Have you noticed how easy it is to slip into despair during this pandemic? Open your heart, open your mind and give Him the Glory! We are supposed to give Him thanks in all things. As little kids we sang the song in church, "Rise, and shine, and give God the glory, glory!" So, RISE AND SHINE!

We rejoice with grateful hearts at the remembrance of all the efforts made by our service people over the years to present to us this country we have. There are, of course, many flaws. But the good outweighs the bad. As we look back, we also look forward to God's blessing and our part in all of those blessings. 

This is a month with five Sundays in it. As is our custom, on that fifth Sunday someone else brings the message. Today's message gives us ten reasons to be in church. It is easy to find a reason to skip church. Too easy. But what about reasons to be there? Good, solid reasons. Blessings.

In all the chaos and clamor in the world today it is easy to get caught up in the insanity. The world seems out of control. Even the rioters in the streets wear masks, not so much to hide their identity, but to protect against a virus to small to be seen. In this craziness, we need to stop and listen for the patient knocking of our Lord at the door of our hearts. We need to listen for the still small voice that came to Elijah in the wilderness. There is order and peace, but only in the Lord. 

1 Peter 2:9---"But you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for His own possession, that you may proclaim the excellencies of Him who called you out of darkness into His marvelous light."

Remember who we are. We are called to something greater than the nonsense the world puts forth. We are His people!

We have a Heavenly Father who is waiting to walk with us and lift us up and give us joy. But we need to be in proper fellowship with Him. That starts with confession of our sin and then the fellowship gets better as we go along. As we celebrate Father's Day, let's not forget that we need fellowship with God the Father. Blessings to all.

We are told to praise Him. Not just in church, but at all times. Do we want peace in our lives? Praise Him. Do we want laughter in our lives? Praise Him. Psalm 149:5 tells to even praise Him on our beds as we turn in for the night and wake up in the morning. Enjoy the presence of the Lord and seek that presence. ENJOY!

Today is the day we set aside to honor our country, but we see a country in turmoil. We have been told in the Word that unless God's people are faithful to His statutes and His desire and His path that He has set before us, there will be no blessings. His way is the only way to the joy of the Lord.

I believe it is part of Satan's plan that we waste time on the things of man. Just think if we locked onto the things of God and followed His plan and His lead instead of getting worked up and misdirected by the things of man. 

There has never been a more uncertain time in which to live, at least not in the memory of almost everyone alive today. But there is a peaceful, protected place for us all, and it is open.

In the years I have been at this church I, personally, have struggled. My health has gone down and my personal life has been a struggle. But I feel that God has given blessing after blessing. We often look in the wrong place for blessings.

Are we, as Christians, losing our way? Why is the Lord allowing all this to happen?/ Well, He told us that it would happen, but He also gave us the the way through. Contentment isn't coming. Contentment is here.

We are facing some real hard times, but week after week people come into this church with smiles and joy. You wouldn't know that the world was in such a mess. All joy comes from Him and all praise goes back to Him. If your church does not have that joy, it is a church in trouble.

So much emphasis is placed on worship in our churches that we forget about holiness. Worship is easy and emotional. Holiness requires much more from us and is something we should show the world everyday. It is the splendor of holiness.

Long ago I heard a preacher say, "Many wish to serve the Lord, but they want to serve  the Lord in an advisory capacity. That is a true statement. You can tell who that person is because they say a lot about what needs to be done but they do very little AND their personal lives never change. To serve the Master, one needs to serve completely.

We become so wrapped up in politics and illness and all the bad news, we completely forget the work that is being done in other parts of the world to bring the the message of Christ to the lost. Great message and great lesson.

How appreciative are we for what the Lord does for us? The chorus to the hymn, "I Am Satisfied With Jesus" says this; "I am satisfied, I am satisfied, I am satisfied with Jesus. But the question comes to me as I think of Calvary, is my Master satisfied with Me?" 

We are a people who seek the easy way, the emotional way, the way that pleases us. But the way to God, the way to the mountaintop, is not an easy journey. However, the Lord is with us all the way.

The Book of Psalms is the hymnbook of the Jewish people. It may not sound like music to us, but in the original language each Psalm has meter and rhyme and rhythm. The Jews embraced music as the expression of their joy in the Lord. In today's service the Dotson family shares that joy with us. We couldn't plug into the system today so the sound is a little off, but just enjoy His grace through music!

The decisions we make have long lasting consequences. We need to compare good to evil, wisdom to foolishness. In the Spiritual realm and on the world stage, God shows the way if we will follow.

I have always seriously felt that the failings in our society are the result of Christians getting off their knees and picking up protest signs. The power we have is in Jesus, not in the protest or the vote. This is following another Gospel than the one in the Bible. What Gospel do you follow?

It is way to easy to see things with human eyes. After all, we are human. It is natural to see with human eyes. And, then, it is natural to respond with human though and logic. And, when we do that, we see many things that are impossible. But if we see with God's eyes, we see that with the Lord, nothing is impossible. 

Accepting Christ as Savior is all we need to have the assurance of heaven. But taking Him as Lord is something else. Being Lord implies we will follow Him. Most Christians have a hard time with that concept. There is a cost to be His disciple. He doesn't make it something hard to do, as a rule, but there is a cost. Will you pay the cost?

A life that is spent letting things happen to us, a life that is letting things go as they will, a life that presents challenges that we fail to face, is not a life. It is an existence.

Adam sinned against God and they tried to hide from Him. We have been hiding ever since. Hiding behind excuses and hiding behind our own understanding. We must lift Him up with minds full of faith rather than minds full of excuses.

For a long, long time, Christians have had all the advantages in the USA. But now we need to prepare for Spiritual warfare like never before. The fight is upon us!

This year and the holidays are going to be completely different than anything before in our collective memory. But it begs the question; So what? Should political instability affect our worship or our thankfulness? Should a pandemic drive a wedge between us and the Lord? In all things, we give thanks!

Paul tells us to crucify the flesh. That means getting away from the sin we find so pleasing. Today we dedicated Clay and Ezra to the Lord. But first we dedicate our people and their part in all of this. What are you dedicated too?

"Joy to The World!" But what about the rest of the year? Just as the Advent we have now looks to the coming of the Child at Christmas, so does the Advent we should observe year round look to the Coming of the Savior.

Jesus didn't just appear on the scene. There were prophecies we see in the Scripture and then there are prophecies that the Jews would have recognized if they had just been looking. What a Gift we have received, what a wondrous image we have of that Gift as He ascends into glory and what a peace to know that in glory, He is adding to His church. 

Imagine if we could see the glory and the magnificence that Mary saw. And, imagine if we could hear Mary sing about it. Merry Christmas to you all.

We are so blessed, when so many other churches are unable or prevented by their denomination from having a Christmas Eve service, we can and we did. Please enjoy.

Oh my! What a year! We will look back at 2020 and be amazed at how terrible it was. We cannot wait to hit 2021! Except, there is no guarantee that 2021 will be better than 2020. In fact, it could be worse. Elder Brian Chamberlain brings today's message and he stresses that whatever happens, move forward in the Lord. Probably the best messages of the year. Have a listen.