My family moved houses about a year ago.  One of the things we loved about the house was that it had a wood-burning fireplace.  We looked forward to sitting by a real fire in the winter.  My sons really enjoyed it.  They liked learning how to start a fire and how to keep the fire burning.  It did prove to be a little harder task than I expected.  It seemed that we would get it burning really well and then it would quickly go out.  One minute we would look in the fireplace and see this really big flame, burning brightly and its warmth filled the living room.  Then, a minute later, we would look back and it was gone.  In order to keep the fire burning, you have to add wood, the right kind of wood and make sure the flame is not extinguished.

Proverbs 26:20 says you have to have pieces of wood to keep the fire going or else it burns out.  The verse then makes a comparison to gossip.  It says, “...where there is no whisperer, contention quiets down.”  The “whisperer” is compared to the wood for the fire.  If there is no wood, the fire goes out...if there is no “whisperer”, the contention goes away.  What is it that keeps strife alive?  What keeps contention still burning and prevents small, petty disagreements from being extinguished?  The Whisperer.

Usually when a person whispers it is either because they don’t want someone else to hear them or because they are talking when they are not supposed to be talking.  And so, to keep from being heard, we whisper.  We speak in quiet tones, secret messages, just loud enough to be heard by those we want to hear.  When it is two parents talking about Christmas gifts for the children, then there is no problem.  However, when we “whisper” about a neighbor, or about a co-worker, or about another student in our class, then we are doing exactly what this verse warns against.

Scripture is saying that normative disagreements, regular contention that arises among people, can be dealt with and then it goes away.  Frustrations from the office and disputes among friends will burn out and be extinguished unless there is a “whisperer” to keep it going...unless there is someone adding wood to the fire to make sure it stays brightly burning. 

Ever known someone who seems to go behind problems and keep throwing wood on the fire?  Have you ever been around “a whisperer”?  Ever known someone who seemed to love keeping things stirred up and refuses to let a conflict die?  Here is a better question...have you been a whisperer?  A better question still...Are you a whisperer today?  Proverbs 16:27 says, “A worthless man digs up evil, while his words are like scorching fire”. 

Let’s not be whisperers.  Let’s not go “digging for evil” and let’s not allow our words to be “like scorching fire”.  One of the things that should separate the people of God is that we fight against temptation and win.  We are all tempted to gossip, we all face being pulled to stir things up and watch the fireworks.  Yet, that is what the world does, not what we should be a part of.  The next time you are tempted to gossip (and we all will be tempted to gossip, probably before the day is even over), let’s remember...don’t be a Whisperer!  Don’t throw wood on the fire and instead, let contention quiet down.  Proverbs 22:10 adds, “drive out the scoffer and contention will go out, even strife and dishonor will cease.”  Our work places, our families, our relationships will be blessed by people refusing to play the role of a whisperer.  May God help us not to be a whisperer and not to be a scoffer.

Michael Staton

Second, another word of confession.  When I began pastoring six years ago I would have a countdown of exactly how many Sundays were left before summer ended and school began.  I would eagerly check off each Sunday as it came knowing we were one week closer to school starting and everyone being back.

Then, last year, I decided to change that.  I got tired of being frustrated 25% of the year.  So, I decided to have a better attitude towards summer.  I wasn’t going to complain about it.  And, I didn’t.  I started to enjoy the summer.  People in our church office can testify that I was much better last year.

This year, I’ve really turned a corner.  I now have grown to love summer.  I am enjoying staying up late with my kids and swimming at the pool with them.  I am really enjoying not having to help get my boys up early, fed breakfast, dressed and out the door so early.  Marcy and I are doing landscaping, staining the deck and we even built horseshoes pits two weeks ago.  I am having a blast this summer!  I am excited every Sunday morning to come to church and worship, knowing that God is good and worthy of our praise regardless of how many cars are in the parking lot that day.

