Pastor Joe's Weekly Devotional

Lying Dormant

2012-01-06T09:55:00.000-08:00

Lying Dormant

Looking at our garden in the cold of winter, seeing the barren ground and the signs of a previous year’s effort, has always reminded me of the potential that lies within each of us. Every year, at the first hint of warmer temperatures, seeds that were buried under the snow and ice of winter, zucchini, pumpkin and tomatoes to name a few, snap out of their dormancy and burst forth to new life. In the same way, on the inside of so many men and women of God are talents and gifting lying dormant, waiting to be revived, waiting to be stirred by the Holy Spirit, and break forth and bear fruit for the Lord. A few verses in the Book of Job communicate so well a message of hope in our future:

“At least there is hope for a tree: if it is cut down,
it will sprout again, and its new shoots will not fail.
Its roots may grow old in the ground
and its stump die in the soil,
yet at the scent of water it will bud
and put forth shoots like a plant.”
Job 14:7-9

Our churches are filled with “ordinary and unschooled” men and women of God, no different from those who turned the world upside down in the early church. But far too often, for one reason or another, they are lying dormant, with unrealized potential of incredible magnitude, waiting to be energized by hope and made alive by a fresh touch of the Holy Spirit. Job described the budding that came forth at just the scent of water; a process I liken to a believer being filled with a hope for their future that has been sadly missing. But notice that Job doesn’t talk about the rain of heaven causing the new growth but only the scent of water, making it clear just how close the breakthrough might be and how open and ready so many are to being used for His glory.

My prayer for the coming year is that the dormant among us will come alive as God touches them afresh, and that the dry bones of Ezekiel, those who have lost hope and vision, will come back to life as God stirs their hearts and fills them with His Holy Spirit. If that is you, get ready for “the scent of water” that God is about to send your way. Be on the lookout for a word that is tailor-made for you, sent from heaven for the sole purpose of awakening you to all that God has planned and purposed for your life.

God Bless
Pastor Joe
Gateway Church

From Now On

2011-12-25T10:21:00.000-08:00

From Now On

“From now on all generations will call me blessed,
for the Mighty One has done great things for me.”
Luke 1:47-48

From the moment of Gabriel’s appearance in Nazareth, Mary’s life would never be the same. Every plan she had made for her life, all that she had imagined unfolding in her future, would forever be altered because of Christ being birthed in her. Her song in the first chapter of Luke tells of a young lady who, from the moment of conception, was filled with an overflowing joy, who realized that God was mindful of the life she was living and who had a fresh revelation of the mercy of the Lord to those who feared Him. The “same old, same old,” the status quo in Mary’s life was forever broken because of Jesus coming into her life. Hers became a life filled with heavenly things, from the miraculous she observed in Jesus’ ministry to the intense suffering she witnessed at Calvary, and the glory experienced when she saw the risen Christ. But one thing is for sure; her life was never the same from the moment Jesus came in.

Thirty years later, Jesus made Himself known in Israel to a people struggling with hopelessness, burdened by the chains of the Roman occupation of their land, and wondering if their God had abandoned them. He came a light in the darkness, preaching a gospel of good news, teaching the people about God’s ways, and healing every sickness and disease among the people. (Matthew 4:23). As in Mary’s life, the status quo of the nation, steeped in religious tradition but missing the essentials of God’s great love, was shattered forever. Jesus coming down and entering their world changed it forever. Words like hope, mercy, freedom, healing, and joy were added back into their vocabulary. And their eyes saw incredible things they could never have imagined before Jesus came in and filled their lives with good things.

The beautiful thing this Christmas Day, 2011, is that we can each have a “from now on” moment. We can each see the existing state of our lives, the status quo, forever changed for the better if we will only invite Jesus into our world, into our lives in a greater way. Jesus stands at the door and knocks on every heart, longing for a deeper relationship, wanting to come in and bring hope, to minister His healing to every area of your heart, and to unfold a future bright with promise. He entered Mary’s life and she was never the same. Years later it was the early disciples who forsook all and followed Christ on a journey of faith that “turned the world upside down.” And now it’s our day, this is our time; the opportunity is ours to experience the good things that await the man or woman whose life Jesus comes into.

Merry Christmas,
Pastor Joe
Gateway Church

A Little Can of Oil

2011-12-13T10:20:00.000-08:00

A Little Can of Oil

“….to give unto them beauty for ashes, the oil of joy for
mourning, the garment of praise for the spirit of heaviness.”
Isaiah 61:3

At some time in our lives, we have each been on the receiving end of words of encouragement that bolstered our spirits and gave us renewed strength to keep going in difficult times. D. B. Cowman’s story of a man with “a little can of oil” reminds us that encouraging others by speaking words of kindness is one of the most noble and Christ like traits we can pursue:

“There is an old story of an elderly man who always carried a little can of oil with him everywhere he went, and when he would go through a door that squeaked, he would squirt a little oil on the hinges. If he encountered a gate that was hard to open, he would oil the latch. And so he went through life, lubricating all the difficult places, making it easier for all those who came after him. People called the man eccentric, strange, and crazy but he went steadily on, often refilling his can of oil when it was nearly empty and oiling all the difficult places he found.”

Cowman went on to say that “your oil of cheerfulness may mean more than you know to someone who is downhearted; your oil may be a word of encouragement to a person who is full of despair.” How ironic that we so often bemoan our seeming lack of opportunity to make a difference in the world, while being surrounded by hurting, lonely and beaten down men and women. Isaiah spoke of the ability that God gives “to speak a word in season to him who is weary”, or as the Message Bible simply puts it, “to know how to encourage tired people.” And Solomon tried to describe the value of encouragement when he penned the verse, “A word fitly spoken is like apples of gold in pictures of silver.”

Everyone, without exception, has times in their lives when they desperately need encouragement to give them hope for their future. Even today, men and women surround us who are hungry to know that they matter, who are considering giving up under the pressures weighing them down, and who are discouraged by the circumstances of their lives. Still others need to know that they are appreciated, that their work and effort are noticed, are valuable and are important. And in each of their lives, you can make a difference. No special training is needed; all you have to do is care. Start today to pour out “the oil of joy” through your words.

God Bless,
Pastor Joe
Gateway Church

Through the Night

2011-12-03T08:56:00.001-08:00

Through the Night

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

In the story of Daniel being thrown into the lion’s den, as we celebrate God’s incredible protection and deliverance of Daniel, we have a tendency to miss one important point. And I think it’s a point that can make a real difference in our understanding of God’s dealings in our lives. The point is this: Daniel spent an entire night in the lion’s den, trusting God during the dark hours of night, having faith in his God while he endured and waited patiently for the dawn of a new day and for God’s deliverance. Daniel experienced what David wrote about when he said: “Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for you are with me.”

The key word is through. David walked through some valley of the shadow of death times in his life but God was always with him. Daniel spent a night surrounded by ferocious lions but God was with him; and Joseph made the trip to Egypt shackled and in irons, but with a God who had a plan to use Joseph to save an entire people. And don’t forget the three Hebrew young men, who refused to worship an idol and were thrown into the furnace. Before their rescue, they may have spent some time in the heat of the fire but they were not alone. The story tells of a fourth man with them who looked “like a son of the gods,” none other than the Son of God.

We make a mistake when we forget the promise of God that when we go through difficult times, and challenging and trying circumstances, He will be with us. The verse above doesn’t say that you won’t go through the waters or rivers or fires; it says that when you do, God will be with you, watching over you and protecting you every step of the way. As Joseph traveled to Egypt in chains, I have no doubt that God’s eye never left him. Not only did Daniel spend an entire night with lions that could have taken his life with a single blow, but so did God. God was there the whole time, in total command of those lions, keeping Daniel safe and protected.

We need to realize that we will go through troubles and difficulties but that is not a sign, as the enemy would have us believe, that God has abandoned us. Nothing could be further from the truth. God is always with us, caring for us in the battle, helping us as we go through the struggle and keeping an unseen eye over our lives as He builds character and faith in a people that He has great plans and purposes for. May that truth help you to persevere in your walk of faith!

God Bless,
Pastor Joe
Gateway Church

Savor Your Freedom

2011-11-26T08:44:00.001-08:00

Savor Your Freedom

“Oh, taste and see that the Lord is good;
blessed is the man who trusts in Him.”
Psalm 34:8

Hearing the story of the martyrdom in Kenya earlier this month of two Christians, 8 year-old Winnie Mutinda and 25 year-old John Kikavu, has struck a chord about the freedoms we so richly enjoy. Living in the vacuum of our Western culture, a person can so easily fall into the trap of taking our blessings, privileges, and opportunities for granted. A sense of entitlement can overtake us, and instead of slowing down and enjoying all that God has made possible in our lives, we run from one thing to the next, never savoring the moment or savoring the freedoms that define our lives.

Another story that was publicized this week was the systematic burning of church buildings in several parts of the world in an attempt to spread fear and intimidation and, in so doing, eliminate any Christian witness or presence in those countries. My reaction was to pray, “Lord, help me to enjoy and be thankful for every worship service I am blessed to be a part of.” No more hurrying through, no more looking ahead to what is the next thing on the agenda and certainly no more taking our freedom to worship for granted. How important, if we are to get everything out of our gatherings that God intends, that we take the time to “taste and see that the Lord is good.” We have freedoms and rights that others do not; we must see them as such if we are to reap the benefit of God’s great goodness in our lives.

The principle goes further and I struggled with titling this “savor your freedom”, “savor the moment”, or even “savor your life.” The time you spend with family and friends should be treated as something precious, time that may never be repeated, time that is guaranteed to no one. And instead of taking things in our life for granted, it’s time we started to take advantage of the time and opportunities we have, wringing the most out of them. It’s time we started to show a deeper appreciation for the people that surround us and savor the time that we have together, getting to know them in a more personal and meaningful way.

The young man and the little girl mentioned above were killed when a grenade was thrown into the Christian leader’s home they were gathering in. Their lives were forfeited because of their faith in Jesus Christ, the same Lord whose mercy and grace we can treat as commonplace if we are not careful. Let’s be sure, going forward, to embrace gratitude at a whole new level, a "savoring" level!

God Bless,
Pastor Joe
Gateway Church

Anticipation

2011-11-18T08:40:00.000-08:00

Anticipation

“So I turned to the Lord God and pleaded with Him in prayer
and petition, in fasting, and in sackcloth and ashes.”
Daniel 9:3

We can all identify with occasions and situations where our anticipation kicked in and caused us to act in a certain fashion. Maybe we anticipated heavy traffic in winter weather and left a little early for work, or we anticipated the light getting ready to change and hit the gas pedal to make sure we got through without a ticket. At other times, we might have anticipated a problem coming up at work and prepared in advance for the possible eventualities, letting our spouse know that we might be late for dinner. And, of course, you may anticipate Thanksgiving Dinner and have a few extra large meals between now and then to stretch your stomach. The dictionaries’ definition of anticipate says this: “to foresee and act in advance, to thwart by acting in advance, to regard as likely, to foreknow, to prevent by taking countermeasures.”

In Daniel chapter 9, Daniel anticipated those Israelites who had been taken captive to Babylon being released and being allowed to return to Jerusalem, their home and place of worship. How he responded to that anticipation is a lesson on acting in advance to see the promises and purposes of God come to fruition in our lives. When he realized that it was time for God to move, Daniel turned to the Lord and sought Him in humility, with prayer, fasting and a passionate desperation. His response was anything but passive; he didn’t take the promises of God for granted, and he didn’t leave their fulfillment to chance. His anticipation resulted in heartfelt, sincere prayer that moved God to act on His people’s behalf.

The lesson that we each have to grasp and put into practice is not always easy. The bridge between the promises of God and their coming to pass in our lives is nothing less than persistent and passionate prayer. Are you sensing that God is about to do something fresh in your life, your family, or your church? Then it’s time to pray! Are you at a place where anticipation should kick in and cause a corresponding supportive action? Does your response to a promise God is speaking to your heart reveal complacency or anticipation? Daniel’s response showed just how important the fulfillment of God‘s promise was to him – he went all out to see God’s people restored to the land of their inheritance.

God has special and specific promises for your life. When the time comes that you sense in anticipation that “now is the time,” may your heart be stirred to action, causing the Lord to rise up on your behalf, to intervene against all opposing forces, and to answer your prayer.

God Bless
Pastor Joe
Gateway Church

Stepping Back

2011-11-11T06:02:00.001-08:00

Stepping Back

“For the earth will be filled with the knowledge of
the glory of the Lord, as the waters cover the sea.”
Habakkuk 2:14

From the middle of the lake, seated in a small fishing boat, the picture of the lake that you are left with is imposing, daunting, and at times overwhelming. The distance to the shore, the size of the waves and the sheer unharnessed power that the lake represents leave you feeling weak and small by any comparison. Maybe that’s why it’s hard to reconcile that picture with the image gained from looking at the very same lake from the vineyard covered hills that surround it. What stands out is that the journey from hard and intimidating to awe-inspiring and breath-taking only requires that one step back and look at the scene from a wider, broader and more all encompassing viewpoint.

In the same way, looking at the situations in our lives from too close a vantage point can leave us with a personal perspective that is disheartening and discouraging. We can get so focused on the here and now that we lose sight of the big picture of what God is doing over the long haul. We can get so caught up in the everyday that the process of character building and faith development never come into focus. We can be so centered on what is going on today that we fail to see anything in the light of a God whose plan for our life is worked out over a span of time, a span rarely measured in days, weeks, or even months.

As we get caught up in the busyness of life, the need to step back and look at what is happening in our lives from a different vantage point becomes crucial. Try this: find the largest picture in your house; stand with your nose about an inch from the picture and take in the sight. Then step back, one step at a time, observing the change that takes place and how the picture is only beautiful when looked at from the right perspective. So many are discouraged, not because God isn’t doing anything in their lives but because they are so focused on the up close that they are unable to see the big picture of a God who has an incredible plan for their lives.

Step back, away from the temporary trials of life, away from the process of life-building that God must do in each of us, and catch a vision of a God at work in us so that life goals are accomplished, and plans and purposes attained. The result will be greater encouragement, a leap from strength to strength, and an understanding that results in patience and perseverance.

God Bless,
Pastor Joe
Gateway Church

Moorings

2011-11-05T21:43:00.000-07:00

Moorings

“You are not restrained in us, but you
are restrained in your own affections.”
II Corinthians 6:12

After almost two weeks of studying, meditating on, and preaching about the story of when Jesus told Peter to launch out into deeper waters and throw the nets out again, something was still missing. The proverbial missing piece of the puzzle couldn’t be found. More than I can remember for some time, this message seemed really important to me, moving to deeper waters spiritually, living a life of faith, and, because of that, finding greater fruitfulness in the Lord. And it has become my prayer: Lord, lead me into the deeper waters of the Christian life. In the midst of those prayers, God spoke just one word:

Moorings – the ropes, anchors, and chains that keep a vessel secure and stable

Quite honestly, I had to turn to Webster’s 3rd for an explanation. The tie-in was clear; for all our desires to go deeper in the Lord and for all our good intentions to be fruitful in the Lord, we have to address those areas in our lives that are like moorings. Those are the areas that keep us tied to a shoreline Christianity, anchored to a life of weak faith, and with little or no fruit to show for our efforts. Eugene Peterson, in The Message Bible, words the verse above this way: “We didn’t fence you in. The smallness you feel comes from within you. Your lives aren’t small but you’re living them in a small way.” We can have all the possibilities that God has purposed lying open before us, yet be moored in shallow waters that leave us living our Christian lives “in a small way,” frustrated but not knowing how to change things.

The job of identifying and loosing those moorings is left to each of us. For one, it may be an attitude we’ve adopted that keeps us focused on circumstances and not on faith. For another, the rigor of obeying God when he asks us to go the second mile may be something we’ve always said no to. Thinking we have God all figured out, what He would or wouldn’t require of us, is a surefire way to stay tied to the shoreline. And sin issues have to be dealt with, inward sins of the heart, and outward actions that grieve the heart of God and hold us back spiritually.

That there are deeper waters for you to live your Christian life in should be a great encouragement. That there may be moorings to cut loose so that you can launch out into greater things in God is a challenge you will have to face. My prayer is that you will have the courage to address those areas inside you that are holding you back from all God desires.

God Bless
Pastor Joe
Gateway Church

The Footsteps of Faith

2011-10-27T21:46:00.000-07:00

The Footsteps of Faith

“…who also walk in the footsteps of the
faith that our Father Abraham had.”
Romans 4:12

By far the most difficult climb up the Turk Hill Road toboggan hill went to the person who had the unenviable task of blazing a trail through the freshly fallen snow. Those who followed after were blessed to be able to follow in the footsteps of another on the many trips up our favorite hill. The same was true on my early morning paper route during the 60’s in Upstate New York, especially on those mornings when delivering papers meant trudging through a knee deep snowfall. The first morning was the hardest; the next few were easy by comparison, nothing more than following in yesterday’s footsteps.

Maybe those memories help to make it easier to understand Paul’s encouragement that we “walk in the footsteps of the faith that Abraham had.” Abraham trusted God to fulfill the promise He had made to make Abraham the father of many nations. He trusted despite his circumstances; he trusted despite Sarah being past the age of childbearing; he trusted with eyes fixed on a God who is faithful to His every promise. The fruit of his faith was it happening “just as it had been said to him” – Abraham became the father of many nations and, in so doing, left a trail of footsteps we would be wise to follow in.

The tracks those footsteps leave behind are easy to recognize. Some tell of the importance of obedience in the face of contrary circumstances. Others have the words “never give up” emblazoned on them with a boldness that only a hope fulfilled could write. The message “God can be trusted” can be seen next to footprints all along the path and paving stones with the words of Jesus, “only believe” clearly mark the way. The footsteps of the faith of Abraham tell the story of leaving all behind for the Lord, of fighting for and rescuing others in need, of offering up a promised son to God, and of living a life marked by a determined faith in God.

Having footsteps to follow in is a blessing we should never minimize. The faith stories of those men and women who trusted God, who hoped against hope, and who saw their every promise and dream realized to the fullest, are to be anchors that keep you and I on the road of faith.

God Bless,
Pastor Joe
Gateway Church

A Passport to God

2011-10-20T16:36:00.001-07:00

A Passport to God

“In Him and through faith in Him, we may
approach God with freedom and confidence.”
Ephesians 3:12

Our trip had taken us first to Baltimore to help Linda get unloaded, up to the cottage on Seneca Lake, and then on to Rochester for a short visit with family. We were on our way home, heading toward Niagara Falls to cross into Canada, when I realized that I had not remembered to bring my passport along. The passport that had gotten me into Japan, the Philippines, Honduras and countless border crossings between Canada and the United States was nowhere to be found, and panic set in. The new law seemed to be clear: no passport meant no entry into the US.

Quite honestly, I had forgotten that story until this week when I heard this quote from J.C. Ryle: “The name of Jesus is a never failing passport for our prayers.” Now I know the scriptures that express the thought Ryle is trying to convey. Ephesians 2:18 says, “For through Him (Jesus) we have access to the Father,” and the scripture above beautifully declares that we can approach God with boldness and confidence because of our faith in Jesus. Because Jesus made a way for us by offering Himself in our place, we have access to God and need never be afraid to go before Him with our deepest needs, presenting our every desire to God in prayer.

Wondering if I would be allowed into the US without my passport, I called a friend who is a customs agent and his response to my situation was noteworthy: “As a US citizen, you cannot be denied entrance into the United States.” The choice had been taking the long way around Lake Erie through the States, and adding three hours to the trip in the process, or chancing it by going through Canada without a passport. His words were all I needed to hear; we crossed the border into Canada, and a short time later I was declaring my citizenship, without the necessary passport, to the customs agent in Port Huron. A few questions later, a huge sigh of relief breathed, and we were back in the United States, heading down I-94 towards home.

The parallel couldn’t be clearer. You and I have access to God for all our prayers, to present our needs, to come before Him for help in time of trouble – and all because of Jesus. We have full access to the Creator, to our Refuge, to our Rescuer, to our Provider, to the God who loves us enough to send His Son to die for our sins. Confidence and boldness are words that rightly describe the freedom you should feel in approaching God whenever you pray. You have a passport to God, the precious name of Jesus, that grants you access to the throne of grace, an access that cannot be denied as you come before him with a heart filled with faith!

God Bless,
Pastor Joe
Gateway Church

Limitless

2011-10-13T17:39:00.001-07:00

Limitless

“I realize that everything has its limits, but your
commands are beyond full comprehension.”
Psalm 119:96

They are found everywhere, while driving a car, in our personal finances, and even in our national government: limits on what a person can do. From the 15 mile per hour speed limit on the Lewiston Bridge over the Niagara River to the 70 mile per hour speed limit on Interstate 94, the speed at which we are allowed to drive is limited; we can’t go as fast as we want, as fast as our schedule dictates, or even as fast as our car is capable of going. Let’s face it, when it comes to driving our cars, we are limited.

Credit cards present us with a similar situation; they have a limit on what we can spend and how much in charges we are allowed to accumulate. Some cards might have higher limits than others and some might be usable in more places than others but the phrase “credit limit” is known to all. Even getting a money order last week presented the same problem; there is a limit to how much you can get a money order for. Try cashing a check at a bank you don’t have an account at. No matter how much money is in your account, you won’t leave happy. When it comes to finances, we are limited.

We don’t usually think of the President of the United States as being limited but our form of government limits the power of each branch of government. Our government’s recent fiscal crisis, when the debt ceiling desperately needed to be raised for the government to continue to operate, reinforced the limits on presidential power. He may have a position of great power and he may be the highest elected official in our nation but when it comes to taking certain actions, the president’s power is limited by the Constitution. And we may pay taxes and take part in elections but we have a representative government in which elected officials wield power. In government, we are most certainly limited.

But thankfully, there is someone whose strength has no bounds, and whose power has no limits. There is a God in heaven for whom nothing is impossible, for whom no problem is too difficult, and before whom none can stand. We serve a God whose power is limitless, a God who has promised to do “immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine.” That a limitless God is on our side and has only our best interests at heart should help us fend off discouragement and hopelessness, and by faith pursue God’s best for our lives.

