Notes of Faith October 31, 2024

Notes of Faith October 31, 2024

Pigweed

Cursed is the ground for your sake; in toil you shall eat of it.

Genesis 3:17

The New York Times ran an article titled “Attack of the Superweeds.” Some unwanted plants have developed a resistance to modern herbicides. Pigweed, for example, can grow three inches a day, and it’s no longer threatened by sprays. It can also suppress corn yields by up to ninety percent.1

Rev 22:1-5

22 Then he showed me a river of the water of life, clear as crystal, coming from the throne of God and of the Lamb, 2 in the middle of its street. On either side of the river was the tree of life, bearing twelve kinds of fruit, yielding its fruit every month; and the leaves of the tree were for the healing of the nations. 3 There will no longer be any curse; and the throne of God and of the Lamb will be in it, and His bond-servants will serve Him; 4 they will see His face, and His name will be on their foreheads. 5 And there will no longer be any night; and they will not have need of the light of a lamp nor the light of the sun, because the Lord God will illumine them; and they will reign forever and ever.

When Adam and Eve disobeyed God, all creation was affected. The ground was cursed so that weeds grew more easily than crops—as all of us who have gardened know. But there’s wonderful news. During the thousand-year reign of Christ the curse will be abated. The ground will become more fruitful. And after the thousand years, we’ll receive a new heaven and new earth. Revelation 22:3 says, “And there shall be no more curse, but the throne of God and of the Lamb shall be in it.”

Sin and sinful habits do a lot of damage. We have to work to eradicate them from our patterns of life, just as we have to pull weeds from our gardens. But in the Millennium, the curse will be abated, and in eternity it will be totally absent. So rejoice over that the next time you deal with pigweed!

The Curse is real, but it is temporary. Jesus is the cure for the Curse.

Randy Alcorn

We cannot even imagine what it must have been like to walk with God in the cool of the day, enjoying His presence in intimate fellowship. We only know the suffering caused by our sin and the curse on all of creation that it caused. Praise God for His plan or salvation and redemption! One day believers and followers of Jesus will know God’s absolute perfection in His creation and it will include us! I am very far from perfect and also do not imagine what being perfect might be like. Some things I am very aware of, but there is much that will change that I do not know or understand in the immortal eternal life. Let us live this life…looking forward to the perfect eternal life that God has prepared for us!

Pastor Dale

Notes of Faith October 30, 2024

Notes of Faith October 30, 2024

Salvation comes to every tribe, tongue, nation and people!

Rom 11:25-27

I do not want you, brethren, to be uninformed of this mystery — so that you will not be wise in your own estimation — that a partial hardening has happened to Israel until the fullness of the Gentiles has come in; 26 and so all Israel will be saved; just as it is written,

"THE DELIVERER WILL COME FROM ZION,

HE WILL REMOVE UNGODLINESS FROM JACOB."

27 "THIS IS MY COVENANT WITH THEM,

WHEN I TAKE AWAY THEIR SINS."

When Israel will acknowledge Jesus as Messiah, that’s the Israel that will be saved. “I will pour on the house of David and on the inhabitants of Jerusalem,” Zechariah 12, “the spirit of grace and supplication. Then they will look at Me whom they pierced. Yes, they will mourn for Him as one mourns for his only Son, and grieve for Him as one grieves for a firstborn.” There has to be – you see, the Tribulation, as hard as it’s going to be, is the only thing that will break the religious spirit of Israel. It is the only thing that will bring them to the point where the rabbis and their tradition are not going to save them.

That’s why the Bible says in Hosea, chapter five, verse 15, “I will return again to my place until they acknowledge their offense, and through their affliction, they will earnestly seek me.” So Israel will be judged. Yes, and the ones that will not choose the mark of the Beast, and the ones that will eventually run away from him rather than worship him, those are going to be kept in the desert for 1,260 days, as Revelation chapter 12 says, and that these are the ones that Jesus will bring back to Himself upon His second coming, and these are the ones that are going to receive Him, and then all Israel indeed will be saved.

When Israel Will be Saved

Among the many consequences of the fallacies of Replacement Theology and Dual Covenant Theology is they rob the beauty we can witness and the lessons we can learn from God’s relationship with His chosen people.

Replacement Theology says that God replaced His chosen people with another group, the church. Dual Covenant theology says God has a different covenant through which He will save the Jews than He does for the salvation of the Gentiles. Both teachings are grievous errors in Biblical interpretation and thieves and robbers of wonderful truths.

