Home/Bible Studies/Church Talk
in

Wednesday Evening Service, 7/1/09

Songs

Blessings

  • Pastor Lantis' nephew was rushed to the hospital with kidney failure; we all prayed for him and the next day he was fine.
  • Carlyle Miller found by experience the benefits of giving to God first.
  • Dwight Hohnes was able to share a testimony with a minister whose church had burned down.
  • Todd Morgan spoke with people on base who had met this ministry in other parts of the world.
Pastor Thomas

God answers prayer in many different ways. Most of us in this room probably wouldn't pick the other people in this room as friends, when we were lost and in the world. What brings us together isn't the music or the activities, but Christ and our salvation. That's what keeps us going in the right direction. That's why I appreciate Pastor Paine's message. You can hear all kinds of evil report, but when you listen to God, great things happen.

We have just begun to scratch the surface of what God can and will do with this ministry.

Pastor Paine

Who has a scripture on your heart?

  • Jeff Wiedenhoeft

Proverbs 3:5-7
  1. Trust in the LORD with all thine heart; and lean not unto thine own understanding.
  2. In all thy ways acknowledge him, and he shall direct thy paths.
  3. Be not wise in thine own eyes: fear the LORD, and depart from evil.

  • John Connors

Hebrews 11:1
  1. Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.

  • Pat Mahoney

James 1:17
  1. Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, and cometh down from the Father of lights, with whom is no variableness, neither shadow of turning.

My father had some expressions when I was a young man, and I didn't realize until I was older the impact they had. My father said silly things like "No good deed goes unpunished." He meant it as humor, but if that's what you rehearse in your mind, you begin to believe it. That's why it's important to rehearse the scriptures. As we gather together and reconnect, what has been happening over the past several weeks has been a blessing. It's a good reminder for the church that ministry doesn't have to happen in the church building, although there is some ministry that does happen in the building.

Jasmine and Matthew, would you please stand? Jasmine and Matthew are getting baptized at the conclusion of this service.

Some of the great moments of ministry happen when we gather together. Some of them happen when we have a few moments to sit down with somebody and share. Some of the ministry we do doesn't happen in the building.

Ephesians 6:12
  1. For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places.

There is a spiritual battle that we fight every day. Some of the battles we fight over and over, and maybe one day God will allow us to move on to another battle. For some, it's lustful thoughts; for some it is anger; for some it is laziness. I encourage you to keep fighting that "good fight of faith."

Some of the battles that we fight are unseen. We don't even recognize them.

Matthew 10:16
  1. Behold, I send you forth as sheep in the midst of wolves: be ye therefore wise as serpents, and harmless as doves.

Here we are, in a Christian church, on a Wednesday night, talking about Jesus. Why do we have to be wise as serpents? In today's vernacular, maybe that's saying you've got to be "street-wise." Not every "good deal" is a good deal.

I'm talking to the church family now. I don't want to, but I've got to talk about Facebook. No, I don't think it's the antichrist. Some people use Facebook for good, and some people, if you don't pay attention, will get you on their friends list, and you're communicating with people that you don't know.

Do you know there are people who hate Walmart, and think they're part of the antichrist? Do you know there are people here who think that Disneyland is part of the antichris?. There are those who hate this ministry, and we have not escaped them. Just in the last three or four weeks, I've had several people tell me that they'd been invited to be friends with somebody on Facebook, and after accepting the invitation, had found that the friends of that "friend" are people who hate us and who are working against us.

To give just one example, we were scheduled to have a high-ranking Navy official here to speak with us, and on the day he was due to appear, he was contacted by several people from Facebook who hate us. They told him several things that, if he hadn't been very careful about who he listened to, might have convinced him not to come. But after he came and looked around, he realized that what he'd been told wasn't true. So be careful.

I'm excited about what Jesus is doing for me, and I'm excited about what I'm doing for Jesus. I'm excited about living a life that matters. I don't mean that in a self-centered way, but I'm thankful to have the privilege to preach the gospel message.

I hope that somehow, someway, God blessed you and refreshed you. Some Wednesday nights we have much more teaching. Some nights it's all praise and worship. Tonight it was a mixture of family meeting and praise and scriptures. But however, it's good and pleasant for us to gather together.