God Bless,
Pastor Joe
Gateway Church

The Sands of Time

2011-10-05T06:12:00.001-07:00

The Sands of Time

“Be very careful, then, how you live – not as unwise
but wise, making the most of every opportunity…”
Ephesians 5:15-16

As the scene unfolded, the actor set the hourglass down on the kitchen table, firmly declaring “You have 48 hours. When the sand runs out, I want your decision.” Without knowing how many takes it took to get the scene just the way they wanted it, I started to picture them stopping, turning the hourglass over, waiting until the sand had all run to the bottom of the hourglass and starting the filming over. And I pictured them repeating the process of turning the hourglass over, time and again, as they searched for the perfect balance of drama and intrigue in the scene they were filming.

And although we sometimes forget it, real life isn’t like that. We may get second chances from the Lord for which we are so grateful, but we don’t get to turn the hourglass of our lives over and start again. In one sense, the Lord turned over the hourglass of our lives on the day we were born and the sands have been running uninterrupted ever since with only the Lord knowing the measure of our days. But we do know that one day the sands of time will run out for each of us. And that makes it even more important that each one heed the warnings of God’s Word to make the most of the time we have been blessed with.

The verse above talks about “making the most of every opportunity.” The opportunities we are afforded to affect other lives can be dismissed as inconvenient and bothersome or they can be taken advantage of despite the cost and sacrifice. We can make the most of every life opportunity; we can make good use of our time being careful that it is spent on the things that matter most to God, or we can flitter away our time on vain, self-centered pursuits. The choice is most certainly ours but the hourglass doesn’t get turned over, no matter which direction we choose to go. The sands of time keep running in the hourglass of our lives.

The verse begins with “be very careful” and carries the thought of our being exact, precise, and accurate with the use of our time and with how we live. God has a plan and a purpose for each of our lives that we are to live out in our daily walk. How we use our time does matter and what we do with life’s opportunities does matter. The challenge is to make the most of the sands of time we have been given, to turn each and every opportunity that arises into the most good in ways that give the most glory to God.

God Bless
Pastor Joe
Gateway Church

At God’s Disposal

2011-09-28T12:00:00.000-07:00

At God’s Disposal

“Here is a boy who has five barley loaves and two small
fish; but what good are these among so many people?”
John 6:9

As Jesus looked to feed the multitude of people who had followed Him to a remote location to hear his teachings, He wasn’t concerned with the size of the need; He only wanted to know what the disciples had available for Him to work with. They placed “at His disposal” a few loaves and some small fish and the rest is history as they say. Five thousand men, plus women and children, were fed that day providing us a lesson that still rings true: our little is more than enough in the hands of God.

That lesson was reinforced to me last night as I sent off $240 to Operation Smile to provide cleft palate surgery for a poor young child somewhere in the world. Little children in a small church brought their pennies, nickels, quarters and dimes and placed them in a change jar for most of the past year. The individual offerings were small by any comparison but, for the child who will receive surgery through their gift, it will be anything but little. Maybe we could all learn something from the little child who was still humble enough to put their $.32 offering to work to help another child in need. Maybe it’s time to realize that little can be a mindset that we have to overcome in making all we have and all we are available to God.

The woman whose husband had died went to Elisha deeply concerned about paying her creditors lest her sons be sold into slavery. Elisha responded to her with a question: “Tell me, what do you have in your house?” She may have only had one jar of oil but, in God’s hand, that little amount of oil met the widow’s every need. It’s interesting: in her hand, it was a jar of cooking oil, but in God’s hand it was her family’s provision for many years to come. So many people spend time worrying about what they don’t have while God is interested in taking what you do have and using it for His purposes and His glory. The old refrain still rings true: little is much when God is in it.

You may not have much, by your way of thinking, but if you will place what you do have at God’s disposal, you will see that God has proven time and again that He can take our little and make much out of it. Your talent and ability is not too little for the God who created you; make it available to Him today. A few loaves, some small fish, and a jar of oil – stop doubting who you are and what you have. In God’s hands and at God’s disposal, it’s more than enough to meet the need. And if you have a little change, I know a place ………..

God Bless
Pastor Joe
Gateway Church

A Call to Love

2011-09-21T15:28:00.001-07:00

A Call to Love

“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.”
I John 3:16

Woven like a thread through every aspect of the gospel and of the Christian life is love; a word used interchangeably to represent such a wide range of feelings and emotions. Think of it; on any given day, you might use the word for a McDonald’s menu item like Diet Coke, in talking about your favorite music group or store at the mall, and in expressing your feelings and affection for your husband or wife. Maybe that’s why Paul had to spend an entire chapter of the Word telling us what the love we are called to live out looks like.

Living a life of love and answering the call to love one another is certainly one of the greatest challenges of the Christian life. The pattern has been clearly laid out – love as He loved, love others as Jesus loved us. But the outworking of that call to love in our daily lives, to love not just in words easy to be spoken but in actions that often cost us something, requires reminders much like we’re getting this morning.

The call to show genuine kindness, concern, and consideration to others includes the co-worker who annoys us, the neighbor whose faults are so bothersome, the fellow believer who God is still in the process of changing, and the family member who should know better. The list includes everyone from the driver going too slow on the road this morning to the friend who has hurt you deeply. The one who stepped on your toes is there along with the one who you couldn’t believe would have the nerve to say that to you, about you, or involving you. In fact, if there is someone you need to forgive, I can assure you they are on the list of those you are called to love unselfishly, selflessly and wholeheartedly.

If you look at the opening verse, you’ll see that the standard is pretty high: laying down our lives for each other, parents for children, friend for friend, believer for fellow believer, co-worker for co-worker, and neighbor for neighbor. Live as Jesus did and love as Jesus did, live a life of love that always forgives, that thinks of others before yourself, that seeks to make others’ lives better by the care, concern and affection you show toward them. Live a life of love, you’ll make a difference in other lives, and God will be well pleased with you!

God Bless,
Pastor Joe
Gateway Church

Reflecting

2011-09-14T08:38:00.000-07:00

Reflecting

“Let your light so shine before others, so that they may see
your good works and give glory to your Father in heaven.”
Matthew 5:16

The drive to school on Monday morning was highlighted by the beauty of a full moon shining brightly and clearly in the western sky, reflecting the light of a sun that had not yet made its appearance for the day. And I was doubly blessed that on the ride home later that day, the same full moon was rising in the eastern sky just as the daylight was fading from sight.

The absolute beauty of the sight made it hard to imagine that what I was looking at was only a reflection, that the light I was enjoying wasn’t really the light of the moon but merely a reflection of the light of an unseen sun. And it made me consider the fact that we too are a reflection to those around us. We reflect who we believe in, we reflect the core set of values that govern our lives, and we reflect the level of commitment and dedication we have to the varied interests that vie for our attention.

As simple as this might sound, the moon has no choice in the matter; it reflects the light of the sun that is exposed to its surface. And really, no matter how hard we try, we have no choice either; the place that Christ has in our lives, how important He is to us, and how much serving Him and honoring Him dictates the priorities we live by are all clearly reflected to others. Jesus encouraged us to let our lights shine before men in a way that glorifies the Father in Heaven because clearly there are ways that we can let our light shine that do not glorify the Lord, and that do not reflect positively on the One who gave His life for each of us.

God is looking for a people whose every action, whose every attitude, whose every priority in life will reflect to the world around us that our God is worth our all, and that our God “has earned our loyalty and complete devotion by His love and death on the cross.” I pray that the reflection of Christ and of Christianity that others see when they look at our lives is one that glorifies God and that inspires them to seek and follow after our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.

God Bless,
Pastor Joe

Get Back

2011-09-06T12:17:00.000-07:00

Get Back

“And you are to say to them, These are the words of the Lord of hosts:
Come back to me, says the Lord of hosts, and I will come back to you.”
Zechariah 1:3

Later this morning, students all across Michigan will be returning to the classroom, getting back to the routines of waking up early, taking notes in classes, solving Math problems, laboring over English papers and tackling the homework assigned to them by teachers. But none of that is the reason why I’ve found myself thinking about the words to an old Beatles song with a chorus that simply says:

“Get back, get back, get back to where you once belonged.”

For one person, the getting back that the Lord is quickening might be to a life of prayer and to being disciplined in setting time aside each day for personal prayer. As someone who would know firsthand, Howard Taylor could say of his father, missionary Hudson Taylor, “these 40 years have not seen the sun rise in China without my father kneeling in prayer.” The relationship with the Lord that is nurtured during times of prayer will become the foundation of the strong, fruitful, fulfilling life you long for.

To another, there might need to be a getting back to the Word. I hope we are all mature enough to realize the truth of God’s Word when it says that “man does not live by bread alone but by every Word that proceeds from the mouth of God.” God’s Word is our source of hope and strength, of guidance and direction, of knowledge, wisdom and understanding, of vision and of courage. No matter what distractions have filled our summer days, getting back to the Word is necessary, in fact, crucial to the man or woman who wants to live a life blessed by God.

The call is to getting back to doing what we know is right and pleasing to the Lord. I had started to list out some others areas where there is a definite need to “get back” in the body of Christ but I was reminded of what Jesus told the Ephesians, “do the things you did at first”. To the one who really wants their will to line up with the Lord’s, no list is necessary; only a call, as the prophets declared, to come back to God, to return to the Lord and to a life of walking in obedience to His will.

For me, getting back to sending out weekly devotions is only one of many disciplines that I hope to live out by God’s grace and mercy. My prayer is that God will place a strong desire in each of your hearts to get back to doing those things He has called you to, those things that we know are only for our good, those things that will lead to a deeper union and communion with a God who truly loves us.

God Bless,
Pastor Joe

Gateway Church

Impressed

2011-05-13T09:30:00.000-07:00

Impressed

“Wherefore glorify the Lord in the fires….”
Isaiah 24:15

It wasn’t the words that were spoken in chapel this week and it wasn’t the eloquence and delivery of his message that stood out. It wasn’t the film clip of his years playing quarterback in the National Football League and it wasn’t his success as a professional athlete that drew my attention to our guest speaker and what he had come to share with the teens in our high school. What impressed me was the life response of a man who had experienced the personal tragedy, many years ago, of his 15 year old son committing suicide.

Facing hurt and overcoming loss, experiencing difficulty and battling disappointment are realities that we will all face, to varying degrees, at some time in our lives. But how we respond, as we seek to glorify the Lord in the fires of life, is what matters most. Some end up caught in the trap of guilt and sorrow, never finding the grace to move on from their crisis moment in life. Others fall victim to bitterness, giving in to the blame game (a game we always lose), blaming God and others for the hardships they have endured. For these, the remedy of trusting in God’s love and providence is too difficult to accept as a foundation for finding healing. But there are those whose response inspires us to live out our faith with a holy determination to make a difference in the lives of others.

Our guest speaker, 25 years after his son’s tragic suicide, was addressing our students, many of whom were the same age his son was, on the subject of depression and the causes of teen suicide. His message was focused on warning signs that we each need to be aware of, on the need for each person to take an active interest in the lives of those around him, and on the fact that depression can be treated early on and overcome. This was not a man holding on to sorrow and loss; this was a man giving his life to help others teenagers not make the same mistake his son did.

And that’s what impressed me; he made a conscious decision to make the very best of his tragic situation. Standing in front of our teenagers, he was willing to share his heart, hoping to turn his loss into another’s gain. Paul Billheimer wrote a book entitled “Don’t Waste Your Sorrows.” Our speaker that day, Eric Hipple was living this out, not wasting the sorrow of his personal loss. And that is our challenge, to find the courage to do the same, to take our own personal life experiences and turn them into opportunities to share the amazing grace of God with others around us.

God Bless,
Pastor Joe
Gateway Church

Having Done All

2011-05-09T08:19:00.001-07:00

Having Done All

“Put on the full armor of God so that you may be able to
stand your ground, and after you have done all, to stand.”
Ephesians 6:13

If ever a story was to inspire us to give our all to the things of God, to seasons of committed prayer and fasting, and to going after God with all our heart, soul, mind, and strength, David’s intercession for his ill child is certainly one. The Bible gives us this account, in II Samuel 12, of what David did when his son became sick:

“David pleaded with God for the child. He fasted…. he spent nights lying on the ground…refused to get up from the ground….and would not eat.”

That David was willing to do all that for his child is not the surprising part; we would expect that from a “man after God’s own heart”. But still it stands as an incredible example of how we are called as believers to respond to the deepest and most difficult trials we face. “Having done all” is a phrase taken from Ephesians 6:13 above; it is a place of peace that enables us to stand confidently knowing that we have done all we could on our side of the equation of divine sovereignty and human responsibility, that dividing line between our part and God’s part in dealing with life’s problems. In the face of difficult circumstances and discouraging odds, David prayed and interceded with all his heart for God to be gracious to his little child.

The child died on the seventh day of David’s intercession and David’s “having done all” opened the door for him to see the loss of his child in the light of eternity. His servants were worried about him, saying, “he may do something desperate” but he got up from the ground, changed out of his mourning clothes and worshipped before requesting food and eating. His simple explanation of his actions after the death of the child culminated with “I will go to him, but he will not return to me.” Having done all, having given his best, David was able to stand again, living in the light of eternity.

In every situation we face today, let’s set right priorities so that we too can say that we have done our all, and from that, find the strength that comes from a life of no regrets, a life that is focused on eternal things.

God Bless,
Pastor Joe
Gateway Church

Patient Continuance

2011-05-04T07:18:00.001-07:00

Patient Continuance

“To those who by patient continuance in doing good seek
for glory, honor and immortality, He will give eternal life.”
Romans 2:7

Earlier today, in a very special memorial service, we paid tribute and said goodbye to my mom who passed away last week at the age of 95. The memories we shared will not soon be forgotten and the legacy she left our family will stand as an inspiration for many years to come. Without a doubt, if one phrase from the scriptures could summarize her life, it would have to be a quote from the above scripture in Romans 2:7 which talks about “patient continuance in doing good.” The consistency of her living out her values is an example that we can all learn from.

We see and hear of many acts of hospitality in the body of Christ and my mom was no exception. Her home was open, to family members and friends alike, every Sunday for brunch. But it wasn’t just for a year or two and it wasn’t in response to a message on the subject preached from a pulpit; it was for as long as I can remember, many decades to be sure, and it continued up until the week before her 95^th birthday this past September. There are acts of hospitality and there is a lifestyle of hospitality where such good works are core values that we practice on our own without reminders or encouragement as an outflow of what we believe is important. Such was my mom.

A pan of soup for someone under the weather, a meal for a family member recovering from surgery, or a birthday card for one of her 22 grandchildren and 44 great-children were the rule not the exception. No visitor was ever sent away without having been fed properly and no request to knit an afghan was ever turned down, a pattern continued until only a few weeks before her passing into eternity. Showing constant concern for everyone from close family members to a young boy in our church with special needs were part of that “patient continuance”, a lifestyle of doing good, of showing love, of caring concern and compassionate kindness.

We can be challenged in our own lives to think of others first, to show the love of Christ to others in practical, sacrificial ways, and to make those values so second nature that no one need remind us of their importance. A legacy of mom and grandma opening her home and her heart, of sharing all she had, and of loving those dearest to her with her whole heart is what our family is so grateful for this evening as we settle back in at home. My prayer is that each of us will find the grace to leave such a wonderful legacy to those who share in our lives.

God Bless,
Pastor Joe
Gateway Church

The Father’s Heart

2011-04-24T12:21:00.000-07:00

The Father’s Heart

“Do not be afraid, little flock, for your Father
has been pleased to give you the kingdom.”
Luke 12:32

Sitting in the hospital for long hours watching someone you love suffer can be very difficult. That was my experience this week as my mom battled some health issues at Rochester General Hospital. Lots of reading was done in the times when she was sleeping, lots of coffee was consumed to stay awake, and much prayer was offered up for the Lord to be merciful. In the midst of waiting and watching, I was reading about the events of Easter Week and, in particular, about the sufferings of Christ recorded in Isaiah chapters 52 and 53:

“See, my servant will be raised and lifted up and highly exalted
Just as there were many who were appalled at him –
His appearance was so disfigured beyond that of any man,
And his form marred beyond human likeness.”

“But he was pierced for our transgressions, he was crushed
for our iniquities, the punishment that brought us peace
was upon him, and by his wounds we are healed.”

“Yet it was the Lord’s will to crush him and cause him to suffer….”

As I watched a loved one in the hospital, my mind wandered to what it must have been like for the Father, for our heavenly Father, to watch his Son suffer the agony of the cross as He gave His life as a ransom for you and I. It was the Father who had sent the Son on this mission of salvation and now the Father had to watch each of the events from the scourging to the crown of thorns, from the mocking and reviling of others to the nailing on a wooden cross. He heard the cry of “My God, My God, why have you forsaken me” when our sins were laid upon Jesus, and the prayer of “Father, forgive them, they don’t know what they are doing” as Jesus showed compassion to the end.

The pains of watching a loved one suffer were experienced by the Father that morning in ways we can only begin to imagine. But His love for us, His desire for us to walk in salvation and life and hope allowed it and enabled Him to endure it. That is how great the Father’s love is for you and I that He watched Jesus suffer an excruciating death on the cross that we might experience eternal life. There is no doubt - God loves you and I.

Happy Easter
Pastor Joe
Gateway Church

The Record

2011-04-17T15:24:00.001-07:00

The Record

“I will not die but live and proclaim
what the Lord has done.”
Psalm 118:17

In Gettysburg, statues with well defined meanings, markers to denote where troop lines were, and a restored battlefield down to the trees being removed because they weren’t there in the 1860’s tell the story and declare the record of the bravery of men from both sides in our nation’s civil war. In Washington, the record is told at every turn and in every building, the record of a nation founded on the mercy of God and built by the dedication, hard work, ingenuity and sacrifice of men and women of many succeeding generations. It is a record that we need to have; it’s permanence contradicting modern claims of a separation of church and state never intended by our founding fathers.

That God is found in the record of our nation should not surprise us. That God’s providence and grace, mercy and favor are the very building blocks of the modern nation the United States has become is a record that time would erase were it not for the marble and granites halls, stone monuments and memorials on which our nation’s history is engraved. We owe a debt of thanks to those who thought it important to record and to memorialize for future generations those heroes who established a Christian nation in the wilderness of America as well as those soldiers who protected our freedoms and those of so many other nations on other continents around the world.

The significance of the Holocaust Memorial has taken on new meaning in much the same way as leaders of certain nations deny that the Holocaust ever took place. The pictures and films taken by our soldiers when they liberated the occupants of concentration camps throughout Germany provide a record that says otherwise. The testimonies of survivors also paint pictures that no denial can erase; their story is recorded for future generations to learn from and prevent.

The many books in my library provide another kind of record, the record of men and women whose lives of faith have changed the world, Finney, Wesley, Kuhlman and Graham to name a few. And now it’s our generation’s turn to provide a record of faith and service, dedication and commitment to our nation. What is memorialized, recorded and written about us will tell a story; what we do will make up a record of the sacrifices we were willing to make to advance the cause of Christ in the nations of our world.

God Bless,
Pastor Joe
Gateway Church

Certainties & Uncertainties

2011-04-08T08:23:00.000-07:00

Certainties & Uncertainties

“I know whom I have believed and am convinced that He is
able to guard what I have entrusted to Him for that day.”
II Timothy 1:12

On a daily basis, we face uncertainties in so many areas. The price of gas was $3.73 this morning when I filled up at Sam’s Club. What it will be when we go on vacation this summer is anyone’s guess. For our public school teachers, the battle over the state budget and what school funding will be set at next year has left many uncertain as to what the future will hold for them and whether they will still have a job. Students graduating from college face similar situations, with the uncertainty of job prospects clouding many a future. For graduating students, making plans for life after high school opens up a whole new set of questions about what lies ahead.

And the list could go on to include the elderly and the uncertainties many of them face in considering their future care. The children of parents in the midst of divorce would surely make the list, wondering each day what life will be like without the stable home they were accustomed to. The families of soldiers fighting overseas, the mom waiting for biopsy results and the dad wondering what happens when unemployment benefits run out all find themselves in the same quagmire of uncertainty with the many worries that accompany it.

But thank the Lord, the coin has another side; the side that has “In God We Trust” clearly engraved for all who handle it to see. Our God is “the same yesterday, today and forever”, an unchanging Savior in an ever-changing world. In our times of need, He is our certain help. In our storms and trials, He is a certain shelter from the attacks that come against us. When everyone else fails us, we can be certain of one thing; God will never leave us or forsake, never give up on us and definitely never let us go. When the writer of Hebrews likens our hope in Him to “an anchor for the soul, firm and secure,” he’s painting the picture of a life that with God as their anchor, can rest in the certainty of His love and care.

If the battle of uncertainties versus certainties was an election, the certainty that comes from trusting in God would be the clear landslide winner. If it was a boxing match, uncertainty would be laying on the ground knocked out by the God who tells us that “we are more than conquerors through Him who loved us.” We can safely say that, as we draw near to God, no uncertainty can stand in the presence of a certain God, or in the minds of those who put their trust in Him.

God Bless,
Pastor Joe
Gateway Church

Over the Round

2011-04-02T15:37:00.001-07:00

Over the Round

“For a man’s ways are in full view of the
Lord, and He examines all his paths.”
Proverbs 5:21

Looking out towards the horizon is a sure reminder that the roundness of the earth keeps us from seeing too far into the distance. Even from the observation deck on the 86^th floor of the Empire State Building, Europe still remains invisible, impossible to see over the round of the earth. The same is true from the window seat of an airliner cruising at 35,000 feet over the Atlantic seaboard; England, France, Portugal and Spain to the east are still too far over the horizon of the vast Atlantic Ocean for us to take in. As for God, now that’s a different story; His vantage point is heaven, He sees all things. To our God, there is no such thing as a horizon, there is nothing “over the round,” and nothing, absolutely nothing is hidden from His sight.