Jeremiah 31:35-37

Thus says the LORD, Who gives the sun for a light by day, the ordinances of the moon and the stars for a light by night, Who disturbs the sea, and its waves roar (The LORD of hosts is His name): “If those ordinances depart From before Me, says the LORD, then the seed of Israel shall also cease from being a nation before Me forever.” Thus says the LORD: “If heaven above can be measured, and the foundations of the earth searched out beneath, I will also cast off all the seed of Israel for all that they have done, says the LORD.”

Replacement Theology requires that God break an everlasting, unconditional covenant made with both Israel and the land He promised to them. Dual Covenant theology makes the Holy One of Israel a misnomer because they sat that Israel can be saved without the One whom the title represents, Jesus.

The truth is that Israel has not been replaced by the church, and in order for any Jew to be saved they must come to the King of Jews for salvation just like any Gentile.

Romans 11:25-27

For I do not desire, brethren, that you should be ignorant of this mystery, lest you should be wise in your own opinion, that blindness in part has happened to Israel until the fullness of the Gentiles has come in. And so all Israel will be saved, as it is written: “The Deliverer will come out of Zion, and He will turn away ungodliness from Jacob; for this is My covenant with them, when I take away their sins.”

If the church has replaced Israel, then why is Paul talking about God taking away their sins and all Israel being saved? If Dual Covenant theology is true, then Jews can be saved by keeping the law. So, why is Paul referring to a Deliverer out of Zion, which is an idiom for Jerusalem?

The lessons we should be learning from Israel are that God keeps His word, and He disciplines those whom He loves. God never loses track of His people. Israel is God’s timepiece, and the last days center on Israel. God never meant for Israel to become religious, instead He desires a relationship with His people. God can protect His people through anything. On and on the list goes of lessons we can learn from God’s special relationship with His chosen people.

Does “God saving all Israel” include unbelieving Jews who reject the Messiah? No. No one is saved because of their nationality, and anyone who is saved receives that salvation by the blood of the Lamb of God slain from the foundations of the world – Jesus.

Zechariah 13:8-9

“And it shall come to pass in all the land,” says the LORD, “that two-thirds in it shall be cut off and die, but one-third shall be left in it: I will bring the one-third through the fire, will refine them as silver is refined, and test them as gold is tested. They will call on My name, and I will answer them. I will say, ‘This is My people’; and each one will say, ‘The LORD is my God.’”

Two-thirds of the Jews will die during the Tribulation and they will all die in unbelief. The Jews who come to faith in Yeshua, Jesus, will survive the Tribulation by means of divine protection, and in the end they will declare, “The Lord is my God!”

Acts 2:36

“Therefore let all the house of Israel know assuredly that God has made this Jesus, whom you crucified, both Lord and Christ.”

The declaration that “the Lord is my God” is an acknowledgement that the surviving Jews of whom the Lord will say “This is My people” will finally see Jesus as whom they never before would accept Him to be – God with us.

Zechariah 12:10

“And I will pour on the house of David and on the inhabitants of Jerusalem the Spirit of grace and supplication; then they will look on Me whom they pierced. Yes, they will mourn for Him as one mourns for his only son, and grieve for Him as one grieves for a firstborn.”

It is at this moment, when Jesus returns to the Mount of Olives, that Israel, all Israel, will be saved and declare that Jesus is my Lord and my God.

Replacement Theology and Dual Covenant theology are not just heresies, they are robbers and deniers of the faithfulness of God to those whom He has chosen. One of the biggest takeaways for us regarding God’s covenant relationship with Israel is this:

Romans 8:38-39

For I am persuaded that neither death nor life, nor angels nor principalities nor powers, nor things present nor things to come, nor height nor depth, nor any other created thing, shall be able to separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.

Our God is faithful, and His relationship with Israel is proof of just how faithful He truly is!

Even so, come quickly Lord Jesus,

The Jews are saved in the same way that all other people are…by His grace through His gift of faith to believe in the person and work of the Lord Jesus Christ! All who do will be saved and blessed, living in the presence of their Savior and Lord, forever. Those who do not will be separated from God eternally in judgment and suffering.

John 5:39-40

39 "You search the Scriptures because you think that in them you have eternal life; it is these that testify about Me; 40 and you are unwilling to come to Me so that you may have life.

John chapter 17 is truly the Lord’s prayer, Jesus, praying to His Father for all people, who were chosen by God before the world was created. Come to Jesus that you might be saved!

