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Hello from our part of the world,
It has been a very good week. The weather has been spring-like, and new life is everywhere. The early spring flowers are blooming, and baby calves are coming in great numbers. I’m afraid we are going to have to start mowing the lawn, although it just doesn’t seem right.
Last Monday, we attended the funeral of a godly man, a neighbor from our home community. It was the celebration of a life well-lived, and the legacy of a gentle man; a WWII veteran. Then, Friday we spent some time helping our son get some carpentry work done.
Saturday, I was privileged to answer some questions from a young woman, who after getting the answers she was seeking, prayed to receive Jesus into her heart. I don’t know if there is a sweeter sound than the simple prayer of a person asking Jesus into their life.
I heard some Sandhill crane flying over yesterday, and I was reminded of a devotional thought from a few years back.
As I heard those crane, I thought about the Creator, and how he had made these great birds with the instinct to migrate to a warm climate for winter, and then to return north for the summer. There are many people today who see all these wonderful things and still deny or doubt the existence of God.
In Romans 1:20-23, we read this: For since the creation of the world, God’s invisible qualities–his eternal power and divine nature–have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made, so that men are without excuse. For although they knew God, they neither glorified him as God nor gave thanks to him…although they claimed to be wise, they became fools and exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images made to look like mortal man and birds and animals and reptiles.”
Today we have people worshiping the creation rather than the Creator. They are more concerned with saving whales and minnows and “mother earth”, than they are with saving the lives of innocent children. They are more interested in self rather than God’s will for them.
The scripture goes on to say that God will judge those who refuse to acknowledge him as Lord, or give him his rightful place in their lives.
May we never forget who he is, or whose we are. He created the world and all that is in it. To Him be honor and praise and glory!

Remembering Him,
Pastor Jerry

Hello everyone,
Here are some thoughts on the Easter season… I have been receiving some email devotionals during this season. One in particular caught my attention, and I’d like to share an excerpt from it. The author challenges us to look at Easter from a different perspective.
He writes: “This is exactly what I’d like to see us do with Easter. I’d like to see us standing in a new place, somewhere outside the realm of the familiar, taking a look at Jesus’ cross, passion and resurrection–beholding with new eyes!
Imagine arriving at Palm Sunday (the week before Easter) with your devotional life finely tuned, your understanding of God’s grace well-practiced, your walk with Jesus in full stride, and your sense of expectation fully engaged. Consider the implications:

What if we allowed everything Jesus achieved and is achieving to impact us as if we heard it for the very first time?

What if we’ve been looking at forty days of Lent from the standpoint of tradition rather than living faith?

What if our understanding of Easter has everything to do with religion and almost nothing to do with a transformational encounter with the living God?

What if we did something new this year, and all of that changed?” **

I’m trying to keep this in mind as I prepare my messages for this Easter season. I pray we all are able to see and understand what God was really doing, when he allowed his only Son to be the sacrifice for our sins. How much different would our lives be if that were to happen? What if?
In Him,
Pastor Jerry

**Reaching Toward Easter (Derek Maul)

Greetings friends,
The Easter celebration is just around the corner. In some traditions, there is an emphasis on repentance in the days leading to Good Friday and Easter. For others, repentance is seen as a one time action taken at the moment of salvation. It is my belief that for most of us, repentance needs to be done daily.
I believe everyone sins at some level on a daily basis, therefore, we should not reserve special times for taking action in regard to our sin. Repentance means turning. That is, turning from our sin, and turning back toward God. It is a 180 degree shift in the direction we are going. We are either going toward God, or we are going away from him.
I believe the Bible teaches that as soon as we are made aware of sin in our life, we need to confess it to God and turn from it. Confession must be followed by repentance, or our relationship with God is broken.
Someone has been quoted as saying in regard to their sins, “I ‘fesses ’em as I does ’em!” In other words, we keep a short account in regard to our sins. For most people, this would require daily action.
Jesus preached repentance, as did John the Baptist. The apostle Paul, inspired by the Holy Spirit wrote, “First to those in Damascus, then to those in Jerusalem and in Judea, and to the Gentiles also, I preached that they should repent and turn to God and prove their repentance by their deeds” (Acts 26:20).
One final thought, true repentance will show itself through a changed life. John the Baptist told his listeners, “Produce fruit in keeping with repentance” (Luke 3:8).
Confession and repentance, they are not for just a season!