The same principles apply in life. None of us really know what lies ahead in our lives. We can surmise what awaits us based on our current circumstances. We can worry and lose sleep over our own assumptions about the future but the truth remains that we cannot see over the round of our lives; that perspective, that ability remains exclusively in the power of our God. Though many will try, no one can predict what tomorrow will bring. We’ve been taught many principles for living that are based on God Word and we rightly understand that certain choices have an end. But at the end of the day, the only certainty we can bank on is that only God sees over the round of our lives.

And so when the wind blows in our lives and we face trials with uncertain outcomes, we can rest in the fact that God sees the direction those winds are blowing us and, as the scripture above states, He is examining the path we are on. From His viewpoint in heaven, He sees clearly and exactly the end of our struggles, where they are leading us in our character development, how they will prepare us for our future, and what part today plays in our preparation for the many tomorrows still ahead. He sees what we cannot and, because of that, we can trust Him to orchestrate our futures.

We so often have to make conscious choices to trust the Lord. Knowing that He sees over the round of my life, past the limited horizon in my field of view, is a very settling thought. Being assured that He has only my best in mind, I can trust in a God who sees the beginning from the end out of eyes of love, mercy, grace and compassion. Today, I can leave it all with God!

God Bless,
Pastor Joe
Gateway Church

The Fiber of Our Character (Part 2)

2011-03-25T21:48:00.001-07:00

The Fiber of Our Character (Part 2)

“And I will give them singleness of heart and put a new spirit
within them ….. and give them a tender, responsive heart.”
Ezekiel 11:19

In the midst of having the many fibers that keep out the cold, the wind and the rain, materials that insulate us from the harsh weather conditions we face here in the Midwest, we have to guard against a mindset that keeps not only the weather out but people too. Ingrained in many of us is a self-preservation mode that keeps out anyone or anything that might threaten us, a hard shell that develops over the years because of offences, rejections and hurts. And it all too often ends up keeping not only people at arms length but the Lord Himself.

We play a vital role in each other’s lives whether we want it that way or not. In fact, I have come to believe that the Lord created each of us with weaknesses, deficiencies and voids that can only be filled by other people. Call it a “built-in” need that, no matter how hard we try, we can’t meet ourselves. And so the mindset that we can do it ourselves, that we can go it alone, leaves us in the place of trying to accomplish something the Lord never intended or equipped us for. No wonder so many are frustrated in life as, in reality, they’re fighting against the very way the Lord created them.

The scripture teaches us that “as iron sharpens iron, so a person sharpens his friend.” If your desire is to be a better, “sharper” person, the input of trusted friends, family members, and fellow believers is essential. For those who battle self-esteem issues, a conscious effort to allow others in has to be made. Forget what the world says; he is the stronger person, not the weaker, who can accept suggestions, advice, and even correction from other people. The notion that something is wrong with us if we need others’ help is so contrary to the Word of God. Moses needed Jethro’s wisdom and advice when he was doing too much himself, David needed Nathan to speak the truth to him about his sinful actions and Peter needed Paul to warn him about his hypocrisy when he refused to eat with the Gentiles. We all need other people, people God-sent with the right word at just the right time to help us in our Christian walk.

Knowing that the enemy will say otherwise, we want to have hearts and minds that are “able”. Try and remember it this way, God wants us to be teachable and adjustable, tender and open to being sharpened by those whose motives are right and whose love is sincere.

God Bless
Pastor Joe
Gateway Church

The Fiber of Our Character (Part 1)

2011-03-08T10:26:00.000-08:00

The Fiber of Our Character (Part 1)

“We destroy every proud obstacle that keeps people from knowing God
We capture their rebellious thoughts and teach them to obey Christ.”
II Corinthians 10:5

Walking to the car in a driving rainstorm last weekend reminded me of the advances that have been made in the development of man-made fibers. We now have materials that are incredibly lightweight, wind resistant and water repellant, able to withstand temperatures that I hope I never find myself in. Because of those breakthroughs and the progress of technology, in situations where years ago we would have found ourselves cold and wet, we can now stay warm and dry. The cold does not get through the layers we have on, and the rain never makes it past the outer defenses that our coat represents.

Having those same fibers in our character would be an even greater blessing than the Columbia and North Face fleeces and parkas we wrap ourselves in to stay warm. The ability to repulse wrong thoughts that attack our mind is invaluable. The ability to identify thoughts and ideas as either coming from the enemy or as the product of our imagination is an aspect of character that must be developed in the life of every believer. Those thoughts and the imaginations of our minds can be seen in several easily identifiable areas:

· Wrong thoughts about your future, lies that nothing will ever change in your situation, and lies that your future holds no hope or promise.

· Imaginations that other people are in some way against you (when, in reality, they are facing their own trials and difficulties, struggling themselves.)

· Pervasive lies about God, minimizing His love for you, denying that He is on your side and that He has your very best in mind in everything He does.

· Subtle deceptions that something or someone other than God is the key to your happiness, fulfillment, and contentment.

Many have rightly termed it “the battlefield of the mind”, the struggle to take control of our thought life, and to reject and repulse those thoughts that are contrary to what God has so clearly revealed to us in His Word. My prayer is that the natural fibers available to us in our clothing will remind us of a fiber that God wants to develop in our character, a fiber that will withstand every attack, that will repulse the lies that bind and the thoughts that defeat, freeing us to live the life God intended with a mind that is clear, alert, and focused on the things of God.

God Bless
Pastor Joe
Gateway Church

Oxygen Masks

2011-02-26T21:45:00.001-08:00

Oxygen Masks

“Be merciful to those who doubt; snatch others from
the fire and save them, to others show mercy ….”
Jude 22-23

Four flights, four sets of instructions that we are all familiar with: “your seat cushion may be used as a flotation device in the event of a water landing”, “please note the location of exits in the event of an emergency evacuation”, and “oxygen masks will drop down if we lose cabin pressure”. None of these were very comforting considering our flight’s route was over northern Canada, Alaska, the Bering Strait, and the uninhabited frozen wilderness of Northern Russia before we landed at Japan’s Nagoya airport. But a magazine I read while away helped me to see one aspect of these instructions, putting on the oxygen masks, in a new light.

The instruction to put on your own oxygen mask before helping others with theirs contains a lesson for each of us in our quest to make a difference in the lives of others. Are we the one God wants to use to encourage someone else to trust the Lord? Maybe we even quote a scripture or two in our effort to stem the tide of worry and anguish in a friend’s life, something life “commit your future to the Lord; trust in Him and He will act on your behalf”. But we have to put our own oxygen mask on first; we have to have that trust worked out in our own lives to effectively minister trust to another.

Name an aspect of Christianity that you would like to see the Lord use you in and you will find that your message is effective only to the degree that you are walking in that truth yourself. Encouraging someone to walk more closely to the Lord, stressing the importance of faithfulness in the Christian life, pleading with a family member that God, not the world, is the answer to their problems, and teaching on a host of subjects from holiness, character, and love to forgiveness, humility and seeking the Lord – our own oxygen mask has to be on first. One by one, we have to make sure that these traits are a part of our Christian walk, or our words will be empty words, likely to have little or no effect on others.

The Christian life is a series of choices that define our lives and mold our future. Some define the hope, the confidence, and the life we have in Christ while others affect our ability to minister to those around us. Because our lives matter to God, and because so many others depend on what we do, the time to live out our Christianity fully engaged, totally surrendered, and with a willingness to sacrifice for the cause of Christ has never been so great. May God’s life overflow from you to many others in the days ahead!

God Bless,
Pastor Joe
Gateway Church

Clouded from View

2011-02-18T16:11:00.000-08:00

Clouded from View

“I pray that the eyes of your heart being opened, you
would know the hope to which He has called you.”
Ephesians 1:18

Looking out from the veranda of the Bible school one morning this week, the city of Manila, an expansive metropolis of 15 million people, was entirely clouded from view, enveloped in a thick cloud of black smog that covered the city like a blanket. The many skyscrapers which on a clear day dot the skyline were invisible on this morning, the victims of many years of aging vehicles pouring out diesel fumes in a third world country fighting to modernize. The scene had taken over my morning devotion and caused me to ask the question: What is clouded from my view Lord, about you, about myself and about the way I look at others?

The tendency to see ourselves in a better light than we look at others with is well documented. Other people’s faults, weaknesses, and problems take on a life of their own in our minds and cause us to shrink back from them, while our own similar issues are understandable, excusable and tolerable. I think it was Jesus who said that with the same judgment we judge others with, we will be judged ourselves. It is time for each of us to take off the rose colored glasses that we use when we look in the mirror, and begin to see ourselves more honestly and clearly. In so doing, the goal of becoming more and more like the Lord will become a greater possibility than might ever have been realized.

The second benefit to doing that, seeing ourselves as we really are, is that we will look at others with new mercies and understanding. We won’t be any different and they won’t be any different but we will have a new willingness to accept others and pray for them because we see in them the same weaknesses and struggles, in different forms, that we ourselves face. If God has already given us a breakthrough in an area, it should cause us to be compassionate, trusting Him through prayer for the same victory in our brother or sister’s life.

When it comes to God, He is not to be the product of our imagination but the God revealed to us in the pages of the Bible. Our God is a God who loves to show mercy, to forgive, and to pour out His grace. But He is also a God who is looking for a people who will serve Him on His terms not their own, a people who will love Him with all their heart, soul, mind and strength. And I wonder if we sometimes convince ourselves that we are giving God our best when the reality of our Christian walk is clouded from our view. I pray, therefore, that the Lord will cause each of us to serve Him with a vision that is clear, a heart that is open and a life that is being changed.

From the Philippines,
Pastor Joe
Gateway Church

Non-negotiable

2011-02-12T22:18:00.001-08:00

Non-negotiable

“Three times a day he got down on his knees and prayed,
giving thanks to his God, just as he had done before.”
Daniel 6:10

The question is ‘Just what in your walk with the Lord, in your personal set of beliefs, is absolutely non-negotiable?’ What is it in your life that you would absolutely refuse to compromise on or negotiate with anyone else about, no matter what the circumstances or consequences involved?

In Daniel’s day, moved by jealousy, the other leaders had a law passed that forbid anyone in the kingdom to pray to any god or man for a period of thirty days, except to the king. And the penalty for anyone who broke the new law was being thrown into the lion’s den, a fate that meant certain death. For Daniel you would think that this would be a big problem. Here was a man who made it his habit to pray three times a day, with windows open no less, to his God. What would he do in the face of the consequences of continuing to pray? What would God realistically expect of one of his followers? God wouldn’t really expect someone to risk their life, probably lose their life over prayer, would He?

For Daniel, this area of his life was non-negotiable. After the law was passed, Daniel went home, opened his windows, got down on his knees and gave thanks to the God who had shown Daniel such mercy, favor and protection. His time of communion with God and of acknowledging God in his life was non-negotiable, even at the risk of the lion’s den. We talk about being radical in our faith and commitment to the Lord; Daniel lived it out in real life. God meant far too much to Daniel for him to compromise and dishonor God by stopping his prayer and devotion time for thirty days. If it meant being thrown into the lion den, then so be it.

For Joseph, committing immorality with Potiphar’s wife, and sinning against his God in the process, was a non-negotiable area; at the expense of his position and the risk of prison, Joseph fled as fast as he could, lost everything and ended up in jail. John the Baptist lost his life because he spoke the truth to Herod. For him, speaking the truth and obeying what the Lord called him to do was absolutely non-negotiable. And so we return to the opening question, ‘Just what in your walk with the Lord, in your personal set of beliefs, is absolutely non-negotiable?’ Daniel’s refusal to compromise his values spoke volumes about what God meant to him. My prayer is that your stand for Christ, your list of non-negotiables, will do the same.

From the Philippines,
Pastor Joe
Gateway Church

Preparations of the Heart

2011-02-06T08:30:00.000-08:00

Preparations of the Heart

“The preparations of the heart in man, and
the answer of the tongue, is from the Lord.”
Proverbs 16:1

While some shopping has been done, and my office floor is disappearing with bibles and other supplies for the Philippines, last minute preparations will begin in earnest as soon as service is finished later this morning. Stops at the Christian bookstore, Kroger and Target are already on the list. The scale will be needed to attempt to get under the 50 lb limit per suitcase. And “making a list, checking it twice” will take on a whole new meaning so that nothing is forgotten, not clothing or a toothbrush, not Bible notes or our passports, and certainly not the cookies that are essential for late night studying.

But the Lord spoke to me this week from the King James Version of Proverbs 16:1 about the most important preparations needed in each of our lives, and those are “the preparations of the heart”. If we are hoping to be used by God to touch other lives and to fulfill the things He has called us to, then nothing compares to having hearts that have been prepared under the watchful eye of the Lord. We are to serve the Lord with humble hearts that realize “there go I except for the grace of God” and with tender hearts filled with compassion for the hurting and needy. Pride has to be worked out of our hearts so that we are brought to the place where God gets all the glory, for anything and for everything that is accomplished in us and through us.

The refiner sits and watches carefully as the fire causes the impurities to come out of the silver and gold and rise to the surface. We too have a Refiner and He too is watching carefully as we go through the fires that reveal areas in our hearts to be cleansed and purified. The Lord’s goal is to be able to say, at progressive stages of our lives, that we are ready for the plans and purposes He has for us. Our job is to acknowledge the process and yield to the preparations so necessary in each of us.

Coming into God’s presence is never one-dimensional; we have so much to thank Him for and so much that we still are hoping to see Him do in our lives. But there is the God side about being drawn into His presence, what He wants to do in each of our hearts. God doesn’t just go through the motions; He has a plan and He is purposefully at work in your life to accomplish his good purpose. He is preparing your heart because He has so much more ahead for you, a future that is making you ready for even today.

God Bless,
Pastor Joe
Gateway Church

A Matinee

2011-01-28T19:27:00.001-08:00

A Matinee

“And this is the testimony: God has given
us eternal life and this life is in His Son.”
I John 5:11

The word matinee, which is a drama or musical performance held in the daytime, usually the afternoon, has its roots in the word matins, a morning prayer service held in the Anglican church. It’s something I came across as I leafed through a dictionary waiting for our morning devotion to start at school. But what really caught my attention, that morning, and what I believe God really wanted to speak to me about, was the word “performance”. It was as if the Holy Spirit was shouting to me, “Christianity is not a performance; what you do at church is never to be a performance and your service to me, whatever and wherever that is, is never to be a performance.”

Think of it: people gathering on a Sunday morning or a weekday evening with all too real needs in their lives. Some are desperate to hear the voice of God, others need a touch of God’s power or an answer to prayer, while still more are hoping beyond hope for change in their lives. Men and women trying to overcome hurts and pains and sorrow seated next to sincere believers needing to find the grace to forgive someone who has wounded them deeply. Across the aisle, a woman is waiting to receive a report from her doctor on recent tests, and a man is secretly battling an addiction that he has repented of time and time again.

All that helps to explain why God gets so upset when our service to Him and our worship of Him is nothing more than a matinee performance for others to see. When a brother or sister desperately needs more of God, it’s not a performance. People’s eternity is at stake. When marriages need healing and restoration, when children need to experience God’s love in their lives, and when decisions are being made that will affect a family’s future for generations, our gatherings unto the Lord are anything but a performance. In fact they are quite the opposite; they are real life opportunities to reach out to God corporately to see His power and glory break through where it is needed the most. We are called to press in to His life changing presence every time we meet.

Let’s make sure that a performance mentality has no place in our lives. We shouldn’t even have to know specifics; we are surrounded by hurting humanity who have suffered too long. From this day on, we say no more performances. From this day on, we will fight the good fight of faith in every way and at every time because it matters so much.

God Bless,
Pastor Joe
Gateway Church

Strategies

2011-01-22T08:29:00.001-08:00

Strategies

“I will lead the blind by ways they have not known;
along unfamiliar paths I will guide them.”
Isaiah 42:16

The story of the Stuxnet computer virus, used to set back the Iranian nuclear program by several years, is like something out of a Hollywood movie with manipulated computer displays, secret facilities in the desert, and deeply hidden and disguised “worms”. But its use provides an interesting look into the varied strategies that are used to deal with problems and to attack an enemy. In this case, unsuccessful attempts were made to stop the import of the equipment needed to build nuclear facilities into Iran. With military options having been ruled out, another way had to found. And the solution was an attack without a uniform, one that couldn’t be tracked by radar, shot at or shot down; it was a computer worm that worked its destructive way into Iran’s most secure sites.

Hopefully, we each realize that the enemy has many strategies to deceive us and to ultimately keep us from fulfilling God’s will for our lives. Getting us to fall into sin is one of the more obvious tricks, often using other people to lure us into traps, situations or relationships where our defenses are broken down opening the door for us to make wrong choices. But especially in the lives of Christians, his demonic strategies are often as subtle as the Stuxnet virus, using deception to lure us into compromise, into settling for second best, and into choosing the world’s solutions to solve the very real problems we face. But even that is not the end of the matter, because to the believer who is walking close to God, the enemy rolls out his strategy of busyness, filling our lives with so many good things that we lose our closeness to God, lose the anointing on our lives, and fall into the barrenness of a busy life.

But thankfully, the Lord has many strategies for His children, “making a way where there seems to be no way”. He sets forth His Word as “a lamp to our feet and a light to our path”. God speaks His word as we spend time reading, through His ministers, and through others around us. But when we don’t listen, He doesn’t give up on us or write us off; He too has other strategies. At times, God will use suffering to draw us back to where we belong, speaking through the circumstances of our lives. The needs in our lives and in those close to us can also drive us to our knees and back to God. And I’ve seen God withdraw Himself from a person’s life, until they come to a place of desperation, and come running back to the Lord. But at the end of the day, all of God’s strategies, in my life and yours, are designed to bring us closer the One who loves us!!

God Bless,
Pastor Joe
Gateway Church

New Life

2011-01-14T12:55:00.001-08:00

New Life

“…… in order that just as Christ was raised

from the dead, we too may live a new life.”

Romans 6:4

Reading and talking about something as compared to the reality of it can often produce two very different ideas in our minds and vastly different results in our experience. Take for example skiing: I can still remember my friends filling me in on how to ski the first time I tried it, explaining getting on and off the lifts, the technique for turning and much more. Their instruction left me pretty confident as I headed out but putting their words into practice was a little bit of problem as reflected by my skiing out of control through a class of beginners before hitting the retaining fence behind them. In retrospect, talking about the how-to’s of skiing did not do the experience the least bit of justice.

The same thing can happen when we talk about the new life that the Lord has promised to those who yield their lives to him: reading about it in the book of Romans might paint the picture in one persons’ mind of someone who has been given a fresh start and a second chance in life through the mercy and grace of our Lord Jesus Christ. To another, they might focus on the new relationship with the Lord that is possible as they experience the Lord’s forgiveness and restoration. But, as so many of us can attest to, the reality of the new life promised by the Lord is so incredible as to be beyond anything our minds can dream or imagine.

That truth never hit home so much as last night when I got to hold our newest granddaughter, Maya Grace, all 6 lbs and 3 oz of her, and to try to fathom the gift of a new life, so pure and precious and awe inspiring that you are left at a loss for words. The experience made me ask “Is this what you had in store for us Lord? Is this what new life is supposed to be like Lord, a freshness that defies description, an excitement that cannot be suppressed, a joy, a pure joy that leaves us speechless?” The answer came back so quickly I almost wasn’t ready, a quote from part of a verse in Peter: “As newborn babes….” I had my answer; God has purposed so much more for us as we walk in newness of life, a fresh start and more, a joy unspeakable and more, and a restoration and making of all things new that only God could do.

My prayer is that the Lord will use the birth of little Maya Grace to encourage each of us to look to the Lord with a new hope and expectation that we would each experience new life as God truly intended. For all that God has done and for all that lies ahead, we can only stop and say ‘Thank you Lord’.

God Bless

Pastor Joe

Gateway Church

He Knows

2011-01-08T08:10:00.000-08:00

He Knows

For a man who had lost everything, seeing his livestock killed, his buildings destroyed and, by far the worst of all, his children lose their lives, Job maintained an incredibly calm demeanor. And the source of the strength, comfort and peace he found, in the midst of incredible trials and difficulties, is reflected in a statement he made that is found in Job 23:10:

“He knows the way I take”

That’s it; six simple words to explain the place of trust that Job found. “God knows the way I take.” God knows the road I’m walking on; He knows the pains and sorrows I’m trying to work through, and He knows the struggles and difficulties I face each day. Job knew that God was watching over him and was fully aware of what was happening in his life. And while Job didn’t understand all that was going on, the certain knowledge that God Himself was watching over him was a rock He could stand on in the storm raging around him.

Some of the most unfortunate mistakes that we make come in those times when we wrongly think that God has abandoned us or somehow lost sight of our circumstances and problems. And when that happens, we sadly look away from God and look in another direction for comfort and hope, for an affirmation of ourselves and of our life having a purpose, and for strength to make it through. The results of those times can be anywhere from sad to see in a person’s life to devastating, depending upon how far they travel down that path before realizing that God was always there for them and always will be.

The rest of the verse tells us that Job realized the end of the matter was not yet seen, declaring that when all was said and done, “I shall come forth as gold”. Job knew the place he had in the heart of God and he knew that God was at work in his life. In between the tears of sorrow and the agony of his pain, Job could declare:

“He knows the way I take ……… and I shall come forth as gold.”

God is watching over your life; that is for sure! You can rest in His love and trust in His care. You can count on Him to accomplish the good things He has purposed for your life. You can be assured that God Himself will always be there for you, that He knows the road you’re on.

God Bless,
Pastor Joe
Gateway Church

Options

2010-12-31T07:22:00.001-08:00

Options

“Your ears will hear a word behind you, ‘This is the way,
walk in it,’ whenever you turn to the right or to the left.”
Isaiah 30:21

Going into my favorite restaurant, National Coney Island, I’m faced with more options than I would prefer: do I go with breakfast for example, or have the always safe, dependable Hani Special? And if the choice is breakfast, the menu provides another set of options from blueberry pancakes and French toast to the usual winner of eggs over easy, rye toast, hash browns, and bacon crispy. But that is just one example of the many, many options we face throughout our day, from deciding how to spend our time and money to choosing what stores to shop in, and just recently, what to buy our loved ones for Christmas.

