Parkway Wesleyan Church - Tuesday Morning On the Run

Tuesday Morning on the Run

Tue, 31 Aug 2010 06:14:10 -0800

This AM as I write this, I am overwhelmed with a profound sense of loss. A friend, a brother in the Lord has been taken from us. Already I am missing Bob Kilmer’s, mischievous smile, big warm handshake, (he’d often hold on to your hand while he was thinking of some wise crack) and his unpredictable sense of humor. You just never knew what Bob might say. Whether it was a critique of my wardrobe, or a comment about my latest hair style or a question about how close I was to ordering that new red sports car—you never knew where Bob’s mind was going. Just talking to Bob could perk up your day. I caught myself on Sunday looking for Bob in his usual seat a couple of times. We truly are going to miss him.

Yet I’m trying to focus on the bigger picture. I’m trying to look at this from the lens of eternity. What are some of the things we know for certain.

(1) We know that this life is temporary at best. We are just “aliens and strangers on earth” (Hebrew 11: 13). We’re just passing through. For here we do not have an enduring city, but we are looking for the city that is to come. (Hebrews 13: 14) We were created for so much more.

(2) A second thing we know is that Bob is with Jesus. As Jesus told the repentant thief on the cross, “Today you will be with me in paradise.” Or as Paul tells us, “we are confident, I say, and would prefer to be away from the body and at home with the Lord. (II Corinthians 5:8) In some ways we should be envious of Bob—he got there ahead of us. He’s already enjoying wonders we can only dream about.

(3) A third thing we know is that if we put our trust in Christ, we will see Bob again. Someday God will call each of us home. Bob is going to be there in that crowd welcoming us into heaven [He’ll probably want to know what took us so long!] I believe that Bob is now part of that “great cloud of witnesses, (Hebrews 12:1) cheering us on to the finish line. We need to keep our eyes on Jesus and press on to win our race.

On Wednesday we’ll take time to remember and celebrate Bob’s life. We’ll tell some stories and laugh or cry. We’ll remind ourselves again that this is only a temporary parting. We’ll comfort our hearts with the promises of Scripture. Hopefully we may point someone toward Christ. And we can all learn from Bob’s example and determine to follow in his footsteps. After, we’ve said our goodbyes, it will be time to pick up the baton and keep running. It’s what Bob would want us to do!

Pastor Barry

Tuesday Morning on the Run

Tue, 24 Aug 2010 10:35:10 -0800

   Someone recently asked me a question I had to think about. The question was, “Is it a sin to worry?” My response was, “Well, Jesus tells us not to.” In Matthew 6:25 He tells us. "Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink; or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more important than food, and the body more important than clothes?”  The apostle Paul says something similar in Philippians 4: 6  Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God.

             Now most of us would have to admit that we at times battle this temptation. But is worry a sin? I believe that it is for the following reasons.

             (1) When you worry you are doubting the truthfulness of God. When you worry you are basically saying, “Lord, I don’t believe your promises.” We may know, for instance, Philippians 4:19 And my God will meet all your needs according to his glorious riches in Christ Jesus.  But if we still worry about paying our bills or where we’re going to live or what we’re going to eat, then we are in essence calling God a liar. Worry is doubting God’s truthfulness and that is the sin of unbelief.

             (2) A second reason I believe worry is a sin is because it is an indication of prayerlessness.   You see, I believe it is impossible to pray about something and worry at the same time. Most people who are paralyzed by worry have not taken the time to pray about the matter.

             One of my favorite Scriptures is Isaiah 26:3 You will keep in perfect peace him whose mind is steadfast, because he trusts in you.  If our thoughts are directed toward the Lord, worry vanishes.  I love the quote that says “To be anxious about nothing, pray about everything.”

             (3) A final reason I believe worry is a sin is because it ruins our witness. If we are worried and stressed out it is a poor reflection on the God we serve. If He’s not big enough to take care of my puny little problems, then He must not be much of a God. How can I convince someone to surrender their life to Christ and trust Him for salvation, if I can’t trust Him to help me pay my electric bill? Worry is a sin because it hinders our testimony.

