Gaining Strength

I continue to make progress in my recovery from pneumonia. Once again I than each of you for your prayers and for the encouraging and thoughtful words that have been shared with me. I am grateful for the faithfulness of God. This season of Christmas has once again reminded me of God's faithfulness. The characters in the Christmas story testify to us of the faithfulness of God. Each of us have testimonies that declare the faithfulness of God. We are able to share with people the greatness of God as He continues to reveal and release His love into our lives. I desire to continue sharing the Love of God with a lost and hurting world. The birth of Christ reminds us of the plan that God has for fallen humanity. I am glad that God did not choose to give up on man but God chose to give man an opportunity to find redemption and salvation through Jesus Christ. Let us rejoice as we recognize the great blessing of salvation through our Savior who was born in the lowly manger in Bethlehem.

Illness Update

First of all I want to thank each of you who have been praying for me and for my recovery. Through the strength of your prayers and by the Grace of God I was able to make the long drive (620 plus miles) home on this past Thursday. The Lord was Gracious and Kind and provided the energy that I needed to make the safe drive from Bethany, NC. My wife took me to the Dr. on Thursday evening and I was diagnosed with pneumonia in the right lung. The Dr. placed me on a strong antibiotic and ordered me to rest at home. I am doing my best to follow the orders of the Dr. and I am recuperating at home and I feel my strength returning more each day. I desire your continued prayer covering for my complete recovery. I have work to do in the Kingdom of God and I feel the urge and need to be about the "Father's business." I appreciate the kindness of the people in NC who sought to assist me in my illness. I was also reminded of the importance of praying for each other. I am convinced that it was the prayer covering of the family of God that provided the strength that I needed to make my way back to Louisville. Never under estimate the power of your prayers when you call out to God in sincere faith and belief. Each of us depend on the prayers of the family of God and each of us need to fulfill our responsibility to pray for each other.

Update on NC Trip

I have decided to cancel the remaining services of the NC tour due to my sickness. I reached this conclusion after prayer and discussion with Pastor Bill Tatum of the White Oak, NC church. Thank you Pastor Bill for your kindness and for your understanding. Thank you Pastor Doug Howard and the Taylor's Chapel church for excusing me from my ministerial duties the past three nights. I am feeling somewhat better and I will begin my trip home to Louisville on Thursday morning. I desire your prayer covering as this is a long drive and I am still weak from the sickness. But I take this moment to offer praise to God for His marvelous grace and blessing. This is the first time that I have had to cancel any services due to illness during the time that I have been on this Evangelistic/Missionary journey (almost four years to be exact). Thank God for His Healing and for the Health that He provides on a daily basis. I also want to thank each of you who have been praying for my recovery; I know that the Lord is touching is me.

Lack of Posts

I have been ill for the past few days and I still need the prayer of those who read this blog. I have been unable to fulfill my commitment for the services at Taylor's Chapel. At this point I am unsure of the services at White Oak, NC this weekend. The services at Stedman and Roseboro, NC went very well. I do appreciate the prayers of the people of God; I walk daily in the strength that God provides!

Decisions

Last night and again this morning the Spirit is dealing with me concerning decisions. Life is a series of events that requires me to make decisions. Certainly some of these decisions are easier than others and some of these decisions do not carry the same repercussions as other decisions. But I am concerned about making the correct decisions when it comes to my relationship with God. Will I choose to respond to God or will I choose to reject God? Will I choose to receive His correction and admonition or will I choose to walk in my own will and way? Will I choose to surrender my life to His Lordship or will I continue to walk after the leading of fleshly desires and plans? Each of these questions are very important and they will play a significant role in our spiritual development. I am hearing the Voice of the Spirit in my personal prayer time, I am hearing the Voice of the Spirit in public worship services, and I am hearing the Voice of the Spirit in the declaration of the Word of God. But what am I doing with His Voice and with His call? Will I continue to choose to ignore this call or will I reach the conclusion that my spiritual life depends on me following after Christ with true resolve and strong desire? I believe that many of you are sensing the same encouragement from God and I believe that many of us will choose to answer God with a resounding YES. Yes, we are ready to follow Him and yes we are ready to obey Him.

Recognizing Advent

The presence of the Lord was very evident in the service last night in Stedman, NC. We gathered together to lift up and exalt the name of Christ as we enter the season of celebration that many refer to as Advent. We gathered to celebrate the birth of Christ, the Savior of the world. I want to share something with you that Sis. Jackie Baldwin (Pastor's wife) spoke last night as she began to lead the worship service. She made this statement: "I do not want to lose the celebration of Advent in the busyness of the celebration of Christmas (secular celebrations)." My heart was deeply challenged by that declaration. It is so easy to be captured by the hustle and bustle of the events during the month of December that we fail to properly recognize the birth of Christ, the Hope for our world. Oh, we may give Christ a "token" glance so that we can keep up the appearance of religious seriousness but do we actually take the time to reflect on the birth of the Savior of the world? I do not want to lose Christ in all of the secular trappings of the Christmas celebration. These celebrations may have their place in our family traditions and even in our church traditions but let us make a conscious effort to maintain our spiritual integrity and worship our Savior and King. A line from one the traditional Christmas carols presents this challenge, "O come let us adore Him..." Will you join me in adoring Him this Christmas season? Will you join me in leading your family into adoring Him this Christmas season? He is worthy of our adoration and worship. After all, Christmas is truly a time to celebrate the birth of our Redeemer who came to deliver mankind from the clutches of the enemy. Today let us celebrate Christ our Savior!

Walking after God

Yesterday was a travel day for me. I am in Stedman, NC (near Fayetteville) for a series of meetings over the next few days. You can look at the schedule to be able to identify the churches in which I will be serving as speaker. I am looking forward to these meetings and I believe that the presence of God will be with us as we look to direction from His Word and the strength of His Spirit. Pastor Don and Jackie Baldwin are serving as hosts for the first few days of these meetings. This is the "perfect" time of the year to be able to turn our hearts to Christ. The stores are decorated for the celebration of Christmas, the airwaves are full of music reminding us of the birth of Christ, and the anticipation of celebration is on the hearts of many of us. We will be poised for a mighty move of the Spirit if we can turn all of the secular excitement into spiritual enthusiasm for a deeper relationship with Christ. As we enter into the celebration of the birth of Christ let us remind ourselves of the true purpose of Christ's entry into this world. He came for the redemption of mankind. He came to restore man back into fellowship with God. He came that we can have eternal life. He came that men and women could be rescued and redeemed from the bondage of sin. Oh, we have so much to celebrate as we enter the time we call Christmas. I know that this has been said before but we need to keep the true meaning of Christmas settled in our hearts. Our focus needs to be on our relationship with Christ and our need to walk after His will and way. Let us recommit our lives to following after Christ and allowing His Spirit to direct our steps.