John 17:1-4

"Father, the hour has come; glorify Your Son, that the Son may glorify You, 2 even as You gave Him authority over all flesh, that to all whom You have given Him, He may give eternal life. 3 "This is eternal life, that they may know You, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom You have sent.

John 17:4

6 "I have manifested Your name to the men whom You gave Me out of the world; they were Yours and You gave them to Me, and they have kept Your word.

John 17:14-16

14 "I have given them Your word; and the world has hated them, because they are not of the world, even as I am not of the world. 15 "I do not ask You to take them out of the world, but to keep them from the evil one.

John 17:17

17 "Sanctify them in the truth; Your word is truth.

John 17:20-21

20 "I do not ask on behalf of these alone, but for those also who believe in Me through their word; 21 that they may all be one; even as You, Father, are in Me and I in You, that they also may be in Us, so that the world may believe that You sent Me.

John 17:22

24 "Father, I desire that they also, whom You have given Me, be with Me where I am, so that they may see My glory which You have given Me, for You loved Me before the foundation of the world.

Jesus wants those who believe in Him to be with Him. I want to be with Jesus. How about you?

Pastor Dale

Notes of Faith October 29, 2024

Notes of Faith October 29, 2024

Final Judgment

And as it is appointed for men to die once, but after this the judgment.

Hebrews 9:27

Judgment can have two meanings: judgment in terms of evaluation (as in ranking performances resulting in prizes) or judgment in terms of punishment (as in a courtroom where a sentence of guilty is rendered). Both kinds of judgments will occur in the future. First, believers will be evaluated for their faithfulness at the Judgment Seat of Christ for the purpose of rewards (2 Corinthians 5:10). This judgment occurs at the beginning of the Tribulation. Second, non-believers will be judged at the Great White Throne Judgment at the end of the Millennium in light of their works and God’s laws (Revelation 20:11-15). The result for believers is rewards; the result for non-believers is eternal separation from God.

Rev 20:11-15

11 Then I saw a great white throne and Him who sat upon it, from whose presence earth and heaven fled away, and no place was found for them. 12 And I saw the dead, the great and the small, standing before the throne, and books were opened; and another book was opened, which is the book of life; and the dead were judged from the things which were written in the books, according to their deeds. 13 And the sea gave up the dead which were in it, and death and Hades gave up the dead which were in them; and they were judged, every one of them according to their deeds. 14 Then death and Hades were thrown into the lake of fire. This is the second death, the lake of fire. 15 And if anyone's name was not found written in the book of life, he was thrown into the lake of fire.

Christ will be the Judge at the Great White Throne: “For the Father...has committed all judgment to the Son” (John 5:22). The subjects will be unbelievers from all ages. Words, works, conscience, actions, lack of faith—everything will be revealed as evidence. Eternal hell is the destination of the judged.

The doctrine of hell is unpopular. But let its reality motivate us to share the Gospel with all who lack faith in Christ before it is too late.

Hell is an abiding place, but no resting place.

Thomas Watson

God is a God of love for God IS love. But God is also holy and therefore a God of justice. The one who rebels against God in unbelief, doing evil, fighting against God and truth will be punished forever in the Lake of Fire. We must share the gospel and it must include the truth of punishment for not believing in the Lord Jesus Christ as the Sovereign God over all things!

Praise God from whom all blessings flow

Praise Him all creatures here below

Praise Him above ye heavenly hosts

Praise Father, Son, and Holy Ghost

AMEN!

Pastor Dale

Notes of Faith October 28, 2024

Notes of Faith October 28, 2024

Worship in Person

Now it shall come to pass in the latter days that…. Many nations shall come and say, “Come, and let us go up to the mountain of the Lord, to the house of the God of Jacob; He will teach us His ways, and we shall walk in His paths.”

Micah 4:1-2

Today, the center of our spiritual worship is our local church; Paul refers to the Church today as God’s temple (Ephesians 2:21). In the Millennium, worship will change.

Isa 2:2-4

2 Now it will come about that

In the last days

The mountain of the house of the Lord

Will be established as the chief of the mountains,

And will be raised above the hills;

And all the nations will stream to it.

3 And many peoples will come and say,

"Come, let us go up to the mountain of the Lord,

To the house of the God of Jacob;

That He may teach us concerning His ways

And that we may walk in His paths."

For the law will go forth from Zion

And the word of the Lord from Jerusalem.

4 And He will judge between the nations,

And will render decisions for many peoples;

And they will hammer their swords into plowshares and their spears into pruning hooks. Nation will not lift up sword against nation,

And never again will they learn war.

