Welcome to Church on the Hill, Glenavon, Sask, Canada







Monday, August 25, 2008

The Link Family in Concert at COTH

Last Sat night, we had the pleasure of listening to The Link Family from Lebanon, Missouri at COTH, here in Glenavon. I used my voice recorder to record the concert and it’s taken me 3 days to transcribe their words – 8 pages of them. So, I’ve had to cut back for this post:

Pastor Lorne: Is it correctly pronounced ‘Mizz-oor-ee’ or ‘Mizz-oor-ah’?

Lance Link: Yes. (laughter)

Becky (the mom): It’s a pleasure to be here tonight and we are excited to be in Canada. This is the very first time any of us have come here and we have had a great time. Our goal is we want to be encouraging to the believers, but most importantly, we want to bring hope to the lost. And that hope is Jesus Christ. This next song, the words were written in 1707, the music was added in the 1800’s and it’s still in our hymn books today. We’re gonna sing it acapella style for you and it’s called, At The Cross.

Rachel: When I was 5 yrs old, I asked Jesus to come into my heart to be my Savior and forgive my sins. I heard it first from my mom and dad that if I wanted to go to heaven after I died, I had to get saved. So, I went and asked my mom about it and she showed me some verses in the Bible where it talks about Salvation, and she led me through the prayer and I got saved. Since I was only 5, I didn’t understand a lot of what she told me and I had a lot of doubts and fears about whether I was really saved or not. And I had trouble with that until I was 12. Then Dad showed me a verse in the Bible that says, ‘That if though shalt confess with thy mouth, the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised Him from the dead, though shalt be saved.’ (Rom 10:9) When I saw that verse, I knew I didn’t have to worry about it anymore - I was saved. And Kyle’s gonna come sing a song that talks about that and it’s called, Be Assured.

Lance: We love the hymns. Hymns are my favourite music in the whole world. We collected hymn books through the years. If you don’t have a hymn book at home, you have to go get you one. Just keep it laying around. Commit those old hymns to your heart, let them run through your head, and in the hard times, those hymns will come back to your mind and those words will come back to you. And they will help you. They will strengthen you. Some of the best sermons ever preached in the whole world is right in your hymn book. We want to encourage you to keep those old hymns alive with you and your family. We know something that’s really quite marvelous: It we will sit down as a family, open up the hymn book, and just sing. Momma, Dad and the kids, maybe get Grandma and Grandpa and I tell you it is the most wonderful, marvelous thing. So don’t let those old hymns die. Make them a part of your faith walk. Rachel’s gonna come up and do one of my very favourite hymns called, I’d Rather Have Jesus.

Benjamin: I’m here to introduce the 2 little boys for y’all (laughter). And the small boy’s John and he’s 8 yrs old and he’s learning the mandolin. Why don’t you give him a hand... On the fiddle’s Aaron he’s 10 yrs old and he’s been playin’ the fiddle for awhile. We think he’s doing a really good job.

Aaron: On the banjo’s Benjamin, he’s 12 yrs old and he’s been playin’ the banjo since he was eight. Up the ladder’s Kyle and he got married May 10th to Ashley Lynch and he plays the fiddle. My one and only but not lonely sister, Rachel, she plays the mandolin and she got married Jan 1st to Landen Keeler, our soundman in the back. On the bass is Dad, his name’s Lance and he’s 46. (Laughter) Up the laddest the farthest, her name’s Becky and she’s old enough. (Laughter) This song’s called –Somebody Touched Me

This one tells the story of Joshua and the Battle of Jericho. (when the walls came tumbling down.)

Kyle: This next song we’re gonna do for y’all is a new one for us so before I tell you what it’s called...what?...(whispering)...oh, it’s not a new one. (Laughter) This is my wife, Ashely and back at 4th of July, I took her back to my family reunion, a place my great-grandfather built and to teach her how to go fishing. And I got her and I put her in a boat and we went off around the lake and when we got back, she caught twice as many fish as I did. (laughter) So this next song we’re gonna play is called, Faded Love. (Louder laughter) I’m just kidding...

Lance: One thing I enjoy most about what we do is driving around in our blue bus out there all around the countryside and seeing the mighty wonders of God’s creation. You know, the Bible says, it’s a fool who says there is no God. Just by looking at God’s creation, you know there is a Creator. In fact, in Romans it says, man will be without an excuse just looking at God’s creation without acknowledging a Creator. Peter says, a man like that is willingly ignorant now that’s quite a thing to say, isn’t it? You’ve got to choose not to believe. You’ve got to choose to be ignorant of it.

Now, I want you to know something tonight, this room’s full of people who know Him, Jesus, as their Lord and Saviour, and there’s nothing that will make us any happier. And if there’s someone here who don’t know Him, come and know Him tonight. No one is gonna stand between you and Him, tonight.

Kyle’s gonna come up and sing a song that talks about the resurrection. About Christ taking it upon Himself - our punishment - His blood to share. He’s raised again and with that resurrection, we have hope for heaven. You all remember the story about Thomas, don’t you? In the Bible? Do you all call him Doubting Thomas up here? Yup, that’s what we call him down there. You know, Missouri – we have a saying down there – we are the ‘Show Me’ state. We don’t believe it, til we see it. It’s kinda the way we are.... So, we figure Thomas comes from Missouri. (laughter) You all remember Doubting Thomas – I can’t believe it, til I see it. Remember when he put his fingers out - I won’t believe it til I put my fingers in His side. When the Lord appeared, he said, ‘My Lord and my God’. Someday folks, that’s gonna be our privilege to bend our knee before our Lord, because of the resurrection. Here’s Kyle and I Am The Man, Thomas.

Pastor Lorne: Well, have you enjoyed the music so far? (Lots of cheers and clapping) These folks here have come – and I think it must be a real step of faith to come that far and come into a place and hope to have your needs covered. And so tonight, we ask you again, and you’ve been so great over the times we’ve had the different concerts and it helps to support the people who come and bless us with their music. So, one more time we come to you and whatever you feel you’d like to give tonight to help support this family as they travel all across the United States and now into Canada, and so whatever you can do to help. And while the fellas come up for the offering, we’re gonna keep listening to another number. (I think they played the instrumental ‘Salt Creek’ while the offering was collected. It was lively and the congregation clapped the beat.)

