ME?

Veda & TheresaGod wills to use people! Ordinary folks.
 
The Lord must love ordinary folks because He made so many of us!
This is Theresa and Veda. For years God has used them to spearhead a wonderful, full & delicious Boxing Day Christmas Meal for our neighbourhoods’ needy families. This past December a large & loving team prepared & served about 375 meals!
 
God was glorified in it all. The Lord mightily used people! Available people…He did in the Bible too!
Moses. Esther. The little boy with the fish & rolls lunch.
Are you always available to your Lord for service which He has for you? Work on that.
When the Lord of all taps you on the shoulder to give you a job, don’t stay: “Me?”;
instead say: “Okay! Me!”
 

The little boy Samuel repeatedly heard his name being called in the middle of the night. He thought it was his caregiving priest calling him, but it wasn’t; it was the Lord.

Samuel’s response to the calling of God should be our response: “Speak, for Thy servant is listening.”
 
Availability to God is a beautiful thing!


BIG THINGS HAPPEN IN SMALL GROUPS!

RE MiniChurchThis is our Mini-Church. We are learning together. We care about each other.

KFC has “Original Recipe” fried chicken.
Small groups are “Original Recipe” Christianity / Church.

Acts 2:42 paints the picture of the Church when she was weeks or months old:
“And they were continually devoting themselves to the apostles’ teaching and to fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayer.”

If you will plug into a Mini-Church you will find that it’s “finger-lickin’ good”!



Conviction

Earle WeechPastor Earle Weech is the respected & beloved founding Pastor of the Calvary Bible Church.

He was a man of conviction.

A conviction is a belief rooted in Scripture.

Conviction is different than an opinion.

An opinion is merely a preference.

I wouldn’t necessarily cross the street for my preferences; but I would die for my convictions.

The conviction which Pastor Weech came to was that the New Testament teaches that once a person is saved, they are always saved. (John 10:27-30).

This was a particularly challenging & risky conviction for Pastor Weech to arrive at, because he was the successful pastor of a church that believed that persons can lose their salvation.

What was he to do, given his fresh conviction?

Based on his changed conviction, Pastor Weech did the courageous and the right thing of resigning that church!

He walked away rather than standing for something he no longer believed in based on his study of the Scriptures.

And this was how he was used mightily of God to found the Calvary Bible Church!

So it is with convictions: They can be both risky & destiny-shaping!

What are some of your convictions?

How about discussing them with your spouse and kids?



CHRISTMAS – GOD WITH US

Christmas Tree
This little boy is captivated by this big dog. The only way for the boy to understand what the dog is thinking & communicating & planning is if the dog became human. Then the boy could comprehend the big dog. Before Bethlehem people were interested in the Almighty but they basically could not adequately understand God’s mind & heart & plan of  the Cross. This is why, as John 1:14 reports, “And the Word became flesh, and dwelt among us, and we beheld His glory, glory as of the only begotten from the Father, full of grace and truth.”
 
Additionally, this is why Matthew 1:23 relays: “Behold, the virgin shall be with child, and shall bear a Son, they shall call His name ‘Immanuel’, which translated means ‘God with us’.”
We must thank the Lord God that He came to us as the miracle baby!
Now our knowledge of Him can be full.


God’s Care

This WeekThis is a random week as found in my trusty Day-Timer.

I’m old-school. I have an iPhone but I prefer to use my Day-Timer to keep track of my appointments and deadlines.

I find it extremely encouraging that my God cared for me and for all of my contacts within every single commitment of that particular week!

God also cared for me in all of the unexpected situations of that week.

There was never a second when I was outside of God’s loving care.

So it is for you!
We may make ourselves too busy for God but our busyness will never weary God’s care for us.

Psalm 139:1-5 describes this kind of care by God.

Why don’t you check out these verses? It will do you good!


WHO IT’S ALL ABOUT

Underwater StatueI was driving this afternoon on Bay Street West. Of course, there were lots of tourist-visitors. One person’s t-shirt caught my eye. In bright neon letters it said: “It’s All About Me”.
 
To be honest, it’s all together too easy for believers in Jesus to think the same; even if we don’t admit it or say it out loud.

 

The Lordship of Jesus the Christ means that followers of Him cannot ever say “no” to Him. Never.

If He is our Lord. Then He is our biggest Boss!

When we do say “no” to Jesus, we are “too big for our britches” and/or we have shrunk Him in our thinking.

Back in the New Testament days, John the Baptist gained a rather high profile; then the Lord Jesus appeared one day to be baptized and to start His public ministry.

On that occasion John immediately put himself in proper 2nd place to Christ the Lord.

He said: “He must increase and I must decrease.”

May we say and mean the same because it is not about us.



10:30 AM SUNDAYS

Elders PrayerZechariah 4:6B gives believers an important truth:
” …  not by might nor by power, but by My Spirit, says the Lord of hosts”.

Each Lord’s Day morning at about 10:30 the Pastors meet in my office to pray for God the Holy Spirit to mightily move in the Worship Service exalting Christ & transforming Christ’s followers & calling the lost to repentance-faith.

This is not a ritual. This is a necessity.

2 Corinthians 10:3-4:
“For though we walk in the flesh, we do not war according to the flesh, for the weapons of our warfare are not of the flesh, but divinely powerful for the destruction of fortresses. We are destroying speculations and every lofty thing raised up against the knowledge of God, and we are taking every thought captive to the obedience of Christ …”.

James 5:16B: ” … The effective prayer of the righteous man can accomplish much”.

When we pray, God works; when we fail to pray, we merely work.



I LOVE MY THIN WINDOWS

Smiling KidsMy office has thin window panes. I love it because I can hear what’s going on in the church parking lot.
This morning I heard the singing voice of a very young child.
He was in enthusiastically singing “I love to tell the story of Jesus and his love”.
I clear example of a brand-new heart at a very young age.
Do you and I love to tell the story? When did we last do so?
What’s in our insides comes out to the outside.
Ephesians 5:18-19:
” … be filled with the Spirit, speaking to one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody with your heart to the Lord …”


WHAT TIME IS IT?

WatchThis is my grandfather Witherspoon’s watch. It is at least 50 years old.
 
By accident I went swimming with it this week. It is not labeled to be water-resistant or water-proof. Yet it is still keeping perfect time; to me this is pure craftsmanship & grace.
 
Like the believer’s state as put forward in Philippians 2:12B – 13:
” … work out your salvation with fear and trembling (craftsmanship); for it is God who is at work in you, both to will and to work for His good pleasure (grace)”
TIC-TOC. TIC-TOC.


A TEAM

CBC StaffThis is our church’s quality & fun on-site ministry team.
We meet together every Tuesday morning for Bible study, prayer and administrative communication.
It is always one of the highlights of my week!
We all have different roles. Yet one shared ambition: Facilitating service to Christ among our brothers & sisters who make up the Incredible Body of Christ, to the glory of God.
1 Corinthians 12:27 captures this:
“Now you are Christ’s body, and individually members of it.”
How about passing along encouragement to any of the members of this team when you see them next?
It is truly our pleasure to serve the King of Kings by serving you all!