             So if you’ve allowed worry to get the best of you. Confess it for what it is, a sin, and ask God to forgive you. Then, give your worries to Jesus and trust Him to meet your needs.

                                       “What a privilege to carry

                                       Everything to God in prayer!

                                       Oh, what peace we often forfeit,

                                       Oh, what needless pain we bear

                                       All because we do not carry

                                       Everything to God in prayer.

             Stop worrying and start praying!

                                                                              Have a great week!

                                                                              Pastor Barry

P.S.      Don’t forget to put in your orders for pork barbeque or ham sandwiches. We will be serving from              10:00 a.m. to 1:00 pm this Saturday. Take-out or dine in available This is to help fund missions              trips.

Tuesday Morning On the Run

Tue, 17 Aug 2010 11:16:00 -0800

   God’s grace truly is amazing. I like the little acrostic for grace —- God’s Riches At Christ’s Expense. Grace is totally underserved and unearned. It is something freely given us by God. One of the things I find so amazing about God’s grace is that it is inexhaustible. Unlike insurance policy grace periods that last about 30 days or credit card grace periods that are 10 days. (I had a conversation recently with the folks at VISA about this. I had to threaten to cancel in order to squeeze a drop of grace out of them). Thankfully, God isn’t so tightfisted with His grace.

             But have you ever wondered if maybe you were reaching your limit? After all, how many times will God forgive the same failure? Three? Ten? Most of us could fill volumes with our misdeeds and blunders. How many times have we lost our temper? How many times have we reacted harshly or failed to be compassionate? Could God ever get fed-up and refuse to forgive?

             The New Testament would seem to say NO. Paul can’t seem to come up with enough objectives to describe it. For instance in II Corinthians 9:14 he speaks of “the surpassing grace God has given you (us).” He calls it an “indescribable gift.” Or listen to Ephesians 1: 7-8 ”In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins, in accordance with the riches of God's grace that he lavished on us with all wisdom and understanding. Later in Ephesians 3 he prays that we might have the power “to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ, and to know this love that surpasses knowledge.”

             Yet , here is the part that is so troubling. How can we who have been the recipients of such amazing grace, be so stingy in dispensing it to others? How about giving that grouchy co-worker the benefit of the doubt? Lay off the horn when the distracted driver on the cell-phone cuts you off. Why not smile and say something nice to the grumpy Wal-Mart clerk? Or “cut some slack” to the busy waitress at lunch. After all, “freely we have received, freely we should give.

                                                                              Have a grace-filled week!
   Pastor Barry

P. S.     Have you ordered your BBQ sandwiches yet? How about selling some at your work. Or better yet show a little grace and treat your workplace to lunch.

P.S.S.   Don’t forget the Sunday School Picnic—This Saturday beginning at 5:00 P.M. (we will eat around 6:00 P.M.)

Tuesday Morning On the Run

Tue, 10 Aug 2010 17:20:28 -0800

Greetings! I hope your week is off to a good start. This has been an emotional and difficult week for our family. Last Tuesday evening we put our daughter, Karen, her husband, and our two grandsons on the plane back to Armenia. We had a great three weeks spoiling and enjoying our boys. Then on Wednesday afternoon we received word that Rosemary’s 82 year old father, Jack Meador, had been involved in an accident and was badly burned. [In case you didn’t hear, he was putting gas in a hot lawn mower and it exploded back over him burning over 40% of his body]. He is stable and in the burn unit of UVA. His spirits are good, but he is facing a long and difficult process of recovery. The potential for complications is quite high at his age. We appreciate all of your prayers and concern. Rosemary and her sister Lisa are both Daddy’s girls and are struggling to deal with all of this.

