by Les | Aug 14, 2023 | Click Date to Respond
2 Corinthians 5:17 ESV – Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come.
Have you ever thought about the difference between fermentation and rot? Both are the process of decay but they have a different outcome. When something rots it might be used as fertilizer but for little else. When something ferments it becomes transformed into something other than what it was before.
In the fermentation process microorganisms, such as yeast, break down food components and the substance begins to change. Some familiar products of fermentation are yoghurt, cottage cheese, vinegar and sauerkraut.
The Holy Spirit is the yeast of our lives, causing us to become transformed. We are different after the transformation, infused by the Holy Spirit and a resident of Christ’s Kingdom.
by Les | Aug 8, 2023 | Click Date to Respond
1 Peter 4:10 NIV – Each of you should use whatever gift you have received to serve others, as faithful stewards of God’s grace in its various forms.
I once came upon a coworker who had mounted a steel box in which a large battery would be placed as backup power for a railroad radio base station. As I approached I saw that he was moving a torpedo level (a bubble level around 10 inches long) around inside the box. When asked what he was attempting to accomplish he replied that he was looking for the low spot in the bottom of the steel box where he could drill a drain hole for any water that might be spilled while servicing the battery.
I had been drinking from a bottle of water, which was still in my hand. I poured about a quarter of the bottle’s contents into the steel box and we watched as the water collected in a single point within the box. The water quickly found the low spot that my coworker was searching for. Pouring water into the box was the result of having listened to an uncle once tell of a similar project and having used water to determine a low spot. My coworker, not having heard my uncle’s story, was doing the best he could with what he believed was the proper tool for the task.
Knowledge, mental and physical abilities, discernment and wisdom are some of God’s gifts given through the Holy Spirit. Whatever the task set before us we can accomplish if those with the needed gift become involved. As followers of Christ we are called to utilize our gifts in service to others. It is by bringing all that we possess in knowledge and in spirit before the Lord that we can serve him to the best of our abilities.
by Les | Aug 3, 2023 | Click Date to Respond
James 5:15-16 NIV – And the prayer offered in faith will make the sick person well; the Lord will raise him up. If they sinned, they will be forgiven. Therefore confess your sins to each other and pray for each other so that you may be healed. The prayer of a righteous man is powerful and effective
A former coworker recently shared a Facebook posting that read as follows.
“When you tell someone that you will pray for them, you have made a promise to speak to God on their behalf. Those are serious words not to be taken lightly.
Someone is counting on you.” Something that I observed while Dick Sipe was our interim pastor was that whenever somebody brought a prayer concern to Dick he would immediately pray with them. Pastor Dick acted on the request for prayer and did so with the requester of prayer present. He didn’t put the prayer off for another time or make a promise that might be later forgotten. He prayed whenever and wherever someone made a request for prayer. I believe that Pastor Dick’s approach is a response to emulate when asked to pray. That is, pray at the moment. Praying at the moment of request allows people, who are in need, know that you are supportive and care about their concerns.
by Les | Jul 24, 2023 | Click Date to Respond
Isaiah 25:1 NIV – LORD, you are my God; I will exalt you and praise your name, for in perfect faithfulness you have done wonderful things, things planned long ago.
Tomorrow, July 25th, is the 98th anniversary of the founding of Meridian Avenue Baptist Church There were 54 charter members and their first church home was a small white frame building that stood at the same location where our church stands today. They gathered with a vision to create a new place of worship on what was then the western edge of Wichita, KS.
Time has passed and Wichita has grown far west of our church home. Still, Meridian Avenue Baptist Church remains as a testament to those few people who had a vision to plant a new church in the service of Christ Jesus. They responded to the movement of the Holy Spirit that empowered them to give of their time and resources in Christ’s service.
Christ continues to call upon us to serve him with our talents, time and resources. We should ask ourselves daily what Christ would have us do for his kingdom.
by Les | Jul 17, 2023 | Click Date to Respond
2 Peter 3:9 ESV – The Lord is not slow in keeping his promise, as some understand slowness. Instead he is patient with you, not wanting anyone to perish, but everyone to come to repentance.
Helen’s grandfather, Keil, was raised in a church tradition that preached the power of an angry God. His was an experience of hearing about a God of consequences; a God who responds to human misdeeds with punishment and retribution. When he became an adult Keil had little desire to attend church, believing that he had heard enough about God during the time he was compelled to attend as a child.
In the latter half of the 1950s, Helen’s brother, Calvin, began attending Sunday School at the church the family attended. In Sunday School Calvin would hear stories of Jesus as shared on the flannel board and by children’s books. Calvin often spent time with his grandfather as he toiled in his workshop. It was there that Calvin would retell the Sunday School stories of the miracles and love of Jesus.
The pastor of a nearby church would sometimes visit Keil at his workshop and each visit included an invitation to attend their church services. It was during one of these visits that Keil turned to the pastor and said, “I don’t want to hear about the God that I heard about as a child; instead, tell me about the God that my grandson knows.”
It was from that conversation that Helen, at the age of 3, stood with her parents, siblings and others at the edge of a pond and watched as her grandfather and grandmother, both in their 60s, were baptized and became members of the Mt. Ida Church of the Brethren. They lived the rest of their lives serving and loving their Lord, Jesus Christ.
by Les | Jul 10, 2023 | Click Date to Respond
Luke 1:37 ESV – For nothing will be impossible with God
It is a good thing to exercise your body. Exercise strengthens your heart and improves your circulation. Oxygen levels in the blood rise along with the increased blood flow. The combination of these elements lowers the risk of heart diseases such as high cholesterol, coronary artery disease and heart attack. Regular exercise can also lower your blood pressure. The failure to exercise usually leads to atrophy of muscles.
Like muscles, failure to exercise your faith can lead to spiritual atrophy. The longer you go without exercising your faith, the greater the danger that you will forget how to use your faith.
Faith is a gift of God and it is his wish that we use it. But more than that, faith leans heavily on acknowledging that He is mightier than we are ourselves. As humans, we can choose to rely upon ourselves to accomplish something or we can choose to rely upon He who is capable of far greater things than we are ourselves. Once we commit ourselves to rely upon Him, through faith, all things become possible. Even those things that are seemingly impossible.
