Pastor Bruce’s blog

In life, but especially in the Bible sense, one’s name is representative of who you are.  Take your own name, for example.  Your reputation, your ability to function socially, financially and otherwise has a good deal to do with your name.  Think about someone that you know.  When you mention his or her name to a mutual acquaintance isn’t there a picture that comes to mind?  And don’t you attach a certain credibility to that picture?  In some way, that is the measure of authority that person has in life. 

The Name of Jesus, the Bible teaches, is “above all names” and that sits well with what other portions of the Bible have to say about His authority.  It says that “all” authority is His and “all” is under His feet.  So you and I must bow to that authority.  Forces of darkness must also bow.  And every other entity or situation you can think of, that also must “bow” before the Lord and obey. 

What does that mean for you?  It means that you need to present your life to Him, God “Most High.”  It also means that when you pray and use His Name that if you ask according to His will, whatever you ask is done.  Because His Name is Higher than any other.  But it especially means that we need to love Him the most.  Because if One so great, so above everything and everyone else bends to love you, it’s the greatest love you’ll ever receive.  Love Him with your life, your thoughts, your words and your deeds, love Him with all your heart.  Because His Name is above every other name.  PB

I was just reading today about the end of the life of Moses.  Moses, as you know, was the leader God had appointed for the Israelites when they were in bondage to Egypt and then released by God’s power.  Moses was given great privileges in that he was allowed to relate to God “face to face.”  Imagine the interactions, imagine the awe of being so close to the Lord’s manifest Presence. 

I was floored by something I hadn’t really noticed until today, though.  It’s based on Deuteronomy 34.7.  It says that “Moses was one hundred and twenty years old when he died.  His eyes were not dim nor his natural vigor diminished.”  Wow.  In other words, Moses didn’t age or lose his strength or senses throughout all his years wandering in the wilderness and leading a rather stress filled “people situation.”  Could it be that his close relationship with the Lord, his daily face-to-face’s with God, put him so close to the source of Life that he didn’t age?  I think it was.

So what does that mean for us?  Living close to the Source of Life changes you.  He gives His vigor, His Life to those who seek Him regularly.  No, our faces may not literally shine with God’s glory as Moses’ did, but our countenance will be different, brighter, when we walk closely with God.  Because He is Life itself.  The door is open wide to us because of the Lord Jesus’ sacrifice on our behalf.  Walk through it and stay close to Him and your heart will be forever young.  PB

I’m away at a men’s retreat this weekend and we’ve spent the whole day considering what the Cross of Jesus actually did for us.  It’s a completely disarming thing to realize that He chose to die in this fashion, to actually die at all, and to do it for us.  How do you say “Thank You” for such a gift?  I believe you give your all for Him and to Him in response. 

But that’s only one thought. The amazing thing that’s on my heart right now is that God loves to heal.  He seems to love healing the condition of man, for one, changing every heart that trusts Him to forgive through His Son.  He came to heal the brokenhearted, as it says in Isaiah 61 and in Luke 4.  But He also heals bodies, physical bodies.  We had a time of prayer for those who had physical illnesses or injuries, just a couple of weeks ago.  One woman who has a degenerative problem in her hip joint (very painful) had the pain removed instantly as we all prayed. Wow.  Another man who had a bad burn on his hand and was in pain and in an ambulance on the way to the hospital, called out to the Lord and the same thing happened.  The terrible pain was gone.  More and more we’re realizing that He purchased our healing by His stripes on the Cross.  We can go to Him and ask on that basis. 

