Over the last several days here in California we have been getting an overflow of rain. As a state we all can agree that it is much needed and refreshing. With that in mind I read this passage and wanted to share some thoughts…

Phil. 1:9-11
9 I pray that your love will overflow more and more, and that you will keep on growing in knowledge and understanding. 10For I want you to understand what really matters, so that you may live pure and blameless lives until the day of Christ’s return. 11 May you always be filled with the fruit of your salvation—the righteous character produced in your life by Jesus Christ[b]—for this will bring much glory and praise to God.

As I read this passage I wondered how many of us really are satisfied where we are?
Don’t be satisfied with where you are! Realize today that GOD has more for you! More LOVE than you could ever imagine that He pours out in our hearts by the His Spirit. He longs for us to continue to grow in KNOWLEDGE and UNDERSTANDING of who He is so that we can live out what REALLY MATTERS; and that is pure and blameless lives before HIM…so that we can live the character and life of Jesus before ‘THEM’ (THE WORLD)! This is the kind of life that brings GLORY and PRAISE to GOD!!

So PRAISE HIM with WHAT REALLY MATTERS today…your LIFE lived FOR HIM, HIS LIFE lived through you!

Blessings,
Pastor Scott

Ok – I totally blogged the other day and I thought it was really good! I opened my laptop today so I could submit this wonderful blog and it is GONE! Are you serious!?! I spent like an hour on this two paragraph blog and it has disappeared!

Have you ever been there? I don’t know if I am trying to make a point here or just living out the old adage that misery loves company. I have worked hard and what do I get? Absolutely nothing except another opportunity to get bitter! Or maybe, what is happening here is an opportunity to find the positive and emerge better? OK – I remember the blog dealt with rain and quitting and a passage from The Message, Matthew 10, and Jesus said “don’t quit, don’t cave in!” It was a good blog. I had a fun time doing it… now what?

I know…

Step one, recognize that this message may have been just for me. I should think on it again and see what I glean from it.

Step two, reconstruct the blog and get it to the people that post it!

Step three, turn in this rant… because my loss might just help someone who has worked really hard and feels like you got nothing. Look again. Look at your situation in Jesus name and find the Call of God when you seem to have lost it all. The answer may not be easy. You may have to start all over, but do it for the glory of God and in His strength and I know that you and those around you will be better for it.

Some things we don’t talk about….like right now I’m waiting for the Rescue Rooter man to rescue us. Both toilets and showers are backed up, plugged up, and it’s a mess! Life gets like that sometimes…everything backs us into a real mess. That’s when we cry out to God for rescue…and He’s right there, instantly to help us. I’m already dreading handing my credit card to the rooterman…God fixes my life for free!
P.S. God just reminded me that all the toilets in Haiti are plugged. And there are no showers with water. And I thanked God for Rescue Rooter and I will patiently wait.

There are times when it is necessary to be reminded of the power and urgency of prayer in all of our lives. Today is one of those days. Haiti is all that needs to be said…

I am reminded of the urgency of prayer, not only for the people of Haiti, but also for so many others who are in need of healing physically, emotionally and spiritually.

As far as we know, many have secured their eternity with Christ. But every day, you and I pass hundreds and thousands of people who have not. They too are holding onto eternal life by a thread.

While they may not realize their need for spiritual healing because of the fact that they have a physical pulse, there will come a day when that pulse will stop. And for too many people, that day will be a tragic and unnecessary death. It doesn’t have to be that way.

So as I ask you to pray for Haiti, I also ask you to pray for those in your life who do not know Jesus Christ. Pray that they come to realize who Christ is and all that he can do in their lives. Because it is only through Jesus that we have any hope for life.

And it is only through him that we can experience true healing!

Blessings,
Pastor Scott

I love food! The funny thing is, I always have. In high school a friend brought me two or three dozen of my favorite cookies. Because they were “all mine” I sat in front of the TV watching my favorite shows and ate all of them in one sitting! Where was my mom!? I lost control!

Tastes and flavors are important to me, thus the reason I don’t venture off into new tastes very often; I don’t want to be disappointed. I love my old favorites so much so that I repeat them often. Some people think this is unadventurous. I would rather like to think I am consistent. There’s nothing wrong with being predictable in my eating habits, right? Don’t answer that.

