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Partners in Prayer:
“Everything We Need!” Looking for the ‘Son’ in 2021! January 17,
2021 Dear Partners in Prayer Team,
“For to me, to live is Christ, and to die is gain.” Philippians
1:21 (NKJV)
“His divine power has given us everything we need for a godly
life through our knowledge of Him who called us by His own glory
and goodness.” 2 Peter 1:3 (NIV)
Have you ever wondered, “What does it mean to have Jesus be our
‘everything’?” I believe the answer to be this: “To have a real,
living, precious, growing, active and alive faith in Him!” Our
church verse for the year proclaims: “For to me to live is Christ!”
And our second verse reminds us that to live Christ, we have
“everything we need” to attain that life which changes us and leads
to godly living, and knowing all of His glory and goodness. To have
Jesus be our everything means we have a saving faith. What does
that look like? What does that mean in a world like ours today,
where everyone can believe whatever they want about anything they
want? If you didn’t know where you were going, who would you want
to show you the way? A visually-impaired man had been waiting a
while at a busy crossing along a street in a city. He was praying
for someone to offer to guide him across, when he felt a tap on the
shoulder. “Excuse me,” said the tapper, “I’m blind- would you mind
guiding me across the road?” You would think that first blind
man
would admit that he was in the same boat, but apparently, he
wouldn’t do it. The first blind man took the arm of the second
blind man, and said, “Follow me, I’ll get you across.” The amazing
thing is that they both stepped out into traffic, and cars stopped
and they both crossed the road. Apparently this is a true story.
The first blind man was the famous jazz pianist George Shearing. He
was quoted as saying after the event, “What could I do? I took him
across
and it was the biggest thrill of my life.” Neither believed that
he could
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accomplish that goal on his own. But the matter of crossing into
eternity won’t work out so well for those who are blinded by their
sins. Jesus even said of the religious leaders, “Will the blind
lead the blind and not fall into a ditch” to remind us that the
best way to find ourselves going to heaven when we die, is to have
someone lead us who isn’t blind, and knows where he is going! When
we trust Jesus as our Savior, we have His leading that is not being
led by someone else who is blinded. We can trust Him for where we
are going. That is why we can begin to say, “Jesus is our
everything.” As I look back at the life of Jesus and those who
followed Him such as Peter, who wrote our manual for surviving end
times (book of 2 Peter), I have been comforted by the fact that
Jesus through His earthly ministry, knew exactly where He was going
and what He was doing. When we look at the life of that old salty
fisherman, Peter, and his writing of this last letter of his life,
I take comfort in knowing nothing has changed. In a time when it
seems everything is out of control, we have a God who is in full
control. You’ve probably heard that recently as it is a great truth
to hold on to considering recent events. I remember being asked,
“Do you know where you’re going when you die?” It was a frightening
question then because it concerned my eternal existence, but now it
takes on a different meaning. I find it interesting that many have
taken solace that because 2020 is over, things will be better. “Do
you know where you’re going?” The path ahead is probably more
turbulent than the one behind. The truth of the Gospel is “And we
know that all things work together for good to those who love God,
to those who are the called according to His purpose” (Romans
8:28). Again, a familiar verse but it seems these verses are needed
now more than ever. Our life in Christ is likened to a walk or a
path, one that has many twists and turns. The trials of this life
can sometimes make our way foggy and hard to follow. But we have
ears to hear and eyes to see; these are spiritual senses that take
over when our earthly vision is skewed. “Do you know where you’re
going” is a positional term that should bring comfort to our daily
walk. “Being confident of this very thing, that He who has begun a
good work in you will complete it until the day of Jesus Christ”
also confirms that our path, although not safe is secure. Walking
through the trials of life with the certainty of destination brings
peace and joy. These are the attributes that true Christianity can
deliver when we are certain of our journey. We are living in a time
where Covid-19 has shut down and closed churches which are
essential for people to spiritually know the way to God. I believe
that even through this shutdown, we as a church are wondering if we
are doing the basics Christ needs us to be doing, or should we be
trusting in the programs, traditions, or even the ways we’ve always
done things? This is a fresh chance for us as a church to get
ourselves back to doing the things a church should. We are not
about things seen, like buildings or large programs, or outreaches-
we are about saving and discipling people to grow in our faith for
Christ. I hope and pray that today
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finds you on track and headed in the right direction. So, do you
know what is one of the essential things that gets us in the right
direction? Praying together! A few years ago at the Seattle Special
Olympics, nine contestants, all physically or mentally disabled,
assembled at the starting line for the 100-yard dash. At the gun,
they all started out, not exactly in a dash, but with a relish to
run the race to the finish and be the first to win. All, that is,
except one boy who stumbled on the asphalt, tumbled over a couple
of times, scraped his knee and began to cry. The other eight heard
the boy. They slowed down and looked back. They all stopped, turned
around and went back- every one of them. The cheering of the crowd
and families kept yelling, “No, turn around to the finish line!”
