The Farmhouse

The Farmhouse

"Whoever drinks the water I give him will never thirst ....... it
will be in him a well of water springing up to everlasting life."
John 4:14

Situated on 188 beautiful acres in Western New York, "the farmhouse", as it was affectionately referred to by those of us who lived there, was a six bedroom house that had seen better days. When it was built in the early 1900's, it must have been a wonderful place to raise a family with two barns, wooded trails, a horse pasture and a stream that ran through the property. And the west facing front porch was a haven for a summer night's relaxation, no matter how bad the day had been.

We moved into the farmhouse, located just outside Lima, New York, in 1974, to find a house without central heat (a woodburning stove was the only source of heat) and with no running water. That meant pumping water out the well in the morning, heating the water on the stove, getting cleaned up for work at Kodak (suit and tie type work), and making the 45 minute drive into Rochester.

That routine worked well until the pump broke and we were relegated to drawing water out of the well by lowering a bucket down into the water and hauling it back up. In the winter, ice would form all around the well from water splashing out of the bucket making the daily routine quite an adventure.

But there was an advantage! When I came to the Lord and started to read His Word, I knew exactly what Isaiah 12:3 meant when it said:

"Therefore with joy shall you draw
water out of the wells of salvation"

And when the woman at the well told Jesus "Sir, you have nothing to draw with and the well is deep" (John 4:11), my memory of the day that the rope broke, the bucket fell into the well and we were left with "nothing to draw with" was painfully restored.

The analogies in scripture that center around wells range from those mentioned above to the example of digging wells found in Numbers 21:17-18 and the principle that our life experiences become wells to refresh others as they go through similar experiences as Psalm 84:6 teaches us.

The encouragement today is that there are wells in the Lord for you to draw water from, wells to let your bucket down into and receive the refreshing you need, wells of stength-giving life for you to draw from, and wells of the Holy Spirit that will release unspeakable joy in your life. We draw from those wells in the quiet times of waiting upon the Lord and when we are able to get lost in worship, finding that place of being alone with God and, in His presence, receiving all we need. The farmhouse didn't have running water but it had a well that, despite the work, met our every need. God has a well available for you. Sink your bucket down deep in the well of God's love, grace and mercy and receive from Him today.

God Bless,
Pastor Joe
Gateway Church

The Church Tour

The Church Tour

'I will lift my eyes to the hills-where does my help come from?
My help comes from the Lord, the Maker of heaven and earth."
Psalm 121:1-2

Our tour of this church held special significance because, years earlier, some of the men of our church had labored knee-deep in mud to lay the foundation. We were led through the entranceway, into the sanctuary, the classrooms and, finally, the pastor's office. Just outside of Tegucigalpa in Honduras, known as "the church in the valley", this at that time uncompleted building was a blessing to behold.

To be honest, I hadn't thought about visiting this church for a good many years until one night recently when I read a quote from Hudson Taylor, a missionary to China in the 1800's, that brought it back to mind:

"The enemy may build a barrier about us, but he
can never roof us in, so that we cannot look up."

The picture of the church tour flashed in my mind because, despite all that had been accomplished in it's building, there was still no roof. Our tour was an open-air tour, led from room to room with the sun beating down on us. In Central America, with buildings constructed almost entirely of cement and block, the roof is often the last area to be completed and such was the case with this church.

Hudson Taylor was attempting to describe something that I'm sure most, if not all of us have experienced-the enemy building walls in our lives to keep us walking in God's blessings and accomplishing God's will and purposes Those walls often take the form of circumstances that are beyond our control and can result from the actions of others that have a significant impact on us. And the reality is that some of these walls can be quite formidable and very discouraging.

But we can always look up!!! Hudson Taylor's words and the picture of that church in Honduras with walls but no roof serve to remind us that nothing can stop us from looking to our God in our times of trials and difficulty. And the minute we look up in prayer, our hearts will begin to hope and be encouraged in the Lord.

The walls will come down. And the Lord will give answers. But in the time between trial and victory, in the days when patience and endurance are necessary, we have to know that the way is always clear for us to look to heaven, to the source of our deliverance, to the One who gives strength for each new day.

God Bless,
Pastor Joe
Gateway Church

Helmet Laws

Helmet Laws

"Take the helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit,
which is the Word of God." Ephesians 6:17

Driving through Arkansas and Texas on the way to Dallas, you couldn't help but notice the motorcycle riders without helmets. Having spent most of my years in New York and Michigan, states that require helmet use on motorcycles, it seemed odd. It has been an argument for many years, the desire for the freedom to choose versus the government's concern for safety. (I've lost a similar argument on having to use my seatbelt for many years.)