Pastor Lorne – Well, that was pretty good offertory music. (laughter)

Instrumental

Lance - We really appreciate the giving. It’s our faith ministry. Pray for us. It’s what we do. Full time We’re at our home 15-20% of days of the year and the rest of the time we’re on the road. And we’re a unique ministry, I think, in that we play many secular venues as Christian entertainment or the complimentary gospel band. And we have many opportunities to witness to a lost world. We sure enjoy coming into churches and being with people who are like-minded and it’s just nice. We sure appreciate all your smiling faces and your amens and we like to see that light in your eyes.

The Pastor mentioned something about that last tune - the last 2 songs were written by Benjamin, the banjo player. (clapping) He’s written a lot of banjo tunes and this week is actually the first time he’s writing a tune with words. And he’s working hard – it’s not quite ready yet – but we’re really please with his work. Little Ben is the youngest ever to be nominated ‘banjo performer of the year in bluegrass’ in the Midwest of America, doing a great, great job. (clapping) Little known secret now ‘cause we wouldn’t want you to get too bored - he’s just about to set the world record for speed banjo playing so you might want to check out the You Tube in a month or two and I’ll get to make it official and whatnot and we’ll see if he can do that. Let me tell you Mom and me can’t even keep up with him. (laughter)

Speaking of Mom, I’m gonna brag on her a bit: People always want to know how we got started and Becky has been in gospel music since she was a small girl and she’ll tell you about her family heritage and music in awhile but she’s actually the current female vocalist of the year in bluegrass and Kyle is the current solo performer of the year in bluegrass. And I drive the bus. (cheering and clapping) Oh my.

Let’s brag on Rachel a little bit, too – you see that prison break fellow back there at the sound board? (Laughing, we all look to the back where Landen, the soundman is set up.) He had hair up ‘til about 3 hrs ago. (laughter) Rachel was cutting his hair and got a nice hair cut. Finished it right up and was making sure she was getting it right and there was a little long sprig there and she picked up the clippers and there was nothing on the clippers...they were bare as (laughter drowned out his words) And now we got (laughter) for a son-in-law back there. He had hair until a while ago. Rachel’s the oldest sibling and she does so much for us. She’s in charge of our music – Becky’s taught the kids basic music and they’ve gone on to learn a lot on their own...got to work with a lot of great musicians and so, she’s the one who chooses us what to do. She’s the one who buys all our clothes and our food.

Ashley has come on board about 3 months ago and is finding her place in our band.

Little Ben’s gonna come up and sing a song here. This is taken from the Lord’s Prayer and you know, I could preach on this for 30 mins. You know, the Lord recommended that we pray that we not be led into temptation. That’s a warning. That’s part of my prayer life. And I can tell when I skip it. Pray often: ‘God, lead me not into temptation and deliver me from evil .’ I can tell when the Lord’s doing that mighty work in my life and I’m just doing my own walk, my own way, following temptation and that’s what this song’s about...Lead Me Not.

This song also has to do with family. My brother Scott Fergans from Free Hill (?), Missouri wrote this song about 25 yrs ago. About 5 months ago, we decided to pull it back up and sing it bluegrass style. It talks about one day, I’m gonna get to see my Father and my Saviour, Jesus Christ, Face-to-Face.

Kyle: This next song we’re gonna sing is called Prayer Bells of Heaven and the first verse talks about our prayer relationship with the Lord and the second 2 verses give biblical examples of prayer. Prayer is a very neat thing. We can use prayer in our lives anywhere,anytime, for any reason. That’s one of the greatest things I think about our Lord and His relationship with us, His creation. He loves us so much he’s willing to let you do it. Here’s Prayer Bells of Heaven.

Well, we’re gonna do about a minute commercial here, if you’d bear with us...if you’d like to know more about The Link Family you can go to our website: http://www.linkfamilymusic.com/ If you’d like to receive a newsletter through the email occasionally, just sign up back there. We will not farm it out or any of that stuff, just every once in awhile, we’ll send out an information letter and most likely, we’ll probably be back up here next year about this time of the year. We’re working with the man who got us hooked up with the pastor, here and they’re working on next year, so. We’d love to see you folks again, sometime.

Kyle is our state fiddle champion and rhythm guitar champion – he’s won many contests. He’s an expert at what’s known as Texas-style Fiddlin’. But he just ran out (of CD’s) so if you want one, just sign up back there and he’ll mail it to you and not charge you nothin’ for the mailin’ of it.

About our CD’s: we got live CD’s – this ones for a secular venue and I am so funny on this CD. (laughter) Anyway, uh...that’s what we do in the secular venues and you might be interested in that. We got an all-gospel CD of the kids when they’re small – it’s really cute and if you’re kids are a little younger you might be interested in that – some really good titles on that one. We just came out with a video a month ago – already getting phone calls – people getting saved watching that one. This album’s almost a year old already it made ‘Album of the Year’. So, avail yourselves of the CD’s back there and enough of that stuff.

Ben’s got a request here we’re gonna do. This here’s an old spiritual you might recognize – it’s been done many times, many different ways. It’s called Gospel Flat ???

Benjamin: What I’m about to tell you is my favourite picture of God’s grace. Up on Mount Calvary, there’s 3 men and the Man in the middle died for your sins and He died for my sins. He loved you so much that He died for you. The man on the left and the right are examples for every person’s decision: you either accept Him, or reject Him. You either stand on the solid rock of Jesus, or the sinking sand. Where are you standing tonight? This song’s called Standing on The Solid Rock.

Lance: Well, we’re gonna wind her down after this one and as the fiddle’s slowin’ down, we’ll hand it back to you. We’ve sure enjoyed being with you folks here tonight. You’ve been such a blessing and encouragement to us. Smiles – man, you make our job easy. I’m tellin’ you it’s just plum fun to come up here and play for people who really, really appreciate it. I only try to encourage people in good works – we’re ain’t saved by works, we’re saved by grace and Jesus said, ‘.......until I come.’ And we want to encourage you: Be bold in your faith. Share your faith. Share the good news of Jesus. Man, there’s so many ways you can that. One better way is to just go down to the nursing home – y’all got nursing homes – you call them nursing homes for the old folks? Man, you can go in there and go right to the front desk and say, ‘Who ain’t got nobody to come check on them? There’s people down there that nobody’s checking in on them. Go down there and find out who that is and spend some time with them.

