Do Not Disturb

Do Not Disturb

"Break up your fallow ground, for it is time to seek the
Lord til He come and rain righteousness upon you."
Hosea 10:12

On our trip to Frankenmuth, there it was, hanging on the inside of the door, the very important "Do Not Disturb" doorhanger. That little sign, written in four languages at the Bavarian Inn, is the guarantor of uninterrupted sleep on those rare mornings when you can sleep in on a hotel stay. And if you are like me at all, you've made the mistake of not putting the "Do Not Disturb" sign on the door only to be startled awake by the sound of the hotel door opening and a voice saying "housekeeping". That mistake is one you hopefully only make once.

By now you're probably thinking of ways to use one of those hotel doorhangers to your advantage. Maybe having one at home so your family knows to leave you alone for a few minutes or hours. Or how about one at work, hanging from your office door so that everyone knows to keep away and let you get some work done. If hotels start to find "Do Not Disturb" signs missing, we'll know why.

But with the New Year only hours away, we want to make sure that that little sign is not found somewhere it doesn't belong. One of my prayers for you is that the Lord would work in your life in a new way in 2009, bringing you into fresh pastures of blessing, of opportunity and of fruitfulness. David wrote so simply in Psalm 119:126 "It is time for thee, Lord, to work". Now is that time, a time for God to do a work on the inside of each of us, knowing "that it is God who works in you both to will and to do for His good pleasure" (Philippians 2:13).

Let's each make sure that in 2009 the Lord has full permission to work in our lives as He sees fit, according to His plans and purposes. And if you are one of those people who have a "Do Not Disturb" sign hanging around your neck, either letting the Lord know that you're comfortable with your life, or that you're afraid of what He might do, start the new year by taking it off and ripping it up. And then tell the Lord that He has permission to work in your life as He sees fit, trusting Him to do great things in the coming new year!

God Bless and Happy New Year,
Pastor Joe
Gateway Church

The Manger

The Manger

"Glory to God in the highest, and on earth
peace to men on whom his favor rests."
Luke 2:14

Approaching the inn in Bethlehem brought a sense of relief to Joseph and Mary after the long and difficult ninety mile journey from Nazareth. Mary, nine months pregnant, would finally be able to put her feet up and Joseph could stop worrying about the health of the woman he loved.

We all know the Christmas story and that things didn't turn out exactly as expected for Joseph and Mary; the inn was crowded with travelers and there was no room for them to stay. Whether the innkeeper had compassion on them and let them stay in the stable area, or whether they had to move on and find their own way, we don't know. But we do know that the announcement of the birth of Jesus by the angels included "you will find a baby wrapped in cloths and lying in a manger".

The circumstances Joseph and Mary found themselves in that Christmas Eve were not what anyone would envision for the birth of a child, let alone the Son of God. But it is another powerful lesson that our lives are not governed by the circumstances we find ourselves in, that our success is not measured by the natural surroundings we face this Christmas season.

The child found lying in that manger is now a King, the leader of a religious movement with hundreds of millions of followers, the most powerful person ever born to a woman. I think it's safe to say that being born in a stable didn't hold him back, didn't keep Jesus from fulfilling his purpose and destiny in life. In fact, I'm sure you will agree with me that being found in a manger, a place normally reserved for animals, turned out to not be such a big deal considering all Jesus accomplished (and is still accomplishing in each of us!).

This Christmas season, let the circumstances of the birth of Christ encourage you to take your eyes off your circumstances, whether they are good or bad, comfortable or difficult, restful or trying, and realize that it is your faith in God, and the attitude of faith you approach life with, that will determine the success of your life. May the manger of Bethlehem, and the life it held, cause you to be filled with hope both for today and for the bright future ahead!

God Bless and Merry Christmas!
Pastor Joe
Gateway Church

The Darkroom

The Darkroom

"I will give you the treasures of darkness, riches stored in secret places."
Isaiah 45:3

Working at Eastman Kodak Company in the days before digital cameras replaced film as the means of capturing photographic images provided me some insights that I might not have otherwise gained. And one of those is from a trip to a darkroom. If you're picturing one of the small closet like darkrooms that you see in movies, think a little bigger; it was a factory without windows, entire floors of a building operating in darkness to protect the light sensitive film.

My summer job delivering material and equipment took me all over Kodak Park, the name given to the myriad of buildings that comprised the company. And almost 40 years later, I still remember the trip to the darkroom, entering a darkness so thick that movement, even by the dull glow of the "dark lights", was nearly impossible. For a novice like me, each step taken was with great caution; there was no hurrying or rushing through that delivery, the darkness didn't permit it.

The film manufactured in those darkrooms became the source of pictures capturing events and creating memories all over the world, images that would be treasured for years to come. Baby pictures, wedding albums, vacation photos and many more, all the result of a product that could only be created in an environment requiring almost total darkness.

The promise that the Lord would give us "treasures of darkness" carries with it the implication that we would all experience times of not being able to see what lies ahead, times of facing uncertainty about our future. But the promise goes beyond the Lord bringing us through those times; He promises that we will emerge into the light with treasures to carry with us for years to come.

If you find yourself in a darkroom, you already know that hurrying through is not an option when you can't see where you're going. My recommendation is that you pull out a favorite photograph, from the days of film in cameras that had to be developed, and take a good look at it. And as you're treasuring the memory of that picture, stop to remember that the film that made it possible could only be created in a darkroom.

And then rest in the knowledge that even in the darkest of times, the Lord will give you treasures and riches that will last a lifetime.

God Bless,
Pastor Joe
Gateway Church

The Return Home

The Return Home

"The Spirit of the Lord is on me because He has
anointed me to preach good news to the poor." Luke 4:18

Growing up in a city for thirty years and then leaving for a new job would mean saying goodbye to family members, friends, and neighbors who had been an important part of your life. Jesus had done just that when He left Nazareth to begin His ministry. It was many months later when He returned to Nazareth and you can imagine everyone's excitement to see the carpenter's son that people from all over had been talking about lately. News of the miracle at Cana, only four miles away, would certainly have reached their ears and His fame had spread far beyond his small hometown.

But the return home didn't go as expected; the people in Nazareth were satisfied to welcome Him home as a carpenter, even as someone now performing miracles as He traveled the country but the Messiah? For Jesus to announce Himself as the Messiah was totally outrageous, outside the bounds of what they expected or would accept. The good citizens of Nazareth saw Jesus in the light of the ordinary and the commonplace, blinded by familiarity-that wasn't who they were used to!

The sad thing is that we too often do the same. We allow our dead, dull familiarity with "religion" and with church to rob us of our sensitivity to the presence of the Lord and, in so doing, we miss the very one we are needing the most. Like the people of Nazareth, we want Jesus on our own terms, to fulfill our preconceived ideas and expectations of what He is like, and when He moves in a different way, we reject it. Think about it, Jesus was unacceptable to the very people He grew up with.

When the people rose up in anger, Jesus literally moved on. He set up shop in another city, Capernaum, and made that the base for His ministry. But what did the people of Nazareth miss as a result?

1. They missed seeing what Jesus could do in their lives.
2. They missed being a part of His plans and purposes.
3. They missed the opportunity of a relationship with their Savior.

And those are all the things we miss when we allow pre-conceived ideas and mindsets to dominate our thinking. Let's all commit to going to church this week planning on an encounter with God, expecting revival to break out, and with a willingness to change in any areas the Lord wants to put His finger on in our lives. Don't let familiarity with the things of God rob you of all the good things the Lord wants to do in your life.

God Bless,
Pastor Joe
Gateway Church

Tunnels

Tunnels

"When you pass through the waters, I will be with you; and
when you pass through the rivers, they will not sweep over
you. When you walk through the fire, you will not be burned."
Isaiah 43:2

On our annual school trip to Washington, one tradition is the student's trying to hold their breath going through the tunnels under the mountains in Pennslvania. Some make it and some don't but one thing is for sure: when they see the end of the tunnel, they get a renewed strength to hold on until the end.

Those tunnels are fairly short, only a mile or so, compared to Japan's Seikan Tunnel which stretches for 33.5 miles and is 240 feet deep at it's lowest point. The Chunnel, the tunnel that connects France and England, is equally impressive, undergound for 31. 4 miles and reaching a depth of 250 feet under the English Channel. And to think that we have some friends that won't use the Detroit Tunnel, a mere 5160 foot tunnel under the Detroit River because it's too scary - no going under the English Channel for them anytime soon.

With the exception of the bright lights and shiny tiles that line the tunnels, we can draw some interesting parallels to the spiritual tunnels we all go though, those dark times in our lives when we face difficult circumstances that try our faith. We all experience them, situations that come upon us without warning in which the outcome is uncertain and the duration unknown, a darkness that only our faith helps us to navigate. Like the natural tunnels we described, they are of different lengths and different depths, some much more severe than others and some longer lasting than other. And, often, the promises of God are our only hope as we walk (here's the key word for today) through the valleys and tunnels of life.

The verse in Isaiah 43 is filled with those promises. After each experience that we pass through ("through" means they are not permanent but only temporary), comes a promise "I will be with you", "they won't sweep over you", and "you will not be burned". Each of those promises carries part of the truth; God will be with us as we go through our tunnels, He won't let them overwhelm us, and they won't destroy our lives.

