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Articles from Pastor Jon's Blog

Trees Are Smart! - Part 2 2007-02-20 12:00:00 Trees are smart! Have you ever noticed that? In fact, trees are smarter than people. What? Yes, trees are smarter than people. How so? Reason #2Have you ever looked carefully at a fruit tree? And yes, perhaps I am a bit odd :-) But here is something we can learn and apply to our Christian walk; how to produce fruit. Have you ever seen a fruit tree sweating and toiling away to produce fruit? Of course not. That is silly. Good point. If you really want to see something silly watch a Christian try to produce spiritual fruit. Now that is silly! And yet, so many of us toil and labor and strive to produce the fruit of the Spirit. And the little fruit this effort brings is barely a few shriveled pieces of unusable fruit. Do not get me wrong here. I am writing about sincere, devout lovers of God who want nothing more than to please their Lord. So, take a lesson from the fruit tree. It does not strive, labor, or toil to produce fruit. The tree sends down roots into the ground. These roots th ...

Trees Are Smart! - Part 1 2007-02-19 12:00:00 Trees are smart! Have you ever noticed that? In fact, trees are smarter than people. What? Yes, trees are smarter than people. How so? Trees just spread out their limbs and accept what God has for them. If God sends rain, the tree accepts the rain. Trees accept whatever God sends them; snow, wind. sunshine, rain, even drought. I struggle accepting everything God sends my way. I want to pick and chose. "Thank you Lord, but I just want what seems good to me. Yes, you are my Lord, but I do not think this snow, ice, and cold weather is best for me. But thank you nonetheless." Reason #1This is not good. God knows what is best for me. Even when I disagree, God knows best. I want a comfortable life where everything runs well and right on schedule. God is more concerned with my character than with my comfort. God wants surrender, maturity, and growth. Sometimes He and I disagree on these things and to the best of my recollection, He has been right every single time....... ...

Beginning The Second Year 2007-02-19 03:56:37 The last two weeks have been amazing. New people coming to each service. Not certain how they are finding us but who cares? After all the "learning experiences" of last year, it is such a rush to see this happening. Praise God....... ...

The Church - Part 2 2007-02-17 07:00:00 The Purpose Of The Church Ephesians 4: 11-17; And He Himself gave some to be apostles, some prophets, some evangelists, and some pastors and teachers, for the equipping of the saints for the work of ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ, till we all come to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to a perfect man, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ; that we should no longer be children, tossed to and fro and carried about with every wind of doctrine, by the trickery of men, in the cunning craftiness of deceitful plotting, but, speaking the truth in love, may grow up in all things into Him who is the head?Christ? from whom the whole body, joined and knit together by what every joint supplies, according to the effective working by which every part does its share, causes growth of the body for the edifying of itself in love. The Function Of The Church Acts 1:8; But you shall receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon y ...

Pastor Jon's Top 100 Christian Sites 2007-02-16 13:00:00 One of the concepts of blogging is to increase the visibility of your blog in order to attract more readers. One way to accomplish this is to add your blog to a blogroll. Another way is to join a Top Site. These are generally specialized sites which promote a certain theme. By joining such a site people can rate your blog and see other similar blogs as well. This is your opportunity to add your site to Pastor Jon's Top 100 Christian Sites. Only Christian content sites will be allowed. It is a great way to increase your visibility and attract new readers! Check it out! At the same time you can also join Pastor Jon's Blogroll. ...

2 Corinthians 7:1 2007-02-16 12:00:00   Therefore, having these promises, beloved, let us cleanse ourselves from all filthiness of the flesh and spirit, perfecting holiness in the fear of God. (2 Corinthians 7:1) My friend Don McGrath shared this verse with me a few weeks ago. Since then it has taken on a life of its own. It has become one of those verses that the Lord uses to move me into a deeper walk. This verse really seems to belong to chapter 6. The therefore refers to verses 16-18; For you are the temple of the living God. As God has said:         ? I will dwell in them       And walk among them.       I will be their God,       And they shall be My people.?  Therefore          ? Come out from among them       And be separate, says the Lord.       Do not touch what is unclean,       And I will ...

Thus Far... 2007-02-15 07:00:00 As I sit this snowy and icy New England day, I am one grateful child of God. Taking time to reflect back on our first year in Springfield as well as looking forward to what the Lord has for us in this year, 2 verses are on my heart.   Then Samuel took a stone and set it up between Mizpah and Shen, and called its name Ebenezer, saying, ?Thus far the LORD has helped us.? (1 Samuel 5:12) Indeed, ?thus far the Lord has helped us." He has been with us and among us. This is good. And it came to pass, when Joshua was by Jericho, that he lifted his eyes and looked, and behold, a Man stood opposite him with His sword drawn in His hand. And Joshua went to Him and said to Him, ?Are You for us or for our adversaries??So He said, ?No, but as Commander of the army of the LORD I have now come.?And Joshua fell on his face to the earth and worshiped, and said to Him, ?What does my Lord say to His servant?? Then the Commander of the LORD?s army said to Joshua, ?Take your sandal ...

