Think and Be Thankful

Redemption through Christ has bought back God’s original design. For His glory, our good, we sense the great call of God upon our lives. Adam and Eve and their children were to extend the blessings of Paradise throughout the entire world, but instead of this purpose, Adam sinned and brought a curse upon the ground for man’s sake. Satan, though defeated, still reigns in his kingdom, but not for long.

Salvation, therefore, restores man to his original calling and purpose, and thus guarantees man’s original mandate. Under the perpetual curse of sin there is no purpose for God to be glorify, though His glory cannot be diminished. But because of God’s amazing grace, when sin and the curse are taken completely away, people will be capable of exercising proper stewardship of the earth and the new earth to come. Heaven will rule and His kingdom will come. Though, at this time, we experience God’s kingdom in our hearts.

Man’s chief end is to glorify God and to enjoy our God forever. One day in the realm of glory this will take place uninterrupted, but in the mean time God has called us as resurrected beings to carry out his plan for developing a Christ-centered, resurrected culture in a dying, decaying world.

Christ’s mission is to both redeem what was lost in the Fall and to destroy all that competes against God’s dominion, authority, and power He wields. When all is placed and put under His feet, when God rules and mankind rules the earth as kings under Christ, the King of kings, at last all will be as God intends. This period of rebellion will be forever over, and the universe, and all who serve Christ, will participate in the Master’s joy!

Take the resource we have provided from the Pocket Testament League, The Gospel of John, and give it out to family, friends, and others through any means you can.

 

The Lottie Moon Christmas is a great way to give so that our foreign missionaries can share the Good News of Christ overseas. Consider a sacrificial gift to enhance and enable. The costs to keep a family overseas, on average, are about $141.00 a day.

 

What a great way to invest the month of December! The Christ of Christmas is coming again!

 

 

God is talking, are we listening? In these last days He is speaking to us through His Son, the Lord Jesus. Times are fleeing and lives are valued by what we do with Jesus. But are we listening? How far have we drifted from God and His voice? Have we become more dull of hearing and distracted by the things of the day? Satan is our invisible enemy.

I am praying that my world will hear what God is saying, and to the church may we hear her Shepherd and draw nigh to His side. The world needs to realize that repentance is a necessity and only the Holy Spirit can reveal Christ to the lost and of its unbelief in His Son. They are dead in trespasses and sins and only He can give life. He is the Creator and Redeemer! All things began by Him and they will end in Him. And all will stand before Him! And one day all will kneel before Him!

The people of God should examine themselves and to repent of her selfishness and fleshly ways. We should know better but we have a drift as well from God’s ways. Our ways are not His ways and therefore we must know Him, hear Him, so as to follow Him. As the church goes so goes the family, the city, the country, and the world. Without the church who is to become a part of the conscience which awakens the sinner all will continue in its apostasy. So will the church listen to what God is saying to her? Will we love, pray, witness, give, confess our need to Him, or will we continue to try to deafen what He is saying? He is slow to judgment and yet He is great in mercy!

May we draw nigh and He has promised to draw nigh to us. Listen to Him!

Pastor Don

February 2021

KMBC Family & Friends,

What a year we have already experienced! Covid has divided many churches, families, and good men. It has broken unity and shattered harmony. What I love about the church of the Living God is that we are bound together, it is not artificial, it is Christ’s body.

The church is marked by truth, “continuing steadfastly in the apostles’ doctrine.” They met together, they truly loved God’s Word and the teachings. They were in one accord for God’s program and Kingdom. Their fellowship was around the Lord’s death and resurrection. And they prayed together.

The church is marked by the tie. We are tied together by the Holy Spirit and our fellowship is in Him for we are identified in Christ as one. We are not two fellows in a ship, we truly fellowship together in Christ.

The church is marked by the table. We fellowship together by the Lord’s table. We recognize His death for each of us as we commune together in the Lord’s Communion.

The church is marked by the throne. We pray together, we receive great power together and His great presence when we meet together to pray.

The world around us will fear God as we fear Him above all fears.