And that’s kinda how our ministry got started. Becky called up the nursing home and said, ‘I got these kids trying to learn some instruments...can we come down and visit with people? And out of that grew this ministry. We’re gonna finish up with the best know gospel song in the whole earth. Little Ben took this and re-arranged it according to how a banjo player thinks. This is Amazing Grace.

(Standing Ovation)

Lance: Would you like to hear another one (Yes!) I’m gonna shock these people behind me. We’re gonna do one we’ve never done for an encore, but I’m gonna leave you smilin’ tonight...is that alright? (Yeah!)

Benjamin: This next tune was written by a guy in Kentucky. He heard this old pop tune and he really liked it but he couldn’t remember the words. He wanted to sing it really bad and it drove him mad and he couldn’t take it any longer so he wrote the words to something he knew about. Let’s see if you folks can recognize the tune...and the critter...

(It was the Possum song. We bought the CD that this was on and my kids listened to this song all the way home...and enroute church the next am...and on the way back...)

If you would like to speak to Pastor Lorne about your own personal relationship with Jesus, please email him.
Again, click http://www.linkfamilymusic.com/ for more info or to order the CD's and DVD of this musical family.

Comments are appreciated. If you’re not sure how, please click on ‘comments’ under 'Labels' in the right column.
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Saturday, August 23, 2008

A Father’s Love

Scriptures: Book of Exodus, Matt 5:48, Matt 22:37-40, Heb 8:8-10

On Sunday, Aug 17th, Pastor Lorne was in Whitewood so our own Maurice Giroux from Montmartre gave the following message:

If you were to ask for a definition of what ‘A Father’s Love’ is, you’d probably get a whole range of what it means. We could call it a parent’s love so it’s not just one gender. I know for a fact as a parent and the love I have for my children that I would spare them any trouble, mishap, pain or illness. I would even stick my neck out and say ‘take me and leave them alone’. We know the concept will really never happen, though.

You take the same concept to the spiritual realm, again, we can’t stand up for anybody else but the difference is that God has already provided us the that loophole – if you want to call it that. Jesus has already taken the hit for us and we can rest assured that hit is going to count for something.

I’m going to take a brief trip through the book of Exodus. You might wonder how I’m going to tie this in but hopefully by the end, you’ll see how I’ve made a complete circle, for in Exodus, everything points to Jesus and the finished work of the cross.

Moses was just an ordinary individual who was asked to do some pretty extraordinary tasks. The question I want to put out is: Can we be a Moses to someone?

The book of Exodus begins with the story of the birth of Moses and how God prepared him to bring the Israelites out of bondage and slavery. Moses received an excellent education in Pharaoh’s court as well as desert training since he was often alone in the desert. This prepared him to lead the Israelites through the wilderness.

In the book of Exodus, there are 4 main events:


  • The Passsover

  • The Crossing of Red Sea

  • The Giving of the Law otherwise known as the Ten Commandments, and

  • Construction of the Tabernacle



Many of the stories in the book of Exodus run parallel with our own stories and experiences. And, quite often with society in general or the secular world. But, it’s also a journey. It was a journey for the Israelites because it was going to last in the neighbourhood of 40 years before they would ever reach the promised land.

What about us? It’s also a journey for us. Being released from Satan’s slavery or bondage and heading for the promised land. If we think back to our own salvation, quite often it’s probably an individual who talked to us or had an impact on us, or someone who used a Moses approach with certain words who was responsible for leading you out of bondage, or Egypt, so to speak.

So Moses led God’s children, the Israelites, out of Egypt – a land of bondage and slavery. But he didn’t do it alone – he did it with the power of God that God had on him.
This also parallels with our own experiences. Our coming to the Lord didn’t just happen; it happened because of the Holy Spirit ministering through the Moses person that led you through as well as on you, that had their hearts on the right time to accept Jesus.

So, I say again: Can we be a Moses to someone?

If you want to turn to Matt 5:48, here’s Jesus talking to His disciples: ‘Be perfect, therefore, as your heavenly Father is perfect.’ Now that to me puts the bar pretty high. I’m not suggesting for a minute that we should lower the bar but I’m just giving you something to think about. Maybe the bar is a little low, but if you look at what Moses did with the Israelites and bringing them out of Egypt and how that all ties in with our own personal journey’s, then maybe we can use him as our role model and learn from that.

Pharaoh himself draws a close parallel to Satan and to the world of bondage. He the Israelites in captivity and was not willing to release them to Moses under any circumstances. Satan’s MO or method of operation runs pretty close to that. I heard a story a little while back: Anyone here know Leon Fontaine of the television ministry? Anyway, he was telling the story of a young individual in his early 20’s who had drug addictions and alcohol problems and was on a downward spiral. But as God’s plan would have it, someone was able to intervene in his life and he started going to Leon Fontaine’s church. Through prayer and through a mentorship program, this young man was able to overcome his addiction to drugs and alcohol. And it turned out that he had a musical ability and he soon became a part of the worship team. Before long, he was involved with a youth group and was planning on going to Bible College and become a youth pastor. But what clinched the story for him was that his parents, who belonged to a mainline denomination church said they’d rather have their son the way he was than be involved with the people in his new church.

This is pretty close to what Satan would rather have. Satan would rather have you in a downward spiral than see you headed for the promised land.

You may be familiar with the story of the 10 plagues that God unleashed on Egypt:


  1. Blood

  2. Frogs

  3. Lice

  4. Flies

  5. Disease on the animal

  6. Boils on the people

  7. Hail

  8. Locusts

  9. Darkness

  10. Death of the 1st born



It’s interesting to note that the first 9 plagues were directed at one of the gods of Egypt. This was a country that was all into idol worship and really going nowhere. The 10th plague was directed at Pharaoh himself.

And that brings us to one of the colossal events of the Old Testament: Through His servant Moses, God commanded His people to sprinkle blood on the doorposts of their houses and to prepare a special meal of lamb with unleavened bread. It was the Passover Supper.

The Passover parallels the picture of the cross by sacrificing a lamb without blemish and using the blood of that animal on the doorposts. The Angel of Death would pass over the land, darkening Egypt with the death of its firstborn who were slain. The Israelites, by a simple act of faith, were perfectly safe.

