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.

Second Chances!

 Do I believe that God is a God of second chances? This question has been asked a lot of me recently with some of the things going on in the world.

That question started me thinking about that. Is God a God of second chances?

The answer is, of course He is.

Did He give King David a second chance after his affair with Bathsheba? (2 Samuel 11:2-5)

Didn't He give the Samaritan woman at the well a second chance? (John 4:1-42)

He gave Jonah a second chance after he ran away. (Luke 11:30)

How about Peter? After denying he even knew Jesus three times, he was given a second chance. (Matthew 16:18)

Paul was persecuting Christians up until His trip to Damascus! There came his second chance! (Acts 9:1-19)

As I was pondering the response to this question, a song started playing from my play list. Shocker, I know!

It is a song by the band White Cross. The title is ironically titled "No Second Chances." The song is about a man named Lazarus and rich man. Lazarus was a beggar who laid outside the rich mans gate. They both died and Lazarus went to Heaven and the rich man went to hell. (Luke 16:19-31)

As the song goes, the rich man is asking for one more chance to make things right. To be able to go back and warn his brothers of what will happen if they deny Jesus.

You see, once you die, there are no more second chances to make things right. You're either right with Jesus before you breathe your last or you're not! After you pass away, there are no more second chances!

You either spend eternity with Jesus in Heaven, or eternity with Satan and the torment of Hell. You can't cross from one to the other. What is done is done! No going back!

I know that God has given me a second chance for a new life in Him. I was one way, and now I am another. I thank Him for that, daily!

So I urge you tonight to think about your life. The choices you make today have consequences for the future. Once they are made and you happen to pass away, you will not get a second chance!

God bless.

Rev. Kev.

Epic Failure!!

So the Newsboys lead singer Michael Tait has been in the news with a moral failure of epic proportions! He has been accused of some horrific things and has admitted to doing them. And now some more accusations have come out implicating some of the crew for the band as well. The whole situation makes me sick to my stomach. I can't believe a person with that kind of high profile would do such horrendous things. If you look back over the course of history, many people in a high profile position have had epic moral failures. King David. The Samaritan woman at the well. Peters denial. Paul's past. How about more recently? Jim Baker. Robert Morris. The list can go on and on. It is by no means exhaustive!

My point is that Mr. Tait is not the first high profile person to have moral failure. He is just the latest. Unfortunately there will be more. It's just our human nature!

Romans 3:23 English Standard Version

23 for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God,

What I don't understand is now K Love and other radio stations are dropping the Newsboys from their playlists. Their record label has dropped them. Because of one persons actions. The whole band has not been accused, just the one member. So why punish the whole band?

Isn't that passing judgement?  

Matthew 7:3 New Living Translation

3 “And why worry about a speck in your friend’s eye when you have a log in your own?

I wonder how many of the music programmers working for these stations are sin free? How many of the people working at the record label are sin free? I'm going to go out on a limb and say "none".

I'm not condoning what Mr. Tait has done. It is horrendous to say the least. But don't judge his sin because he sinned differently than you. Sin is sin. No matter how big or small "we" think it is. It is still sin in God's eye!

Aren't we supposed to walk with our brothers and sisters in Christ when they stumble or fall? See that they get the help that they need. Repent and turns from their sin. Not abandon them in their hour of need. That seems un-Christ like to me.

1 Peter 5:10 Living Bible

10 After you have suffered a little while, our God, who is full of kindness through Christ, will give you his eternal glory. He personally will come and pick you up, and set you firmly in place, and make you stronger than ever.

If Michael Tait came through the door of our church, I would hug him, tell him I am praying for him and offer whatever help I could. I would not shame him, or shun him! Jesus used all the people mentioned above after their epic sins against Him. He can do the same for Michael Tait!

Let's show the love of Jesus, even to the ones who have committed an epic failure.

God bless.

Rev. Kev.