a wedding

Today we witnessed the marriage of Matthew Parrish & Megan Whitten. They were married at New Life FWB Church. The service began at 2:00 PM. When it was all said and done we had a new family beginning. We pray for God's blessing in their lives. Two have become one. Praise God!!!

No bad luck here

I don't believe in luck, good or bad. I believe God knows what is going to happen at all times. Even though I don't believe in "bad luck" I think Satan wants us to. "Why?" you ask. Well, it takes our eyes off God. If we chalk something up as luck, we take God out of the equation. Any way, listen to this. Strange things do seem to happen. Have you ever noticed that when you need to get somewhere in a hurry, you hit a road block? Or maybe you get behind slow traffic(even if there is never slow traffic in that area.) This happens to me all the time. Maybe you have similar occurrences. Listen to this one. For the second year in a row our oven has broken the week of Thanksgiving(very frustrating.) Last year it was our heating element. We got it fixed Wednesday(Thanksgiving eve.) This year I am still waiting for UPS to deliver my parts (Gonna be a close one, I'm getting very nervous.) Get this, about 10 minutes after the oven went out my washing machine quit(extremely frustrating.) By the way, the repair man for the washer can't get hear until at least Friday. "Bad luck"...... I don't think so . Oh well, God is still God, no matter what.......... I'm still blessed. At least we have an oven and a washing machine. To God be the glory.

Humble giver

I tell you this not to brag or gloat. Someone(I don't know who) put a nameless deposit receipt in our offering plate last Sunday. It was payment on our church mortgage in the amount of $190,000. That is a generous gift. This was given in secrete. What an act of humility. Since we don't know who did this, I'll try to give some credit here. These verses come to mind. Matthew 6:1-6. We may or may not ever know who did this, but I believe God will make it known for His glory. Regardless, the Lord saw it. May this be an example to all of us on how to be a humble giver.

My pumpkin pie

Ingredients:
1- 9 inch unbaked pie shell(deep dish)
1-16 oz. can pumpkin
1-14 oz. can sweetened condensed milk
2 eggs
1 teaspoon cinnamon (I like cinnamon)
1/2 teaspoon each ground ginger,salt,cayenne pepper(I use 1 tsp cayenne) vanilla extract.
1/4 teaspoon fresh grated nutmeg(the already ground kind is mostly floor sweepings)

Directions:
Preheat oven to 425. In mixer bowl, combine all ingredients except pie shell(duh); mix well. Pour into pie shell.
Bake 15 minutes. Reduce oven temperature to 350; bake 35-40 minutes longer (maybe even 45 min.) Let it cool before you cut it or it will be a sorry mess....... like all your cooking........Ha ha ha.

Closer every day

Lately every day seems to bring me closer to the Lord. This is what I have been praying for so much. If you want a closer walk with God, Ask Him for it. Prayer is how we communicate with the Lord. Every day you should ask God for a closer walk with him. James 4:8 Draw nigh to God and he will draw nigh to you. Cleans your hands,ye sinners;and purify your hearts, ye double minded. Even in my preaching of Christ, I can tell a difference. Instead of getting all these sermons worked out,I just let God speak through me. This, I believe is the correct way. Preachers spend too much thought on how they think it should sound instead of accepting it for what it is. Don't get me wrong. We should spend a great deal of time on our sermons. Study and prayer is a necessary part of proclaiming the gospel. It's just, at preaching time we must turn it all over to God. This is just one way I've become closer to the Lord. I also see it in my everyday life. We should all draw closer to our Lord every day.

spirit of fear

2 Timothy 1:7 For God hath not given us the spirit of fear;but of power,and of love,and of a sound mind.

Does fear ever grip hold of you? Maybe you have felt it. Out of nowhere fear just washes over you without warning. According to the above mentioned verse, we know this is just an attack by Satan. God does not attack us with fear. God will actually protect us from fear. Knowing all this, I still get caught of guard sometimes. Once fear grabs you it can be hard to shake. We start to give in, or even panic at the notion that something bad is going to happen. Satan probably laughs at or fear. The devil tries to make sport of us. It is in this moment that we must fully trust God. God has given us the spirit of love and power. This is what we must use against the devil. We must love God and depend on His power. Pray for me, this is one of my greatest weaknesses.

