Take Heart

John 16:33  These things I have spoken to you, that in Me you may have peace. In the world you will have tribulation; but be of good cheer, I have overcome the world."

I have been thinking alot about the Joy of The Lord the last day and 1/2 or so.  In His presence is fullness of joy.  The joy of the Lord is my strength.  These are scriptures that have been ringing through my head.

This morning I came across the above scripture (John 16:33), and it seemed to scream out the reason for the joy.  The joy or peace in this world is in Jesus.  Life will give many dissappointments, many struggles, many temptations for worldly possesions and pleasures.  However a fulfilled & joyful life is a life that has peace in Jesus regardless of physical things that occur.
       Take heart, be of good cheer, no matter the thoughts, no matter the obstacles, no matter the sickness or pain.  No matter what comes Jesus has absolutely overcome the world.  The world or worldly system or temptation is not the master, Jesus is the master. 
      Have peace in sorrow, peace in trails because the situation doesn't control you, but Jesus in you controls the situation.  No wonder Paul said in

Colossians 3:2

Let heaven fill your thoughts. Do not think only about things down here on earth.

The joy is found in the things of heaven; misery, dissappointment, discontentment, jealousy, is found in the things and situations of this earth.

                 Be of good cheer, Jesus has overcome the world.

October 31st message

Just wanted to clear somethings that Calley says may not be so clear.




So here we go:



1. Saturday's fun begins at 5 till 8

2. The bible character dress up is for adults as well as children, and I think it would be wonderful to be as involved as possible as an encouragement to the children and showing a real involvement with them. Come even if you don't dress up, but it sure would be cool if you would.

3. Guys --- if you are willing I would love to see you at 1:30 to help with setting up for the activities for the night.

4. Girls --- contact Calley at 601-334-0724 or Cristi at 336-9539 for help in that department.

5. Everybody is wanted by 5:00pm on Saturday. :)

Also I would like to explain somethings about this fun Saturday night.
As a church, as pastor, and as just plain on Danny Reed, halloween is not a celebrated event. On the subject of Halloween, it is an evil root that it began with, and because of evil it still exist today. I can explain the traditions and origins of Halloween in pretty good detail, but I will save time and say you can google it or ask me and I will be glad to explain. To say that the evil origins and the evils of halloween till this day are not obvious is really just ignoring the obvious.

With that said, some may wonder why are we having anything on halloween then. Well this is an event that Calley and I have wrestled with for several years, and have strongly opposed. For years I have excused myself from halloween alternatives by saying "Christians shouldn't have an alternative to evil." Each year I have also thought to myself well plenty of other churches have activities going on for an alternative. And while they are both true and valid, the fact I can't ignore any longer is that some of the children that go to our church will not go anywhere else.

This year we decided to venture out and begin this annual event because number one I don't believe in alternatives, so why not take what the devil intended for evil and kick him in the face with a Godly atmosphere and a wholesome enviroment for people to be in. Jesus isn't an alternative, He is the defeator of the devil. This is a night of victory not just alternatives. The more time goes on, the more I realize that the less Christians do, the more people the devil ruins, and I don't want to miss an opportunity to rescue someone.

In light of all the above I have finally decided on a name for Saturday's event. It is Hallelujah Night, cause it is a night that Jesus will be lifted up, regardless of the reasons that October 31st began a couple 100 years ago, Jesus is the victor, He has defeated the devil and he won't stop. HALLELUJAH OUR GOD REIGNS.

Have an awesome day,

Danny and Calley



p.s. I take no responsibility for bad grammar, runons, fragments, rambling or the likes. lol.

The reaction matters

Matthew 5:39 But I say, do not resist an evil person!  If someone slaps you on the right cheek, offer the other cheek also.

Now this is what I am talking about.  A verse like this gets me all excited cause it completely slams the human's natural sinful reaction. 
   As a child and teenager, a youth pastor and now pastor, I have heard through the years all to often of the kids that say "my daddy/momma told me if someone hits me and I don't hit em back then I will be in trouble when I get home."  The other statements I hear are from parents, "well I don't want my kid getting pushed around, I want him/her to stand up for themself."  I realize the statements sound right, and people think they are right but the truth is they are wrong.

   I can say from my 31 years of life, there are 2 very real truths:
1. Look for trouble and you will find trouble. In other words if you are always running your mouth and feel the need to have the last word, then sooner or later somebody is going to punch you in the face.
2. If you don't start trouble, then 99% there will be no trouble.  In other words, if you would learn to not be cocky and shut your mouth every now and then, then you will find yourself with more and better friends.

