Every Christian Should Celebrate October 31!

HIStory, Pastor's P.O.V., Special Days, , , , , , ,

There’s a poster in our Youth Wing that says, “Do you seriously think God can’t use you?”

Then it lists a whole lot of people from the Bible who no one would ever think could be used for the furtherance of God’s Kingdom.

  • Noah was a drunk.
  • Abraham was too old.
  • Jacob was a liar.
  • Samson was a womanizer.
  • Rahab was a prostitute (who ended up in the generational line of Jesus).
  • Elijah was suicidal.
  • Lazarus was dead.

God also used a crazy man in the 16th century who was rude, crude and a Jew hater. He was also a worry wart, always thinking God was going to strike him dead for his sin. His name was Martin Luther and the reason you are a Baptist, Methodist, Episcopalian, Lutheran, Pentecostal or even a non-denominational believer is because of what he did on Oct. 31, 1517, commonly called the Protestant Reformation.

It’s been 503 years since the day faith in God was RE-formed, and we celebrate our independence from hierarchical religion and cherish the truth that we can come to God on our own, by faith, through his Son Jesus Christ. Though this truth has always been with us, it was hidden for centuries. What Martin Luther did changed the direction of Christianity forever—all because God used this one man.

Every Christian should celebrate the third greatest Holy Day of the year after Christmas and Easter: Reformation Day, not that silly Halloween, the day that ghouls, ghosts and gross gaggles of the grave are happily acclaimed while death, murder and fiendish activity is lionized.

It all came about in this way:

Read More

How to Leave Your Church

ABOUT ME, MY BLOG, MY CHURCH, Community Church of the Hills, Pastor's P.O.V.

A BELOVED FAMILY LEFT OUR FELLOWSHIP…and did it the right way: by actually telling the pastor!

AJ and Angela De LaCruz bought a new home over an hour away from Community Church of the Hills. Instead of fading away and never returning again, with members left to wondering what happened to them, they did the right and proper thing, something that the vast majority of church-goers do not do: They allowed the pastor to send them off with a blessing, even standing in front of the congregation to be prayed over before beginning their new venture.

Yes, it was a miracle.

The sad reality is, most people just leave. They may have good reasons or bad, but pastors do want to know when you go away, and would like to know why as well, even if it’s something we’ve done wrong…especially if it’s something we’ve done wrong!

Read More

Runnin’ With the Devil?

9 CommentsFamous and Not-So, Famous Lost Words, Pastor's P.O.V.

Eddie Van Halen died today at age 65. Did he go to Heaven or Hell?

Only God knows. I can never make that determination nor can anyone else; all we can do is look at his life to see if he stood for Christ or lived for himself.

Eddie did give credit to God for his amazing music ability saying, “I just believe that when you play long enough you’re able to execute with your fingers, whatever God gives you… And God’s got a sense of humor, too–sometimes he gives me s—, ’cause not everything I do I like.”1

Read More

The End of Suicide

Pastor's P.O.V., ,

I TRIED TO KILL MYSELF IN 1989.

Things were tough, I was deeply in debt, drug addicted and thinking things were never going to change. I tried to take the selfish way out because I had no hope.

My Uncle Brent shot himself through the heart with a deer rifle when I was a little kid because he had no hope.

Kate Spade and Anthony Bourdain took their lives despite the fact that they were rich and famous because they also had no hope.

According to the Centers for Disease Control suicide rates have gone up 30% since 1999 “among both sexes, all racial/ethnic groups, and all urbanization levels.” More than half of these individuals had no mental health issues.

The World Health Organization reports that nearly 800,000 people take their own lives each year—one person every 40 seconds—and for every successful attempt, twenty more try. 45,000 people died in America by their own hands in 2016.

Some people believe in the false notion that once this life ends all their problems will be over because there is nothing after death: We just get buried in the ground. That is suicide’s appeal. That everything will be better.

When I tried to take my life over thirty years ago I didn’t think of the afterlife nor the people I would leave behind; I just wanted out. Life was overwhelming. I thought there was nothing to live for anymore.

Read More