Chasing Our Tails By Keith Hall

Did you ever watch a dog chase his own tail ? You know they will go round and round trying to get ahold of their tail in their mouth to, hopefully, chew on an itchy spot. Most of the time, of course, they fail in this pursuit. Even on the rare occasions that they succeed they stand there with the end of their tail in their mouth still unable to reach the exact spot they sought anyway. Afterwards you can be sure that they will still try once again to reach the right spot. It is an exercise in utter futility. The devil has many Christians in the same position of futility though we usually fail to see it. He has many of us running round in circles like the poor dog in this story and we too will fail to reach our goals in this endless pursuit of our tail unless we recognize the devices of the enemy. Most of us have become so "busy" that we can't find the time and energy to devote to God that He deserves. Our lives are a cluttered mess of work, meetings, social events, leisure activities, etc. that seem to fill every waking hour with 59 1/2 minutes of "busy" and 30 seconds of our own. It is a perpetual state of chaos and confusion that leaves us too tired and too frazzled to do anything for God or to be of much use to Him. Now, we have to realize who the author of confusion is and who benefits most from the chaos our lives have become. The devil has most of us right where he wants us in this regard. It is obvious that he would prefer most of all that we never give our lives to God but, if we do, his next preference would be to render us ineffective in God's service. Just how effective can we be when we have little to no time and feel completely exhausted in our few free moments ? If he can keep us chasing our tails long enough, when some "free time" does come our way we end up slumped in front of the TV or socializing because, after all, we've surely earned it. After a while you will begin to see folks missing church just because they are "too tired" or "needed a break". Folks it isn't God or God's house from which we need a break. It is from this satan - inspired lifestyle which has seduced us that we need a break. Our enemy is, if nothing else, a wily adversary. He knows our weaknesses and uses them against us at every opportunity. He also knows if he can just keep us "busy" enough we will eventually let down on our church attendance, our prayer time, our bible reading, our witnessing, etc. and will likely be unaware of what has even happened to us and our relationship with God. Understand that usually when you slack off it is not the result of a conscious decision on your part. It is merely a response to our fatiguing daily ritual that allows us to falter while feeling all along that everything is alright and that we are in control. We are in control alright. The question is, in whose control are we ?

Church plans to convert bar

The KY Enquirer printed the following artile about our church.
Church plans to convert bar

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Congregation Decides To Settle Down, Head To Bar - Cincinnati News Story - WLWT Cincinnati

Our church was featured on our Local News this evening follow the link to view the story.

Congregation Decides To Settle Down, Head To Bar - Cincinnati News Story - WLWT Cincinnati

I Found A Love - Keith Hall

Last Sunday Lori taught an excellent lesson on faith in desperate situations. One of the examples was that of the Roman centurion whose servant was sick and in need of healing. Lori pointed out that Jesus marveled at this man saying that he had not encountered such faith before, even amongst the Jews. She further stated how wonderful it would be to have the Lord marvel at her (or any of us)to which I say, AMEN !!! I was thinking about the circumstances involved in all three examples of faith which made up our lesson and I thought there was something to learn overall from their totality and an additional lesson present in each individual case. The one thing that struck me most about the centurion's situation was that Jesus may have seen this as a tri-fold example. First,as Lori pointed, out He heard the wonderful report from the Jewish leaders that were sent by the centurion as envoys, how he was a man of excellent report, how he had built for them a place of worship, etc. and all this from a soldier of Rome. Secondly,Jesus also heard as the centurion explained his understanding of how EVERYTHING was under the authority of Jesus and that He had complete control over ALL things including illness and could therefore heal his servant. Lastly, though possibly foremost in Jesus' mind, was the utter selflessness of his request. Unlike the other two examples of faith given to us in the lesson, this man's petition was on the total behalf of another. It was also on the behalf of his SERVANT. Servants were many times treated no better than animals by their masters in those times. They were insignificant,ignored, and many times abused yet this man had compassion on "the least of these" and sought Jesus out to deliver the servant from his illness. I may be wrong but I believe this is what made Jesus marvel. If selfless love were found more often in us it would cause Jesus to marvel at us as well. If truly selfless love were not so rare it might not cause marveling at all as it would be more common rather than the scarce commodity it is. Selfless love takes the Lord Of Glory to a cross to die alone for a world filled with undeserving, unrepentant, and ungrateful sinners in order to ransom them from their well deserved fate and bring them to Himself. His is the only truly selfless love I have ever found.

