Divided we fall!

Division is Satan's true goal. Ultimately he wants division between God and man. He doesn't start that way. Satan rarely puts on a full frontal attack. He starts in far more subtle ways. He looks to cause division in your family, between husband and wife and parents and children. Or he will cause division inside the Church, between this team and that committee or the Pastor and the congregation. Look at how the various denominations disagree. Look at the newspaper and see how much division there is in society at large. Neighbor hates neighbor, democrats versus republicans, this country opposed to that one.

When you have division in society, in your church or in your family, it causes division between us and God. It pulls our attention from serving Him to fighting and arguing. I what I'm talking about because recently I let division creep into my marriage. It almost destroyed my family and it caused us both to take our focus off God and serving Him! Fortunately, we had great Christian friends who prayed and fought for us and we now have a marriage far better than before with the hope of being far better still!

My point is that we have to be diligent! We have to fight for unity! Imagine what we could do if we focus on where we have unity and let everything else go. If we (Christians) are truly unified in Christ, then nothing can stand against us. Imagine the victories that could be accomplished we we worked together! Poverty, hunger, abuse, and neglect could be overcome if join with Christ in the battle!

I hope that you will join me. Don't give the devil a foothold. Reconcile with others and be unified with Christ!

"If you have any encouragement from being united with Christ, if any comfort from his love, if any fellowship with the Spirit, if any tenderness and compassion, then make my joy complete by being like minded, having the same love, being one in spirit and purpose."

Philippians 2:1-2

The Message of the Cross is Foolishness...

"For the message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God."

I Corintians 1:18

As I prepare myself for the day ahead, I can hear these words echo from a teacher, Denny Brillhart, as he taught us on this scripture. It is a haunting passage. It is a paradox in many ways. The first part of this verse is sad to think about. Because I know as I go about my day today I will pass by thousands of people to whom the message of the cross is foolishness. To them it has no meaning and this day has no meaning. But the second half of the verse gives hope and excitement, because for those of us who are being saved have the power of the risen and resurected Christ!

It falls on us, those who are being saved, to take that "power" and use it to bring the message of the cross to those who need it. We can not be discouraged by the magnitude of the task, for we are promised power. If we each do our part, the message of the cross will no longer be foolishness.

What gets you out of bed?

Sometimes when I wake up in the morning I feel like just rolling over and saying "Just forget it. What difference can I possibly make?". But then the Spirit nudges me and says, "Come on! We have much to do!" and I am reminded of this verse.

"I looked and there before me was a great multitude that no one could count, from every nation, tribe, people and language, standing before the throne and in front of the Lamb... He will wipe away every tear from their eyes. There will be no more death or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things has passed away."

-Revelation 7:9;21:4

And then I get up!

Welcome our new Servant!

This is an exciting day as we welcome Todd & Belinda Jackson to the Servants Team! Todd will be volunteering a few days a week as the Director of the Home Helps ministry while he continues to raise support to join us on a full time basis.

Todd willl be responsible for leading our local ministry of Home Helps, where we assist people of York County in minor home repairs and maintenance. Todd will also be leading a couple disaster recovery mission trips each year.

Please join me in welcoming Todd (todd@servants.org) and look for more information on Todd and his ministry soon on the Servants web page www.servants.org.

Actions and in truth

I met the rest of the Servants' team at 630 this morning to send them off on their trip to Mississippi. There are nine people flying down today. As we were praying before they left it struck me at their willingness to put action to their love! As it says in 1 John 3:18... "Dear children, let us not love with words or tongue but with actions and in truth!" I love to see people giving of themselves to serve others! Let us never grow tired of loving others through our service!

Mississippi team leaves today!

Servants has a team of 14 volunteers heading down to Mississippi to do more disaster recovery work from Hurricane Katrina. 4 people leave today towing the Servants trailor and the other ten are flying down to meet them on Saturday and Sunday. We appreciate your prayers for this group and our continuing ministry of disaster recovery. It is hard to imagine but there is still so much left to do there.

Come and Die!

I am reading several books right now that are very powerful. One is called "The Cost of Discipleship" by Dietrich Bonhoffer. Dietric starts out his book by saying "When Christ calls a man, He bids him come and die!" Those are powerful words. I thought alot about that sentence as I lay in bed trying to fall back asleep at 3 in the morning. The question that keeps coming to mind is "To what am I dying?" In Mark 10:38b Chist asks the disciples and us, "Can you drink the cup I drink?" So the question I will ask myself today and in the days to come is, "Can I drink from Jesus' cup... can I come and die?

We're back from India and it was really great! We had a great time with HOINA and we really appreciate the work that Darlene Large is doing over there. We hope to make a trip there again next February. Stay tuned for more information!