Pastor Bruce’s blog

Okay, we put Ronald away for 21 days (don’t you just love that picture?) and sought the Lord together for His will and purpose to be further established in our lives, our families and our community.  We prayed together and prayed individually.  Did anything happen immediately?  Yes, many wonderful things.  The Lord took the opportunity to heal some people.  One man had terrible pain in his legs for years.  A few days into the fast the Lord spoke to his heart about faith and the next morning the alarm clock woke him instead of the pain.  The pain was gone!  Another woman just wrote to me and said that she is sleeping through the night unlike the past, has been healed of two rather difficult, painful physical problems and has seen drastic changes in her job situation.  Another mom told me that her son who was having near daily seizures has been seizure free since we began fasting and praying together.  And the list goes on from there!  The bottom line is: God hears and answers prayer!  And as we give, pray and fast, the Lord who “sees in secret will reward…openly!”  He is God, Sovereign over the affairs of men and can be trusted by those who love and reverence Him!  Blessings, PB

I’m away for a few days on a prayer retreat and I’m relearning how important it is to pray!  We’re three days into our 21 day fast and it’s been so effective in focusing my prayer life.   I had a last minute opportunity to travel to North Carolina to spend these days with Larry and Carole Arendas, in the basement apartment in their home.  Between the long periods of private prayer and the times we’ve talked and prayed together, I’m really being touched by the Lord.  I had almost forgotten how wonderful an intense, extended time of prayer can be!  Blessings, PB

It’s hard to believe that 2008 is finished and that 2009 is about to begin!  There’s two thoughts we ought to have fixed in our hearts as we make this annual transition.  One, gratitude for what the Lord has done in the past year.  Look back on what happened and what didn’t happen; hasn’t He blessed you?  I’m sure you’ll find that in the past 12 months you have grown in your faith, found new truths, established new relationships and in every way saw God’s involvement in your life. 

The other thought in your heart ought to be trust.  The Lord is sovereign over the affairs of men.  Sure, there are lots of uncertainties, financial, political and otherwise.  But His promise is that He will personally work all of them out for good in you.  You may not become a millionaire this year, but you will be preserved, grow and increase in what’s important.  Trust Him as you make your plans, seek Him for His heart and you’ll be so peaceful when surprises come our way this year.  Surprises?  Yes, but kept in check by the One who loves you and works it all together for good.  New Year’s blessings, PB

Yup, sitting here in a waiting room.  It’s a funny thing, but we all seem to end up here at one time or another.  I’m at the hospital, awaiting my friend Pastor Mark’s emergence from an MRI.  Yes, it did take longer than anyone thought, although, that’s not a problem.  It’s always the question of changing your plans and whether or not that’s going to pose a problem.  And somewhere in the middle of the waiting you’re thinking, did the Lord really orchestrate this?  The answer is always yes.  Because He actually orchestrates all of those little and big things that are out of our control.  And that gives one a great sense of peace, as long as you know that He is gracious and merciful!  Still hanging out, but feeling like I’m in the palm of His Hand!  Blessings, PB

Okay, I’m really pretty perturbed after reading the cover story of Newsweek last evening.  The photo on the front cover shows a Bible with a rainbow colored bookmark extended from it.  The point of the front page article?  Apparently, to somehow educate us all that the Bible is for homosexual “marriage.”  I am absolutely offended!  The clear teaching of the Bible is that marriage is a covenant between a man and a woman.  And if I may go further, the Bible also teaches that the practice of homosexuality is in the same category as adultery, fornication and other sexually immoral practices.  Is Newsweek a news magazine or is it an editorial publication that should be renamed “Conjecture Weekly?”  The woman author of the article is neither Biblically literate nor is she objective.  It wasn’t “news.”

The culture war over homosexual “marriage” and abortion will never be over.  Those of us who believe that the Bible is the Word of God and that it teaches us what God thinks about life and how we should live it will never be able to explain away the plainly understood truths written there.  There will always be millions of Americans who will not agree with those who attempt to modify the collective conscience to accept the unacceptable.   We can never hate, persecute or harm those who disagree with God’s Word, but we can never captitulate under the assertion that somehow God’s Word supports these, and other, immoralities.  It doesn’t.  Sorry Newsweek, but you’re absolutely wrong.  And by the way, would you ever have dared to show a photo of the Koran with a rainbow bookmark on your front cover?  I don’t think so.  PB

I was reading an article this week regarding kids cheating in school.  In this article were the conjectures of people trying to explain away the fact that in a recent survey, some 65% of students admitted to cheating.  It included plagiarism of essays, traditional test cheating; the whole range of dishonesty when it came to their academics.  The reason given as to why more kids are admitting to cheating today was the great pressure our children are under today, along with the new tools available to carry out the deed, such as the availability of the internet.  There were no steps toward changing this behavior that I remember being put forward in the article. 