Reaching Our (Pre) Destination (Conclusion) - Keith Hall

To wrap up this thread I want to return for a moment to the difference between God's omniscience, His precognition, and what is considered to be predestination. Since God knows everything (omniscience) and knows about it before it occurs (precognition) it may appear that individuals are predestined to heaven or hell in many instances. As stated in the earlier post, I totally reject this opinion based on the belief that we all exercise our free will to serve or not serve God. When Lucifer was created God did not want him to be the originator of sin. It was not His intention to have to cast Lucifer out of heaven or for one third of the angelic host to follow. He did not intend for man to fall in the Garden Of Eden. He did not intend for Israel to keep knowledge of their God under a bushel and exclude everyone else. He did not want His son to suffer an agonizing death on the cross and have to be the burden carrier for all of mankind's sins to the extent that He was forced to turn His back on Him ever so briefly. He knew these things were to come but that does not mean he desired them to be so or that all these events were predestined. As Lori pointed out in last week's Sunday school lesson, Judas Iscariot betrayed Jesus as, of course, God knew he would and prophesies had indicated but Judas was not predestined to go to hell for his horrible act of betrayal. Had he truly repented with a repentance to salvation (the word "metanoia" in the Greek) rather than only repenting within himself ("metamelomai" in the Greek meaning "to regret")he could have and would have been saved. His returning of the silver and his admission of having sinned was not a confession of faith. Since he could not live with what he had done he then ended his own life and doomed himself to hell. He faced the same choice as you or I and chose the wrong path. It was not predestination. When we struggle and make the wrong choices, succumb to temptation and sin, or even backslide God does not look on these events saying "That is what I intended for him/her to do." He knows if you are going to fail but it still breaks His heart because He loves you and wants nothing but the best for you. A very high price was paid for you. It cost Him the best He had. He loves you far too much to have created beings with a predestined path for he knows all too well that only love that is freely given is worth receiving. Think about your relationship with your spouse. It is the love he or she freely gives to you that you treasure above all. For God so loved the world ................ Sadly, still no feedback on the blogs.

Reaching Our (Pre) Destination By Keith Hall

We have had some discussion lately, both in sermons and Sunday school lessons, regarding predestination. When I last taught a few weeks ago I stated that, while God had a predestined calling to and role for the church,that predestination on a personal level violates the essential tenet of freedom of choice or free will. God could have created us to worship and serve Him blindly with no choice in the matter but He did not do so primarily, I would assume, because worship,service, and love that are not freely given are not genuine and hold no true value. I believe sometimes we fail to make the distinction between God's omniscience and God's intentions regarding predestination. For example, God knows whether or not each one of us will choose to follow Jesus and inherit eternal life. It is also His intention that all would make the correct choice (not willing that even one should perish). Even so, that choice is still ours to make, and though millions will make a choice that will break His heart,He leaves that choice to us. We are not predestined to heaven or hell with no hope of deviating from a pre-chosen path. That would directly contradict an essential truth of our Christian belief. I hope to be able to continue adding blogs in the future. If anyone is actually reading and/or enjoying them (hopefully)please comment on the site or mention it to me at church. So far the only comment was from my own wife along with a couple of verbal mentions and I just want to know if they are reaching/helping/ministering to anyone or just hanging around in cyberspace feeling lonely.

Praise God for His Blessings

Happy Monday!!!!

I want to send out a Praise to God for the blessings He poured out on us last night in church. We had our Christmas play (directed by Misty Scalf) and man was it a good one. We had 106 in attendance and when the altar call was given - 7 souls came forward and gave their hearts to Christ. Five of these 7 have addictions to alcohol, drugs and pain killers. Some would say write these folks off because they will never change but I believe God is still God and is capable of casting out the devils that plague the souls of these precious people. Please pray for these 7 souls - they will need the support of other Christians to help them overcome these addictions.

Praise be to the living God.

Wayne Guilliams
Pastor
MISSION Church of God.
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