One girl with Down Syndrome bent down and kissed him and said,
“This will make it better.” All nine linked arms and walked across
the finish line together. Everyone in the stadium stood, and the
cheering went on for several minutes. People who were there are
still telling the story. Why? Because deep down we know one thing.
What matters most in this life is more than winning for us. What
truly matters in this life is helping others win, even if it means
slowing down and praying, and changing course. As a church we are
not alone! We are praying for great things. I want to share with
you several things that made my heart tear up with joy. At the end
of last weeks’ service, if you noticed I was a bit weepy because I
was seeing God answer prayer right in front of my eyes. 1. First,
we started our new members’ class, and we had eight people attend.
I didn’t expect that. I rejoice because God is working. 2. We had
folks move from our prayer group to cover the nursery so parents
could take this class. That is a great praise and answer to prayer!
3. Those meeting in my office continued to pray for great things.
4. We had the fullest and most attended service since our church
was shut down in March. It felt overwhelmingly like God is
answering prayer and bringing people back. 5. During our State of
the Ministry, I asked people to remember to invite visitors and
pray for families with children and kids to attend. As we were
ending the service, we had a host of new faces at church. 6. As I
introduced myself to one of the families, someone said right boldly
in front of them and me, “Pastor, you said to ask for families with
more kids to come to our church, and here they are!” 7. We were
getting ready to pray for Tim and Helen Van Sumeren and someone
said, “God must have something great for them in Thailand, because
look at how God keeps opening doors for them!” In the last month,
they received their
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visas, their plane tickets, all their support, and even when
they were told their flight to Thailand was canceled, within eight
hours, they had a new flight. When they get to Thailand, they must
quarantine for 14 days in a very expensive hotel provided and
approved by the government. It will cost thousands of dollars, and
God has provided all the funds. Then when they leave the hotel,
they will travel from a “red zone” city with the pandemic, and
travel northwest to Chiang Mai, which is two hours away from Steve
and Kelly going to the northeastern border of Chiang Rai. There are
missionaries who have given them a home to stay, fully furnished,
with a car and motorcycle, and Tim happens to have a driver’s
license which will never expire from previous years in Thailand. He
was told that currently no driver’s licenses are being granted and
everything is shut down. They will be joining their daughter’s
family who arrived earlier in the year as missionaries. While
there, they are going to be missionary helpers to support and help
new missionaries. Tim and Helen asked us to pray for them to first
spend time learning to re-read the Thai language. Like our
missionaries in Cambodia, Thai is one of the most difficult
languages to learn. There are three different “T’s”. It’s a
language of 44 consonants, and 25 vowels. So that is their biggest
prayer request for now. Let’s turn around and pray them into their
ministry. I enjoyed and was moved with tears on Tuesday, when my
four pastor friends and myself all gathered around Tim and prayed
for his going. We’ve prayed together as pastors for two years now,
and it was a special blessing to witness that going. Very much like
our goodbye to the Marks family last year. Note: I have prayer
cards if you want to pick them up at front. 8. Speaking of which,
Steve and Kelly are giving us updates every week as they too have
all the funding for their quarantine when they leave and enter the
capital city of Bangkok. They also will need to travel northeast to
Chiang Rai and quarantine when they get back to their home. They
will need prayer as they return, not knowing the condition of
everything. Prayerfully, they will not have suffered any damage or
break-ins while they were back in the States. So pray, pray, pray,
pray for them as they fly out next week on the 20th. Pray for Anna
and Joe to return and be caught up in Christian school there at
CRICS and pray for Kelly as she needs to take over the classes she
was supposed to teach but couldn’t because they were delayed in
returning for four months. 9. We need to pray for souls to come to
saving faith! That is our purpose. That is what it means to be a
church without walls! We are not the building or a denomination, we
are a family of called-out, blood-bought, people who were blinded.
Jesus is our everything to live this life until He comes for us!
The evangelist D. L. Moody once said: “So if you turn one to
Christ, that one may turn a hundred; they may turn a thousand, and
so the stream, small at the first, goes on a broadening and
deepening as it rolls toward eternity.” 10. Come and gather
together in prayer and team with us to see God work here at PCBC!