Now with that in mind, lets examine something.  According to the scripture. the person who is doing the hitting is evil in the eyes of God.  And no matter from the nice guy who had a bad day to the serial killer who may kill my very own child, my job and God's expectation of me is to forgive the person and love them regardless.  Now yes the government is set up to protect us, and it is the government's job to put the people who do crimes in jail, but my job is to love them and forgive them.  This is hard to do, I know of only one man so far other than Jesus who has forgiven someone no matter what.  A man named Richard Coss had grandchildren in Oklahoma City when Timothy McVeigh blew up the building known as the Oklahoma City bombing.  Richard after some time went and talked to McVeigh face to face and told him that he was forgiven, and proceded to share the message of Jesus Christ to him.  What a freedom it is to not have bitterness.
    The other fact in the scripture is that if the person who throws the first punch is evil, then the person who responds with a punch is in the same category.  So for parents who encourage their child to not get pushed around and to hit back, you my friend are training your child to be evil.  I believe any parent has a sincere desire to not want to train their child to be evil.  For the person who encourages their friend to fight back and get mad, you are also in the evil category.
     I believe majority of adults do not want to be evil, but it is our human natures.  Simply because of our birth as sinners we are actually born evil.  At any moment in this life though, we can ask for God's forgiveness and be free of this guilt and evilness.  Ultimately our sins are the nails that were hammered in Jesus's hands and feet.  My and your sins are the ultimate slap of death to Jesus, and yet to all who are willing to receive the forgiveness, He will turn the other cheek and love you while doing so. 

                                                                   Timothy McVeigh

I would have let this kid hang out around my house, I would probably have went fishing and hunting with this guy.  He looked harmless, but looks don't matter when a person does not know the love and forgivness of Jesus.  Live life like Jesus is walking beside you, share Him with others, you never know how many people's lives will be affected because you do.

I bet alot of people thought he was harmless, the right friends could have been the right example to him and possibly saved alot of people from a very sad day.  The truth is any of your friends have the potential to be the next rapest, murderer, molestor, will you tell them about the love of Jesus?  Will you live it out, so they can see the love of Jesus?  Will you turn the other cheek, and teach your children and friends to do the same thing?   From what I see everybody just wants to be really loved.  People want a love so great that gives them purpose and give them significance.  The only problem is apart from accepting the love of Jesus there is no other perfect love that last and fulfills in this entire world.

The Laugh Is A Lie

LAUGHTER IS A CONCEALER

Proverbs 14:13

Laughter can conceal a heavy heart; when the laughter ends the grief remains.

Conceal--to keep from being seen, found, observed, or discovered; hide

Grief--Deep mental anguish, source of deep mental anguish, annoyance or frustration, trouble or difficulty

   As I read this verse a couple of days ago, my heart began to break.  It breaks for the fact of what I have seen throughout my life and what I have seen in teenage boys and girls throughout my years as a youth minister.  I now see this in adults.  It seems that the ones who laugh the most are the ones who so often hurt the most on the inside.  The ones who laugh at anything and seem so happy go lucky are also so often the ones who cry themselves to sleep at night. 

   This is a hard thing to deal with because so often the same people will make sure and not let anyone get too close.  There is the other group of  people who seem to always have a chip on their shoulder all the time, these are the ones that get picked on, and hated for the way they act.

    What I have discovered is that when people laugh, lots of times they laugh to hide the hurt.  I have also learned that when people are mean, they are mean because they have been hurt so badly that for all they know every nice talking person is a con and nobody can be trusted.

     The world we live in shows us according to TV shows that beautiful equals happy, yet their beauty is fake.  We see famous people that have amazing weddings, the only problem is they never stay married more than an average 2 to 3 years max.  A once famous rapper Snoop Dogg didn't even allow his children to listen to his music yet he didn't mind ruining the minds of others teaching that women, money and booze equals happiness.

     Jesus desires to bring healing, He has paid the price for healing.  The problem with humans today is that we have been trained that everybody is really a fake and a dissapointment, so Jesus can only be more of the same.  After all, it is difficult for some to believe in a loving God they can't see when they have been hurt by so many they can see.

