PASTORS NOTES

            ‘Forget not all his Benefits’  Deuteronomy 8:1-20  In this eighth chapter of Deuteronomy, Moses warns the people of God of the ease with which they can forget the Lord and his great kindnesses to them and urges them to be careful not to do so, but to remember the Lord and all that he has done.   This warning and this exhortation is as necessary for you and me as it was for the Israelites in that long ago day. That generation of course, as the chapter reminds us, had much to remember. They had just finished those long years in the wilderness, which were necessary, after all, only because their parents had rebelled against the Lord and faithlessly refused to trust his promise to bring them into Canaan in triumph, even though he had brought them so miraculously and triumphantly out of bondage in Egypt, had brought them out   TIME TO REMEMBER: BLESS THE LORD AND FORGET NOT ALL HIS BENEFITS ****************************************...

  “ Pride goes before destruction, a haughty spirit before a fall.” ‭‭Proverbs‬ ‭16‬:‭18‬ ‭NIV‬‬ Remove every prideful area in your life. When pride rises — know that destruction is near. Pride destroys destiny. Pride is the forerunner to destruction. When you see pride functioning in the life of others know that destruction and deterioration is near.  Pride does not value wisdom. Proverbs‬ ‭11:14‬ ‭AMPC‬‬ states, “Where no wise guidance is, the people fall, but in the multitude of counselors there is safety.” Pride doesn’t value guidance or wise counsel. Pride will derail your destiny and cause you to shipwreck. Pride isolates and will cause you to whither in the wilderness. Pride will delay your promise and keep you in bondage. Pride is the enemy’s weapon to keep you in cycles.  “For rebellion is as the sin of witchcraft, and stubbornness is as iniquity and idolatry. Because thou hast rejected the word of the Lord, he hath also rejected thee from being king.” 1 Samuel‬ ...

  Our Money Is Not Our Own We enter into the world with nothing and we leave with nothing. One of the first lessons that I learned a few years ago that really changed the way I thought about money was simply this: none of it is mine. It is all God’s.  I have the privilege and opportunity to be a steward of what He has given me. Stewardship is something that I hear a lot of talk about, but not a lot of understanding.  I truly believe that understanding what stewardship is and how it applies to our lives will change the way we make decisions each and every day. If we really understand what it means to be stewards, we will begin to not only see our lives change, but also the world around us.  Like all other Biblical principles, tremendous benefit is gained by following them. Once I began looking at my money this way, it changed my whole financial outlook and helped me to be more focused on pleasing God with the money entrusted to me. Even if we spent our lives and ignor...

  Recognizing God's Trust and Our Responsibility Matthew 25: 14-30 read  In the Parable of the Talents, we see that God entrusts us with resources according to our abilities.  There is a lot to unpack here, but today let's start by focusing on recognizing God's trust and our responsibility to manage His resources wisely.  As stewards, we're called to faithfully manage and grow what God has entrusted us with. But being a good steward doesn't just mean avoiding debt or living frugally.  It means investing wisely and multiplying, just as the servants did in the parable. Recall the one servant who buried what he had was led by fear to maintain, while the other two servants were led by faith to multiply. Reflect on your own life and ask yourself how you've been using the resources God has given you. Are you burying your talents in the ground, or multiplying them for the Kingdom? Let's pray: Dear Father, thank You for entrusting me with the resources and talents Y...

  Today's Scripture Genesis 39:2, NLT  “Father, thank You for the gifts and talents that You have given me. Thank You for calling me to keep developing my skills and being my best in whatever I do. I choose to be a blessing no matter what my situation is, knowing You are causing me to rise to the top. In Jesus’ Name, Amen.”  Today's Word In the Scripture, many heroes of the faith started out at the very bottom. Think of Joseph. He was thrown in a pit and sold into slavery by his own brothers. But even as a slave, he developed his skills and was so valuable that he was put in charge of his master’s whole household.  When he was falsely accused and put into prison, he was so valuable there that they put him in charge of the whole prison. When Pharaoh needed someone to run the country during the famine, he didn’t choose his department head.  He chose Joseph, a prisoner, a slave. Why? Joseph developed his skills where he was. He asked God for wisdom and offered solu...

  Today's Scripture Ephesians 2:10, NLT  For we are God’s masterpiece. He has created us anew in Christ Jesus, so we can do the good things he planned for us long ago.  Today's Word Psychologists say our self-worth is often based upon what we believe the most important people in our lives think of us—a parent, a spouse, a friend, or a mentor.  The problem is that sooner or later people say something that cuts like a knife and brings heartache and pain, or they show by their actions that we’re not really that important.  If we’re receiving our value and worth only from those who hurt us, we’ll likely feel inferior, insecure, and less and less valuable over time.    The key to gaining a true sense of value is to let your Heavenly Father be the most important person in your life. If you listen to what He says about you, you’ll feel accepted, approved, redeemed, forgiven, confident, and secure.  You will feel extremely valuable, and that’s exactly the...

  We all have to deal with things that come to an end. We lose our main givers , a friend we’ve always counted on moves away, a loved one goes to be with the Lord. We’ve seen God’s goodness in the past, we’ve known we had His blessing, but it seems as though that blessing is taken away.  But God never removes something unless He has something better coming. If He didn’t stop certain things, we would never get out of our comfort zone.  When you don’t understand why the friend walks away or why the company pushes you out, God is not doing that to make your life more difficult. He’s getting you in position for increase. He stops what is working to force you to stretch so you can see greater provision, greater fulfillment, and greater favor. In order to hide the prophet Elijah from King Ahab, God told him to go to a brook where “the ravens brought him bread and meat each morning and evening, and he drank from the brook” (1 Kings 17:6).  God promised him this abundant pro...