Archive for the ‘Wesley United Methodist Church’ Category

Pastor’s Ponderings, Wonderings, Wanderings

June 15, 2012

Our Bible Study time each week for the past 7 weeks has been centered around the book “Heaven” by Randy Alcorn.  Dr. Alcorn does a wonderful job of reaching into the Bible and gleaning scriptures that refer to Heaven.  This week we took up another book called “90 Minutes in Heaven” by Don Piper.  I recommend either of these books as a very rewarding and inspirational read.  In each of these books I am reminded that there is a very great reward that none of us living today deserve so let’s give thanks for our belief in Jesus Christ.  It is just that belief that gets us that reward and there is nothing else required of us.

When I think about this gift God has given us it turns my heart towards the loving relationship that He desires us to have with Him.  He loves us no matter what we do and that love poured out upon everyone on this earth helps me to think about returning that love to Him.  Not because it is required but because when I think about Him my heart is warmed and His love is reflected in me and from me.  When am I reflecting that love?  When I am visiting those who are homebound!  When I am smiling at those whom I meet each day!  When I am helping someone in need!  When I am doing the things that reflect God’s love for His world.  I have to look at all of these things not as things I do but as God’s love for us being poured out from me as a willing vessel.

You see I truly believe that if you love someone you do things for them because you love them.  God loves us and has done and is doing for us just because He loves us.  Our response to that love should be that we show our love for Him by being His willing vessels that pour His love out on the world.

Smile at someone today! Better yet smile at everyone today!  Smile because you know God loves you and because you know you love God!  It is a marriage made in Heaven!

Pastor Randy

Lectionary Scriptures for 6-17-12

June 11, 2012

Lectionary Scriptures for 6-10-12

June 8, 2012

Pastor’s Ponderings, Wonderings, Wanderings

May 28, 2012

This is Memorial Day and it is a day of remembering and honoring those who have given so much for their country. While this can be a time of sorrow as we remember those who have sacrificed everything up to and including their lives, we must also remember why so many have sacrificed so much. Our freedom and our way of life depends on their sacrifice. So lets also remember those who are currently serving our country in all of the military armed services. Let’s remember them in our prayers. Pray for their safety, for peace and for sanity in this crazy world we live in.

As we are praying let’s remember that there is nothing in the teachings of Jesus Christ that supports war. His way is a way of peace that reaches out in love to all. Let’s remember that as believers in God and Jesus as the Christ we should be praying for our country to find peaceful solutions to all disagreements in this world. Too many times throughout history men have taken destructive paths in the name of Jesus and we must always remember that it is not a teaching of Jesus to cause harm to anyone.

So we must pray for our country and it’s leadership. Pray that they will seek peaceful solutions to every crisis we are facing as a country.  When our leadership chooses or is forced into military action, then we must pray the action we take will be quick and decisive with little or no loss of life on either side.  We must pray that all who are involved will come home safely and if they make the ultimate sacrifice then we must pray for their families to be filled with the grace of God and be able to reach out to the world with the love of Jesus Christ.  Pray for all of those who serve in times of war because so many suffer from the stress of war and all of its horrors.  Pray that they may be able to return home and live a life of peace with pride in their service to their country.

Well I guess the question is “Are you praying for those in the military, past and present, for your country, for those who have suffered loss of any kind?”  I believe that our prayers for those who are or have been in service to our country and their families are the best way for us to remember and honor them.

Have a blessed Memorial Day by spending at least a part of it in prayer,  Randy

Lectionary Scripture May 27, 2012 Day of Pentecost

May 21, 2012

Pastor’s Ponderings, Wonderings, Wanderings

May 16, 2012

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Our Bible Study is about Heaven and all that it promises us.  For me this is pretty close to Heaven on earth. I love being around and with my grandchildren because they bring me such joy and happiness.  Isn’t that what Heaven is about, joy and happiness. Randy Alcorn’s book Heaven tells us all that the bible has to say about Heaven and our life there eternally.  View the slideshow and you see what heaven is for me here on this earth.  As a Pastor it is a blessing and an honor to perform a baptism and it is a little bit of heaven to be able to Baptize your grandchildren.  Emilee came along and I did not get to actually baptize her but the other three I was able to perform the baptism myself and God was there leading me and guiding me and blessing the ceremony.  Yes I am in Heaven, all of my grandchildren have been baptised in the church of Jesus Christ and I am one happy Pappy.

These pictures are of Georgia’s Baptism on Sunday the 13th of May.

Lectionary Scripture May 17, 2012 Ascension of the Lord

May 16, 2012

Lectionary Scripture May 20,2012 Seventh Sunday of Easter

May 14, 2012

Pastor’s Ponderings, Wonderings, Wanderings

May 9, 2012

This is the cross on Wesley UMC. I like to think it is reaching up to  the heavens carrying prayers to our savior.

In our study on Heaven we had discussion on what will Heaven be like.  Will it be clouds and harps? Will it be peaceful?  Will it be boring?  Will there be something for us to do?  Will we be in physical bodies?  Will we be spiritual beings?  Lots of other questions were asked and some were answered based on the book “Heaven” by Randy Alcorn.  Here is an excerpt from that book that gives us some answers:

In Genesis 3, the earth’s first radical transition (mankind’s fall and first judgment) can be seen as one bookend of human history. In Revelation 20, we see the second bookend in the earth’s last radical transition (Christ’s return and last judgment), creating a picture of great symmetry. In Genesis, God plants the Garden on Earth; in Revelation, he brings down the New Jerusalem, with a garden at its center, to the New Earth. In Eden, there’s no sin, death, or Curse; on the New Earth, there’s no more sin, death, or Curse. In Genesis, the Redeemer is promised; in Revelation, the Redeemer returns. Genesis tells the story of Paradise lost; Revelation tells the story of Paradise regained. In Genesis, humanity’s stewardship is squandered; in Revelation, humanity’s stewardship is triumphant, empowered by the human and divine King Jesus. These parallels are too remarkable to be anything but deliberate. These mirror images demonstrate the perfect symmetry of God’s plan. We live in the in-between time, hearing echoes of Eden and the approaching footfalls of the New Earth. Paul Marshall concludes, “This world is our home: we are made to live here. It has been devastated by sin, but God plans to put it right. Hence, we look forward with joy to newly restored bodies and to living in a newly restored heaven and earth. We can love this world because it is God’s, and it will be healed, becoming at last what God intended from the beginning.”72 The earth matters, our bodies matter, animals and trees matter, matter matters, because God created them and intends them to manifest his glory. And as we’ll see in the following chapters, the God who created them has not given up on them any more than he has given up on us.

A new earth that has perfect everything. Perfect grass, water, air, dirt, animals, humans, sky, wind, temperature, hair, skin, society and okay I snuck that perfect hair in there to see if you were paying attention but why not perfect hair.  Well we may not know based on scripture exactly what everything will be like but we can say that it is going to be three gasp good. That’s oh, oooh, oooooh, my goodness (I know it is completely understated) and I am looking forward to the moment when I am able to meet my savior in our eternal home.  Have a great evening, morning and week.  Remember that it is all about the savior we know and the life we lead.

Randy

Lectionary Scripture May 13, 2012 Sixth Sunday of Easter

May 7, 2012