Do Not Disturb

Do Not Disturb

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

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

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

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

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

God Bless and Happy New Year,
Pastor Joe
Gateway Church

The Manger

The Manger

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

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

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

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

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

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

God Bless and Merry Christmas!
Pastor Joe
Gateway Church

The Darkroom

The Darkroom

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

God Bless,
Pastor Joe
Gateway Church

The Return Home

The Return Home

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

God Bless,
Pastor Joe
Gateway Church

Tunnels

Tunnels

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

God Bless
Pastor Joe
Gateway Church

Sharpened

Sharpened

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

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

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

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

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

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

God Bless,
Pastor Joe
Gateway Church

The Lake's Lessons

The Lake's Lessons

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

God Bless,
Pastor Joe
Gateway Church