Our granddaughter Hope's coming home from the hospital was the end of a tunnel for our family. Even though we had the assurance that the Lord would bring her through, it was still a tunnel, especially for Catherine and Chad, of not knowing exactly what was going on in that little body and how long the hospital stay would be. We are thankful for a God who walks side by side with us through our difficult times and who is faithful to bring us through by His grace and mercy.

Do you find yourself in a tunnel today? God has promised to bring you through it. And I can say with certainty, there is a light at the end of your tunnel!

God Bless
Pastor Joe
Gateway Church

Sharpened

Sharpened

"For the Word of God is living and active, sharper than any double
edged sword ..... it judges the thoughts and intents of the heart"
Hebrews 4:12

What a difference! Getting the chain sharpened on my chain saw made cutting the firewood so easy it was incredible; it was like the saying "a hot knife through butter". And it raised the question 'Why had I waited so long to get it sharpened?'.

The process of a chain getting dull is something that can happen so gradually that you lose track of the fact that it's taking more and more pressure, more and more work to get the job accomplished. What was once easy and smooth becomes, over time, tedious and grueling, a struggle and a chore. And the sad part is that as you begin to find cutting wood increasingly difficult, as the level of frustration rises with each log you try to cut, you miss what should be obvious, the chain has gotten dull and needs to be sharpened.

Like a chain, or a knife, we can get dull in our spiritual senses and find our Christian walk to be wearisome and unfulfilling. And in the same way as the chain, it almost always happens over a period of time where we wake up one day, realize something is missing but fail to understand how we got there. We don't make the connection between being too busy and not having time for devotions with the fact that we've lost our passion and desire for the Lord. We don't make the connection between battles we've been fighting and having lost our spiritual strength. We can be a little slow to put two and two together, often not realizing the effect and the toll taken on our spiritual lives by disappiointment and discouragement, by loneliness and heartbreak until we wake up one day and don't like the place we're in.

With the chain saw, certain types of wood dull the chain faster than others; oak and hickory, because of their density, are the worst culprits. It is no different for us. Certain experiences and problems affect us more than others. Family struggles, financial difficulties and health issues can leave us in need of a refreshing from the Lord. While we could make a long list of life experiences that cause us to go dull, the key is being on guard for it so we are quick to sharpen the sword of our spirits.

So the question is how do we stay sharp. We make sure we rest after facing battles, we spend time in the Word to receive fresh vision and direction, and we spend time with friends who can encourage and strengthen us. Just as cutting wood is so much more fun with a sharpened chain, the Christian life can be exciting, meaningful, and fulfilling if we will only remember to stay sharp.

God Bless,
Pastor Joe
Gateway Church

The Lake's Lessons

The Lake's Lessons

"They begged Jesus to let the sick touch even the edge of his
cloak, and all who touched him were healed." Mark 6:56

Sandwiched in between the miraculous feeding of the five thousand, and an incredible visit to Gennesaret in which anyone who as much as touched Jesus' garments was healed, is the story of a nighttime trip the disciples took across the lake. In the midst of miracle after miracle, they found themselves "straining at the oars" as they rowed during a middle of the night storm that came up on the Lake of Gennesaret.

The disciples hardly had time to celebrate the multiplying of the loaves and fishes as "immediately Jesus made them get into a boat". That word "made" makes you wonder if the disciples wanted to stick around and bask in the miracle while Jesus had other plans for them. In obedience, and probably with great reluctancy, they boarded the boat and started rowing toward the other side. And as they went, a storm arose and they found themselves straining, worrying.........

Lesson #1 - Sooner or later all of us are caught in life's storms. They come without warning, buffet our lives like the waves of a storm, bringing disappointment, sorrow, and the strain of waiting for God's answer as we hold on by faith. And let's make one thing clear, these disciples weren't running away from God, or walking in disobedience. On the contrary, they were good men, following the Lord with all their heart, exactly where He told them to be. It would be a serious mistake to interpret every storm as some form of punishment for something we did wrong. We do know, however, that God can use these storms to teach us valuable lessons, increasing our faith and giving us compassion for the sufferings of others.

Lesson #2 - Jesus is always watching us during our storms. Mark 6:48 records "He saw them straining at the oars". Those committed disciples were never beyond the sight of God as they struggled in the midst of the storm. He was watching over them, He knew where they were and He knew what they were going through. What an encouragement to know that the Lord is watching over us as we face the storms and difficulties of life. He knows our circumstances and He knows what it will take to meet our needs. He is truly Jehovah-Jireh, the one who sees (all we are going through) and provides (for our every need and circumstance).

Lesson #3 - Jesus calms the storms of life. The story continues with Jesus coming to them, walking on the water, and climbing into the boat with them. What a picture of Jesus being with us as we face the uncertainties of life's storms, in the boat and ready to calm the waves of fear and anxiety that we are facing. He isn't disconnected from the realities of life we face but there with us, "a very present help in time of need".

And those few words he spoke, a message for each of us, especially those currently out on the lake, "Take courage! It is I. Don't be afraid."

God Bless,
Pastor Joe
Gateway Church

Hope Anne

Hope Anne

"For this child I prayed, and the Lord has granted me
my petition which I asked of Him." I Samuel 1:27

For those who already have heard, you are probably expecting me to go on and on about Hope Anne, my first grandchild, born yesterday afternoon, 18 1/2 inches long, 5 lbs, 2 oz of incredible cuteness. I'm going to do that later, but what has struck me the most so far is the overwhelming sense of how precious each life is and of what I can only describe as the "miracle of life".

That from the smallest of beginnings in the womb of a mother, a baby can grow and develop is nothing short of a miracle. David did a pretty good job describing it when he said in Psalm 139:13-14 "you knit me together in my mother's womb. I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made". And that God can say to each baby "Before I formed you in the womb, I knew you" - the knowledge that the Lord has a plan and a purpose for that life, for each life, is a gift and a wonder beyond description. David went on to say in Psalm 139:16:

"All the days ordained for me were written in
your book before one of them came to be."

Knowing that Hope Anne, as tiny and helpless as she is, is precious not only to her parents (and grandparents, aunts, uncles, great-grandparents.....okay, I'll stop now) but also to the Lord of whom David said "How precious are your thoughts about me, O God!" is both indescribable and incredible. Hope Anne is a reminder, with all the freshness of a new baby, that each life is to be valued and appreciated and treated as precious. The differences between us must take a backseat, the petty squabbles must be put aside and we must treat each life, each individual, each product of the same miracle of life as Hope Anne, with the dignity, love, value and respect intended by our Creator.

And as a warning, there might be a few more "Hope Anne" devotionals along the way, her first words, her first steps, her...........................

God Bless,
Pastor Joe
Gateway Church

Facial Recognition

Facial Recognition

"And we, who with unveiled faces all reflect the Lord's
glory are being transformed into His likeness with
ever-increasing glory." II Corinthians 3:18

With each passing day, the pressure is mounting for me to get a breakthrough in the all-important area of facial recognition. Calls to Homeland Security for training in their software have gone unanswered, the local community college still doesn't offer any courses that would help, and support groups in my area have refused me as a hopeless case.

If you're wondering what the problem is, let me explain. On countless visits to see newborn babies, in the hospital or at home, there are always the "she looks just like her .........." (insert mother or father). Or how about the "he has his father's chin" or, even more common, "she has her mother's eyes". How do they do it? I have never, and I do mean never, been able to tell who a baby looks like. My record is worse than the Detroit Lions, sadder than the Chicago Cubs, and, to make matters worse, Hope Anne will be here soon. Out of town relatives will ask "Who does your granddaughter look like and I won't have an answer for them.

In fact, the only area of recognition that I can function in is this: seeing Christ reflected in someone's life. Whether someone has genuine love and understanding for others who might be struggling, that's easy to recognize. And if a person really cares when another member of the body of Christ is suffering or hurting, I can pick that up. Patience, forgiveness, compassion, mercy - if only "her mother's nose" was as easy to spot as those in the life of a Christian. And bitterness, jealousy, anger, selfishness - if only "his grandfather's chin" was as clearly reflected as those traits.

The oft repeated phrase "you might be the only Jesus they will ever see" is truer than we would like to admit. Whether we like it or not, we reflect Christ and His attributes to those around us. We can bring the Lord glory and honor, and advance His kingdom, when the character of Christ is seen in us. Unfortunately, we can also dishonor the Lord, and hinder other people's coming to Christ, when our attitudes and lifestyle do not reflect the Lord and His kingdom. And both are a lot more obvious than who a little baby looks like!!

Let's all remember, people are looking to see who we resemble. As for me, when I'm done with this letter, I'll keep searching for a course that will train me in facial recognition.
I can only hope that Hope doesn't come too early!

God Bless,
Pastor Joe
Gateway Church

A Disposable Religion

A Disposable Religion

"When he found a pearl of great value, he went away
and sold everything he had and bought it."
Matthew 13:46

Most of the people receiving this weren't around to remember the days of glass milk containers, with the tin foil caps, delivered to the house by the milkman. Non-returnable, disposable milk containers made their way into everyday lives in the late 50's and they have been followed by a host of disposable products. When our oldest daughter was born, I still remember Nancy and I having to decide (to be honest, it was a pretty easy decision) between the diaper service and disposable diapers. If I remember, the extra cost of the disposable won out over the smell factor of a diaper pail filled with dirty cloth diapers.