We faced a similar issue on a vacation to Martha's Vineyard when we inquired about bicycle rentals and found that the island had a helmet law for bicycle riders. Needless to say, we didn't rent bikes that trip choosing instead to buy a bus pass and tour the island that way. But despite my personal reluctance to wear a helmet, the obvious need to protect such a vulnerable part of our bodies, especially with children and in dangerous activities, is hard to argue with.

But while some states do one thing and other states another in this area, the spiritual truth of "putting on the helmet of salvation" is non-negotiable. Joyce Meyer and others have talked about the battlefield of the mind. If ever there was a need for protection and helmet-wearing, it is in the spiritual world where we are bombarded and attacked in our thought life and in our minds on a daily basis.

Let's look at a few examples of the thoughts the enemy tries to speak into our minds, with the hope that after seeing these, we will all become "helmet-wearers":

1. Thoughts that create doubts about God's love and concern for us.
2. Thoughts that raise doubts about our future and what is ahead.
3. Thoughts that try and convince us that things will never change in our lives.
4. Lies about other people and whether they really care about us.
5. Half-truths about words spoken and the motives and intentions of others.
6. Reminding us of mistakes and failures that God has forgiven and forgotten.
7. Raising doubts about the power of God that is available to meet our needs.

Laws may vary for those riding motorcycles and bicycles but in the kingdom of God, the need to "take the helmet of salvation", protecting our mind from the constant bombardment of the enemy, guarding the thoughts that can dictate our moods and emotions, and rejecting the lies of the enemy is absolutely essential. Take the first step by challenging thoughts that don't line up with what the Lord has revealed to us in His Word. And then question thoughts that only create division and discord in your relationships with others and violate the law of love and forgiveness.

It's time to protect ourselves from serious injury, the kind that comes from believing lies, half-truths, and the deceptions of the enemy- time to become a "helmet-wearer".

God Bless,
Pastor Joe
Gateway Church

Here's The Plan

Here's The Plan

"So he said to me, "This is the word of the Lord to Zurubbabel:
'Not by might, nor by power, but by my Spirit,' says the Lord."
Zechariah 4:6

The task they faced seemed insurmountable; the odds were stacked against them. The Persian Empire, the most powerful kingdom in the land at the time, was opposing what the Lord had called them to do. (Think in terms of the United States Army opposing the Bahamas or Jamaica in a stand-off----and no, you cannot volunteer to go fight in the Bahamas, no matter how cold it is here in Michigan!). Without opposition, the job before them would be difficult and nearly impossible. Their city was destroyed, garbage and rubble were everywhere and their neighbors were doing everything possible to stop what they were attempting to accomplish-the rebuilding of the temple where they worshipped their God.

We all, at different times in our lives, have mountains set before us, obstacles that stand directly in the path of our success in life, and block the way to our fulfilling the goals that either we have set for ourselves or that God has called us to. Some of the mountains are self-created problems or issues while others are not of our own doing, Either way, they have to be dealt with or we are not going on.

That is the situation the Jewish people faced around 520 BC. The Lord had brought them back from Babylon and told them to rebuild the temple, their place of worship. But the Persian rulers who succeeded Cyrus had forbidden them to do that. In their hearts, they asked a question that many of us ask about the situations in our lives "How is this ever going to happen Lord?" "How are you ever going to fulfill this promise in my life?" "How will this situation ever get worked out?"

A little over 2500 years later, the answer given to a group of people who were discouraged and were losing their vision still applies to each of us today. The answer to the "How Lord" was "not by physical strength, not by human reasoning, not by getting others to help you, but "by my Spirit says the Lord". So simple yet so hard to grasp sometimes, the Lord is our source of power and strength and it is God, and God alone, by the power of the Holy Spirit who will bring down the mountains in our lives and cause us to accomplish great things in His kingdom.

Zechariah followed that word up with a promise that the mountains would become a plain, level ground before them - obstacles flattened out, not by our power but by the mountain moving power of the Holy Spirit. By faith, I pray that each one of us will receive that same promise, that there is a breakthrough ahead in each of our lives as we trust in the Lord.

God Bless,
Pastor Joe
Gateway Church