As it was then, as it is now, salvation is accomplished by that act of faith, believing it is as it is and it was as it was. And trusting God that his provision of a Saviour has dealt with our sin issues. Try to imagine if you can, roughly 2 million people, and Moses had to get this message out to everyone because this plague was about to happen in a very brief time. They had no telephones, email or any communication devices of any kind. This message had to be transferred to millions of people just by word of mouth – and then to have them convinced and believing that by doing this act, they were going to be protected – and there’s no reason to believe the Holy Spirit wasn’t in with this right from the very beginning.

As it was then as it is now, the Angel of Death passes over those who are covered by the Blood of the Lamb.

For the second major event in the book of Exodus, let’s take the story back to Pharaoh. He finally relented and released the people and they left the safety of their homes and went out into the wilderness and walked to the shores of the Red Sea. But by now, Pharaoh had once again hardened his heart and was going after them with his armies. And when the people saw what was happening, they cried out to Moses, why he had them brought out to the water bed just to have them killed? Moses answered them with this: Stand firm and you will see the deliverance that the Lord will bring to you. And we all know what happened next: Moses put out his rod and his hand and the waters parted. Here again, if you can picture 2 million people walking through the Red Sea and the 2 walls of water on both sides. It would have to have been an impressive sight to say the least. But here, you would’ve seen God in action through Moses who was able to make these things happen.

It’s important to note here that both the Passover and the Red Sea experience were acts of faith. The Passover was an act of faith that required them to believe. It didn’t require too much work on their part other than killing the lamb and sprinkling the blood on the doorposts. The Red Sea experiences was also an act of faith. This one required everyone to walk it out by putting one foot in front of the other. Again, there’s a parallel here that connects right to us today. Not too much has changed. We too must walk it out to be obedient in faith by putting one foot in front of the other.

The third major event in the book of Exodus was the handing down of the Ten Commandments, or the giving of the law. The law remains the law in both the Old and the New Testament. This portrays God’s unchangeable nature and His unchangeable standard. Moses took a trip to the mountain where God gave him the stone tablets. Upon Moses return, the stone tablets were broken and there were all kinds of issues and problems that spread through the people. Sometime later, Moses returned to the mountain and he was there for 40 days this time. But while he was gone, the people made their own instruments of worship – the golden calf. Moses had given specific instruction on not worshipping any other gods but the one true God.

Here again, you can draw a parallel because how many people in our society worship this thing or that thing or you know – anything that puts God in 2nd or 3rd place is the same thing as the golden calf of back then. Like material goods, money, jobs, movie stars, land or cars. The New Age religion says that God can be anything you want Him to be. That opens the door to a whole bunch of other stuff.

Back to the Israelites – by then, God is pretty upset with all that’s happening and He decides to bring a judgment down on the people at that point because they were a stiff-necked people. Lucky for them, Moses interceded on their behalf and was able to keep things rolling.

Some may argue that the 10 Commandments aren’t even mentioned in the New Testament. And, some may even argue that they’re no longer the 10 commandments but only 10 suggestions.

But, turn to Matt 22:37-40 - Here again, Jesus is speaking to His disciples. “Jesus replied: 'Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.' This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it: 'Love your neighbor as yourself.' All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments."

And, if you turn to Heb 8:8-10, we read, ‘But God found fault with the people and said: "The time is coming, declares the Lord, when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah. It will not be like the covenant I made with their forefathers when I took them by the hand to lead them out of Egypt, because they did not remain faithful to my covenant, and I turned away from them, declares the Lord. This is the covenant I will make with the house of Israel after that time, declares the Lord. I will put my laws in their minds and write them on their hearts. I will be their God, and they will be my people....I will put my laws in their minds and write them on their hearts. I will be their God, and they will be my people.’ So, this clinches it right there – we’re not outside the law by any means.

The 4th and last major event is the construction of the tabernacle. God gave Moses some very specific instructions for the construction of the tabernacle right down to the kind of wood they were to use. This is symbolic of what God is really like: He is exact. He is precise. And, He is unchanging. The temple and the tabernacle were the focal point of their worship and their animal sacrifices. It was designed to focus their attention to faith and to cleanse their lives so they could be brought into God’s presence.

The Old Testament tabernacle is a shadow of the New Testament. We as believers and followers of Jesus Christ are the temple and walking tabernacle. This points back to the beginning where the work of the cross was complete and where Jesus took the hit for you and for me, so we can spend eternity in God s eternal kingdom.

If you would like to speak to Maurice about this, please email me and I'll pass your msg along.


Comments are appreciated. If you’re not sure how, please click on ‘comments’ under 'Labels' in the right column.


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Sunday, August 17, 2008

Coming Event: The Link Family


The Link Family in Concert

Sat, Aug 23 at 7:30 pm

At Church on the Hill, Glenavon

Country and Bluegrass Gospel music

Please join us on Saturday night for an evening of music and bring along your friends.
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Click here for more info on The Link Family
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Press Release

The Link Family is a true family band, featuring Dad, Mom and five children from Lebanon, Missouri They are having the "time of their lives" traveling on their Silver Eagle bus and sharing their music in churches, bluegrass festivals, theaters, Silver Dollar City, US Military bases, R.V. parks and misc. events. The family consists of Rachel (20), Kyle (19), Benjamin (13), Aaron (10), John (8), Becky (Mom), Lance (Dad), son-in-law, Landen Keeler and daughter-in-law, Ashley Link. Each member of the family participates in performing. Rachel brings to the group a strong lead and harmony voice while playing mandolin, guitar and bass. Kyle plays all the instruments on stage, mostly fiddle and guitar while singing lead and harmony. Benjamin also plays all the instruments on stage, mostly banjo, sings lead and harmony. Aaron sings lead and plays the fiddle while John sings lead and is learning mandolin. Becky plays rhythm guitar and bass while singing lead and harmony and Lance brings in the foundation sound on the bass fiddle, sings bass as well as being our bus driver and manager. Landen joins us this year as sound man and Ashley adds twin fiddling with Kyle.

Traveling and singing together has its joys and challenges while giving allowance for The Link Family to learn much about life as a family, to meet many wonderful people that make up the strong fabric of our nation, and to see the beauty of the American landscape. The Link Family and its band members received eight nominations from the Midwest SPBGMA 2008 (Society for the Preservation of Bluegrass Music in America). Gospel group of the year (2007 & 2008), Vocal group of the year, Bluegrass Album of the year "Hold Fast", Becky Link - contemporary female vocalist of the year (2007- 2008), Kyle Link - Fiddle performer of the year (2006, 2007, 2008), Kyle Link - contemporary male vocalist of the year, Benjamin Link - Banjo performer of the year and Lance Link - Bass Fiddle performer of the year. SPBGMA Midwest Awards Night awarded The Link Family … Gospel Group of the Year, Becky Link - Contemporary Female Vocalist of the Year and Kyle Link - Fiddle Performer of the Year. The Link Family also made the top 10 Bands in the SPBGMA 2007 International Band Competition in Nashville, TN. This family group brings a refreshing performance that will leave you smiling, encouraged and tapping your foot.

