SUNDAY, DECEMBER 26, 2021
“Thanks be to God for His indescribable gift!” II Corinthians 9:15
During the Sundays of Advent we have been looking at the Word of God and discovering some of the different possibilities that God’s grace can bring into our lives as Christians. The beauty of God’s wondrous grace can be compared to the many facets of a diamond. We have been reminded that His grace offers us love, joy, peace, and patience, all of which are beyond words! We know that Jesus lived in a manner that reflected all that God’s grace offers, and you and I can walk by faith in the same manner. Even though Jesus demonstrated to the fullest measure these “softer” graces, He never appeared weak. He lived a life of strength and purpose that never compromised the righteousness of God. You and I can live that life also by faith!
Amy Carmichael was thinking and writing about Christians having “the mind of Christ” and living with the same attitude that He lived with. She was specifically sharing the Word from Philippians 2:1-5 which includes, “Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus.”
“If we are to prove that it is possible for people from different parts of the family of God, as well as from different countries, to live together in happiness, then what Paul calls the mind of Christ must be in us.
“’Mind’ there means ‘forbearance, gentleness, yieldingness.’ This does not mean that we are to be jellyfish, things without backbone, flabby. It does not mean that convictions are to be watered down till they disappear. But it does mean that in each of us there must be a gentleness, an inner sweetness that cannot possibly harbor an unkind thought, and a brave and generous love like our Lord’s.”
The life and love of Jesus Christ is our pattern. God is looking for and calling individuals from His family to be firm yet warm, strong yet kind. One particular author from decades ago wrote books for men in which he described “men of velvet and men of steel.” The world needs strong Christians who are not afraid to be understanding and kind. Let’s ask the Lord to make us all such people!
Waiting and watching!
Pastor Doug
SUNDAY, DECEMBER 12, 2021 THE THIRD SUNDAY IN ADVENT
“Thanks be to God for His indescribable gift!” II Corinthians 9:15
The Bible teaches us that there is “knowledge” or “information” that is unknowable by mere rational logic. The words “beyond understanding” or “inexpressible” remind us that sometimes God’s truth is beyond human power to tell or describe. The good news is that God can and will “reveal” that “unknowable” information to us who ask and seek His revelations of deep, rich truth that transform our lives. Paul helps us to understand this when he wrote to the Corinthians: “But we speak the wisdom of God in a mystery, the hidden wisdom which God ordained before the ages for our glory, which none of the rulers of this age knew… But God has revealed them to us through His Spirit!” (I Cor. 2: 7, 8, 10.) What a tremendous gift that God would grace us with special knowledge of His “hidden wisdom!”
Over the past two weeks, we have heard about love “which passes knowledge,” and joy “inexpressible and full of glory.” God wants to impart these spiritual graces to us that we might be able to live in the reality of their existence within our hearts. Today we will learn about peace “which surpasses all understanding.” Certainly we are all aware of the need for peace in this world today.
An angel appeared to some shepherds “living out in the fields” to announce the birth of “a Savior, who is Christ the Lord.” Then suddenly a great big group out of the heavenly host appeared and said together, “Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, goodwill toward men!” Jesus came into the world as the King of Peace, also known as the Prince of Peace. What we all need much more of these days is the presence of that King in order for His peace to be known throughout the world. Mr. Longfellow wrote, “There is no peace on earth, for hate is strong and mocks the song of peace on earth, goodwill to men.” But then he wrote, “God is not dead, nor doth He sleep; the wrong shall fail, the right prevail, with peace on earth, goodwill to men!”
Let’s prepare our hearts in anticipation of God’s indescribable gift! God is still God, and He does give peace to all who trust and yield to Him! His kingdom is coming!
Waiting and Watching!
Pastor Doug
SUNDAY, DECEMBER 5, 2021 THE SECOND SUNDAY IN ADVENT
“Thanks be to God for His indescribable gift!” II Corinthians 9:15
During this year’s Advent and Christmas celebrations, we will be considering the verse from II Corinthians 9:15 and opening our minds and hearts to the significance of “His indescribable gift!” In the context of Paul’s letter to the Corinthians, he is discussing the fact that “God is able to make all grace abound toward us.” Paul is exhorting the believers to participate in the ministry of giving because God has made that possible through “the exceeding grace” that is within each child of God. God’s grace in us is the indescribable gift! It is difficult to articulate because the power of the Holy Spirit through the grace of God working in our physical lives is beyond normal human comprehension. Paul expressed this “super-idea” in another of his writings: “Now to Him who is able to do exceedingly abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that works in us….” (see Ephesians 3:20). God’s “indescribable gift” is above, beyond what we can even think!
Last Sunday, the first Sunday in Advent, the specific gift of God to us that was preached about is the first listed in the “fruit of the Spirit” as Paul described it in Galatians 5:22. That gift is love. This week, the sermon will present truth about the second in the list of the fruit of the Spirit, joy. As part of His indescribable gift, joy is what God wants to impart to every one of His children. When believers walk in the Spirit of God and allow Him to fill and control their lives, they will experience joy! Joy will characterize the life of those who reign in life by One, Jesus Christ. According to Romans 5:17, we will reign because we have received abundance of grace and of the gift of righteousness. Here is what Amy Carmichael wrote about reigning in life.
“These words were written to ordinary people, many of whom were slaves. Think of a slave’s work. Household slaves had to cook great, wasteful feasts and wash up endless dishes. Others had to teach, or to toil hard under an overseer’s whip in fields and quarries and on roads. It was hard, lonely, loveless work, and yet Paul told them that they could reign in life.
“Every time we conquer a temptation to be lazy, to grumble, to be downhearted, to pity ourselves, to quarrel, to resent being told our faults (which is true pride), to be ungrateful, to be unfaithful in small things, we reign in life. Let us ask for His help through whom alone we can reign in life today.”
Let’s prepare our hearts in anticipation of God’s indescribable gift! We will reign in life, and joy will fill our souls!
Waiting and Watching!
Pastor Doug
SUNDAY, NOVEMBER 28, 2021 THE FIRST SUNDAY IN ADVENT
“Thanks be to God for His indescribable gift!” II Corinthians 9:15
It is a long-established tradition in the church to celebrate the four Sundays prior to Christmas Day as the season of Advent. The word has the meaning of “coming” or “the reaching of a destination.” It is a time to remember the coming of the Messiah into the world to save us from our sins. It is also a time to be encouraged that the Lord Jesus will appear on the earth a second time “without sin” to usher in the full effects of the salvation He has purchased for us all. During this special season we should reflect on how His appearing has impacted our lives presently and how wonderful it will be when He comes and sets up His throne on this earth. King Jesus is coming again! Are you and I fully prepared for that great future event?
During this year’s celebrations, we will be considering the verse from II Corinthians 9:15 and opening our minds and hearts to the significance of “His indescribable gift!” In the context of Paul’s letter to the Corinthians, he is discussing the fact that “God is able to make all grace abound toward us.” Paul is exhorting the believers to participate in the ministry of giving because God has made that possible through “the exceeding grace” that is within each child of God. God’s grace in us is the indescribable gift! It is difficult to articulate because the power of the Holy Spirit through the grace of God working in our physical lives is beyond normal human comprehension. Paul expressed this “super-idea” in another of his writings: “Now to Him who is able to do exceedingly abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that works in us….” (See Ephesians 3:20). God’s “indescribable gift” is above, beyond what we can even think!
I am praying that many of us will enter into a manifestation and experience God’s grace working in our personal lives. The overall theme of the “Indescribable Gift” will be viewed during the four Sundays of Advent according to the following schedule for each individual Sunday.
1st Sunday in Advent, November 28: The Gift = LOVE!
2nd Sunday in Advent, December 5: The Gift = JOY!
3rd Sunday in Advent, December 12: The Gift = PEACE!
4th Sunday in Advent, December 19: The Gift = PATIENCE!
Let’s prepare our hearts in anticipation of God’s indescribable gift!
Waiting and Watching!
Pastor Doug
NOVEMBER 21, 2021 COMMUNION SUNDAY
“Behold, how good and how pleasant it is for brethren to dwell together in unity! It is like the precious oil upon the head,
running down on the beard, the beard of Aaron, running down on the edge of his garments. It is like the dew of Hermon,
descending upon the mountains of Zion; for there the Lord commanded the blessing – life forevermore.” Psalm 133:1-3
There is no real possibility of a “Lone-Ranger” Christian. The Bible clearly teaches us that all believers have a bond between them that is supernatural in its origin and nature. Paul wrote, “For by one Spirit we were all baptized into one body…and have been made to drink into one Spirit.” (I Corinthians 12:13) The Holy Spirit makes every believer a “member of the body of Christ” and “members one of another.” (See Ephesians 4:25.) We might not always live in the real experience of that relationship; nevertheless it is a reality because God makes it a reality. Paul wrote to encourage believers to practice caring for each other as members of the same body.
Throughout the Bible, the word “discord” is always presented in a negative manner and always carries God’s displeasure on those who foster that discord. Proverbs records that God hates certain things and in that list are “a false witness who speaks lies, and one who sows discord among brethren.” (6:16-19) God works to make sure there is “no schism” in His body and so should we. (See I Corinthians 12:24-25.) Our faith is most encouraged and strengthened when we walk with those of like-minded faith and are committed to one another in genuine Christian love.
Our Lord Jesus spoke the following words in the Upper Room during their celebration of the Passover (what we now remember in our Communion service): “A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another; as I have loved you, that you also love one another. By this all will know that you are My disciples, if you have love for one another.” (John 13:34-35) The Apostle John later recorded, “We know that we have passed from death to life, because we love the brethren. He who does not love his brother abides in death.” This confirms the fact that God gives the blessing of life evermore in the midst of a loving fellowship and not where hate and bitterness prevail.
We are encouraged to “put on love, which is the bond of perfection.” (Colossians 3:14) Let’s set our hearts on seeing Jesus make Needmore Bible Church a fellowship of grace, mercy, and love. Let’s cry out to the Lord and ask Him to fill our hearts with His great and wonderful love!
In His love,
Pastor Doug
SUNDAY – NOVEMBER 14, 2021
“The thief does not come except to steal, and to kill, and to destroy. I have come that they may have life,
and that they may have it more abundantly.” John 10:10
That verse has been committed to my memory for 49 years. It became important to me personally and also “vocationally.” My desire has been that God would use me to help people experience this abundant life that Jesus said He came into the world to give to us. There have been hundreds, perhaps even thousands of commentaries, sermons, and devotionals written in an effort to explain the grace that this statement of Jesus offers us all. The following from Andrew Murray’s Living a Prayerful Life is a wonderful and clear explanation of John 10:10.
“A man may have life, and still through lack of nourishment or through illness there may be no abundance of life or power. This was the distinction between the Old Testament and the New. In the former there was life under the law, but not the abundance of grace of the New Testament. Christ had given life to His disciples, but they could receive the abundant life only through His resurrection and the gift of the Holy Spirit.
“All true Christians have received life from Christ. The majority, however, know nothing about the more abundant life that He is willing to bestow. Paul speaks constantly of this. He says of himself that the grace of God was exceedingly abundant, that he could do all things through Christ. He thanked God, who always caused him to triumph in Christ. He was more than a conqueror through Him who loves us. We must not be satisfied with a weakened life, but must seek an abundant life.
“What is it that particularly constitutes this abundant life? We cannot too often repeat it or in different ways too often explain it: The abundant life is nothing less than Jesus having full mastery over our entire being through the power of the Holy Spirit.”
Throughout the history of the church this life has been called by various names. It has been called the “deeper life.” It has been called the “fuller life” or “fullness of the Spirit.” I don’t care what you call it, but Jesus called it the abundant life. It is a measure and quality beyond “normal” existence. Let’s set our hearts on receiving all that Jesus has come to give us!
I am hungry for all of His grace!