Having been given a free will, we’ve been given options by the Lord also. We can choose to follow Him or choose to go our own way; we have the option of staying on the fringes of Christianity or diving in and serving Him wholeheartedly and unashamedly. In reality, we have the option of sinning or walking in holiness, but, either way, we get to face the consequences of our choices. Every day and in so many situations, we are confronted with options in our walk with the Lord that demand a choice.

But let’s assume, and hopefully it is true, that each one of us really wants to do what’s best in the eyes of the Lord, no matter how difficult the call and regardless of how much of a sacrifice is asked. The question quickly becomes what is an option and what is not. Let me give you an example: freely and totally forgiving someone who wrongs us is a conscious choice we each have to make but for the believer, is it really an option? The second commandment, “love your neighbor as yourself” is another non-option as we seek to please the Lord in all we do. Looking at this thought, you quickly see that sharing the gospel, giving to the poor out of our goods and resources, praying for those going through difficulty and needing God’s help, and a myriad of other areas, are all commands to God’s people, not options to be considered based on our time and preferences.

And so the danger we have to stop and address is whether we have mistakenly treated part of God’s Word as a series of options that we can accept or reject, and, in so doing, missed out on much that the Lord has called His people to. As we move to a new year, fresh with renewed hopes and waiting opportunities, let’s each do it with a new openness to what God is asking of His people, knowing that His desire is only and always the very best for each of our lives.

Wishing you a happy and a fruitful new year!
Pastor Joe
Gateway Church

Christmas Day 2010

2010-12-25T06:43:00.000-08:00

Christmas Day 2010

“Thank God for His Son - a gift too wonderful for words!”
II Corinthians 9:15 NLT

As we celebrate today the greatest gift ever given, the gift of God’s only Son, the birth of Jesus, our Lord and Savior, we realize that it is truly “a gift too wonderful for words”.

o Incredible – Yes, it’s incredible that God would do that for you and me, sending His Son to earth to redeem us from our sins and from the curse of death, but it’s so much more.

o Unbelievable – Yes, it’s unbelievable that Jesus would give up His place in heaven to come to earth, to be born into our world, into our problems and struggles, all to pay the price for our sins.

o Indescribable – And yes, it’s hard to describe what something means when it is totally undeserved, could never be earned, and is the ultimate sacrifice that one person could give for another, but it’s so much more.

o Unspeakable – The Kings James Version word used here says much the same thing; there just aren’t words in the English language (sorry, make that in any language) to describe how great the gift of Jesus to the world really was.

o Love – Yes, the birth of Jesus that we celebrate today is quite simply God’s love for us, for each and every one of us, for all the world, finding expression in Jesus being sent to bring forgiveness of sins, to give hope and to offer a better life than we could ever have imagined.

Truly Jesus being born into the world, and being born into each of our hearts, is a gift too wonderful for words. We can only stop and reflect, saying “thank you Lord for the gift of your Son, a gift that has changed my life more than words can describe”. And because of that, Christmas Day 2010 is truly a day to rejoice over the gift of Jesus!

Merry Christmas,
Pastor Joe
Gateway Church

Tracks in the Snow

2010-12-18T06:44:00.000-08:00

Tracks in the Snow

“The good man brings good things out
of the good stored up in his heart.”
Luke 6:43

One of the beauties of a freshly fallen snow like we received last week is being able to see all the tracks that have been left in the snow. From the birds that have lighted on the ground to look for seeds to the deer that have made their way across our yard to the carrot pile, the tracks are well defined and leave a record of who has visited, the path they have taken, and what they have done. Our backyard right now is filled with the tracks of grandpa and Uncle Johnny taking turns pulling Hope on the sled, of the deer that have crisscrossed the backyard to dine on carrots for dinner, of squirrels playing in the snow, and of Diefenbaker our Siberian Husky whose love of the snow and cold is second to none.

But those tracks reminded me of another kind of tracks that we learned about many years ago. Traveling through southern Israel in 1984, our tour guide explained how every night the sandy ground on the Israeli side of the Jordan River, just north of Jericho, was screened to eliminate all tracks from the previous day’s activity. The next morning soldiers would search the area looking for the tracks of any enemies who had snuck across the border during the night. When footprints were found, as happened all too often, they would be alerted to the danger and take the necessary steps to apprehend the intruder. But what stood out is that their tracks gave them away, tracks in the sand that told the story of their journey.

Tracks in the snow in a backyard in southeastern Michigan and tracks in the sand in a contentious area of southern Israel, the truth remains the same that we all leave marks behind of how we have affected the world around us. Some like pulling a sled for a smiling little girl are tracks that bring a smile to our face and that blessed another life. And, hopefully, you can take that example and look backs to things you have done that have left good tracks behind in the sands of your life. Other tracks, like those in Israel, tell far different stories of mistakes, regrets, and failures that we have had to take to the Lord and ask him to cover, to screen over in His love and mercy.

My prayer as we approach another new year is that you will commit to leaving behind tracks of good deeds, of acceptance and of kindness toward others, tracks of going the extra mile and of persevering in the difficulties of life, tracks of loving like you want to be loved, and of passionately pursuing the God who came into the world to save you, in the snow and the sands of your life.

God Bless,
Pastor Joe
Gateway Church

The Police Escort

2010-12-11T07:12:00.000-08:00

The Police Escort

“He makes me lie down in green pastures,
He leads me beside still water.”
Psalm 23:2

It was the early 60’s, and some difficult circumstances caused my mom and I to end up in Syracuse, New York one night, 80 miles from home and in serious need of some help. The memory is well etched in my mind of those who came to our aid, a Catholic priest from a nearby church, and my mom’s closest brother who also happened to be my godfather. But for a nervous pre-teen, the ride back to Rochester late that night was one that I can guarantee I will never forget.

My uncle, who was a high ranking police official, made the trip to Syracuse to bring us back home. And after some serious issues began to be addressed, we came down to the lobby of our hotel to find a New York State trooper, who had driven my uncle to the hotel, waiting to escort us back home. Our dark green Cadillac tucked in behind the deep blue Crown Victoria of the New York State Police, and with his lights flashing, he led us home in record time. There was no worrying about speed limits, no hoping people would get out of our way, no lane changes to signal; it was quite literally the trip of a lifetime.

Making the trip to New York this past Thursday night reminded me of that night and how, in some ways, it provides a glimpse of how following God is intended to be. A normal trip to New York involves watching out for radar, the occasional frustration with other drivers, complaints about customs, and stopping for road construction, accidents and to pay tolls. And our walk with the Lord includes a little bit of each of those: fears, frustrations, irritations and difficulties. But that night in the 6o’s contained none of those. Driving at that speed, on the New York State Thruway of all places, without a single worry or concern, take it from me, that just doesn’t happen!

But what if in our answering God’s call to follow Him, we tucked in closer behind the Lord than we ever have before? What if we truly allowed Him to lead and guide us by His Holy Spirit, responding to His promptings with a simple obedience that we’ve found so difficult at times? What if we followed “the lamp to our feet and the light to our path” with a profound trust that He will lead us beside still waters and into green pastures? We just might find ourselves on a spiritual journey that’s free from anxiety and fear, free from constant frustration and tension, what we might call the trip of a lifetime.

God Bless,
Pastor Joe
Gateway Church

An Investment Strategy

2010-12-03T10:11:00.000-08:00

An Investment Strategy

“But store up for yourselves treasure in heaven…. for

where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.”

Matthew 6:20-21

As we begin again this year to raise money to provide bible school graduates in the Philippines with study bibles that they could not otherwise afford, I can’t help but think about the importance of making sound investments and about realizing what the best investments of all really are. And the matter is not just about money because we invest our time, our energy, and even our lives in causes, in pursuits, and, hopefully, in other people’s lives. Some of those investments are in this life only while others are eternal, a true storing up for ourselves “treasure in heaven”.

My parents did some investing in their lifetime, some incredibly profitable and some not so much. Not all that many years ago, for example, they bought stock in a very notable telecommunications company for $116 a share, investing a good portion of their retirement savings in the hopes of adding to that reserve. According to the New York Stock Exchange, those shares are now worth slightly less than $10 a share, a pretty significant loss for any investor. On the other hand, the investments my parents made in our children, supporting them in everything from help with school books to going on missions trips, are paying far greater dividends than they ever could have imagined as their grandchildren are being used by the Lord in so many ways. And the amazing thing is that those dividends are only going to increase and increase as those and others my mom and dad invested in continue to be used by God to build His kingdom.

The time we spend encouraging a struggling friend or family member is a wise investment in the life of another. And the return comes as they are strengthened and live fruitful lives for the Lord. The money we donate to help the poor and less fortunate is an investment in a life that has a natural need but an eternal purpose. And the dividend comes as they testify of God’s faithfulness in providing for them in their time of greatest need. The Bibles we send to the Philippines that are used Sunday after Sunday to minister God’s Word bear incredible fruit, affecting an untold number of lives as they help these young men and women prepare anointed messages filled with faith and hope in God.

Wall Street might not agree with my investment strategy but the best investments have always been, and will always be, those made in the lives of people. Invest your time, your energy, and your finances in other people, in their hopes, dreams, and visions, to meet their needs and to heal their hurts, and you will certainly end up a very wealthy person!

God Bless,
Pastor Joe

Gateway Church

Pie Night

2010-11-27T15:35:00.001-08:00

Pie Night

“For by the standard you judge you will be judged, and
the measure you use will be the measure you receive.”
Matthew 7:2

Of all the family traditions, making pies on the Wednesday night before Thanksgiving just might be our favorite. It’s a night when everyone has their role, from making crusts to peeling apples to mixing the myriad of ingredients needed for the apple, pumpkin and chocolate pies that will be consumed the next day. My contribution is usually doing the dishes that pile up from the night and I can tell you from experience that every measuring device in the kitchen, from the yellow one-eighth of a teaspoon plastic spoon to the 4 cup glass jar, along with every conceivable size and shape in between, is used on pie making night. From spices to pumpkin filling, those measuring devices help insure that just the right amount of each ingredient is used in preparing the pies without which Thanksgiving Day just wouldn’t be complete.

But did you know that God does some measuring of His own? Jesus told His disciples that “the measure you use will be the measure you receive”. So for example, if you show a quarter cup of mercy to others, you can expect to receive a quarter cup of mercy from the Lord. And that will work well unless you find yourself needing a full cup of mercy; then you might have a problem. The same principle is true of forgiving others, of being compassionate and of finding fault with others. In fact, I’d like to make a recommendation: when forgiving others, use the largest measuring cup you can possibly find. You’ll be thankful you did when you find yourself needing forgiveness, as we all do from time to time. And as far as finding fault with others, I’d get the smallest cup around, the one-eighth teaspoon variety and use it as sparingly as possible. Just remember, God’s going to use the same size when dealing with the shortcomings in your life.

And as God stretches us through difficulties of every kind, let’s realize that like the different measuring cups, He is so often painfully stretching us to meet the needs of others, increasing our capacity to show compassion to those who are struggling, deepening the level of comfort we are able to give to those who are really hurting, and expanding our ability to minister life to each person around us. The truth that God measures to us as we measure to others has one more point; in measuring to us the Lord so often includes those closest to us so that not only are our actions going to come back to us but they will affect our sons, daughters, and spouses as well. So let’s be liberal in pouring out where God would be so pleased, and, at other times, frugal in our measure. You can be sure that you’ll never regret it!

God Bless
Pastor Joe
Gateway Church

Gentleman Soldiers

2010-11-20T10:59:00.000-08:00

Gentleman Soldiers

“Stand firm in one spirit, contending as
one man for the faith of the gospel.”
Philippians 1:27

Being familiar with such terms as boot camp, enlistment, orders and deployment, terms associated with our current military forces, the men who fought in America’s war for independence might be hard to recognize as soldiers. Corn, cotton, wheat and tobacco farmers, bankers, builders and businessmen, traders, servants and statesmen, they came from all walks of life to fight for the freedoms that had first drawn them across the ocean to this new land. And fight they did, defeating a far better trained and equipped British army.

Those loyal British troops were following orders; they were dedicated and loyal to the nation that had commissioned them to this battle, and they certainly did their best on the battlefield. But the poorly equipped and barely trained army they were facing had a distinct advantage. And lest we be fooled, it wasn’t their superior knowledge of the terrain they were fighting on, or their being more accustomed to the harsh weather conditions found in America. Their advantage was that they had a cause worth fighting for and worth dying for. They said goodbye to wives and children, family and friends to go off to fight for freedoms that had been obtained at great cost. They knew that the risk of not returning was all too real but they saw the risk of losing their freedoms, including the freedom to worship as they chose, as far greater.

In much the same way, God is looking for men and women, ordinary men and women from all walks of life, who will take up their swords and begin to fight for the cause of Christ, to contend as one for the faith of the gospel. When I think of the farmer who left his fields to take up arms against the British troops, I think of the factory worker, the housewife, the businessman, the teacher, the nurse and many more in similar positions who realize that we are in a battle and that the faith that has been delivered to us is desperate for those who will fight for its truth. Generations to come depend on our response to the challenge set before us. Complacency will not get the job done; leaving the job to the professionals is not enough. The Christian faith our nation was founded on faces a different enemy but with the same goal, to rob us of our passion and our freedom to worship as we choose. May we have the same willingness to fight, to lay our lives down, and to take up our crosses to see God glorified and honored in our nation.

God Bless,
Pastor Joe
Gateway Church

The Turning Point

2010-11-12T09:20:00.000-08:00

The Turning Point

“… to give unto them beauty for ashes, the oil of joy for mourning,

and the garment of praise for the spirit of heaviness.”
Isaiah 61:3

A treatment center and a recovery program, a citizens group, conferences, academies, and even a donkey rescue organization – the name “turning point” has been adopted by many to try and describe the mission and work they are trying to accomplish in peoples’ lives. Because it’s so appropriate, history likes to use the phrase too, especially in relation to battles and wars. The Battle of Gettysburg had a turning point when Little Round Top was secured by the Union forces. World War II was big enough to have several turning points, with the Normandy Invasion on D-Day being among the most notable. A turning point is that point in time, often during a time of crisis, when a clear breakthrough in the direction of our lives occurs.

A blind man named Bartimaeus had a turning point in his life when, hearing that Jesus was passing by, he began to shout and cry out with all that was within him. Jesus heard his cry for mercy, called him forth, and healed his blindness. And he was never the same! For Jacob, his turning point came when he wrestled with God all night long in prayer, refusing to let go of God until he touched him, changed him, and blessed him. And that’s exactly what happened to Jacob at the end of a long night with the Lord. Moses turned aside to see a bush that was on fire, and the encounter with the Lord that followed changed the course and direction of his life forever. From Ruth and Rahab in the Old Testament to Peter and Paul in the New, God’s people have often experienced a turning point, a specific time in their lives when they broke through into a place of deeper relationship, greater blessing, and divine purpose previously unknown.

If one common piece to the puzzle of experiencing a turning point can be found, it’s in having a fresh encounter with God and receiving a personal revelation from Him for our lives. Isaiah saw the Lord and experienced His presence; Paul saw a light shining all around him and heard the voice of the Lord. You may be reading this feeling like Moses must have after 40 years in the wilderness, wondering if there would ever even be a turning point, wondering if there was anything more ahead. Can I encourage you today that just like General Motors is in the business of making cars, God is in the business of giving new beginnings, and of causing turning points to occur in the lives of His people. Live expectantly, seek Him passionately, and when your turning point occurs, give Him all the glory!!

God Bless,
Pastor Joe

Gateway Church

A Party Line

2010-11-05T06:41:00.000-07:00

A Party Line

“Call to me and I will answer you and show you
great and mighty things which you do not know.”

Jeremiah 33:3

To really put the changes in communication that have taken place over the years into perspective, you only have to go back to the party line phone system. My earliest memory of having phones in the house was the party line that we shared with our neighbors, the DiPiazzas on one side and the Tetts on the other. Having a party line meant that you might pick up the phone to find no dial tone and the neighbor’s daughter Kathy talking to one of her friends. You would keep trying, to the point of being annoying when you were in a hurry, until the line was free and then it was your turn to make a call. And in case you were wondering, opportunities to listen in to neighbors’ conversations were never (well, almost never) taken advantage of.

Finally getting a private line years later was a big deal because it meant you could make a phone call whenever you wanted. That worked tremendously except for the holidays when everyone tried to make a call at once and you would dial the phone only to receive the standard “all circuits are busy, please try your call again later” message. And sometimes we would try for hours before being able to complete a call to one of our family members living in another city or state. Looking back over time, the jump in technology from those party lines of the 50’s to now being able to talk over the internet to people thousands of miles away in other nations has been incredible.

And maybe that what makes God being “the same yesterday, today and forever” even more awesome than we often realize. Think of the fact that the peasant farmer in Medieval France would call on the Lord in prayer and expect an answer exactly the same way that you and I do today. God hasn’t changed a single prerequisite for receiving an answer to prayer; He hasn’t deviated one degree from the plans and purposes He laid out before the worlds were formed. And that is why God says so emphatically in Malachi 3:6 “For I am the Lord, I do not change!!!!”

Methods of communication may change but God remains a constant in our lives, a Rock that we can rely on. And that goes for His Word too! The Word of God is so dynamic and alive that it crosses every generational line without losing one spec of its power. The Word that George Washington meditated on in the 1700’s has the same application, the same importance, and the same relevance, never goes out of date, and is undiminished in every way, to the web-cam, video chat, iPad generation of today. In an ever changing world, having God as the one constant that we can rely on is a treasure beyond compare.

God Bless
Pastor Joe

Gateway Church

Running on Empty

2010-10-31T10:25:00.000-07:00

Running on Empty

“The Sabbath was made for man, and not man for the Sabbath.
Therefore the Son of Man is also Lord of the Sabbath.”
Mark 2:27-28

In this age of cell phones, laptop computers and other electronic devices, we are constantly reminded that batteries go dead and have to be recharged or replaced. With my laptop, it can only go so long on a full charge before the warning light flashes telling me that, unless I take immediate action, it’s about to be unusable. On a trip to New York, the Buick can go about six hours, give or take, until it runs out of gas, and the lawn mower can make it through one full mowing before it does the same. Using up energy in the process of use, no matter what the situation, and the need to replenish it, is one of the easiest concepts to understand.

Maybe I should have said that it is one of the easier concepts to understand when it comes to everything but our physical bodies, emotional health, and spiritual strength. Plugging in and filling up are absolutes when the item being considered is made of nuts and bolts but for some reason we struggle with doing the same when it’s about us as individuals. We get too busy or tired to eat properly and replenish the nutrients our body needs to function properly (and yes family, I’m addressing this to myself too). We push ourselves to accomplish more and more, multi-tasking as if our life depended on it, without stopping to take a deep breath and recharge the internal, invisible batteries of our hearts.

Both spiritually and emotionally, we run our wells dry and try to function properly on a dead battery and an empty gas tank. That is why Jesus separating himself from his disciples to spend time in prayer and fellowship with the Father is such a great and necessary example for us today. No matter what needs He faced, and no matter how great the demands on Him were, He realized that more than anything He needed the strength and replenishing that came from His time spent with the Father. And despite the masses who needed the supernatural touch that only He could provide, Jesus was regularly found in the temple or synagogue spending time in God’s presence and in the Word.

His example reminds us that we have to move from where going to church is one more duty for us to perform to that place where we delight in the refreshing it provides. Our perspective has to include what Jesus said above that “the Sabbath was made for man”, a time set aside for man to refill – and that includes a healthy dose of God’s presence, a Texas sized portion of His Word, and several helpings of fellowship with those walking the same road that we are on.

God Bless
Pastor Joe
Gateway Church

Connect the Dots

2010-10-22T10:25:00.000-07:00

Connect the Dots

“For God is working in you, giving you the desire to
obey Him and the power to do what pleases Him.”
Philippians 2:13

The picture represented by the dots scattered across the page is not always easily recognizable until you begin to connect the dots, as the name of the simple game indicates, drawing lines from one dot to another until the picture begins to take definition and become clear. And the games range in difficulty from those made for children to adult versions in easy, medium, and hard formats. The principle of connecting the dots, with all its variations, can also be applied to our walk with the Lord and can provide each of us with a valuable lesson.

When we face situations, for example, that really try our patience, we can look at them as isolated incidents to be reacted to, and totally miss the point of what God is trying to accomplish in our lives through them. So often those situations happen over and over again because we are failing to “connect the dots” between our current struggles and God’s desire to build character in our lives and to prepare us for our future. Our failure to connect the dots in our walk with the Lord can be fatal to our attitudes, to our spiritual priorities, and to the needed breakthroughs we are longing for.

The principle has to make us step back and look at the circumstances of our lives: the delays and the waiting, the conflicts and the struggles in relationships, the stretching and the call to walk in faith, the challenge to be faithful and to go the second mile, and the pain and sorrows we too often encounter. In a vacuum, we would certainly react to each of these life situations with a kind of disdain for the difficulties they present. But looking at the bigger picture, where we are cognizant of the need to connect the dots, should cause us to respond with acceptance and a cry for grace to help us through.

The lesson has hit home with me; the need to start to connect the dots before frustration sets in and mistakes are made is very clear. Just as connecting the dots results in a picture being revealed, connecting the dots in a game where God has a plan and a purpose for each of our lives is crucial to the endurance we need, to the determination required, and to the acceptance of where God has each of us at this time in our lives.

God Bless,

Pastor Joe

Gateway Church

Enough Already!

2010-10-15T08:13:00.000-07:00

Enough Already!

“All you need to remember is that God will never let you down;

He’ll never let you be pushed past your limit;

He’ll always be there to help you come through it.

I Corinthians 10:13 MSG

This week’s list of stories is getting so long that I need to get this devotion typed and sent out before I read one more example of people who went beyond their difficult circumstances to accomplish much with their lives. Consider this week’s list:

Today it was a boxer who broke both hands in World War I, was told he would never box again, but refused to give up and went on to win the heavyweight championship of the world.