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Saturday, August 16, 2008

How Do We Use Our Talents?

Scriptures: Matt 25:14-30

On Sunday, Aug 10th Pastor Lyle Stoll, accompanied by his wife Agatha, came down from Neudorf to give us the message while Pastor Lorne spoke at the The Lone Spur Cowboy Gathering in Melville.

Pastor Lyle asked us to open our Bibles to Matt 25:14-30. This passage is called, ‘The Parable of the Talents’. It’s the story of the 3 servants who are each given some talents by their master. The first 2 men take their talents and multiply them but the third man hides his. When the master returns, he rewards the first 2 men. But when he hears what the 3rd man did, he tells his men to take the talent from him and give it to first man before throwing the ‘worthless servant outside, into the darkness’.

Pastor Lyle says it sounds pretty harsh but the thing he wanted to impart this morning is if we follow the Father’s instructions, it’s not harsh. As long as we keep our eyes focused on Him, it becomes easier.

He said the first thing we have to understand about this parable is, what does Jesus mean when He says, talents? This version of the Bible explains it as money but Pastor Lyle said he’s heard ‘talents’ described as everything from ‘soup to nuts’. He said some people say it’s this and some that. Some say wealth.

Pastor Lyle said the young lady at the piano – that’s a talent – we don’t all have that. (Jessica had led worship.) So God gives us these things. Some say talent is physical abilities. With the Olympics, the best in the world have talents. So, if we look at all these talents, what we have to understand is these talents are given by God. They’re given. Unless we understand God gives us these things, we really can’t grasp what we should be doing with them.

If God gives us these talents, what does God expect us to do with them? If we know the Lord, any Christian should be trying to further God’s kingdom with the talents they’ve been given. He said, ‘Us old guys should know better. By this time, if I haven’t figured out how to use what God’s given us...but when I see young people like the young lady with a beautiful voice, who uses her talent for God...that’s what I’m talking about. Using the talent God’s given us for furthering His kingdom.’

Then he said he thinks of athletes, ‘cause he’s kind of a sports nut, too. And this year in Riderville, its pretty hard not to be, right? Some years ago where he was speaking, we brought Richie Hall to his church to speak to the young people. He said it was neat when Richie spoke to the kids, because he showed them 2 big rings. One had a big C and a bunch on diamonds on it and other was big one, too but it wasn’t a wedding ring because he wasn’t married at the time. And Richie asked the kids which one they thought was the most important to him. The kids said the big grey cup ring with the C and diamonds. But Ritchie said no, that wasn’t the one. He said it was the other one because it was from his peers in the CFL who voted to give it to him because of his service to others. He said that was his most precious ring. To win something is great, but to win others for Jesus is much greater. He said it was like saying not how great I am ‘cause I’m Ritchie Hall, but saying how great God has worked through me to help those around me.

That’s the critical part: How do we use our talents? Therefore if you look further, you can see that talents can mean wealth, a beautiful singing voice, exceptional athletic ability and it may even mean wisdom. But what Pastor Lyle wanted us to realize is that it means many things, not just isolated to bags of gold.

So now, Pastor Lyle said, let us consider the possibility that the Lord has gifted us all with relationships. This many be in the form of families, friends, fellow workers, teammates, or even fellow church members. Relationships. Our kids. You might say, how do you extract talent from relationships?

Pastor Lyle said over the years he’s realized that everything he has including friends, family, workplace acquaintances, church friends...have all been gifts of God. Everybody who’s crossed his path have been gifts. He said his walk and your walk are gifts of God, especially when you know God. It’s when you know God, you recognize that everybody in your life has a purpose. He said we’ve all been thankful for the people in our lives and he’s realized we’ve had a purpose in their life or they’ve had a purpose in our lives. And he challenged us to think about it. Most of the time, it works both ways.

Pastor Lyle said when he thinks about those people who came through our lives – they’re no longer there - but they touched our family and maybe how we were able to touch their lives. And he thinks, yeah, we have a purpose in each other. And so, relationships are things that God gives us. It includes many talents because he thinks everything God gives us is something He wants us to use for Him.

Pastor Lyle said he won’t forget this spring in his Fort Qu’appelle church when they had the Watoto Children’s Choir from Uganda. All the singers are 8-16 yr old orphans who live in orphanages. The children sang and then were billeted with members of the church overnight until noon the next day. Pastor Lyle said the thinking of the church members was that they’d bring the orphans in to entertain them and the church would help the children by giving them money and help them go back to their orphanage to survive whatever kids in orphanages over there need to survive. He said they have ‘Open Mic’ at their church on Sunday morning when anyone can get up and say a Bible verse, give a prayer request, etc.

Pastor Lyle said the morning after those children sang was the most interesting Sunday morning they had in a long time. He said so many broken people got up and spoke of the impact of those children on their lives. The church members thought they had troubles until they heard the plight of the orphans and how they came to be orphans (parents shot, parents died of AIDS, mother sacrificed to witch doctors, etc), but those young children sang their hearts out for Jesus. They had the joy of the Lord like you wouldn’t believe. Had nothing but the joy of the Lord and gave it back to Him, while here we sit in this comfort zone we live in and we’re upset with our situations. He said those young people taught them such a lesson and it was because they had nothing but the Lord to stand on.

Pastor Lyle said he and Agatha have realized that God has brought all these various people into their lives. And sometimes at the end of the day when you understand why He did...when He’s gracious enough sometimes to let you know...and you say oooh, that’s really interesting. And it’s good when He says you’re on the right track when a young girl phones and says, ‘Guess what Mr. Stoll? I’ve accepted Jesus.’ And that was years later. He said he didn’t think she remembered them. But you see what happens, we don’t know how big the footprint we leave behind and how it touches others.

He said, what we do with God’s talents is critical. What we do with any of His gifts is important to understanding what further gifts He may have for us. He’s not finished with any one of us yet. And the more we use his talents and the more we do something with those relationships He’s poured out of us, surprisingly, He pours out more.