             Needless to say we are learning much about the burn recovery process [let me just say the burn unit at UVA is phenomenal]. One of the things we are learning that relates to this devotional thought is that before the healing can begin and new skin can grow, all of the dead skin has to be removed. The first painful surgeries and extensive procedures Jack has endured have been efforts to debreed or remove all the dead skin. Before new skin can be grafted on, the old must be removed. The same is true in our spiritual lives as well. Listen to these words from the Apostle Paul in Ephesians 4: 17-19; 21-24 “And so I insist—and God backs me up on this—that there be no going along with the crowd, the empty-headed, mindless crowd. They’ve refused for so long to deal with God that they’ve lost touch not only with God but with reality itself. They can’t think straight anymore. Feeling no pain, they let themselves go in sexual obsession, addicted to every sort of perversion. Since, then, we do not have the excuse of ignorance, everything —and I do mean everything —connected with that old way of life has to go. It’s rotten through and through. Get rid of it! And then take on an entirely new way of life—a God-fashioned life, a life renewed from the inside and working itself into your conduct as God accurately reproduces his character in you”—The Message.

             In the rest of the chapter he describes what this new life in Christ should look like. We are to be truthful, self-controlled, honest, hard-working and generous. We are to relate to one another in love, encouraging one another, being kind and showing compassion. We are to forgive, just as Christ forgives us.

             The question I’ve been asking myself is this: are there pockets of greed, or deception, or lust, or impure thoughts, or dishonesty that are hindering my growth? As painful as it might be, are the dead places in my life that the Master Surgeon needs to cut out, so that I can begin to grow into the new person Christ wants me to become? May all of us have the courage to endure with patience the removal of the old to make way for the new.

             Through the prophet Ezekiel, God promises that …”I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit in you; I will remove from you your heart of stone and give you a heart of flesh.” (Ezekiel 36:26)That day has come. Ask God to remove the dead, unresponsive parts of your heart and replace them with a new heart intent upon following Him!

             Have a good week and remember to reach out to someone this week who is hurting. Our congregation seems to be under attack and we need to stand together and encourage one another.

Tuesday Morning on the Run

Tue, 03 Aug 2010 00:00:00 -0800

   Good Morning! I hope your week is off to a good start. And for those involved in Bible School last week, I hope you are beginning to recover. It was a long, but very fun, week.

              I thought we had a terrific VBS. One of the things that impressed me was the exuberance of the kids in praising the Lord. Some of our children sang and danced and did the motions to the songs with great enthusiasm and joy. We adults could learn something from them. [Now I’m not saying we could do everything they did without injuring something, but we could surely imitate their joy in praising the Lord.]

After all, when we think about what God has done for us doesn’t He deserve our praise? Doesn’t He deserve our honor and our respect?

David was criticized by his wife Michal for his exuberant praise when he brought up the Ark of the Covenant to Jerusalem. David replied, “I was dancing before the Lord, who chose me above your father and his family! He appointed me as the leader of Israel, the people of the Lord. So I am willing to act like a fool in order to show my joy in the LORD. Yes, and I am willing to look even more foolish than this, but I will be held in honor by the girls of whom you have spoken!” 2 Samuel 6:21-22 (NLT).

I don’t always succeed, but when I praise the Lord I try to forget that anyone else is even there. My goal is to lift up an offering of praise to my King of Kings.

If you need something to jump start your praise this morning consider this verse from Psalm 89:8 (New Century Version). “Lord GOD All-Powerful, who is like you? LORD, you are powerful and completely trustworthy.”   There is no one like our God.

Take time to tell Him this morning how much you love Him. In the process you will be amazed at how it changes your perspective and mood. Be like a kid again—Praise the Lord for all you’re worth!

In Christ,
Pastor Barry

Tuesday Morning on the Run

Tue, 27 Jul 2010 16:25:49 -0800

As I’ve been reading ahead in the book of ACTS for our Wednesday night study, I noticed an interesting fact regarding Paul’s service on the island of Malta after being shipwrecked. The story occurs in Acts 28 and the thing we remember is that Paul was bitten by a poisonous snake with no ill effects. That truly is a miraculous event, but have you ever considered what Paul was doing when he was bitten.

It says that “..it was raining and cold. Paul gathered a pile of brushwood and, as he put it on the fire, a viper, driven out by the heat, fastened itself on his hand.” (Acts 28:3). Think of it. Here is the great apostle; preacher to thousands, planter of churches, miracle worker and healer. Here’s a man who has spoken before kings and rulers. Here’s a man who wrote a third of the New Testament. Yet, on a cold rainy night he gathers brushwood for the fire.