Like I savor the moments I spend with delicious food, I also savor the moments I spend pursuing God (no, I don’t worship food . . . hopefully anyway). I long for moments in prayer when I feel connected to His presence; God’s always there waiting for me to talk with Him. When singing worship songs, I am comfortable there and don’t want to leave. Being challenged by the Truth pushes me to desire more of Him, thus the deeper pursuit of what Truth means.

I have started to reread the classic Christian living book The Pursuit of God by A.W. Tozer, one of my favorites. His writing is very rich, and I can’t get past the preface! I have even been stumped by a quote on the back of the book! “During a train trip from Chicago to Texas in the late 1940’s, Tozer began to write The Pursuit of God. He wrote all night, the words coming to him as fast as he could put them down. When the train pulled into McAllen, the rough draft was done. Although written in such a remarkably short period of time, the depth, clarity and completeness of Tozer’s message has made (this book) an enduring favorite.” I enjoy writing, but I wonder if there is enough in my heart to spill onto a page for a complete night. Would the words come so profoundly as Tozer’s? I think not! Consequently, I marvel at his depth of insight into what it really means to live pursuing God. Tozer is a lofty thinker in my book, and I am not, but I admire him immensely.

What I’ve learned from his writing in the preface is the antidote for revival in our hearts is a thirst and hunger after God. We need to be eager for spiritual truth and pursue it above all else. A revival of the heart means that people (souls) would be made new as their life in Christ would begin in Him and others would “recapture” the wonder of their faith in Christ. This should and could happen when our pursuit of God becomes what we live for. Tasting the sweet presence of the love of Christ should compel us further, deeper to investigate that love and truly taste Him.

The longing of my heart is to love God, know Him, and make Him known. This I hunger and thirst for. God is my favorite person! When people observe my life, I want them to notice that I am consistent, predictable in my pursuit of God. I enjoy God and savor my time with Him. I’ve tasted Him, and He is good, but there’s more to sample and savor. Simple is good for me. One God, one life to live, I’m pursuing Him!

It’s not unusual for ministries to take a close look at other churches. Often, they’re in search of the recipe for success.

It’s great that churches can learn from each other. Our church has certainly been helped by it, and we hope other churches have found value in what we’ve been able to offer.

But there’s something important to keep in mind as we study others. We have to realize we have different ingredients.

When you do the same things as Ministry X, you can’t assume you’ll get the same results. God has given you and your team unique talents, resources, and vision to reach your community.

We’re better off building a recipe that takes into account the ingredients we have.

What are some key ingredients for your ministry?

I went to 29 Palms Elementary School and that meant I went all the way through sixth grade. There were only three sixth grade classes at the school of 500 kids and the administrators made a serious error when planning the classes, they put all of the class clowns in one class. We had so much fun that year. We use to look at each other, wink, and then twelve of thirty kids would all fall out of our seats really hard, just to create a ruckus. We were hilarious. The teacher quit half way through the year. We felt abandoned, but it was a victory for us.

One of our most prized targets was a kid named Richard. Richard was really big. He was a foot taller than all of us and he was super fat, he could never catch us. Richard, who we called Dick every chance we got, was also super forgiving. He would always be a friend to whoever wanted to be a friend to him. Even if you had really teased him really bad the day before, Richard would still be your friend the next day.

It was at least half way through the year when we found out that his Dad died because he was welding the gas tank of a motorcycle and it blew up. This should have rattled something in us, but instead we created a really funny charade of a guy welding and would act it out, say “bang,” fall on the ground and flutter around.

One day, while teasing Richard at PE, he walked over to the fence, one shared with the Jr High who were super cool 7th and 8th graders, and he let his eyes water a little and watched the Jr High kids do PE. One of the Jr Highers came over and he really started crying. It was his sister. She tried to comfort him through the fence but he was really devastated. The coach came over and sent Richard to the office. Richard returned to class later in the day.

Seriously God, You can’t forgive me for the things I have done.

What about the hurt feelings? Aren’t they still there?

What about the bad things I have done to innocent people?

How could I be loved by the Creator?

How could I be made Holy?

Really?

I don’t even want to be Holy, I just want the evil I have regretfully done to be gone from Your sight and for that, I need Your help.

Welcome home son.

I hope someday I see Richard again. I have a lot I would like to say to him.