Wednesday lesson was from the life of Glen Cunningham, a young man who almost lost his life when he was so severely burned that he was told he would never walk again. Despite that, he went on to set record after record in the one-mile run, achieved world class status as a runner, and was elected to the Track and Field Hall of Fame.
In getting ready for a Washington, D.C. trip meeting, I noted our annual stop at the FDR Memorial and was reminded that the former president, who led our nation through The Great Depression and World War II, battled the paralysis that resulted from polio for much of his life and his entire presidency. It is more than a play on words to say that he refused to let his disability cripple his dreams and aspirations.
The book I’m reading contained another similar story. “I beg of you to keep the matter of my deafness a profound secret to be confided to nobody, no matter whom …..” was written by none other than the famous composer Ludwig van Beethoven who, when speaking of his increasing deafness, wrote to a friend on the subject, “I am resolved to rise above every obstacle.”

Enough already! The message that our problems are not our real problems rings loud and clear. The message that our adversities, our unique circumstances, the problems and challenges we face in life are not excuses that give us the right to give up and languish in self pity has been received and acknowledged. The examples above are the smallest of samplings of life testimonies that we are more than capable, and equipped by God, to rise above every challenge we face and accomplish God’s wonderful purposes for our lives.

God Bless,

Pastor Joe

Gateway Church

Over the Wall

2010-10-09T18:24:00.001-07:00

Over the Wall

“But as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord.”
Joshua 24:15

Saying something like “if you do it, I’ll do it” can either get us in a lot of trouble or cause us to launch out and try something that takes a lot of stretching. When the 14 year old girl asked us, many years ago, if we wanted her to show us how to get down to the pool at Texas Falls in Vermont, we said sure, but without realizing the commitment we were making. She calmly walked to the edge of the rocks, stepped off, and dropped the 40 or so feet into the water. My stomach did a perfect somersault as I realized that no self-respecting 25 year old could not follow through and take the same plunge that young girl had so graciously demonstrated. With heart pounding, I will never forget that jump, a jump that my words committed me to taking into the most refreshing, exhilarating pool of fresh water I’ve ever experienced.

President Kennedy used to tell a story about his grandfather with a very similar point. His grandfather grew up in Ireland and talked about climbing some of the 10 – 12 foot high, jagged cobblestone fences that his group of friends passed on their way home from school. Some were difficult and dangerous to go over for these boys who wanted to climb but didn’t want to get hurt doing it. One day Fitzgerald, President Kennedy’s grandfather, took off his cap and threw it over one of the most difficult walls to climb knowing full well that he now had to climb the wall or face certain discipline from his parents for going home without his cap.

Asking that young girl to show us how to get down to the water at the base of Texas Falls committed me to a jump that I seriously doubt I would have taken if my words hadn’t required it. But now 35 years later, I can laughingly look back on the best jump of my life. Fitzgerald might not have climbed that difficult wall but throwing his cap over the wall ended the discussion; he was going over no matter how difficult it was. And we know he survived to tell a grandson who took on some incredible challenges in his short lifetime also.

Telling others we’re going to do something, or announcing something that once we say it, we can’t easily back out of it, even if we wanted to, can be like our throwing our cap over the wall. It forces us to stretch and to move beyond what is comfortable and certain in our lives. Is there something you have felt challenged to do for a long time but fear has kept you standing at the top of the cliff, or looking up from the base of the wall? Maybe today is a good day to throw your hat over that wall by publicly declaring a goal you have or a desire that God has placed in your heart. It just might be the step that puts you over the top!

God Bless
Pastor Joe
Gateway Church

Partnerships

2010-10-01T07:15:00.000-07:00

Partnerships

“For we have become partner with Christ if in fact
we hold our initial confidence firm until the end.”
Hebrews 3:14

Partnerships are formed for a wide variety of reasons: one person may bring the finances to a business while the other has an idea or invention that sounds promising. In another situation, one person might have manufacturing expertise while another has the marketing skills needed to convince people to buy their product. Partners compliment each other and form an enterprise that neither one could succeed at without the other. And to think that we have been called “partners with Christ” is quite an amazing thing.

The story is told of a mouse who was riding on an elephant’s back as they took a journey together. After traveling for some time, they came to an old, wooden bridge and began to cross it ever so carefully. Despite its creaking and wobbling under the weight of the travelers, the bridge held up and they made it to the other side. It was at that point that the mouse declared, ever so boldly, “We really shook that bridge, didn’t we?” And of course we know the answer, which is yes; they really did shake that bridge together! The mouse’s eight ounces and the elephant’s two thousand pounds, taken together, were almost too much for that rickety old bridge to handle.

The story is a cute reminder of some of the dynamics of our relationship with the Lord. Without a single doubt, it’s clear that the person who enters into a true, sincere, and wholehearted partnership with our God can and will shake the world. They will, as was said of the early church, turn the world around them, families, friends, neighbors, and even their local church, upside down. Sometimes accepting that we are like the mouse in the story is hard to swallow, but that reality can free us to partner with God in the works He is calling us to do.

What is amazing is not so much the choice that people make to give all to God and follow in His work, but that God, the all-powerful, all-knowing, and all-seeing God, would choose to partner with us. In spreading the good news of God’s salvation through Jesus Christ, God has all the wisdom, strength, and power that He contributes to the partnership. On our part, we make our bodies available as living sacrifices to do God’s good and perfect will. And together, you and God, me and God, we can shake the world.

God Bless,

Pastor Joe

Gateway Church

By Products

2010-09-24T06:47:00.001-07:00

By Products

“These things I have spoken to you, that My joy may
be in you, and that your joy may be made full.”
John 15:11

By products are products made during the manufacture, processing, or refinement of something else; they are an often unexpected and secondary benefit of some action. Maybe some examples will help us to see where this is going. For example, look at some of the by products of crude oil:

                      Ammonia                      Hair Coloring                Bandages
                      Caulking                   Artificial Turf                Ballpoint Pens
                      Antifreeze                    Contact Lenses              Footballs

After the gasoline and oil has been produced, each of these rather significant items is produced as a by product of the refinement of crude oil.

With corn, some of the by products include spark plugs for our cars, latex paint for our houses, wallpaper for decorating, and licorice for long car rides and summer vacations. And after we harvest the wool and enjoy the lamb chops, the by products produced from sheep include makeup, cosmetics, and tanning lotion, not to mention items for plastic surgery, piano keys and adhesive tape. These are all products that are the result of a primary process. We don’t pump crude oil from the depths of the earth because of our need for caulking or contact lenses; it would never be worth it. But as by products, we are greatly blessed to enjoy their benefits.

Reading a statement last night that ended with “….and the by product of doing that is joy” caused a light bulb to go on in my head. Are we asking to God to give us things that are really the by product of something else? We long for understanding and ask God to help us understand. But David wrote the following in Psalm 73:16-17

“When is tried to understand all this, it was troubling to me

until I entered the sanctuary of God; then I understood….”

It’s interesting that he didn’t find understanding until he went into the sanctuary and into God’s presence, and as a by product of his action, as a by product of spending time in the presence of the Lord, he received understanding. The same is seen when Jesus talks about wanting our joy to be full. He didn’t encourage His disciples to ask for joy; He encouraged them to have an abiding relationship with Him and to walk in obedience to His commands. He was saying that if you do those things, major on your relationship with the Lord and walk in obedience to His Word, you will be filled with joy. But it wouldn’t be joy as an answer to prayer; it would be joy unspeakable as the by product of an abiding relationship with Jesus, the true vine. And that is a by product available to each of us today!

God Bless
Pastor Joe

Gateway Church

Pick n Choose

2010-09-16T07:56:00.000-07:00

Pick n Choose

“All scripture is inspired by God and is useful to teach us what
is true and to make us realize what is wrong in our lives.
II Timothy 3:16

A typical trip to Vince & Joe’s Fruit Market gives you the opportunity to pick and choose what you want as you walk through the store. The fruits are the first thing you pass and you get to sort through the nectarines and peaches, the melons and berries, picking out the ones that look the ripest and that appeal to you the most. Next are the veggies and you get to select the head of lettuce you want, the tomatoes and broccoli that look best, with each person having their unique set of qualifications for what and how to choose.

Across the street is Kroger for the basics and, like everything else, we get to pick and choose. The breads are checked for dates so that you get the freshest, as are the milk and the meats. The number of cereal choices seems endless, from Sugar Smacks and Frosted Flakes to Wheaties and Cheerios, depending on the degree of health consciousness on any particular day. (And, of course, you need the slightly green bananas to add to the cereal, another important decision to make.)

But the problem we so often face is that picking and choosing is quite appropriate in the grocery store and at the mall, but doesn’t apply when it comes to the Word of God. The increasingly modern trend is to carry a consumer mentality into our relationship with the Lord, deciding for ourselves how we will serve the Lord, which aspects of Christianity we will follow and adhere to, and what works best for our family and lifestyle. We have made God’s commands into personal decisions as if the choice was ours when the call of God remains, as always, a call to a life of complete, unwavering obedience to the Word of God.

Faithfulness in tithes and offerings and church attendance, sharing the good news about Jesus with others and having a consistent daily devotional life, not to mention how we treat people, our attitudes and the words we speak, have all fallen from areas of obedience to the Word of God into the quagmire of “what works best for me”. And the results in the lives of believers have been sadly and silently devastating. My encouragement to you is to leave any “pick n choose” mentality that has entered into your walk with the Lord at the cash register. The truly blessed life is one of complete obedience to the whole Word of God.

God Bless
Pastor Joe
Gateway Church

Out of Death

2010-09-10T10:22:00.001-07:00

Out of Death

“Unless a grain of wheat falls into the earth and dies,

it remains alone; but if it dies, it bears much fruit.”

John 12:24

Seeing the praying mantis that I had observed in the church planter all summer long lying on the pavement Tuesday, lifeless with its stomach many times the size it had been, was a sad ending to what had been a good day. With a “just in case” thought, I picked it up and place it on a branch, watched for a few seconds hoping to see movement, and then moved on to other things. Wednesday saw the lifeless praying mantis right where I had placed it but last night was quite another story; it was nowhere to be found. As I watered the plant and looked to see if I could find it, a young, lively, newborn praying mantis came climbing up the branch, ready to take on whoever was disturbing its home. And as I shook my head in wonder, I could only think: out of death comes life!

We know the principle from our faith: Christ died that we might live. Because He gave His life on the cross, we can experience abundant life now and eternal life forever. The scripture above brings out the point so perfectly; the seed that dies and the life that dies produce much fruit. Out of death comes life. As I have meditated on the young, only a day old praying mantis, I thought of the many ways that life springs forth from death, a realization that can truly be life changing.

Paul said in his letter to the Corinthians “I die daily”. We too experience dying on a daily basis, sometimes to attitudes that have to be crucified, at other times to personal desires and habits that don’t line up with God’s will for our lives, and still others to simple things we want to do that we die to for the sake of meeting the needs of others. If only it were a one time “death”, it might be easier but, as Paul said, it is a daily experience of dying to self with the incredible result that out of death comes life. We die and yet find ourselves refreshed; we die but feel satisfied at the good fruit that results in another’s life; we die to something yet we end up freer than we have ever felt.

We can see it in nature, the seeds sown in our garden died and decomposed before producing a harvest of peas, tomatoes, cucumbers and eggplants. And we see it in the simple example of an insect like the praying mantis. My sadness Tuesday at the lifeless praying mantis lying helpless on the cement was quickly replaced by total awe at the new life that had sprung forth. Life, in all its facets, is an amazing thing to behold. Jesus thought that our experiencing new life was worth dying for. And let me encourage you that all God is calling you to die to will be worth it, in your own life and in the lives of others. A simple truth – out of death comes life!

God Bless
Pastor Joe

Gateway Church

Undivided Attention

2010-09-04T07:47:00.000-07:00

Undivided Attention

“You have asked a difficult thing …….yet if you see
me when I am taken from you, it shall be yours.”
II Kings 2:10

Our ability to stay focused on what lies before us, to maintain our concentration on the tasks and goals we’re attempting to accomplish has never been more challenged. Under the guise of multi-tasking, we text and drive, talk on the cell phone and drive, read the paper and drive, not to mention the ladies who put on their make-up and drive. We watch television during dinner, use our smart-phones in the checkout line, and take walks and talk on the phone at the same time, making people who can’t see the earpiece wonder about the level of our sanity. Our ability to give someone and something our undivided attention for a sustained period of time is disappearing faster than the arctic snowcap.

After years of serving Elijah, Elisha’s receiving the prophetic mantle was dependent on one thing and one thing alone: his ability to keep his eyes on Elijah. Faithfulness in answering the call aside, a right attitude in serving another over time aside, Elisha’s ability to keep his eyes focused on Elijah and to not let anything distract him was the key to his receiving a double portion of the anointing that was on Elijah’s life. The Jordan River had just miraculously parted, others were telling him that his master was going to be taken from him that day, and, to top it all off, a chariot of fire and horses of fire appeared. But none of that changed the fact that if Elisha could maintain focus, no matter what, the double portion of the anointing would be his.

With the continued assault on our attention span, the importance of our having times when we give God our undivided attention has never been clearer and more critical. Reaching the goals we have set, and living lives that accomplish our priorities will require a purposeful living that runs counter to the multi-tasking, attention sharing direction of our society. We will have to plan out how we use our time carefully and discipline ourselves to give our undivided attention to what God is calling us to do. If that means turning off the cell phone during devotions and leaving the smart phone in the car during church, the reward set before us of receiving our own personal “double portion” will make it more than worth it.

God Bless
Pastor Joe
Gateway Church

The Great Divide

2010-08-27T12:13:00.000-07:00

The Great Divide

“He caused streams to flow from the rock,
and made the water flow like rivers.”
Psalm 78:16

Whether you call it the Continental Divide or the Great Divide, the range of mountains that runs from northern Alaska, through Canada, the US and Mexico, and into Central America is a sure dividing line when it comes to the waters that flow down the mountains and out to the oceans. Everything from the snow melt in spring to the rain from summer thunderstorms that falls on the western slopes of the Great Divide, the Rocky Mountains as they’re most often called, ends up in the Pacific Ocean. And, conversely, that which falls on the eastern side of the Divide eventually makes it way to either the Atlantic Ocean or the Gulf of Mexico.

The fact about the Great Divide that has always amazed me is that two raindrops can fall only feet apart but one ends up in the Pacific Ocean and the other in the Atlantic. What begins only a few feet apart ends up literally thousands of miles apart by the end of a long journey to the sea. In the natural, we can find ourselves in very similar situations to those around us. But we have to realize that the choices we make in life, and the attitudes we carry about, will determine where our journey ends. And that end can be vastly different depending on the direction we choose to go, God’s or our own, the Kingdom or the worlds.

Just as there are the windward and leeward sides of a mountain, with the windward side being more green and lush and the leeward side more dry and barren, so too which side we choose in the decisions of life will have greatly varying results. Those who consistently choose what pleases the Lord will find, at the end of their life, peace, blessing and an enduring satisfaction at having done the things that please the Lord. At the same time, those who live to please themselves will find the end of their journey filled with an emptiness and a void at having invested in treasures and pleasures that quickly fade away.

The raindrop that falls on the western side of the Great Divide will never find its way to the Atlantic Ocean; it just doesn’t work that way. The person who chooses the ways of the world over God’s ways never ends up happy and secure; it just doesn’t work that way. The person who lives for themselves, to please themselves and not God, never finds spiritual prosperity and favor awaiting them at journey’s end; it just doesn’t work that way. But live your life on God’s side, choosing what pleases the Lord, regardless of the consequences, and “goodness and mercy will follow you all the days of your life”; it most certainly works that way!

God Bless
Pastor Joe
Gateway Church

Just Over the Horizon

2010-08-20T05:56:00.000-07:00

Just Over the Horizon

“Forget the former things; do not dwell on
the past. Behold, I am doing a new thing.”
Isaiah 43:18-19

Sitting at a restaurant with friends last night, talking and waiting for our meals to arrive, we had no idea that an incredible storm, strong enough to knock over trees everywhere and to leave us without power for the last twelve hours and counting, was about to strike. In a matter of minutes, debris was flying through the air, visibility was gone because of the rain and wind, and a plate glass window in the restaurant’s door was blown out. We finished our dinner by battery powered lights and headed home to find streets flooded, fences knocked down, and the streets littered with leaves and branches. Candles and flashlights became our source of light as the twilight of evening transitioned into the darkness of night.

The suddenness of the storm is a sure reminder that we never know what lies just over the horizon in our lives. I can’t count how many times I’ve gone over the crest of a hill on the highway to find a massive traffic jam awaiting me “just over the horizon”. But I also remember the many times when the afternoon mail brought an unexpected, much needed blessing that changed our countenance faster than last night’s storm. This scripture really describes those experiences the best:

“Hezekiah and all the people rejoiced at what God had brought about for his people, because it was done suddenly.” (II Chronicles 29:36)

And the word of God contains other “suddenlies” to encourage us. In Acts 2:2 we’re told that “suddenly a sound like the blowing of a violent wind came from heaven and filled the whole house where they were sitting.” In Acts 9:3, it says that in Paul’s Damascus Road experience, “suddenly a light from heaven flashed around him.” So often the work God is doing in our lives occurs over a long period of time, but just as often God moves suddenly to turn our mourning into dancing and to fill our circumstances with hope.

This morning, typing these thoughts by the fading battery power of my laptop, I am overflowing with the thought that God is about to do a new thing in your life, that you about to experience a “suddenly” from heaven that will fill you with joy and hope, that will cause you to overflow with expectation over all that lies “just over the horizon” in your life. God has promised to do a new thing in your life and now is the time for it to spring forth suddenly.

God Bless
Pastor Joe
Gateway Church

Pull-It

2010-08-14T04:49:00.000-07:00

Pull-It

“For whoever wants to save his life will lose it,
but whoever loses his life for me will save it.”
Luke 9:24

The name is much simpler but pull-it is nothing more than a game of tug of war played between a 20 month old granddaughter and her adoring grandfather. And pull it is a game that always ends with grandpa letting go and getting to reap the incredible blessing of seeing his granddaughter smile and hearing her laugh over her hard fought victory. It was after one of these little games that the Lord reminded me that letting go is the surest way to the joy and peace that each of us is seeking after.

His book on the same subject is nothing more than a collection of letters, written in the seventeenth century, appropriately entitled “Let Go”, in which Archbishop Fenelon shared the secrets he had learned in his years of seeking God, from having faced trials, difficulties, and longings not much different really than you and I face in our struggles. The lessons learned were invaluable and timeless, still applicable almost four hundred years later. And they could be summed up so simply: Let go and let God!

The message of “let go and let God” is for those times when we battling in our own strength to hold onto something, maybe a relationship, a dream or a reputation, instead of trusting in the Lord and letting Him do the work. In one letter, Fenelon writes:

“Don’t allow yourself to be upset by what people are saying about you. Let the world talk. All you need to be concerned about is doing the will of God. One quiet moment in the presence of God will more than repay you for every slander that will ever be leveled against you.”

In another letter to a friend struggling with changes taking place in their life, he writes:

“So do not be surprised at again finding yourself becoming sensitive, impatient, haughty, and self-willed. You have to understand that that is your natural disposition, and without God’s grace, you will never be anything different. We must give up hope in ourselves, and have no hope but in God.”

The theme of letting go is a call to stop worrying and to stop struggling, and to let God do the work in our lives. Much like in my game of “pull-it” with little Hopey, when I let go, I always win.

God Bless
Pastor Joe
Gateway Church

Not My Concern!

2010-08-06T08:56:00.000-07:00

Not My Concern!

“And he told him to urge her to go into the king’s presence
to beg for mercy and plead with him for her people.”
Esther 4:8

Recent headlines out of California have only served to reinforce the depths of the moral crisis that our once God fearing nation has descended into. An attempt by the people of California to use the ballot box to return to godly standards in the area of marriage has been soundly rebuffed by an appeals court. And to make matter worse, their decision was not only celebrated by those whose behavior the court sanctioned but was enthusiastically endorsed and applauded by our president, his administration and many in our Congress. And my question for today is: Should we be concerned?

The book of Esther tells the story of a plot, hatched by Haman, to destroy God’s people throughout the kingdom of Xerxes. When Mordecai learned of what was going to happen to his people, he responded with wailing and cries of desperation, calling out to the Lord for deliverance for his people the Jews. And he enlisted the aid of Esther, his cousin and also a Jew, who as queen had possible access to the king, the only one who had it in his power to change the plight of the Jews. Despite her royal robes and the comfort of the palace, Mordecai urged Esther to use her place of privilege and to go in to the king’s presence and beg for mercy for her people. Mordecai’s message was very simple, “Esther, forget your current comfort in the palace; if something isn’t done, you’ll end up being destroyed along with the rest of us.”

Mordecai’s call for Esther to get involved mirrors the trumpet call of the Spirit for the church and believers in America to begin to beg God for mercy and to plead with Him for our nation. No nation has ever turned against the laws of God, as our nation has and is doing, without eventual severe consequences. We can look the other way, say it’s not our concern, or we can purposefully begin to pray and seek the Lord for another great awakening in America. Our natural eyes know when it looks like rain, and forecasters can predict the weather with good accuracy, but are we, His people, able to see the spiritual signs all around us. We have heard the scripture quoted so often: “If my people, who are called by my name, will humble themselves and pray and seek my face, and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, and will forgive their sins, and will heal their land.” America’s hope, and our hope, rests in the faithfulness of God’s people to cry out and pray for their nation. And the time is now!

God Bless
Pastor Joe
Gateway Church

The Praying Mantis

2010-07-30T08:41:00.000-07:00

The Praying Mantis

“One day Jesus told His disciples a story to illustrate their need for
constant prayer and to show them that they must never give up.”
Luke 18:1

Having a praying mantis in the church planter has been a rare treat these past three summers, another of the wonders of nature that leaves us in awe of God’s creation. Consider these facts about the praying mantis:

· The praying mantis is the only insect capable of rotating its head a full 180 degrees.

· Despite being only inches long, the mantis’s vision extends an incredible 60 feet!

· The “praying” mantis is so named because its front legs appear to be permanently bent in the kneeling position making it look like this insect is constantly in prayer.