I guess He really is the Great Physician; especially when He heals what no earthly doctor can reach.  That would be the heart of man.  Go ahead, ask Him in the Name of Jesus.  PB

It’s an amazing day in the State of New York.  Our current governor, Eliot Spitzer, has resigned from his post as of Monday the 17th, due to the revelation of sinful bondage in his life.  I don’t know about you, but this just makes me hush with the fear of the Lord.  As someone interviewed “on the street” said, so many in positions of power are involved in this very sin, and yet our governor was caught.  And exposed.  And removed.  It was the Lord that revealed this and removed this man from office.  And yet none of us dare say, “Aha!”   First of all, we are not his judge, the Lord and His delegates, our court system, are.  Second of all, who among us has never sinned?  We all deserve judgment for our sins, large and small.  No one I know can cast the first stone.

But we can see something of why God would choose to remove this man in particular.  He and his wife were pressing to completely liberalize abortion in New York through legislation that would allow abortions to be performed by people other than doctors, for example.  As if abortions weren’t numerous and evil enough in themselves already!  He and those in his party were also pressing for the redefinition of marriage, establishing same-sex marriage in our state.  Those two reasons, among others, explain to me why God would have wanted to remove this man from office. 

But as Christians, our response should be to pray and to speak out.  Pray for repentance and healing for Mr. and Mrs. Spitzer, to bring them to Christ and eternal life.  Pray for their teenaged daughters.  And pray for our new governor, Governor Paterson.  Pray that God would have mercy on our State and bring all to repentance and Godly change.  And as we have opportunity, let’s speak out for righteousness. 

The Lord does rule over all.  PB

This weekend begins a “round” of three encounter retreats we’ll be taking believers through this Spring.  Encounter retreats are amazing tools of God to reach into the heart of man and change that person forever. Central to the encounter retreat is a presentation of the Cross of Jesus, a vivid description of what He endured for us.  All the freedom we know as Christians was purchased for us through His suffering, and to know and apply the victory of His Cross to our lives is pivotal.  I recommend to every believer to attend one of these retreats; I haven’t had anyone regret having gone!  This weekend is our college age retreat, there’s a men’s encounter April 4th-6th and a women’s encounter April 25th-27th.  Do whatever you have to do to attend!  I’m so excited about what the Lord will do in the lives of our college aged young adults this weekend!  Pray for us!  PB

All things living must grow.  It’s just a fact that when we stop growing, life has reached its end.  As a Christian this is a very important principle because it seems that when we’ve finished our initial burst of life at salvation many turn around and say, “What now?”  There’s quite a bit “now,” actually.  There’s the Lord Himself, the One we can never completely know in His entirety.  Then there’s the deep principles of God’s Word.  Then there’s living those out! 

But the great task beyond those is the Great Commission coupled with the Great Commandment.  We are called to grow in our accomplishment of those two “Greats.”  The Great Commission is the Lord’s command to go into all the world and bring as many as would come, into God’s Kingdom.  The Great Commandment is to love God with all the heart, soul, mind and strength and our neighbor as ourselves.  We grow in our understanding and skills in living those out.  God helps us to become better and and wiser and deeper in loving God and loving our neighbor.  Then the Life of God in our lives increases. 

So if you feel less than full of life; ask God to grow you and then do the things that help you grow. Prayer. The Word. Worship. Action.        PB

the report of a young pastor’s wife and her death by cancer.  For some years now our leadership has been blessed by a loose connection with Bethany World Prayer Center in Baton Rouge, Louisiana.  We’ve been affected by the great conferences held there and the church’s great example of good influence for the Gospel in their city and on the international mission field.  The pastor of that church, Pastor Larry Stockstill, has two sons working with him in the ministry there, along with many other great leaders.  The older of the two sons, Joel Stockstill, was married just three years ago to a wonderful young woman, Amy, who ministered so well beside him with the youth of Baton Rouge and the larger church body as Joel became the lead pastor there.  Amy was diagnosed with cancer last summer and died just this past week at the age of 27.  The news of such a thing, especially with a couple so young and with so much promise ahead of them.  And it made me think.  Are we all living our lives as if today might be the last one?  We all have a number of days that the Lord has prescribed for us.  There are no guarantees that we will all live to a ripe old age.  Let’s live as if He is coming to get us and take us home tomorrow!  And please keep the Stockstill family in your prayers…  PB