In reality, disposable products have made life much more convenient and have invaded every sphere of life. We now shave with disposable razors, eat lunch on disposable paper plates using disposable silverware on a table covered with a disposable tablecloth.

On our school trips to Washington every year, students purchase disposable cameras, at outrageous prices, to record their memories of our nation's capitol. Add to those the disposable cell phones now available, disposable tupperware containers for lunches and storage, the list would be pretty long.

Now for the problem and it's not the environmental impact of disposable products adding to our landfills at alarming rates; it's the danger of a disposable mentality getting into our faith and producing a disposable religion. In a world governed in so many areas by our desire for convenience, that kind of an attitude could creep into our faith. And the result would be our looking for a religion of convenience. If it interferes with our plans and desires, get rid of it. If it interrupts a person's leisure or recreation, throw it away, just one more "disposable" in life. And if becomes confining, too limiting on what we can and can't do, too demanding of our time, we move on to something else.

And what about relationships. Sometimes, it seems that people undervalue relationships and only see them in the light of what they can get out of them. When a relationship starts to place demands on us that we aren't willing to pay, we too often treat them as disposable and move on. It is a lesson better learned earlier than later in life, treasure the relationships and friendships you have been blessed with.

When Jesus talked about the pearl of great price, and a person selling everything they had to purchase it, He was revealing the value and importance we should place on the Kingdom of God and on our relationship with the Lord. What a contrast - the little value we place on disposable products compared to the pricelessness of having God in our lives. Let's make sure we haven't fallen prey to a disposable mentality!

God bless,
Pastor Joe
Gateway Church

The Safest Place

The Safest Place

"He who dwells in the secret place of the most High will
abide under the shadow of the Almighty." Psalm 91:1

During the Chinese-Japanese War, an American missionary doctor was performing an operation on a wounded soldier. In the midst of the operation, there was an air raid and bombs began exploding in the nearby courtyard. A Christian nurse, who was assisting with the surgery, insisted that the doctor seek shelter so he wouldn't be killed by a bomb. To this plea, the missionary doctor replied, "Young lady, the safest place on earth is in the center of the will of God."

We live in a time with great economic uncertainties, with increasing threats of terrorism all over the world, and with pressures on the family structure never seen before. And yet, despite all this, for those who know the Lord and are seeking His will for their lives, it should (key word - should!) be a time of peace and of security.

The Bible uses a variety of words to describe this safest place. Psalm 91 talks about "the shelter of the most High". Who hasn't run for one of those park shelters during a summer thunderstorm; and if you make it before the rain, you can feel perfectly safe no matter how bad the storm. What a great analogy for the Lord because He is the ultimate shelter in the storms of life. No matter how difficult and constant the attacks against you may be, the Lord will be there to protect you.

David also describes the Lord as "my fortress" giving us the picture of a castle that no enemy could conquer and as "my refuge". When you look the word refuge up in the dictionary, you find this: "a place of shelter or protection from danger, trouble, storms, etc; anywhere to which one has recourse for aid, relief, or escape". For this, however, to become a reality in our lives, and not just another teaching, we have a part to play; we have to be walking in the will of God, listening to His voice directing our lives, and staying in right relationship to the Lord.

The missionary doctor was right, "the safest place on earth is in the center of the will of God". If you know you're not there, if you've been troubled by worry and fear, the door is wide open for you to run to the Shelter, not a place but a person, our God and our Lord.

God Bless,
Pastor Joe
Gateway Church

Cut Rate Tickets

Cut Rate Tickets

"He makes my feet like the feet of a deer; He enables
me to stand on the heights." Psalm 18:33

The permit that has to be purchased from the government of Nepal to climb Mt. Everest, the world's highest peak, can range in cost from $10,000 to $25,000, depending on the number of climbers in a group. But in the 1970's (talk about inflation), the sign posted by the government read as follows:

Climbing Permits
$630 to climb Mt. Everest
(Cut rate tickets are offered for lower peaks)

The principle can be found everywhere, the best always costs more. It applies to clothing and food products, to cars and bicycles, to computers and cell phones, and yes, even to climbing mountains. The axiom is true, tried and tested, you get what you pay for. If you want the distinction and honor that goes with climbing the highest mountain in the world, you will have to pay more. If you want the sense of personal satisfaction and accomplishment that is a part with going for the best, you will have to pay more. If you're willing to settle for less, you can go the "cut rate ticket" route.

When I was reading about the cut rate tickets offered by the government of Nepal, my thoughts turned to our walk with the Lord and to the reality that anyone can choose to settle for less than God's best for their life. As people progress in their Christian journey, often the costs associated with serving the Lord become more than they are willing to pay. Sometimes that cost if reflected in sacrifices and changes that have to be made; at other times, it is seen in trials that have to be endured, in relationships that have to be severed, and in priorities that must be reordered. And when those costs are too high, we settle for the cut rate tickets, for a Christian experience that is less than the Lord desires for our life.

We see it in scripture in the 2 1/2 tribes who settled for an inheritance outside of the promised land. God had promised to bring them into a land that was blessed in every way, a land flowing with milk and honey, but they chose instead a land that met their present need. They settled for second best in a situation where the best God had for them required more faith, more effort, more endurance and more determination.

In Switzerland, the story is told of a mountain guide who slipped on a high incline and fell to his death. He was so loved that a sculpture of his likeness was made, with the inscription at the base of the statue "He died climbing". For each of you, my prayer is that you will be found still climbing, still pressing in for more of God, and still seeking God for all that He has purposed for your life. Don't settle for those lower peaks, go for the Everests in your life, they're worth the cost!

God Bless,
Pastor Joe
Gateway Church

Overflow

Overflow

"May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace
as you trust in Him, so that you may overflow with
hope by the power of the Holy Spirit." Roman 15:13

Visiting Atlantic City again after 39 years was interesting because so many changes had taken place. In 1969, when I was last there, the biggest building was two stories tall and the fanciest restaurant.....well, if they had any, we never found them. But now, many of the small shops that lined the boardwalk have been replace with gleaming, towering casinos with five-star restaurants, slots machines and gaming tables. But this devotion isn't about the problems associated with gambling but something that stood out to Nancy and I during our time there.

The verse quoted above talks about us "overflowing with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit". As the Lord touches and fills our lives, we are to overflow with hope, excitement, thanksgiving and joy so that others around us are enouraged and strengthened by what the Lord has done in our lives. The song "Dancing Generation" words it this way:

"It's the overflow of a forgiven soul
And now we've seen you God
And our hearts cannot stay silent"

Looking out the window of our 8th floor room in the Hilton Resort, we could not only see the beautiful beach and the ocean below but also the old, rundown buildings next door to the casino. And everywhere we walked, right next to the fanciest casinos you could imagine, there were old, dilapadated, abandoned buildings. With all the wealth and opulence of the casino resorts, there just wasn't any overflow to the surrounding community.

The kingdom of God has blessings and benefits beyond anything we could ever hope for. And most of us reading this devotion have experienced them to some degree. But do they overflow our lives and, by so doing, bless the lives of those around us as we share the good things the Lord has done in each of us and as our lives declare the goodness of God? Unlike the casinos of Atlantic City, let's make sure that our lives are in overflow status and that as we are blessed, we allow that blessing to flow out to others and reveal just how good our God really is.

God Bless,
Pastor Joe
King's Gate Church

Hand Picked

"You did not choose me, but I chose you and appointed you
to go and bear fruit - fruit that will last." John 15:16

Driving along Route 18 in upstate New York this past summer, I passed a small sign "U Pick Cherries". Not being in a hurry this trip, I thought about it for a minute, decided it would be fun, and did a quick u-turn. When I finally got to the orchard, I had two choices, to go out and pick my own cherries, or buy some already picked, delicious looking dark red cherries. I chose the former, picking them myself. It meant more work, getting my shoes a little muddy but it would be worth it to get to pick the best looking cherries that I could find. It seems when you buy fruit already picked, you always get some that are less than perfect, maybe a soft spot on an apple, a squished blueberry, or the moldy berries at the bottom of the container. No, not this time, not for me, I was going after the best fruit in the orchard.

90 minutes and 6 1/2 pounds of cherries later, I was on my way home to Michigan, full from all the sampling I did while picking and feeling great about my harvest of cherries. (That lasted for 45 minutes until I arrived at the border and found out that transporting fruit between the US and Canada is illegal and frowned upon - I'll save that story for another time.)

In the midst of all this, the Lord began to speak to me about our being hand picked by the Father. Just as I was very careful which cherries I picked, God has chosen you and I, on purpose, with purpose and for a purpose. You were individually chosen by God the Father, with Him already knowing your strengths and weaknesses, your talents and abilities, your special needs and personal vulnerabilities (we all have them). His Word declares it, "you did not choose me but I chose you", telling us that God saw value in each of us, He saw us as worth saving, as worth investing in, as worth sending His Son to die on the cross for.

