Aiding Haiti

Many of us have watched in horror over the last week and half as body after body continues to be pulled from the ruins of what use to be Haiti. I know that in our fellowship many of you have been in prayer and have shown a desire to help. Earlier today I was made aware of 2 men (James Macdonald and Mark Driscoll) who come from different spectrums in the Christian community that are partnering together to come to the aide of as many saints as possible in Haiti.
We need to remember that these are our brothers and sisters in Christ and they need our help.

Galatians 6:10 says “as we have opportunity, let us do good to everyone, and especially to those who are of the household of faith”.

We at TFAB may be a small fellowship in the greatness of the Body of Christ, but we are a part of that body, so perhaps God would spur us along with the rest of the body to reveal the goodness and glory of God by helping and aiding them.

We as a church body will continue to pray, and have designated funds to aide our brothers and sisters in Christ. If you desire to help, I would ask you to continue to pray that God will save many through this, that they will see His goodness and His glory, and I would ask you to pray about helping by donating to Churches helping Churches.

http://www.churcheshelpingchurches.com/

Much Grace,

Loren

10/22/09 Thought for the day

James 4:14 You do not know what tomorrow will bring. What is your life? For you are a mist that appears for a little time and then vanishes.

Anytime you go to a memorial service or a funeral, it causes you to be reminded that life is short.  I was reminded of that once again at Ellie Jauregui’s memorials service.  For those of you that did not have the blessing of knowing Ellie, she was a beautiful 8 year old girl that touched many lives in the midst of her struggle with retts syndrome. This past week she went home to be with the Lord and since that time, this verse has been thrust to the forefront of my mind.

You see, none of us has any idea of how tomorrow will unfold. We make our plans; as Proverb says, “a man plans His course but the Lord determines his steps.”  The truth is our lives, whether we like it or not, are in the sovereign hands of God. For some that is fearful; and it should be if they do not know God and if they have not received the atonement for their sin by the blood of Jesus Christ. Yet for us who have this hope and have placed our trust and faith in Him, we can rest knowing that our Loving, Gracious, and Merciful Father knows absolutely what is best and needed for us!

I talked with a man earlier this month, and He said “Loren this last year has been a tremendous year of growth in my walk with God. I love God and I desire to be passionate about God. I have grown more in this past year than any other time in my walk.” Then later as he was talking about various financial difficulties that he was in he said “I just do not understand why this is happening?” I looked at Him and simply said remember what you had just told me, that you were growing, that you are now passionate about the things of God, don’t you understand that God is more concerned about us personally than our present comfortability! This last year you grew in your walk God because you finally started spending time with Him! You took your eyes off of what you deemed as success and put them on the perfect picture of success!

Listen – wherever you are at, in whatever state you may be in, life is too short to fret and worry about tomorrow! Tomorrow is something that we do not know about nor do we have control over! Tomorrow could bring joy, tomorrow could bring sorrow, or tomorrow may be the day that you are taken home to be with the Lord for this life is so short!

Can I encourage you TODAY, to pause and take some time from what may or may not even matter in light of eternity, to first and foremost THANK GOD! Glorify Him! Worship Him! Love Him! You may even need to wrestle through some questions in your mind or some issues in your heart! Thats O.K. Read the Psalms and see that David wrestled out loud often with GOD!

Once you have spent time with God, tell your wife you love her and mean it! Get her a card, or write a note on a piece of paper and leave it on the bathroom mirror, computer, or counter. Keep it simple, Keep it sweet!
Tell your husband “you know what babe, you’re the man, and I just love being your wife!”  Trust me he will eat that up!
Tell your kids how much they have impacted your understanding of what real love is! Email a friend a note that says you’re thinking about them or praying for them. Tell your enemy that they are forgiven! Can I encourage you to do something that matters in this mistiness Called LIFE!

Life is too short to plan ahead and miss out on those things that matter today!

Grace,

LOREN

Let’s face it, we are weak…

As we get out of bed and put our feet on the floor with a stretch, we look at what is before us for the day with great excitement thinking ‘I can do this…‘  But, whether it is a job/project to finish, a customer to take care of, or a desk to organize; there are times when we bite off more than we can chew so to speak.  We get tripped up and trapped in what we can actually do for ourselves, others, and most importantly for Jesus.