Is it really surprising that more kids are cheating and admitting to it?  Not really.  For decades now the prevailing philosophy toward morality is that morality is relative.  You might think something is wrong, but someone else might not, so there’s really no absolute standard of right or wrong.  It’s relative to you and your situation.  Sound familiar?  That’s because our society at large seems to have embraced and taught moral relativism, as evidenced in the expressed philosophy of many educational institutions.  For example, the Ten Commandments, once prominently displayed in public schools have been removed, as I read in one commentary, for concern that children might follow them! 

Is it really the fact that kids are under so much pressure now the reason that more admit to cheating?  I don’t think so.  Kids are people.  We all have defective hearts that will pursue evil if allowed.  Kids need to be taught that morality is absolute; that it’s absolutely wrong to cheat, to lie, to steal, to be sexually immoral and on and on.  And then we need to hold them to that standard by applying consequences, reasonable ones, for violating those rights and wrongs.  When we do, we’ll raise a generation of people who will carry honesty, integrity and morality into their adult lives and live happier and more fulfilled because of it.  We can’t let our kids grow up believing that they are the helpless victims of forces beyond their control.  Let’s love them enough to confront them in a loving but firm and consistent manner.  They will thank us later.  Blessings, PB

God is not a silent God!  He speaks through creation, through the Scriptures and directly by means of the Holy Spirit.  It’s amazing!  Psalm 113.5+6 asks the question: “Who is like the Lord our God, who dwells on high, who humbles Himself to behold the things that are in the heavens and in the earth?”  God not only cares about us and our affairs but He intervenes.  That begins with Him speaking.  His Word carries creative power and when He speaks, look out! 

Tonight we begin a great weekend of seeking the Lord for His word to us prophetically. May He lead, direct and otherwise interfere with our lives in His good way!

Is this enough of a reminder?  We have a responsibility in this country that was hard won and remains vitally important.  The Lord has graciously given Christians here the right to speak freely, worship the Lord freely and to participate in government freely.  We need to get out and vote on November 4th.  How should you vote?  On the basis of Biblical principle.  If you choose a candidate on the criteria of good looks, better speech and cooler commercials, you really should think again.  This next president will be choosing people to fill hundreds of important decision making posts in government.  This next president will likely be appointing Supreme Court Justices that will shape the laws in our nation for decades. This next president will surround himself with advisors and staff that will reinforce his worldview.  For the sake of God, our children and our future, choose wisely!  In New York State Legislature races, choose wisely!  Our state is just two senate seats away from further liberalizing abortion laws and redefining marriage.  We must speak – and vote – in a way that pleases the Lord.  It’s our responsibility. 

Who, us?  Yes, America is coming to grips with greed these days.  Corporate financial institutions, some of which have been around for decades, are crumbling.  Large concerns are being sold off piece by piece or falling into bankruptcy.  Some news sources are saying that except for government controls we would be experiencing the same financial meltdown that occurred during the Great Depression era.  How could this be?  Aren’t those people at the helm of those great institutions smarter than the rest of us and more able to avoid these difficulties? 

The problem is that they are people.  Fallen creatures like you and I.  And those folks who borrowed money from those lending institutions, they’re flawed too. We all are.  It wasn’t a matter of “smarts” that have caused the crisis we’re facing today.  It’s a matter of “hearts.”  Bankers liberalized their lending criteria in order to process more loans, make quotas and look good on the surface in order to pad their own income.  People stretched beyond their means to purchase houses and other properties that common sense would say “no” to.  Everyone presumed upon the future and hoped that housing values would continue their unrealistic rise.  In other words, the lust for more, greed,  trapped many and many are in dire straights now because of it.  It even threatens the financial stability of our entire economy. 

There’s a great lesson here.  Your short term longing for more and the acquisition of things beyond your ability to pay leads to many small decisions that one day add up to financial collapse.  Credit card debt, other loan debt can become a weight you one day cannot bear when the inevitable trials of the future limit your ability to service that debt.  “Owe no man nothing but love” is the exhortation of the Scripture.  Eliminate your debts.  “The borrower is servant to the lender” and unless it’s careful borrowing that you’re doing, you’ll possibly enslave yourself and your family to a cruel master. 

Be content.  Prayerfully ask the Lord to supply what you feel you need.  Wait for the answer.  Work toward the goal and believe that if the Lord knows you need that thing that He will enable you to earn it.  Godly contentment and wisdom is the antidote for greed.  May our nation learn that from this painful lesson. 

I do know one thing; the Lord was very clear about possessions.  After being asked to deal with an inheritance dispute, and refusing to get involved, Jesus said this:  “A man’s life does not consist of the things which he possesses.”  Think about that for a few minutes.  What do we associate with most of the people we know?  We associate them with their house, their job, the kind of car they drive and where we perceive them to be on the earnings scale.  Sure, we then think of the broader qualities of their lives, but don’t we start with the temporal?  Most often we do.  Jesus said by implication that our lives, the quality and richness of our lives, has everything to do with our character and how we live from the inside, the heart.  And so it’s very likely that a rich man could have a life that consists of very little, even a negative, while a very poor person could have a life which holds a great deal of value.  Do you find yourself jealous of someone who has much of this world’s goods?  Refocus your attention on the value of a person of godly character and be provoked by them!  The bank accounts, the toys, will all disappear one day….PB