And knowing everything about us, He chose us for the purpose of bearing fruit, in many different ways, but all fruit bearers just the same. It strengthens me knowing that God wanted me to be a part of His kingdom, that despite my shortcomings, He wants to have a relationship with me and use me for His plans and purposes. Knowing that, we can each face today with a renewed confidence and a broader smile - God chose you!

God Bless,
Pastor Joe
Gateway Church

The Deepest Impression

The Deepest Impression

"Let your light shine before men, that they may see your
good deeds and praise your Father in heaven." Mt.5:16

While doing some studying on the Book of Nehemiah, I came across a quote that has really caused me to think. It said this:

"A holy life will make the deepest impression. Lighthouses blow no horns, they only shine."

For all the direction and guidance that lighthouses give to others, they sit silently, some for many centuries, doing their most effective work in times of greatest darkness. And the quote is right, they do it without making a single sound. It made me start to think about light and how it works. It's faster than sound and travels a lot farther. We've all been around campfires and heard the loud crackling of the wood.

But we've also seen fires from a distance, home fires and factories, where the light lit up the sky but we were so far away that we couldn't hear a sound. It is said that there are constant explosions on the face of the sun, but in all honesty, I've never heard a single one. I have, however, seen the light of the sun and enjoyed the warmth it provides.

The dictionary gives us some insightful definitions of an impression, such as "the first and immediate effect of an experience or perception upon the mind" and "an image in the mind caused by something external". In the natural,we can all relate to impressions made in the ground when it's wet and or in the carpet by furniture left in one spot for too long. And how many of us had impressions made by the dentist when we are having a crown put on, biting into that rubbery paste until it hardens enough so that the dentist can form a new tooth from the mold.

Our lives, much more that our words, also leave impressions, impressions that are deep and lasting, upon the minds of those whom we interact with. When the Bible talks about our light shining before others it is referring to the way we live being observable by our friends, family members, co-workers and others. And just like walking on wet soggy ground leaves an impression in the ground, our lives, our actions and reactions, the way we treat others, leave impressions that will shape the lives of others and that may have eternal implications.

Do me a favor. The next time you see an impression in the ground, let it remind you that you are leaving an impression wherever you go in the minds of others. And let's all make sure that those impressions are ones that honor the Lord and reflect the values that He has called us to live by.

God Bless,
Pastor Joe
Gateway Church

Patterns

Patterns

In the years before she worked full-time, my wife Nancy did quite a bit of sewing, making everything from beautiful dresses for the girls to curtains for the house. And she did most of it using patterns she would find at the store. I still remember her laying out the patterns on the dining room table, cutting the material, and being impressed, time and time again, with the final product.

Using patterns isn't just for sewing though; it's found in the Bible, for example when Moses was given instructions about building the tabernacle:

"See that you make all things according to the pattern
shown to you on the mountain." Hebrews 8:5

What a blessing that Moses didn't have to try and figure out what God wanted him to do, with all the worrying and wonder that goes with not being sure if what we are doing is right. He just had to follow the pattern that God showed him. And in our everyday life, we have to do the same thing to be successful - follow the pattern that the Lord set for us. One part of the pattern (like the sleeves my wife used to cut out) says "When they hurled insults at him, he did not retaliate." (I Peter 2:23). Another piece of the pattern, found in Philippians 2:7, say "......he took on himself the nature of a servant." If we took the time, we could put together a complete pattern of the
Christian life, of the life God blesses.

No doubt it would have been a lot harder for Nancy to sew those dresses for the girls if she didn't have a pattern to follow. And, in the same way, the Christian life would be much more difficult without the pattern that Jesus left us to follow. Our job is ".....to walk as He walked". The pattern is revealed in the Word, waiting for us to discover it and follow it.

But then there is one further step - becoming "a pattern believer", a person whose life others can imitate. Children already do it, following the pattern that their parents set for them. Newborn Christians do it, following the lifestyle of other believers in their local church. In fact, your life is probably a pattern that someone else is following.

Our lesson for today is simple, follow the pattern Christ left us and then be a pattern believer whose life others can safely follow.


God Bless,
Pastor Joe
Gateway Church

Just Over the Hill

Just Over the Hill

"Since the beginning of the world, no ear has heard, no eye has seen what God has prepared for those who wait for Him." Isaiah 64:4

In one of the closing scenes from the movie A Far Off Place, the two teenagers have been trying to flee across the Kalahari Desert and are facing total exhaustion. Without water and blistered from the sun, they finally collapse while climbing a sand dune. The camera, showing they lying face down in the sand, zooms out to reveal that just over the crest of the hill is the town they had been trying to reach. Their goal was within reach if they could have pressed on a little farther and, no doubt, if they had known it was that close, they could have summoned up the strength to climb the last stretch of that sand dune.

The movie reminds me a story in I Samuel 13 where Saul was facing a very difficult time and was waiting for Samuel to show up and give him an answer from the Lord. When Samuel didn't show up on time, and with the situation getting more desperate by the minute, Saul took matters into his own hands and offered a burnt offering, a job reserved for the priests. And as so often happens when we give up before God shows up:

"And it came to pass, that as soon as Saul had made an end of offering the burnt offering, behold, Samuel came...." I Samuel 13:10

So often we give up just before our breakthrough comes, probably because that is the time of greatest testing and stretching, that is the time when our strength and our faith are at their weakest. And then, to make matters worse, Samuel told Saul that if he had only waited, the Lord was going to establish his rule over Israel forever but now it would be given to a man after God's own heart (David).

Time and time again, I've seen people give up on God just as He is getting ready to bless them and do something incredible in their lives. We need to have reinforced the knowledge that the Lord is good to those who wait for Him, and that the Lord will never let you and I down. We cannot always understand His timing but we know it is perfect. Our faith will be rewarded!

And so it may well be that your breakthrough, your answer to prayer, the change you've been waiting for is just over the hill.

God Bless,
Pastor Joe
Gateway Church

The Walking Stick

The Walking Stick

"And Aaron's staff...had not only sprouted but had budded,
blossomed and produced almonds." Numbers 17:8

If you've ever made a walking stick for going on a hike, you know the process. First, find a good branch from a tree, not too thin and not too thick. Then strip all the bark off it and, lastly, leave it in the sun to dry out. And no doubt, that's what Aaron did, along with many others, during their journey through the wilderness, walking through the arid Sinai Peninsula.

Aaron took a branch off an almond tree and it became his trusted staff, strong enough to support and steady him as he walked. That is until one day when God had need of it. God said "I'm going to rid myself of this constant grumbling about who should be in charge" and He used the walking sticks of the leaders to do it. Each of the leaders of the twelve tribes gave Moses their walking stick, he carved their names on them, and then placed them in the Tabernacle as God had commanded him.

As we consider these walking sticks, these branches off trees, we have to remember that they were once full of life, with leaves and buds that flowered and fruit that appeared on the branches. And they had been cut off for a purpose that seemed far less important than bearing fruit for others to enjoy. These branches off trees had been stripped bare and laid in the sun to thoroughly dry out before being used. Sometimes we go through similar experiences where we are left feeling dry and barren, without hope for our future, not realizing that God still has a plan for our lives.

In the story in Numbers 17, the Lord said that the staff of the man He had chosen would sprout leaves again, a pretty incredible, even impossible thing to happen. Twelve hours after being placed in the Tabernacle, Moses gathered up the walking sticks. Eleven of them were unchanged but Aaron's had budded, blossomed and produced almonds. It is a powerful example of what the Lord can do in our lives as we spend time in His presence. You may feel dry in your walk and relationship with the Lord but there is hope if you will spend time in His presence.

The miracle of the almond walking stick is a miracle waiting to happen in your life, taking you from feeling dry and cut off, to seeing your life blossom like never before. And the key, and really the key for every situation we face, is getting into His presence. For David to write in Psalm 16:9 "in your presence is fullness of joy", David must have had his own walking stick experience, a time when he allowed God's presence to transform him and fill him with life, with joy, and with a renewed purpose. The Lord wants to do the same for you, restoring hope and filling you with life as you experience the power of His presence.

God Bless,
Pastor Joe
Gateway Church

Amazing Grace

Amazing Grace

If the Bible is the most popular book of all time, then Amazing Grace is without a doubt the most popular song of all time. Written in 1773 by John Newton, it has become America's spiritual national anthem for events of any magnitude. Amazing Grace has been heard at the Olympics, at presidential inaugurations and in crisis situations of every kind from the 9/11 tragedy to the more recent Utah coal mine disasters.

John Newton could write about grace because he had experienced it in his life. His mother, was was training her son in the scriptures, died just before his seventh birthday and John was shipped off to boarding school a short time later. Abandoned and abused, he ran away from the boarding school and returned to England living a life far from the values his mother had tried to instill in her son. As a young man, by his own admission, he was "a slave to doing wickedness". Newton made his way to Africa and took up with a Portuguese slave trader journeying across the Atlantic with human cargo. Then grace came raining down on John Newton life:

Amazing grace, how sweet the sound
That saved a wretch like me
I once was lost but now am found
Was blind but now I see

The storm on March 21, 1748 was unlike anything Newton had sailed through as it rocked the ship and began to flood it's holds. The storm was so severe that John began to contemplate death at sea without a Christian burial. When he was sent below by the captain to retrieve something, the man who took his place was immediatley washed overboard and grace-the unmerited favor or kindness shown to one who is totally undeserving-began to work in John Newton's life.