Pastor Doug
SUNDAY – NOVEMBER 7, 2021
“Now to Him who is able to do exceedingly abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that works in us, to Him be glory in the church by Christ Jesus to all generations, forever and ever. Amen.” Ephesians 3:20, 21
Needmore Bible Church has been called to be a praying church. Not just a few of us, but the whole body is called to join in the vision of a church that really prays. We want to be “a house of prayer” just as the Lord designs and desires for us to be. We do not want to be “a den of thieves” and rob people of God’s love and grace and the Lord of His glory. How we pray as a body of believers and with what measure of faith we pray will determine how impactful our ministry will be in this world. Please read the following from Andrew Murray’s Waiting on God.
“…He is able to do for us immeasurably more than all we ask or think, and we are in danger of limiting Him when we always confine our desires and prayers to our own thoughts. It is a good thing at times to say with the psalmist, ‘And now, Lord, what do I wait for?’ That is, I hardly know; I can only say, ‘My hope is in You.’
“We clearly see a limiting of God in the case of Israel. When Moses promised them meat in the wilderness, they doubted, saying, ‘Can God prepare a table in the wilderness…He struck the rock, so that the waters gushed out…. Can He give bread also? Can He provide meat for His people?’ (Psalm 78:19-20, NKJV). If they had been asked whether God could provide streams in the desert, they would have answered yes. God had done it; He could do it again. But when the thought came that God might do something new, they limited Him. Their expectation could not rise beyond past experience or their own thoughts of what was possible. In the same way, we may limit God by our concept of what He has promised or what He is able to do. Let us be careful not to limit the Holy One of Israel by what we pray. Let us believe that the very promises of God we claim have divine merit beyond our thought or imagination.
“In waiting on God, you may grow weary because you don’t know what to expect. But be encouraged. Ignorance is often a good sign. He is teaching you to leave everything in His hands and to wait on Him alone.”
Let us remember that God has declared that there is nothing too hard for Him! Let us remember that with God and our faith nothing is impossible!
I believe in miracles!
Pastor Doug
SUNDAY – OCTOBER 31, 2021
“Then He spoke…to them, that men always ought to pray and not lose heart…And shall God not avenge His own elect who cry out day and night to Him, though He bears long with them? I tell you that He will avenge them speedily. Nevertheless, when the Son of Man comes, will He really find faith on the earth?” Luke 18:1, 7-8
Many of us are seeking an out-pouring of the Holy Spirit to revive us in the work of God. We have been praying that God will “do a work” within us and through us. As we continue praying, we might experience what has been called a “prayer burden.” Consider what Wesley L. Duewel has written about this burden in his book, Mighty Prevailing Prayer.
“We have discussed asking, seeking, knocking, and fasting. Now we consider the fifth level of prevailing prayer: interceding with a prayer burden. This level of intensity is marked by urgency, commitment to the priority of the need, and holy determination to pray until God answers. It is not only knocking at heaven’s gate but prevailing in the Spirit.
“You prevail with prayer burden only by the enablement of the Holy Spirit. He summons you to prayer for the need, guides you in your praying, and fills you with holy desire so intense that it becomes not only a deep concern but a consuming spiritual passion to prevail with God and over Satan.
“Prayer burden begins as an inner impression that you should pray for a known or unknown need. It is a gracious work of the Holy Spirit applying spiritual pressure upon your heart. It is God’s way to call you to intercession at a time when your prayer is needed by God who has ordained to work through the intercession of His children. It is needed and indeed demanded by a situation that cries for God’s answer. The burden is the Spirit’s personal call to you to intercede.” (pp. 194-195.)
Real faith demands that we pray, and that we pray in the manner that Jesus demonstrated. We must pray personally, passionately, and privately. Our prayer must not be showy or used to attempt impressing other people. Our prayer must come out of our “inner man” and be filled with faith that believes that “nothing is impossible” for our great God! Let’s expect to “see” God working in this present time!
Let’s press on in prayer!
Pastor Doug
SUNDAY – OCTOBER 24, 2021
“Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword? As it is written: ‘For Your sake we are killed all day long; we are accounted as sheep for the slaughter.’ Yet in all these things we are more than conquerors through Him who loved us.” Romans 8:35-37
It is certain that the majority of us know that there can be times in life that are not pleasant. In fact, many times it may seem as if there are more difficulties than we can handle. Some people, even believers, are brought to a sense of hopelessness and despair. The Word of God often reminds us though that we must continually trust in our God. We are encouraged to keep trusting in Him no matter how desperate the circumstances might appear. David wrote in Psalm 62, “Trust in Him at all times, you people; pour out your heart before Him; God is a refuge for us.” (Verse 8.) “At all times!” That is when the Word tells us we must trust in Him! Always!
There is a practice for us that will help us to keep trusting the Lord. It is the practice of beginning every day of our lives by recommitting ourselves to His loving care. It is the daily exercise of rededicating and redirecting our lives and minds to the faith we first had in Jesus. We must allow ourselves to be reminded by His Word of this truth: “And the Lord, He is the One who goes before you. He will be with you, He will not leave you nor forsake you; do not fear nor be dismayed.” (Deuteronomy 31:8.)
Amy Carmichael wrote: “We all know the temptation, when something distressing or perplexing happens, to turn to the nearest one, or the wisest and most loving, and talk the thing over with that one. It is right to do this. The help that often comes in this way is the good gift of the ‘Father of Compassions.’ But it does not take the place of the other. Communion with Jesus must come first. When it does not, we weaken and become discouraged. Perhaps we say something or write something better not said or written.
“Our Lord is the great encourager of souls. Our expectation is from Him.”
“Be strong and of good courage, do not fear nor be afraid of them; for the Lord your God, He is the One who goes with you. He will not leave you nor forsake you.” (Deuteronomy 31:6.) Hallelujah!
I will trust the Lord at all times!
Pastor Doug
SUNDAY – OCTOBER 17, 2021
“And God is able to make all grace abound toward you, that you, always having all sufficiency in all things, may have an abundance for every good work.” II Corinthians 9:8
Who is the God we worship, fear and trust? What is His essential nature and character? We should be able to answer that it is the God revealed in and through the Bible. He is revealed as powerful and capable of doing anything. He asked the question, “Is there anything too hard for me?” The implied answer is “NO!” He is also revealed as our Heavenly Father Who has great compassion and loving interest in each of our lives. He is full of mercy and desires to give each of us “good things” out of His rich storehouse of blessings. He wants us to learn to trust Him in all things. He wants us to believe in His strength and goodness toward us regardless the situation or circumstances we might find ourselves in. He is awesome and wonderful! He will never forget nor forsake any of us!
This past Tuesday, many of us read a devotion from Amy Carmichael that is based on II Corinthians 9:8. Think about the following sentence: “This is part of the kindness of God to Whom nothing that concerns us is small.” Wow! These words must remind us that we are the true object of our loving Heavenly Father’s love and interest. Nothing about us is insignificant to the mind and heart of our wonderful God. He cares about every detail of our lives as if the whole universe depended on it.
Then she wrote the last paragraph. “The strong words of II Corinthians 9:8 are like the oleanders (flowers) at the entrance to the difficult way that leads into the city of Petra (a city of refuge and defense). They are full of good cheer and promise good things to come. When the traveler penetrates that forbidding gorge and comes out into the sunshine, he finds oleanders blooming again for him. When we by His grace pass through whatever trial or difficulty that faces us now, we shall find this word waiting to refresh us again. All, always, all, all – that we may abound to every good work.”
He has helped us thus far and will help us all the way to glory!
I am trusting our wonderful Father!
Pastor Doug
SUNDAY – OCTOBER 10, 2021
“I am the true vine, and My Father is the vinedresser. Every branch in Me that does not bear fruit He takes away; and every branch that bears fruit He prunes, that it might bear more fruit.” John 15:1-2
It is clear that the Lord’s great desire is fruit in the life of His church. In the midst of all the difficulties that we have experienced during this past month, I have witnessed fruit in the life of our congregation. I am very grateful to the Lord for each of you who have allowed our Lord to work through you during this season. I rejoice in your faith and trust in God’s continued “work” in the life of NBC. God has been “moving” in special and powerful ways, and we praise Him for what He is going to do in the season in front of us. One morning while reading and meditating in the hospital, I was moved by the following thoughts from Andrew Murray in Abiding in Christ.
“We all know what fruit is – the produce of the branch that refreshes and nourishes humankind. The fruit is not for the branch, but for those who come to harvest it. As soon as the fruit is ripe the branch gives it up, to begin again its work of benevolence in preparing fruit for another season. A fruit-bearing tree does not live for itself, but entirely for those to whom its fruit brings refreshment and life. And so the branch’s whole existence is for the sake of the fruit, while its object and glory is to make the heart of the vinedresser glad.
“What a beautiful image of the believer who is abiding in Christ! He not only grows in strength as his union with the Vine becomes progressively surer and firmer, but he also bears fruit, much fruit to God’s glory. He has the power to offer to others something to eat, and by which they may live. Among all who surround him he becomes like a tree of life, of which they can taste and be refreshed. He is in his circle a center of life and blessing simply because he abides in Christ; he receives from Him the Spirit and the life that he can impart to others. If you would bless others, learn to abide in Christ; and if you do abide, you will indeed be a blessing.”
Brothers and sisters, I am keenly aware that there are many, many hurting and hungry people in this world. They need the fruit that we will bear as we abide in Christ! We do not exist for ourselves! We exist to bear the fruit of Christ for a lost and dying world!
I am thankful that we are a fruitful branch!
Pastor Doug
SUNDAY- SEPTEMBER 12, 2021
“It is not for you to know times or seasons which the Father has put in His own authority. But you shall receive power
when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you shall be witnesses to Me in Jerusalem,
and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth.” Acts 1:7-8
The Holy Spirit is the greatest need of the church in our world today. Without the power of the Holy Spirit enabling the church to accomplish her mission in the world, she will be nothing more than a second-rate social club of some sort. We, the church, are not meant to do battle with the devil and world in the strength of our own flesh. We are no match for the multitudes of demonic forces moving this world in lockstep with the devices of evil. But in the power of the Holy Spirit, “our weapons are not carnal, but mighty in God to the pulling down of strongholds!”
Andrew Murray wrote in The Spirit of Christ: “The work of the indwelling Spirit is to glorify Christ and reveal Him within us. Corresponding to Christ’s threefold office of Prophet, Priest, and King, we find that His work in the believer is set forth in three aspects: enlightening, strengthening, and sanctifying. Of the enlightening, Christ particularly speaks in His farewell discourse, when He promises the Spirit as the Spirit of truth, who will bear witness of Him, will guide into all truth, and will take the things of Christ and declare them unto us. In His epistles to the Corinthians, where wisdom was so sought and prized, the two aspects are combined; they are taught that the Spirit can only enlighten as He sanctifies. In Acts, His strengthening for the work is in the foreground. As the promised Spirit of power, He equips for a bold testimony in the midst of persecution and difficulty.”
Murray writes just two paragraphs later: “A carnal Christian is one who, though regenerate, has not yet yielded himself (herself) entirely to the Spirit so as to become spiritual. They have a portion of the Spirit, but allow the flesh to prevail. So there is a difference between a carnal and a spiritual Christian, depending on which element is strongest in them.”
The demands of the world can only be met by a blood-bought, blood-washed, and Holy Spirit-filled church! Brothers and sisters, if we hope to impact this world for Christ, we must be surrendered to and filled with the Holy Spirit!
I’m trusting in Jesus’ promise of the Holy Spirit!
Pastor Doug
SUNDAY – SEPTEMBER 5, 2021
“The man without the Spirit does not accept the things that come from the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him,
and he cannot understand them, because they are spiritually discerned.” I Corinthians 2:14
One rule of logic and philosophy is that truth is exclusive. If something is true, then all other contradictory things cannot be true. “The ball is red.” If that statement is true, then “The ball is green” cannot also be true. That is the nature of truth. Contradictory statements cannot possibly both be true. Truth is exclusive! The following from Andrew Murray’s The Believer’s Daily Renewal is especially poignant about learning truth.
