A Door of Hope

A Door of Hope

"Therefore I will speak tenderly to her....and will
make the valley of Achor a door of hope."
Hosea 2:14-15

So many of the Christmas cards we receive each year carry the message of hope with them. One card I received today said "May God bless your holidays with hope and peace". Another quoted the prayer of Paul in Romans 15:13:

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

Hope, that positive expectation of good things in the future, that feeling that things will turn out for the best, that looking forward with confidence and trust, is essential to our facing the difficulties and troubles of life. Some put their hope in medicines that they take, others in people who might help to change their situation, but our sure and confident hope is in the Lord our God and in His love and mercy. David wrote in Psalm 39:4

"But now O Lord, upon what am I relying? You are my only hope."

Hosea wrote about God opening a door of hope in the valley of Achor, or valley of trouble. And that is exactly what God does. In those times of trouble in our lives, he comes in and offers hope for the future, opening a door of hope in our lives as we look forward to what lies ahead. Solomon taught that "there is surely a future hope for you, and your hope will not be disappointed". Jeremiah added that God has "plans to prosper you....plans to give you hope and a future", or as another version says "a future filled with hope".

The Christmas cards and their messages of hope are more than a coincidence or the creativity of card makers. The birth of Christ represented the dawning of a new hope for mankind, hope birthed in a manger in Bethlehem to a people living in darkness and oppression, with an indefinite future before them. He came to give us victory over oppression, to reveal His plan of salvation and to unveil the future for His people. The blessings we live in and enjoy are the fruit of the hope born in Bethlehem over 2,000 years ago.

The most important prayer I could pray for you this Christmas season is that God would fill you with an overflowing hope, an expectation of good things ahead in your life as you allow the Savior, the one whose birth changed the course of history, to come into your life in a new and fresh way.


God Bless
Pastor Joe
Gateway Church

"Not in My House"

"Not in My House"

"And as He taught them, he said, "Is it not written: My
house will be called a house of prayer for all nations."
Mark 11:17

Right after the story in Mark 11 where Jesus cursed the fig tree which had no fruit, we see Him entering the temple and getting really, really angry, overthrowing tables and benches, and then driving people out who were buying and selling and turning God's house into something He never intended. Jesus was so passionate, so consumed about what was going on in God's house, that it makes you wonder if there's anything going on in the church today that would equally upset Him.

If we look at what was mattered most to Jesus, it might give us some clues:

* First of all, Jesus did not take kindly to hypocrites. A whole chapter of "woes" is devoted to those religious people who said one thing, claimed a certain spiritual state, but did another. If you are in the church but the example of your life would turn others away from Christ, you would have been on His hit list. Our lives are to radiate love, thankfulness, joy and mercy; anything less will have a negative effect on those we are hoping to see drawn to the Lord.

* Jesus cared about the poor, the lonely, the sick and the hurting. It is incredible to me that just before Jesus headed off to the last supper and the final hours of His life, He gave the teaching on "I was in prison and you visited me, I was a stranger and you invited me in, I needed clothes and you clothed me, and I was hungry and you fed me". At a time when most of us would be focused on ourselves, He gave a powerful teaching on caring for others. If people are coming to church with needs, lonely, hurting and going without, and leaving with those same needs, we
can be sure that Jesus would have been upset.

* Jesus believed in second chances. The woman caught in the act of adultery was told to "go and sin no more", after Jesus had fended off the would-be stone throwers. Peter went from being someone who denied the Lord repeatedly to the leader of the early church and their spokesman on the day of Pentecost. Another was Zacchaeus, the tax collector, taken from a life of cheating and greed, to one who gave half his possessions to the poor. Now that is a turnaround! I wouldn't
want to be the one who wrote any of these off - I don't think it would have sat too well with the Lord. He majors on restoration (remember the prodigal son) and He expects us to too.

It is safe to say that Jesus cares intensely about what goes on in His church, the values that are taught, the Christ-likeness that is practiced, and especially the way people are treated. We, as Christians, as literally little-Christs, are to model forgiveness and love, mercy and acceptance, faith and faithfulness. Let it be said that each of our churches are places that the Lord would be pleased to send the needy to, like spiritual hospitals, to be ministered to and cared for in the love of Christ.

God Bless
Pastor Joe
Gateway Church

A Fresh Perspective

A Fresh Perspective

"Be joyful always; pray continually; give thanks in all
circumstances for this is God's will for you in Christ."
I Thessalonians 5:16-18

When I received the news Wednesday that my transmission was shot and needed rebuilding, with the accompanying price tag attached, I was still operating with a fresh perspective on life gained at my 40th reunion last week back home in New York. Each of our lives contains some measure of disappointment, difficulty and trouble that we must face and deal with as best we can. How we do that is often greatly affected by our ability to keep life in perspective. The time spent with my fellow classmates revealed some stories that, in my sharing, might help each of
us to not look at life through too narrow of a lens:

* Richard Yaeger, probably my best friend in high school and the years that followed, has MS, Multiple Sclerosis, and is confined to a wheelchair. Despite having lost most of his muscle control, Richard smiled, laughed and reminisced with friends throughout the night and was one of the last to leave. He didn't have the strength to shake hands very well but his spirit was inspiring to all.