For the rest of his life, Newton believed that that wave had been meant for him and that he was saved for a higher purpose. As it can for each of us, a moment of grace is able to change a lifetime and an eternity. Newton found his way back to the God that his mother had so trusted in and served the Lord faithfully for the rest of his life as both a pastor and noted writer of hymns.

John Newton could say as Paul "I am what I am by the grace of God". Grace-that favor given freely to those who are without hope and without God in the world. Grace-the gift that is greater than all our failures and shortcomings.

Until his death is 1807, Newton observed March 21 as a special day of remembrance, a day he marked with "humility, prayer and praise". In the busyness of life, let's never forget all that God's grace has rescued us from and acknowledge, as we look at others struggling through life, "there go I but for the grace of God". And realize that His grace is still available today to strengthen and enable us for all we face.


God Bless
Pastor Joe
Gateway Church

The Average Person

The Average Person

Studying the average person can reveal some unusual things such as:

1. The average person (in America) will eat 35,000 cookies in their lifetime.
2. The average person falls asleep in about 7 minutes.
3. The average person is about a 1/4 of an inch taller at night.
4. The average person loses between 40 and 100 strands of hair a day. (That is something I definitely cannot afford to keep doing!)
5. The average person walks the equivalent of twice around the world in their lifetime. (If that isn't a good argument for buying expensive shoes, I don't know what is)
6. An average woman says 7,000 words a day. ( A man - just over 2,000 words)
7. The average person laughs 15 times a day. (Definitely not enough for good mental health.)
   

But this devotion isn't about statistics and interesting facts about the average person. It is something much, much more serious: THE AVERAGE PERSON IS MISSING!!!!

The latest survey found that no-one feels they are "the average person". In fact, in almost every recent survey, the average person believes he or she is better than the average person. Sly And The Family Stone wrote the song Everyday People and end each verse with "I am everyday people". They may be the only average people left in our nation of over 300 million people.

But seriously, Paul wrote this in Romans 12:3

"For by the grace given me I say to every one of you: Do not think of yourself more highly than you ought."

When we think of ourselves more highly than we should, we end up in denial about our problems, our weaknesses, and about who we really are. We end up seeing ourselves in a distorted fashion in which we exaggerate our strengths and minimize our shortcomings. And the problem that causes is that we lose an essential ingredient in changing - the ability to see ourselves as we really are. Jeremiah 17:9 says "the heart is deceitful above all things.....who can understand it?" When you stop to think of it, very few unfaithful people think they are unfaithful. Very few gossipers think they gossip. Very few mean-spirited people think they are mean-spirited, you get the idea.

Time after time, we rationalize our behavior, the choices and decisions we make and the way we treat others, rather than acknowledging to the Lord and to ourselves what we are really like. And we end up, just as Paul warned, thinking of ourselves more highly than we ought.

And therein is one reason that the Word of God has to have a significant place in our lives. As we read it, we see ourselves reflected in the words and in the stories and we can begin to make the changes needed to become men and women who can be used to reveal Christ to a lost and dying world.

God Bless,
Pastor Joe
Gateway Church

Listen

Listen

"If you listen carefully to the voice of the Lord .......if you pay attention to his commands..." Exodus 15:26

There are certain promises in the Bible that attach a not so easy to do condition that we have to fulfill - listen. The promise in Exodus 15:26 is that we would experience the Lord as Jehovah Rapha, the Lord who heals us. The condition is that we have to listen carefully to His voice and obey what He commands.

But we know that listening isn't all that easy. One of the fun activities I used to enjoy doing as a principal was playing Simon Says with the students. You remember the game: if the command was preceded by "Simon says" then you had to do it. If there was no "Simon says" before the command and you did it, you were out of the game. There were some students who wouldn't last one minute. Others could do well for a while but they eventually lost concentration and missed a command. And then there were the Simon Says champions. Whether you spoke slow or fast, used your best fakes, tried every form of trickery, they listened and followed the commands.

These students always knew when to move and when to stand still. (Some of you right now are remembering how good, or bad, you were at Simon Says.) What was the difference between the winners and losers - their ability to listen to the instructions being given, to the words being spoken. In the same way, we each need to develop our listening skills. Abraham heard the voice of the angel telling him not to kill Isaac, pretty important, especially if you were Isaac. Elijah heard the still small voice encouraging him and directing his future. And Paul heard the voice of Jesus declaring God's purpose for his life.

Isaiah 30:21 says "Whether you turn to the right or to the left, your ears will hear a voice behind you, saying 'This is the way; walk in it' ". Our ability to hear what God is saying, our skill in listening will have a major impact on our lives. Whether keeping us from making mistakes, or giving direction at crucial times, the voice of the Lord, if we can hear it, will guide our steps. Our job is to learn to block out other voices and distractions so that we can clearly hear the one voice that matters most.

God Bless,
Pastor Joe
Gateway Church

Guiseppe DiPasquale

Guiseppe DiPasquale

Seeing my grandfather's name engraved on the memorial wall at Ellis Island was more moving than I had expected. Maybe that was because it came at the end of touring the island, after reading the accounts of the people who immigrated to America in the late 1800's and early 1900's and realizing what so many, like my grandfather, went through to come to this nation.

During this period of open immigration, men, women and children came by the thousands every day hoping to carve out a better life for themselves and their families. Leaving behind the familiarity of their home countries, Italy, Gerrmany, Greece and many others, they ventured across the Atlantic on freighters and on steamships taking with them only what they could carry. The pictures of them disembarking with their arms full of their belongings (before the days of rolling luggage with telescopic handles) and their immigration papers in their teeth to present to officials painted a picture of a different kind of heroism than we are used to today.

These men and women left behind everything they knew and set out for a country they had never seen before. Most left their father and mother behind, seeing them for the last time. They risked an uncertain future, decisions on where to settle had to be made, jobs had to be found, a place to stay was needed and yet they came, millions in total.

Abraham did something similar, only not by sea, 4,000 years earlier. He left his home in Ur of the Chaldees in response to God's call:

"The Lord said to Abram, 'Leave your country, your people, and
your father's household and go to the land I will show you'." Genesis 12:1

And New Testament history is filled with accounts of people who left all behind to follow the Lord, some moving great distances phyically, and some sacrificing much materially. And still others made choices right where they were, never moving an inch, to forsake all and follow Christ in a walk of faith that at times can be both incredibly difficult and tremendously rewarding.

What's interesting is that the answer to "Why" is the same in both situations. They made a decision to change the course of their lives because of the chance of a better life, one filled with hope for the future, one filled with new opportunities, and despite the risks and hardships they launched out in faith. Immigrant heroes and heroes of faith have more in common than you might think, a courage and a bravery to not settle for the status quo but to go after the life God intended.

By the time I was born, my grandfather was in his 60's, a frail man speaking broken English. He never talked about his journey to America, never mentioned Ellis Island and what he went through when he left Italy behind. This week I've gained another piece of perspective to be thankful for.

God Bless
Pastor Joe
Gateway Church

Within Range

Within Range

"Seek the Lord while He may be found; call on Him while he is near."

With the colonial troops running out of ammunition in their fight against British forces at the Battle of Bunker Hill, Colonel William Prescott is said to have made the now famous statement "Don't fire until you see the whites of their eyes." He wanted to be sure that the opposing forces were within range before anyone fired off their precious ammunition. The same scene is repeated in war movies of every kind and in movies such as the recent Pirates of the Caribbean where the mates were told to hold their fire until the other ship was within range of their cannons.

At a Tigers game this year (they lost in 10 innings), we went early to watch a little batting practice. There were probably about 50 people there, crowded by the left field fence, hoping to catch one of the home runs hit into the stands. And then there's the throwing of the bouquet at weddings, with all the single young ladies trying to catch the coveted "you're next" bouquet, hoping to be within range of the beautiful bride's toss.

When I wrote "within range" in my Daytimers last Friday, I was thinking about it in a spiritual sense, being within range of God's blessing, favor and protection. We've been told "Come near to God and He will come near to you" and to "approach the throne of His grace with confidence". In Song of Solomon, the beloved is told that if she didn't know where to go, she should stay close to the shepherd. We each want to be close enough to the Lord to be able to hear His voice, even the still small voice, when He is speaking to us. We each want to be close enough to the Lord to experience His presence and His power in our lives, pressing through like the woman with the issue of blood, to receive a touch from Him.

But we have to face the reality that sin separates us from God. Our own choices and decisions, including the time and effort we put into our relationship with the Lord, have a tremendous impact on our being "within range" of the Lord's blessing on our lives. Is there an area in your life, something you've not yet been able to surrender, that is keeping you out of range of the blessings and benefits of being a son or a daughter of the King? Make the effort to draw closer to the Lord, make whatever adjustments are necessary to put your life "within range" of the blessings of His love.

