My Heart Is Broken For This Country!!

 

John 15:18-19 New Living Translation

The World’s Hatred

18 “If the world hates you, remember that it hated me first. 19 The world would love you as one of its own if you belonged to it, but you are no longer part of the world. I chose you to come out of the world, so it hates you.

So Charlie Kirk, a conservative activist was murdered today in broad daylight, while speaking on a college campus in Utah. Charlie was a Christian, a husband and a father! He was unashamed by his faith! He boldly and openly spoke about his love for Jesus. 

He went to college campuses all over the country to speak to the young college students. To get an open dialogue going about recent events going on across the country. What the students thought and how they responded to them.

Because he didn't agree with them or side with them, they labeled him as a racist, hate filled Christian. 

I followed Charlie quite a bit. I would watch his videos and watch the debate happening between him and the students. He never once promoted hatred, racism, anything negative. He always welcomed everyone's opinion whether he agreed with it or not. He just wanted to get a conversation started.

Titus 3:2 English Standard Version

2 to speak evil of no one, to avoid quarreling, to be gentle, and to show perfect courtesy toward all people.

So today, apparently someone had enough of Charlie's rhetoric, pulled out gun and opened fire, striking him & killing him.

In my mind, he died a martyr. Proclaiming the name of Jesus everywhere all the time. He never hated anyone or ran any one into the ground. He would calmly discuss with others, even though they would get angry. Yell and shout all the while he remained calm.

My heart is breaking for Charlie's family tonight. I can't imagine how they are feeling right now. To realize that your husband or your kids dad is not coming home again, ever!!

Ironically, even though he was shot to death, he was a defender of the 2nd amendment. He defended the right to own and bear firearms!

Matthew 5:10-11 New Living Translation

10 God blesses those who are persecuted for doing right, for the Kingdom of Heaven is theirs.11 “God blesses you when people mock you and persecute you and lie about you and say all sorts of evil things against you because you are my followers.

My heart breaks for this country. All the senseless violence going on. Murder in broad daylight. Woman getting stabbed and killed while taking public transportation. ICE in our cities. Military in our cities. Kids getting shot at a church. On and on it goes. When will it end?? We need Jesus now more than ever!!

Genesis 6:11 Amplified Bible

11 The [population of the] earth was corrupt [absolutely depraved—spiritually and morally putrid] in God’s sight, and the land was filled with violence [desecration, infringement, outrage, assault, and lust for power].

Not much has changed since the first book of the Bible was written. Not much at all.

I pray that Jesus comes sooner than later! 

God bless.

Rev. Kev.

Questioned.

 

I was wearing the shirt in the picture while on vacation last week. My wife and I decided to take an old time sail boat cruise out of Bar Harbor, ME. The boat was full of people of all ages. Mom's, dad's, grandma's and grandpa's. Plenty of family units as well. We were cruising on our way back to the dock when an older gentleman seated kitty corner from me asked me about my shirt. He asked what Disciple was? Was it this or that? Or is it the name of a band? I told him Disciple was the name of a Christian metal band.

Right away, the guy sitting next to us chimes in with kind of chuckle. He's like " a Christian metal band huh?" "Isn't that kind of contradictory?" Me -"How so?" Him - "Well doesn't metal music use the Devils Tri-tone?" "So for a Christian metal band to use the Devils Tri-tone, oooo!"

I'm like "I don't know bro! I don't get that technical with my music. If the music is good and the lyrics lift up the name of Jesus, then I'm in." 

How come every time I tell someone that I listen to Christian metal, they automatically mention the devil and that metal music is of him? Like you can't listen to that genre of music and be a Christian.

Let me tell you something. I have worshipped God more at a Disciple concert than at a Lauren Daigle concert.

I have worshipped God more at a Stryper concert than at two Christian heavy weights concert. Steven Curtis Chapman and Amy Grant.

With both Stryper and Disciple and many of the other metal bands I have seen live, the Holy Spirit was very evident the whole evening. With the aforementioned Christian worship artists, nothing! Nada. Spirit was not there, nor was he moving amongst the crowd.

Secular metal can sing about the Devil, Satan, sex, drugs and rock n' roll.