While believers will still gather locally, worship will once again have a central focus: Jerusalem and a new temple (Ezekiel 40–45). People from every nation will stream to Jerusalem to worship the King of kings and Lord of lords (Zechariah 8:23) whose government will emanate from the Holy City: “And the Lord shall be King over all the earth” (Zechariah 14:9). Today, we worship Him whom we have not seen “with joy inexpressible and full of glory” (1 Peter 1:8). But in the Millennial Kingdom, we will worship Him whom we will see with our own eyes, for He will receive our worship in person.

As you worship the Lord today, bear in mind what your worship will be like in the Kingdom—for a thousand years and beyond.

Nobody can call himself a Christian who does not worship Jesus.

John R. W. Stott

Many true believers that I have met have concerns about churches…every church that they attend. These churches seem to be a poor reflection of Christ and have issues, conflicts, personalities that do not fit with their idea of church. There is no perfect church, nor will there be. Those who are avoiding gathering together with other believers may be avoiding the truth of their own sin and difficulties of being one in Christ. We were made to live in community as God Himself always exists in the community of Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. We need each other, even with our failures and sin, to learn from God, to become more like Him, to forgive, forget, and pursue the holiness of Christ.

Heb 10:23-25

23 Let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering, for He who promised is faithful; 24 and let us consider how to stimulate one another to love and good deeds, 25 not forsaking our own assembling together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another; and all the more as you see the day drawing near.

Go to church, serve God, serve His people!

Pastor Dale

Notes of Faith October 27, 2024

Notes of Faith October 27, 2024

Sing to Remember

God’s Gift of Musical Memory

Article by Kathryn Butler

For five years, I cared for my friend Violet as her memories faded away. Dementia took hold, and the feisty Finnish woman who took pride in her nursing career, her spotless lawn, and her adoring German shepherd eventually forgot the people and home she loved. In her final months, she no longer recognized Bible verses that had buoyed her through so many storms.

But she still had “Amazing Grace.”

During Violet’s last year, I visited her every Tuesday with my Bible in hand. She neither recognized me nor recalled any words I read to her. But whenever I sang “Amazing Grace,” she joined in, warbling just as she had for so many years in the choir. In a season when the fog of dementia had otherwise clouded her vision of God’s grace, she reclaimed his promises through song: “I once was lost but now am found; was blind but now I see.”

Chorus of Commands

Throughout the Bible, praise, adoration, and thanksgiving move God’s people to sing. After God guides the Israelites safely across the Red Sea, Moses leads them in song (Exodus 15:1). When God protects David from Saul, David praises him with singing (2 Samuel 22:49–50).

This pattern repeats throughout the whole biblical story. When God blesses Hannah with a son, she sings in thanksgiving (1 Samuel 2:1–10). After Gabriel visits Mary to foretell Jesus’s birth, she rejoices with the Magnificat (Luke 1:46–55). Jesus himself sings a hymn (likely from Psalm 118) at the Last Supper (Matthew 26:30), and John foresees all the nations singing praises to the risen Lord in the new heavens and new earth (Revelation 5:9–12).

Paul encourages the church to “let the word of Christ dwell in you richly, teaching and admonishing one another in all wisdom, singing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, with thankfulness in your hearts to God” (Colossians 3:16). James writes, “Is anyone cheerful? Let him sing praise” (James 5:13). The Lord himself calls us to sing as we praise him. Consider Psalm 96:1–3:

Oh sing to the Lord a new song;

sing to the Lord, all the earth!

Sing to the Lord, bless his name;

tell of his salvation from day to day.

Declare his glory among the nations,

his marvelous works among all the peoples!

Psalm 147 likewise begins, “Praise the Lord! For it is good to sing praises to our God; for it is pleasant, and a song of praise is fitting” (Psalm 147:1). And Psalm 100 joins the theme: “Make a joyful noise to the Lord, all the earth! Serve the Lord with gladness! Come into his presence with singing!” (Psalm 100:1–2).

From beginning to end, singing and worship go hand in hand.

Reason to Sing

Why would God so fervently command us to unite our words with melody when we worship him? On the one hand, as God creates us in his image, we’re to rejoice in song just as he does. In Zephaniah 3:17, we read,

The Lord your God is in your midst,

A mighty one who will save;

He will rejoice over you with gladness;

He will quiet you by his love;

He will exult over you with loud singing.

Furthermore, when we lift our voices in song to the Lord, we direct our emotions heavenward, stirring up thankfulness in our hearts as befits the Almighty (Colossians 3:16). As Jonathan Edwards writes, “The duty of singing praises to God, seems to be appointed wholly to excite and express religious affections” (Religious Affections, 115).