Remember what the master gave the first 2 guys in the opening scripture? He said, well done...I’m gonna give you way more. What did he do with the 3rd man? He said, you don’t need this any more...you’re wasting it...I’m gonna give it to someone who’s gonna use it.

Pastor Lyle said God asks us to nurture the things He’s given us...all the relationships He’s given us. He expects us to multiply it. Even if He’s only given you one friend. At the end of the day, if that one friend grows closer to you, in that sense, he grows closer to Christ.

He said, Christ gives according to your abilities and what He thinks we can handle. He expects all of us to use our abilities according to what talents He’s gifted us with. That includes friends and family and church family. God has given all these to help us grow and hopefully for us to help them grow into more Christ-like people. People around us – are they growing?

Pastor Lyle said he heard about a farmer in Tibet who farmed along the Himalayan Mountain track and although this is a secular story, it impacted him because it speaks loudly to everyone. He said every year, the farmer would grow his crop as did other farmers around him. And the buyer would come form the town and offer a price for the crop. If they agreed on a price, the buyer would come with his ox and cart and collect the crop. This went on for 3 decades. One year, the buyer came out and the farmer said no, I have my own ox and cart now and will take my own crop into town. And he did. The next year, the buyer never showed up but now the neighbors had no way to get their crops to town.

Pastor Lyle said if we start breaking chains in lengths that God placed into our lives, we can be horribly destructive to others around us. So when we deal with people, even those who aren’t Christian, we must always remember: Has God brought that person into my life to have me impart something into their life of they into mine? Every talent God places in your life is significant.

Pastor Lyle said, lets take a look at families, which to him and his wife have been their most treasured, earthly gift, and being a gift, there are certain ways we’re expected to treat our families. And being a father – there are certain expectations with that position as well. He said he wasn’t to say how wonderful it is to be a dad or what is expected of a father. But, he was there to talk about being a parent in general because being a parent is the most precious thing God has laid on our lives. Children are the most precious thing God lays on us. He said he couldn’t think of anything more precious.

And then, he said he came across a most interesting word of wisdom about the principle of leased interest. In simple language, the principle boils down to this: In any relationship, whoever loves the most, exercises the least power and however exercises the most power is exercising the least love.

Pastor Lyle said they had a friend working at their place for over a month, helping them build something and then he went back home to the city. And apparently when he went home, he told his wife something because she phoned and said Aggie wears the pants in their family. Pastor Lyle said it really struck him because he hadn’t thought it being a category in their marriage. So, he said they talked about it and decided to phone the kids, since who best would know? They phoned their girl and she said – nobody wears the pants in their family. They phoned their middle child – the artistic one – the one sensitive to feelings – and he thought for a bit and said, I think you’re equal. Then he asked, ‘Don’t you think the best marriages are where no one is the boss, but rather, one person is respectfully given the authority?’ The respect is earned, not taken.

Pastor Lyle said as Christians, we’re not supposed to ask, who will be the master, we’re supposed to know. Instead, our question should be: Who will be the servant? Who will be the example to the children? -To those precious, precious gifts God has given? It should not be by force, but by example. It means we should spare the rod and stand out of love. And those are the times that it’s not fun to be a parent, but it’s expected. Running a household, mother or father, should not be a power trip but a voyage of love for your children. Remember they’re talents God has given you.

This week, think about all those talents, God has placed there in your life. Have you used them? Will He say, well done, my well and faithful servant?

God bless you.

If you would like to speak to Pastor Lyle about this post, please email here and we'll pass your msg on.

If you'd like to know more about the Watoto Children's Choir, click here for their website. Of special note, you might take a look at their Priority needs list, here.

Comments are appreciated. If you’re not sure how, please click on ‘comments’ under 'Labels' in the right column.
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Saturday, August 9, 2008

Guarding Your Faith

Scriptures: Act 16:29-33, Eph 3:14-21, Col 1:23, Eph 4:14&15,
Eph 4:11&12, 1 John 4:1-6, Phil 4:7-8, 2 Tim 2:15

On Sun, Aug 3rd, Pastor Lorne was back in church. He said so far this summer, he’s spoken at Sheho, Craven and Swan River Rodeos on behalf of the Fellowship of Christian Cowboys. He also went to the Sandy Creek Gospel Jamboree with his family and Eva but it was a weekend of rest and relaxation for him. His health is almost back to normal, now.

The sad news was it was Eva’s last Sunday in church as she was flying home to Germany on Tues, Aug 5th. Pastor Lorne said since Eva arrived 5 wks ago, she’s been dragged everywhere from the jamboree to the rodeos. She’s also been involved in 2 car accidents which totaled both vehicles. After this eventful summer, she now has to settle down in grade 13 which is her final year of school. I’ll be sending Eva some interview questions soon, so stay tuned for more info about how she enjoyed – or didn’t – her summer here in Canada.

Pastor Lorne won’t be here Sun, Aug 10th as he’s been asked to speak at The Lone Spur Cowboy Gathering in Melville.

Pastor Lorne said he’s thinking of holding a Baptism service for anyone who’d like to be baptized. He said baptism isn’t joining the church or any other organization. Baptism means you’re testifying to yourself and to God and to the rest of the world that you have experienced the love of Christ in your life - that your sins are forgiven, and that you’re on your way to heaven. You’re dying to your old way of life. You’ve given your life to God and want to serve Him. Age is not a factor and there is no minimum period of time required between accepting salvation and the baptism service. Just the knowledge that Jesus lives in your heart. An example is Acts 16:29-33 where Paul and Silas showed salvation to the jailer and his family at midnight and immediately baptized them. So if anyone would like to be baptized, talk to Pastor Lorne.

Pastor Lorne said at times like this he thinks of the Brad Paisley Long Sermon song that says, ‘...there ain’t nothing to test your faith like a long sermon on a pretty Sunday.” Pastor Lorne says he doesn’t want to be too long with his message and he’s not singling out anyone, either. (Laughter)

He said today we’ll be looking in scriptures and talking about Paul because he was the one who laid the foundation for the church and Pastor Lorne believes he was inspired directly by the Holy Spirit and God who led him to write these things. He said one of Paul’s greatest concerns was that the churches he established would be drawn away from following Christ and instead seek out strange doctrines. There are so many scriptures where Paul would encourage people to stay true to the doctrine of Christ and not to be drawn away by other things. Paul encouraged people to follow Christ and Him only.