Just like those young children at the special Olympics, our prayers
will help us win together. We need to be together to pray! God is
answering “everything” and more in our prayers! I found this quote
from
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E. M. Bounds and it reminded me about the importance of our
prayers: “Prayer is a keynote. The more praying there is in the
world the better the world will be, the mightier the forces against
evil everywhere. Prayer is a voice which goes into God’s ear, and
it lives as long as God’s ear is open to holy pleas, as long as
God’s heart is alive to holy things. God shapes the world by our
prayers.” (E. M. Bounds, Purpose in Prayer. Pg. 11). I want to
close with a true story about Mark Kellnor who played our old,
out-of-tune piano. I’m not sure where my parents got the old
upright, but it was most certainly given to them. There was lattice
work on the face of the upright
piano, but after years of neglect, you could see where small
fingers poked through the decayed fabric- allowing you to see the
inside of the piano. The once white keys were certainly a
“toe-fungus” ivory now. Some of the keys didn’t even have the top
polish on them, leaving a
broken chewed fingernail look on middle ‘C’. But this old piano
still had grit. It was my mother’s desire to get us four older
children to learn to play. I actually didn’t want to learn. It felt
too hard a discipline, and it was more like punishment to have my
mother set a timer for thirty minutes to have to practice those
Thompson red books. It was shortly around that time that our
pastor’s son Robert and his wife Thelma returned to the States,
coming off the mission field of the ABC Islands of Netherland
Antilles. They served on Bonaire with Trans World Radio. They were
gifted musicians. Well, Mark, their oldest son, would come up to
the house and play with me. My mother would often ask Mark to play
on the old piano. Understand, he later in life followed God’s
calling to be a music major at Moody Bible Institute, and
afterwards was destined to teach music. But at the time Mark would
visit my house, music was the furthest thing on our minds. Playing
tag or climbing in the barn seemed more important. So, I will never
forget the first time Mark was asked to play a song for me. It was
Mark’s own version of the Billy Graham chorus “He’s Everything to
Me.” The chorus was known at that time during the 70’s as a sappy
little tune. This was the favorite and most popular song during our
singing time at summer camp. We never got tired of singing it. The
words go like this: “In the stars His handiwork I see, On the wind
He speaks with majesty, ‘Though He ruleth over land and sea, What
is that to me? I will celebrate Nativity, For it has a place in
history, Sure, He came to set His people free, What is that to
me?
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Till by faith I met Him face to face, ah-ah-ahhh! and I felt the
wonder of His grace, Then I knew that He was more than just A God
who didn’t care, That lived a way out there and (now) Now He walks
beside me day by day, Ever watching o’er me lest I stray, Helping
me to find that narrow way, He’s Everything to me!” Notice the
words “Till by faith I met Him face to face, and I felt the wonder
of His grace.” Those words describe someone who changed from
looking and knowing about who Jesus was, to understanding that
God’s saving grace really is what made Jesus real. Well, Mark
Kellnor’s playing of that song on our old piano did the exact same
thing for me. When Mark, who was a year and a foot taller than I,
would sit down to play this song, suddenly the piano came alive!
The piano shook! The tune wasn’t in a sappy camp-song style. He had
learned and transposed the melody into a moving classical style
that moved powerfully and majestically up and down the keyboard. I
still feel the pounding. He had to slide back and forth up and down
the key board to play this song! The vibrations filled and tickled
my chest. I wish I could truly play a video of Mark doing this.
Trying to explain this truly falls short of the experience. The
piano sounded like it never did before. It was alive! It was
magnificent! It filled one with awe, because one didn’t know a
piano could sound like that! And that was the day I stopped just
looking at the piano and knowing things about it. That was the day
I really wanted to learn how to play the piano. And from then on,
practice wasn’t an enslaving bore. I went from only being able to
play “chops sticks” to being able to later play fairly well for a
beginner. It was a passionate real growing joy to learn the piano.
I wanted to spend time with the music. I wanted to learn the
melodies. The piano didn’t change. It was still a ruin to look at
and play. But because of the “one” who played the piano, something
changed. That is what Jesus does in saving faith with our lives. We
are all out-of-sorts and mostly out-of-tune, broken down souls, and
then a New Man, Master touches our lives and makes a New Song and
Melody across the broken keys of our lives. It’s nothing we do, but
it’s all something He does. Everything of our salvation is from
Jesus! I can just about hear you all say, “But, Pastor, this sounds
like the story ‘The Touch of The Master’s Hand.’” Yes, it really is
a lot like that. I will leave you a copy of that well-known tale as
my closing quote for those who don’t know the story, though I bet
that it’s just a few. But what Mark did to enliven and draw me to
want to learn to play, is exactly what Jesus does in our lives to
make a
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melody in our hearts and new joy of saving faith in our lives.