All that God has done

Have you ever stopped to think about all God has done for you? If you really consider all our Lord has done for us, it is overwhelming. We have nothing but what God has given us. Really, think about it. Can you really say you have gotten anything on your own. I am so thankful that God has changed my life from what I used to be. All praise to my Lord. Glory to God. Thank you Lord. God deserves our praise. Speaking of deserving. You have heard people say "I deserve this." They say "I work hard for what I have." What they are saying is that they have done something without God. Listen to me. I am glad I don't have what I deserve. I deserve death and hell. I have no righteousness apart from God. My righteousness is but filthy rags. Let me repeat my self. I have no righteousness apart from God. The blood of Christ covers my filthiness. My wife and children are the greatest blessing in my life, After God. God is first. My family is next. All else I have comes from God. Just stop and think about all God has done.

Make up your mind

I heard someone say"I believe a preacher can stay at a church too long." I must disagree with that statement. I see the point of the statement. I even understand the concept. Let me tell you what I mean. The church has reserved the right to vote on the preacher if they deem necessary. So, if you think he has stayed too long, it is the church that has kept him around too long. This is funny to me. If the preacher"leaves too early" he is a church hopper. If the preacher "stays too long" he has over stayed his welcome. Funny how it's always the preacher who is at fault. I know...... I'm a crybaby. So, if you want the preacher gone, vote him out. If you want your preacher to stay, give him support. Just make up your mind.

KJV

I am one of those uneducated people that believe that the KJV bible is the only bible. That is after all what I must be..... uneducated. That is at least how people refer to us KJV only people. I have heard people say " this other version is easier to understand." You know what..... without the Holy Spirit they are all hard to understand. If we let God open the scripture it will be much easier. Others have said "this version is closer to the original Greek and Hebrew." What these people are really saying is God didn't get it right the first time. Oh yes you are. My favorite is this. "The KJV is just a translation." This makes them feel really smart. What this really shows is that they have no understanding. Me and my uneducated self are going to let you in on something. The KJV is a translated version of the original. I believe God is big enough that in 1611 he was able to inspire people to give a perfect translation. It is man who has copied and changed the bible into non inspired versions. Things that are different are not the same. If one version differs from another it is just that..... different. Read the closing of the book of revelation. Take it for what it says, not what you want it to say. I believe God got it right the first time. I know some people will laugh at the absurdity of my statements. That's OK. I have been persecuted before. I still love you. You don't have to agree with this uneducated red neck preacher. You can be wrong if you want to. You will not convert me to heresy. I'm sure someone will try. You are free to leave a disagreement if you really want your lack of understanding to be made public.

keep me awake preacher

People fall asleep in church all the time. It may only be for a second,or the whole time. You've seen people nod off and catch themselves before they utterly fall over. Some people think this is funny... It's not. It is really sad. If you can't get excited about the God that saved you from hell I feel bad for you. Really, don't you care about God enough to stay awake at the reading of his word? I know.... you've got a perfectly good excuse. The preacher just doesn't understand. It comes down to this. It's not my job to keep you awake. That my friend is between you and God. Maybe you should ask Him to keep you awake.

a good change

Today in church we had a surprise visit by one of our former pastors. It was good to see Johnny and Beverly Cook again. I asked Bro. Johnny if he would come back tonight and preach to us. He did. In the message he read to us (prov 29:18). We really need to get focused on what God has for us to do. I really needed to hear some truthful preaching. Preachers need to be preached to also. I think this was really good for our church. I pray today will have a lasting effect on us. It was a good change.

old friends

This is the strangest thing I have ever experienced. An old friend of mine (best friend) found my blog by what would appear as luck. Only, I don't believe in luck. I can only assume God led us to reunite. I didn't even know this guy had become a christian. This is a very happy day, to know my friend serves the same God as I do. God truly does work in mysterious ways.

It's me

I am Jason Parker from Laurel. I moved to Pontotoc five and one half years ago. This is to believer that responded to my blog. Who are you? This is weird that someone I know found my blog. Leave your name if you don't mind. My email is yellowchurchdove@hotmail.com

Trivia question

When is your name written in the book of life? Please use scripture to back your answer.

The call of home

God leads us in directions we don't expect sometimes. If we follow the path our Lord puts in front of us it will always work out. I say this because I never expected to leave my hometown. Five and one half years ago I left my hometown. I left by the leadership of my Lord Jesus. I do not regret my decision, although I do miss my people. I guess no matter how much time goes by I'll always miss the old days. I don't know if God will ever lead me back there again. We just have to accept what our Lord commands. As a pastor I never know where God will lead me... I just know He will not lead me astray. Maybe I'll stay at this church from now on, maybe I'll leave tomorrow. Whatever God says I must do I'll do. This is a small sacrifice compared to what my Lord did for me. No matter where I end up I guess I'll always hear the call of home where I grew up. One day I'll hear the call of my eternal home with the Lord.