Pastor Lorne said he wanted to encourage us to stay close to God and serve Him with your whole heart. Sometimes people let themselves be pulled away farther and farther and they come to a place where they’re so bewildered that they lose their faith in God.

Pastor Lorne asked us to turn to Eph 3:14-21. He said in this passage, we see Paul’s prayer for the church. V16-19 says, ‘I pray that out of his glorious riches he may strengthen you with power through his Spirit in your inner being, so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith. And I pray that you, being rooted and established in love, may have power, together with all the saints, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ, and to know this love that surpasses knowledge—that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God.’

He then asked us to turn one book over to Col 1:23 which says, ‘If you continue in your faith, established and firm, not moved from the hope held out in the gospel. This is the gospel that you heard and that has been proclaimed to every creature under heaven, and of which I, Paul, have become a servant.’

Paul encourages the Ephesian church, and the Colossian church, to continue to establish and be firm in the gospel.

And so, Pastor Lorne said, this is my prayer for you - that you would be established in the things of God so that you know you are grounded in the word of God and you know where you stand and whether these things are right or wrong.

He asked us to go back to Eph 4:14&15 which says, ‘Then we will no longer be infants, tossed back and forth by the waves, and blown here and there by every wind of teaching and by the cunning and craftiness of men in their deceitful scheming. Instead, speaking the truth in love, we will in all things grow up into him who is the Head, that is, Christ.’

Pastor Lorne said if you look a couple verses before, you read about the different gifts that the Lord has placed in the church. V11&12 says ‘...some to be apostles, some to be prophets, some to be evangelists, and some to be pastors and teachers, to prepare God's people for works of service, so that the body of Christ may be built up until we all reach unity in the faith and in the knowledge of the Son of God and become mature, attaining to the whole measure of the fullness of Christ.’

We know it’s very important to be established in the faith of God. To know what we’re doing and to study the Word as much as we can. To wait on the Lord in prayer and ask His Holy Spirit to lead and guide us in all truth. The Bible says He will do that for us.

1 john 4:1-6 is about testing the spirit to know if something is really of God. It’s an instruction on how to know and recognize something that isn’t true, something that isn’t right even though it sounds good. You have the Holy Spirit within you, to help you and discern what is right and what is wrong. Pastor Lorne wants to encourage you to pray ask the Lord if you’re not sure about something. The Spirit of God will come and tell you if it’s right or if it’s wrong.

Pastor Lorne asked, how do we keep our hearts? He asked us to turn to Phil 4:7-8 which says, ‘And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus. Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable—if anything is excellent or praiseworthy—think about such things.’ These verses encourage us to keep our eyes on Jesus.

2 Tim 2:15 says, ‘Do your best to present yourself to God as one approved, a workman who does not need to be ashamed and who correctly handles the word of truth.’

Pastor Lorne said all of these scriptures encourage us to study the word of God. To know it. To understand it. To allow the spirit of God to bring that truth to our hearts to incorporate it into our lives. He said he believes the best way to tell if something is right or wrong is to follow Paul’s example. In all Paul’s teachings, he taught that we receive salvation through faith. There’s only one way – through Jesus. Paul spent his life preaching that message – he suffered many times because of the message that God loved his people and sent His son, Jesus Christ to die on the cross, to shed his blood, so that we might receive salvation.

Paul said many times if someone changed the gospel message or added to it, then it was to be suspect. As we study scripture, we get into the meaning of the verses. It is fascinating and yet so simple that even young children understand the love of Jesus and open their hearts to Him. We need to throw ourselves on the grace of God.

And again, Pastor Lorne said he’s not preaching this message because he’s been away and he heard something while he was gone. He just thought he had to preach this because it’s been on his heart, that he wanted to share. He said he comes across people who have loved ones who’ve discovered something weird and he wanted to remind us we are saved through faith, saved by grace and that’s the only way it’s done.

So, Pastor Lorne encouraged us to guard our hearts, guard our faith and know what you believe and if asked, be ready to give an answer about the true way to salvation.

If you would like to speak to Pastor Lorne about this, please email him.
Comments are appreciated. If you’re not sure how, please click on ‘comments’ under 'Labels' in the right column.
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Saturday, August 2, 2008

His Plan is to Bless Us: Part 2 - The Blessing of God

Scriptures: 3 John 1:2, Romans 8:1-11, Phil 4:9, Isaiah 40:29,
Psalm 103, Eph 3:20, Gen 22:1-15, 2 kings 4:1-7, James 1:17,
Psalm 1:1-3

This is Part 2 of Sun, July 27th. The guest speaker was Pastor Dave Hepburn from Whitewood.

Pastor Dave drew our attention to 3 John 1:2 which says, ‘Dear friend, I pray that you may enjoy good health and that all may go well with you, even as your soul is getting along well.’

Prospering of the soul. The blessing of the Lord makes rich. Pastor Dave said he prays that each one of our souls prospers. He said God wants us to be prosperous Christians in our walk with Him. He said he wanted God to bless each one of us so that we had a bumper crop of the soul. That our souls flourish. That if we submit ourselves to the word of God, that we have an abundant harvest of the joy, peace, long-suffering, gentleness, kindness, goodness, self-control. Above all that each of you prospers in your soul because when the King of Kings comes and calls us unto Himself, there’s going to be a judgment for those who are believers and it won’t depend on what our bank balance is but what we’ve done for the Lord and what has remained. What we have in our soul.

Pastor Dave said Romans 8:1-11 is about the spirit and the flesh. V6 says, ‘The mind of sinful man is death, but the mind controlled by the Spirit is life and peace.’ So, to be earthly minded is death, to be fleshly minded is death and to be carnally minded is death.

But, to be spiritually minded is life in peace. Which sounds better to you? Pastor Dave said he thinks the second one sounds better. He said v9 says, ‘You, however, are controlled not by the sinful nature but by the Spirit, if the Spirit of God lives in you. And if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, he does not belong to Christ.’ The spirit dwells in us and wants to overfill us with blessings.

Pastor Dave said Paul wrote in Ephesians that we need to keep being filled with the spirit. He asked if we’ve had to fill up our cars with gas lately. We need gas to go. He said the same is with our spirits. Our spirits start to run low. We need to be recharged with the spirit of God. The Holy Spirit gives us power.

