Pause

I hope this week you will take some time and "Give Thanks to the Lord." This is not a meaningless pursuit, for the scripture states, "Give Thanks to the Lord, for he is good! His faithful love endures forever." Giving Thanks reminds us of the goodness and faithfulness of God. The One behind the blessings.
When we fail to thank the Giver of all things we come to idolize the blessing and set our heart affections on the gift rather than the giver.(children, family, success, honor, money, etc)

Years ago AB Simpson wrote in the hymn HIMSELF,

Once it was the blessing, Now it is the Lord;

Once it was the feeling, Now it is His Word.

Once His gifts I wanted, Now the Giver own;

Once I sought for healing, Now Himself alone.

Once 'twas painful trying, Now 'tis perfect trust;

Once a half salvation, Now the uttermost.

Once 'twas ceaseless holding, Now He holds me fast;

Once 'twas constant drifting, Now my anchor's cast.

Once 'twas busy planning, Now 'tis trustful prayer;

Once 'twas anxious caring, Now He has the care.

Once 'twas what I wanted, Now what Jesus says;

Once 'twas constant asking, Now 'tis ceaseless praise.

Once it was my working, His it hence shall be;

Once I tried to use Him, Now He uses me.

Once the power I wanted, Now the Mighty One;

Once for self I labored, Now for Him alone.

Once I hoped in Jesus, Now I know He's mine;

Once my lamps were dying, Now they brightly shine.

Once for death I waited, Now His coming hail;

And my hopes are anchored, Safe within the vail.

All we are and have, all the blessings of the church and our lives in Christ are all because of Jesus. So take some time and "Give Thanks to the Lord!" And remember regardless of the circumstances of your life, "He is good and his faithful love endures forever!"

As your Pastor I am so thankful for each one who calls Constance home and shares the blessing of your life with this local body of Christ. You are a blessing. I pray that you will grow and that your love will abound more and more in knowledge and depth of insight...filled with the fruit of righteousness that comes through Jesus Christ--to the glory and praise of God.(Phil. 1:9-11)

Giving Thanks,

Pastor Randy

I Swear to Tell the Truth, the Whole Truth and....

I SWEAR!!

You hear it all the time- “I Swear it’s true”, “Cross my heart and hope to die”, ” Honestly,” “The truth is..”, “I Swear on a stack of Bibles”, “ I Swear to God it’s true”, “To Be perfectly honest”, “Seriously”, “Trust Me”, and the list could go on and on. All ways we use to emphasize “for sure” that what we are saying is really true. (this time)

“Oh what a tangled web we weave, when first we practice to deceive.” (Sir Walter Scott) So we rename our lies to: fibs, white lies, tales, fabrication, negative campaigning, half truths, exaggeration, misrepresentation, misinformation, fudge the truth, fish story, string someone along, evade, falsehoods, whoppers, putting up fronts, distortion, rationalization, and the list goes on and on. I love Churchill’ s definition of a lie, “perpetuating a terminological inexactitude.”

Mark Twain States: “When in doubt, tell the truth.” Is that even possible or probable? In Matthew 5: 33-37 Jesus asks people to “Rethink” our speech patterns. Christians should be known as truth-tellers. Our influence for God’s kingdom grows as we give ourselves to truth. Jesus makes it clear that the follower of Jesus represents His character to the world. His Followers are to be people of influence that shine the life of Jesus in a crooked and depraved world (Phil 2:14-16).

I believe that your growth “in the knowledge of the Son of God, to become mature, attaining to the whole measure of the fullness of Christ is fundamentally the mission of our church. (Eph. 4:13) Jesus desires to put on display those who have been changed by the full measure of Christ in their lives. What a privilege to be part of His Kingdom building strategy.

Wherever you go you can have in your heart and mind God’s eternal priorities. God sent Jesus as Savior of the World because everyone needs to find Jesus.

Pray and Watch wherever you go using the 5-second prayer. This simple prayer reminds us of what matters most, people finding Jesus.

Father, Please send your Holy Spirit to work in the hearts of these people. Draw them to Jesus and make them kingdom workers.

All of life, All the time can be about God’s eternal purposes. I look forward to our time of honoring God together this weekend. It’s so important we gather together to encourage one another to Christ’s full measure in our lives. I trust you will make this weekend a priority in your schedule.

God Bless

Pastor Randy

Welcome Back

This weekend we welcome back Pastor Sean McDowell to his regular preaching/teaching role at Constance. Due to other leadership responsibilities Sean has not been teaching on a regular rotation. However, this will be changing with Sean preaching every 4-6 weeks this year.

Sean is active in planning our yearly preaching schedule and I so appreciate his godly heart and love for you and our church. I know you will be challenged to RETHINK again this weekend. Pastor Sean will be sharing our Lord's teaching on sexuality and how it vies for control in our lives.