· Its legs are so strong that the mantis’s prey rarely escapes from this voracious eater who consumes everything from other insects and bugs to small frogs and mice.

As you look at one fact after another, you begin to realize that the Lord has hidden special truths in all aspects of His creation, from plants and trees to insects and animals, all for our enjoyment and benefit. Seeing the praying mantis when I come to church every day, (and yes, I look for it every day!), has become a daily reminder of my need to constantly be in prayer, to find the time to be on my knees in prayer to the God who is my all in all. Jesus taught on prayer’s importance and on never giving up as we seek the Lord for our future, for our families and fellow believers, and for the many needs that we face on a daily basis.

But there’s more for us to consider from the praying mantis. You have to wonder if the mantis’s being able to turn its head full circle isn’t a hint of the clarity and spiritual awareness we can walk in when we give ourselves fully to prayer. And what about the praying mantis being able to see far distances? Could it be that the person committed to constant prayer has greater insight into their future than others less determined and dedicated, and, because of that, is less prone to give up when trials and delays arise? And is it possible that, like the praying mantis, the prayer warrior lives a far more victorious, conquering life because of the strength and wisdom gained in that position of prayer after which this amazing insect is named? Maybe, just maybe, there’s more available to each of us through the power of persistent prayer!

God Bless,
Pastor Joe
Gateway Church

Catharine Creek

2010-07-23T08:44:00.000-07:00

Catharine Creek

“Each of you must take responsibility for doing
the creative best you can with your own life.”
Galatians 6:5 MSG

The short drive from Watkins Glen down to Elmira follows the path of Catharine Creek, a small stream known for its trout fishing, as Route 14 winds through the beautiful rolling hills of Western New York. Our family drove through that area several weeks ago and I had the chance to be back there this week when I got to spend a few days relaxing at a cottage on Seneca Lake and doing some touring in the area. Seneca Lake, as I’ve shared before, is the largest of the Finger Lakes and provides a great atmosphere for a few days of rest and relaxation.

Looking out over the two mile span of the lake, the overall view is so incredible that it’s very easy to overlook what contributes, unseen to most, to making that particular body of water so splendid. A good example is in the number of small, seemingly insignificant streams and brooks that flow into the lake, each one so small that you’d have to wonder if it makes any difference whatsoever. But there are hundreds of these tributaries flowing into Seneca Lake, each one contributing in ways that I would never see from the comfort of my lounge chair.

Underground springs also feed the lake providing a steady supply of fresh water to the lake, springs that at its deepest depths of 600 feet are never seen by the human eye. But the fact that we will never see their contribution doesn’t in the least diminish their existence and their importance to the lake and the many activities it supports. The same is true of Catharine Creek, not more than a dozen feet across in most places and often less than a foot or two deep, this little stream is a primary source of water to the largest of the Finger Lakes. Isn’t it ironic that such a large body of water depends on such small streams, springs, and brooks for its supply and sustenance, and to maintain its all important water levels.

Just as the springs are out of sight, and the streams and brooks so inconsequential in appearance that we wonder about their significance, so too it is easy to overlook the importance of each one of us to the plans of purposes of the Lord in His Kingdom and in our local churches. In some ways, we are all little Catharine Creeks, all important in God’s economy, and all necessary for the work of the kingdom. We all matter; we all have a contribution to make; we all have abilities and gifts to share with others and we all have a uniqueness that makes us indispensible to the Lord and to those around us!

God Bless
Pastor Joe
Gateway Church

Damaged Goods

2010-07-16T11:34:00.001-07:00

Damaged Goods

“Whatever your hand finds to do, do it with all your
might (all your strength, energy, ability and effort).”
Ecclesiastes 9:10

Walking through clearance centers at local furniture stores has always ended up disappointing for Nancy and I. We see the good discounts and love the prices but we just aren’t interested in buying a major piece of furniture that is already damaged. The store’s part is understandable; they’re just trying to get rid of stock that, for one reason or another, can’t be sold at full prices. Beautiful wooden end tables that have been scratched through carelessness, or exquisite cherry desks that have been dented from having been dropped or run into, you can always find them at greatly reduced prices.

My thoughts started to wander to something so ridiculous that I hope you won’t delete this after reading it: What if someone bought one of those damaged items, the lamp with the cracked glass in the stem or the ripped lampshade, a new pan that was dented, or, worse yet, sheets stained from something being spilled on them, and gave them for a shower or wedding gifts? What words would jump out at you about the person who did that? How would you describe their action? No doubt the words would be anything but flattering.

Unfortunately, the scenario is not all that irrelevant. In the book of Malachi, we see God’s people sacrificing animals to him that were blind, blemished, crippled and diseased. (Malachi 1:8). And to make matters worse, they expected God to accept them from their hands. They took animals that no one would buy for food in the marketplace because of their disease, and animals that were too crippled to graze in the field and ever grow to maturity, and offered them in sacrifice “to honor” the Lord of heaven and earth. That they were shocked when God rejected their offering only shows the spiritual state they had sunk to.

The challenge for you and I is to make sure that we are giving our very best in everything we put our hands to, both in natural areas and in spiritual areas, both relating to our homes, work and church, and to our relationship with the Lord and with others. Solomon wrote “whatever your hands find to do, whatever you do, do it well, do it with all your strength, effort and ability, do your best.” If we’re giving less than our best to the Lord and to others (and that includes our family and employers), then the ridiculous thought of giving those damaged goods as presents is not all that ridiculous. Let’s all be men and women who give our best in all we do!

God Bless,
Pastor Joe
Gateway Church

Definitions

2010-07-09T09:18:00.001-07:00

Definitions

“For now we see in a mirror, dimly, but then face to face. Now
I know in part but then I shall know even as I am known.”
I Corinthians 13:12

Just as you can find definitions for thousands upon thousands of words in a dictionary, you can also look up people’s names to discover what defined their lives. Here are a few examples to show you what is out there:

· Abraham Lincoln – The 16^th President of the United States who successfully led his country through its greatest crisis, the Civil War, only to be assassinated less than a month after the war’s end.

· Howard Hughes – A brilliant aviator, inventor and industrialist who became one of the wealthiest people in the world but who was better known at the end of his life for eccentric behavior, bouts with OCD, and reclusiveness.

· Mother Theresa – An Albanian Roman Catholic nun who for over 40 years ministered to the poor, sick, orphaned and dying throughout India becoming known internationally as an advocate for the poor and helpless.

· Benedict Arnold – A general for the Continental Army during the Revolutionary War before switching sides to the British, a man whose name has now become a byword for betrayal and treason.

· William Booth – A British Methodist preacher who founded The Salvation Army,a Christian ministry known throughout the world for being one of the largest distributors of humanitarian aid.

· Hetty Green - A woman known as “America’s Greatest Miser” who when she died in 1916 left an estate valued at over $100 million, but who, despite her almost limitless wealth, chose to live as a pauper.

The list goes on, men and women, defined by their accomplishments, by what had a hold on their lives, by attitudes and behavior, by sacrifices and choices made. And so the question has to be asked: What are we allowing to define our lives? Will it be our jobs, the people we associate with, maybe an overriding attitude, whether good or bad, or choices that define who we are to the people around us. Or will it be about our family, our God, or our relationship to Him and service for Him? Let’s make sure our lives are being defined in a meaningful, lasting way.

God Bless
Pastor Joe
Gateway Church

Wake Up Call

2010-07-02T06:39:00.001-07:00

Wake Up Call

“….for it is light that makes everything visible. That is why it is said:
Awake, O sleeper! Rise from the dead, and Christ will shine on you!”
Ephesians 5:14

One of the amenities found at the Crowne Plaza Hotel we’re staying at on this trip to New York City is one found in every motel and hotel around: the wake up call. Whether it is for catching an early morning flight, getting up after getting to bed way too late, or serving as an extra alarm clock, the wake up call is an invaluable service. I’ve used it when traveling alone and used it to wake up every room on our school trips to Washington; yes, the wake up call is a nice thing!

Of course, we all know that the Master of the wake up call is God, using the circumstances of life to wake us up from spiritual slumbers and from times of drifting away from Him. How many can relate to events happening in our lives that served as wake up calls from heaven, reminding us that we’ve stopped praying, or that we’ve gotten away from the place of trusting God for our lives and have, instead, taken matters into our own hands or fallen into depression or despair. Maybe it was a disagreement with a loved one, someone close to us getting sick, or hearing a “no” on something we were so sure would happen, our regular need for wake up calls is both true and unfortunate.

Jesus repeatedly had to wake up the disciples in the Garden of Gethsemane when he had asked them to pray as he went further into the garden and prepared to go to the cross. It is from that encounter that we have the words: “Simon, are you asleep? Could you not keep watch for one hour?” and “the spirit is willing but the flesh is weak”. Our getting tired from the busyness of life and losing our focus on the things of God is understood in part, but we must be on guard against missing God’s wake up calls, those invitations to see with the eyes of God what is needed in our walk with Him.

God’s wake up calls are as varied as we can imagine: wake up calls to prayer, wake up calls to holiness, wake up calls to faithfulness, devotion, and commitment, and wake up calls to not ignore or avoid others who may need us at this time in their lives. But consider this: how much better would it be to live in the Spirit, to live with an awareness of the needs around us, and to constantly be searching our heart to make sure we are walking in the light we’ve been given. Let’s ask the Lord to bring us to that place where we are awake to the things of God and to the moving of the Holy Spirit in our lives.

God Bless
Pastor Joe
Gateway Church

All That Glitters

2010-06-25T06:13:00.001-07:00

All That Glitters

“I counsel you to buy from me gold refined
in the fire, so you can become rich.”

Revelation 3:18

Imagine the prospector tirelessly mining in the mountains out west, patiently pursuing the vein of gold that so many others have found, in search of a wealth that will bring security to him and his family for the rest of their lives. Finally, he sees the shiny, glittering yellow rocks he has been working so hard to find and the pace of his labor increases even more. Each rock dug out is carefully hidden from those who would get rich off of his discovery, his awareness of the dangers that are present to those who find gold in this lawless region of America’s west growing stronger with each shiny rock found.

The trip into the nearest town to cash in his treasure and to stake his claim to the mine he has been digging is filled with both apprehension at every sound and excitement thinking of his newfound wealth. The sigh of relief that comes from deep within when he enters the claims office is audible to everyone around and it is with deep pride that he places the bags of gold on the counter. But his joy is quickly turned to bewilderment followed by despair when he’s told that what he, like so many before him, has worked so hard to accumulate may look like real gold but its only pyrite, or fool’s gold as it has come to be known. Despite its shiny look, it is only a common rock worth nothing.

The Frenchman Alain de Lille wrote “do not hold everything gold that shines like gold” and Shakespeare coined the phrase “all that glisters is not gold”. And while we may have substituted the more modern word glitters in his phrase, the meaning is in no way lost. We far too often invest our time, energy and resources in what looks good on the outside and has the appearance of gold but which, in the reality of life, has no real, lasting, intrinsic value. J. R. Tolkien, in The Lord of the Rings, worded it another way saying “all that is gold does not glitter.” In the same way, all that God counts success does not look like success in the eyes of the world. And, conversely, what looks like success to the natural eye, the fool’s gold of life, is often not success in the eyes of God.

The Lord’s counsel to “buy from me gold refined in the fire” was given to a people who were saying “I am rich; I have acquired wealth and do not need a thing.” The Lord had to give them the bad news that all they considered wealth was worthless in heaven’s economy. One day, we will all lay our earthly accomplishments on the counter of heaven. Some will find that they have laid up priceless treasures in heaven by investing in that which moth and rust can never corrupt while others will face the disappointment of having been deceived by “all that glitters.” Let’s live our lives for that which is of great price in the eyes of God, investing in the lives of those He sent His only Son to die for.

God Bless,

Pastor Joe

Gateway Church

Into Training

2010-06-18T09:12:00.001-07:00

Into Training

“Everyone who competes in the games goes into strict training. They do it to get

a crown that will not last; but we do it to get a crown what will last forever.”

I Corinthians 9:25

Athletic competition of every kind and at every level, from high school sports to the current World Cup being played in South Africa, provides insight into the training and discipline required to be successful in any sphere of life. It is the type of training the apostle Paul was referring to in the above scripture when he wrote about each one of us developing personal discipline as we seek to run the race the Lord has set out for our lives. We will see that personal discipline, that which goes on out of sight of others, is critical to our finding success in life.

Going to the Buick Open in Warwick Hills during the summer in recent years showed a side of professional golfers that is not always seen on television. Walking past the driving range you would find it filled with golfers practicing shot after shot, trying to perfect their swing or to correct any flaws that might have developed. Some were out there before their round of golf while others had come back after playing in the tournament, all with the goal of improving what they were doing and being the best they could be at their chosen profession. And outside the clubhouse, away from the reporters’ microphones and the television cameras, the same was happening on the practice green; put after put was being taken to develop a rhythm and a discipline that could earn them a good sized paycheck at the end of the tournament.

We could talk about every sport and activity and look at the training involved and the discipline required for success. From the actor rehearsing lines before a play to the softball player going to the batting cages at Barrymores, we would find that the level of commitment to training and the degree of personal discipline are crucial determiners of success no matter what the endeavor or field. Before the whistle blows, the curtain drops, the anthem is played, or the service begins, much of what goes into determining what will be accomplished has already occurred, behind the scenes and out of sight yes, unimportant and trivial not in the least.

Paul took concepts that people of every generation could relate to and compared them to the personal discipline that is required in the Christian life. The work of changing the world for Christ really begins in our private devotional time behind closed doors, when we are meditating on the Word of God and seeking God in prayer. The quest to discover all God has for your life won’t occur in the pew at church; most likely it will take place in your bedroom or study, during a peaceful walk or on your knees in prayer. Paul opens up and says “I discipline my body”. If he hoped to make a difference, he knew that he had to develop personal discipline just like you and I do. Take a moment to realistically ask what personal disciplines are key to your excelling in your heart’s desire. And make that training your new priority!

God Bless

Pastor Joe

Gateway Church

The Last Period

2010-06-12T15:19:00.000-07:00

The Last Period

“He also said to me, 'It is done! I am the Alpha and the Omega, the
beginning and the end. To the one who is thirsty I will give water.'"
Revelation 21:6

The last period on the ending sentence of the last paragraph of the final chapter of another school year was inscribed today, closing out opportunities and performances for students and teachers alike. Goodbyes were said to those students who, for one reason or another, won't be returning next year, and next week the same will be done to several teachers. Final grades will be input into school records in the coming days, becoming part of a permanent record that will be sent out to everyone from possible colleges and universities to prospective employers for many years to come. The finality of days like this can be thought provoking in so many ways.

For students, there is no more studying for tests, that opportunity has passed. Turning in missed assignments is no longer an option, the window for taking advantage of the extra credit offered has closed, and whatever grade has been earned, whether good or bad, is now final. For getting the grades they hoped for, there are no tomorrows. Teachers and students alike may never again see the students who aren’t returning. Whatever impact on their lives they had hoped to make has either been made or not made; the result is now unchangeable and the impression left indelible. Relationships were either formed or not formed, and, in the same way, the period has been placed on the sentence of that opportunity.

The patterns of a school year, with its beginning and ending dates, are not unlike many areas of our lives, only much more obvious and easy to follow. The finality of life’s many interactions with others is unavoidable and should sober us to the importance of living in the moment we’ve been given. Some last three months like several of my summer ones while in college, and others thirty years like many of our parents’ enjoyed, but jobs too always come to an end. The opportunity for relationship and interaction that they provide, for sharing our life’s story and testifying of God’s goodness, has a beginning and has an end. You rarely can circle the date on a calendar as many teachers and students do each year but its certainty is no less guaranteed.

The relationships you and I have on which a period has not yet been written are more precious than we often realize; they are gifts from God to be treasured and represent moments to be seized. Some opportunities slip away, lost without our really knowing how they went by so fast, chapters of a book that end far sooner than we had envisioned. Others are such a part of our lives that we assume they will always be there, only to leave us shocked when the unannounced ending date comes sooner rather than later. Today’s last day of school is just one more reminder for us to live in the moments we’ve been blessed with, to enjoy every chapter of our lives and the people we’ve been honored to share them with.

God Bless,

Pastor Joe

Gateway Church

Holding Back

2010-06-04T10:23:00.001-07:00

Holding Back

“If anyone would come after me, he must deny
himself and take up his cross and follow me.”

Mark 8:34

Going to Finger Lakes Race Track in Canandaigua, New York was a regular summer activity in my B.C. (before Christ) days. Like any good Italian mother, my mom had educated me in the finer points of reading the racing forms, evaluating past performances, checking track conditions, and knowing who the best jockeys were, some of the essentials to successfully “betting on the ponies” as she referred to it. But there was one other important principle, the subject of today’s devotion, which may have worked in the betting arena but can be a serious hindrance in the Christian life.

Finger Lakes Race Track offered nine races every day with the later races featuring the best horses. And no matter how good a horse looked in the early races, no matter how sure of a bet it seemed to be, you always, always, always held something back just in case it didn’t work out as anticipated. Holding something back was a safeguard against the unexpected, a protection against losing everything, and a way to maintain a semblance of control over the funds that you started with. And it mattered because horse racing contained a few rarely talked about x-factors, like race fixing, and holding back a good horse, to name a few.

Herein is the problem: we do the same thing in our relationship with God, we hold back from Him, from totally trusting God just in case He does something we don’t really want Him to, or that doesn’t mesh with our plans for our lives. We surrender but don’t surrender all. We trust Him but our trust is not unconditional. We worship Him but it is not all out, unreserved and undignified as David did. And the reason is that we want to maintain control over our lives. Rather than God having the final say, we want the last word in our lives just as we do in our conversations. And who is the real loser in all this; it is unfortunately you and I.

Francis Chan wrote “God want to see His children stake everything on His power and presence in their lives.” God is looking for a people who will unconditionally surrender to Him, a people who will sing “I surrender all” and truly mean it. God is longing for men and women who will trust Him with all their heart, who will trust His plan for their lives and yield to it, holding nothing back. It is to that man or woman that the unsearchable riches of Christ become a reality. It is in those lives that Christ can truly rule and reign. And if that is you, if you can become that “hold nothing back believer”, God will direct your every step and surround you with His favor and blessing.

God Bless
Pastor Joe

Gateway Church

Learning to Speak

2010-05-28T05:48:00.000-07:00

Learning to Speak

The teacher sought to find just the right words,

and what he wrote was upright and true”

Ecclesiastes 12:10

The past few months have been filled with a special anticipation as we’ve waited day by day to see what new words our 18-month-old granddaughter Hope would say each time we saw her. Words like grandma, church, and uncle would bring a smile and a joy that far exceeded what could ever be expected. From two letter words like pa to trying longer and longer words seemingly every day, the process of learning to speak is incredible and a wonder to behold. And as family members, we do our best to encourage and reward every new word and Hope’s every attempt at expanding her vocabulary. And words strung together, her beginning to speak in sentences; we still have a whole lot more to look forward to as she continues to grow.

But there is also the other end of the spectrum, and that is the much more difficult task of learning not to speak. From students in English class to adults with a story they would love to share with others, learning to hold our tongue, to refrain from saying anything, to keep our mouths closed tight, even biting our tongue when necessary, it not always an easy thing to do. Job’s friends didn’t say a word to him for a whole week in the face of someone going through incredible suffering. If only they could have kept from talking a little longer, how much better off Job would have been. And we all know from experience what it means to stick our foot in our mouth, having said the wrong thing at the wrong time to the wrong person. In fact, learning when not to speak just might be harder than learning to speak.

There’s also knowing what to say and saying the right thing. Our words have incredible power, “life and death are in the power of our words” as Proverbs says. That’s why, in the verse above, we’re told that Solomon “sought to find just the right words.” It is a lifelong quest to find just the right words to say to someone going through pain and difficulty, someone who may have lost a loved one or experienced a setback in life where mere words never seem to do the situation justice. Just as the wrong words can bring so much pain and cause such division, the right words can minister healing, comfort, and hope in a way that nothing else can. Our search for acceptable, purposeful words is one that can really make a difference.

Learning first to speak and then learning when not to speak, we come full circle in some ways. Learning to speak and then learning what to speak, the process continues on throughout our lives. David’s prayer in Psalm 19:14 still fits today; “May the words of my mouth be pleasing in your sight, O Lord, my Rock and my Redeemer.”

God Bless,

Pastor Joe

Gateway Church

20/20

2010-05-21T10:29:00.001-07:00

20/20

“Blessed are the eyes that see what you see. For I tell you that many

prophets and kings wanted to see what you see but did not see it.”

Luke 10:24

If you’ve never gotten on your hands and knees to search for glasses that slipped off when you fell asleep, or never had to stop to clean off fogged up glasses on a below freezing day, you might not understand having a genuine appreciation for the gift of good eyesight. Those who need corrective lenses, who wear glasses or contacts every day and not just for reading, often have a very different perspective on their vision; a perspective that is eye-opening and enlightening.

For me it was the beginning of 5^th grade when the blackboard was no longer close enough to see. And it was only a few years later, before the days of thinner, tempered lenses, when I was wearing genuine coke bottle sized glasses to be able to see clearly. Their importance and my dependence on them was never as clear as when a wave knocked my glasses off in the ocean off Atlantic Ocean several years ago. The panic that set in was incredible; not being able to see anything until a new pair could be made, not being able to drive at all, all brought about a tremendous sense of insecurity. And when Nancy miraculously stepped on them as we frantically searched the sandy bottom, my relief and thankfulness have never been greater.

We should be equally grateful for all the things we are able to see in the Lord. The Old Testament saints never had the cross to look to as a constant reminder of God’s love for them. How often do we see the cross as the ultimate indication of just how much God loves each one of us? How often, in the moments of discouragement and doubt, does a vision of the cross and its message of sacrificial love minister life to our souls. It is with that in mind that Jesus wrote “blessed are the eyes that see what you see.”