Why can't Christian metal play the same kind of music but sing about Jesus, God, the Holy Spirit, prayer, etc. etc.

I don't see the problem. But, a lot of people look at me with side eye when I mention being a Christian and listen to metal and attend the concerts.

Not all Christian music needs to be the Gaithers or Pat Boone. Nothing wrong with either one of those artists. Other than boring!

There are plenty of "country" Christian artists. Ben Fuller, Anne Wilson, Cain! Never hear anything about them and the music that they play. 

Aren't there secular country artists who sing about cheating, drinking, fighting & so on?  So why is okay for Christian artists to play Christian country but not Christian metal??

Ephesians 5:19-20 The Message

19-20  Sing hymns instead of drinking songs! Sing songs from your heart to Christ. Sing praises over everything, any excuse for a song to God the Father in the name of our Master, Jesus Christ.

This is what I do when I listen to Christian metal. I don't sing the lyrics back to the band, I sing them to God. Praise Him. Worship Him. With a heart of gratitude for all He has done for me!

God bless.

Rev. Kev.

Being Feed Gods Word.

 I went to a Christian music festival over the weekend in Newark, IL. The headline artist was Matthew West. A native of Illinois who now lives in Nashville. Anyway, the whole evening you could just feel the presence of God. Holy Spirit was very evident. From the time I put my Jeep in park, till the time I took it out of park and headed for home. Able to pray for people, testify to people, and just plain talk and listen to people. I was in my element. 

While Matthew was performing I had a thought about a similar setting, during Jesus' time. Where this festival is held is at a church outside Newark that is surrounded by fields. Very large fields. I was watching him perform with the stage facing out from the end of the field towards the 6,000 plus people in attendance. Then the thought came to me. This reminds me of when Jesus feed the 5,000 people with two fish and five loaves of bread.

Now, I'm not comparing Matthew West to Jesus, that would be crazy. But the concert itself reminded me of that miracle that Jesus performed. Instead of feeding the crowd physical food, Matthew was feeding us God's word with drums, guitars, bass and voice. Every word that was sung or note that was played pointed everyone towards Jesus!

Instead of having the crowd sit down in groups to receive the music, we all stood in unison as we worshipped our Lord and Savior! Arms stretched wide in surrender. Singing for all that we had to give! It was amazing to be a part of. Getting chills just writing about it.

Like I said you could feel God's presence the whole evening, even before a song was played by any of the artists. 

It was hot, 101 heat index. The weather forecast was for possible severe storms that evening. While standing in line to get food, the sky to the west got very dark and angry looking. I'm like "here we go, it's coming." Then you could almost feel the breath of God blowing through the festival. With in a few minutes the storm clouds were gone and it actually cooled down. God had blown the storm out of the area to the North and left us with incredible weather to worship Him.

Then to show that He is God, He created one of the most awesome sunsets that I have ever seen. It was like He was telling us, "Don't worry about any storm." "Enjoy this beautiful sunset while worshipping me." The rest of the night was just amazing. Worshipping with 6,000 other Jesus freaks in a giant field, in the middle of nowhere! It just proves that you don't need to go to a church to meet Jesus. He'll meet you right there in the middle of a field.

Matthew 18:20 Amplified Bible

20 For where two or three are gathered in My name [meeting together as My followers], I am there among them.”

Well, there were more than two of us there and He was definitely with us. What an amazing God we worship. He is so worthy of all the praise and glory!

God Bless.

Rev. Kev.

400

 400. No it's not the sequel to the movie 300. It's not a homerun total, or a point total for any sports. 400. It's the total number of blog posts I have posted since I started my blog in January 2011. When given a list of tasks to complete for my ministry schooling, I picked blogging as my choice. I had no idea on what I was doing. My wife helped come up with the name for the blog. Once that was accomplished, I just started writing and writing and writing.

If you would have told me that 14 years later that I would still be blogging, I would have said "yeah right!" But here I am, still going.

Originally my blog was just about my life and things that I have gone through or endured. Then the Holy Spirit took over and wanted me to lift up, strengthen and encourage. So my posts started to change. They were still personal to what I was going through or something that had happened to me, but I was to use it to help others who might be going through something similar.