* Jeanette Sleight, a good friend's wife, was also in a wheel chair with MS but, rather than talking about that, she wanted to show off pics of her grandkids and talk about all that is going on in their lives. (rather proudly I might add!!)

* George Keegan, the fastest runner on our track team who went on to compete in college, is battling Alzheimers and the related symptoms but was able to joke about his memory problems and needing a ride to the reunion while we enjoyed the many stories from our high school days.

* Barb Knope was another who was suffering from MS but seemed so thankful for the medicines that, in her case, are keeping the disease in remission. Her own perspective was no doubt affected by being around other MS sufferers who are confined to wheelchairs.

* Jim Zimmerman is battling Parkinson's Disease but he was there with his wife Barb and you could only admire his positive attitude in light of the uncertainties that the future might hold for him.

In the difficulties, challenges and troubles we find ourselves in from time to time, there comes the opportunity to react with faith in a positive manner from a thankful heart, or to respond with complaining and a bad attitude because things aren't working out exactly the way we want them to.

Choose today to respond with a thankful heart and with thankful words for all the good in your life, for the family and friends you have been blessed with, and for a God who is faithful to His people, sometimes in ways they, unfortunately, cannot comprehend. I pray that today you will have a fresh perspective to carry with you wherever you go.

God Bless
Pastor Joe
Gateway Church

Year Round

Year Round

"A fire shall always be burning on the altar, it shall never go out."
Leviticus 6:13

Driving down Route 14 on our annual visit to Seneca Lake, an incredibly picturesque lake in Upstate New York, we would see quite an assortment of homes and cottages along the way. They ranged from small summer cottages occupied from Memorial Day to Labor Day each year by vacationers, to year round homes where residents of nearby Geneva could enjoy the benefits of lakefront living while working in the city or at nearby Hobart and William Smith College.

I was reminded of those well-kept, year round homes as I thought about this year's Thanksgiving holiday where time spent with family giving thanks for God's many blessings on our lives is all too quickly being forgotten as people transition to the hype of Black Friday, the busiest shopping day of the entire year. The stark contrast of the two days reminded me of the importance of not just celebrating Thanksgiving Day, but of living a life of thanksgiving throughout the year.

The degree of our thankfulness is seen in so many ways. Matthew 12:34 says "for out of the abundance of the heart, the mouth speaks". Beneath the surface of our words is the attitude of heart generating them. We can start by making sure that we are speaking thankfully with our words expressing our gratitude for the many, untold blessings in each of our lives.

We can also serve thankfully, give thankfully, and worship thankfully, all expressions of our true perspective on what we have in our lives and on the source of those blessings. A thankful person looks for opportunities to give back, instead of always wanting more and more to satisfy their desires. A thankful person serves others out of a sincere appreciation for the undeserved grace God has bestowed on them. And worship out of a thankful heart is passionate, sincere and intimate, focused on the Lord from whom all blessings flow. It is a heart that realizes that all we have we have received from the Lord.

Some of the year round homes on Seneca Lake are so beautiful; from the well manicured lawns to the porches and decks providing breathtaking views of the lake, they are homes we would all be happy to live in. And the same is true of a life lived thankfully; it's a life that is noteworthy, it's a life to be envied, it's a life worth living year round!

God Bless
Pastor Joe
Gateway Church

The Fastest Route

The Fastest Route

"There you saw how the Lord your God carried you,
as a father carries his son, all the way you went..."
Deuteronomy 1:31

With another trip to New York on the calendar for next week, the day after Thanksgiving for my 40th high school reunion, taking the most direct, fastest route will, as always, be a high priority. There are a couple options of course: one is going through Ohio, around Lake Erie and into Rochester. That route is longer but you can go over 400 miles without a single stoplight and without the inconvenience of border crossings and delays. The scenic route goes along Lake Ontario with awesome scenes of apple orchards, vineyards and beautiful shoreline, but it's not as direct and takes longer. The fastest route is going through Canada, hassling with the delays at the border, exchange rates at Tim Horton's, paying tolls on the New York State Thruway, and avoiding the many speed traps set up along the way.

One point about the story of the children of Israel going through the wilderness, journeying from Egypt to the Promised Land, has always enamored me. It's found in Deuteronomy 1:2 where it says simply:

"It takes 11 days to go from Horeb to Kadesh Barnea by the Mount Seir Road"

We know from the scriptures that they didn't take the fastest, most direct route because they hadn't learned war; they hadn't learned how to fight the battles they would face to get into the inheritance God had promised them. The fastest route wasn't an option for people who couldn't deal with enemies and battles and warfare. They came to the border of the promised land two years after leaving Egypt but they responded in unbelief to the negative reports of ten of the spies, they refused to trust the God who delivered them from the bondage of Egypt, and weren't able to enter at that time either.