     The message hasn't changed, Jesus still displayed his love by His death on the cross.  Jesus Christ was involved in creation and He chose to come to earth not to bail people out of hell. In Revelation 13:8 it states "the Lamb (Jesus) that was slain from the creation of the world."
     Jesus Christ plan was to come to earth to suffer, be rejected and die a perfect sinless life in order to cover the sins of people.  The sins He would cover on that cross were the sins of the people that He was about to create.  Jesus knows we are flawed people, He knows the hurting hearts, and He truly loves you.
     Laughter can hide the pain, but the pain will remain.  Your friends don't care enough to be able to see past the smile or past the stange anger you seem to have towards people for no reason.  Jesus does care.  Jesus can and will heal.  Only you know what inside of you, others don't.  Don't pretend for them any longer, if the laughter is not getting you free of the issues of your heart, then quit trying a failed plan.  Turn to the one who knows and cares more than any other.

John 8:11b And Jesus said, "neither do I condemn you, now go and sin no more."

     I wonder what she is really like on the inside, wonder what the guys are really like on the inside.  I wonder what they are really thinking right now.

I know the emptiness on the inside of these guys cause I used to be one of them.  I smiled but felt so unaccepted.  I got tired of being a fake, I learned that faking never ends the issues, and never heals.  Jesus healed my heart 8/25/97.  When did or will He heal yours?

Life is short

2 Timothy 3:1-4
1.But mark this: There will be terrible times in the last days.People will be lovers of themselves, lovers of money, boastful, proud, abusive, disobedient to their parents, ungrateful, unholy,  3.without love, unforgiving, slanderous, without self-control, brutal, not lovers of the good, 4.treacherous, rash, conceited, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God--

     Wow, I think this pretty much describes society.  Now I am not the person to say that it is the end of the world, but the end will come one day, and people will be living when it does happen.  It amazes me to talk with people, I find that almost every person lives like they will never die, yet people die everyday.  It is obvious that the devil doesn't mind most of the human race believing that the world will end, just not now and also that every person will die but just not for a long time like at 97 years old or something.
    This is all interesting to me cause I remember thinking like this, and still catch myself thinking this way sometimes.  I remember as a kid I planned on living it up until about 40 years old and then I would settle down, get married and probably go to church.  It never occured to me that I could die at 8 or 10 or 20 or at just anytime.  As I got to be a teenager I realized that one day Jesus would come back to earth and at that time everyone would go to heaven or hell depending on whether they had chose Jesus as their Savior or not.  But while I knew Jesus would come back I never considered that it could happen while I was alive.  So for a large part of my life I lived it up, after all I was going to settle down at 40 years old. 
      As I sit here today and reflect, I am glad that I woke up to the fact that when a person truly believes on Jesus to be their Savior then He literally changes their very nature.  He changes our wants and our likes and dislikes.  I now see that Jesus could return at literally any moment, maybe today, maybe before I finish this post. 
      The facts are obvious for those who look for signs, we are a generation of people that is more pleasure seeking than words can describe, talking about being disobedient well there is medicine for that now days.  There are those who are without self control, oh yea thats right we call this road rage and yes there is a road rage pill available.  The bottom line is we have become a people who seek after pleasures rather than God and we seek a pill to fix our problems rather than Jesus who can heal the issue. 
      The saddest reality of seeking pleasure though is that I don't know of a single person who has ever found a true pleasure that last, and doesn't fade and doesn't grow old apart from the joy that is found in Jesus. 
 
Could it be that the very thing that we as a people avoid is the very thing that we really want?  I can say from my own experience that it was Jesus that I stayed away from for a large part of my life and I later discovered that Jesus was all I truly ever wanted.  Worldy pleasures come and go, and usually leave people with hangovers, STD's and depression, but Jesus brings a joy into a person's life that never stops.  Even when the world is over, life will be good.
 
Isaiah 53:5  But he was pierced for our transgressions, he was crushed for our iniquities; the punishment that brought us peace was upon him, and by his wounds we are healed.

Think Of As Human

2 Corinthians 5:16-17  So we have stopped evaluating others by what the world thinks about them. Once I mistakenly thought of Christ that way, as though he were merely a human being. How differently I think about him now!  17.What this means is that those who become Christians become new persons. They are not the same anymore, for the old life is gone. A new life has begun!

