ministry life

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.

UP…DOWN…STUNNED… NUMB…HOPEFUL….DISCOURAGED FROM ONE MINUTE TO THE NEXT

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On Thursday last week, Mom’s health took a stark turn. She woke with intense pain. She went through two bouts of shaking and then descended into unconsciousness. We were told she had days left to live.

Brenda and I together with all the kids prepared ourselves for our vigil with Mom over the Easter weekend. As the world faced Good Friday and looked forward to the Resurrection, we were facing our own very personal deathwatch. The themes of death and resurrection were very real to us as we prayed Mom through to eternity.

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I don’t know how it feels for anyone else to wait with someone who is walking in that space between life and death. I imagine it must feel different for everyone. For me the waiting was a tightening of my chest and a pressure behind my eyes. It felt like I was holding my breath underwater and my ears were filled with sound of the ocean for days.

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On Friday we received more bad news that our one remaining Uncle had a heart attack and was being life-flighted to UMASS Medical Center in Worcester Massachusetts. It was almost more than our hearts could bear as a family.

I have to say I am so grateful for a church family these days. So many congregants reached out to us during this time with prayers and with food (our refrigerator had no more room). Our deacons rose to the occasion for Uncle Tom, knowing that I could not leave my mother’s side for a five hour hospital trip. They visited Uncle Tom and his family at the hospital and prayed with them. On Easter Sunday as Brenda and I waited at mom’s bedside, my daughter Amanda opened the church service and my daughter Melanie led worship for Easter Sunday. One of our Deacons, Jody Clapp and our Church DLT Coordinator, Carrie Hackett preached the Easter Sunday sermon. Amanda officiated the Easter baptism.

We thought Sunday would be Mom’s day to leave us for Heaven, but she was not ready. At about 5 A.M. on Tuesday morning Mom finally entered Jesus’ arms.

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We got news that Uncle Tom was doing well and was expected to make a full recovery.

On Tuesday night I began to get sick. My body I guess had had enough of waiting and pressure and up and down. On Wednesday, my son’s birthday, Brenda commented that I looked very unwell. Truth be told I felt like I was hanging on by a thread. Thursday I was flat on my back for the entire day. What started as a cold turned into a stomach bug.

On Friday we got news that Brenda’s dog, Oliver, in The Netherlands, had eaten some poison and was at a veterinary specialist trying to save his life. Oliver went into renal failure this morning and needed to be put to sleep.

It has been a week of bad news, more bad news, Good news, more good news, bad news, good news and more bad news. To say that we don’t know how to feel, to say that we are stunned, numb, hopeful and discouraged is perhaps the most accurate description of our emotional state at the moment.

I stand at this moment on the shoulders of the Apostle Paul and declare, “But we have this treasure in jars of clay to show that this all-surpassing power is from God and not from us. 8 We are hard pressed on every side, but not crushed; perplexed, but not in despair; 9 persecuted, but not abandoned; struck down, but not destroyed. 10 We always carry around in our body the death of Jesus, so that the life of Jesus may also be revealed in our body. 11 For we who are alive are always being given over to death for Jesus’ sake, so that his life may also be revealed in our mortal body. 12 So then, death is at work in us, but life is at work in you.” 2 Corinthians 4:7-11

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.

PREPARE OUR HOMES PT. 3

/ joseph elon lillie / Leave a comment

This year as our church HAS been given a congregational sentence that comes through the many prophetic words which have been spoken to us over the last year or so. 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).“

seven prepare statements will be broken down into a series of brief devotionals we as a church will be learning to implement over the span of 2024.

Devotion # 9- Prepare your plans (your structures, infrastructures and plans)

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When we talk about preparing our plans what are we talking about? We are talking about our mission, our vision, our core values and the execution of those things.

Let’s refresh our memory about the writing on the wall. Cornerstone’s vision is literally written on the walls of Cornerstone Church.

OUR PURPOSE: Souls Saved and Lives Changed! How are you doing in this arena? Are people coming to Jesus because of your witness? Are lives being changed because of something you are doing?

OUR VISION: To know Jesus and to make Him Known! How are we doing? Are people coming to know Jesus in relationship because of us? Because of you?

OUR MISSION: While doing life together • We will Reach the Lost • By Sending the Found • As We Discover Our Gifts • To Change this World! Three years ago we began doing life together with each other in DLT groups. Two years ago we began reaching out to our community to do life together with them. This year we must really begin to understand and use our gifts in community to change the worlds around us. THIS YEAR WE ARE SENDING THE FOUND DEEPER INTO COMMUNITY. 

DO YOU KNOW WHERE GOD IS SENDING YOU? 

DO YOU KNOW WHAT YOUR GIFT IS AND HOW TO USE IT ONCE YOU ARE IN THE PLACE GOD WOULD SEND YOU?