Paul could have sat grumbling about how terrible life was treating him. After all he’s a prisoner. He’s been falsely accused. Now, he’s been shipwrecked. He could have said, “Let someone else tend the fire.” “Let some else gather sticks.” “I’m too important.” Or, “I’m too tired.” Or “it’s not my job.” Or “tending fires is not my gift.” He could have found a million excuses, but instead he serves. In Galatians 5:13 Paul encourages the church to “serve one another in love.” Here he models that love in a place where few would even notice.

I’ve been impressed by that same spirit of service after our first night of Vacation Bible School. Not only do we have a dedicated staff of workers, but many showed up just to ask, what can we do? It is great to see love in action. Thanks to all of you who are pitching in to make this VBS week a success.

Hope you have a great week!

Pastor Barry

Tuesday Morning On the Run

Tue, 20 Jul 2010 10:56:25 -0800

I heard an expression the other day that I thought was unique. Two guys were talking and one of them said …”You know how small a herd of cattle looks when you whiz by them on the interstate.   They are just dots on the hillside.” He went on to say, “I feel about as important as a gnat on the head of one of those cows.” It was his way of saying, “I feel pretty small.”

             Life has a way of making us feel pretty worthless and insignificant at times. At times our self-esteem takes a beating, and we wander does my life even matter? Would anyone even care if I were to suddenly disappear off the face of the earth? I believe the Devil loves to plant those damaging thoughts of self-doubt in our brains.

             But God’s Word tells us a different story. Look at some of these amazing verses:

Jeremiah 1:5 "I knew you before I formed you in your mother’s womb. Before you were born I set you apart and appointed you as my spokesman to the world."; Psalm 139:14-16 (Actually the whole Psalm reminds us how special we are to God.) “Thank you for making me so wonderfully complex! Your workmanship is marvelous … and how well I know it. You watched me as I was being formed in utter seclusion, as I was woven together in the dark of the womb. You saw me before I was born. Every day of my life was recorded in your book. Every moment was laid out before a single day had passed.” Matthew 10: 29-31 “Not even a sparrow, worth only half a penny, can fall to the ground without your Father knowing it. And the very hairs on your head are all numbered. so don’t be afraid; you are more valuable to him than a whole flock of sparrows.”  Or finally, Ephesians 2: 10  “For we are God’s masterpiece. He has created us anew in Christ Jesus, so that we can do the good things he planned for us long ago."

             These verses remind us that we are not an accident. We are God’s gift to the world. We are a masterpiece, a work of art, created and signed by the master painter.

             I have a friend who worked for NASCAR who has a hood from a car driven in the Daytona 500 that is signed by over 30 NASCAR drivers like Jeff Gordon, Earnhardt, Jr. and Mark Martin. Now there is nothing special about the hood. It is simply sheet metal and paint. You could probably buy one at a junk yard for less than a hundred dollars. The thing that makes it valuable are the signatures.

             The same is true with us. In the grand scheme of nature, human beings are not all that special. We’re not as fast as a cheetah, we’re not as strong as a horse, we’re not as tall as a giraffe, and some of us definitely do not have the memory of an elephant. The thing that makes us unique is the signature of God. We are “His work of art, created in His image to do good deeds.” We are significant not because of what we do, but because of whose we are. Remember that this week when the world starts to beat you down. Have a great week!

                                                                 Pastor Barry

P.S.     I hope you are inviting children to our VBS starting next Monday night. We are praying for a
             great week.

Tuesday Morning on the Run

Tue, 13 Jul 2010 00:00:00 -0800

IMPRESSIONS OF DISTRICT CONFERENCE

Wow! What a great weekend of spiritual renewal. I feel like I’ve been to the mountain! (literally—the Parkway Church in Roanoke is on the highest peak on the East end of town) But more importantly it was a mountain peak spiritually.   Next year you have got to plan on being a part of at least the Sunday night rally. The music, preaching and atmosphere is electric.

