Fixed Eyes

Listen as Pastor Rick shares an interesting youth-oriented perspective of eternity and reminds us to focus our lives on what really matters and set our affections on things above. 

A "Flat No"

Bottom Line Up Front: sad to say, the meeting with the Hampton Zoning Board did not go well.  Unexpectedly we were opposed by the Coliseum Central planning entity and they took issue with the variance as stated on the basis of State and local ordinances governing the setbacks and parking setbacks required for churches.  Interestingly, this is the first time a property designated for use as an office was requested for use as a church in the city of Hampton.  The Zoning Board was uncomfortable establishing a precedent like we requested.  

It also seemed the bulk of the Zoning Board had already made its decision negatively before we arrived. Though they stated on the record that they did not oppose our mission of helping families with small children and military families, off the record it seemed a few of them were antagonistic to the very idea of us having a church in that area.  However, they did seem more amenable to the idea of approving a variance for a retail space rather than an office space. Regardless, the decision tonight by the Board was a "Flat NO."

The result will be as follows:
1. The Church Executive Board will carefully examine the position taken by the Zoning Board to ensure it has merit and explore any possibilities of appealing the current decision or reapplying to the Zoning Board with new & better information.
2. The Church Executive Board will continue to search for a suitable property that meets the criteria we have learned through this process that we need.

On a positive note, we have learned an immense amount through this process and we will be better prepared in the future.  We have now clearly defined the minimum square footage we need, the budget we have available, the floor plan essentials we desire, and now understand much about the process we did not know before.  This will benefit us in the future.

Finally, I remind all of us, as I have stated from the beginning, "This is God's Project - it's His "baby" and success in every part of this venture is in His purview not ours.  Be not discouraged with this circumstance.  We have asked continually that His guidance be firm and clear and if this door has closed, I have no doubt He has another ready to open.  And, in the process, we have rippled our community, and touched several lives.  Pray that God will give us grace to be gracious and persistent in this process.

Thank you all for your prayers and interest.  We will press on.  One battle lost is no reason to give up a war!  God bless you all!  Have a great week!

Blessed Assurance

Listen as Pastor Rick lifts us up and teaches us how to live fearlessly with blessed assurance!

HOPE

Below is the text of a message I shared in May of 2010 after my sister was diagnosed with kidney cancer.  Her surgery since then conquered the cancer and today she is cancer free.  but at the tie we didn't know that would be the case and this truth resonated with me.  I hope it encourages you too!

A man sentenced to death obtained a reprieve by assuring the king he would teach his majesty’s horse to fly within the year—on the condition that if he didn’t succeed, he would be put to death at the end of the year. “Within a year,” the man explained later, “the king may die, or I may die, or the horse may die. Furthermore, in a year, who knows? Maybe the horse will learn to fly.”

- Bernard M. Baruch (Source unknown)

What was this? Hope.  While a morbidly humorous example, today I want to share a little bit about hope.

Romans 5: 1-5

1 ¶ Therefore being justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ:

 2 By whom also we have access by faith into this grace wherein we stand, and rejoice in hope of the glory of God.

 3 And not only so, but we glory in tribulations also: knowing that tribulation worketh patience;

 4 And patience, experience; and experience, hope:

 5 And hope maketh not ashamed; because the love of God is shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Ghost which is given unto us.

Romans 15:13

13 ¶ Now the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, that ye may abound in hope, through the power of the Holy Ghost.

My sister this week was diagnosed with kidney cancer.  While this is devastating news, she still has hope: hope that there will be an effective treatment.  Hope that she’ll be able to beat it and live.  This is the hope of physical life.  However, hope of physical life is best rooted in the hope of eternal life.

From these two Scriptures it is clear that God wants us to have joy and peace through faith unto the abundance of hope through the power of the Holy Spirit.  This is the hope of abundant present life and the hope of eternal life through the resurrection.

Where does that hope come from?

1.     We are justified by faith

2.     We have peace with God through Christ

3.     We have access to grace by faith

4.     We rejoice in hope

Then, we glory in tribulation because…

1.     Tribulation brings patience

2.     Patience brings experience

3.     Experience brings hope

4.     This hope will not let us down or disappoint us

First is the Reason we have hope.

Second is the Recipe for hope.

Third is the Result of hope.

Why do we need to discuss this today?  Because we live in a world of hopelessness.

Describe the painting by Frida Kahlo – Mexican Painter (sad life)

“In the foreground, staring directly at the viewer, white tears visible on her cheeks, the artist lies immobile in a four poster hospital bed, only her head visible above the white sheet covering that is decorated with pale, pastel circles of cells or microscopic organisms.  The towering wooden oak easel that held her canvases, allowing Frida to paint when ill, is now the structure supporting a funnel of physical and emotional preoccupations erupting as vomit from her mouth: fish heads, dead chicken carcasses and fowl entrails, and skull inscribed with her name.  The background is a barren, parched and cracked desert.  The solitary objects in the sky, a moon and red-orange rimmed sun, suggest being trapped eternally, day and night, in this state, "Without Hope" --the painting's title. On the back of the painting Kahlo wrote, "Not the least hope remains to me....Everything moves in tune with what the belly contains."  [Hayden Herrera. Frida Kahlo: The Paintings (New York: HarperPerennial) 2002, p. 187] 1945: 

 

She was hopeless…without hope.  What a sad way to live.