God Bless
Pastor Joe
Gateway Church

Already Dead

Already Dead

"In the same way, we count ourselves dead to sin
but alive to God in Christ Jesus." Romans 6:11

The four men were joined together by something they had in common, each having contracted the same incurable, debillitating disease. As they gathered together one evening, they were considering doing something that was very dangerous, even life threatening. As they sat discussing their options, the dim prognosis of their disease factored into their decision. They knew if they succeeded, their would be a definite reward. And if they failed, with the future they faced, they weren't really risking all that much because, to be honest, in some ways they were already dead.

Picture a famine so great that a head of lettuce is selling for $1200, a hamburger pattie for $800 (the bun is extra) and a potato (just one) for $750. The four men we are talking about were four lepers and they lived in the city facing this "great famine".

The story is told in II Kings 6 and 7 and describes a famine so severe that the people faced certain death if something didn't happen soon. The Syrian army was surrounding the city preventing all food from getting in and they planned on staying until the city died of starvation or surrendered.

Out of an entire city of people, the four lepers were the only ones willing to risk their lives by going out of the city and surrendering to the Syrians. Everyone else was worried about saving their lives while these men weren't really concerned with saving their lives. Leoprosy was so contagious that they lived in segregation and there was no cure for the disease they were afflicted with, leaving them without hope for the future.

In some ways, they were already dead and that was their advantage! Anytime we die in an area of life, we become truly free to live. Say for example that a person dies to needing the approval of others. That person becomes free to launch out in faith no matter what the risk of failure is and no matter what others may think. In dying, they become truly free to live. We can die to sin, to our past, to the hold "things" can have over us, to so many areas of life, even to our dreams and goals. And every time we die, we become a little more alive, free to live a life of faith and victory in the Lord. Like the four lepers who saved an entire city from starvation by their actions, we can experience purposeful living like never before.

God Bless,
Pastor Joe
Gateway Church

Maple Trees

Maple Trees

If you live near any maple trees, you know that this has been a good year for whirleybirds, the seed pods that fly off maple trees in the spring. In fact, calling it a good year could be an understatement, they are everywhere in record breaking numbers, springing up in gardens, gutters, sidewalk cracks, and, in our case, all over the yard. Without exaggeration, we have several thousand (no, that is not a typo) maple trees growing in our yard, right in the middle of our lawn, all about 3 inches tall. It's one of those perfect storm scenarios with the right amount of rain, the right temperatures, the right soil conditions, and having lots of maple trees. If we stopped mowing, we have the makings of our own personal forest.

But it is a lesson in fruitfulness that is worth examining and that can be a source of hope to each of us. In Luke 8:8,15 Jesus was talking about our being fruitful in the parable of the sower:

"Still other seed fell on good soil. It came up and yielded a crop a hundred times more than was sown. The seed on good soil stands for those with a good and noble heart, who hear the word, retain it, and by persevering produce a crop."

Being fruitful is God's desire for each of us and it is available to us if we will cultivate the right conditions in our hearts. In the parable of the sower, Jesus warned us about several things that will keep us from being fruitful. The first was a hard heart that God's Word couldn't penetrate. One evidence of a hard heart is when we have an area in our lives that is untouchable, our spouses or children can't mention it, our friends can't mention it and our pastor can't mention it. Hosea tell us to "break up your unplowed ground" if we are to experience growth and fruitfulness.

Another warning that Jesus gave was about allowing life's worries, riches and pleasures to so crowd our heart that there is not room for the good things of God to grow to maturity and bear fruit. As a person weeds their yard or garden, we want to weed out of our lives anything that limits our fruitfulness and our effectiveness as Christians. In each of us, there are some things that just have to go if we're going to accomplish our dreams and goals.

Wanting to make a difference and wanting to help others are noble ambitions but the conditions of our heart have to be right. Create in your own life, through your choices, decisions and attitudes, the "perfect storm" for being the fruitful Christian the Lord wants you to be.

God bless,
Pastor Joe
Gateway Church

The Bus Ride

The Bus Ride

Several years ago, a pastor accepted a call to minister at a church in Houston, Texas. A few weeks after arriving in the area, he took a bus from his home to the downtown area of Houston. It's on that ride that this story takes place and provides a sobering lesson for all of us.

When the pastor sat down in the bus, he discovered that when he had paid his fare, the driver had accidentally given him too much change. As he considered what to do, his first thought was "you'd better give the money back; it would be wrong to keep it". That was followed by another voice inside him saying "It's only a quarter, who would worry about such a small amount? And the bus company makes too much money, they'll never miss it. Accept it as a gift from God".

When his stop came, he paused momentarily at the door, and then handed the driver the extra change saying "Here, you gave me too much change when I got on". The bus driver smiled and said "Aren't you the new preacher in town? I've been thinking a lot lately about going back to church and I wanted to see what you would do if I gave you too much change. I'll see you at church on Sunday". The pastor stepped off the bus trembling at the thought that he had almost compromised when he thought no-one was watching and at the realization of the difference that compromise would have made.

In survey after survey, the number one comment made about Christians by non-Christians concerns hypocrisy, not living out what you believe. The Greek word that we translate hypocrite was originally used for an actor in a play, someone who was playing a part, pretending to be someone they weren't. It had come to describe someone who says one thing but does another.

In Matthew 23, Jesus describes the person who maintains one appearance on the outside while being a different person on the inside. Sometimes that can happen in Christians where they are one person at church and a very different person at home or at work.

Like it or not, we are the only Bible some people will ever read. Our lives are powerful declarations about what we really believe and about how important the Lord really is to us. Take the time to ask yourself the question "What message is my life speaking to others?" And if changes need to be made, start today to be man or woman God has called you to be.

God Bless,
Pastor Joe
Gateway Church

Max and Grace

Max and Grace

“Like newborn babies, crave pure spiritual milk so that by it you may grow up in your salvation” I Peter 2:2

From encouragements in the Word of God to the message of success books, we are challenged to keep growing, no matter what age we are and no matter what we have attained to. The book of II Peter, the last recorded words of one of the pillars of the church, closes with a call to “grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ”, to a continual lifelong pursuit of growth in our understanding of the Lord and His ways. I’ve been amazed lately, as I read scriptures that I’ve read many times over, at how the Lord is revealing more and more, taking me deeper and deeper. There is more in God and in life for each of us to discover if we’ll make the effort.

Maxwell wrote “God never puts anyone in a place too small to grow”. Dodds wrote “It is not the fast tempo of modern life that kills, but the boredom, a lack of strong interest, and the failure to grow that destroys”. And that lines up with the oft repeated adage that “when we stop growing, we stop living”. The Roman scholar Cato began to study Greek when he was over 80 years of age.

When he was asked why he was tackling such a difficult task at his age, he responded “It’s the earliest age I have left”. But Cato’s example is more important than it looks on the surface. Unless we try to do something beyond what we have already mastered, we will never grow. And that applies to both spiritual and natural pursuits, there is always room to grow.

Yesterday, I visited my new nephew and niece in Binghamton, New York. Max and Grace are twins, born last Tuesday, both weighing under 5 lbs, the smallest babies I have ever seen. Max got hungry during the visit and it made me think of the verse above that calls us to be like newborn babies. He may be tiny but his lungs work just fine and his message of “Feed Me Now!!!” was loud and clear. If we could have the same desire, the same hunger level as Max, the same craving for more of God, we would see growth in every area of our lives.

Let’s stop making excuses, stop putting if off and make the commitment to grow in every area of our life.


God Bless,
Pastor Joe
Gateway Church

Mirrors

Mirrors

Between rush hour in Cincinnati and road construction in Kentucky, yesterday's drive to Nashville took almost 11 hours. Something that happened earlier in the day had me thinking about how important mirrors are. Sideview mirror to pull out, rearview mirror to check traffic, and the other sideview mirror to change lanes, can you imagine what the drive would be like without having mirrors to navigate with?

Earlier in the day, I had rented a rototiller and tilled up our garden. After finishing, cleaning the tiller, I headed back to Home Depot to return it, with a drive-through diet coke on the way. When I got to Home Depot, I glanced in the mirror only to find a huge mud streak on my face. No wonder they were smiling so much at McDonald's, they must have thought I had war paint on. But at least the mirror saved me from similar embarrassment as I walked through Home Depot.

Using mirrors is scriptural in case you wondered. In Exodus 38:8, they took the mirrors of the ladies and used them to line the bottom of the basin they washed in when they entered the tabernacle. Every time someone came to wash they would see themselves reflected in the mirrors and see themselves as they really were.

The Word of God is to be like a mirror to us as we read it (James 1:23-25), revealing areas in our lives that we need to clean up or change, showing us things that we can't see ourselves. The same thing can happen in conversations where we're talking about someone else but we see ourselves and our shortcomings in what is being talked about.

Whether we're reading our Bibles or a good book, talking with family or friends, or just observing and listening to others, we want to take advantage of the many mirrors life offers. Paul said in II Corinthians 3:18 that one key to being changed into the Lord's image, into reflecting Him to the world, is to see ourselves reflected like in a mirror. Doing that, and acting on what we see, will cause us to be transformed into men and women whom God can use to reveal His glory.