“When we read a verse, it can flit away; when we sing it, we harbor God’s word in our heart.”

And yet, there’s another reason to worship with singing — a reason beautifully evident during my visits with Violet. In Deuteronomy 31:19–21, God commands Moses to teach the people a song recounting his deeds so that they and their offspring might remember. “When many evils and troubles have come upon them,” God says, “this song shall confront them as a witness (for it will live unforgotten in the mouths of their offspring)” (Deuteronomy 31:21).

When we sing God’s praises, we glorify him, obey him, and direct our hearts toward him. But also, remarkably, we remember words our inconstant, sin-stricken brains would otherwise so quickly forget.

Musical Memory

The history of God’s people is a story of forgetfulness and remembrance. In the wilderness, the Israelites forgot the wondrous deeds God had accomplished in Egypt and worshiped the work of their own hands (Exodus 32:1–10). In the book of Deuteronomy, Moses pleaded with the people to remember what God had done for them (Deuteronomy 4:9; 8:2, 11–20). Joshua built a memorial of twelve stones from the Jordan River so the following generations might know how God provided (Joshua 4:1–7). Finally, in the upper room, Jesus commanded his disciples to take the wine and the bread in remembrance of him, as we also must do (Luke 22:19; 1 Corinthians 11:23–29).

To follow Christ is to remember and proclaim what he has done (Acts 4:20). And the gift of song, in addition to stirring our hearts, aids our minds in remembering. When we read a verse, it can flit away; when we sing it, we harbor God’s word in our heart (Psalm 119:11).

The link between song and remembrance arises from how God designed our brains. While the act of forgetting may seem simple, we actually have several types of memory, all organized within separate areas of the nervous system. Declarative memory involves recall of events, concepts, words, meanings, and facts, and it originates in the temporal lobes and hippocampus. Studies show, however, that music involves complicated networks in the brain beyond this system.

Singing triggers our procedural memory — a complex network involving the cerebellum, motor cortex, and deeper brain structures. Procedural memory allows us to perform actions without explicitly focusing on them. Consider how rarely you think about how to ride a bike or drive a car after your first awkward days of learning. Such procedural memories are so robustly imprinted in our brains, that we can take up an action like playing the piano or knitting even if we’ve not done so in ages.

Musical processing also connects to emotional memory, centered in a region of the brain called the amygdala. The emotional memory system helps us to recall events with strong feelings attached to them. The link between music and emotional memory explains why certain songs transport us to a specific moment in time and evoke feelings we may not have recalled for years.

Thanks to the connection between music and these two memory systems, we can hardly erase catchy jingles from our heads, no matter how much they annoy us. Hearing a familiar song on the radio can instantly carry us to that first handhold with a spouse or to our birthday party in kindergarten. Most stunning of all, the link between these systems reveals why the command to “Sing to the Lord!” not only glorifies God but also blesses us abundantly. When we sing, we remember.

Melody When Memory Fails

The human brain’s stunning ability to recall music is a gift of mercy in Alzheimer’s disease. Alzheimer’s preferentially affects the temporal lobes and hippocampus, the regions of the brain responsible for declarative memory. As a result, memory for language, names, and events erodes away. Memory for recent events fades first, as these are less rigorously stored. Over time, however, even remote events can slip away.

“God has designed the very architecture of our brains to hide his word even when our memories fail.”

Memory for music, however, often remains intact in Alzheimer’s because it involves the procedural and emotional memory systems. The response to music is preserved even in advanced dementia, when patients can no longer reason, plan, or even speak. “I remember the first time I saw someone with Alzheimer’s remembering the Lord through music,” writes clinical psychologist Benjamin Mast in his book Second Forgetting: Remembering the Power of the Gospel During Alzheimer’s Disease. During his visit to a memory-care center, where “the full range of dementia was represented,” he writes,

When it came time for music, and especially the old hymns, things visibly changed. One woman who only wanted to leave finally sat down for a while to listen. A man who was always angry and agitated now had a contented look and tapped his foot to the music. Another man who was quite confused closed his tear-filled eyes and slowly raised his hands while quietly mouthing each word. God uses music to reach the seemingly unreachable. And he gives us this gift as a gracious resource to help us in drawing people back to him, to reengage their faith. (139)

By God’s grace, believers who can no longer remember the names of loved ones can still readily sing God’s praises. God has designed the very architecture of our brains to hide his word even when our memories fail. And he commands us to sing so that we might recall his life-giving word even when we’re prone to forget.

