Christianity

PREPARE FOR THE STORM PT. 2

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Our church has been given a seven part statement for 2024, through the congregational gift of prophecy. We are calling this statement the congregational sentence for 2024. It reads: “Prepare! Prepare! Prepare! Prepare you Spirit (come out of the decay of your strongholds). Prepare your Souls(Prepare to practice and feel compassion). Prepare your facility (your structures, infrastructures and plans). Prepare for the storm (Pray for action plan, Pray for a spirit of perseverance). Prepare your witness (know your gifts, earn the right to speak, build your relationships with those outside the church, build your example). Prepare your hope and faith (think hope, speak hope, act in hope). Prepare your love (love each other, love the people in your towns, love those who disagree with you, love through the doors that open).“

I am breaking these seven prepare statements 21 devotional which will be posted on Mondays throughout the year. Here is our eleventh devotional of the series.

DEVOTIONAL THOUGHT # 11: PREPARE FOR THE STORM (PRAY FOR ACTION PLANS, PRAY FOR A SPIRIT OF PERSEVERANCE)

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What else do we know for sure about the coming storm that will help us prepare?

As Jesus was sitting on the Mount of Olives, the disciples came to him privately. “Tell us,” they said, “when will this happen, and what will be the sign of your coming and of the end of the age?”

4 Jesus answered: “Watch out that no one deceives you. 5 For many will come in my name, claiming, ‘I am the Messiah,’ and will deceive many. 6 You will hear of wars and rumors of wars, but see to it that you are not alarmed. Such things must happen, but the end is still to come. 7 Nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom. There will be famines and earthquakes in various places. 8 All these are the beginning of birth pains.

9 “Then you will be handed over to be persecuted and put to death, and you will be hated by all nations because of me. 10 At that time many will turn away from the faith and will betray and hate each other, 11 and many false prophets will appear and deceive many people. 12 Because of the increase of wickedness, the love of most will grow cold, 13 but the one who stands firm to the end will be saved. 14 And this gospel of the kingdom will be preached in the whole world as a testimony to all nations, and then the end will come.Ma. 24:3-14

The storm ahead will bring many false belief systems and false hopes of salvation outside of Jesus Christ. We must be prepared for this, and hold onto the truth that Jesus is the only way, the only truth the only life. No one will come to the Father or eternal life, but through Him.

The storm ahead will be a time of large scale war and conflict across the Earth. Mankind cannot establish peace. Only God can do that. As mankind allows less and less room for God in the public arena conflict can only escalate. We must in the midst of this storm become what Jesus called, in Matthew 5, a peacemaker. 

PRAY THAT IN THE DAYS AHEAD GOD WOULD HELP US AS A CHURCH TO BE A COMMUNITY THAT KEEPS THE GOSPEL MESSAGE AT ITS CENTER AND A COMMUNITY THAT CREATES PEACE IN THE MIDST OF GROWING CONFLICT.

PREPARE FOR THE STORM PT. 1

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Over the course of the last year Cornerstone has been given a congregational sentence that comes through the many prophetic words which have been spoken to us. That sentence says: “Prepare! Prepare! Prepare! Prepare you Spirit (come out of the decay of your strongholds). Prepare your Souls(Prepare to practice and feel compassion). Prepare your facility (your structures, infrastructures and plans). Prepare for the storm (Pray for action plan, Pray for a spirit of perseverance). Prepare your witness (know your gifts, earn the right to speak, build your relationships with those outside the church, build your example). Prepare your hope and faith (think hope, speak hope, act in hope). Prepare your love (love each other, love the people in your towns, love those who disagree with you, love through the doors that open).“

We are currently doing a devotional series which breaks down these seven “Prepare statements” into bite sized pieces. Let’s begin talking about the next “prepare statement” on our list.

PREPARE FOR THE STORM (PRAY FOR ACTION PLANS, PRAY FOR A SPIRIT OF PERSEVERANCE)

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I have already been asked a few times, what I think the storm we are to prepare for, is. Well I could give you my thoughts on the matter, but they would just be my thoughts. I have my ideas about how this storm might play out, but we aren’t tied to my ideas of what-ifs and wherefores. We have Scripture to tell us some specifics about the storm of the last days. Let’s take a look.

But mark this: There will be terrible times in the last days.2 People will be lovers of themselves, lovers of money,boastful, proud, abusive, disobedient to their parents,ungrateful, unholy, 3 without love, unforgiving, slanderous, without self-control, brutal, not lovers of the good,4 treacherous, rash, conceited, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God— 5 having a form of godliness but denying its power. Have nothing to do with such people. 2 Timothy 3:1-5

We know the storm will take the form of a culture of: prideful selfishness, self- promotion, lovelessness, anger, backstabbing, violence, constant danger, short-sightedness and interested only in entertainment rather than the good of society. In short our current culture is the storm. It is a category two hurricane right now. It is intensifying. We have not seen the storm in its full glory yet.

How do we protect ourselves against this part of the storm? I think the following verses are among some of the most important verses in the Bible for the days ahead.

But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, 23 gentleness and self-control. Against such things there is no law. 24 Those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires. 25 Since we live by the Spirit, let us keep in step with the Spirit. 26 Let us not become conceited,provoking and envying each other. Galatians 5: 22-26

PRAY THAT GOD WOULD GROW US IN EACH FRUIT OF THE SPIRIT.

HOPE IN RESURRECTION

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We continue to stand with Mom in the In Between place as she waits to walk into the embrace of Jesus.

