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