Sing to the Lord, my brothers and sisters. Make a joyful noise. And as you sing, even as other memories fade, remember his amazing grace — the breadth and length and height and depth of God’s love for you in Christ.

Kathryn Butler is a trauma and critical care surgeon turned writer and homeschooling mom.

While caring for Robin’s dad Bill, we grieved as he lost memories of various people and events in his life, but as mentioned above, Bill remembered songs that he had sung for most of his life. Near the end, when he was no longer communicating, we played music in his room and could watch him mouth the words to the great hymns of faith. God blessed us with music and will use it for all who will endeavor to express their worship through its beauty to bless and be blessed over and over. May you be blessed today through God’s gift and glory of music!

Pastor Dale

Notes of Faith October 26, 2024

Notes of Faith October 26, 2024

If My People: I Will Hear and Answer

If My people who are called by My name will humble themselves, and pray and seek My face, and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin and heal their land.

2 Chronicles 7:14

2 Chron 29:1-11

29 Hezekiah became king when he was twenty-five years old; and he reigned twenty-nine years in Jerusalem. And his mother's name was Abijah, the daughter of Zechariah. 2 He did right in the sight of the Lord, according to all that his father David had done.

3 In the first year of his reign, in the first month, he opened the doors of the house of the Lord and repaired them. 4 He brought in the priests and the Levites and gathered them into the square on the east.

Reforms Begun

5 Then he said to them, "Listen to me, O Levites. Consecrate yourselves now, and consecrate the house of the Lord, the God of your fathers, and carry the uncleanness out from the holy place. 6 "For our fathers have been unfaithful and have done evil in the sight of the Lord our God, and have forsaken Him and turned their faces away from the dwelling place of the Lord, and have turned their backs. 7 "They have also shut the doors of the porch and put out the lamps, and have not burned incense or offered burnt offerings in the holy place to the God of Israel. 8 "Therefore the wrath of the Lord was against Judah and Jerusalem, and He has made them an object of terror, of horror, and of hissing, as you see with your own eyes. 9 "For behold, our fathers have fallen by the sword, and our sons and our daughters and our wives are in captivity for this. 10 "Now it is in my heart to make a covenant with the Lord God of Israel, that His burning anger may turn away from us. 11 "My sons, do not be negligent now, for the Lord has chosen you to stand before Him, to minister to Him, and to be His ministers and burn incense."

On September 16, 1859, a newspaper in Ballynahinch, Ireland, carried this article: “For the last two months the Lord’s work has been spreading in this place; hundreds…have passed through the gate of conversion. Prayer meetings…are conducted by the young and old…. Let a minister be seen passing anywhere…and going into a house and, in a few minutes, the reapers would be seen leaving the fields and thronging the house, such is their unquenchable thirst for the means of grace.”1

That’s what revival looks like. Young and old leading prayer meetings. People seeking the means of grace. Many being converted. Everyone hungry for the Word of God and the downpouring of the Holy Spirit.

That’s what the nations of the world need now! The formula is in 2 Chronicles 7:14. The people of God must humble themselves, pray, seek His face, and turn from their wicked ways. Our Lord will hear, heal, and forgive! Let the revival begin in your heart today!

The only reason we don’t have revival is because we are willing to live without it.

Leonard Ravenhill

1. “First Presbyterian Ballynahinch (1859),” UK Wells, accessed June 28, 2024.

Every time we witness someone coming to faith we see a revival, a heart turning from darkness to light, from death to life! Think about what took place before this revival…prayer, many times lots of prayer for this person to humble themselves before God, to seek His face, to repent and find grace and forgiveness! Many may have testified to the truth of God, His Word, His mercy and love before the heart was broken by the Spirit of God. This is still taking place every day in the lives around us. Do we want to be a part of God’s saving grace? We must testify to the truth! Jesus is the only way of salvation! Share His sacrifice, love, and mercy with those that you love…family, friends and coworkers. Jesus even died for those that you do not love. Pray for them! If possible share the truth of Jesus with them. God will bring ALL that belong to Him to Himself. We have just been given the job to share the truth. He will give or not give the gift of salvation. Let us do the work heartily that each believer was given.

Matt 28:19-20

19 "Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, 20 teaching them to observe all that I commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age."

Pastor Dale

Notes of Faith October 25, 2024

Notes of Faith October 25, 2024

The End of the Age

When the thousand years are over, Satan will be released from his prison and will go out to deceive the nations…and to gather them for battle.