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It has been a bit surreal walking through this year’s Holy Week with the spectre of death just around the corner every moment. At the same time the hope of resurrection has also been with us throughout the week.

We have been listening to Christian music exclusively since Thursday morning. No television shows. No news. Just worship. We are filling the house with the praises of our God to help Mom’s passing be one of “peace that passes all understanding”. Just today Brenda and I were listening to People and Songs and this song just really spoke. https://youtu.be/ed_pL2MDqNU?t=22

Today Amanda, James and Kristine took Lela, Cloddles and Sevy to see the Easter Bunny at our town’s Easter Egg Hunt.

You can’t tell these two are sisters can you?
My daughter Melanie dressed up as our town’s Easter Bunny…the kids had absolutely no idea.
Quite a haul.

Tomorrow Deacon Jody Clapp and DLT Director Carrie Hackett will be sharing the sermon for Easter in my absence. Melanie will be leading the worship and Pastor Amanda will be performing the baptism. Our life keeps moving forward, even in the face of death, because even death must bow before the hope of resurrection.

This is the hope our family is functioning in. As hard as this process is, we know this is not the end. It is just a transition.

These flowers came for Brenda today from her lifelong friend Barbie, to remind us that the world is full of color and that hope remains!

IN BETWEEN

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It is quiet now. Joe has gone off to work at school and the rest of the house is still asleep. I can hear the quiet rattle of mom’s breath in the other room as she walks the In Between place between life and death.

We are in the last days, now, of this hospice process, at least as far as any of us can predict this kind of thing. Mom awoke yesterday with great pain in her arms. Her right arm had swollen again. Mom’s kidneys are shutting down and she is retaining fluid.

Her arms have swollen before, but yesterday was different. There was shaking and more confusion, much, much more. Then she went to sleep. Pain and shaking came back a few hours later and we began medicating to stay ahead of the pain.

The nurse came to put in a catheter because Mom’s body cannot void without help now. She has been resting quietly since. Her oxygen level is very low but her breathing is not labored. She seems peaceful and that is our prayer for her, that she may depart in peace.

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On this Good Friday, our family is standing vigil with Mom. We are in the In Between with her watching, as watchmen on the walls, for the time when Jesus will come to take her unto Himself.

“Do not let your hearts be troubled. You believe in God[a]; believe also in me. 2 My Father’s house has many rooms; if that were not so, would I have told you that I am going there to prepare a place for you? 3 And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come back and take you to be with me that you also may be where I am. John 14: 1-3

SPRING FESTIVAL WEEK #2: AN ICY SPRING

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THIS POST IS WRITTEN IN RESPONSE TO DAWN’S SPRING FESTIVAL CHALLENGE. CHECK IT OUT!

Once again New England has not disappointed. Spring has given me some beautiful photos….just not of flowers.

Holy Week started out with an ice storm that put many of our congregants in the dark. While the Vicarage never lost power, the towns directly North of us were without power for almost forty-eight hours.

It was a chilly start to the week, but not without its beauty.

…and the ice made a beautiful backdrop for our Palm Sunday parade.

The Spring rains have come now. The ice has melted away, possibly for the last time. The temperature is now in the forties. Maybe this next week we will see some actual budding in the trees. I know the birds are anxious for Spring. I can hear it in their songs.

Freezing Flower Of Promise

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Soooo cold….. It is 19 degrees with a windchill on this fine Spring day. To top it off we have 2- 4 inches of snow coming tonight.

But it its Spring and I am thinking of gardens. I really want to work outdoors this Spring and summer. To clean up. To burn brush. To plant. To water. To weed even. And to harvest!

At this time of year Spring snows are to be expected, even if they are never welcomed. The promise and the hope, of course, is that the snow will not last. It will come and it will go as do all of life’s trials. The roses will bloom again. Until then we hold onto the hope of flowers yet to grow and the memory of flowers faded and passed like the one above.

HERE IS A SONG ABOUT ALL THAT.

THIS POST WAS WRITTEN IN RESPONSE TO CEE’S FLOWER OF THE DAY CHALLENGE.

TRAINING WHEELS COMING OFF

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In my last coaching session I used a couple of similes to describe how my mother’s hospice care makes me feel. I said it makes me feel like Nemo at the edge of the reef staring out at the open ocean.

I also said it felt like the training wheels were about to come off of my bicycle.

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In ministry, I have always struggled with not getting consumed by the expectations of others. It has been hard to navigate the waters of what other people think I should be doing as. minister. I have a problem with approval addiction.

Since I moved in with my mother over a decade ago, her health has been a concern and a governor for the amount of ministry I could do. As her health has declined over these last three or four years the ministry has become more governed. I have had to prioritize the things I really felt God telling me to do, THE FOUR THINGS, and let the rest of people’s expectations go.

Now as our family faces Mom’s passing I am faced with a question about how I will navigate ministry after her passing. Without her health concerns to guard, guide and keep me focused, will I fall back into old habits of being consumed by the ministry expectations of others? Will the old monster of approval addiction once again rear its ugly head and take control of how I work?

My coach asked me a good question in my last session with him: “What will be the new governors of your ministry work?”

I do worry about my ability to say “No!”

I do worry that my agenda will not be enough.

I know I need an intentionally thought out plan or I may just go back to…. old ways….old days.

WHAT ARE SOME OF THE THINGS YOU USE TO KEEP YOURSELF FROM GETTING DISTRACTED?