A reminder that this weeks sermon-"Look, Lust or Love" from Matthew 5:27-30 is "Rated PG" due to the nature of this passage. Of course this subject will be dealt with tastefully and in the spirit of Jesus' words BUT as a parent please take advantage of our great Children and Student Ministries.(Remember, there is no Middle School or High School Ministries on Saturday evening).

All of us lead very full lives. I want to encourage you not just to fill your life with the stuff of life but to fill your life on purpose for the Lord's Purpose. I trust these last weeks you have been encouraged to give all of your life, all of the time for the things that are eternal. That our lives could be used all of the time for God's eternal desire to bring people to life eternal in Jesus is a great privilege. What a joy to live LIFE FULL in this way.

Pray and Watch: A great way to remember to live on purpose is to daily use this 5 Second Prayer--Father, please send your Holy Spirit to work in the hearts of these people. Draw them to Jesus and make them Kingdom workers.

All the time God invites you to participate in His eternal purposes-being salt and light "that they may see your good deeds and praise yoou Faither in Heaven."(Mt. 5:16)

Let Your Light Shine!

God Bless,

Pastor Randy

Amazing Congregation

WOW--I just talked to Pastor Jim Barber and he told me about the Benevolent offering we received on behalf of Youth First this past Sunday.

FIRST WOW-Our congregation generously gave $4455 to Youth First. Thank-You for being such a generous people of God.

SECOND WOW-Pastor Jim reported our gift to the Youth First board and those who serve and volunteer. He has heard from a Mayor and some School Principles and others.

These comments belong to you and your generously(grace) living out Christ's Character "to influence our area with the love and good deeds of Jesus"

"What you and Constance Free have done for YF is absolutely amazing. The support that has come from your congregation really does demostrate the value your church places on community outreach. Thanks for all that you do! This is a much brighter light than we have seen recently and hopefully, we will see even more light at the end of the tunnel."

"Unbelievable"

"Wow, Jim that is absolutely amazing and uplifting. Thank you to the leadership of your church for the ongoing support of YF and the youth in our communities in so many ways. Bless you, one and All!"

"Wow is that great! I pray that God will bless Constance Free Church"

You are an amazing congregation. You have sent light through the county this week in a very practical manifestation of Christ's love and compassion through your generosity and good deeds. "This has resulted in thanksgiving to God".(2 Cor. 9:11)

You are making a difference for eternity. Pray and Watch!

God Bless

Pastor Randy

Pray and Watch

ALL of Life can be ALL about Eternity All the Time! If what matters most is people finding Jesus, then it stands to reason that we must trade in our daily lives to find life in the context of eternity.

It means Priority Living. Simple concept-Living for what matter's most. It means you can make your desk, a trip to the store or mailbox an opportunity to live for what matters most, to live for eternity-All the Time.

It means using every circumstance of life to care for what matters most! It means we care more about the checkout person than we do that it took longer than usual to get through the checkout line. It means we go about the mundane with eternity in mind, knowing that what matters most is people finding Jesus. It makes the mundane an adventure of living life on purpose for a purpose. Jesus Invites you to live such a life. Anything else is too little to live for.

So Pray and Watch for we serve a God who loves to save people.
I encourage you to pray "The 5-second Prayer...Father, please send Your Holy Spirit to work in the hearts of these people. Draw them to Jesus and make them kingdom workers.

When you do you pray according to the will of the Father, for salvation comes through Jesus Christ. You can do this anytime and anywhere for anyone, and know the joy of influencing a lost world to salvation in Jesus Christ. You are an evangelist doing the work of evangelism when you are praying this prayer.

What would happen in people's lives if each of us would chose to live for what matters most and watched for God's working. This prayer aligns our heart with God's heart for what matters most- people finding Jesus. It's living for eternity and Jesus invites you to live with such purpose.

I want to invite you to share your story. Let me know how God is using you for eternity. Just this morning, as I was getting the paper I prayed the 5 second prayer for a neighbor leaving for work. I know God is working--I can't wait to see how. I can't wait to hear how God is using you for eternity. I know He Will.

In sharing your story of living for what matters most by practicing a lifestyle of Pray and Watch you are in the words of the writer of Hebrews "...[let us spur] spurring one another on toward love and good deeds. Let us not give up meeting together, as some are in the habit of doing, but let us encourage one another--and all the more as you see the Day approaching. (Hebrews 10:24-25)

I look forward to seeing you this weekend. Remember it is important to strengthen and encourage one another by meeting together. We easily grow cold and are hardened by sin's deceitfulness without the encouragment we find in community.(Hebrews 3:12-15)

God BLess

Pastor Randy