Pastor's Blog

The New Year has long been my favorite holiday.  When I think of New Years Day I get excited about what lies ahead for me and my family, my church and the entire country.  Being the optimist I am, my hopes are high and I become energized by my thoughts about the future.  It’s a fresh start, a new beginning, with new dreams and imaginings about tomorrow!

I have to admit that in recent years some of my hopes and dreams have become tainted because of my concerns and fears, but as a Christian, “I know who holds tomorrow and I know He holds my hand.”  No matter what may lie in store for this world, it is a wonderful consolation to know you’re on the winning team.

We don’t need to look into a crystal ball to see what may be on the horizon.  Our only hope is in God’s intervention in 2014.  If He doesn’t intervene, the coming year may be far worse than what I have imagined.  Prayer is the greatest weapon we have that the enemy cannot extinguish.  Let us put on “the whole armor of God” for the going may get tough.  I don’t know about a “Happy New Year,” but I can be assured of a secure New Year as we put of hope in God alone!

 

Pastor's Blog

Finishing Well

Pastor Steve Nash

We have nearly completed another year.  It has been a year of victories and defeats; it has been a year of wonderful surprises and horrible disappointments.  Some of you have experienced sadness and for others, jubilation or maybe a mixture of both.  Nevertheless, it is a year that is fading into history with memories both positive and negative.

The Apostle Paul declared near the end of his earthly pilgrimage, that he had “fought the good fight, had finished the course and had kept the faith.”  He had assurance that “a crown of righteousness was awaiting him when he would appear before God.”  Though the Apostle knew about the horrible execution of being beheaded was lurking, that didn’t seem to frighten him to the point where he became derailed by those thoughts.  He was going to a better place to hear the words, “Well done good and faithful servant!”

Life has its inequities but death its equalities!  Life is never fair but we were never promised it would be.  Our only call is to faithfulness, not success.  We leave successes to God.  With that thought in mind, just how can we be considered faithful?  What should be our attitude as we enter another year that maybe was missing in the past? 

We never know how much time we have left in order to make a difference with the talents, knowledge and wisdom the Lord has blessed us.  We may be young or we may be old.  In whatever stage of life, we will discover there are things we have started that must be completed.  I’m not speaking of the home repairs we haven’t completed; I’m speaking of having the hope of seeing our dreams fulfilled. 

At this time in our lives, we must do some “self-examination” in order to finish well.  We should ask ourselves the following questions:

·        Why am I in existence in the first place?

·        What am I suppose to accomplish?

·        What are the “essentials” and “non-essentials” that I am to be involved with?

·        Where am I going to get the time and energy to accomplish anything good?

Paul is saying that everything must come to an end and we must end that “something” on a good note!   He could say with confidence, “I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race and I have kept the faith!”  His calling was to take the Gospel to the Gentile world.  Through much suffering Paul was faithful to the end.

Have you ever run a long distant race when you were younger?  I did so while in the Air Force.  There was a time I would run 3 miles a day 3 times a week.  I remember running 9 miles at one time and thought I would die with exhaustion.  The secret to running a few miles is to get the “second wind.”

Life is usually nor a sprint; it is normally a marathon.  If we fail to get the “second wind” we will not finish the race.  In our battle against the evils of our society, with a hope that there will be a return to righteousness in our nation, have we gotten the “second wind?”   Let me suggest that the “second wind” comes from God alone!  Hopefully we have come to realize that we can do little through our own efforts.  We need the “Wind of God” to flow through our souls and empower us to serve Him in the coming year!  The “Wind of God” is the indwelling Holy Spirit that gives us the power to finish well.  We must ask Him to enter our soul and be the refreshing “Wind” we so much need.

The Winter Olympics are coming in February.  The athletes who win the contests will mount their lofty platforms and receive their gold, silver and bronze medallions!  Paul said he would “receive a crown of righteousness” when he had finished his race.  I have no idea what awards are awaiting us; we only get a glimpse of that day, but I do know those awards are awaiting those who have been found faithful to the end!

Let me encourage you to consider one point of truth that will assure you a better year than the one that is fading.  Begin this coming year with a fresh dependency upon the Lord.  You may become involved with many of the same efforts you have in the past, but be sure your efforts and daily activity are orchestrated by the Lord.  Do nothing without His guidance and empowerment.  Enter into His work instead of asking Him to bless yours.  The efforts God is involved with never fail.  He can produce the success; we are only called to be faithful in His service.  If we daily remind ourselves of these secrets to success, it will be said of us some day that we have “finished well!”

Christmas Greetings

I remember my last Christmas before I met my Savior.  It was on Grand Forks AFB, ND.  My heart was as cold as the North Dakota winter.  My soul was as barren as the Bad Lands in the western part of the state.  My marriage was beginning to fall apart and I had no direction for the future.  My searching for the truth and a god I could embrace had always ended with disappointment and confusion.