Revelation 20:7-8, NIV

The Coming Golden Age will end with one final rebellion against God. For reasons we don’t fully understand, Satan will be released from his prison and deceive many people once again. He will try to reenact the Battle of Armageddon, hoping for a better outcome. John said, “But fire came down from heaven and devoured them” (Revelation 20:9, NIV). At last the devil will be tossed into hell with the Beast and False Prophet, and we’ll be rid of him for good—forever!

Rev 20:7-10

7 When the thousand years are completed, Satan will be released from his prison, 8 and will come out to deceive the nations which are in the four corners of the earth, Gog and Magog, to gather them together for the war; the number of them is like the sand of the seashore. 9 And they came up on the broad plain of the earth and surrounded the camp of the saints and the beloved city, and fire came down from heaven and devoured them. 10 And the devil who deceived them was thrown into the lake of fire and brimstone, where the beast and the false prophet are also; and they will be tormented day and night forever and ever.

As we engage in spiritual warfare now, let’s keep our eyes on the Victor. Jesus defeated Satan by His death and resurrection. The victory is already ours. John, the author of the book of Revelation, also said, “We know that we are children of God, and that the whole world is under the control of the evil one. We know also that the Son of God has come and has given us understanding, so that we may know him who is true” (1 John 5:19-20, NIV).

Rejoice today, for the Victor is near us!

You are not fighting for victory, but from victory, for Jesus Christ has already defeated Satan!

Warren Wiersbe

The longer I am given breath the more I am amazed at evil in the world. Things are not getting better and better and then then Lord will come, as some Christians preach. Things are prophesied to get worse and worse, the people deceived by Satan as in the garden of Eden, and turn from God to worship themselves and even Satan himself. This is what he longed for from the beginning…to be the one who is worshipped. He hates God’s creation and the only part that was created in God’s image…you and me. Satan is out for himself. Are you an imitator of Satan or of God (Jesus) who sacrificed His own life that your sin, my sin, might pay the debt of the wrath of God, that we deserve, then forgive us, and offer us eternal life through faith in His perfect and holy sacrifice. The Word of God is Truth! Jesus has won the victory, is winning the victory and will win the ultimate eternal victory! You cannot lose if you will imitate and follow Jesus!

Pastor Dale

Notes of Faith October 24, 2024

Notes of Faith October 24, 2024

Only the Beginning

His lord said to him, “Well done, good and faithful servant; you were faithful over a few things, I will make you ruler over many things. Enter into the joy of your lord.” Matthew 25:21

Awards and rewards are presented in all segments of society: sports, business, government, military, entertainment, and more. And it starts at an early age—what child doesn’t delight in receiving a gold star for a job well done? Almost all human awards have one thing in common: They focus on past behavior or achievements.

1 Cor 3:10-15

10 According to the grace of God which was given to me, like a wise master builder I laid a foundation, and another is building on it. But each man must be careful how he builds on it. 11 For no man can lay a foundation other than the one which is laid, which is Jesus Christ. 12 Now if any man builds on the foundation with gold, silver, precious stones, wood, hay, straw, 13 each man's work will become evident; for the day will show it because it is to be revealed with fire, and the fire itself will test the quality of each man's work. 14 If any man's work which he has built on it remains, he will receive a reward. 15 If any man's work is burned up, he will suffer loss; but he himself will be saved, yet so as through fire.

For all who inherit a place in Christ’s future Millennial Kingdom, a different kind of reward will be received—a reward that focuses on the future. Rewards for faithfulness in this life will result in the privilege of service for Christ in His Kingdom in the future. The Millennium is not going to be a thousand-year vacation. Rather, it will be the manifestation of God’s just rule and economy on earth as administered by the saints of God who inherit the Kingdom. In Jesus’ parable of the talents, the servants who were faithful over some things were then made rulers over many things (Matthew 25:14-30).

Our service for Christ in this life is not the end—it is only the beginning!

The highest honor in the church is not government but service.

John Calvin

My personal experience and my view of human life is that all mankind likes to receive awards and be rewarded. Looking at things that are eternal, our reward is given based on what we have done. This is not talking about salvation which no man can earn. That reward is based on God’s grace through the faith that He gives each one He chooses to believe in the work of His Son Jesus. It is the life we live after saving faith, serving God, serving others, that brings reward in heaven from God. It also brings more authority and responsibility in continuing to serve God and others! When you reflect on your life and it has been more selfish than serving God and others, make an immediate change…that is what the word repent means! Turn and serve the Lord your God and those that He has placed around you. Your heavenly reward awaits your arrival!