Proverbs 27:17 New Living Translation

17 As iron sharpens iron, so a friend sharpens a friend.

A lot of my posts are music or movie driven. I hear a song and it will trigger something in me. A reminder of sorts. Or I see a movie and it's will spark an idea to blog about. When these things happen, I don't believe that it is by coincidence. I believe that it is the Holy Spirit wanting me to use these tools to write about something that somebody may need and not know it.

If I'm outside on a walk, or hiking, God will speak to me about this idea or that idea. I know it's from Him because He will not let me forget about it, until I get out in writing.

I could be driving, working, really any kind of activity and The Lord will speak to me and give me the idea of what to write. If it were up to me, I would have been finished about a week into this project. 

Proverbs 3:5 Amplified Bible

5 Trust in and rely confidently on the Lord with all your heart And do not rely on your own insight or understanding.

So as this is actually post 401, I hope that the previous 400 have encouraged you. Lifted you up. Inspired you. Challenged you in some way. I pray that my iron sharpened your iron.

So here is to another 400, God willing.

God bless.

Rev. Keven

I Got You!

Have you ever had anything happen where you thought "oh no, this isn't going to end well." Then all of a sudden you hear God's voice or feel God's presence saying "I got you." "You're going to be okay, trust Me!" I have had that happen several times during my walk with Jesus the last eighteen years. The most recent was when my brakes went out on my van and I had to blow through a red light, with cars lined up on both sides. As chaotic as that was, I could just feel the presence of Jesus saying to me, "I got you." And He did. Nothing bad came out of it. No accident, no damage to person or vehicle, nothing!

Psalm 121:8 New Living Translation

8 The Lord keeps watch over you as you come and go, both now and forever.

I'm always thankful for His watchful eye and arms of protection. Even when things do go sideways, it could always be worse without Jesus being involved! He has protected me time and time again. I know it's Him, because if it were me, I would have ended myself years ago! Sometimes I do not make good choices in life. That's why I trust in Jesus, and not myself. My way will end up in destruction.

Proverbs 3:4-5 Living Bible

4-5 If you want favor with both God and man, and a reputation for good judgment and common sense, then trust the Lord completely; don’t ever trust yourself.

It's been like this from the day I said yes to Jesus. As soon as I accepted Him as my Lord and Savior, I could feel him saying to me, "I got you!"

Though I may stumble and fall, He is still faithful to me.

Psalm 37:24 New Living Translation

24 Though they stumble, they will never fall, for the Lord holds them by the hand.

God has gotten good at picking me up when I stumble and fall. Picks me up, dusts me off and tells me to keep moving forward, He has work for me to do.

Psalm 73:23 Amplified Bible

23 Nevertheless I am continually with You; You have taken hold of my right hand.

So I encourage you today. No matter what may come against you or something that you are going through, hear God saying "I got you!"

God bless.

Rev. Kev.

Other Plans.

 I bought this t-shirt last August when I saw Ben Fuller perform at Helmar Palooza. He has a song by the same title. Very powerful. Take a listen to it if you can. When I saw this shirt it triggered me to think about all the things that God as saved me from or protected me from. He has other plans for me. Things that I had no idea about. If you would have told me years and years ago that I would become a pastor in the future, I would have asked you what you were drinking!! He had other plans!

The fact that I am still breathing today is by the grace of God. I have done plenty of stupid things in my life that could/should have ended me. But here I am. Thanks to God! He had other plans!

I was wearing this shirt the other night when I went to make a hospital visit in Aurora. On my way home, just a little south of Elburn, I was approaching the intersection of 47 and Main St. The light was red, so I went to apply my breaks, only to discover they weren't there. Nothing, nada, gone! I started freaking out to say the least. I was approaching the intersection at over 50MPH with no signs of slowing down! I went to move the gear shifter into neutral to try and take some of the power away from the drive. Nothing. Lever did not move at all. Dear Jesus, take control. I had no idea what to do in that moment. As a last ditch effort, I tried the gear shifter one more time. With all the force I could muster, I was able to shift all the way up into park. Whew! Nope, van kept moving. Even in park! So I prepared to blast through the intersection. I started blowing my horn and flashing my lights to let everyone know that I was not stopping. Then, I prepared for impact. For a car coming from the other direction, or a car turning left onto Main St. 