He asked what kind of riches are we talking about when we say the blessing of the Lord makes rich? Money? Possessions? Toys? Things that bring happiness? This morning we’re talking about how God shall supply all your needs. It doesn’t say my God shall supply all my greeds. No, Phil 4:19 says, ‘And my God will meet all your needs according to his glorious riches in Christ Jesus.’

One can be rich in finances yet be poor in life. Pastor Dave said he knows a man who’s getting up in years. He lost his wife a few years ago and is now in the hospital and wishes he could die. He has lots of money and yet, there’s something missing. He has a void. He doesn’t have Christ. Pastor Dave said he’s here this morning to tell us God can fill any void we have in our lives. That is not to say that in our prosperity money cannot be a byproduct but money should not be the goal. That’s not what we’re looking for. We need to submit ourselves to God and His riches gives us more than we can even expect.

He said Isaiah 40:29 says, ‘He gives strength to the weary and increases the power of the weak. Even youths grow tired and weary, and young men stumble and fall; but those who wait upon the LORD will renew their strength. They will soar on wings like eagles; they will run and not grow weary, they will walk and not be faint.’ Pastor Dave asked what does, ‘wait upon the Lord’ mean? He said it’s not like the kid in front on a microwave waiting for his food and telling his dad it’s taking too long. Pastor Dave said this isn’t microwave Christianity. He said sometimes His timing is like we want. He said sometimes he’s glad the Lord answers prayer differently than he asks. He said sometimes we pray for things and we don’t get them and then we look back and say, ‘Thank you, Lord, I was out of your will.’

Psalm 103 gives some encouragement about the blessings of God. Don’t forget all His blessings. This morning we need to take this out and look at all the blessings in our lives. Sometimes we think we don’t know where God’s blessing is but lets take a moment and think this out, about where He’s blessing us. We can thank God that we’re not in a war-torn area, or suffering famine, or suffering poverty. V10-12 says, ‘he does not treat us as our sins deserve or repay us according to our iniquities. For as high as the heavens are above the earth, so great is his love for those who fear him; as far as the east is from the west, so far has he removed our transgressions from us. Pastor Dave said to think about that for a second – the east never meets the west. He said God’s mercy is greater than the distance from Vancouver to St. John’s. His mercy is greater than the universe. And He can move our sin and our transgressions from us as far as you can imagine That ‘s a blessing. That Jesus Christ went to the cross for our sins so that we don’t have to go before God and give an account of our transgressions. That doesn’t give us license to sin. It gives us peace to know that because of what God has done we’re justified through Jesus Christ.

Pastor Dave reminded us that with God, nothing is impossible. We need to believe we serve a God who still can do what he says He can do. The enemy is doing it, and our God can do more than the enemy can even imagine. We need to bring glory to our God, our Maker and our Redeemer. He said we hear of great and mighty things happening to some parts of the world but those things can also happen here. He said we don’t need to go to Africa or South America to be healed or see the dead raised. God wants to do a work here in Glenavon. He wants to do a work here in this church. God wants to do great things in all your surrounding areas.

Pastor Dave said his brother wore a cast for a broken leg. When the cast was removed, his brother was limping. One leg was 1” shorter than the other because he’d grown in the 10 weeks the cast was on. He said they prayed in church and actually saw the leg grow before their eyes. Not only does his brother not limp today but he can’t even remember which leg had the cast.

Pastor Dave said Eph 3:20 says, ‘Now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us.’ Our God can do exceedingly abundantly above everything we can ask or even think. He said he didn’t think any of us would even think that God would send His Son to die on the cross on earth. When God looked through heaven and earth for that perfect sacrifice, He only found one and that was Himself. So He, Himself came as a man to earth to walk among us. He who knew no sin became sin for me that I might become the righteousness of God in Him.

He said Jesus walked this earth for 33 yrs and never sinned once. He knew no sin and yet He took our sin upon Him. Pastor Dave said we can’t even fathom it. It was love that compelled Him to do it for us. He said there was the Holiness of God on one side and man on the other and the two met at the cross. He paid our penalty in full. We serve a God who is more than enough.

He said to think about Abraham and Isaac going up to the mountain in Gen 22:1-15. Isaac told Abraham they didn’t bring a sacrifice but Abraham said, ‘The Lord will provide.’ Pastor Dave said he doesn’t even think Abraham knew what he was talking about. And at the top of the mountain, God provided a ram in the thicket. And that ram in the thicket foreshadowed Jesus on the cross. V16-18 says, ‘and said, "16I swear by myself, declares the LORD, that because you have done this and have not withheld your son, your only son, 17 I will surely bless you and make your descendants as numerous as the stars in the sky and as the sand on the seashore. Your descendants will take possession of the cities of their enemies, 18 and through your offspring [b] all nations on earth will be blessed, because you have obeyed me."

For a story about God being more than enough, look In 2 kings 4:1-7. This lady owed the creditor but she had nothing but a little oil. When the creditor came, he was going to take her 2 sons and sell them into slavery to recoup his losses. The lady was a widow of a prophet. Elisha told her to get all the pots she could find and pour the oil into them. They filled as many pots as they could find. Then Elisha told her to sell the oil to pay off the creditor. And she and her sons lived on what was left.

Pastor Dave said God’s not worried about our greed but He knows our need. That’s why we can cast all our cares upon Him, because He cares about us. And He wants to meet our need.

Finally this morning, with His blessing, He doesn’t add sorrow. James 1:17 says, ‘Every good and perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of the heavenly lights, who does not change like shifting shadows.’ If it was true when James wrote it, it’s true today.

Pastor Dave said Psalm 1:1-3 is about the blessings of the Lord to those who walk in the law of the Lord and how they’ll prosper in whatever they do.

Pastor Dave said he’s not here to say we’re not going to go through trials or hardship. They’re reasons the trials come and that’s so we can grow. When the trial comes, it’s there to develop us as we persevere through it so that we become greater men and women and children of God. He said he’s here to encourage us that the Lord knows the plans He has for us. His plans are to bless us. The Lord is here to minister to you.

Pastor Dave said he wanted to bless us in the name of the Lord that His blessing would rest upon us in a greater way today than it has in the past and that He will do greater things through us because we believe in Him.

If you would like to speak to Pastor Dave, please email me and I'll pass your msg along.

Comments are appreciated. If you’re not sure how, please click on ‘comments’ under 'Labels' in the right column.

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