We live in a world full of people without hope.  While many do not express it as graphically as Frieda Kahlo, they still are without hope. 

I’ve met many Christians in my life - and even have been tempted by it myself – who seem to live without hope.  They wrestle with shame, guilt, regret and despair.  While many of these are human emotions and may be experienced in our lives, we cannot keep them or hold onto them.  We must relinquish them in faith to Christ Who has given us the promise of hope.  As Christians we do not need to live in a soup of hopelessness.

Jeremiah17:7,8

“Blessed is the man that trusteth in the LORD, and whose hope the LORD is.  For he shall be as a tree planted by the waters, and that spreadeth out her roots by the river, and shall not see when heat cometh, but her leaf shall be green; and shall not be careful in the year of drought, neither shall cease from yielding fruit.”

This is what God wants for us: a vibrant life rooted in the hope of Himself.  This hope is not idle.  It is not to be conjured up in our own strength.  It is to be rooted in His power and might. 

Ephesians 1:18,19

“That the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give unto you the spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of him:

 18 The eyes of your understanding being enlightened; that ye may know what is the hope of his calling, and what the riches of the glory of his inheritance in the saints,

 19 And what is the exceeding greatness of his power to us-ward who believe, according to the working of his mighty power,

 20 Which he wrought in Christ, when he raised him from the dead, and set him at his own right hand in the heavenly places,

 21 Far above all principality, and power, and might, and dominion, and every name that is named, not only in this world, but also in that which is to come:

 22 And hath put all things under his feet, and gave him to be the head over all things to the church,

 23 Which is his body, the fulness of him that filleth all in all.”

This calls us to realize that our hope is fundamentally based in His power above all things through the resurrection of Jesus Christ.

This hope is an anchor to us:

“19 Which hope we have as an anchor of the soul, both sure and stedfast, and which entereth into that within the veil;” (Hebrews 6:19)

So I encourage us all today: harbor not guilt for sins committed in the past.  Carry not shame for deeds of days gone by.  Imprison yourself not in cells of regret.  Break free of the bars of despair through the power of hope in Christ.

In Christ old things pass away and all becomes new. 

In Christ we are new creatures.

In Christ we may forget the things which lie behind us and press forward to the mark of the high calling of God.

In Christ alone we may stand having this treasure in earthen vessels.

We serve this mighty King Who rules over everything.  He spoke and worlds were hurled into existence.  He breathed and stars were kindled.  He whispered and storms were stilled.  He has not changed.  He does not sleep.  He does not cease to watch over all His creation.

Isaiah 40:

21 Have ye not known? have ye not heard? hath it not been told you from the beginning? have ye not understood from the foundations of the earth?

 22 It is he that sitteth upon the circle of the earth, and the inhabitants thereof are as grasshoppers; that stretcheth out the heavens as a curtain, and spreadeth them out as a tent to dwell in:

 23 That bringeth the princes to nothing; he maketh the judges of the earth as vanity.

 24 Yea, they shall not be planted; yea, they shall not be sown: yea, their stock shall not take root in the earth: and he shall also blow upon them, and they shall wither, and the whirlwind shall take them away as stubble.

 25 To whom then will ye liken me, or shall I be equal? saith the Holy One.

 26 Lift up your eyes on high, and behold who hath created these things, that bringeth out their host by number: he calleth them all by names by the greatness of his might, for that he is strong in power; not one faileth.

 27 ¶ Why sayest thou, O Jacob, and speakest, O Israel, My way is hid from the LORD, and my judgment is passed over from my God?

 28 Hast thou not known? hast thou not heard, that the everlasting God, the LORD, the Creator of the ends of the earth, fainteth not, neither is weary? there is no searching of his understanding.

 29 He giveth power to the faint; and to them that have no might he increaseth strength.

 30 Even the youths shall faint and be weary, and the young men shall utterly fall:

 31 But they that wait upon the LORD shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings as eagles; they shall run, and not be weary; and they shall walk, and not faint.           

Cast all your cares upon the Lord.  He cares for you.  Leave your regrets, your shame, your guilt, your past, your sins, your fears, and any despair that would shackle you or cause you to stumble.  Leave them at the foot of the cross.  Let His blood cover them.  Let the power of His resurrection give you life anew that you may live vibrantly in peace through the joy of this hope in Christ Jesus!

During the Thirty Years' War in the 17th century, German pastor Paul Gerhardt and his family were forced to flee from their home. One night as they stayed in a small village inn, homeless and afraid, his wife broke down and cried openly in despair. To comfort her, Gerhardt reminded her of Scripture promises about God's provision and keeping. Then, going out to the garden to be alone, he too broke down and wept. He felt he had come to his darkest hour.

Soon afterward, Gerhardt felt the burden lifted and sensed anew the Lord's presence. Taking his pen, he wrote a hymn that has brought comfort to many.

"Give to the winds thy fears; hope, and be undismayed;

God hears thy sighs and counts thy tears; God shall lift up thy head.

Through waves and clouds and storms He gently clears the way.

Wait thou His time, so shall the night soon end in joyous day."

Encouragement

Listen as Pastor Rick shares an encouraging message reminding us we are children of Heaven no matter what we face.  Even when we must suffer, if we suffer with Christ we will also be glorified with Him.