Love in Christ,
Pastor Jerry

Hello everyone,
It’s been another reasonably mild week in the weather department. There were a couple of chilly days, but we’ve seen worse. Still, it’s not too bad for this time of the year. We’re all back to better health, after fighting colds for a couple of weeks.
I visited with my Mom this week. It had been a while since I had been there, because of those cold symptoms. Mom is doing pretty well, it seems. Her wit and humor are still intact, and is able to walk with some assistance.
By the time you read this, our church will have had its 6th annual Valentine’s banquet. Everyone had a good time, the food was excellent as usual, and the entertainment was special.
As I watched the people lined up to fill their plates at the banquet, I saw that all the people in line didn’t get their food at the same moment. Some are first, some are last, but all are fed. This brings to mind a story from the Bible.
In Matthew 20, Jesus tell a story about a man hiring workers for his vineyard. Some worked all day, some for half the day, and some for just an hour. At the end of the day, they were all paid the same amount. In simple terms, this is a picture of God’s grace, and his sovereignty. The vineyard represents the kingdom of heaven the landowner is God, the workers are believers, and their pay is eternal life.
God’s plan for salvation is that every person who believes in his Son receives the gift of salvation. There are no exceptions, and it matters not whether the person came to faith early in life, or on his deathbed. Everyone who comes on God’s terms receives the same eternal blessings (Matthew 20:1-16).
So, the next time you are standing in line at a banquet, I hope you will remember this illustration, and that it will make you think about your relationship with the heavenly Father.
It’s not about your position in line, what matters is that you have responded to his offer of salvation and its eternal reward.

Just thinking,
Pastor Jerry

Hi from our house,
Snow fell this week. We were in need of moisture, so it was a blessing in that respect. The snow was preceded by some rain, also. The good news here is we only got about 4 or 5 inches of the white stuff.
It was a rather uneventful week. I did make a trip north and bring back a few bales of hay that I had sold. We had planned on going to the other house and work on a project there, but decided to put it off for awhile.
We watched the Super Bowl game Sunday night, but weren’t really in to it, as none of our favorites made it that far. I don’t do the half-time show, and the commercials don’t seem to be as entertaining as they once were. I wonder if I’m becoming somewhat disinterested in the whole thing?
As I observe the actions of people who claim the name of Jesus, that is, those who call themselves Christians, I recall a devotional thought I had a few years ago. It came from being around livestock, and relates to the behavior of young bulls that I brought home from the sale. Before I would put them in with the older bulls, the new arrivals spent a little time in a separate pen, while they got accustomed to their new surroundings.
The newcomers would stand at the fence, bellowing and pawing dirt, trying to put on a show of strength and voicing their opinions. As soon as I would open the gate and let them in with the older bulls, they suddenly became quiet and tried to blend in with the others. When released into the larger pen, the young bulls seemed less inclined to make a show of their strength, and made every effort to be unnoticed.
I see this kind of behavior in Christians from time to time. Inside the friendly walls of our churches and Bible study groups, we voice our opinions and boast of our strength in the Lord, but when we get out into the real world, those things take a back seat to public opinion. We just try to blend in and keep quiet. The Lord had some things to say about this.
“I tell you whoever acknowledges me before men, the Son of Man will also acknowledge him before the angels of God. But he who disowns me before men will be disowned before the angels of God” (Luke 12:8-9). Also, “Whoever acknowledges me before men, I will also acknowledge him before my Father in heaven. But whoever disowns me before men, I will disown him before my Father in heaven” (Matthew 10:32-33).
Fellow believers, let us not just acknowledge Jesus Christ as Lord in our safe Christian circles, but out in the world as well. We are to be in the world, but not of the world. We are called to be separate from the world, not to blend with it. Our message is even more important outside the walls of the church. It is a message for the salvation of the world!