A favorite book of mine is The Pursuit of God by A.W. Tozer. In his pursuit of exploring God’s nature, this book was written. From the foreword by Rev. James L. Snyder we learn that “Tozer’s walk with God was a priority with him and he allowed nothing to interfere. His prayer life was quite remarkable. His regular habit was to sprawl on his study floor, facedown, and worship God. Often, according to his own testimony, he would lie in silent, wordless worship of God, usually oblivious to his surroundings. The desire to worship God and to inspire others to a deeper awareness of God are clearly evident in (this book).”

After the forward, in a chapter entitled “Tozer’s Legacy,” the writer states: “Forced by his home situation to forfeit an education, Tozer entered the ministry without either high school or college training. He came to Christ at the age of seventeen. A dingy corner of the basement of the family home became his private prayer chamber. There, at the very beginning of his Christian life, Tozer established what was to be a lifelong practice of waiting on God. Tozer educated himself by years of diligent study and a constant prayerful seeking of the mind of God. With Tozer, seeking truth and seeking God were one and the same thing. With no teacher but the Holy Spirit and good books, A.W. Tozer became a theologian, a scholar and a master craftsman in the use of the English language. Much of the strong meat in The Pursuit of God came out of the crucible of Tozer’s own personal experience.”

Dr. David J. Fant, Jr., describes the process of writing this book. “Tozer literally wrote The Pursuit of God on his knees. Perhaps that explains its power and the blessing that has rested on it.”

“Perhaps the continued usefulness of this book can be attributed to the writer’s great spiritual discovery that to seek God does not narrow one’s life, but brings it, rather, to the level of highest possible fulfillment.”

My thoughts? It’s time to read this great book once again. I remember that it changed my life and I’d love another inspiration of change, not for the sake of change, but for heaven’s sake, for my sake. Coming face to face with God’s nature and encountering Him in such a way that changes the way I live, think, do, pray, study, and “be”; this I hunger and thirst for. I desire to live in holy awe of who God is. Maybe silent worship is called for. Maybe more time to worship alone is necessary. Maybe God is waiting for me. I know He is.

Sitting here in a hospital waiting room as a relative is being operated on and I find myself occupied with one of my favorite pastimes…people-watching. Hospitals are filled with so many different faces filled with so many different emotions. Like the new mom who is being wheeled out to the car and the new dad filled with excitement making sure they are both taken care of. Or like the family who is waiting for the news of their loved one who is battling cancer. Faces filled with excitement, concern, sadness, anxiety and hope.

In contrast, the local church has many of the same faces on a weekly basis…but the difference is, while the hospital offers hope through the skills of the medically trained, the church offers hope through Christ. Obviously we depend on the wisdom of the medical professionals. But if we can add to the situation the comfort and strength of Jesus, no matter the outcome, that source of hope cannot be quenched. So the next time you are in a place where you see a face that is lacking hope, take the time to offer the hope and peace that passes all understanding. Jesus is the hope for all situations!!

There I stood…early in the morning, after a fresh snowfall. My entire world was white and there wasn’t one blemish. Not a footprint from man or beast…the snow was perfect.

As I look at 2010 this morning, it is perfect, without blemish of any kind. When I was a kid in Wisconsin, I loved being the first one to walk on the sidewalk after a snowfall. I’d take big strides, and baby steps, stomp my feet to make the prints look humongous, and then wonder what those who would follow, would think.

The New Year has begun and it has arrived for all of us, as a clean slate. We will all have the same opportunity to make our marks. Others will see, will follow, will wonder.

I asked the Lord to give me a verse for 2010. I don’t like the verse He gave me very much. I would not have chosen it. I expect I will discover His reason as the year unfolds. Perhaps it will help me make good tracks in the snow, write pure and holy marks on the slate, and live better than last year.

Why is God asking me to wait for Him? I’m almost 71, doesn’t He know that? I’ve lived a long time, served Him forever. I know how to stride into the unblemished snow. I preach on Sundays, teach on Wednesdays and often on Thursdays. I’m a together woo-hoo kinda guy.

Here is your verse, Jim. Quit yapping and pay attention…you asked for it!
“Wait for the Lord; be strong and take heart and wait for the Lord.” Psalm 27:14

Yes Lord, thank you, I’ll need your help. How long will I have to wait?

Join me as I walk softly into the New Year,

Jim Grams