How about seeing the fruit of your labor in your children’s lives as they grow and mature? And what about seeing a changed life, a man or woman who came to Christ with baggage of every possible kind but has allowed the love of Christ and the power of God to totally transform and free them? Seeing someone being water baptized who we shared the gospel with, watching as a couple we know dedicate their baby to the Lord, and seeing the joy on the faces of the bride and groom only represent a few of the things that we are so privileged to see. All that we are graced to see, more than words can describe, is a reason to pause and say thank you Lord for eyes that are able to see and for vision that allows me to perceive your great love.

God Bless

Pastor Joe

Gateway Church

Short-Changed

2010-05-14T07:44:00.001-07:00

Short-Changed

“Give unto the Lord glory and strength,

give to the Lord the glory due His name.”

I Chronicles 16:29

As she handed me my change from the $20 bill I had given her to pay for my morning diet coke, I faced a familiar quandary – do I check the change right in front of her as they encourage you to do or do I pull away trusting her math and memory skills to have given me the right change. Having always thought that it was a little insulting to count the change with the cashier watching, I chose the smile, thank you, “I’ll check the change later” option. And unfortunately, it wasn’t until I pulled out onto the main street that I realized that I had been short-changed by $10, making for one very expensive diet coke unless I wanted to make two Michigan lefts, park the car knowing it would make me late for work, go in and explain my not checking my change philosophy to a doubting, overworked, and underpaid cashier.

While getting short-changed is never pleasant, think of this – it happens to God all the time, every hour of every day, and by some of those who are closest to Him. And if you think my $10 was bad, God’s getting hit even worse, short-changed in His love for us, in how much He understands what we’re going through, and in His commitment to help us through life’s difficulties. Every time we doubt Him, every time we give up on Him coming through for us, every time we question what He is doing in our lives, we short-change the God who is the very source of our lives. We want to be among those who give Him the glory and honor that He is due.

But the problem goes beyond God: we have to stop short-changing other people. I’d be willing to bet a lot of people short-changed Abraham Lincoln after he lost 8 elections, but he persevered and became one of our greatest, most courageous presidents. Looking back at the courage and determination needed in the face of the challenges our nation faced during the Civil War, those who short-changed his ability made a mistake far worse than the $10 loss I suffered. We have to be those who give people credit for their unique gifts and talents, who believe and show faith in their character and heart, and who encourage them in their life’s journey.

Lastly, in what might seem like an oxymoron, we short-change ourselves. We allow the circumstances we are facing, and the constant comparisons with others, to cause us to doubt our future, our ability, our unique gifts and talents, and God’s plans and purposes for our lives. Yes, it is possible to short-change ourselves; to give ourselves less credit than we deserve, and to paint the future in colors that do not even begin to portray how great God’s plans are for our lives. The time to stop all the short-changing is now!

God Bless

Pastor Joe

Gateway Church

Three-Way Bulbs

2010-05-07T10:22:00.000-07:00

Three-Way Bulbs

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

Our dependence on electricity and light bulbs was never as evident as it was during the Blackout of 2003, when much of the Northeast lost power in the late afternoon hours of August 14th. That memorable summer evening was spent with only the illumination of candles and flashlights to guide our way. Nightlights, outdoor lights, and light bulbs of every size, shape, and wattage stood dark and functionless until power was restored.

The night light left on in our kitchen has saved us from a myriad of problems from stepping in the dog’s water dish at 3:00 am when a Double Stuffed Oreo is desperately needed as a sleep aid to walking into furniture moved because of carpet cleaning. The night light we leave on in the garage saves our dog Dief from similar woes when he leaves his cage during a summer thunderstorm to come and hide in our closet. Our outdoor light in back helps us to see the deer in our backyard in fall and to watch the snow fly in winter, especially on the nights when a snow day is a distinct possibility.

But my personal favorite is the three way bulb, the 50/100/150 watt bulb that we use in our living room, the light bulb that gives you options. The 50 watt setting provides a nice soft light for relaxing and watching television while the 100 watt setting meets the need for talking to family and entertaining others. And the 150 watt setting, the strongest of the three, gets clicked on for everything from vacuuming and folding laundry to reading a good book, or The Good Book, the Bible. Whatever the case, lights of all degrees of brightness provide us a lesson on our role as lights in a dark world.

Jesus' words to believers that “you are the light of the world” carry with them a responsibility that cannot be taken lightly or easily dismissed. In a world being increasingly swallowed up in darkness, our light shining, our testimony that living for God brings peace, freedom, and fulfillment, our living holy and godly lives with joy and our acknowledging our Creator is indispensible. Our being “night lights” or our shining forth as 50 watt bulbs will not get the job done. In a world where Isaiah’s prophecy of” thick darkness covering the people” is being fulfilled before our eyes, the call for our lights to shine, a word that means “to beam or to radiate brilliancy”, has never been more urgent. People are desperate for lights that shine brightly, illuminating the path that leads to life. People are desperate for you to be a light in the world around you, a light clicked on to full strength, a light that points the way to God. Today, take up the call to be that light and to shine brightly for your God!

God Bless,
Pastor Joe
Gateway Church

It's Only Me

2010-04-30T06:06:00.000-07:00

It’s Only Me

“I will praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made;
Your works are wonderful, I know that full well.”
Psalm 139:14

We’ve probably all heard the door opening, the questions about who is there, followed by the common response “It’s only me”. And while it might be a reassurance that no one is breaking into the home, I have come to not like, to really not like, that phrase. The reason is quite simple, there are no “onlys” with God; every person the Lord created matters. There are no “it’s only Joe”, “it’s only Kathy”; there are no it’s only anyone; we all matter and we are all needed.

Leo Buscaglia tells a great story about a young girl who does a heroic deed and has a good fairy offer to grant her any wish as a reward. The young girl simply says that she “wants to be happy” after which the good fairy whispers something in her ear and disappears. The story relates that for the rest of her life no one was happier than this girl. When asked about the secret of her happiness, she would always smile and reply, “I listened to the good fairy.” As she grew old, friends begged her to tell them what the good fairy had whispered to her. Finally, one day, she smiled and relented saying “She told me that everyone, no matter how secure they seemed, had need of me.”

In Washington last week, the streets seemed to be a mind boggling collection of roads going in every possible direction and seemingly impossible to navigate. But from the top of the Washington monument, looking down on the city, everything made sense and seemed perfectly laid out. The only difference was perspective. In the same way, convincing people that they matter is at times a real battle. Circumstances send a confusing signal; relationships can seem superficial and disposable; and other people seem to be doing and accomplishing so much more with their lives. But from God’s perspective, our lives are part of a much larger plan and are linked to what God is doing on the earth in establishing His kingdom. Ed Gungor wrote “Because our everyday actions are linked to the Christ story, our lives matter. We each have the opportunity to influence others by participating in everyday life with the eyes of faith.”

If the God who created the Milky Way Galaxy thought it important enough to create you, your life matters. Other people, some you know and some you don’t, need you to be you. No matter what you have been gifted to do, your relationship to the Lord opens the door for you to make a difference in this world. And because of that, please do me a favor; never say “it’s only me.” As I said earlier, there are no “onlys” in God’s eyes, there should be none in our eyes, and there definitely are none in the mirrors we look into every morning!

God Bless,
Pastor Joe
Gateway Church

Hospitality

2010-04-23T07:00:00.001-07:00

Hospitality

“Don’t neglect to show hospitality, for by doing this some
have welcomed angels as guests without knowing it.”
Hebrews 13:2

Have you ever stopped to ask someone to repeat a statement, not because you didn’t hear it but because what you thought you heard seemed so incredible and unbelievable? That’s exactly what happened to me during our tour this Tuesday of Mount Vernon, George and Martha Washington’s stately home on the Potomac. The exact statement was something like “these bedrooms were used by guests, many of whom the Washingtons didn’t even know.” The guide answered my request for her to repeat what she said with more detail and my head has been shaking ever since.

In a day when travel was by horseback and carriage and before the first Holiday Inn was constructed in America, showing hospitality to total strangers was a commonplace, everyday occurrence necessitated by the times, dictated by decency, not to mention commanded by scripture. And if the weather was bad, those strangers would be entertained and cared for until the weather cleared up and they could continue their journey. And if they were traveling with slaves, special quarters next to the main house were used to provide hospitality to these additional guests. To show the extent of this common practice of the times, in one year, George and Martha Washington housed over 600 overnight guests in their home at Mount Vernon. And the key point, many were total, complete, never seen before strangers.

Showing hospitality, as the writer of Hebrews enjoined us to do, has become a lost art and forgotten practice. We excuse it because of the busyness of our lives and justify it because of the comfort levels in relationships that we have come to insist on. But the pendulum may have swung too far; we may have drifted too far from a courtesy that often holds hidden blessings in more ways than one. What if in the reaching out to others who are outside our circle of friends, we grow in the social graces needed to fulfill God’s plan for our lives? What if in the extending of ourselves and in the opening of our homes, our paths cross with someone who can help us along the way?

It’s amazing to think that the range of guests at Mount Vernon ranged from statesmen and foreign dignitaries like French General Lafayette to the common traveler needing a place of comfort and shelter in their journey through the colonies. Let’s use this example to open our hearts to others outside our inner circle. And maybe along with that, open our homes to others to show the hospitality that Hebrews says we are not to neglect. Remember, “Some have entertained angels unaware!”

God Bless,

Pastor Joe

Gateway Church

Shotgun

2010-04-16T07:03:00.000-07:00

Shotgun

“Whoever wants to become great among you must be your
servant …….just as Jesus did not come to be served, but
to serve and to give His life as a ransom for many.”
Matthew 20:26, 28

Taking a group of students to McDonalds or Buffalo Wild Wings for lunch always includes one inevitable component – the call of “shotgun”, the laying claim to the front passenger seat to avoid having to cram into the back seat with three or four other students. But that is not the end of the matter as other students quickly follow the “shotgun” call with one of their own, “window seat”, settling for the next best spots in the old Buick and leaving one or two unfortunate students to endure the dreaded back seat bump.

While we can laugh at the antics of high school students, we need to realize that the path to greatness is one of service to others. Jesus taught that the person who wants to be first in God’s eyes needs to become a servant to those around them. He used the occasion of James and John’s mother coming and asking that her sons would sit “one at His right side and one at His left in His kingdom” to offer a teaching on true greatness, one that is so different from the message the world sends us that we have to look out for number one and protect our own interests. Seneca put it quite simply:

“No man can live happily

who regards himself alone,

who turns everything

to his own advantage.

You must live for others

if you wish to live for yourself”

Winston Churchill put it this way: “We make a living by what we get, but we make a life by what we give.” Now those are words to give some thought to! And Jesus modeled the attitude He is calling us to by leaving His place in Heaven with the Father, a place of glory and honor, to “take on the form of a servant.” Whether He was feeding the multitudes or healing the sick, it was with the heart of a servant, one committed to meeting the needs of others. And when, in the hours just before the cross, He took the basin of water and washed the feet of His disciples, he sent His followers, including each of us, a loud and clear message: be a servant to those around you and to those in need.

We want to ask the Lord to give us servant’s hearts. If we are involved in ministry, whether from the church pulpit or the Sunday school classroom, let’s minister with the heart of a servant. If our paths cross the path of someone who needs a helping hand, let’s remember our call to service. The world might try and tell us different, but Jesus made it clear that service to others is the path to greatness. And think, “Who is seated at the right hand of God?” the one who became a servant of all.

God Bless,

Pastor Joe

Gateway Church

Someday

2010-04-09T07:19:00.000-07:00

Someday

“Teach us to number our days and recognize how few
they are; help us to spend them as we should.”
Psalm 90:12 TLB

Considering that she was only a young lady, her fear and reluctance at being asked to take such a daring risk was more than understandable. The comfort she enjoyed had come at a price; her time of preparation had required sacrifice and discipline and to chance losing it now seemed almost foolish. The problem for Esther was that she had not been called in to see the king for a whole month and appearing before him uninvited could result in death. Waiting until “someday”, when the king called for her, seemed to make much more sense to Esther.

It’s called by experts “The Someday Syndrome”, and it point to that future time in a person’s life when their schedule isn’t as hectic, when the kids are grown, when they have the right job and more money, or when their circumstances are different. It’s the declaration that someday a person will do the things they’ve always wanted to do, that someday, they’ll enjoy life a little more. I saw it firsthand in my dad’s life. My dad was a hard working man who put in long hours managing Terrace Garden Lanes, a bowling and billiards hall in Rochester New York. And he always talked about what he would do when he finally retired. Like most of us, he had a list of what was to be expected when his “someday” finally arrived. Seeing my dad lose his mobility shortly after retirement, however, taught me a sobering lesson that we all need to consider – “someday” doesn’t always come.

Esther was lucky to have a cousin, Mordecai, who was faithful to speak the truth to her. Mordecai’s response to Esther upon hearing her concerns was “yet who knows whether you’ve come to the kingdom for such a time as this.” In reality, Mordecai was saying “Esther, you’re someday is today”; “Esther, waiting for the circumstances of your life to line up before acting would be a huge mistake.” Mordecai made it clear to Esther that if she remained silent and delayed acting, “someday” would almost certainly never come for her and for her family.

One other problem with “someday” is that it rarely works out as we envision. The key to our success and happiness lies far more in the attitudes of our hearts than in the circumstances of our lives. The person whose favorite day of the week is “someday” (a quote from Kerry Shook) always finds some reason to put off taking the risks and acting upon the goals and dreams of their life. Like Esther, in your life and in mine, the best possible “someday” is today, right here and right now!

God Bless,
Pastor Joe
Gateway Church

Fences

2010-04-02T07:45:00.000-07:00

Fences

“Do not move an ancient boundary stone
which was put in place by your ancestors.”
Proverbs 22:28

From the common chain link found in backyards everywhere to the rows of rolled razor wire that surround our prisons, fences come in all shapes and sizes to meet a wide variety of needs. Some are placed around buildings to keep trespassers and would be robbers out, while others are built around backyards to keep a barking dog from chasing cars and neighbors down the street. Our nightly walks and bike rides with Dief this time of year bring that out so clearly as dog after dog runs and barks along the fence line letting our beloved Siberian Husky know that their property is protected by the fiercest 20 lb. canine found anywhere.

The key is to realize that fences are always put there for a reason. Chesterton wrote that “before you remove any fence, always first ask why it was put there in the first place.” The commands of God, areas that He has called us to walk in, or actions that He has warned us to turn away from, are a lot like fences. They have been given as boundaries, not arbitrarily dictated on a whim but established and set up by God for our protection and for our good. Let me give you a simple example: Honor the Sabbath and keep it holy. Jesus made it clear in Mark 2:27 that “the Sabbath was made for man”. If you look at the Sabbath as a fence, you’ll quickly see something established by God as He foresaw man’s need for rest and a time to reconnect with his Creator. That’s one fence to be repaired if need be (if we’ve slacked off in any way) but never torn down!

As we begin to see God’s commands and teachings in this light, as fences and boundaries built in love, our whole attitude toward obedience will be transformed. Ravi Zacharias said that “every boundary set by God points to something worth protecting” in each of our lives. The fences around our moral behavior – put there for very good reasons, whether we are married or single. Boundaries established for our finances, from principles about borrowing to faithfulness in tithes and offerings, all carry hidden blessings so necessary in each of our lives. The truth applies in so many areas but the real question is: Have we torn down any fences we shouldn’t have and in so doing left an important part of our life unprotected? If we have, some fences may have to be rebuilt; some areas of obedience reinstituted in our lives. God’s fences – blessings beyond compare – to be so very thankful for!

God Bless & Happy Easter
Pastor Joe
Gateway Church

Routine

2010-03-29T08:59:00.000-07:00

Routine

“Keep your distance so you can see which way you
should go, for you have not traveled this way before.”
-Joshua 3:4

On the surface, it seems like a paradox. We serve a God who doesn’t change. He has told us in Malachi 3:6 “I am the Lord, I change not”. In Hebrews, He is “Jesus Christ, the same yesterday, today and forever”. And in James, He is “the Father of heavenly lights who does not change like shifting shadows”. The seeming paradox is that while God doesn’t change, He always does things differently, from one person to another, and even in each of our lives.

In the early church, Peter, James and John were the three disciples who were closest to the Lord, accompanying Him when Jairus’s daughter was healed, going up the Mount of Transfiguration with the Lord and praying with Him in the Garden of Gethsemane. But their lives turned out drastically different, the Lord having a different plan for each of them. James was martyred by Herod in the infancy of the early church, Peter went on to pastor the church in Jerusalem before being martyred later in life, while John died a natural death after being exiled to the island of Patmos and writing the Book of Revelation.

We so like the comfort and dependability of routine that serving a God who doesn’t treat everyone the same (but He is perfect in fairness!) and who doesn’t do the same thing today that He did yesterday can be difficult and challenging. When the children of Israel crossed the Red Sea, Moses held his staff out over the water and the waters parted. Years later though, when it came time to cross the Jordan, it was not going to be same-old, same-old for God’s people. No, this time would be different; this time He told them to step into the water, and that when they did, their miracle would occur. This time, after years of seeing God provide miraculously and defeat their every enemy, a step of faith would be required for the waters to part.

When you look up the word “routine” in the dictionary, you see included in the definition words like predictable, commonplace, ordinary, and unimaginative. When we get into routines, we no longer have to think or listen; we just go through the motions. But that’s not how God operates. He wants us to have a living, present tense relationship with Him. He wants our lives to be directed by what He is speaking to us today, in this moment of time, according to His unique plans and purposes for each of our lives. Let’s each have ears that are open and attentive to the Lord speaking a fresh word to our hearts today!

God Bless,
Pastor Joe
Gateway Church

The Gray Sweater

2010-03-19T07:49:00.001-07:00

The Gray Sweater

“Is there anything they would discover in you that you could take credit for? Isn’t everything you have and everything you are sheer gifts from God?”
-I Corinthians 4:7 MSG

It may seem like a silly, trivial thing to some, but seeing my mom wearing the sweater Nancy and I gave her for Christmas when I arrived here in New York last night made me feel good. Even after a 6 hour plus drive, and a small ordeal at the border, my 94 year old mom wearing that gray sweater produced a special feeling. We all know that feeling of satisfaction, the thought that something we have done, or a gift we have given, is both appreciated and liked.
Sitting up after my mom went to bed, I started to wonder if God feels the same way about the gifts He has given us. James 1:17 tells us this:

“Every good and perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father

of the heavenly lights, who does not change like shifting shadows.”

The gifts the Lord has given to His people are incredibly diverse from the ability to make others laugh to the anointing to heal the sick. Some people have been blessed in areas that we would not usually associate with gifts, like the person with the unique ability to show compassion and understanding to the man or woman going through pain and loss. Others have been given wisdom to the degree that they are able to counsel others facing difficult life-changing decisions. The apostle Paul said that our gifts differ according to the grace given us, which means that for each gift given to us by the Lord, there is also the divine ability given to operate in the gift and use it for the Lord’s glory.

Our gifts and talents are not to be like trophies to put on display for others to see, and they’re not to be hidden and kept for safe keeping, or for another day. Like the gray sweater, they have been given to be used; they have been given for “the common good”; they have been given to bless and make a difference in other lives. But so many miss their gifting because they look for the more public abilities, the more outward, visible ministry gifts and callings when God has blessed them with talents that are so needed in the world: the door greeter who makes everyone feel welcome in church, the one person who comes to the funeral and you feel really understands what you’re going through, or the person who you know loves you for who you are, not for what you do for them. We have each been given unique gifts and talents; let’s make sure they’re not sitting on a shelf somewhere; gifts are given to be worn and to be used!

God Bless
Pastor Joe
Gateway Church

Chapel Hill

2010-03-12T06:21:00.000-08:00

Chapel Hill

“He makes my feet like the feet of a deer;

He enables me to stand on the heights.”

Psalm 18:33

Putting a subdivision on the side of a long hill leading down to the Genesee River became the source of many an adventure for our group of young boys in the early 60’s. The main street, Chapel Hill, a steep half mile road leading down to the river flats, instantly became our favorite place to race homemade soapbox derby cars and bicycles throughout the summer. The only problem, other than Jimmy Gallagher breaking both wrists when his wooden car ran into the back of a real car, was the walk back up Chapel Hill; it was brutal, exhausting and unforgiving, not to mention the only way home.

The reality is that going uphill, building something, making progress in any area of life is always more difficult and requires more of an effort than the downward path. Here are just a few examples:

The old oak tree in the woods behind our house was over a hundred years old, having grown from a seedling, but it was felled by the strong winds of a summer storm in a moment of time.
A house takes months to build, the product of much material and many skilled workers, but a fire can destroy it in the matter of an hour.
A man or a woman’s reputation is built over many years of walking in integrity and honesty, but one lapse in judgment, one indiscretion, can ruin it forever.
Relationships are forged over time and trust takes time to develop but the best of relationships can be lost so quickly by a secret repeated or a confidence betrayed.

Cautions to think long about the ramifications of our choices, decisions, and actions have to be looked at in the light of the examples above. Solomon, who wrote Ecclesiastes after learning many hard lessons and seeing much loss and destruction in his personal life, wrote “one sinner destroys much good.” So often one thing, a word or an action, the product of frustration, anger, a misguided motive, or a selfish desire, can do such harm, harm that the Lord wants to keep each one of us from.

But the examples also come with a much needed encouragement to not be weary in the walk God has called you to, knowing that the best things in life take the longest to develop and require the uphill climb that Chapel Hill represents. Pine trees shoot up many times faster than the majestic oak but their roots are shallow and their uses limited. Casual relationships come easily but they can rarely be leaned on in a time of crisis the way that relationships forged over time can be. With that in mind then, let’s ask the Lord to give us “hind’s feet for high places”, that divine enabling that strengthens us for the journey that, at times, can be awful steep.

God Bless
Pastor Joe
Gateway Church

Dual Controls

2010-03-05T06:15:00.000-08:00

Dual Controls

“In all your ways acknowledge Him,
and He will direct your paths.”

Quite coincidentally, the first time that my father took me driving was also the last time that he took me driving. Our one and only attempt at “driver training” was quickly followed by a call to the Morgan School of Driving to sign me up for driving lessons. They showed up several weeks later in a car that I will never forget: a black 1966 AMC Rambler equipped with dual controls. Yes, that’s right; it had two steering wheels, two gas pedals, and two brakes so that the instructor could take over at any moment when a student’s driving so required.