So, why in the world am I sharing this?  First, they say confession is good for the soul.  More importantly, to try to share with you something important I have learned.  I want as many people to be in church every Sunday as possible.  I want to see our worship services full and our hallways crowded.  But, because summer attendance is always so much lower than the school year, I was letting that bother me too much and it affected my attitude.  There is nothing wrong with wishing more people were in worship, but the decisions or circumstances of other people should not keep me from giving complete worship to the Lord.  God is just as deserving of my praise on Sunday morning whether we have 700 people in the church building or 1000.  I am enjoying preaching now more than I ever have.  I am being more blessed through our congregational worship the past few weeks than ever before. 

So, what about you?  What do you let hinder your worship?  Does the stock market keep you from giving God all your best in worship?  Does the record of your favorite sports team hold too much influence on the level of your participation in worship?  Maybe there is someone that you allow to have too much control over your attitude and it is a hindrance in your relationship with the Lord.  Does your satisfaction in Christ during worship rise or fall based on if your favorite song is sung that day?  There are 10,000 different things that we can let rob us of our complete joy and satisfaction in Jesus.  He is greater than those things and He is worthy of our very best praise! 

I want to encourage you to enjoy your summer (every single day of it!) and also to not let anything get in the way of loving the Lord with all of your heart, soul, mind and strength!

I’ll see you Sunday at 10 AM for our One Combined Worship Service this Sunday, July 5^th,

Michael

I am looking forward to Heave Ho Sunday this weekend.  Heave Ho Sunday has been one of my favorite Sundays of the year ever since we started “The Journey”.  It has been good for my own heart and for my family to give a special offering to our building fund each year for Heave Ho.  We have been blessed to partner together with so many families in our church in worshiping the Lord through this opportunity.

This year has the possibility to be the most significant Heave Ho we have had.  I am not thinking primarily financial when I say that.  Sure, there are big financial implications with Heave Ho.  Our debt is already down below 1.5 Million (project cost was 5 Million).  If each family participates, we will have the opportunity to wipe out approximately 5% of our remaining debt in one day and that would be huge!  However, the financial implications are secondary when I say this year’s Heave Ho could be the most significant.

The last 8 months have been very hard for our nation.  Job loss, stock market plunging, declining retirement accounts and rising unemployment have ruled the day.  Some have been VERY directly hit by this economic earthquake, while others have felt the residual trimmers.  Either way, nearly all families in America have less today than they did one year ago.

So, why is this good for Heave Ho Sunday?  It is good because this year’s offering will require a little more resilience, a little more sacrificial giving and a little more faith than years past.  It is one thing to give when times are good, something else to give when times are not as good.  I believe this year’s Heave Ho Offering has the opportunity to be a great time of personal worship with the Lord.

There are families in our church who will be able to give large amounts Sunday and my prayer is that they give in faith and with joy.  Other families will give smaller amounts, yet the prayer is the same...give in faith and with joy.  The challenge for this offering has never been simply a numerical goal, it is always about fellowship (shared sacrifice and blessing) and worship.  The priority is not simply fund raising, but it is to worship the Lord and I think that is a very exciting opportunity.

So, I want to ask you and your family to do 3 things this Sunday, May 3:

1.  Pray – pray for God’s leadership as to how your family should give for our Heave Ho Offering & pray for God to do great things through this special day.  Pray that our church will respond and worship in a way that shows Jesus is our Treasure!

2. Come – be in worship this Sunday.  Come ready to worship, excited to sing & study and come expecting God to move through the people of our church.  Be in worship and Sunday School and don’t let anything stop you from coming Sunday morning!

3. Give – be involved in Heave Ho.  Participate in the joy and blessing of knowing you are partnering with your church family be a part of something special.

God has been so good to our church and I am excited to see His Hand of mercy poured out again.