God Bless,
Pastor Joe
Gateway Church

At All Costs

"At All Costs"

One of the most heroic events of World War II took place in the Philippines in 1945. On the night of February 2, 1945, 900 men of the 8th Cavalry Regiment dashed through 60 miles of enemy territory (held by 50,000 Japanese soldiers) straight into the city of Manila. They were under orders to take both the civilian and military prisons and hold them at all costs until the army could reach them.

For three long weeks those 900 men held the prisons against furious counterattacks by a determined Japanese army, saving the lives of more than 4,000 prisoners. The story's impact on me was heightened by the fact that the writer of the story was the son of parents who who were both rescued by those brave soldiers.

It reminded me of the men in II Samuel 23:14-17 who broke through the Philistine lines to draw water from a well for King David. They risked their lives for the sake of the king they loved.

In the New Testament, it is said of Paul and Barnabas that they were men "who have risked their lives for the name of our Lord Jesus Christ". I John 3:16 tells us "This is how we know what love is: Jesus Christ laid down his life for us. And we ought to lay down our lives for our brothers."

While most of us will never fight with natural weapons, there are, nonetheless, battles to be fought, men, women and children to be rescued, defended and saved from the enemy. The battles we are called to will be fought on the battlefield of prayer and our greatest weapon will be the Word of God spoken over the lives of our children, family members, and friends. Each of us will be required to lay down our lives, to sacrifice comfort and convenience for the sake of winning the battle for the souls of those we love and for the cause of Christ.

We are told to defend the cause of the weak and fatherless, to rescue the weak and needy (Psalm 82:3-4). The men of the 8th Calvary Regiment provide us an example of sacrifice, of courage, and of sustained heroism that we can learn from. In the face of fierce enemy attacks, they stood firm and rescued many people. Your life can have that same significance if you will choose to fight the battles the Lord is calling you to.

God Bless,
Pastor Joe
Gateway Church

Warning Labels

Warning Labels

Ever since I was diagnosed with glaucoma, I faithfully read the warning labels on products at the store, things like decongestants, cough syrup, and flu remedies. The warnings are all similar "If you have high blood pressure....., if you are pregnant.......," and they are meant to keep you from taking something that will harm you.

What got me thinking about warning labels recently was reading a story in the Bible about a Canaanite woman who went to Jesus because her daughter was sick and needed a miracle. When Jesus discouraged her by declaring that His mission was to the lost sheep of Israel, she pressed through, responded in faith and received her miracle. The amazing thing as you read the New Testament is that it was easier for the non-religious people, like this Canaanite woman, to come to Jesus in simple faith than it was for the religious people of the day.

The religious people had developed a formality in their beliefs; serving God became more about form than about faith. It became more about the outward than the inward, more about appearance than about true devotion to God. And the result of all that was a wrong focus that caused the religious people to miss the Saviour they were waiting for.

That's why I'm proposing a warning label on Christianity: Beware of Religion. The small print underneath could say something like "The true believer is one who has an inner relationship with Christ" or "Make sure you have a relationship with the Lord-don't just go through the motions". Or how about "Religion is the practice of attending church without genuine faith in the living God-if this occurs, seek help immediately".

Remember, it's about our relationship with the Lord, a connection, an intimacy that allows His life to flow into us and transform us.

God Bless,
Pastor Joe
Gateway Church

Father Knows Best

Father Knows Best

The newspaper recently carried the story of a retired school teacher who lost her life savings when she was taken in by an investment scheme sold to her by a swindler. When everything she owned was gone, and she couldn't find the man who sold her the plan, she went to the Better Business Bureau for help. After she shared her heartbreaking story, the director of the Better Business Bureau said 'Why on earth didn't you come to us first? We could have helped you. Didn't you know about us?" Her reply is the source of our lesson for today. "Oh, yes," she replied, "I've always known about you. But I didn't come to you first because I was afraid you'd tell me not to do it."

Many Christians don't go to the Lord with their problems and with their questions for the same reason. They're afraid, afraid of what God might say, afraid he might say no, and even worse, afraid He might tell them to do something that is not what's best for their lives. We need to get it settled in our minds that God is out for our good, that He wants us to have a blessed and a prosperous future that is filled with hope (Jeremiah 29:11). When He tells us something we don't understand or don't want to hear, it's often because the Lord sees things we aren't able to see.

It's like the story of Balaam and his donkey in Numbers 22. The donkey ran into wall because the angel of the Lord was standing in front of him. Unfortunately for the donkey, Balaam couldn't see the angel and in anger beat the donkey. When the Lord opened Balaam's eyes to see the angel, he realized how wrong his attitude had been. In the same way, the Lord sees things we can't see and knows things we don't know. And He speaks to us and directs our lives, if we'll let Him, accordingly.

This reminds me of the title from an old television series in the 50's and 60's, Father Knows Best. It is something we should say about our heavenly Father as we face situations we don't understand and when we receive answers we don't want to hear, "Father knows best".

God Bless,
Pastor Joe
Gateway Church

Largeness of Heart

Largeness of Heart

Dillon came to school in January of 2007, a 17 year old high school junior who was sent to the states by his South African parents to finish high school. He was a pleasant young man somewhat overwhelmed by life in America. I knew his parents were in the ministry, but never questioned Dillon about what they were involved in.

Two weeks ago Dillon let me know that his parents were coming in for his graduation and that they would love to share in chapel. Today I met them for the first time and their story, their lives, birthed the title, largeness of heart, of today's devotion. It's taken from I Kings 4:29 that says "God gave Solomon ...largeness of heart, even as the sand on the seashore."

Ray and Sue Hakkenson shared how they started Beautiful Gate, a home and a refuge for abandoned babies in Lesotho, a small country just north of South Africa. They take in babies whose parents abandon them at birth or shortly afterwards, and raise them while trying to find someone to adopt them into a family. From the wonderful stories of those rescued and in placed in new families, to the sad, heartbreaking stories of infants dying in their arms, I was touched by their testimony and by their commitment to these children.

And their lives backed up their testimony. With them today were two children whom they had adopted themselves. One girl had been left at the hospital, her mom walked out without her and never came back. The other girl, born with HIV, lost her mother at childbirth and her father shortly afterwards. To see the love that this white South African couple showed these two black South African girls, to see the place they had in their hearts as they held them in their arms was both inspiring and challenging. Largeness of heart refers to a heart that has room in it for other people. Largeness of heart refers to a heart that can look beyond it's own needs, can see the hurts in other lives, and be touched to the point of trying to help alleviate the suffering and pain.

Ray and Sue Hakkenson started Beautiful Gate in 2001, their response to seeing abandoned children that weren't being cared for. God has blessed them with largeness of heart for the hundreds of babies and young children they have ministered to. Let's ask the Lord to give us largeness of heart and to bring us to that place where there is room in our hearts for the hurting, the hopeless, the lonely, and the lost who are all around us.

God Bless,
Pastor Joe
Gateway Church

The Word from Waterloo

The Word from Waterloo

News from the Battle of Waterloo was relayed by a system of signals used to keep the people informed on how the battle was going. The signal station on the tower of Winchester Cathedral flashed the message W-E-L-L-I-N-G-T-O-N- -D-E-F-E-A-T-E-D-. Just at that moment, fog covered the tower and obscured any further news. It was June 18, 1815 and the English reacted to the news of the defeat with understandable sadness and gloom.

Before I finish that story, we had two staff members recently agree to meet at Sam’s Club at 10:30 one morning. As they both waited in the lobby, they both wondered why the other was so late. But no-one was late. One of them was in Utica and the other in Roseville. Their frustration with each other quickly turned to laughter when they realized that they had forgotten to agree on which store to meet at.

Problems in communication happen all the time. We can get a partial message or no message at all. In our Christian walk, it happens when we fall short in knowing the Lord through His Word. God’s Word says “we are more than conquerors through Him who loved us” (Romans 8:37) and “God who always causes us to triumph in Christ Jesus” (II Corinthians 2:14). Yet we become discouraged when we read the incomplete message our circumstances are sending us rather than realizing God is still at work in us.

When the fog lifted, the message W-E-L-L-I-N-G-T-O-N- -D-E-F-E-A-T-E-D- -T-H-E- -E-N-E-M-Y could be seen by everyone. The good news of the victory at Waterloo spread quickly and the sadness was turned into joy.

When the early church was scattered by persecution, it seemed, at first, like a defeat. But as they went everywhere preaching the Word, and as the church multiplied because of it, they understood that “God always causes us to triumph”.

We can walk in that same understanding, in that same confidence, knowing that “He who began a good work in you will certainly complete it”.


God Bless,
Pastor Joe
Gateway Church

The St. Louis

The St. Louis

Walking through the exhibit of the Holocaust Museum in Washington DC last week, I came to the story that year after year seems to affect me the most. It's the story of the St. Louis, a passenger boat that left Europe in 1939 with 930 Jewish emmigrants headed to Cuba. The mood on the ship was excitement mixed with relief as the passengers were escaping the persecution of Jews that was sweeping through Europe, led by the Nazis in Germany. Cuba had granted entry permits to these men, women and children and they were filled with hope as they departed from Europe.

When Cuba refused to let the ship dock and allow entry, that hope was quickly dashed. The St. Louis headed north. And here is the part of the story that bothers me so much. When the St. Louis reached the shores of the United States, within eyesight of Miami, Coast Guard vessels patroled the waters to make sure no one jumped off to try to swim to shore and to freedom. After the United States refused to allow the ship to make port, it was forced to return to Europe with the majority of those passengers later dying in the Holocaust.