Now before we arrive in the doldrums of despair, we must realize that God knows our physical, mental, spiritual, and emotional frame – that we are dust (Psm. 103:14).  The Apostle Paul – a great man of God – echoed this same state of indigence when he said that it is not profitable to him to boast about himself (in II Cor. 12); and though he was shown many great things, he was troubled with a “thorn in the flesh”.  Paul, someone that all Jesus Followers look up to, pleaded & begged three times with the Lord for this painful circumstance to be removed.  And how did the Lord respond?  Did He react by just answering his request like some sort of genie in a bottle?  On the contrary, look closely at V9: “My grace is sufficient for you, for My strength is made perfect in weakness”.

So as we put our feet on the ground for the day, let’s live to have a heart that desires to kneel first at the feet of the Lord, knowing that it is by His sufficient grace we are able to do what we do throughout the day.  As we walk in the Spirit, following the very footsteps of Jesus in this life, let us brag about our feeble, weak, and frail stature apart from the Lord.  For surely we can have the power of Christ then.  We can then say like Paul “For when I am weak, then I am strong” (V10).

Scott C.

Word for the day 9/17/09

As I grabbed my bible this morning and read Mark 1:35-38 ( And rising very early in the morning, while it was still dark, he departed and went out to a desolate place, and there he prayed.  And Simon and those who were with him searched for him and they found him and said to him, “Everyone is looking for you.”  And he said to them, “Let us go on to the nect towns, that I may preach there also, for that is what I came for”.)

A couple of things stuck out to me:

1. Notice the Time Jesus rose early in the morning while it was still dark…. Many people think that there is not enough time in a day to spend time with our heavenly father, and I get it.  You get up, some of you work out, go for a run, you hit the shower, you eat, you get the kids ready, you get them off to school, you head to work all the while the Crackberry, the email, the boss, starts blasting you with all of the needs of the day.  Listen Jesus gets that.  EVERYONE was seeking Him, so what did he do, he got up a little earlier because he understood the importance of spending time alone with the Father.  What do we value more Sleep/Direction…Sleep/Devotion…. 

2. Notice the Location, he went to a desolate place….the word there means Solitary a quiet place where no one else is… For me I have a couple of these places.  I have a small office in which I can close the doors shut myself in and  have Serenity quietness.  I have also found a place that I can walk to in my neighborhood, sit down and be still before the Lord.  The key is finding a place without distraction.  That may be your backyard, bedroom, might be your bathroom but find a quiet place where you can be still and wait upon the Lord for He does desire to speak if we are willing to listen.

3. Notice the Action… He prayed.  He talked and conversed with the Father.  It is obvious by his actions that he asked for direction for the day.  He told the disciples that he would go into the next towns.  Now this was confusing to them, for everyone was seeking him there, everyone wanted to see him there.  He had a captivated audience yet after spending time with the Father he new that he had different orders. Sometimes we get caught up in ministering to everyone and every need and we end up scattered and confused, burnt out, and tired simply because we never sought the direction of the Father who says go some where else.  That said I would ask you are you ministering according to need (which there are to many) or are you being obedient to His leading and direction because you have spent time with Him?

4. Notice His Motivation- I need to preach!  The more I study the life of Christ the more I see that much of it was spent preaching and teaching the people.  Yes He healed, yes he fed, yes he had compassion, but in all of those things He would find a way to preach the goodness of the kingdom of God.  Jesus was a teacher!

My prayer for us today is that we might find the time, to sit before Jesus, listen to Jesus, be led by Jesus, and lead others to Him as we speak about Him!

Grace, Loren

Scott’s 1st Week at TFAB

Wow – what a privilege it is to serve and pastor at TFAB.  What awesome love is demonstrated from the Body!  May the Joy of the LORD be our strength always (Neh. 8:10). 

New office (235 SE Wilson Ave, Ste 200), New workflow from Tues-Sunday, working with New Creations.  How fresh!  He truly makes all things new.

I am taken back, once again, at the genuine care, support, and servantmindedness of the followers of Christ at TFAB.  How great to know that we are “being built together into a dwelling place for God by the Spirit” (Ephesians 2:22).  Look forward to seeing you all this Sunday! -Scott-