“The first quality of a student is the willingness to be taught. This implies a consciousness of our own ignorance, a readiness to give up our own way of thinking or doing, and to examine things from the teacher’s standpoint, a quiet confidence that the master ‘knows’ and will teach us to ‘know’ also. Anyone who would know Christ and His Word will study carefully to understand what the Word says but also seek the Spirit’s interpretation.
“Ironically, ‘unlearning’ is an important part of learning; wrong impressions, prejudices, and presumptions are insurmountable obstacles to learning. Until these have been removed, the teacher labors in vain. The knowledge he communicates only touches the surface; deep beneath the surface, the student is guided by that which has become second nature to him. The first task of the teacher is to expose and then make the student see and remove those hindrances.
“We cannot truly and fruitfully learn of Christ if we are not ready to unlearn as well. Through heredity, education, and tradition we have ideas about faith and God’s Word that are often hindrances because we are convinced they are the truth. Learning of Christ requires a willingness to subject every truth we hold to His inspection for criticism and correction.
“Teachableness is a form of humility. In our morning devotional time we place ourselves as students of Christ; let teachableness be the distinguishing mark of the learner. If you sense this is lacking, listen to His voice: ‘Take My yoke upon you’ and all that this implies – learning from the One who is gentle and humble of heart; the One who submitted himself to His Father and learned obedience.”
As Christian students, our goal is to learn the truth! Jesus promised that truth will bring us liberty! (John 8:32.) May each of us pursue God’s truth in our own lives.
Teach me Your truth, O Lord!
Pastor Doug
Rally Day Sunday AUGUST 29, 2021
“Unless the Lord builds the house, they labor in vain who build it…
Behold, children are a heritage from the Lord, the fruit of the womb is a reward.” Psalm 127:1, 3
We have a great concern for families and the children who are given to those households. We want to do all we can to assist mothers and fathers in the training of their children. The following is from Andrew Murray’s Raising Your Child to Love God. When I first read this, I was in Lynchburg, Virginia, with my oldest son and two of my grandsons. I shared this with them because I felt it is so important, and it spoke so strongly to my own heart. This devotion is based on Luke 8:49-50. Read the passage!
“Don’t be afraid; just believe! To thousands that word has been the messenger of comfort and hope. As they struggled under the burden of sin, or sought for help in trial or difficulty, it told them that there was deliverance from fear by believing in Jesus. Faith can banish fear. And yet how many who have found a blessing in this word have forgotten that it is a word that especially belongs to parents. In every other use it is but a loan; it is as parents that we have full right to it. It is Jesus, the Lord of the home, of parents and children, who speaks: Don’t be afraid; just believe. The word is a double lesson: In our children there is every reason for fear; in Jesus, every reason for faith.
“When we think of the tendency toward evil our children inherit from us, and the mighty power Satan has in this world, we have good reason to fear. When we see both in Scripture and in the world around us how often the bright promise of childhood is cut short and the children of a Christian home stray into the ways of the world and of the flesh, we cannot remind each other too often of the importance of parental faith, duty, and obedience. Only believe must be written on the doorposts of our homes. It must be the motivation for all we are and do for our children.
“Faith is first the spiritual understanding that receives the revelation of God and His purpose. It hears His voice; it listens to His call; it believes His promises. Then it is a divine energy, a living principle of action that carries out God’s will and inherits all His blessings. It is in the knowledge of what He is – it is in His presence – that such a faith is possible.”
Let’s build families for God!
Pastor Doug
SUNDAY – AUGUST 22, 2021
“Therefore take heed to yourselves and to all the flock, among which the Holy Spirit has made you overseers,
to shepherd the church of God which He purchased with His own blood.” Acts 20:28
Since the beginning of this congregation, there have been ministries directed to the children of our community. We have had VBS, Kids’ Krusades, Sunday School classes, puppet ministries, AWANA, Kids’ Church, Kids’ Carnivals, and several other activities for families and their children. We believe that children are an important part of the life of our congregation, and they make up a generation that one day will be the adult congregation of NBC. We must do all that we can to continue ministering to “our” children for many reasons, but most importantly because it is God’s plan and will for all of them to become members of His family for all eternity! Next Sunday, August 29th will be Rally Day for us with the theme, Building Families for God! The following comes from Andrew Murray’s Raising Your Child to Love God and should encourage you to come to Rally Day and join in our plan to minister to our children in the coming year.
“Let us bless God for this precious statement. (See I Corinthians 7:14.) There is not a deeper or more distinctly divine word in Scripture than holy; in this statement the whole treasure of holiness, with all that revelation teaches us concerning it, is made the heritage of our children. God’s holiness in our children is meant to be; as parents we are the God-ordained links for bringing them into perfect union. To do this, we must first understand and apply this precious truth.
“The word holy expresses a relationship. Whatever was separated unto God and made His property was called holy. The first and simplest thought our faith must take in and fill with spiritual meaning is this: Our children belong to God. The very fact of their being born of believing parents makes them His in a very special sense. The Lord’s redeemed, who love to call themselves His bondservants, have no desire to look upon their children in any other light than wholly and absolutely His.
“The word holy also suggests a destiny. It is of great importance, as we study the word in Scripture, to notice how everything that is called holy had a use and purpose; every holy day and thing, place and person, had its service to fulfill. Let the Christian parent beware of looking upon holiness as a mere means to an end, simply as the way to get safely to heaven. It is infinitely more than that! Let him realize that his child is God’s property, to be used in this world as God directs, to be trained with the sole purpose of doing God’s will and showing forth His glory. The more clearly this is grasped and made a distinct goal of the work of prayer and education, the more quickly will we be able to comprehend its higher meaning and gain the path to the blessing that it offers.”
Let’s dedicate our children to the Lord and His plan for each of their lives!
Pastor Doug
SUNDAY – AUGUST 15, 2021
“Therefore take heed to yourselves and to all the flock, among which the Holy Spirit has made you overseers,
to shepherd the church of God which He purchased with His own blood.” Acts 20:28
We are in the midst of some very exciting days. There have been some blessed times we have enjoyed this past month, and we are looking forward with anticipation to what the Lord is going to do in the next weeks ahead of us. All during this time, we have been challenged by thoughts and truths about the church. We know and believe that God is stirring and pouring out blessings through His Spirit during this season. Some of the messages being shared here look back and some look forward. The message today looks back at the July 4th meal and our celebration of Communion last Sunday, but it also looks forward to the celebration meal we have planned for Lee’s 98th birthday next Sunday. It is also important for every meal you have with your own family at home. It comes from the August 9th reading in Amy Carmichael’s Whispers of His Power.
“’O man likeminded, who in companionship with me sweetened our food’ (Ps. 55:13-14). That word was written in grief, of Judas who betrayed his trust. But could any words show more happily what the companionship of our Lord and Master does for us at meal times, when we do not forget to meet Him there?
“Lord, Thou has heard the desire of the humble: Thou wilt prepare their heart, Thou wilt cause Thine ear to hear (Ps. 10:17). Our dear Lord hears our desire and He prepares our heart. Then we are ready to meet others, and together we meet Him and know Him in the breaking of bread as we eat together (See Luke 24:35.).
“It is well to give time to the preparation of the mind. Push away thoughts of disturbing things. Recall happy things and share these things. Meal times are not times for discussion of problems and difficulties; banish these wearinesses. If all pool their treasures, tiny little treasures of fun, then the devil who is greatly interested in the meal times of Christians won’t have a chance.
“Isn’t it a good thing to begin to practice for the Marriage Supper of the Lamb (Rev. 19:9)?”
Let’s pray that every meal of fellowship we share with one another will be a foretaste of the great Marriage Feast of the Lamb that all believers should be looking forward to! Let’s invite others to join us!
I love supping with the saints!
Pastor Doug
SUNDAY – AUGUST 8, 2021
“Therefore take heed to yourselves and to all the flock, among which the Holy Spirit has made you overseers,
to shepherd the church of God which He purchased with His own blood.” Acts 20:28
I have been sharing messages about the church in this space for several weeks. We have learned or been reminded that the church is people connected by the Holy Spirit in a supernatural way. It is that supernatural dimension that I am particularly interested in and enthused about. In the long term, many have been praying that God will specifically use NBC to extend His kingdom and glory. We are seeking God to make our fellowship a blessing to the community and world about us. We know that this can only happen by the power of the Holy Spirit!
Mrs. Lettie Cowman, co-founder of OMS International and author of Streams in the Desert, wrote about the power of the church to bless the world around her in another work entitled, Springs in the Valley. In her August 2nd entry, she reports about a tree in South America called the rain-tree. In a dry area of the world this tree collects atmospheric moisture, which it condenses and drops to the earth in refreshing and life-giving dew. Gardens grow at its base and under its branches. This tree is used as an example of what God wants His church to be.
“God would have us to be like the rain-tree growing alongside the desert highways of the world- sources of new spiritual life. God HIMSELF is our atmosphere, and we carry our atmosphere with us wherever we go. This atmosphere is proof against all infection, and to breathe it is constant health.
“Christ’s power was His separateness. He did not withdraw Himself from the world, but lived in the very midst of it. No man ever came into such close external contact with the devil. Jesus was not a recluse. He was social- mingling with men; yet He kept intact His separateness from the world. He was Jesus! Men felt this! This was His power!
“In the secret of Christ’s power we see the secret of our power. If we are to have any power in the world we must become partakers of His holiness; we must be separated with Him; and be kept separated
and set apart to the same great life.”
The more we, His church, become like Jesus, the more like the rain-tree we will become to this world! Let’s pray that we will be His source for refreshing and life-giving dew to the desert world around us!
I believe in His church!
Pastor Doug
SUNDAY – AUGUST 1, 2021
“Therefore take heed to yourselves and to all the flock, among which the Holy Spirit has made you overseers,
to shepherd the church of God which He purchased with His own blood.” Acts 20:28
The past few Sundays have been used to present some important ideas about the church. The church is the object of our Lord’s affection. It is declared that He “purchased the church with His own blood!” It also is recorded that the church is Christ’s Bride, and He has so loved Her that He gave Himself for Her in order to “present Her to Himself” in a perfect, pure condition. (See Ephesians 5:25-27.) The church is very important to believers and there is a special connection between all believers through the church.
In his work, Teach Me to Pray, Andrew Murray speaks about the necessity of having a private, individual prayer-life. He then states that we need “public, united prayer. He (i.e., Jesus) gives a very special promise for the united prayer of two or three who agree on what they ask.” Murray stated, “In the same way, prayer needs both the hidden secrecy in which the soul meets God alone and the public fellowship with those who find in the name of Jesus their common meeting place.” Now read his explanation of the incredible power of the church praying together!
“The reason for this is quite plain. The bond that unites a Christian to fellow believers is no less real or close than that which unites him to God: He is one with them. Grace renews our relationship not only to God, but also to others. Nothing would be more unnatural than for each child of a family to regularly meet with his or her father separately but never in the company of the whole family. Believers are members not only of one family but also of one body. Just as each member of the body depends on the others, and the full action of the Spirit dwelling in the body depends on the union and cooperation of all, so Christians cannot attain the full blessing God wants to give through His Spirit unless they seek and receive it in fellowship with one another. In the union of believers, the Spirit is free to manifest His full power. It was to the one hundred and twenty continuing in one place together and praying with one accord that the Spirit of the glorified Lord came down at Pentecost.”
We want the “full action” and the “full manifestation” of His Spirit in NBC! Let us seek it in fellowship and union with one another!
I love the Church of Jesus Christ!
Pastor Doug
SUNDAY – JULY 25, 2021
“Therefore take heed to yourselves and to all the flock, among which the Holy Spirit has made you overseers,
to shepherd the church of God which He purchased with His own blood.” Acts 20:28
Over the past few weeks, messages about the church of Jesus Christ have been presented so that we might be praying and seeking that our fellowship will be exactly what the Lord wants her to be. We must desire a thing before we can have faith to receive it through prayer. We must develop a vision of what NBC can be in the power of the Holy Spirit. We have learned that the true nature of the church is composed of people and the Holy Spirit. The church is called (and actually is!) the Body of Christ on earth. The following from Andrew Murray’s Divine Healing offers a genuine “picture” of what we should desire for our fellowship at NBC.