What continues to bother me is that our nation didn't choose to show compassion. I John 3:18 tells us "not to love with words or tongue but with actions and in truth". Clearly America couldn't have prevented the holocaust. And these 930 inidivuals represented less than 1/10 of 1% of the 6 million who died in the holocaust. But we could have done something. And therein is the lesson for us to live out today. We may not be able to do much but each of us can do something. The Good Samaritan only rescued one person but it's recorded for everyone to read and have as an example. Why? Because the Lord wants us to realize that every person matters to Him and should matter to us.

Be committed to showing compassion, to caring for others, like the Good Samaritan. Be committed to making a difference, no matter how small it might seem to you. Be the person who doesn't pass by on the other side of the road but who stops and shows the love of Christ to someone in need.

God Bless
Pastor Joe
Gateway Church

High Ground

High Ground

The Battle of Gettysburg, the key battle of the Civil War, was fought over a three day period in July of 1863. A total of 160,000 soldiers from the North and South fought in the battle, 10,000 died, 30,000 were wounded and another 10,000 were taken as prisoners

But the statistics weren’t what amazed me as the guide led us around the battlefield this afternoon. It was what they fought for, what mattered the most, what the key to winning the battle was that interested me the most. The turning point of the Civil War, the largest battle ever fought in the Western Hemisphere, hinged on who commanded the high ground. The names today were McPherson’s Ridge, Cemetery Ridge, Seminary Ridge and Little Round Top. Those were the names of the high ground which men fought and died for.

Have you ever heard the phrase “take the high road”? It’s used when someone says something about you that is unfair or treats you in a way that isn’t deserved or right. Taking the high road is not retaliating, not answering in a way that is beneath the values you have established in your life. Taking the high road is not stooping to the level of the person who attacked you.

In battle, the high ground offered a clear vantage point to watch the enemy’s movements. It also provided the upper hand in defending territory and made use of your weapons much more effective. As we toured today, the Lord spoke to me about the importance of taking the high ground in our walk with the Lord. I had just finished reading Genesis 48:22 where Jacob willed to Joseph the ridges of land, the high ground, he had captured from the Amorites. God’s people have to conquer the high ground.

The Lord wants us to take the high ground of right living, of right choices and of moral purity in our walk with the Lord. From there, we will have a clear advantage in the battles we face and from there we will find ourselves victorious over the enemy’s attacks. The North won the Battle of Gettysburg in large part because they won the battle for Little Round Top, the hill that overlooked the battlefield. There are battles for you to win but first you have to conquer the high ground in living for the Lord.



God Bless,
Pastor Joe
King’s Gate Church

The Pothole Convention

The Pothole Convention

Anyone who has lived in the Midwest has experienced spring potholes, those car-jarring, tire-damaging, coffee-spilling holes in the road that mysteriously appear just at the end of winter. A few weeks ago, I was driving on Orchard Lake Road between Fourteen Mile Rd and Maple Rd. (It was a few days before the Detroit News named it the worst road in Metro Detroit for potholes). It seemed as if all the potholes talked and decided to meet there for a pothole
convention. Most of us have been trained in pothole avoidance, artfully swerving the car to avoid them or slowing down to lessen the impact. On that road, there was no avoiding the craters, they were literally everywhere.

Even this morning, pulling out of the Sunoco Station with my fresh decaf, when I've been thinking about potholes and doing this devotion, when I should be on guard, prepared to watch for them, I missed a big one and rattled the poor old Buick. I think there's a lesson to be learned. There are potholes in our everyday lives to be avoided, little traps we can all fall into if we're not careful and alert. Ephesians 5:15 tells us to "walk circumspectly", to be alert, to have our eyes open, to watch where we walk.

If we can be on the alert for situations where it's easy to complain, where it's easy to find fault with someone else and criticize, just to mention a few, we can avoid the potholes of life. And we'll find that life goes a lot smoother. Practice pothole avoidance, you'll be blessed by it.

God Bless
Pastor Joe
King's Gate Church

Keeping Dreams Alive

Keeping Dreams Alive

It was June of the year 2000, when I found a book entitled "Success, One Day At a Time" by John Maxwell. I liked it so much that over the years, I've given away more copies of that book, except for the Bible, than any other book. My favorite story in the book is about Robert Lopatin and I want to share his story with you in the hopes that it will encourage you and re-ignite the dreams and desires the Lord has placed in your heart. Psalm 37: 4 says:

"Delight yourself in the Lord and He will
give you the desires of your heart."

Robert Lopatin was a successful businessman, working in the manufacturing of women's clothing. That, however, was not his first love. As a boy, he had dreamed of becoming a doctor. Circumstances had caused him to lay his dream aside and, after college, he had worked in the family business for 27 years. But then, at a friend's wedding, something happened that changed his life. He sat next to a new doctor and the converation at the table re-ignited his boyhood dream. At age 51, at an age when most people are thinking about retirement, Robert Lopatin entered medical school.

When I read the story, he was 55 and serving his residency at Montefiore Medical Center in the Bronx. What inspired me the most was that, in pursuing his dream, he wasn't someone who was discontented and unhappy. On the contrary, he was successful and doing well. But he had an unfulfilled dream, something that the older he got, the more farfetched it seemed. His age and his circumstances told him "it's too late" but his heart told him to go for it.

We serve a God "who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine". The old song we used to sing said "He is able to do much more than I could ever dream". Is there anything you've given up on? Anything you've said in your heart "it's just too hard"? Or maybe like Robert Lopatin, you think you're too old to go after that dream. Today's lesson - "it's never too late".

God Bless,
Pastor Joe
Gateway Church

The First Goal

The First Goal

Talk about a bad way to start a soccer season: the other team got the opening ball, passed it once to a girl who dribbled through our entire team and scored without anyone even challenging her. It took a total of 5 seconds for us to be behind 1-0. If you're wondering what went wrong, it's very simple. Everyone thought someone else would do it, so nobody did.

The church has a similar problem, so many people think someone else will do it when it comes to sharing their faith, to ministry needs in the church and to other areas of Christian service. We all tend to look at our own talents and abilities and compare ourselves to others who we think are more talented. And because of that, we stay on the sidelines. Unfortunately, so does the more talented person and the job goes undone.

The issue is ability versus availability. We look at ability while God looks at availability. Isaiah 1:19 says "if you are available and obedient, you will eat the good of the land". Notice that there is no mention whatsoever of talents, gifts or abilities in that verse. It's not the most talented or gifted that the Lord will use but the person who says in their heart "Here am I Lord, use me".

When Isaiah said that, he was responding to the Lord asking the question "Who will go for us?". The Lord was asking "who is available for me to use?". In the story of the feeding of the 5,000, Jesus took what was available, the five loaves and two fish, and used them to do a miracle. The same will be true in our lives as we present ourselves to the Lord and say "Here I am Lord, I'm available for you to use in whatever way you would like". And then we're to follow that up by making ourselves available in a practical way in our own personal settings.

What set Gideon, Jeremiah, Moses, Peter, John and so many other believers of all ages apart from their peers? Was it their ability or their availablity? My vote is their availability. Their willingness to be used by the Lord, without regard to natural abilities, opened up a world of possiblities and opportunites. If you've been holding back, doubting your own abilities to get the job done, it time to step out in faith, say "Lord I may not be the best, but if you want to use me, I'm all yours." And then get ready for God to do far more than you could ever hope or imagine.

God Bless,
Pastor Joe
Gateway Church

Arbor Day

Arbor Day

Every year, we get a letter in the mail from the Arbor Day Foundation, an organization committed to the importance of trees, offering 10 pine tree seedlings for $1. Most years those letters find their way into the garbage but about a year and a half ago, we took them up on their offer. A few weeks later we received 10 seedlings, about 4 inches tall each, which we planted in our garden. I checked them about an hour ago, knowing I was going to write this, to see how much they had grown. Well, 5 have survived and are now 8" tall, not all that encouraging, to say the least. We would probably give up on those little pine trees except for one very important thing: we did this once before.

It was 1980, in Penfield, New York, when we planted 10 very small 4" pine trees in our garden, just like the recent ones. By early 1984, they had grown to almost a foot and we transplanted them along the property line. After moving here to Michigan later in '84, we didn't see those trees for quite a few years but on a recent trip back home, we took a drive by our old home. If you haven't guessed already, those 4-inch seedlings are now beautiful 20-foot tall pine trees.

Seeing the growth of those trees that we had planted over 20 years earlier has taught me an important lesson about growth and about patience. Early growth, both in people and in nature, is slow as God lays a strong foundation that he can build upon. Job 8:7 says "though your beginning was small, yet your latter end will greatly increase". And Zechariah 4:10 reminds us not to despise the day of small things.

If you've been frustrated with your personal growth and the pace of change in certain areas of your life, take heart. Growth in the beginning is always slow as God lays a foundation that will stand up to the storms of life, a foundation that will bear the weight of all He has planned for your future and of all that He has promised for your life.

God Bless,
Pastor Joe
Gateway Church