Wow, I think all of mankind has been guilty of this.  It seems that it is often a struggle to try to explain to a person the amazing love of God.  There are really no words on this earth that can describe Jesus in a way that a person who isn't a Christian would understand.  Jesus seems to be hard to describe because all discriptive adjectives are based on something that is physical and known to the physical senses.  Jesus is way beyond the physical though, His work is done on us from the inside and then comes out.  How is someone to describe that they have this amazing joy even in the middle of physical hard times?  A non-christian can't understand having joy immediatly after you just became paralized for life, I know a person this happened too.   A non-christian can't understand knowing that no matter what happens, God really does love and He does forgive, that God does not turn anyone away that calls out to Him.  But once a person calls out to Jesus and cry out to be forgiven of their sins, then that person becomes a 100% new person, because they are instantly given a clean heart.  This clean heart that God gives has different emotions, and a different view point.  As a sincere Christian, the person realizes that God is not suprised by the storm in their life, He knows the end results, and is ready to walk you through to victory.
      All the confusion begins as Paul said in the scripture above though, he used to think Jesus to be like other humans.  Humans are born sinners and are terribly wicked by nature, though Jesus will change that nature to all who call to Him.  Most people view Jesus for instance like a person who likes you when your good, and is mad at you when your bad. From a non-christian mind set, a person may even view Jesus as saying 3 strikes and your out.  However Jesus is not like the rest of mankind, He wasn't born a sinner, in fact He never sinned.  Since He was not born with our wicked heart, He does not have a wicked heart.  Jesus has a heart full of compassion and healing.  His desire is for all of man-kind to have a very very close relationship with Him.  In spite of our rebellion and rotten attitudes, Jesus is still forgiving and reaching out to us.  Don't ever be fooled my friend that Jesus has given up on you or doesn't want you.  Just the same, don't believe that because Jesus loves you so much He would not allow you to be miserable and die and go to hell.  We make the choice of obtaining a new nature that we weren't born with naturally, and we make the choice of where we spend eternity based on whether or not we called out to Jesus to be our perfect father during our life.  Once you are truly a Christian, you will no longer view Jesus from your human point of view.

Isaiah 65:2 2."I have spread out My hands all day long to a rebellious people, Who walk in the way which is not good, following their own thoughts,

Prejudices That Must Die

Galatians 3:27 And all who have been united with Christ in baptism have been made like him.
This is a subject that is to some degree constantly on my mind. As I have grown up as a non-christian and now a large portion of my life as a christian there are many "Christians" who have confused me with their talk. Prejudice is a trait that I find in all races of people, but sadly also in alot of Christians.
I think it is time that the body of Christ acknowledges and confronts those we call brother and sister about allowing this characteristic of satan to have place in their new life in Christ.
Once a man had a near death experience, during that time he reflected on his life and had many regrets for the racial jokes he made on a regular basis. This same man, told myself as well as several others to keep him accountable, and he wanted to live the rest of his life with no more racial jokes or thoughts, he realized when facing death what a sin that the jokes were. Within 2 weeks time, this same man was feeling as if he hadn't almost died, and was back to his old self, with the old jokes. I pulled him aside and spoke privately with him, as he had asked me to just a couple of weeks prior. I thought all was well, but quickly found out that now the joke was on me, cause he went back to the crowd and told how I had pulled him aside and confronted him. I immediately became the punchline for the crowds jokes. People made fun of me then instead of other races. I didn't mind being picked on but it did bother me that the whole crowd claimed to be christian, they were all church regulars, some leaders.
I don't say this to say all Christians are hypocrites, I tell the story to confront the body and say this is a shame. If one part suffers or is weak, then the whole body suffers, you suffer and I suffer. We are called to strengthen one another, and to keep each other accountable, but do understand that when our wrongs are pointed out our flesh will not like it, but the spirit man craves it. Who do we desire to please more, the flesh or the spirit.
Before parting, some people may think the man in my story needs to not talk like he does, after all one human is no more favored than another in God's eyes. Jesus loves and desires everyone.
The real question is what about you and I, is there any racism in you? Maybe you wouldn't tell a racist or degrading joke, maybe you don't enjoy that humor, good for you. Would you have a problem with your child, grandchild, sibling marrying a person of another race? If so, then you my friend like it or not are racist. A sad fact I see in the church among parents is they don't mind their child dating or even marrying a lost person, or just a person who attends church but has no passion for Jesus at all. However the same parent would be upset if their child was dating or engaged to a person of another race who is radically in love with Jesus.
The old people say it would cause hardship on the children of the couple, or that society would give them a hard time. Hey people, the world accepted the interracial couples and children a long time ago.
Paul said we are all united in baptism. Paul said there is neither Greek or Jew once a person is in Christ. Have you accepted this truth from God's word? Until love sees no dividing lines among God's people, the body of Christ is greatly restrained and hindered.
1 John 4:20 If someone says, "I love God," but hates a Christian brother or sister; that person is a liar; for if we don't love people we can see, how can we love God, whom we have not seen?
Some people think my view point on God's Word is to harsh or strong, I just simply see the Word of God as black and white with no room left for gray.