Stand up, Stand up for Jesus,
Pastor Jerry

Now that football season is nearly over…only the Superbowl left… I probably won’t get much TV time until baseball season starts. I did see a commercial today that caught my attention. It was a plug for the “US Navy: A global force for good.” Backed by the U.S. government, all of our military might should be considered a force for good . However, most of us wouldn’t qualify for a position in the United States Navy or any other branch of military service. The requirements would be too great.
There is another force this ad brings to mind: “The Church: A global force for God.” It is empowered by the God of the universe. Now there is a force I’m proud to be a member of. No physical examination is required, there is no boot camp with extreme obstacles to overcome, and the requirements are few. In fact, the Commander-in-Chief tells us He will carry the load. Listen: “Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest” (Matthew 11:28). There is only one requirement to join, and that is to believe on Jesus Christ the Son of God.
It is a powerful force. Hear the words of Jesus: “I will build my church and the gates of Hades will not overcome it” (Matthew 16:18). “You will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you” (Acts 1:8a).
The earliest members turned their world upside-down (Acts 17:6). Current members are still making a difference around the world.
A word of caution here… service in the Lord’s army is not easy by any measure. Its members are promised troubles and trials (John 16:33 and others).
In spite of this, the rewards are priceless and eternal. Faithful service for the Lord will result in heavens blessings and life everlasting. As has been said, the benefits of serving the Lord are out of this world!

Serving in the Lord’s army,
Pastor Jerry

Good morning,
A high profile NFL quarterback has been criticized in the secular media this season for praying in public, especially during football games. Let’s look as some prayer related scriptures from the Bible.
Colossians 4:2 tells us to “be devoted to prayer, being watchful and thankful.” Understand that being devoted to something implies being faithful and loyal. It also means to give our time, attention or self, entirely to a particular activity.
In 1 Thessalonians 5:16, we are told to “pray continually.” Philippians 4:6 says we are to take all our requests to God in prayer. Ephesians 6:18 tells us to “always keep on praying for all the saints.”
When reading these verses, we wonder how we would get anything done if we spend all our time praying? The meaning is not so much that we always go around praying with our eyes closed; you could get hurt or cause a major accident by doing that. Instead, we are to be continually in an attitude of prayer. That is, to be alert for people and situations that need immediate prayer. That is what it means to be devoted to prayer.
Individually, we need also to be in constant prayer for ourselves. If you are like me, there are too many times the devil causes our thoughts and our words, even our actions, to be less than glorifying to God.
A good verse to memorize as a personal prayer would be Psalm 19:14. “May the words of my mouth and the meditations of my heart be glorifying to you, O Lord, my Rock and my Redeemer.”
Remember, while praying for others, don’t neglect to ask God to protect you as well.

In His care,
Pastor Jerry

Later this year, I will celebrate 30 years of being a Christian. This basically means I spent the first 38 years of my life without Jesus. It was in a little country church, out in the middle of the Nebraska Sandhills, that I knew I needed the new birth Jesus talked about.

Sometime back, I was asked what it means to be “born again”. The question made me think. After some time, I realized that there are very many people who have either never heard the phrase in their churches, or have not had the opportunity to read it in a Bible. And, the possibility exists, that those who have heard it haven’t had it explained. So in the short space available to me here, I will attempt a brief explanation of the term “born again”.

Jesus used the term when speaking to Nicodemus, a Jewish religious leader, who had asked Him how he could get to heaven (John 3:1-7).

I found a very helpful definition of this “new birth” in the Holman Illustrated Bible Dictionary: The new birth is caused by the gracious and sovereign act of God apart from man’s cooperation (John 1:13). God brings about the new birth through the preaching of the word of God (1 Peter 1:23). The result of the new birth is a changed life (2 Corinthians 5:17) which included saving faith and repentance (Ephesians 2:8), and obedience to God’s law (1 John 3:9).

Dead in our sins. Alive in Christ. Reborn spiritually. It only comes about through faith in Jesus Christ. He is the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Him (John 14:6).

Blessings,
Pastor Jerry

I came across this quote on Facebook: “I know you’re a Christian. You keep saying so. But otherwise, I wouldn’t know.”

What would happen if everyone who says he or she is a Christian actually lived in such a way that no one would have to be told? They would just see it in the life change of the person! I think we would find that many who see themselves as Christian would be so in name only.

Just thinking,
Pastor Jerry