“When the church understands that the body also has a part in the redemption of Christ by which it ought to be brought back to its original destiny, to be the dwelling place of the Holy Spirit, to serve as His instrument, and to be sanctified by His presence, she will also recognize the place that divine healing has in the Bible and in the counsel of God.
“The account of Creation tells us that man is composed of three parts: body, soul, and spirit. God first formed the body from the dust of the earth, after which He breathed into it ‘the breath of life.’ He caused His own life, His Spirit, to enter into it. By this union of spirit with matter, the man became a ‘living soul.’ This union of spirit and body forms a combination that is unique in creation; it makes man the jewel of God’s work.
“We know what sin and Satan have done. We know also what God has done to destroy the work of Satan. Faith puts us in possession of all that the death of Christ and His resurrection have procured for us, and it is not only in our spirit and our soul that the life of the risen Jesus manifests its presence here below but it is also in the body that it would act according to the measure of our faith.
“In the same way in which the Holy Spirit brings to our soul and spirit the life of Jesus, He comes also to impart to the sick body all the vigorous vitality of Christ as soon as the hand of faith stretches out to receive it.”
Needmore Bible Church will be a redeeming, healing fellowship as we have faith and receive exactly what Christ has purchased for us.
I love the Church of Jesus Christ!
Pastor Doug
SUNDAY – JULY 18, 2021
“Therefore take heed to yourselves and to all the flock, among which the Holy Spirit has made you overseers,
to shepherd the church of God which He purchased with His own blood.” Acts 20:28
Last week the message in this spot was about the church. Specifically, it was stated that the church is NOT the building, but it is definitely people. The definition presented by Dr. Wayne Grudem is “The church is the community of all true believers for all time.” In last Sunday’s sermon we were encouraged to recognize that every true congregation of the Lord Jesus Christ’s church is “connected” to every other true congregation throughout all time. Amazingly that connection will exist throughout eternity. It is so exciting to belong to such a living group and to realize that no congregation is an end or island unto itself.
Another dimension that was mentioned was the supernatural ingredient, the Holy Spirit. Andrew Murray wrote about the church in his book The Believer’s Call to Commitment. He wrote: “The knowledge of what the body of Christ means, insight into its glory and purpose, and the fulfilling of the place and ministry to which God has called us in the body have a deeper connection with our spiritual life than is generally recognized. To receive the Holy Spirit and the love of Christ into our hearts means death to every area of selfishness. It means a complete surrender of our own interests as a member of the body for the sake of Christ and His body. It means that the welfare of every member within our circle becomes of supreme interest to us. We must realize what the body of Christ is in reality: it is the vessel through which the Spirit of God seeks to manifest Himself.”
“We know what a masterpiece of divine workmanship a human body is; though made from dust, it is the dwelling place and instrument through which the human soul can unfold and express itself. This is but an image or a shadow of that body of which Christ is the head. In regard to it our epistle tells us (Eph. 1:22-23 NKJV) that God ‘gave Him to be head over all things to the church, which is His body, the fullness of Him who fills all in all.’ The body of Christ is to contain and to exhibit the divine fullness as it dwells in Christ. It tells us that we ‘are being built together for a dwelling place of God in the Spirit’ (Eph. 2:22 NKJV). It reminds us that ‘Christ so loved the church and gave Himself for her, that He might sanctify and cleanse her with the washing of water by the word, that He might present her to Himself a glorious church, not having a spot or wrinkle or any such thing, but that she should be holy and without blemish’ (Eph. 5:25-27 NKJV).”
I love the Church of Jesus Christ!
Pastor Doug
SUNDAY – JULY 11, 2021
“Therefore take heed to yourselves and to all the flock, among which the Holy Spirit has made you overseers,
to shepherd the church of God which He purchased with His own blood.” Acts 20:28
What is the church? That is an important question that people ought to be able to answer. Knowing the answer will open a view to understanding some of the “mysteries” that the Bible teaches about the nature, identification, and purpose of the church. The church is an incredible “gathering” of people that is much more “than meets the eye” of those who are often examining the church with the intention of finding her faults and bringing criticism against her. It will be impossible to teach all there is to know about the church in these brief “bulletin-messages” that will be shared over the next several weeks, but these brief messages will guide you to the proper answer to the question.
If you have spent much time around those who are a part of the church, you have probably heard statements similar to these. “The church is not a building.” Even though we call the physical facility used as a gathering for followers of Jesus Christ a church, it is certain that no building can have intrinsic qualities that make it a church in and of itself. It is true that the actual physical building is not the church. It is called that only because of the purpose the building has been designated for. Another statement you may have heard is “The church is the people.” It is clear from the Bible that the word “church” is used to describe a specific group of people. Wayne Grudem has written: “The church is the community of all true believers for all time. This definition understands the church to be made of all those who are truly saved. Paul says, ‘Christ loved the church and gave Himself up for her’ (Ephesians 5:25). Here the term ‘the church’ is used to apply to all those whom Christ died to redeem, all those who are saved by the death (and resurrection) of Christ.” These two statements are very foundational to a proper biblical understanding of the church.
The church is more than people, though. There is a supernatural dimension to the reality of the church that may not always be visible to physical eyes. The church is also called “the Body of Christ” in the New Testament. It is also clearly defined as a “work” of Jesus Christ. Jesus said, “I will build My church!” (See Matthew 16:18.) There is no other group or gathering of people on the face of the earth that has this supernatural, powerful dynamic like the church! The church is an exciting and miraculous entity! More about this next week!
I love the Church of Jesus Christ!
Pastor Doug
JULY 4, 2021
Celebrate Freedom Sunday
“Jesus answered them, ‘Most assuredly, I say to you, whoever commits sin is a slave of sin. And a slave does not abide in the house forever, but a son abides forever. Therefore, if the Son makes you free, you shall be free indeed.’”
(John 8:34-36)
Not far from our community, the Battle of Gettysburg was fought from July 1 through July 3, 1863. This particular battle resulted in the largest number of casualties in the Civil War (over 51,000) has been called the “high tide” of the war, a significant turning point toward the end of the war and a Union victory. In November 1863, the dedication of the Soldiers’ National Cemetery in Gettysburg was attended by a large number of Union leaders, including the president, Abraham Lincoln. Lincoln delivered a few-minute speech that has come to be known in many parts of the world as one of the finest speeches ever delivered by a national leader.
There are two incredibly significant ideas expressed in the speech. The first one is an echo of our Founding Father’s ideas and was spoken by the words: “and dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal.” The important biblical idea is that every human being is created in the image of God, and therefore has a soul of equal value to all other human beings. You can find this idea of Imago Dei (i.e., the image of God) as a basis for knowing that every human being is given equal value by God and must be recognized by society that no person can be “bought, owned, and sold” by any other human being. This is a great biblical truth and has served as the foundation of individual freedom and equal opportunity for centuries for the best nations that exist.
The second significant thought is that this idea is so important that it is worth dying for. Lincoln expressed it by saying we must “take increased devotion to that cause for which they gave the last full measure of devotion.” The President challenged those who were alive that they should be as devoted and committed to the principle of the equal worth of individuals so that they will live to defend that truth and be willing to die when it became necessary. This idea is something that we must teach and pass on to every generation of citizens, lest the evil of self-centered greed and pride causes great divisions in our country.
The only good and solid foundations for any society must come from the truth of God, the Word of God, the Bible! If our citizens would come to know the truth, liberty and freedom would prosper in our land.
I am a grateful follower of Jesus Christ and thankful citizen of the United States of America!
Pastor Doug
SUNDAY – JUNE 27, 2021
“Righteousness exalts a nation, but sin is a reproach to any people.” Proverbs 14:34
Last Sunday, we celebrated Father’s Day. It was a wonderful day of exhortation, testimony, worship, and response. What a tremendous encouragement it was to see so many men “step up” and commit themselves to establish godly homes for their families. One person commented about the number of “young” men with young children who joined in the time of commitment and prayer. The lady said, “It sure gives us hope for the future!” Many of us are continuing to pray for those men and are looking forward in faith to a great “move of God” in our congregation and community.
I think that the “founding fathers” must have had similar thoughts and emotions as they contemplated the future of the nation they were establishing. They had a keen awareness that there would need to be generations following their own who would “stand for” the same principles that were their foundations for this new nation. They realized that if succeeding generations would forsake the foundations then problems would arise, and this Constitutional Republic would fail. Even the scriptures affirm this: “If the foundations be destroyed, what can the righteous do?” (Psalm 11:3)
Patrick Henry, an American Revolutionary leader who helped to pass the Stamp Act Resolves in May 1765, an anti-British political action by the colonies, wrote:
“Whether this will prove a blessing or a curse will depend upon the use our people make of the blessings, which a gracious God hath bestowed on us. If they are wise, they will be great and happy. If they are of a contrary character, they will be miserable.
“Righteousness alone can exalt them as a nation. Reader! Whoever thou art, remember this, and in thy sphere practice virtue thyself, and encourage it in others.”
If you were one of the men who made a public “stand” last Sunday, be assured that my prayers will be directed to bless and strengthen you. Keep your eyes on the goal and never forsake the foundations!
A grateful Christian citizen!
Pastor Doug
Father’s Day — JUNE 20, 2021
“If you (i.e., earthly fathers) then, being evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father who is in heaven give good things to those who ask Him!” Matthew 7:11
The call of Christ on each of His followers is to walk in the manner He walked. Jesus Christ wants us to live the way that He lived. Our character and thinking must be conformed to Jesus’ character and thinking. Paul wrote, “Let this mind be in you which was also in Christ Jesus.” (Philippians 2:5) The mindset of Christ was devoid of selfish ambition and was filled with humility. Paul’s description included, “…in lowliness of mind let each esteem others better than himself. Let each of you look out not only for his own interests, but also for the interests of others.” (Philippians 2:3, 4) In her Whispers of His Power, Amy Carmichael pointed out that this mindset of “others first” was present in other great saints throughout the Bible.
“Joseph was in prison. His feet were hurt with fetters, his heart was hurt by injustice and unkindness. But none of these things prevented him from helping others.
“The story that follows shows how full of kindness his service must have been. Joseph must have done more than his bare duty. We do not go for sympathy to those who have been cold and uninterested in our affairs. We avoid them. The butler and the baker went to Joseph sure of his loving, self-forgetful sympathy.
“It makes us think of Another whose feet were hurt, and His hands and His side, and far more His loving heart. Out of the midst of His pains He thought of others, only others.
“Matthew 27:42: He saved others; Himself He cannot save. More and more these words seem to sum up His life on earth.
“Lord Jesus, who left us an example that we should follow in Thy steps, help us to follow. Let us forget self in service. Give us Thy love that, loving others, loves them to the end.”
Certainly, fathers, you and I must strive to walk in the steps of men like Joseph, and especially Jesus. The most important place to walk this way is in our homes!
A lover of my family!
Pastor Doug
SUNDAY – JUNE 13, 2021
“Restore us, O God of our salvation, and cause Your anger toward us to cease. Will You be angry with us forever? Will You prolong Your anger to all generations? Will You not revive us again, that Your people may rejoice in You? Show us Your mercy, Lord, and grant us Your salvation.” Psalm 85:4-7
This past week, the newest edition of Decision Magazine featured the theme of “revival” and the foundation of “repentance” that is necessary to prepare for a “move” of God’s Spirit. In essence, the theme of the featured article proclaimed that without repentance there will be no revival. Certainly, it is possible to read about God’s call to repentance throughout the entire Bible in relation to the Kingdom of God in this present world. Repentance was preached by John the Baptist; it was preached by Jesus, and it was preached by the Apostles throughout the Book of Acts. Repentance is essential and foundational to our experience of God’s forgiveness and redemptive action in our lives.
But what is repentance? There are several words that seem to define its meaning: turn, change and stop.