The fear of the pandemic, loss of jobs, etc., have brought in a lot of reactions. Today we see violence, division, delusion, distraction, and deliberate sin. What did Noah do? He kept building. What about Paul? He kept winning souls. What about us? We will continue to rescue the perishing, care for the dying, and pray for the return of Christ.

I don’t know what tomorrow holds but I do know that we need to be ready and prepared. I heard a preacher this morning say “You better eat your ice cream before it melts.” Friends, we better do today what can’t be done tomorrow.

Are we ready? We need to return to Him before He returns.

I love you in the Lord. Pray for me, please. I’m praying ahead, planning ahead, preaching for the times we are in because I love the Lord and I love you.

Pastor Don

Dear Church, 

Our hearts are saddened by all the damage inflicted upon mankind with the destruction from Hurricane Helene. 

May I give some critical thoughts for consideration? 

1. Natural disasters give us the opportunity to respond to God.  We can be angry, especially if it were our house, our business, our child lost in the rushing water, or the fallen tree.  Or we can stand in awe of the mighty power of the Almighty. 

2. The ground shook in Western North Carolina and Eastern Tennessee as did the other states where landfall occurred, and the storm moved up and left.  The only thing that matters to many is to be able to find firm ground to stand upon. 

3. The Bible instructs us to make sure that our lives are built upon a foundation that will never be shaken, a foundation that is not subject to the unpredictable forces of nature. 

4. At Mt. Sinai, the Bible records the first earthquake as God gave the law to Moses.  Why?  God expects and commands those who are created by Him to tremble and be in awe of His power.  His voice speaks of the content of the moral law; the voice of nature (earthquake) spelled out God’s power and authority.  The Ten Commandments shouted His rules for living; the Trembling of Nature shouted His rules for worshipping.  We are to fear Him for this is not only appropriate but commanded. 

5. God also spoke at Mt. Calvary and the earth quaked.  Jesus spoke words of kindness, mercy, and love even while He was being judged for our sins.  We should listen. “Be careful that you do not refuse to listen to the One who is speaking.  For if the people of Israel did not escape when they refused to Listen to Moses, the earthly messenger, we will certainly not escape if we reject the One who speaks to us from heaven!”  When God spoke from Mount Sinai His voice shook the earth, but now he makes another promise:  “Once again I will shake not only the earth but the heavens also.” 

6. The earth will not go on forever.  Earthquakes and hurricanes remind us that life is short and that God will re-create a new heaven and a new earth.  Only what is eternal will remain. 

7. We are to know that tragedies are teachers that instruct us to hold on to Christ tightly and hold everything else loosely. 

The Eternal Kingdom will never be shaken.  Find your Firm ground to stand upon and thank God for His Unshakeable Kingdom. 

Pastor Don 

Dear KMBC Family,

I want to challenge each of us in these summer months to a summer challenge called WON By One. There are at least ten ways we can share the Word of God this summer. You can share God’s Word in your neighborhood, at local events, in a hospital, at a restaurant, at a gasoline station or convenient store, with college students, at a coffee shop, on the go, at work, at a special outreach event, or even family gatherings. I want you to take a gospel tract or the gospel of John and share it with those to whom you meet.

Through prayer, eager expectation, God is able to do more than we can even ask or think. I have ordered some more Gospel of Johns to be given out, but in the meantime take tracts from the entry way and place on your body to give as God prompts you.

The Lord Jesus has called us to make disciples. We start by having our hearts ready and willing to go where He desires. We pray for our Oikos list daily. We wait upon Him for the opportunities that He gives us in sharing the Good News of the Gospel. Then we give them a tract, the gospel of John, and some witness to their hearts verbally or intentionally for the glory of God.

There are so many ways to be a patriot of the Lord Jesus. One of those ways is to give out the gospel and to speak to as many as He leads us too. From time to time I will ask how God has used you this week to speak through Him. Will you take the challenge?

It is time for our hearts to be drawn to the lost and to those who are not on God’s paths of righteousness. We must pray and do the work of the evangelist while it is day!

God’s best to you! You are loved!
Pastor Don