In talking about our giving God control of our lives, A. W. Tozer, in his book “The Radical Cross”, mentioned something that reminded me of those Morgan School of Driving dual controls. In allowing God to direct our paths and in being led by the Spirit, we, in many ways, give up the steering wheel and control of our lives to someone greater, to a God filled with wisdom and perfect in knowledge. We surrender control to a God who knows the end of every road we might take, the outcome of every choice and decision we might make, and the effect of our every action.

And that works quite well until our desires conflict with God’s will for our lives. And what happens is often similar to what happened when the driving instructor didn’t like the driving choices I was making; he would take over control of that AMC Rambler leaving my controls with absolutely no power to do anything. With us, we take control away from God so that we can do what we want, leaving Him out of a segment of our lives, ignoring the potential consequences and ramifications of our wanting our own way.

We have to remind ourselves early and often that God can be trusted. We have to remember that God has only our best in mind when He directs the paths of our lives. We can never allow ourselves to forget that God’s ways are perfect and that the end of the road He leads us on will be fulfillment and true happiness for each one of us. What we might want to do is disconnect the extra set of controls in our personal “AMC Rambler”, leaving the steering, speed and total control of our lives in the hands of a faithful, loving God.

God Bless
Pastor Joe
Gateway Church

The Laborers

2010-02-25T05:23:00.000-08:00

The Laborers

“The harvest truly is great, but the laborers are few; therefore pray
the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into the harvest.”

Luke 10:2

Sometimes the smallest things leave the most lasting impressions. That’s what happened to me last week when I visited the construction site for Zion Ministerial Institute’s new bible school. Laborers working in the searing heat of the tropical sun were passing buckets of cement up two stories, bucket brigade style, to pour into forms for the concrete pillars that would be the main supports of the building. It wasn’t how hard they were working that caught my attention although they certainly were. And it wasn’t how difficult the conditions were or the sacrifice being made for $7 a day even though both were readily apparent.

No, it was the fact that many people, students, staff and visitors alike, would enjoy the fruit of their labors for many years to come. What they were doing was going to be lasting; it was going to be lasting in importance, lasting in the difference it made for the school and lasting in having a part in bearing fruit for the kingdom of God. In a world in which so much is disposable and in which so much time and energy are expended on temporary pleasures and pursuits, the perspective of what they were doing was both refreshing and challenging.

Paul wrote that “our work will be shown for what sort it is”. The Message Bible warns us that “eventually there is going to be an inspection of our work” and that “the inspection will be thorough and rigorous. You won’t get by with a thing.” If we live for today and settle for the temporal, we can expect that the heavenly inspection report will not be very complimentary. But if, on the other hand, we invest in the future and build for the eternal, looking to make a lasting difference, we can expect that the Lord who sees in secret will reward us openly.

The thought of “the Lord who sees in secret” was highlighted that day by seeing laborers whose head and face were almost entirely covered by scarves to protect them from the scorching sun. For all practical purposes, they were unrecognizable. In a similar way, we may labor in obscurity in an area of ministry or in our secular occupation but God sees and He’s the only one who counts. And the hard work and the sacrifice part of their labor only reflect the fact that building something that will make a lasting difference in other lives is much more costly in terms of what is required of us.

Let’s beat God to the inspection and take a look at how we are spending our time, talents and resources. Let’s make sure that the investment we are making with our lives is making a lasting imprint on the lives of others.

God Bless,
Pastor Joe
Gateway Church

The Intangible of Prayer

2010-02-19T15:01:00.000-08:00

The Intangible of Prayer

“Because I know how it’s going to turn out. Through your faithful
prayers and the generous response of the Spirit of Jesus Christ,
everything He wants to do in and through me will be done.”

Philippians 1:19 MSG

In getting ready to leave for the airport in a little less than 2 hours, I’m checking and double checking to make sure I have everything packed for my trip to the Philippines. The list is pretty long:

* 15 Study Bibles (for the Bible School graduates)
* 12 Bottles of Vitamins
* 6 Bags of M&Ms (Easter colors of course)
* Notes for teaching in the Bible School & for speaking at a seminar
* 4 Packages of Licorice, Dove Chocolates, Lido Cookies, etc
* 4 Computer Programs, 1 Cordless Microphone, batteries, etc
* 18 books, 2 other Bibles, Taco Seasoning, Assorted Cheeses, etc
* 2 Hair Straighteners (for the missionaries, of course)
* And innumerable pictures of Hope (so maybe I’m a proud grandpa……..)

Unfortunately, the most important ingredients for this trip being successful aren’t items that I can pack in my suitcases. Those are what Paul was referring to in the verse above when he expressed his confidence that “everything God wants to do in me and through me will be done.” That sounds like an incredible statement to make but Paul knew, first of all, that people would be faithfully praying for him. And he knew from experience the importance and power of prayer offered on another person’s behalf. Knowing that others would be praying for him inspired Paul during this season of his being a Roman prisoner, causing him to be confident not only in his deliverance but in God fulfilling every purpose He had for Paul’s life.

And while I started out applying this verse to my situation and my needing prayer while ministering in the Philippines, my thoughts turned to others who may be needing our prayers to help them in difficult situations. Whether they are battling physical ailments, personal difficulties, or struggling to hold onto hope for the future, we all know those who desperately need our prayers, prayers that will tip the scales in their favor, prayers that will bring the resources of heaven to their aid, prayers that will quite simply make a difference. Are there those in your life who need your faithful prayers? Is it time for you to rise to the occasion for a friend or loved one who isn’t sure how things will turn out in their life? Your faithful prayers are more important than you realize; start today to call on the Lord on the behalf of others who need your help. You’ll be greatly rewarded!

God Bless
Pastor Joe
Gateway Church

Warning Signs

2010-02-13T05:41:00.000-08:00

Warning Signs

“But beware lest somehow this liberty of yours
become a stumbling block to those who are weak.”

I Corinthians 8:9

Seeing a warning label on a snow blower the other day to “keep hands away from spinning blades” brought a chuckle. It reminded me of my all time favorite warning sign, found on I-94 north of Detroit:

PRISON AREA: DO NOT PICK UP HITCHHIKERS

While I have no doubt that the sign is well intentioned, it has somewhat weakened my confidence in Michigan’s Department of Corrections. But at least it has the goal of protecting the person reading the sign. Most warning signs are placed on power tools, appliances and other items, not for the safety of the reader but to protect the company from lawsuits arising from misuse of their product. McDonald’s “Contents Are Hot!” warning label on their coffee is a classic example, born out of a lawsuit, filed and won, by someone who burned themselves with “too hot” coffee.

God’s warnings to you and I are quite different; they are placed in the Word for our sake and our sake alone. They have been given to keep us from needless suffering and sorrow and from bearing the fruit of wrong choices and decisions. I Corinthians 10:12 is a great example of that:

“Therefore let him who thinks he stands take heed that he does not fall.”

Paul was writing and warning about the danger of being overconfidence in ourselves and losing that sense of depending and leaning on the Lord. So often, when everything is going good in our lives, we drift from that place of reliance upon God to trusting in our own ability. And it doesn’t take long for us to get in trouble and make mistakes when God is out of the picture. The scripture at the top of the page is a warning to consider the effects our actions will have on others before we act so that we don’t cause someone who is weak in their faith or new in the Lord to stumble and fall. What is freedom for one person can cause real difficulty and trouble for another. Paul’s warning to consider that in our choices and actions was so that we had a right effect on those around us.

As we read the Word, let’s keep in mind that all the “take heed’s” and “bewares” are there for our benefit. God knows our hearts and our predispositions; He knows our every strength and our particular weaknesses. His warnings are always redemptive, strategically placed for our good. God’s only hidden agenda is His incredible love for you and I. Let’s be more open than ever to His Word being a lamp for our feet and a light for our path.

God Bless
Pastor Joe
Gateway Church

Artificial

2010-02-07T11:55:00.000-08:00

Artificial

“….so that you can decide what is best, and thus
be sincere and blameless for the day of Christ.”
-Philippians 1:10

Sunday night it was watching “The Fugitive” and the search for the man with the artificial limb who murdered Dr. Kimble’s wife. On Monday, I put out the coffee for the ladies meeting and, of course, had to fill up the bowl with not only real sugar packets but the artificial sweeteners as well, the blue packets of Equal and the pink packets of Sweet N Low, something for everyone. Back to Sunday and we were discussing replacing the Peace Lilies with artificial versions that won’t have to be watered and trimmed and that won’t suffer the effects of the constant temperature change in the sanctuary.

At Christmas time, there are artificial trees which we’ve resisted so far at home (the real 10 footer John brought home this year was just incredible but that’s for another time). We have artificial hearts being developed by the medical profession, artificial teeth as we age (I know that “crowns” sounds so much better), and who can forget artificial intelligence. And then there is the “artificial smile” reserved for those situations when showing our true feelings is totally inappropriate!

To say that something is artificial is to say that it is an imitation of what is real, not natural or genuine, void of life and incapable of growth. And no matter how commonplace the use of artificial items becomes in our lives, we have to be on guard against the same thing happening in our spiritual lives. Paul warned Timothy of such a thing in II Timothy 3:5 when he spoke of those who “maintained the outward appearance of religion but denied its power”.

Let me try and explain: my four front teeth are artificial, the result of an accident when I was a child. They look real to everyone who sees them, with the exception of the dentist, but they’re not. They are real in appearance only. In the same way, it’s possible to have a Christianity that has all the right appearances, but on the inside is empty and void of life. Jesus came that we “might have real and eternal life, more and better life than we ever dreamed of.” (John 10:10 MSG)

The world is constantly telling us that outward appearance is what matters most but God’s message is the opposite: He is concerned about our hearts, about the inner man, and about the flow of life in each of us. God’s desire is that each one of us experiences life in all its fullness. Artificial Christianity will never satisfy the needs in your life. Don’t be fooled by it; don’t settle for it. The real thing, found in a relationship with the Lord, is there for the man or woman willing to seek after it. And you can rest assured that when you find it, you’ll never let it go!

God Bless,
Pastor Joe
Gateway Church

No Reception

2010-01-31T10:04:00.000-08:00

No Reception

"If you remain in me, and my words remain in you,
ask whatever you want and it will be done for you."
John 15:7

Losing the signal to my cell phone during the ride to winter retreat reminded me of our trips through Canada and always losing the signal on Highway 402 as we traveled from Sarnia to London, Ontario. You would be in a conversation and the voice would begin to break up before being lost completely. Or you would be trying to make a call and there would be absolutely no reception, no bars on the phone, no service whatsoever to get through. The term used now is "dead zone", the place where no signal is being received by the phone, and, as a result, no calls can be made and no messages received.

The passage in John 15 where Jesus talks about our abiding in God has always been one of my favorite sections of scripture. Early in my Christian walk, I read the biography of Hudson Taylor, a missionary to China, and of his struggles in Christianity. Taylor continually battled the sense of never being good enough, and never doing enough, until God unlocked John 15 to him. Taylor received the revelation that all he had to do was stay connected to Christ, like a branch to a vine, and God would do the work in his life. That simple yet powerful truth changed the life of a man credited with starting the largest missionary sending effort to China that had ever existed. The realization that it was not our constant trying to be and do better that was the key but our relationship and connection to Christ brought a life long breakthrough.

Many sincere, committed believers go through spiritual"dead zones" in their Christian walk, times of not hearing from God, of losing vision and purpose, and of not feeling a part of what God is doing in His kingdom. And while they make it through that time, the cycle is too often repeated of going in and out of touch with God. Like Hudson Taylor, their seasons of success and apparent victory are soon followed by bouts of frustration and a sense of distance from the Lord.

What then is the answer? It is to make our dwelling and home in Christ, to make our relationship with the Lord the primary focus of our lives, and to allow His life to flow into us just as a branch receives from the vine it is connected to. Jesus made it clear that apart from Him, apart from being vitally connected to Him, we can and will accomplish nothing. If you've been trying to serve God in your own strength and by your own effort, now is as good a time as any to "let go and let God". We are to place our lives in the Savior's hands, to trust Him fully to make us fruitful believers, and to receive from Him the enabling we each need so desperately.

God Bless,
Pastor Joe
Gateway Church

Out of the Rubble

2010-01-22T09:13:00.000-08:00

Out of the Rubble

"...Jesus Christ, who gave himself for our sins to rescue us
from the present evil age, according to the will of our God"
Galatians 1:4

The pictures this past week of survivors of the earthquake in Haiti being dragged from the rubble of destroyed buildings, by rescuers from around the world, have been both staggering and sobering. With almost all hope gone, teams of experts who refused to give up, despite the slim odds of finding survivors, worked at removing the rubble of crumbled concrete buildings in the hopes of finding someone still alive. Their effort was a tribute to the intrinsic value of life. No matter how poor or battered the person, and despite the difficulties yet to be faced, still every life has value and is worth the all-out effort required to rescue it.

Sometimes I wish the rubble of destroyed lives, shaken by trials of every manner and kind, was as visible to the human eye as that witnessed in Haiti in the last few weeks. If only we could see the devastation caused by sin and addiction, by wrong choices and decisions, and by hurt and rejection, as clearly as we have viewed the newscasts of earthquake damage the past week or so. It may be that we would be moved to greater action. It may be that we would be moved to more sacrificial giving of ourselves, of our time and effort, to help those whose lives are shattered and broken. It may be that we too would give the all-out effort seen in recent weeks to rescue those drowning in a sea of hopelessness.

It doesn't always have to be overseas or in great tragedies that we are moved with compassion and stirred to action. The needs are great on the street you live on and in the families waiting with you to pick up their children from school. The burden may be overwhelming in the life of the student sitting next to you in class or working at the next desk in your office. We have each been called to be rescuers. The command of Jude is very clear:

"Rescue others by snatching them from the flames of judgment"

Yesterday, rescue crews from Denmark, Japan, Britain and the United States packed up their gear and left Haiti, their part of the rescue effort, the search for life, completed and done. The same cannot be said for us; our job is not completed. Our search for the lost is to continue, undiminished by personal agendas, "compelled by love", and with hearts filled with compassion. Having been rescued ourselves, we have become God's rescuers to our generation.

God Bless
Pastor Joe
Gateway Church

The Cardboard Check

2010-01-15T07:54:00.000-08:00

The Cardboard Check

"And God is able to make all grace abound to you, so that in
all things at all times....you will abound in every good work."
II Corinthians 9:8

After waiting many years, I was finally presented yesterday with one of those oversized cardboard checks, complete with smiling faces and a photographer snapping pictures to capture the event. If you're thinking the lottery and a check with lots of zeros on the end, it was bigger than that. Maybe you pictured a check being presented to the winner of a golf tournament (in which case, you've obviously never golfed with me before) but, once again, it was bigger than that. Let me explain.

In the fall, I was asked to share some thoughts on the mission field and the needs that exist in other countries with a newly formed middle school group that wanted to support missions. I shared with the kids the heartbreak of seeing little children on the streets of Manila knocking on the windows of cars begging for change and about the incredibly poor living conditions of so many in third world nations. In response, this little group, composed of 6th, 7th, and 8th graders, started to collect pennies, thousands of pennies, to help children in need in other countries.

The cardboard check presented to me yesterday, for me to take to the Philippines when I minister there next month, was for $130.21, collected by the Mission Warriors over the last three months. The skeptic might say "What is that in a nation with such poverty and need?" but I remember a boy with five small barley loaves and two small fish who gave what he had and the result was thousands of hungry people being fed. And I seem to recall the story of a teenager stepping out of a line of soldiers, armed with only a slingshot, but being used by God to bring deliverance and freedom to a nation.

It is far more than a trite saying that "we may not be able to do everything, but we can do something". God is looking for those who will be touched, and can sympathize, with the hurts and weaknesses of others. We have to be able, as this small group of middle school students demonstrated, to see beyond the needs and wants in our own lives. But that is only half the equation. John wrote:

"Dear children, let us not love with words
and tongue but with actions and in truth"

The awesome side of this cardboard check is that it represents love in action, a group of children doing what they could to help others in need. Don't ever let the enemy convince you that you have nothing to offer God and that you can't make a difference. Let the example of this cardboard check inspire each of us to use what we have, gifts, talents, and resources, no matter how small or how large, to demonstrate the love of God and to help others in need.

God Bless,
Pastor Joe
Gateway Church

Benchmarks

2010-01-08T20:13:00.000-08:00

Benchmarks

"Hold to the standard of sound words that you have heard from
me and do so with the faith and love that are in Christ Jesus."
II Timothy 1:13

In the field of education, the word benchmark is tossed around quite often, usually referring to a standard of achievement that must be attained in the subject matter being taught. In Michigan, the benchmarks for various subjects, from Science and Math to History and English, have been established by the State Department of Education to help ensure that individual schools "measure up" in their practices and their performance.

But if benchmarks are to be found anywhere, shouldn't it be in the church and in the lives of believers. Benchmarks, standards of excellence, standards to live by and to measure up to, are found throughout the Bible but it's time for a re-evaluation to make sure that those standards are still in place and being adhered to:

* Forgiveness - We have been called to forgive as we have been forgiven. For a Christian to hold on to anything that another has done is just plain wrong. The benchmark is "forgive and forget". The standard is to understand that we all are sinners saved by grace, that we all have issues we are dealing with, and that we are all in need of forgiveness. The prison of unforgiveness, for the one who refuses to forgive another, is somewhere none of us want to be found.

* Holiness - Christians are supposed to be different! Believers are to be different in the way they speak, in the choices they make, in the way they conduct themselves in business, in what they allow in their homes, and in the honesty and integrity with which they conduct their lives. Keeping our word should be a benchmark for others to follow, the excellence of our work ethic should be a standard against which others are measured, and our speech should be the criterion by which sound words are judged.

* Love - The Bible establishes clear benchmarks for how we are to treat others with I Corinthians 13 teaching us that "love is patient, loves does not envy, it is not rude, it is not easily angered, love never gives up on others, and keeps no record of wrongs". If every believer lived up to just those six benchmarks, think of the impact we would have on those around us. We wouldn't just talk about being different, we would live it and display it to the world.

Let's each take the tough step of seeking to discover the benchmarks that the Lord is desiring us to live by, writing them down so we can purposefully live up to them, and making them the measuring line by which we judge ourselves. The goal is excellence; let's use the benchmarks God has given us in His Word to get there!

God Bless
Pastor Joe
Gateway Church

Glorify

2010-01-01T20:11:00.000-08:00

Glorify

"So that with one heart and mouth you may glorify
the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ."
Romans 15:6

One of the definitions that the Net Bible gives to the word glorify is "to cause the dignity and worth of some person to become manifest and acknowledged." We glorify God not just by the words we speak or the songs we sing in church but, as the Message Bible adds to Romans 15:6, by our very lives. An example is seen in John 17:4 where Jesus said:

"I glorified you on earth by completing the work you gave me to do."

What brought this thought of glorifying the Lord by the way we live to my mind was the attempted Christmas Day terrorist attack on the Northwest Airlines plane that was landing in Detroit. The interview with the father of the accused man revealed a father who was disgraced, embarassed and dishonored by the actions of his son. The father, a prominent banker in Nigeria, has gone so far as to warn authorities about the direction his son's life has taken.

We would all like to think that we live in a bubble in the sense that our lives are ours to live as we see fit. But the reality is that so many other lives are affected by the way we live and by the choices and decisions we make. You don't have to look very far to see how parent's decisions affect the lives of their children. And as the recent story makes clear, children's decisions can also affect in very dramatic ways the lives of their parents.

As sons and daughters of our heavenly Father, we are in a place where our lives can honor and glorify the Father or do the opposite, dishonoring Him in ways we would never equate to our relationship with God. Whether we like it or not, our words can glorfiy God when we ascribe to Him goodness and greatness, declaring our trust in Him and being thankful for His provision, or they can dishonor Him when we complain about our circumstances or are negative about what lies ahead in our future.

My prayer for each of you in 2010 is that your lives will glorify the Father by the way you live your life. Using the definition we started with, that your words and actions throughout 2010 will cause the dignity and worth of God the Father to be manifest and acknowledged by many others. Let's purpose in our hearts to glorify God in the New Year we are beginning today!

Happy New Year & God Bless
Pastor Joe
Gateway Church

His Favor

2009-12-25T20:09:00.000-08:00

His Favor

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

The gospel of Luke provides us with the most detail about the Christmas story and the events that surrounded the birth of Jesus. It was Luke who recorded that "there was no room for them in the inn" and that the baby would be found "wrapped in swaddling clothes and lying in a manger". His gospel also adds the appearance of an angel to the shepherds and the shepherds visit to Mary, Joseph, and the baby in the manger.

But the aspect of the Christmas story that stood out to me was the message of the company of angels who also appeared to the shepherds praising God and giving Him glory, declaring "peace to men on whom His favor rests". We have so many ways that we describe the birth of Christ and the gift of Christ to the world bringing salvation to all men but in calling it an act of God's favor the angels proverbially hit the nail on the head.

When we think of finding favor with God, or receiving God's favor, most of us talk about jobs, finances, relationships, and blessings of one form or another. God sending an answer to prayer quickly-that is God's favor. God giving us something much better than we deserve-another act of God's favor. Someone blessing us in a time of need we attribute to the favor of God. But think of what the angels looked at as favor.

The ultimate favor of God was the gift of His Son, the offer of hope in a hopeless world and the bringing of light into the deep darkness of a sinful world. Jesus doesn't represent a choice we all get to make, someone we can believe in or follow is we so desire, His coming into the world in the form of a man two thousand years ago was nothing less than the favor of God to a people who were living in slavery and in oppression.

And He is that to us today. Our problems may have changed, cloaked in different forms and names but our need for a Savior remains the same. And as the birth of Christ was certainly the turning point of history, so receiving God's favor in the form of His Son is the turning point of every life that receives Him.

No matter what your circumstances might be, His favor rests upon you for the simple fact that God sent His son into your world to bring you salvation, hope, peace and rest.

Merry Christmas & God Bless
Pastor Joe
Gateway Church