Pastor Dale

Notes of Faith October 23, 2024

Notes of Faith October 23, 2024

Heavenly Health

And the inhabitant [of Zion] will not say, “I am sick”; the people who dwell in it will be forgiven their iniquity.

Isaiah 33:24

The World Health Organization estimates that global healthcare spending rose to $9 trillion in 2020—when the COVID-19 pandemic began to spread. That dollar amount represented around 11 percent of global gross domestic product. Nine trillion dollars is an incomprehensible number, but imagine how those dollars could be spent if the world wasn’t subject to illness.1

Ps 103:1-3

Bless the Lord, O my soul;

And all that is within me, bless His holy name!

2 Bless the Lord, O my soul,

And forget not all His benefits:

3 Who forgives all your iniquities,

Who heals all your diseases

There was no sickness in the Garden of Eden, but when sin entered the world, sickness followed. All sickness is the result, directly or indirectly, of sin—of living in a fallen world. Scripture clearly connects sin and sickness in the same discussion (Psalm 103:3; Isaiah 53:4-5; Matthew 8:16-17; Mark 2:8-11; James 5:14-16). But in the Millennium, things will be different. The world will be a healthier place (Isaiah 4:2; 27:6; Joel 2:24) and most people will live in resurrected, immortal bodies not subject to illness (1 Corinthians 15:43-53).

Even though we may be subject to illness today, we can seek and trust “the Lord who heals [us]” (Exodus 15:26). His words are “life to those who find them, and health to all their flesh” (Proverbs 4:22).

Health is a good thing; but sickness is far better, if it leads us to God.

J. C. Ryle

1 “Global Spending on Health: Rising to the Pandemic’s Challenges,” World Health Organization, December 8, 2022.

Rev 21:2-4

2 Then I, John, saw the holy city, New Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband. 3 And I heard a loud voice from heaven saying, "Behold, the tabernacle of God is with men, and He will dwell with them, and they shall be His people. God Himself will be with them and be their God. 4 And God will wipe away every tear from their eyes; there shall be no more death, nor sorrow, nor crying. There shall be no more pain, for the former things have passed away."

Original creation will be made new! The fall of man into sin will be forever gone. An unimaginable world awaits those believing the gospel of Jesus Christ, His saving power and love, His authority over all things, eternal life with God in our midst! The life to come is one of overwhelming blessing surrounded by the glory of God. Let us pursue intimacy with God in this life and know that we have been promised greater intimacy in the life to come!

Pastor Dale

Notes of Faith October 22, 2024

Notes of Faith October 22, 2024

Highway of Holiness

A highway shall be there, and a road, and it shall be called the Highway of Holiness…. And the ransomed of the Lord shall return, and come to [Jerusalem] with singing.

Isaiah 35:8, 10

Flip Wilson was the first African American comedian to host his own successful television variety show. Many of his catchphrases became iconic in American culture like, “The devil made me do it!”

A day is coming when no one will be able to say, “The devil made me do it.” During Christ’s Millennial Kingdom the devil will be bound (Revelations 20:1-3). And who will be dwelling on earth then? Old Testament saints who followed God, Christians who died before the Rapture, those taken to heaven at the Rapture, those who are martyred for their faith during the Tribulation, and those who become believers during the Tribulation but are not martyred and enter the Millennium. In other words, earth will be populated by all believers in Christ at the beginning of the Millennium!

The prophets foresaw a “Highway of Holiness” leading to Jerusalem on which would walk all those who were holy unto the Lord. Let us purpose to live holy lives today just as we will in the future (1 Peter 1:15-16).

Everything in Scripture has in view the promotion of holiness.

A. W. Pink

Rom 7:15-20

15 I do not understand what I do. For what I want to do I do not do, but what I hate I do. 16 And if I do what I do not want to do, I agree that the law is good. 17 As it is, it is no longer I myself who do it, but it is sin living in me. 18 I know that nothing good lives in me, that is, in my sinful nature. For I have the desire to do what is good, but I cannot carry it out. 19 For what I do is not the good I want to do; no, the evil I do not want to do — this I keep on doing.

Rom 7:24-25

What a wretched man I am! Who will rescue me from this body of death? 25 Thanks be to God — through Jesus Christ our Lord!

This battle will go on until we are called home to heaven…but as Paul talked about himself and the battle with his sinful nature, we read of how God used him mightily for His glory. Let us pursue holiness and purity, though we will fail to live a perfect holy life, it is the life that God created us to live!

Pastor Dale