We must “turn” from all false gods to the true and Living God. Some have explained it as a 180 degree turn from one direction to the completely opposite way. That will bring the first “change” in a person’s life; one will become a “new creation”, and old things will pass away. The conclusion is that the one who has repented will “stop” doing anything that is contrary to the way of God.
Is repentance about “speaking” or “doing?” We know that we are saved by God’s grace through faith. It is by “faith alone” that we become recipients of “grace alone.” The saving work is all of God and none of what we do; however, it is necessary that we repent, i.e., turn, change, and stop. There is an important passage in Ephesians 4:17 – 5:21 that gives repeated instructions about this procedure of repentance. Let me share just one verse that will express practically and clearly what is taught in this scripture. “Let him who stole steal no longer, but rather let him labor, working with his hands what is good, that he may have something to give him who has need.” (Ephesians 4:28) Wow, that should help each of us understand! All the elements of true repentance are found in that verse. It isn’t just about talking, what we say! It also includes our turning to a different direction in life and stopping anything that is displeasing to our Lord.
The Kingdom of God is at hand!
Pastor Doug
Graduation Sunday JUNE 6, 2021
“Grace and peace be multiplied to you in the knowledge of God and of Jesus our Lord, as His divine power has given to us all things that pertain to life and godliness, through the knowledge of Him who called us by glory and virtue, by which have been given to us exceedingly great and precious promises, that through these you may be partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust.” II Peter 1:2-4
There are many people who have grown weary in their “attempts” at being good and trying to live the way that God wants us to live. Some have become discouraged to the point of believing that it is impossible to live a Christian life. One of two things happens as the consequence of such thinking. Either the person just gives up and decides to do whatever he wants to do no matter what they have been trained to believe is right and wrong, or they adopt a theology that declares it doesn’t matter what you do you will always be alright with God. Both of these ideas sadly miss the truth of what the Bible teaches about “full salvation.”
The Bible explains very clearly that a real or true Christian life is a miracle of God. One is saved by the miracle-working power of the Holy Spirit, and he is “kept” by the same miracle-working. The One who began the new life in the believer will also continue to produce that miraculous life for all his days in this world. The Christian life is possible! It is just as possible as being saved! It is accomplished in the way, by God’s gracious provision. It is all part of God’s plan of salvation through His new covenant.
“God promised to make a new covenant. In it He promised to bestow complete forgiveness of sins and to take man altogether into His favor. He further promised to communicate to him His law, not externally, as written on stone tablets, but inwardly and in his heart so that he would have the strength to fulfill its precepts. He would give him a new heart and a new spirit – His own Holy Spirit. God took the initiative and promised that He would enable man to keep His commandments: ‘And I will put my Spirit in you and move you to follow my decrees and be careful to keep my laws’ (Ezekiel 36:27).
“In the new covenant Jesus is the Mediator and our Guarantor (Hebrews 12:22-24; 8:6). As Guarantor, He stands pledged to us to secure that God will fulfill all of His promises. God fully relied on His Son to see to it that His honor was respected. And in Jesus we too may bravely enter this covenant without fear that we will not be able to fulfill it. We can rely upon Jesus to see to it that He will bring everything to completion. Jesus not only discharged our old debt but also undertook the responsibility for whatever else may be required.” (Murray, Andrew, The Lord’s Table, recorded in The Andrew Murray Daily Reader, page 158.)
Fully resting in His Word!
Pastor Doug
Memorial Day Weekend SUNDAY – MAY 30, 2021
“The Lord brings the counsel of the nations to nothing; He makes the plans of the peoples of no effect. The counsel of the Lord stands forever, the plans of His heart to all generations. Blessed is the nation whose God is the Lord, the people He has chosen as His own inheritance.” Psalm 33:10-12
The debate is just as important today as it has ever been, even though the culture has overwhelmingly taken a stand against the side that believes that the United States has been a “Christian nation.” In fact, today even Christian leaders are sounding the alarm against those who might continue in the notion that the USA is “Christian” by calling such folks “Christian Nationalists.” And, heavenly days, we certainly don’t want to be identified as a “Christian nationalist!” Allow me to just share a few quotes from some of our “Founding Fathers.”
“My only hope of salvation is in the infinite, transcendent love of God manifested to the world by the death of His Son upon the cross. Nothing but His blood will wash away my sins. I rely exclusively upon it. Come, Lord Jesus! Come quickly.” (Benjamin Rush, Signer of the Declaration of Independence)
“The general principles upon which the Fathers achieved independence were the general principles of Christianity… I will avow that I believed and now believe that those general principles of Christianity are as eternal and immutable as the existence and attributes of God.” (John Adams, Second President)
“It cannot be emphasized too clearly and too often that this nation was founded, not by religionists, but by Christians; not on religion, but on the gospel of Jesus Christ.” (Patrick Henry, Governor of Virginia.)
“Providence has given to our people the choice of their rulers, and it is the duty, as well as the privilege and interest of our Christian nation, to select and prefer Christians for their rulers.” (John Jay, First Chief Justice of the Supreme Court.)
It is possible to produce hundreds of similar quotes from the men and women who lived at the time of our founding as a free and independent nation. Abraham Lincoln reminded his fellow Americans during the Civil War that “we have been the recipients of the choicest bounties of heaven.” To be born in this land of freedom, to live in this nation founded as “One Nation Under God” by those who served the one, true God of the Bible, is both a tremendous privilege and a great responsibility. Benjamin Franklin said, “We have given you a Constitutional Republic, if you can keep it!” Let’s do our best to keep it!
An incredibly grateful Christian citizen!
Pastor Doug
SUNDAY – MAY 23, 2021
“A new commandment I (Jesus) give to you, that you love one another: as I (Jesus) have loved you, that you also love one another. By this all will know that you are My disciples, if you have love for one another.” John 13:34-35
At the beginning of the first Passion week, while in Jerusalem looking at the splendor of the temple mount, the disciples asked Jesus about the future. He had announced that the temple would be destroyed, so in their astonishment they asked Him when all of that would happen. He began to create a word-picture of the appearance of the “last days.” He described some very disturbing events and a very challenging social climate. In that description, Jesus declared, “Then many false prophets will rise up and deceive many. And because lawlessness will abound, the love of many will grow cold. But he who endures to the end shall be saved.” (Matthew 24:11-13)
Troubling times are coming to this world, according to Jesus. Perhaps many of us have been convinced by present circumstances that His prediction is most certainly true. I want to point out just two words in the verses that come from this end-times discourse. The first word is “lawlessness.” Just as in the days of the Judges in Israel, “In those days there was no king in Israel; everyone did what was right in his own eyes,” so it will be again in the “last days.” There will be no standardized law, no common moral standard for all to follow and obey. The philosophical interpretation is defined as “relativism.” People will assume that true and right standards will be changeable. Individuals will justify their own behavior by their own personal interpretation of what is right or wrong. Jesus said that this will be a time of “lawlessness.”
One of the interesting results will be that people will have a difficult time respecting, honoring and loving the lawless people. Jesus said that it is because of “lawlessness” that people’s love would become “cold.” I must personally admit that experiencing genuine, passionate love for the lawless ones is becoming increasingly difficult for me. (Yes, I recognize and remember that God has loved me through all of my lawless and sinful behavior!) I want to be filled with God’s love so that I might love even the lawless ones out of His great depth of love!
The challenge that Jesus spoke was “and he who endures to the end shall be saved!” I want to not only endure in my faith in God, His Word, and the Lord Jesus Christ, but I want to endure in genuine Christian love! Pray for me, and I will pray for you!
Enduring!
Pastor Doug
SUNDAY – MAY 16, 2021
“For this is good and acceptable in the sight of God our Savior, who desires all men to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth. For there is one God and one Mediator between God and men, the Man Christ Jesus, who gave Himself a ransom for all…” I Timothy 2:3-6a
The Bible reveals several truths about death that are important for all of us to know. The first truth is that death was not God’s intended plan for the “crowning jewel” of His creation, humankind. God’s desire is to have eternal fellowship with all human beings, but when Adam and Eve sinned in the Garden of Eden that fellowship was broken. The result of their disobedience, as well as our own disobedience, was physical death. Paul explained this truth, “Therefore, just as through one man sin entered the world, and death through sin, and thus death spread to all men, because all sinned.” (Romans 5:12)
Another interesting statement about death is found in the book of Ezekiel. God asks the question, “’Do I have any pleasure at all that the wicked (i.e., sinner) should die?’ says the Lord God, ‘and not that he should turn from his ways and live?’” (Ezekiel 18:23) Later God answers His own question through the same prophet, “Say to them: ‘As I live’ says the Lord God, ‘I have no pleasure in the death of the wicked, but that the wicked turn from his way and live. Turn, turn from your evil ways! For why should you die, O house of Israel?’” (Ezekiel 33:11) It is not only true that God had not originally planned for mankind to experience death, but He does not like it at all! God does not enjoy that people sin and die in their sinful state! He wants all people to turn, repent from sin and live eternally in His presence.
The Scriptures teach us that Jesus Christ came into this world to “fix” this problem of sin and death for all of us by paying the penalty of our sin on the cross. Jesus Christ declared, “I am the resurrection and the life. He who believes in Me, though he may die, he shall live.” (John 11:25) Paul presented a full explanation why this is true and is recorded in the 5th chapter of his letter to the Romans. Suffice the following verse to give us a glimpse of his explanation. “But the free gift is not like the offense (i.e., Adam’s disobedience in the Garden). For if by the one man’s offense many died, much more the grace of God and the gift of grace of the one Man, Jesus Christ, abounded to many.” (Romans 5:15) Paul concludes with the words “…so grace might reign through righteousness to eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.” (Romans 5:21) This is why God also spoke of death by saying, “Precious in the sight of the Lord is the death of His saints!” (Psalm 116:15.) Wow! What a difference the Cross makes!
Saved by the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ!
Pastor Doug
Mother’s Day – May 9, 2021
“I will walk within my house with a perfect heart. I will set nothing wicked before my eyes; I hate the work of those who fall away; a perverse heart shall depart from me; whoever secretly slanders his neighbor, the one who has a haughty look and a proud heart, him I will not endure. My eyes shall be on the faithful of the land, that they may dwell with me; he who works deceit shall not dwell in my house.” Psalm 101:2-6
What a blessing it is to have a home that is filled with love and peace. Many of us have enjoyed our home-life and are saddened by the thought of its end. We have learned how wonderful the home is to be as designed by God and really appreciate the references to our eternal home as “the Father’s house.” There are many sights and sounds that seem to carry us back to the “good old days” of “Mom and Dad,” and the extended family as well. To preserve the home must be one of our highest priorities.
Amy Carmichael’s Whispers of His Power includes the following as a reading for May 4.
“Home is one of our very dearest words, because all that we know of human love is wrapped up in it. I have been applying this word, which comes only in the Septuagint, to our Sunday morning worship. Hast thou not called Me as it were a home?
“It is true that we are always there, at home with Him, but our time of worship is meant to be a specially joyful coming together – a little lovely foretaste of what will be by and by, when we see Him face to face.
“As we return from the ‘journey’ of the week, let us believe in the welcome that awaits us, and eagerly and joyfully hasten to our home.”
Let’s dare to believe that coming to worship and sharing in fellowship with the Family of God can be a good and true reflection of what “home” is meant to be for all of us.
Always on my way home!
Pastor Doug
SUNDAY – MAY 2, 2021
“Behold what manner of love the Father has bestowed on us (me), that we (I) should be called children (a child) of God…Beloved, now we (I) are (am) children (a child) of God; and it has not yet been revealed what we (I) shall be, but we (I) know that when He is revealed, we (I) shall be like Him, for we (I) shall see Him as He is.” I John 3:1-2
Someone has called the Bible “God’s love letter” to us. It is certainly filled with a message of how much God loves and cares for His creation, especially that part made in His own image, you and I. We know that the message of Scripture reveals that God “loves the world,” meaning the people of the world. God “desires all men to be saved,” meaning He wants every individual person to be saved. God does have love that reaches and fills the whole earth, but it must be understood in personal terms. It is not a general, impersonal love, but rather a love for each specific individual. In Jesus’ description of Himself as the Good Shepherd, He stated, “I know My sheep, and am known by My own.” (John 10:14) He also explained, “The sheep hear His voice (that is the voice of the Good Shepherd); and He called His own sheep by name and leads them out.” (John 10:3) To call “by name” means to actually single out individuals. God knows us individually by our name! He loves us in the same manner!