Pastor Michael

Suffering comes in different forms.  Sometimes our suffering is physical pain and discomfort.  This can be allergies that are not debilitating, but cause a lot of discomfort or it can take the form of dying of cancer in great pain.  Suffering can come from the hands of people.  It can be as routine as a friend disappointing you or as violent as a man walking into a church and shooting a pastor while he preaches as happened in Illinois last Sunday.  Suffering can come from nature.  It can be as mild as running over a nail and getting a flat tire or as devastating as having a tornado rip through your neighborhood and leveling your house.

All of the kinds of sufferings mentioned seem hard at the time.  If you are struggling with allergies recently, the discomfort is real.  It only seems to be minimized when compared to something greater (like dying of cancer).  If you have had a friend hurt you recently that pain was real and it stings.  It only seems small when you compare it to someone picking up a gun and killing a man for no reason.  Flat tires are true frustrations.  They cost money, they cost time and never happen in convenient places.  Getting a flat is a real problem and it only seems small if compared against someone who just lost their home in a tornado.

When Scripture says that are pains and sorrows are “momentary” and “light” (2 Corinthians 4:17) it is not because they are not real, indeed they are very real, but it describes them with those words because it is comparing our current sufferings in view of something greater...eternal glory!  You know how hard it is to grieve over losing a loved one.  You know the pain of losing your job.  You have experienced the sorrow of hearing bad medical news and a thousand other pains that come our way.  Those pains are real.  Yet, they are “momentary” and “light”.  How can this be?  Just think how great heaven must be if by comparison, your worst day is called “momentary” and “light”.  Scripture is not making “light” of what you face, just telling you how incredible eternity will be.  In other words, the darker your struggle is right now, the greater you know heaven will be.  The more intense the pain today, the more joyful you know heaven is.  Whatever you are facing today, however frustrating, painful and intense...by comparison against how amazing heaven is, what you are facing is “momentary” and “light”.  Some of you reading this are thinking to yourself, “Then heaven is going to have to be really great because what I am facing feels long-lasting (not momentary) and like an elephant is sitting on my chest (not light)”...that is the point!  Heaven is going to be that great!

I have two words of encouragement for you:  1)  Heaven is going to be so real and so great that when we get there we will look back on our worst day on planet earth and by comparison of heaven’s greatness call our worst day something that was light and momentary and 2) for those going through the suffering right now, God’s grace will sustain you and you will experience His deliverance.

Here are some great words I came across this morning for those who are in the midst of the suffering:

In this age, God rescues his people from some harm. Not all harm. That’s comforting to know, because otherwise we might conclude from our harm that he has forgotten us or rejected us.

So be encouraged by the simple reminder that in Acts 16:19-24 Paul and Silas were not delivered, but in verses 25-26 they were.

First, no deliverance:

       “They seized Paul and Silas and dragged them into the marketplace.” (v. 19)

       “The magistrates tore the garments off them.” (v. 22)

       They “inflicted many blows upon them.” (v. 23)

       The jailer “fastened their feet in the stocks.” (v. 24)

But then deliverance:

About midnight Paul and Silas were praying and singing hymns to God...and suddenly there was a great earthquake, so that the foundations of the prison were shaken. And immediately all the doors were opened, and everyone’s bonds were unfastened. (v. 25-26)

God could have stepped in sooner. He didn’t. He has his reasons. He loves Paul and Silas.

Question for you: If you plot your life along this continuum, where are you? Are you in the stripped and beaten stage, or the unshackled, door-flung-open stage?

Both are God’s stages of care for you.

If you are in the fettered stage, don’t despair. Sing. Freedom is on the way. It is only a matter of time. Even if it comes through death.

So, God is with you and He is for you.  Yes, our suffering is real, but it is momentary and heaven is forever.  Yes, it may seem as though you are stuck in a jail cell, trapped, with no way out.  But in a moment, under God’s providence, those prison doors can be knocked off and you can walk out a free man!  Whether God gives you the grace to evade the suffering or the grace to endure the suffering, rest assured, God’s grace will be sufficient for you.

Trusting in God together with you,