The next Christmas was entirely different!  For the first time in my life I had peace and joy and a certainty about the future.  Between the two Christmases, Pam and I had surrendered our lives to the Lordship of Jesus Christ.  He became alive and was able to give us a hope and love we had never known before.  Ironically, I preached my first sermon on that second Christmas day! 

Dear friend, I trust that you have experienced the transforming power of Christ in your life.  He has a way of making all things better and giving us a wonderful reason to live.  Like the Kings of the East; the searching ends when we bow before the Christ of Christmas!  He becomes to us the “Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father and the Prince of Peace!”  Invite Him into your life if you haven’t.  If you already know Him, be sure He remains the guest of honor at all your holiday festivities.  May the Lord Jesus Christ bless you and your family during these holy days!

With Our Savior’s Love,

Pastor Steve & Pam Nash

My Greatest Concern

My Greatest Concern

Pastor Steve Nash           

Living in an age where I have witnessed the greatest decline in American history, I have tremendous concern for the future of my children and my country.  I have no idea what my children and grandchildren will be facing in just 5 or 10 years from now.  I don’t have the assurance that the United States will be the world’s only super power or that we will even have the same government whose foundation is our built upon a tremendous Constitution. 

Will we become part of a one world order before 2020?  If so, will we enjoy some of the same freedoms that we have held dear to our hearts?  Will government, whether the American government or some other world government, demand to be our god that demands our allegiance and worship?  Will some of our human rights, i.e. to assemble, free speech, religious liberties and to teach our children what we feel is true, be something of the past?

You have concerns as well.  We ought to be concerned as we witness a dangerous, rapid shift in our society.  These concerns keep us awake at night and we think about them all day long, unlike the masses who have little regard or knowledge about the uncertain days in which we live.  Some like it that way.  They unknowingly feel that “ignorance is bliss” as they go about their daily business.  Unfortunately, someday in the near future, these ignorant people will suddenly be awakened to find that they have become subjects of the state that allows them few liberties at all.  The standard of living they experience will be worse than that of the Soviet Union just before its fall.

Overshadowing all of my concerns about tomorrow is the awareness that we, as a free people, are forgetting our God who gave us those freedoms.  When the Israelites forgot the true God, He turned them over to their reprobate hearts to serve other gods.  The result was disastrous!  The nation that witnessed wonderful miracles from God, who preserved them, suddenly became enslaved to other nations and their heathen gods.  After all, the Old Testament does say that, “Any nation that forgets God shall be turned into hell!” 

A “god” is an entity that is worshiped, depended upon and trusted by its people.  The God of the Bible is no different.  He is the Creator and Sustainer of all life and demands our worship, love and loyalty.  Tragically, we have wandered from our God and He will be sure to do something about it. 

We, as a nation, have steadily removed God from all institutions of our society.  Our children cannot speak about God in the public school.  Our “legislative” courts have aligned with the atheists to exclude God from the public square.  Small towns across America are terrified that they will be sued if they allow the children to sing Christmas hymns or erect a manger on their village green.  We are forced to pay for abortions, sex changes and other debauchery that conflict with our biblical convictions through the Affordable Care Act.  Other false religions are given preference over those denominations that worship the true God.

My greatest concern is what I read in 2 Thess. 2:11-12: “And for this reason God will send them strong delusion, that they should believe a lie, that they all may be condemned who did not believe the truth, but had pleasure in unrighteousness.”  I have certainty of a better world where God reigns and where I shall spend eternity, but that won’t be the case for those who have ignored Him all their life.  Their god will have become the government that has enslaved them.  The Apostle Paul warns us that “we will become slaves to whatever or whoever we serve.”

My greatest concern is what I read in Rom. 1:21: “…they knew God but did not glorify Him as God, nor were thankful, but became futile in their thoughts and their foolish hearts were darkened.”  I have certainty of a better world because many years ago I surrendered my heart to the lordship of Jesus Christ, who transformed my entire life and that of my family.  I was once one of the “foolish,” whose heart was darkened as I spoke against the worship of the true God.  I was an atheist who was deceived by my own rebelliousness against God.  When my life began to fall apart I cried out to the God I vehemently rejected and He saved me from the guttermost to the uttermost, and for that reason I serve Him to this day!

My greatest concern is that I see my nation casting off any restraints placed upon any good society.  We feel we know better than God.  We have been deceived by the wicked one who leads our country’s influential around by the nose and they don’t even realize it!  “Thinking themselves wise, they have become fools.”  For this reason, their foolishness must be exposed.  To expose their lies we must be diligent to speak the truth in love and never back down.  We must get on the offensive in this battle for America lest we lose everything but our souls.