Saving faith brings us to understand why Jesus is "everything” to
you and me. And there are more “exceedingly abundant” things that
God has done in our lives, but this is the one that I felt
impressed to share with you today. All that I really feel that God
has asked of me is expressed in His word in Isaiah 43:10-13: “‘But
you are My witnesses, O Israel!’ says the LORD. ‘And you are My
servant. You have been chosen to know Me, believe in Me, and
understand that I alone am God. There is no other God; there never
has been and never will be. I am the LORD, and there is no other
Savior. First I predicted your deliverance; I declared what I would
do, and then I did it—I saved you. No foreign god has ever done
this before. You are witnesses that I am the only God, says the
LORD. From eternity to eternity I am God. No one can oppose what I
do. No one can reverse My actions.’” I am simply His witness; His
servant, chosen to know Him, believe in Him and understand that He
alone is God! He is the only Savior and He has given me new life to
replace the bondage of sin to which I was once a slave. There is no
one who can oppose what He does and no one who can reverse His
actions. He declared to me what He would do through my life, by His
Spirit not my own ability, when He called me into His ministry. His
word to me was: Zechariah 4:6: “...'Not by might nor by power, but
by My Spirit,' says the LORD of hosts.” To God be the glory! I am
so blessed to be His witness; His servant, proclaiming the way of
the Lord to those that I come into contact with. I love Him and am
privileged to be His child! What about you? Can you look back
through your life and see the “exceedingly abundant” things that He
has done for you? I'm sure they are there, for God is no respecter
of persons. What He has done for one He will do for another. Let’s
pray, “Precious Father, we thank You for doing exceedingly abundant
above all we could ask or think in our lives. Thank You that Jesus
is our everything! Thank You for blessing us with Your great
salvation! Thank You for calling us to be Your servants and to
share You with the world around us. Thank You, Father, for those
who listen to the teaching of Your word, very much like my old
friend Mark’s ability to play the piano, and it causes many to
receive You by faith. Thank You that we are simply a vessel that
You have chosen to flow through. Father, I pray that we all at PCBC
may be as much of a blessing to those who need you as Mark was to
me to want to learn the piano. I pray that the worship and song
from our changed lives will draw friends, loved ones, and strangers
to You for true salvation. Shape and touch our own broken lives to
become lives of real and “living faith!” Thank You for all those
You have brought into our lives. Thank You for answered prayers and
for people visiting our church. Thank You for the definite teamwork
of prayer
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warriors we have in our church. Thank You for allowing us to
know and share Your love. Holy Spirit, we pray that You continue to
move in us, changing us, and molding us into Your very own
likeness, conforming us to the image of Your Son. Make us a
blessing to the world today, Father! In Jesus’ Name I pray. Amen.”
Touched by the real Master’s hands, Pastor Corvin < Quote: The
Touch of the Master's Hand by Myra Welch 'Twas battered and
scarred, and the auctioneer Thought it scarcely worth his while To
waste much time on the old violin, But held it up with a smile.
"What am I bidden, good folks," he cried, "Who'll start the bidding
for me?" "A dollar, a dollar. Then two! Only two? Two dollars, and
who'll make it three?" "Three dollars, once; three dollars, twice;
Going for three…" But no, From the room, far back, a grey-haired
man Came forward and picked up the bow; Then wiping the dust from
the old violin, And tightening the loosened strings, He played a
melody pure and sweet, As a caroling angel sings. The music ceased,
and the auctioneer, With a voice that was quiet and low, Said:
"What am I bid for the old violin?" And he held it up with the bow.
"A thousand dollars, and who'll make it two? Two thousand! And
who'll make it three? Three thousand, once; three thousand, twice,
And going and gone," said he. The people cheered, but some of them
cried, "We do not quite understand. What changed its worth?" Swift
came the reply: "The touch of the Master's hand." And many a man
with life out of tune, And battered and scarred with sin,
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Is auctioned cheap to the thoughtless crowd Much like the old
violin. A "mess of pottage," a glass of wine, A game — and he
travels on. He is "going" once, and "going" twice, He's "going" and
almost "gone." But the Master comes, and the foolish crowd Never
can quite understand The worth of a soul and the change that is
wrought By the touch of the Master's hand. Note: Myra Welch would
say that she heard a speaker address a group of students on the
power of God to bring out the best in people. She said she herself
became filled with light and that “Touch of the Master’s Hand” was
written in 30 minutes! The finished poem was sent anonymously to
the editor of her local church news bulletin. She felt it was a
gift from God and didn’t need her name on it.