Amy Carmichael has written about Psalm 3 and verse 4, “I cried unto the Lord with my voice, and He heard me out of His holy hill.” She wrote, “Scholars tell us that the tenses of verse 4 express a habitual act and a constant result. I cried…He heard me. Is it not wonderful to know that it is always so?” Then she concluded with the following sentences.
“It is as if our Father had no one in all the world to care for but you, but me, but the one we are trying to help! Truly His love passes knowledge!”
Those two little sentences reminded me of just how much the Heavenly Father actually loves me. He loves you in exactly the same manner, personally and individually!
I am a child of God,
Pastor Doug
SUNDAY – APRIL 25, 2021
“On the last day, that great day of the feast, Jesus stood and cried out saying, ‘If anyone thirsts, let him come to me and drink. He who believes in Me, as the Scripture has said, out of his heart will flow rivers of living water.’ But this He spoke concerning the Spirit, whom those believing in Him would receive…” John 7:37-39(a)
The Bible contains hundreds of expressions and examples that demonstrate how much God loves each one of us. It consistently communicates that God wants to bless us with all spiritual blessings that are part of His kingdom, and He also wants to take care of us in this physical world. James wrote, “Every good and every perfect gift is from above, and comes down from the Father of lights, with whom there is no variation or shadow of turning.” (James 1:17) The good news is that God is not “moody” nor “changeable” like the weather. He consistently loves us and loves to bless us. He wants us to know the “abundant life” that Jesus said He came to give to mankind. (John 10:10)
The provision has been made for all of God’s children to live in the fullness of His life and goodness. The key is for us to learn how we can receive His blessings and enjoy them in their abundance. In his book The Fullness of the Spirit, Andrew Murray has given us some very important insights into the principles of God’s blessings.
“God is love. His whole being is a surrender of Himself in love to be the life of His creatures, to enable them to participate in His holiness and blessedness. He blesses and serves all that lives. When a believer has the fullness of the Spirit, and desires to have it increased, let it be clear that he can enjoy this blessing to the degree that he is prepared to give himself to the service of love. The Spirit comes to expel the life of self and self-seeking. The fullness of the Spirit presupposes a willingness to consecrate ourselves to the blessing of others. The secret to having the blessing increased is to live as one who is left on earth that the love of God may work through him.
“Let us believe that we are in Christ, that He surrounds us with His power, longing to make rivers of His Spirit flow through us to the world. It is by the exercise of faith without ceasing that the blessing will flow without ceasing.”
Thank You for Your blessings on our congregation! We want to walk and work in faith and be a channel for the Spirit to flow through us like a mighty river!
More like the Master is my daily plea!
Pastor Doug
SUNDAY – APRIL 18, 2021
“Bless the Lord, O my soul; and all that is within me, bless His holy name! Bless the Lord, O my soul, and forget not all His benefits: forgives…heals…redeems…crowns…satisfies…so that your youth is renewed like the eagle’s.” Psalm 103:1-5
One of the well-known parables of Jesus (See Luke 15:11-31) expresses the love of the Father for His children. It expresses His desire to “give good gifts” to all of His children. God wants you and me to know and experience the reality of His love in our lives. He wants each of us to be confident that we can enjoy having God as our eternal and heavenly Father. I want to live in the full assurance and full blessing of my Father’s love, and I want you to do the same!
There are two realities of the Father’s love that are expressed in a statement to the elder brother. The statement is “Son, you are always with me, and all that I have is yours.” (Luke 15:31) Andrew Murray in his book, Divine Healing, explains these two statements as defining full salvation.
“Full salvation includes unceasing fellowship. An earthly father loves his child and delights to make him happy. God is love, and speaking with all reverence, He can’t help but love us. We see His goodness toward the ungodly and His compassion on the erring, but His fatherly love is manifested toward all His children.
“Full salvation includes unlimited partnership. ‘Everything I have is yours,’ the father told the elder son when he complained of His father’s gracious reception of the brother who had gone astray. All the time He is saying to you, ‘All I have is yours; I have given it to you in Christ. All the Holy Spirit’s power and wisdom, all the riches of Christ, all the love of the Father; there is nothing that I have that is not yours. I am God, and I love you.’
“My message is that the Lord your God desires that you live continually in the light of His presence. Your business, your temper, your circumstances, all of which you may complain of as being a hinderance, are not stronger than God. If you ask God to shine in you and upon you, you will see and prove that He can do it and that you as a believer may walk all day and every day in the light of His love. That is ‘full salvation.’”
The “best life” is lived in a special relationship with the Heavenly Father. He is the Best Father you have!
I am a child of God,
Pastor Doug
SUNDAY – APRIL 11, 2021
“The thief does not come except to steal, and to kill, and to destroy. I have come that they may have life, and that they may have it more abundantly.” John 10:10
No matter what the devil may offer, or how good he might make his offer seem to be, always remember his true nature is to take from you! He is a destroyer and a murderer! Jesus is the only one that can give “real life” to anyone who will seek it from Him. Remember that Jesus makes an offer that is always “more” than you can find in any other way or place. Jesus gives life “more abundantly!”
How does anyone receive from the Lord the full, rich, and eternal life that He gives? There is only one way, and that is through humility. The beginning of the Kingdom life for God’s children is always the place of humility. Jesus said, “Blessed are the poor in spirit (those who actually know their own spiritual poverty), for theirs is the Kingdom of Heaven.” (Matthew 5:3) Andrew Murray wrote that the Apostle Peter is a great example of entering the low door of humility in Absolute Surrender.
“I thank God for the story of Peter. I know of no other man in the Bible who gives greater comfort to the human frame. When we look at his character, so full of failures, and at what Christ made him by the power of the Holy Spirit, there is hope for every one of us. But remember that before Christ could fill Peter with the Holy Spirit and make him a new creation, Peter had to humble himself and admit his sin.
“It is the story of every servant who will be truly used by God. Peter’s story is a prophecy of what each of us can receive from God. We must not only pray for God’s work and speak about it among ourselves, not only pray for an outpouring of the Spirit of love, but we must humbly come to God as individuals in repentance and faith. For it is only when individual servants are blessed of God that the work will prosper and the body of Christ will be strong and healthy.
“The same Christ who led Peter to Pentecost is among us today and is waiting to take charge of every heart that is willing to surrender to Him. Are you at that place? Christ Jesus can free you; He can deliver you from the power of self. He only asks you to humble yourself before Him.”
The way to “move up” in the Kingdom is down to your knees!
Pastor Doug
EASTER SUNDAY — April 4, 2021
But the angel answered and said to the women, “Do not be afraid, for I know that you seek Jesus who was crucified. He is not here; for He is risen as He said. Come see the place where the Lord lay. And go quickly and tell His disciples that He is risen from the dead, and indeed He is going before you into Galilee; there you will see Him. Behold I have told you.” (Matthew 28:5-7)
Today is the culmination of Christ’s work of redemption and all the events that led up to the Cross and His resurrection. There are so many significant events and words that Jesus shared in the process of His ministry that it is difficult to single out just one. They are all important to our understanding of who Jesus is and what He has accomplished on our behalf, but it does seem as if the RESURRECTION is the “seal” on everything else Jesus did. His victory over Satan, sin and the power of the grave is demonstrated with the exclamation point of the EMPTY TOMB! IT IS FINISHED! CHRIST IS VICTORIOUS! GOD, THE FATHER HAS ACCEPTED THE SACRIFICE THAT JESUS MADE! BECAUSE HE LIVES, WE WILL LIVE ALSO! Hallelujah!
The big question for each of us today, though, is whether or not we are active participants in this work of redemption. It is most certain that all of us have heard the message of Easter many times, and most of us would say we believe, but have we received and now live in the power of His resurrection? Mr. Tozer expressed his great concern about “believers’” non-participation in the living reality of the life Jesus Christ offers us all. The following is found on pages 200, 201 and 202 of He Dwelt Among Us.
“What eating is to the body, believing is to the soul. I am so afraid that we will think we are saved, and we are not. I am so afraid that somebody got you down some place at an altar, rammed a Christian worker’s New Testament up under your nose and showed you by an underlined text that if you came, you would not be cast out and logically forced you to say you were converted. I am afraid of that kind of mechanical religion.
“There is such a thing as eating the Bread of Life and knowing you are eating it. There is such a thing as looking in faith to that Bread that cometh down from above and getting it into you and having an inward spiritual religion and knowing for yourself that which is divine has now come into you. There is such a thing as being assured in your own experience for yourself and not another…
“Many people believe texts, but the text never got inside them. Is Jesus Christ, the Bread of Life, actually inside you? Have you been initiated into that other world, that spiritual world, the kingdom of God? Are you in that kingdom? You can be, because what eating is to the body believing is to the soul. It will fix your gaze on Him who is the Bread of Life and keep you saying and believing, ‘Lord, I do believe; I trust Thee; I am now trusting Thee.’ That which is external will become internal. That which is in the Bible will get into your heart. That which is in the Bible will get into your soul. You can get up and say, ‘I know for myself that I know.’”
Do not miss it!
Pastor Doug
PALM SUNDAY – March 28, 2021
“Lift up your heads, O you gates! And be lifted up, you everlasting doors! And the King of glory shall come in. Who is this King of glory? The Lord strong and mighty, the Lord mighty in battle.” Palm 24:7-8
Last Sunday morning, I commented on the physical world in which we live that is composed of molecules; which are composed of atoms; which are composed of neutrons, protons and electrons; which are all composed of “particles.” It is a very complex world that is made up of moving bodies of extremely different sizes, from “particles” to enormous planets, which are all operating with intricate precision. I stated that I believe Colossians 1:17 reveals that it is the power of our Creator that sustains this world by “holding it together.” I am reading a Tozer work entitled And He Dwelt Among Us and just read the following on page 102 this past Tuesday afternoon.
“What is to prevent the human race from destroying itself? Those words and thoughts are in the hearts of men, and they are wondering about the human race destroying itself. What is to prevent some insane dictator from bringing the world down around him?
“The A-bomb has given way to the H-bomb, and there is another bomb more terribly deadly than the H-bomb. The Cobalt bomb is still more terribly deadly than the H-bomb. What is to prevent some mad dictator from saying, ‘I’ll rule the world, or ruin it’? He will rule it or bring it down into ruins around his own suicidal head.
“What is to prevent some huge accident from taking place? What is to prevent someone setting up some vast unstoppable chain reaction that will burn up the world? I will tell you what will prevent it. God Almighty has not given the world up. Philosophers may have, but God has not. God is not finished with the world.”
Remarkably, those words were written over 60 years ago, and they remain relevant today. The truth remains that God is in control and is working out His plan for this world, His creation. There are amazing things that are going to take place according to Daniel and John’s the Revelation of Jesus Christ. The critical responsibility for each of us is to trust in our God and walk by “the faith of the Son of God.”
Watching, praying and expecting!
Pastor Doug
SUNDAY – MARCH 21, 2021
“Then I looked, and I heard the voice of many angels around the throne, the living creatures, and the elders; and the number of them was ten thousand times ten thousand, and thousands of thousands, saying with a loud voice: ‘Worthy is the Lamb who was slain to receive power and riches and wisdom, and strength and honor and glory and blessing!’ And every creature which is in heaven and on the earth and under the earth and such as are in the sea, and all that are in them, I heard saying: ‘Blessing and honor and glory and power be to Him who sits on the throne, and to the Lamb, forever and ever!’” Revelation 5:11-13
I hope that I have not contributed to the notion that we serve a “small” God that is really just an option for people who have a spiritual interest. Many people believe that there is a God, but He is expressed by mankind through his many different religions. God really is not “big” enough or capable of revealing Himself to this world so that people have been forced to “create God in their own mind’s eye.” Many believe that’s the reason there are so many different religions and names for God. God is just a mystery shrouded in misty darkness. I don’t want you or anyone to attempt to serve a god like that. I want all to know the One, True and Living God, Maker of heaven and earth!