The Church - Part 1 2007-02-14 12:00:00 What is the Church?What is the purpose of the Church?What is the function of the Church?How does it work?What does God want us do with it and/or in it? These are all good questions. They are as valid today as at any time in the history of Christianity. We need to have clarity and focus in this area. What would God have of us in the Church? The Church is not really revealed in the OT. Not seen clearly in the Gospels. However, it is a major focus in Acts as well as a subject of importance in the Epistles and Revelation. Big C versus little c.There is a difference in the two. One is of Divine origin. One is of human derivation.A Metaphor 1) a figure of speech in which a term or phrase is applied to something to which it is not literally applicable in order to suggest a resemblance, as in ?A mighty fortress is our God.? 2) something used, or regarded as being used, to represent something else; emblem; symbol. Ephesians contains 6 metaphors for the church. 1) Ephesians 1:2 ...

Your Call 2007-02-13 12:00:00 The following story has been around on the email for a while, but it stands repeating. It is reported to be an actual radio conversation of a U.S. naval ship with Canadian authorities off the coast of Newfoundland in October 1995. Americans: Please divert your course 15 degrees to the North to avoid a collision. Canadians: Recommend you divert YOUR course 15 degrees to the South to avoid a collision. Americans: This is the Captain of a US Navy ship. I say again, divert YOUR course. Canadians: No, I say again, you divert YOUR course. Americans: This is THE AIRCRAFT CARRIER USS LINCOLN. The second largest ship in the United States Atlantic fleet. we are accompanied by three destroyers, three cruisers and numerous support vessels. I demand that YOU change YOUR course 15 degrees north, that's one five degrees north, or counter measures will be taken to ensure the safety of this ship. Canadians: This is a lighthouse. Your call. This is true of each of our lives in general, an ...

Posting Schedule 2007-02-13 07:00:00 With the 1 year anniversary of the church and my going off on a topical teaching on the Church and the church, I will not be posting as much exegesis of Scripture as normal. This week's mid week study will be topical as well. There are a number of selections from the Church series the may appear on the blog. There will be some topical devotions as well.<:))))><< ...

1 Year Anniversary 2007-02-12 16:18:29 Sunday was our 1 year anniversary as a church. It was a very special time. We found out why there are going to be a number of adjustments necessary in the next year. We were completely overrun with visitors. It was amazing to see our regulars struggle with the thoughts "who are all these people?" And "where did they come from?" I must admit to wondering the same. All in all, it was one of those services that makes all the challenges of church planting melt into the distant past. We departed from our study of Romans to begin a short series entitled "The Church." For the next couple weeks we will look at the differences between the Church and the church. What is the Lord's desire for His Body? How can we follow Him? This is turning into a great series. Thank you Lord.<:))))><< ...

Quoteable Monday 02.12.07 2007-02-12 12:00:00 Hold a true friend with both your hands. -- Nigerian Proverb Friendship improves happiness, and abates misery by doubling our joy, and dividing our grief. -- Joseph Addison God has delegated power to His creatures, but being self-sufficient, He cannot relinquish anything of His perfections and, power being one of them, He has never surrendered the least iota of His power. He gives, but He does not give away. All that He gives remains His own and returns to Him again. Forever He must remain what He has forever been, the Lord God omnipotent. -- A. W. Tozer, "The Knowledge of the Holy," p.72 . . . .for your Father knows what you need before you ask Him  (Mat 6:8 ) "Then why ask? Very evidently our ideas about prayer and Jesus Christ?s are not the same. Prayer to Him is not a means of getting things from God, but in order that we may get to know God. Prayer is not to be used as the petted privilege of a spoiled child seeking for ideal conditions in which to indulge ...

Daniel 9 - The Seventy Weeks Of Daniel 2007-02-11 07:00:00 Daniel 9 - The Seventy Weeks of Daniel The Seventy Weeks of Daniel As Understood by Sir Robert Anderson in ?The Coming Prince? Daniel 9:24-25 says that from the decree to rebuild Jerusalem to the coming of the Messiah there will be 483 years. 7 + 62 "weeks" = 69 groups of seven years.  7 x 69 = 483 years Anderson sees a prophetic year as 360 days. This is based both on ancient history and on Revelation 11:2, 13:5, 11:3, and 12:6 which indicate that 42 months 3 ½ years are equal to 1,260 days. Therefore, 483 years x 360 days = 173,880 days Artaxerxes started his reign in 465 b.c. The decree to rebuild Jerusalem was given on the first day of Nisan, in the 20th year of Artaxerxes. In our calendar system (the Julian calendar) that date is March 14, 445 b.c. (Nehemiah 2:1) Jesus started His ministry in the 15th year of Tiberius (see Luke 3:1). Tiberius started his reign in 14 a.d., so Jesus' ministry started in 29 a.d. Anderson believes that Jesus celebrated four Pas ...