H.E.A.R. method of reading God’s Word

There are four important truths to learn:

1. Take God seriously

He is the Sovereign God of the universe. He is not the man upstairs or the good guy next door. From the day of our conception to the day of our death we are to hold Him in awe.

2. Believe His Word

We have the mind and heart of God in print. Many paid a great price to hand it off to each of us. He is honored as we read and heed His message from His own lips that are breathed out in print in our own language. The Word changes us to His truth.

3. Confess Sin Quickly

Get your minds off of the evening news or any news that would preoccupy you. It’s a fog that can disillusion you from the real world. Yes, be in the know, but do not allow your life to be accumulating sin. Confess and walk with God under a full sun.

4. Refuse All Hypocrisy

Be who you are and not who others will you to be. Find your identity in the Lord Jesus Christ. Keep yourself off of the pedestals of this world or even your own world. Humble yourself under the mighty hand of God. We are accountable to Him.

Left Behind (Preached on March 29th, 2020) Matthew 24:36-41
Prophecy seems to be out of place these days in our preaching unless a tragedy takes place. People go immediately to sensationalism to scourging the preaching but we need to go to the Scripture. The soon coming of the Lord seems to as common as American as apple pie, hotdogs, and baseball. We don’t think much about it. But we should! Jesus is coming again.
Our world is anxious today and worried. Everything has been turned upside down. Jobs are shut down, parking lots are empty, nonessential businesses have closed. And the church is emptied of its congregants. Jesus said, “Let not your heart be troubled, ye believe in God, believe also in me…” (John 14:1). The Lamb of God is coming for the lambs of God. We are seeing a dress rehearsal for the coming tribulation.
People don’t believe in the rapture. Enoch did. Elijah did. Jesus did. Paul did. One day Jesus is coming back to catch us away. You find that in I Thessalonians 4:13ff. Who are going to be taken up with Him? The ones who have been born again, who have the same nature as God. Those who have a second birth. Those who follow Jesus as Lord on earth.
Some things out of place at this time. The bride is not with the bridegroom. The Jews are not back in the land of Israel. Satan is not in hell. Jesus is not reigning in Jerusalem from David’s throne. God is preparing all things to fulfill these prophecies.
One day children will disappear from their beds. Moms will be missing. Pilots will be taken up. Bus drivers and car drivers will exit their cars. One man working beside another and one is taken. Two in bed, a man and his wife, and one is taken.

1. A Word of Caution (Matthew 24:36)
   We don’t know when the event will take place but we know it will. Millions will vanish without a trace. It will be a worldwide event. In less than a millisecond, there will be an evacuation, an exit, an entry into the glory to be with the Lord forever. Can you imagine the anguish when loved ones have been taken and many don’t know where they are? We look at the nation of Israel. It was reformed as a nation in 1948. Never has this happened to any other nation or state. Jesus said this is the budding of the fig tree and when this happens the coming of the tribulation is nigh. That means before the tribulation happens the rapture will take place. Only when the true church is taken from this world will we see this happen. The world is awaiting a devastating day. And they do not know it and they are indifferent to it.
2. A Word of Contemplation (Matthew 24:37-41)
   Look at the situation today: politically, economically, ecclesiastically, and morally. Jesus said these things would take place and the world will be shaken from its moorings. Their anchor will be pulled up. Everything people have lived for, sold their souls for, will suddenly, fatally, finally be taken away. Noah preached for 120 years and only 8 got in the ark. He was a preacher of righteousness. With every blow of the hammer, with each cutting down of a tree, with the dabbing of tar on the boards of the ark to waterproof the ark from the water, God was speaking. God is saying things today. Adrian Rogers said, “I would rather scare you into hell than lull you into hell.” Too many are not ready! Mortality is coming, hell is coming, and people are being warned by today’s situations. Too many say they know Christ but the question is does He know them? Many Christians are asleep and they will stand at the judgment seat of God to be shown their bad works before a holy and righteous God.
3. A Word of Concern (Matthew 24: 42-51)
   After the rapture God will focus His concern on the earth. He is going to allow man to continue in their rebellion. They will ruin themselves. Then Satan will come in the person of the Anti-Christ to rule over and stamp his mark of 666 on earth of his subjects. But at the last 3 1/2 years of the Great Tribulation, God will begin to pour out his bowls of judgment upon the earth dwellers. They will cry out for the rocks of the mountains to fall on them and hide them from the wrath of the Lamb of God. Can you imagine that? What should we do as God’s people? Be watchful! Be Warned! Be Awake! What should the lost do? They should repent of their sin, their life of self-serving, self-ambition, and get the life of God in them by turning from their sin and asking God to be merciful unto them.
   One day Jesus is coming. A man went upstairs to the attic. He found an opened box with nuts, bolts, nails, dust, pieces of paper, and some splintered wood. He found a strong magnet and waved it over the box. What leaped to the magnet? The nuts, bolts, and nails. Why? They alone had the same nature as the magnet. Only those who have the same nature of God within will be caught up to Jesus. Those who know Him will be rescued from this world’s chaos that will take place one day. Either party, saved or lost, come to Jesus before it’s too late!

People of God,

If we are His friends then He desires for us to know some future events that affect us and will effectively work in us.

We will be studying the 24th chapter of Matthew for our series of the “Hope-Filled Olivet Discourse”. We will learn the future for the nation of Israel and for the church.

Is the coming of Jesus for His church soon? We will look and study God’s Word and prepare for Him. What about four of His disciples who asked Him for future events? Who were they? Why is it called the Olivet Discourse?