38 years later they came to the border of the land God had promised them. Led by Joshua they entered into a land "flowing with mild and honey", symbolic of a life flowing with the favor and blessing of God. It is incredible to think that a journey that could have been made in 11 days ended up taking 40 years but it provides us with lessons for the journey we are on:

*If you aren't prepared in your heart to fight some battles along the way, your personal journey into the life God intended for you will take longer than planned. The Christian life includes fighting the enemy of our souls but doing it with the knowledge that "we are more than conquerors through him who loved us".

*If you are someone who doubts God and who struggles with unbelief when things don't work out as you want or hope, you will find the way blocked into the greater things of God. Trusting God and living by faith in God are essentials to entering into the incredible promises found in His Word.

*If you struggle with inconvenience and delay, with God's timing being different than ours, and with the cost of serving Him, sacrifice, denial and obedience, your journey may be a little longer than you were hoping for.

The spiritual journey we're on can either be a quick one or a long one, depending upon how we respond to the challenges we face, and the attitude and passion we seek the Lord with. Think of it: 11 days or 40 years! The choice is ours.

God Bless
Pastor Joe
Gateway Church

Lake Ontario

Lake Ontario

"Though you have not seen him, you love him; and even
though you do not see him now, you believe in him and
are filled with an inexpressible and glorious joy."
I Peter 1:8

Coming across the western end of Lake Ontario last night, on my way to visit my mom, I was reminded of a scene that I had witnessed many times over the years. Looking out from one of the beaches or roads along the lake, you could see water stretching out as far as the eye could see until it disappeared into the horizon.

Growing up as a kid, there was a rumor that straight across the lake from our hometown of Rochester, New York, was a city called Toronto, with millions of people from all over the world. You could see it on a map, read about it in books, but even though it was only 50 miles or so away, you just couldn't see it. It was, as they say so often, just over the horizon.

Driving alone last night, I started to think about how that picture of Lake Ontario is a lot like the walk of faith we have been called to. We have so many promises from the Lord and there is much that lies ahead for each of us but they are not things that we can see, they are in the future and ove the horizon of our lives. I can laugh now when I think about the "rumors" of a city called Toronto, having visited it many times and enjoyed spending time there. And when I look out at Lake Ontario these days, I have a total confidence that Toronto exists even though I can't see it. And the reason is because I've stayed in beautful hotels there, enjoyed walking downtown with Nancy at night, and eaten sweet rolls from my favorite bakery in Chinatown.

There are 393 cubic miles of water separating me from Toronto where I sit in mom's den typing this out, with waves churning and cold winds blowing. In our lives, there are trials to be faced and difficulties to be overcome but the promises of God are sure and to be trusted in. You can rest in the fact that over the horizon of your life, after you've walked through some valleys and made it over some mountains, untold blessings are waiting for you. I can say that with confidence because, as I Peter 2:3 says, I "have tasted that the Lord is good".

That hope and confidence in God has to become a reality in each of our lives. David wrote in Psalm 27:13 "I am still confident of this: I will see the goodness of the Lord in this life." He was able to see beyond the horizon of difficulties to the shoreline of rest and victory on the other side of his Lake Ontario.

God Bless
Pastor Joe
Gateway Church

Stop And Smell The Roses

Stop And Smell The Roses

"Flowers appear on the earth; the season of singing
has come the cooing of doves is heard in our land."

We talk about everyone and everything having a purpose in life. And while the extracts from many plants and flowers have been found to have medicinal purposes, what if God just created the flowers for us to look at, enjoy their beauty, and in so doing, take our eyes off ourselves and our hectic lives for a few brief moments.

The lyrics to Mac Davis's song are something we might want to keep in mind:

"You got to stop and smell the roses
You've got to count your many blessings every day
You're going to find your way to heaven is a rough and rocky road
If you don't stop and smell the roses along the way."

It might be a catchy song that has brought some notoriety to Mac Davis but it's also wise advice for each of us caught up in an increasingly materialistic world with demands on our time never seen before. We can be in such a hurry that we lose sight of reality and lose sight of God's many blessings in our lives.

Many of us have used the phrase "you need to stop and smell the roses" in speaking to someone who has lost their thankfulness for God's many blessings in their life. The loses in life are there for each of us. I've never forgotten the young Philippino man, in his early twenties, thanking the Lord for a job selling newspapers on the street earning 40 cents a day (that is not a typo in case you're wondering) for 5 hours work. He looked at that opportunity as a rose in his life. Your child, or children, is a rose that you should make sure to hug everyday. Your family, your home, your job, your health - all roses to be counted as blessings everyday. The words of the song are very true that life gets more and more difficult when we lose sight of those "roses".

The next time you go to Krogers, Meijer, or even Sam's Club, take a detour to the flower section of the store and smell the roses. Then take a moment to count the blessings in your life and thank the Lord for the roses He has sent your way.

God Bless,
Pastor Joe
Gateway Church