Pastor Bruce’s blog

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

It’s an amazing idea, that God Himself actually thinks of us.  Psalm 40.5 says “Many, O Lord my God, are Your wonderful works which you have done.  And Your thoughts toward us cannot be recounted to You in order.  If I would declare and speak of them, they are more than can be numbered.”  In Psalm 139.17, again God gives us this revelation.  “How precious also are Your thoughts to me, O God!  How great is the sum of them!”  Did you know that right now, the Almighty is thinking of you?  Yes, He can handle thinking of 6.5 billion souls all at once and knowing each soul intimately.  And He has His eye on you.  For some, that’s too scary, that God might notice everything wrong about us and be thinking not-so-happy thoughts toward us.  For others who are convinced of His mercy, the idea that God is thinking of them brings the warm sense of His gracious favor to bear on their inner man.  The fact is that God is angry toward the sinner, the one who continually rebels.  But when someone is willing to admit their wrongs and come to Him, He is merciful.  Really merciful.  So that when He thinks of one who is humble enough to cry out to Jesus for forgiveness and make a change, He thinks new thoughts toward them.  Jeremiah 29.11 reveals “For I know the thoughts that I think toward you, says the Lord, thoughts of peace and not of evil, to give you a future and a hope.”  If you’ve humbled yourself, He thinks of you in ways that build your life.  His anger is gone and His favor is in His thoughts toward you.  You won’t ever be acceptable in yourself, able to do right and good, but you will be able to humble yourself.  And when God thinks about you, He doesn’t just leave His thoughts in His head like we often do.  He always acts upon them.  Be encouraged, He thinks about you!  PB

I was thrilled at what happened as a result of Bless Brockport this week!  Hundreds of people were served in some way over the last week and over 100 CCC’rs gave out something to those folks.  It’s a rare thing that an event or series of events could be so good for both giver and recipient!  Great big thanks to Mark Rennie and all the event leaders and participants.  Thank the Lord for good weather and the resources to pull this off.  May it be an annual event for many years to come!  PB

Sunday morning was one of those unforgettable services, wasn’t it?  The Lord’s Presence was so tangible during worship.  In the middle of worship a young woman from singing on the worship team began crying; I thought she was just touched by the Lord in her heart.  She came down off the stage and with tears told me that the Lord had healed her of asthma as she sang!  She normally had pain in her chest after one song of worship and this time she had none.  We stopped worship to let her speak about what God had done and then prayed for everyone else that needed healing.  We continued to worship and then paused again for 4 water baptisms.  As each person gave their story everyone was so responsive, so encouraging.  Then we baptised them as the rest of the church worshipped again.  Wow.  The message was next.  Pastor GF Watkins from Powerhouse Christian Center preached, as this was our last Summer Summit Conference meeting.  He preached an awesome message on the roles of men and women and compared them to the relationship of Christ to His church.  He is a great communicator and his use of visuals enhanced every point.  We ended the service by praying for couples who were unable to have children; Pastor GF said that he and his wife seem to have an anointing in that area.  The whole church was full and we all felt spiritually full when it was all over.  Again, wow.  We took away from the weekend a renewed passion to minister to men in particular and to find God’s way of reaching the lost.  We’re praying that the Lord directs us in applying what we heard this weekend…may God give us the desires of our heart!  Blessings, PB

We had a great conference kickoff meeting tonight!  Pastor GF Watkins from Texas was here and gave us a terrific message and impartation for being, well, salty, as he put it.  He used a pair of Bible verses, one New Testament, one Old Testament, to show that God wants us to be full of His Spirit and reaching the world around us for Christ on an everyday, radical basis.  Many folks were touched and helped as they came forward for prayer.  Two women gave their lives to the Lord.  I can’t wait to see what tomorrow holds!  Men’s breakfast in the morning and a picnic then service tomorrow afternoon and early evening.  I’m going to sleep well tonight!  Blessings, PB

This morning I was reading Psalm 11 and I came across these words…”His eyes behold, His eyelids test the sons of men.  The Lord tests the righteous…”  Then later this morning I spoke with a brother who has shared with me that he felt the Lord was testing our people in regard to believing Him for our future building.  And it brought a whole bunch of thoughts about how God will most often allow a vision He has given us to simply “die”, and then resurrect it from the dead in order to purify our hearts and to show us that it’s really Him directing us.  Have you had the “death of a vision” experience in your own life recently?  Has a Godly plan, purpose or situation seemingly perished for no good reason?  Then maybe it’s just simply God at work in that plan to make the fulfillment of the vision purely His.  Just pray and see what He does…  Blessings, PB

I’m just realizing that it’s been almost a month since I wrote last!  Sorry everyone…

I was just reading today about Rehoboam, the son of Solomon.  You know, as great as Solomon was and as wise as he was, apparently he didn’t prepare his son well for the future.  We see that when he was given the kingdom of Israel that when he was approached by the people for some tax relief that he asked for time to consider a response.  He consulted with two sets of people.  One group was made up of the advisors his father Solomon had.  They were older, wiser actually, and suggested that Rehoboam lighten the heavy burden on the people.  The second group was made up of his young friends.  They told Rehoboam that he should be even tougher on the people, make them fear Rehoboam.  They were wrong in their advice.  But guess what?  Rehoboam took the younger advisors’ approach and the results were devastating.  What’s the lesson here?  Who you listen to is very important!!!  Are you listening to the Lord through the Scriptures and in prayer?  Are you talking to and relating to Godly people?  Who you consult in this life will have a great effect upon your future!  Get with the wise ones, not just someone you think you can relate to easily because of your age or stage of life.  Blessings, PB

I received an email from Duane Motley’s “New Yorkers for Constitutional Freedoms” ministry in the last week or so.  In it there was a call to action sent out to ministers of the Gospel to go to Albany next week and lobby against recent developments surrounding our governor’s decision to make NYS agencies recognize gay “marriages” that were established in other places.  In doing so Governor Paterson bypassed the legislative process and made New York recognize these unions.  And I thought, “I’ve had enough.”  Our state continues to decline in so many ways, economically and otherwise, and yet our state government seems bent on making our state just that much more abhorrent to the Lord.  It’s not enough that we allow unborn children to be killed on a very regular basis, protecting the practice of shedding innocent blood.  But to call a homosexual union “marriage”, to redefine what has been established for thousands of years in all societies and clearly defined in our own country’s history and laws; it’s just enough.  It’s time to speak up clearly and say no.  Now don’t get me wrong.  We need to love every person who calls themselves gay or lesbian.  There’s a big difference between the issue and the persons involved.  God’s Son was given for them as well as us.  But to call right that which is so obviously wrong; we have to answer this well.  I’m going to Albany next week and I pray that I join a thousand other ministers there to speak up for right and against that which is wrong.  PB