Post Election Blues

Can you find a cure for it? Do they prescribe a medication for it? What to do for "post election blues"?

Here's the cure: Shout - out loud - three times - "Hallelujah, it's over!!!"

No matter your age or political persuasion - you and I are living in historic times:
**first black President
**most electoral votes since Bill Clinton
**most popular votes by a Democratic President in recent history, etc.

Can Barack Obama bring our troops in Iraq home sooner? I don't know.
Can Barack Obama bring an end to the economic slump we're in? I don't know.

If confidence and charisma alone are enough to make a great president - Barack Obama should be the greatest president the USA has ever had.

What I do know is this - our source for strength and wisdom and encouragement and help and hope and healing for our lives and for our land is "God" and "God alone"!

So - shake those "election blues" off. How? PRAY!

Pray for leadership.

1 Timothy 2.1,2 - "...I urge that prayers, intercessions, and thanksgiving be made for everyone - for kings and all those in authority that we may live peaceful and quiet lives in all holiness and godliness."

Barack Obama, come January, will be your president. If you cast your ballot for him you need to pray for him.

If you did not vote for Barack Obama - you still must pray for him. For Bible believing Christians - you have a great responsibility to pray.

I'm convinced that my prayer should be for the Holy Spirit to guide the thinking processes of all the "thinking" and "talking" heads. Why? Because, prayer and the Holy Spirit can go where you and I cannot go! I believe that the Holy Spirit can cause godly and ungodly men and women to make decisions they would not have otherwise made when the Holy Spirit gets involved!

"People of the Spirit" - rise up! "People of the Spirit" don't quit! "People of the Spirit" don't back down! "People of the Spirit" - be led by the Spirit, walk in the Spirit, talk in the Spirit!!

I feel like singing!! What a mighty God we serve!!

Weekend Revival!

What do you get when you combine a total of 200 people for three different settings for our guest Evangelist - Greg Summers?

What you get is multiple opportunities for folks just like you and me to tap into what God wants for each of us.

Evangelist Greg Summers said, "unless a person has experienced a 'move of God' in their life they will likely not recognize one when it comes!" People were 'pursuing God' around the altar this weekend.

Let's be 'God Chasers'!

New

"Are you settled into your new home?" someone asked. To which I replied - yes, but haven't found a place for everything just yet!

Do you know the feeling? You want to put it up, hang it up, set it on a shelf. But, you're not quite sure where to put it, hang it or set it! So, you wait for just the right spot at the right time - thereby leaving fewer wall holes to repair in the long run.

And, even though new at one time, everything you and I possess will age. As it does it will need repair, maintenance or replacement. Nothing lasts forever!

What to do? Take the best care of it you can. Oil it. Water it. Move it. Set it up high. Set it down low. Let it get lots of sun. Keep it in the shade. Read it. Drive it. Open it. Close it. Read the instructions!

And, when it comes time to get rid of it - perhaps you'll have enough "its" and then you can have a yard sale!

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Hey, don't forget to check out - 6:23 - Saturdays at 6:23. Come at 6 and enjoy the coffee and snacks. Great environment for the whole family.

This Saturday our weekend evangelist Greg Summers will share God's word. Greg will also preach Sunday morning at 10 am and Sunday evening at 6pm. Plan to attend all three times!

In That Great Gittin' Up Mornin'....

....Fare thee well, fare thee well! So, I wonder what the song writer was actually thinking when he penned those words? Whatever he was thinking it was for sure about heaven!

One Sunday School teacher asked her class (thinking, of course, salvation being the criteria for entering heaven) "what do you have to do to get to heaven?" To which one little boy replied,
"You gotta die!"

A little boy wrote a letter to God - addressed it to heaven and mailed it. Someone opened it (rather than allowing it to go the 'dead letter route'). It read, "Dear God, what's it like to die? I don't want to do it, I just want to know. Your friend, Michael"

Many people want to go to heaven they just don't want to have to die to get there!

When you travel to a new destination - you read up on that area, territory, country. All of the 'experiences' people have had, all the printed material about heaven will never adequately portray what heaven is really like. The closest to knowing what heaven will really be like is recorded in the Bible. The only person who has been there and can tell me what it is like is Jesus! When you know that as a believer in Jesus Christ, death is just a transition into the presence of God!

Speaking of heaven Paul says: "If I had to choose right now, I hardly know which I'd choose....The desire to break camp here and be with Christ is powerful. Some days I can think of nothing better".

So, in the words of the song writer: "In that great gittin' up mornin' --- I'm outta here!!!"

What a day - glorious day that will be!

Projects!

If you lived in Chicago - you might hear someone say they "live in the projects."

But, if you asked this question around First Assembly right about now: "What kinds of projects are you working on?" I know what you'd hear. Several people are doing some minor to major overhauls in their homes.

And, isn't that sorta the way life is? Only so many things can be piled over there before the pile needs to be sorted through and some things thrown out and some things boxed up and some things just put in the place where they belong.

So, what kinds of projects are you working on? What things need an overhaul in your life? Whatever they are - bathe them in prayer. In recent weeks I've worked on three flooring projects. All of which required me to be on my knees. And, as sore as my knees are right now, I think I must not spend quite enough time on my knees! (Maybe we all need some flooring projects!)

Blessings,

Pastor D

PS: Happy birthday to my youngest grandson Brant who was 2 August 24th, to my Mom whose birthday is today and to Shelline Williams who is 89 Tuesday the 26th.