I made it through the intersection without an incident. No crash, nobody got hurt, Praise Jesus! It took me over a mile to get stopped, with the van in park. I coasted to a stop on the shoulder and called a tow truck. No way I was going to attempt that again. So they came in hooked my up and towed my van back to DeKalb. As they were hooking up to the van, one of the workers noticed my shirt and said that he liked it. I had forgotten what I was wearing, so I looked down. Yep, I told him. God sure does have other plans. Things could have gone much worse than what happened, but God was with me and protected me.

I started praising God for everything. I praised Him for getting me to stop on a very wide shoulder of road. I praised Him for when it happened. It happened at 9:30 at night. Not much traffic out at that time. If it had happened at 5:30 in the afternoon, things would have been much different. I praised Him for the tow truck getting there quickly. Despise what happened, everything went extremely well afterword. I give God thanks for that. 

I don't know what His plan is for this happening, but I'm sure it is for somebody I know. I have been telling everyone about what God did for me in that moment! He gets all the praise, glory and honor. I did nothing but hold on for dear life!

Psalm 28:7 New Living Translation

7 The Lord is my strength and shield. I trust him with all my heart. He helps me, and my heart is filled with joy. I burst out in songs of thanksgiving

I was mentally shaken up, but otherwise fine. God had His arms of protection around me, once more. He never fails and His timing is never late!

Psalm 55:22 Living Bible

22 Give your burdens to the Lord. He will carry them. He will not permit the godly to slip or fall.

God bless.

Rev. Kev.

Anxious Anticipation!

 Does anyone remember the ketchup commercial from the '70's about anticipating the ketchup coming out of the bottle onto your food or plate or where ever? It was for Heinz ketchup and the people in the commercial were anxiously anticipating it because it was supposed to be the best ketchup and they couldn't wait to get it out of the bottle. I remember that commercial like it was yesterday! I remember the jingle as well.

How about when you order something online and you anxiously anticipate the delivery of the product that you bought. You want it delivered right now, but you have to wait. And sometimes you have to wait and wait and wait. Then wait some more. It's frustrating to have to wait so long. When it finally arrives, oh the rejoicing that you do. You pick it up out of the mail box or off of the porch depending on how it was delivered. You hug it, say to it that you have waited so long for it to come and now it is finally here. Or is that just me!

How about a concert that you bought tickets to? Sometimes I get my tickets several months in advance and then do the waiting thing! Keep looking at the calendar asking "is it time yet?" Only to be let down that you have awhile more to wait. Ugh!

This could be said about anything cool. A birthday, any holiday, a day off of work, having family visit. You anxiously anticipate the event to come. Then when it does, you rejoice.

There is one event that I wish more people were more anxiously anticipating. The return of Jesus! That is THE ONE event that I am really anticipating to happen. Oh, what rejoicing we'll do when that happens. To be free of the problems of this world. To be present with Jesus, forever!

Revelation 21:4 English Standard Version

4 He will wipe away every tear from their eyes, and death shall be no more, neither shall there be mourning, nor crying, nor pain anymore, for the former things have passed away.”

Here is the thing though. Unlike sitting around anticipating delivery of the goods that we order, we are not to sit around idly waiting for Jesus return. He has work for us to do until He returns.

He wants us to remain watchful.

He wants us to continue to witness to others.

We are to keep worshipping.

To walk in obedience.

We are to work for The Kingdom, until Jesus return.

Titus 2:12-13 New Living Translation

12 And we are instructed to turn from godless living and sinful pleasures. We should live in this evil world with wisdom, righteousness, and devotion to God, 13 while we look forward with hope to that wonderful day when the glory of our great God and Savior, Jesus Christ, will be revealed.

As much as you love seeing the mailman or door dash or the Amazon driver walking up your sidewalk, I can not wait to see Jesus coming towards me with an outstretched arm. That is what I am anxiously anticipating!

God bless.

Rev. Kev.