Okay, now that it’s over I can tell you that since I was a kid I have rooted for the New York Giants.  When you’re a pastor you don’t want to come out and say you’re for a specific team because there are people very dear to you who root for other sports teams and well, I wouldn’t want to offend them.  But wow, wasn’t that an amazing game?  I watched it at the Koelle’s house where my friend Scott (Mr. Techno Engineer) had set up a pull down screen and a hi-def video projection system, with surround sound, for the game.  We had a great time, rooting, screaming, high fiving and cheering for the good old Giants.  I’ll remember that night for a long time.  Especially the Manning miracle escape play late in the game with the miracle catch off Tyree’s helmet.  Wow…

And it made me think; are we all as excited about the Kingdom of God?  Are we all fired up when someone comes to the Lord, when there’s victory in someone’s life, when a heart or a body are healed?  Do we put as much effort into winning those battles as the Giants put into their great win?  I think that our enemies try to tell us that we should be quiet about the One Who alone can change lives and hearts, the things that really matter.  Can we, will we put our efforts and joy into the Lord’s work as much as one might for a sporting event?  I think the answer is obvious, but walking that out is a struggle.  Because for our offense there’s a defense against us and vice versa.  Be determined that you won’t allow the enemy to keep you quiet or restricted in your love and service for God.

Hey, I had a great trip to Brownsville, Texas this past week!  The picture I put here isn’t really fair; I only saw cactus off in a field of scrub brush.  Brownsville is a thriving city of mostly hispanic people, being on the border with Mexico.  I didn’t go down to see the sights, though, I went to spend time with our friends the Ordemans and their amazing church family.  I love spending time with Pastor Bob, his wife Libby, and their senior leaders because they are really reaching their city for Jesus.  The church has about 2,000 members and every week 25 to 35 people come to Christ in their services.  They have a leadership development school called “Vision Academy” and I witnessed a graduation service for the end of a term, last Wednesday night.  It was a real celebration!  They, like us, have small groups meeting weekly for discipleship and outreach.  There are many things that they do that contribute to great success in building God’s Kingdom, both in Brownsville and in Mexico, which they consider their prime mission field.  But you know where their success really lies?  It’s in their prayer life.  Every day their staff gets together and prays for an hour.  They pray together before services.  They have monthly church wide prayer meetings and weekly early morning men’s prayer meetings.  For the first three weeks of the year they have a 21 day fast and every week night they met as a church for prayer.  No wonder! No wonder they see so much happening in the Spirit and have so many coming to the Lord!  That’s the reason I went down, because I love these people and want what they have to rub off on all of us.  But hey; do you hang out with people more mature in the Lord?  Have you said to someone more mature, “please give me what you have?”  It makes a huge difference as to how much and how fast you’ll grow!  PB

It’s so predictable that life will be unpredictable.  Life has these ups and downs and the mountain top can be followed by the deep valley in a very short time, it seems.  A project you thought was going great crashes and burns; and then it resurrects from the dead!  The stock market with your retirement funds invested in it takes a nosedive.  A relationship that you really care about may be up one day and down the next.  Mood swings are just that, swings!  They rise and fall with the next event or phone call or email.  If we attach ourselves to them, our emotional selves that is, we will rise or fall with the events of the day. 

But what if we connected our hearts to a secure place that never changes?  Ah, see what I’m getting at?  What if our lives, futures, pasts, our sense of well being were attached to the Lord Himself?  The Bible says He never changes.  So unlike our lives, God does not go up and down with every wave.  And if we have a personal, strong and current relationship with Him, we’ll be steadier, more able to handle the good and the difficult.  Reconnect with the Lord.  Set your treasures down next to His throne and trust Him.  Rely on the Lord for wisdom, for strength, for a rescue or for a reality check.  He is a Rock to all who anchor their lives with Him.  PB