makes a Christian fruitful and effective:

You did not choose me, but I chose you and appointed you that you should go and bear fruit and that your fruit should abide, so that whatever you ask the Father in my name, he may give it to you. (John 15:16)

I wasn’t raised in a church that taught Reformed theology. Up to that point, I had given little thought to the doctrine of election, so I didn’t really understand it. My immature, arrogant impression was that it was one of those peripheral, controversial doctrines that people with too much time, and too little concern for lost and hurting souls, liked to debate.

“The faith required to abide is not my own doing; it is itself a gift from God.”

That all changed as I sat awestruck, staring at those words: “You did not choose me, but I chose you.” They weren’t the words of some teacher with a misguided, exaggerated theological conviction. Nor of John Calvin. Nor even of the authoritative, but oft-debated, sophisticated arguments of the apostle Paul. They were the crystalline, simple, forthright, understandable words of Jesus himself: I chose you.

As they sank in, the renewal of my mind began a transformation in me (Romans 12:2). My life was reframed. When, at age 11, I responded to a gospel invitation at Camp Shamineau, I hadn’t chosen Jesus; Jesus had chosen me. The immense implication began to dawn: if that were true, then God had been far more providentially involved than I had understood leading up to that moment in Manila as I lingered over John 15. It was devastating, it was humbling, and it was precious and glorious beyond words. Jesus had chosen me.

And this filled me with hope as I looked to the future.

He Appointed Fruit

My hope came from what Jesus said next: “You did not choose me, but I chose you and appointed you that you should go . . .” I saw that when Jesus chooses his disciples, he appoints them to “good works, which God prepared [for them] beforehand” (Ephesians 2:10). I didn’t yet know what future labors the Lord had appointed for me, but it filled me with hope to realize I didn’t bear the primary weight of figuring it all out. The Lord who chose me was fully able to direct me into what he had appointed for me.

But that wasn’t all. Jesus went further: “I chose you and appointed you that you should go and bear fruit and that your fruit should abide.” My awe and hope increased as I saw that my fruitfulness ultimately depended, not on any specific spiritual gift, nor even on my faith in Christ, but on Jesus himself. The God who chose me to be his disciple and appointed me to my present and future kingdom labors would also make me fruitful in those labors — including the labors of my prayers: “. . . so that whatever you ask the Father in my name, he may give it to you.”

Over time, John 15:16 became a kind of lens through which I viewed what Jesus said earlier in the chapter about the Vine and the branches (John 15:1–8). He described the mysterious interplay of divine sovereignty and human responsibility in action. The power for me (a branch) to bear fruit comes solely from abiding in Jesus (the Vine). Therefore, I must undertake my responsibility to do the work of abiding (exercising trust in Jesus in everything). And yet, ultimately, the very power to carry out my responsibility comes from the sovereign Vine, who chose me as a branch and appointed my place in the Vine so that I would abide and be fruitful. For the faith required to abide is not my own doing; it is itself a gift from God (Ephesians 2:8).

That Your Joy May Be Full

One more verse illuminated the whole section I read that morning as if in a warm light. Jesus said, “These things I have spoken to you, that my joy may be in you, and that your joy may be full” (John 15:11). Jesus wanted me to be full of joy. More than that, he wanted me to be full of his joy! More than that, he was actually pursuing my experience of his joy in me by speaking the things he was saying.

The whole experience that morning was overwhelming, and I couldn’t take it all in. I’m recounting here in words clearer than I could have articulated then. Jesus was awakening me to these things that morning, and my understanding increased over time.

“Those who trust Jesus with everything will know the greatest love, the fullest joy, and the most abundant fruit.”

For example, I didn’t begin reflecting deeply on what Jesus meant by his joy making my joy full until three years later when I was introduced to John Piper’s teaching on Christian Hedonism. Then Jesus’s promise that those who trust him with everything will know the greatest love (John 15:9–14), the fullest joy (John 15:11), and the most abundant fruit (John 15:1–8) began to open up to me in deeper ways. And the more I understood, the more I wanted that life. Because that life was in essence the life (John 14:6). And I wanted him.

That steamy summer morning in Manila, what I wanted from Jesus was clarity regarding a troubling teaching. But what he wanted to give me was a revelation of himself through his words that would awaken me to his sovereignty over my salvation, plant the seeds of Christian Hedonism, and set my course for a future appointment. And he did that in under an hour.

I wish all my devotions were like that. Very few have been. Most have been quite ordinary. Jesus seems to prefer giving us what we need mainly through the cumulative effect of our daily, faithful seeking him in Scripture. But those few extraordinary times I’ve encountered the living and active Word of God in the written word have transformed my life.

I share this story to encourage us all to keep seeking the Word in the word. Jesus knows what we need when we need it. And when the need is right and the time is ripe, he who chose us, appointed us, and makes us fruitful will come and do more than we could ask or think. And life will never be the same.

Jon Bloom (@Bloom_Jon) serves as teacher and co-founder of Desiring God.

This is well written.  Jon does not say anything about what the special gift was, though it was probably speaking in tongues.  The point was to seek Jesus, to abide in Jesus, to trust in Jesus, to produce fruit because you are attached to the vine.  This is indeed what we should seek…to be different from the world because we are attached to the vine and the vine produces good fruit.  If we act like the world, not attached to the vine, then we are good for nothing but being thrown in the fire.  Stay attached to the vine.  Abide in Christ and your joy will be full!

Pastor Dale