Following is more from Mr. Tozer’s And He Dwelt Among Us, pages 40 and 41.
“Some people’s idea of God is quite disturbing to me. Somehow, they have the idea that God is like them only, of course, much better. They take their human attributes and project it up to God. As a result, they have a God, much like themselves, but a God I could never fall on my knees and worship… a God who does not deserve worship.
“Consequently, when unexpected things happen to them, and they find themselves in a real tether, they assume God experiences the same thing. I could never get on my knees and pray to a God I had to apologize for, or who desperately needed my help. A God who needs my help does not deserve my worship. If God needed me, I could not respect Him; and if I could not respect Him, I could not worship Him.
“In this regard, missionary conventions are sometimes simply a session apologizing for God. Often the missionary challenge is reduced to: ‘Let’s help God out because He needs us so bad.’
“The truth of the matter is that God is riding above this world, and the clouds are but the dust of His feet. If you do not follow Him, you lose, but God loses nothing. He still will be glorified in His saints and admired in all them that fear Him.
“In that Great Day, that consummation of all that is called matter, law, time, space, angels, spirits and mind, all will be organized into a redeemed cosmos. Together, all that is redeemed will gather and sing and glorify God who made them and say, ‘Worthy is the Lamb that was slain to receive power, and riches, and wisdom, and strength, and honor, and glory, and blessing’ (Rev. 5:12).
“We should never come to God as a gesture of pity, thinking that God desperately needs us. We should give ourselves to God because He is worthy!”
Worshiping the God Who is from everlasting to everlasting!
Pastor Doug
SUNDAY – MARCH 14, 2021
“I will not take a bull from your house, nor goats out of your folds. For every beast of the forest is Mine, and the cattle on a thousand hills…If I were hungry, I would not tell you; for the world is Mine, and all its fullness…Offer to God thanksgiving, and pay your vows to the Most High. Call upon Me in the day of trouble; I will deliver you, and you shall glorify Me.” Psalm 50:9-10, 12, 14-15
You and I, as well as all human beings, are created in the image of God! We have been endowed by our Creator with amazing potential, and we have been given dominion over all the natural world. God has instructed us to subdue the world, to produce and enjoy the results of our labors. It is very easy for man to become “big-headed” and to begin to imagine that there is no one, nor anything, “higher” than man. It is extremely important that we remember that we are mere creatures, and that God is the great, omnipotent Creator. He is God alone and Lord over all!
Few writers that I have read are so capable of putting into words at least a faint understanding of the nature and person of God like Aiden Wilson Tozer. The following was written by Mr. Tozer for a series of sermons on the Gospel of John entitled And He Dwelt Among Us, pages 31 and 32.
“God has no beginning, because ‘beginning’ is a creature word and means that someone was working on something. God started to work on it; He worked awhile and finished it. And it had a beginning and a ‘finish,’ and is a creature word. But God is not a creature. God is the Creator; so you never can say that God had a beginning. God could not receive anything from anybody, because God had all there was. Get back to it all, to where God was, and discover that God is the uncaused one.
“As the uncaused one, God is absolutely self-sufficient in Himself and needs nothing from anyone. From some of the appeals I have heard from pulpits across the country you would think God was in some desperate straits, needing an immediate bailout. From some appeals people might be tempted to say, ‘Poor God’s in bad shape, and no doubt there’s a depression in heaven; but if I give faithfully, I’ll save God’s face and I’ll bail God out.’ How utterly fantastic and far from reality! How in the world could a mere mortal rescue He who is immortal?
“God does not need your money; and if you want to keep it and let it rust and ruin you, keep it. But do not think that if you give it you are doing God a favor. There is absolutely nothing anybody has that God needs. ‘If I were hungry, I would not tell thee: for the world is Mine, and the fullness thereof’ (Ps. 50:12).”
As we worship our God, may we always maintain the proper perspective! How much higher God is than we! Let’s always remember that we need Him!
A desperate debtor in need of God,
Pastor Doug
SUNDAY – MARCH 7, 2021
“Now I know that the Lord saves His anointed; He will answer him from His holy heaven with the saving strength of His right hand. Some trust in chariots, and some in horses; but we will remember the name of the Lord our God.” Psalm 20:6-7
Over 50 years ago, A. W. Tozer did a series of sermons from the Gospel of John that lasted an entire year. He was able to demonstrate the remarkable heights of theology that are revealed in that Gospel. One of the themes that Tozer preached was about God and how He is “high and lofty, inhabiting eternity, He whose train fills the temple and who walks on the wings of the wind and makes the clouds His chariot.” Tozer was concerned then that the American church had too low and casual thoughts about God. He stated, “I for one am indignantly crusading against this concept of God as ‘the man upstairs.’ The nice, lovely God that you can slap on the back, laugh, and tell Him a joke; the God that will condescend to anything and pal along with anybody. That kind of God is not the kind of God of the Bible.” The following is from “And He Dwelt Among Us” on pages 203 and 204, and it explains how our concept of God affects our lives.
“If we learn anything from history, we learn that no nation has ever risen above the height of its religion. I do not think it would be very difficult to prove this statement. Whether that nation is pure or impure, high or low, depends upon what kind of religion it has.
“For a time, a nation can seem to be greater than its religion. It can have a low religion and yet rise to high peaks. But in the qualities that belong to our best humanity, no nation ever yet rose above its religion. I might say that ought to be a matter of grave concern for the United States of America. If our religion rots, our nation will rot, and there is no law that can be passed, no political party that can come to power, nothing that men can do by way of assuring the nations of the future, that can save us. The nation will only be as great as its religion.
Then a paragraph later, Mr. Tozer wrote, “A second thing is that no religion ever rose any higher than its concept of God. That is the most vital thing that can be known about any church, any man or any nation. Every religion, whether high or low, pure or impure, noble or pagan depends altogether on what it thinks of God.”
It is important that we do not allow the “cancel culture” to cause us to back down from proclaiming the glory of our great God. We must continue to “Magnify the Lord” and “exalt His name together!”
Serving the Creator and Lord of the universe,
Pastor Doug
SUNDAY – FEBRUARY 28, 2021
“Have I not commanded you? Be strong and of good
courage; do not be afraid, nor be dismayed, for the Lord your God is with you wherever you go.” Joshua 1:9
Do you have any reminders such as pictures, trinkets, dishes, cups around your house of important people or major events in your past? Most of us have at least one or two such things that are significant because of a positive happening, perhaps even a “miracle!” The children of Israel had many reminders such as “standing stones” and Aaron’s “rod that budded.” A very interesting one was the sword of Goliath that David used to remove Goliath’s head. “And the priest said, ‘The sword of Goliath the Philistine, whom thou slewest…it is here wrapped in a cloth behind the ephod: if thou wilt take that, take it: for there is no other save that here.’ And David said, ‘There is none like that; give it me.’” (I Samuel 21:9) Amy Carmichael compared the “sword of the Spirit” with that sword of Goliath.
“If our Lord does not despair of us, we must not despair of ourselves. A teacher has no chance with a despairing child, nor has a doctor with a despairing patient. If the child says ‘I can’t’ often enough, it simply cannot, and nothing anyone can do can help.
“So we must not say, ‘I can’t. Others can, but they are different. It is not in me to conquer. I shall be defeated to the end.’
“That is folly, and treachery too, for it is disbelieving the word of our God. His word is always, ‘Fear not; you can.’ Have not I commanded Thee? Be strong and of a good courage. Is there one discouraging word in our Bible? Not one.
“Try using Bible words as a sword with which to fight the devil of discouragement. There is none like that; give it me, David said about the sword of Goliath the Philistine. How much more may we say about the strong word of our God: ‘There is none like that, O Spirit of the living God. Give it me.’
“Ask, and He will.”
Thank God that He has given us such “a sure word” to encourage us! Thank God that His Word will build faith into our lives! Faith and courage come from God’s Word to us!
The Lord is with me,
Pastor Doug
SUNDAY – FEBRUARY 21, 2021
“You therefore, my son, be strong in the grace that is in Christ Jesus.
You therefore must endure hardship as a good soldier of Jesus Christ.” II Timothy 2:1, 3
As Paul wrote to Timothy, his spiritual son, he encouraged him to be committed and “work hard” at serving the Lord Jesus Christ. It is true that salvation is provided as a gift from God through His grace to every person who believes on the Lord Jesus Christ. Salvation is not “earned” by any human effort. Salvation is provided by the “work” of God through the passion and death of His Son on the cross. We can make no claims about our great effort that has effected our salvation. It is the gift of God and not of works done by man. Following Jesus does require our commitment to “take up our cross daily” and to “bear our own load.” (See Galatians 6:5.) The work of advancing the Kingdom of God here in this world requires believers who are willing to expend effort and energy and, perhaps, even give up their lives in God’s service. God is looking for many “good men!”
The Valentine’s Day devotional from Amy Carmichael was the following:
“’Die hard, my men, die hard!” shouted Col. Inglis to his men as they fought one of the fearful battles of the Peninsular War. Fifteen thousand men were wounded or killed in four hours that day, and the regiment was known as the Die-hards ever after.
“Are we die-hards? It is extraordinarily easy to soften. Sometimes we hardly know that we are yielding till some little thing happens that we dislike, and we find ourselves unwilling or unable to go through with it. If this be so, we are not die-hards.
“Paul was a die-hard. His whole life and above all his prison letters show that die-hard quality. When he wrote to Timothy endure hardness, what he meant was ‘remain under it.’ Don’t slip from under it. Don’t try to shuffle it off. And hardness to him did not mean some trivial little trouble. It meant to suffer evil.
“How little we know of that. But our Savior knew all that ever could be known, and He endured to the end.
“Are we in earnest in wanting to be His die-hards? If so, let us take with confidence His word spoken on the Monday of Passion Week (Matt. 21:22): And all things, whatsoever ye shall ask in prayer, believing, ye shall receive.”
“Am I a soldier of the cross, a follower of the Lamb? And shall I fear to own His cause or blush to speak His name? Must I be carried to the skies on flowery beds of ease… while others fought to win the prize, and sailed through bloody seas? Sure I must fight if I would reign; increase my courage, Lord! I’ll bear the toil, endure the pain, supported by Thy Word.”
Whatever the cost, Lord!
Pastor Doug
SUNDAY – FEBRUARY 14, 2021
“In a great trial of affliction, the abundance of their joy and their deep poverty abounded unto the riches of their liberality.” II Corinthians 8:2, (KJV)
“They have been tested to the uttermost by affliction, yet their joy has throughout been overbrimming; in spite of their poverty – their deep poverty – it has overflowed in a very opulence of unselfishness.” II Corinthians 8:2
(A. Way, “The Letters of St. Paul” (a translation))
Paul was extolling the wonderful grace of God that he had witnessed in the life of the churches throughout Macedonia. They were very generous congregations who had already blessed the missionary effort of Paul and others. He wrote to the Corinthian church, “But as you abound in everything – in faith, in speech, in knowledge, in all diligence, and in your love for us – see that you abound in this grace also.” Paul was stating very clearly that the generosity expressed in actual giving was possible only through the grace of God. It is a wonderful gift from God that enables His children to be able to be givers!
Amy Carmichael wrote: “There is something very large and noble about that sort of living. It is the life that never crawls and cringes; it reigns.
“What does that mean in our common everyday life? For one thing it means a frankness in owning up, not covering up our faults, no excuses and self-defense, no petty meanness. It means generous thinking about others, not attributing bad motives, not admitting belittling thoughts. It means not only truth and kindness but an all-round ‘opulence of unselfishness,’ doing as much as we can to help others (not as little as we can get away with). It means, in a word, a life of love. Love loves to give – not in measure, but abundantly.”
