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We all remember the disobedience of Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden. They were told in Genesis 2:16-17: “And the Lord God commanded the man, saying, Of every tree of the garden thou mayest freely eat: But of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, thou shalt not eat of it: for in the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die.” Because of their disobedience humanity suffered the consequences of sin. But…. have you ever considered the other trees? God provided them with apples, oranges, pomegranates, olives, avocados, nut trees, trees of every variety! The point is, Adam and Eve focused on what they couldn’t have instead of all the good things that God gave them to enjoy. Are we like that? When we focus on things we don’t have we end up getting ourselves in trouble. Instead, read Philippians 4:8 and praise Him for all he has given. May God always provide you with good things!

Has anyone ever made you a promise that they didn’t keep?  How disappointed were you? God makes these promises to us: I will be with you, I will protect you, I will be your strength, I will answer you, I will provide for you, I will give you peace, I will always love you, and so many more. God’s promises never fail; He never disappoints and we can always trust in Him. Just like Him, we should strive to keep our promises to Him and to each other. Ephesians 4:25 says “Wherefore putting away lying, speak every man truth with his neighbour: for we are members one of another.” It’s a goal we should all reach for.  I promise to always love Jesus and you!

There are many doors we walk through in life: doors of opportunity, office doors, garage doors, we walk in through the front door, we run out the back door, we open the car door for our spouses. What is the most important door? The door that leads to Jesus. He is the door! John 10:9 tells us this: ” I am the door: by me if any man enter in, he shall be saved, and shall go in and out, and find pasture.” I want to enter in through that door, how about you? May He richly bless you today!

Many people believe that peace is the non-existence of problems or crisis, but peace is really the presence of God. Because he is with us, we can feel peace in the middle of any storm in life; God is in complete control and never takes his eyes off of us. John 14:27 says: “Peace I leave with you, my peace I give unto you: not as the world giveth, give I unto you. Let not your heart be troubled,  neither let it be afraid.” Real peace comes from Him! God bless you always with his peace.

How do you receive your blessings? Is it through financial success, having a good job, possessions, having many friends? Have you also considered that we can receive blessings through tears, trials, and sleepless nights? As a result of those difficult things, blessings can come from a lesson learned, a bible verse, a note from a caring friend, or a phone call at just the right time. Each of our blessings, no matter whether we consider them coming from a good or bad circumstance, come from God. Lamentations 3:22-23 tell us: “It is of the Lord’s mercies that we are not consumed, because his compassions fail not. They are new every morning: great is thy faithfulness.” Let us be sure to thank Him for ALL our blessings, Amen?

Has anyone ever seen the face of God? God himself says no! Moses saw him as a burning bush; in Exodus, God was seen as a pillar of cloud during the day and fire at night; in Genesis 32:30 Jacob wrestled with God in the form of a man; in Judges 13:22 Samson’s parents saw him in the form of an angel; in the New Testament He was in the form of Jesus the man, but no one has ever seen the fullness of God. Exodus 33:20 says “And he said, Thou canst see my face: for there shall no man see me, and live.” But….. because of His great love for us, and because Jesus died for us, to all of us who believe: one day we will see Him. Hallelujah! God bless and keep you always.

There are many paths we take in life: the garden path, the path ahead, a path to success, a path to failure. In Matthew 7 we are told that wide is the gate and broad is the path to destruction. What path are you on? In Psalm 16:11 we are told: “Thou wilt shew me the path of life: in thy presence is fulness of joy; at thy right hand there are pleasures for evermore.” Jesus is the path to peace, joy, and salvation. That is the path I want all of us to be on! I pray that God blesses you today.

I just read about another church closing.  Ten years ago, few would have predicted this particular church’s closure.

It didn’t close because it compromised its conviction, doctrine or changed their bible. They closed because they failed to allow God’s transforming power to change them. God’s path to abundant life for a church or Christian is transformation/change. That is true for anything God is involved in.  There are two options: change or die.

What kind of change is needed?  Let me begin by saying the needed changes can only happen in God’s power.

1. We must stop trying to live in the past. It does us no good. As a Pastor, I can assure you easy growth is not a reality for any church. Why? People no longer come to church because they believe they must do so to be accepted.  “The old saying, “they know where we are, they can come if they want to” is poison. The Great Commission  for Christianity is about going; it’s not about y’all come.

2. We must cease seeing the church as a place of convenience, comfort, and stability in our fast changing world. Certainly, God’s truth is unchanging,  should  we expect our church not to change methods, approaches, and man-made traditions? We must  make a difference. We must not accept  “We’ve never done it that way before;” that mentality will kill our church.

3. We must abandon the entitlement mentality. We must not only be willing to give of our time to attend church. We must be willing to call, visit, pray, guard our speech, and be encouragers.  If someone speaks against our church family we must show displeasure toward their action.

I ask you to pray a simple prayer, ask God to give you witnessing opportunities. You may be surprised how He will use you.

4. We must understand “Discipleship” does not mean caretaking and “Fellowship” does not mean entertainment.

5. We must stop shooting our own. This tragedy is related to the entitlement mentality. If we don’t get our way, we will go after the pastor, or the church member who has a different perspective than our own.  Don’t let disgruntled members and perpetual critics control the church. Don’t shoot our own.