Would you care to know that what is taking place with so many who are not studying the Word of God nor desire to do so? What does the Word of God say about those who are not Christian at all?

Who are the Nationals taken away at the catching away of the church? Can we know when He is coming? Can we know when the second coming of Christ will take place? We have abundant truths in God’s Word. Are there signs of His coming?

What does the rebirth of Israel say to us? All of what we will be looking at will be eye-opening.

Join us and sober up! He is coming soon!

Pastor Don

Did you know that 95 percent of all believers placed their faith in Jesus primarily because of someone in their OIKOS Group? The Greek word “OIKOS” is a noun, it means an extended household. What this means is that you and I have approximately 8 to 15 people that are in our world where you share life most closely. This is your sphere of greatest influence. If I were to ask in a room full of congregants of who came to Christ mainly because of someone who brought you to church, told you about Christ, invited you to hear and become a part of the community of believers, almost everyone (95%) in the church service would raise their hands and say “Yes, someone in my sphere of living invited me to church, to Christ, or was just there to be a sign for salvation.” Most people come to Christ because of someone who was interested in them. So the world-changer is the one who actively encourages people in their relational world (their oikos) to become Christ followers.You can become a World-Changer! It’s not hard, nor is it complex.You just select up to four names who are Pre-Christians who have not placed their faith in Jesus and then you begin to pray for them everyday. You also will pick out Prodigals who are believers but who are not actively pursuing their faith; write them down and pray for them daily. Then there are those who are Purposefuls, believers who are actively pursuing their faith. Take these names, write them down, pray for them. And finally there are the Potentials. These are those who keep showing up on your life’s front burner more often than in the past. You write those names down and pray for them.In all you will have eight to fifteen people that you will pray for everyday.You list their names, pray daily for your names, invest and watch for appropriate ways to be God’s instrument, and invite them to church thoughtfully and regularly, and prepare to become a better example of faith in Christ as well as a more effective witness of His grace. The Bible tells us Jesus said, “Go home to your own people and tell them how much the Lord has done for you, and how he has had mercy on you” (Mark 5:19). This is our oikos.This is how we follow Jesus and become fishers of men.

Very soon the church as a whole will begin to experience the life changing, daily washing of care and compassion for others, and we will begin to see the manifest presence of Christ as we trust and obey. I love you with the love of the Lord! Pray for your OIKOS! Those you go to school with, those who you work with, those who are your neighbors, those who are your relatives, those who are the others. Write them down-8 to 15 and pray and let God do the work through you.

-Pastor Don

Link to Oikos brochure

Many are setting up their Christmas trees and decorations a tad bit earlier this year. The Christmas music is already in the homes and cars of America and around Alamance County. The prospect of a happier time is trying to make its place in our bewildering times in this year of the Pandemic.

Jesus came during days of great distress. The Lord Jesus, Son of God, was birthed into this world of woe. God was contracted to the womb of a mother. He left the world of glory for a world of gore. How it must have broken His heart as He saw this world from His vantage point with the Father. Yet He chose to redeem us from the works of Satan and the power of death which legally Satan held sway over us. Adam surrendered his rule and authority under God and caused great harm!

Remember that our Lord had no real joyful Christmas experience. Everything for Him was deep sorrow as He saw mankind without a Shepherd. The only tree He had to look forward to was the impending tree of death. There were no ornaments, no lights, or presents under that cross of blood. It seemed as if Heaven nor earth wanted Him as He hung on the shameful cross suspended in air.

This world still hates Him, despises Him, ignores Him, and rebukes Him. If it had its choice the world at large would physically have Him murdered again! The infection of sin is incurable in the heart of man. The ego is set so far away from God and can’t cross the chasm it has made for itself. Only God can surgically remove the stain, shame, and guilt and the power of this most disastrous virus of sin. Only He can come to us. Only He is the Great Physician!

Jesus lived in the midst of the wilderness and loneliness of a world living in sin. Nothing around Him satisfied Him or slaked His thirst. What the world gave Him was a Gethsemane and Golgotha and a Judas. What the world presented to Him was a scourging, a crown of thorns, and nails that were pounded into His hands and feet. What kind of presents from our hands for the King of glory! What love that He would give and not to revile or seek vengeance against us but for our healing!

Our Christmas season ought to center in the heart of God. Our total lives daily ought to be of Christ’s heart for His Father, His total obedience to the second person of the Godhead, and for the sons of men from Adam’s fallen human race.

May it be said of us that what we are wishing for this Christmas season is none other but the total glory of Christ! What do you give to a King who has it all? The only thing I know is our total submission to God’s anointed! And the only way to do this is submit ourselves to the Holy Spirit of Christ.

A Merry Christmas is found only in Him! A New Year is only found in Him! Eternal life begins when you bow before Him and repent and believe upon God’s only Name that will save you and me from the ravages of a lost life.

You are loved,
Pastor Don

“I will praise thee, O Lord, among the peoples; I will sing unto thee among the nations” (Psalm 57:11).

A heart that is not awakened to God will cause spiritual drowsiness, but awakened to God will create excitement and praise. There is nothing more boring than a heart that is sleepy toward our great God.

David points to his own heart and says, “My heart is fixed, O God, my heart is fixed; I will sing and and give praise.” What is fixed? The heart, the conscience, the will, the affections which draws the mind afterwards.

While we sleep God is working for us. When David awoke he wanted to tell the whole world what God had done for Him. God answers prayer, and whatever He does is for your good and His glory.