I praise our loving and generous Father who has blessed us abundantly. I thank Him for the way He has given this grace to Needmore Bible Church. God’s grace has been made obvious by your continued giving of tithes and offerings to the Lord’s work at NBC. To Him be all the glory!
Praising God and thanking you!
Pastor Doug
SUNDAY – FEBRUARY 7, 2021
“Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one! You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your strength. And these words which I command you today shall be in your heart. You shall teach them diligently to your children, and shall talk of them when you sit in your house, when you walk by the way, when you lie down, and when you rise up.” Deuteronomy 6:4-6
I know that just the mention of homeschooling will cause mixed emotions and reactions in the body of Christ. I want to affirm the “right” of parents to choose the method and place for their children’s education. I firmly believe that God has given every parent the authority over their children in order to “train up a child in the way he/she should go.” (Proverbs 22:6a) As I have read in the Bible many times, God has entrusted the “training” of children primarily to the child’s parents. It is not ultimately the community, state or federal government that will be held accountable for a child’s training on the day of judgment, but parents will be charged before God with their part in any child’s improper and godless training. (See Matthew 18:6-7.) It appears that in God’s mind every parent is responsible to homeschool, school-at-home, teach the Word of God to their children in their family life.
It has been the enemy’s scheme from the beginning to disrupt this homeschooling plan that God has instituted. The devil, Satan is on the attack against our families and our children. Andrew Murray wrote a book entitled Raising Your Child to Love God. The following is taken from that work written over 100 years ago.
“It is faith that sees but fears not the danger. Pharaoh commanded that all the children of God’s people should be destroyed. He knew that if the children were cut off, the people would soon die out. The prince of this world still pursues the same agenda. When parents take a decided stand for God, the world may despise or hate them, but it soon learns that it is of little use to attempt to conquer them. Instead, the spirit of the world claims possession of the children; if these are won, all are won. Too often children grow up in comparative ignorance about the blessed Savior and are entrusted to the care of worldly teachers. Then they are allowed to associate with those whose spirit and influence are altogether opposed to the ways of God. A wise parent will take heed to these words.”
I am asking God to use NBC as a great instrument in the godly training of families, parents, and children.
With a grandfather’s heart,
Pastor Doug
SUNDAY – JANUARY 31, 2021
“’You have put all things in subjection under His feet.’ For in that He put all in subjection under Him, He left nothing that is not put under Him. But we do not yet see all things put under Him. But we see Jesus, who was made a little lower than the angels, for the suffering of death crowned with glory and honor, that He, by the grace of God, might taste death for everyone.” Hebrews 2:8-9
Paul wrote to the church at Corinth this amazing fact: “But thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.” The promise of His grace and love for us is victory! Have you ever felt as if you believe and are hoping for the day when victory will be experienced, but actually in the present you feel as if victory is out of your reach? We need a faith infusion! We need to press on in faith and prayer until we realize and definitely know we are walking in the victory of our Lord Jesus Christ. A missionary to India and tireless worker rescuing souls of thousands, Amy Carmichael wrote the following from her “bed of affliction.”
“There are times when great waves of trouble sweep over us, wave upon wave. There are calm times when all goes peacefully, and then suddenly something distressing happens. Satan seems to be having all things his own way. Sometimes those whom we wholly trusted disappoint us terribly, and we are tempted to say, ‘Whom can I trust?’
“But this is fatal. There are many on whom we can count even in the worst of times. Let us never look only at the clouds and forget the blue in the sky. There is far more blue than gray.
“We are here because we are needed to fight through to victory. We never asked for ease. Well, this is not ease, so it is what we expected – not play, but war. It is and always must be a fight of faith. Hebrews 2:9 has a word for us: We see Jesus…CROWNED. Nothing can touch that. We follow an undefeated Lord. Love won on Calvary.
“But we have need of patience. Give us Thy patience, Lord.”
What is faith if it is not “waiting” on the Lord?! We must fix our faith on what Jesus has done for us through His cross and resurrection. He has won the victory and now offers it to everyone who believes! Remember our victory is through and in
Him! Keep trusting and you will win!
O victory in Jesus, my Savior forever!
Pastor Doug
SUNDAY – JANUARY 24, 2021
“Come to Me, all you who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For My yoke is easy and My burden is light.” Matthew 11:28-30
Are you finding joy in your walk with the Lord? While it is wonderful to know that one day we will leave this weary world and enter into a “final” and full rest in the Lord, God wants us to actually enjoy living with Him even before we get to heaven. The sadness is that many of God’s children are not experiencing the “abundant life” that Jesus declared He came to give. (See John 10:10) Is it possible for you and me to “live above this world” and to “dwell on a higher plain?” The emphatic answer is yes!
“No doubt you have never regretted responding to His call and coming to Him. You experienced that His word was truth; all His promises He fulfilled; He made you a partaker of the blessings and the joy of His love. His welcome was heartfelt, His pardon full and free, His love most sweet and precious, was it not? You more than once, at your first coming to Him, had reason to say, ‘The half was not told me.’
“And yet you have had some disappointment. As time went on, your expectations were not always realized. The blessings you once enjoyed were lost; the love and joy of your first meeting with your Savior, instead of deepening, have become faint and weak. And you have often wondered why, with such a mighty and loving Savior, your experience of salvation was not a fuller one.
“The answer is very simple. You wandered from Him. The blessings He bestows are all connected with His ‘Come to Me,’ and are only to be enjoyed in close fellowship with Him. You either did not fully understand, or did not rightly remember, that the call meant ‘Come to Me and remain with Me.’ This was His object and purpose when He first called you to Himself. It was not to refresh you for a few short hours after your conversion with the joy of His love and deliverance, and then to send you forth to wander in sadness and sin.
“No, indeed, He has prepared for you an abiding dwelling with Himself, where your whole life and every moment of it might be spent, and where the work of your daily life might be done as you enjoy unbroken communion with Him. Who would be content, after seeking the King’s palace, to stand in the door, when he is invited in to dwell in the King’s presence and share with Him in all glory of His royal life? Let us enter in and abide and enjoy fully all the rich supply His wondrous love has prepared for us!”
I want you to know Him in the fullness of His rich mercy, grace, love, and real life!
Dwelling in Beulah Land,
Pastor Doug
SUNDAY – JANUARY 17, 2021
“Jesus said to them, ‘My food is to do the will of Him who sent Me, and to finish His work. Do not say,
“There are still four months and then comes the harvest.’ Behold, I say to you, lift up your eyes and look at the fields,
for they are already white for harvest!” John 4:34-35
The work of God is never finished as long as lost people are dwelling on the earth. Jesus said that there is a “night” coming when man will work no more, but it is clear that “night” has not yet come. There is pressing, urgent work that must be accomplished before the “night” comes! The confusing and challenging times that we live in seem to “drain” our energy, and we feel discouraged to pursue the work as we once did in our time of youth. We must pursue NOW with greater effort than we have in the past! Where will our strength come from? It will be found in the “work” itself! Andrew Murray gave an answer in his book, The Lord’s Table.
“Jesus had hidden manna that He received from the Father, and that was the secret of His power. No one could have discovered what it was; but when He tells us, it appears so simple that many are puzzled over it. His food was to do the will of God.
“Food meets a felt need. Jesus’ hunger was for one thing; to please God. Without that He could not rest; in that one thing He had all He needed. And when He found the will of God, He did it, and thereby fed His soul with its appropriate food and was satisfied.
“Food involves appropriation, like the exercise of fellowship. The weak soul who truly surrenders himself to do the will of God becomes wonderfully strengthened by it. Obedience to God, instead of exhausting the energies, renews them. The doing of God’s will was Jesus’ food.
“Food brings both quickening and joy. Eating is not only necessary for strength, but it is also enjoyable. To observe a feast in the Spirit is itself equivalent to food. Obedience to the will of God was Jesus’ highest joy.
“Jesus has become my food, and He dwells in me as the power of my life. Now I know the means by which this life must be fed and strengthened within me. The doing of God’s will is my food!”
We shall not lack the energy nor strength to do the work God puts before us! Doing His will strengthens us every time we do it!
Strong in the Lord and the power of His might,
Pastor Doug
SUNDAY – JANUARY 10, 2021
“’Have faith in God,’ Jesus answered. ‘I tell you the truth, if anyone says to this mountain, “Go, throw yourself into the sea,” and does not doubt in his heart but believes that what he says will happen, it will be done for him… Whatever you ask for in prayer, believe that you have received it, and it will be yours.’” Mark 11:22-24
Remember that we must have “faith” in order to be saved! Faith is the connection that appropriates to us the work that Jesus Christ did on the Cross, and it brings the results of His victory over death, sin, and the grave into our lives. Faith is the basic “currency” we must use to enter into the life of salvation that Jesus offers to us. Faith must be “living” in order for Christians to enjoy the blessings of grace on a continual basis. Each of us should pray every day, “Lord, increase my faith!”
“The most wonderful promises in all of Scripture are those regarding answers to prayer. To many such promises have raised the question, ‘How can I ever attain the faith that knows that it receives all it asks?’
“It is this very question our Lord would answer today. When He gave the above promise to His disciples, He first pointed out where faith in the answer to prayer comes from and where it finds its strength: ‘Have faith in God.’
“The power to believe a promise depends entirely on our faith in the one who promises. It is only when we enjoy a personal loving relationship with God Himself that our whole being is opened up to the mighty influence of His holy presence and the capacity will be developed in us for believing that He gives whatever we ask.
“The connection between faith in God and faith in His promises will become clear when we think about what faith really is. It is often compared to the hand or the mouth by which we take and appropriate what is offered to us. Faith is also the ear by which we hear what is promised, the eye by which we see what is offered. I must hear the person who gives the promise- the vey tone of his voice gives me courage to believe. I must see him- in the light of his eye and his countenance, all fear passes away. The value of the promise depends on the one giving the promise; my knowledge of his character and dependability creates faith in his promise. In the case of God our Father, there can be no doubt as to His character and power to hear and answer and provide.”
Those are words from Andrew Murray’s Believing Prayer, and they encourage us to draw closer to our God and to “seek His face” in order to know Him more fully. Faith increases in proportion to our intimate knowledge of our Heavenly Father!
Drawing near to the Father,
Pastor Doug
SUNDAY – JANUARY 3, 2021
“For whatever is born of God overcomes the world. And this is the victory that has overcome the world – our faith. Who is he who overcomes the world, but he who believes that Jesus is the Son of God?” I John 5:4-5
Certainly, we are aware that there will be challenges we will face in the coming days, months, and years. How shall we prepare to face and overcome those challenges? It must be done by faith! The Bible’s declaration is “the just shall live by faith!” Every aspect of a Christian’s life must be handled from the perspective of faith. That’s the reason a follower of Christ is called a believer. It is not because of a one-time decision to “accept” Jesus as Savior and Lord, but it is because a real Christian lives every day by faith. During these days, we must grow in faith and exercise our faith daily.
This past year, the elders and deacons have been using Streams in the Desert as a guide for their daily devotions. The following come from the December 29th entry.
“Arise! Then there is something definite for us to do. Nothing is ours unless we take it. ‘The children of Joseph, Manasseh and Ephraim, took their inheritance’ (Josh. 16:4). ‘The house of Jacob shall possess their possessions’ (Obad. 17). ‘The upright shall have good things in possession.’
“We need to have appropriating faith in regard to God’s promises. We must make God’s Word our own personal possession. A child was once asked what appropriating faith was, and his answer was, ‘It is taking a pencil and underscoring all of the me’s and mine’s and my’s in the Bible.’
“Take any word you please that He has spoken and say, ‘That word is my word.’ Put your finger on this promise and say, ‘It is mine.’ How much of the Word has been endorsed and receipted and said, ‘It is done.’ How many promises can you subscribe and say, ‘Fulfilled to me.’
“’Son, thou art ever with Me, and all that I have is thine.’ Don’t let your inheritance go by default.”
“When faith goes to market it always takes a basket.”
Lord, increase our faith!
Living by faith,
Pastor Doug