6. Business, finance, and some meetings are needed, but we must stop wasting time in unproductive meetings, committees, and business. Wouldn’t it be nice if every church member could only ask one question or make one comment in a meeting for every time he or she has witnessed during the week of said meeting.

7. Our church must be a houses of prayer. We are  doing too much in our own power. We are really busy, but we are not doing the business of God.

Around 200 churches will close their doors this week. We must make some necessary changes.  For many of your churches the choice is simple: change or die.

Please, for the sake of the gospel, will you forsake yourself and make the changes in God’s power.

Tony Kelly, Pastor

I want to share what I feel are some of the major challenges for me as a pastor. I pray they will help you better understand me.

1st Challenge: Being sensitive to someone who wants to tell you something, many times something negative about someone else, right before you preach. Any Pastor worth his salt puts hours into his sermons. He is focused on prayer and clearly presenting God’s Word before he steps into the pulpit.  When someone approaches him about a matter or issue that could have possibly waited until the service was over it can break his focus. I try to show grace but it’s sometimes a challenge!

2nd Challenge: Knowing what do with a church member who is not contributing  positively to the ministry.  One who takes every opportunity to impact the ministry with negative criticism or their belief, which is often contrary to the churches doctrinal position. 

The challenge is, do I write them off, even if they are an ill fit for the church or accept their challenging behavior and move forward knowing even though their behavior is un-Christian, it will help me grow stronger as a christian and Pastor.

3rd Challenge: Loving people who seem to be your critic. We want to be Christ-like and love people unconditionally. I admit that I sometimes see critics of the church and the pastor through their hypocritical false words instead of seeing them through the eyes of Christ.  However, it is a challenge!

4th Challenge: Preparing more than one quality sermon a week. As a pastor, I want to present “hit it out of the park for the glory of God” sermons every week. Frankly, that is a tough challenge, especially when you know some of your sermons may hit the congregation in the “Oh Me” part of the heart.  Very few people know the prayer, research and hard work that goes into his sermon preparation. So, when you smile and let him know the sermon helped you in your spiritual life, it is like saying sick’em to a mad bull dog.

5th Challenge: Doing the funeral for a non-Christian person.  I am not a judge, but the bible gives us the guideline to be a good fruit inspector.  We can always hope the deceased had a deathbed conversion that we are not aware of.  My biblical belief is that a sure sign of a christian life is a transformed life (Rom. 12:1-2). We can share the gospel to those present, but it is extremely difficult to talk about the deceased if he or she was lost.

I hope these five pastoral challenges will help you better understand your pastor and know more about how to pray for him.  I truly love every person who walks through the doors of my church.

Every season of transformation and every historical account revival has been proceeded by biblical preaching. It is this preachers belief that the only true transformation in mankind’s life must come from the Word of God. Someone once said, “as the pulpit goes, so goes the church.”

The fact is, biblical preaching has always been the leading factor in any revival. History bears witness to the fact that every great revival in the church has been ushered in by a return to biblical preaching.

I believe that the most urgent need in the Christian’s life today is biblical preaching; it is also the greatest and the most urgent need in the Church, and the world.

If a transformation is to come to the church, it must begin in the pulpit.

In his day, the prophet Amos warned of an approaching famine, a deadly drought that would cover the land. But not an absence of mere food or water, for this scarcity would be far more fatal. It would be a famine for hearing God’s Word (Amos 8:11). Surely, the church today finds itself in such similar days of shortage. Tragically, bibical preaching is being replaced with entertainment, doctrine with drama, theology with theatrics, and preaching with performances.

What is so desperately needed today is for pastors to return to their highest calling, “to preach the word” (2 Tim. 4:1–2).

What is biblical preaching? The public exposition of Scripture by the man called and sent by God, in which God Himself is present in judgment and in grace.  What I am saying is that preaching that brings God’s  presence, by His Spirit, in the preaching of His Word. Such preaching starts in a biblical text, stays in it, and shows its God-intended meaning in a life-changing fashion.

This was the final charge of Paul to young Timothy: “Preach the word; be ready in season and out of season; reprove, rebuke, and exhort, with complete patience and teaching” (2 Tim. 4:2). Such preaching necessitates declaring the full counsel of God in Scripture. The entire written Word must be expounded. No truth should be left untaught, no sin unexposed, no grace not offered, no promise undelivered.

That is why we must make sure our pulpit is always a place for the declaration of the Bible; the kind of preaching that gives a clear explanation of a biblical text with compelling application, exhortation, and appeal.

Anyone who is invited to stand behind our pulpit must confine himself to the truths of Scripture. When the Bible speaks, God speaks. The man of God has nothing to say apart from the Bible. It’s neither a place for unbiblical personal opinions nor a place for worldly philosophies.

The preacher is limited to one task – preach the Word. If we want souls to be saved, we must put more of God’s Word into our sermons.

We need a new generation of Godly men to step forward and speak the unadulterated word of God, loud and clear.  Always remember as the pulpit goes, so goes the church.