I was extremely proud of our delegates and representatives this year. Both Ethelyn and Kelli did a great job sharing some of their passion for missions in the rallies. [I don’t think anyone told Kelli there would be nearly 1000 people there when they recruited her to share her missions testimony] But she handled it with tremendous poise. Pam did a great job reporting as District WKFM director.

I asked Pastor Dale and our delegates to share their thoughts.

“I look forward to District Conference each year. One because we get to see our Shenandoah Wesleyan Family. Two, because of the dynamic worship times we share together. The Holy Spirit ministered to us and fell upon us. Dr. Anthony Graham BROUGHT the Word of God. Wow! Can he preach. It was an amazing time of fellowship , worship and taking care of the business of the district! —Pastor Dale

“The presence of the Holy Spirit and fellowship and worship with believers from all over our district is a wonderful part of conference. Hearing about what God is doing in our Shenandoah district, General Wesleyan Church and around the world is a blessing beyond measure.” - Ethelyn Kilmer

“Conference was a wonderful experience for me. It was my first chance to attend and I really learned a lot about what's going on in our district and how our church compares to the others. Worship time at the Power Rallies was amazing and I especially loved getting to know some of the delegates and pastors from the other churches. Thanks for the opportunity!” - Kelli

Hope you have a great week.

Pastor Barry

Tuesday on the Run

Tue, 06 Jul 2010 00:00:00 -0800

How Patriotic should a Christian be?

             There was a time when the prevailing thought of most Americans was “My country, Right or Wrong”. Then after Vietnam, Watergate, and several other political disasters, patriotism became a dirty word. The events of 9-11 brought about a renewed surge of national pride, but for the most part it has long since evaporated. The question that arises for believers is how much of a flag waver do I want to be? I recently received an e-mail from an individual who sincerely believed we should not have an American flag in our sanctuary. Some believe the only option is to totally divorce church and state. After all how can we be a citizen of two kingdoms? Augustine reconciled this dual citizenship by saying that “we should be godly citizens of whatever kingdom we are in. If children, parents, kings, judges, taxpayers, and tax-collectors were all “that Christian religion has taught men should be,” the result, Augustine argued, would be “the salvation of the commonwealth.” This responsibility of Christian citizenship was well expressed by a Nepali pastor imprisoned for preaching the gospel, which is against the law in his Hindu nation. “Of course I must obey my Lord and spread His Word,” he said during a recent visit to the U.S. “But even though we are persecuted, we who are Christians in Nepal pride ourselves on being the best citizens our king has. We try to be faithful to the fullest extent we can. We love our country—but we love our God more.” C. S. Lewis offers the analogy of the family to illustrate how the Christian loves his country. One doesn’t love family members only when they are good; rather, we seek lovingly to correct their faults. So, too, the Christian can remain faithful to country while weeping over and seeking to correct its faults.

             I like Chuck Colson’s comment that a “Christian patriot spends more time washing feet than waving flags”. The flag reminds us that God has placed us in this amazing country for a reason: that we might make it a better place.

             In my opinion the only hope for America is revival and spiritual renewal. That means more than just getting a few laws passed. If we as believers would live godly lives and demonstrate the love of Jesus our nation would be changed.

             I hope you had a great Fourth of July and enjoyed being together with your family. Have a great week!

Pastor Barry

P.S. Attached are two additional pieces of inspiration.

(1) The first is an article given to me by Lisa Merritt, written by Billy Graham that reminds us of some of the things that make America great. Question: My friend keeps sending me e-mails about what’s happening in the world, and some of them are really scary. We seem to be headed downhill faster and faster—economically, socially, morally, you name it, I don’t see much of anything good happening in our country, do you? Answer: Yes, we live in unsettled and uncertain times, and only God knows what the future holds for us (for our future is in His hands). If all we had to go on were the daily headlines (or your friend’s e-mails), we’d be right to be alarmed. But this weekend I hope you’ll also take time to look on the other side, and pause to thank God for all the good things we still enjoy as a nation. Tomorrow we will be celebrating July 4th, commemorating our birth as a nation. Think of the freedoms we still enjoy, and the opportunities and resources God has given us. Why not let this holiday be a time of thanksgiving for this nation, and for God’s blessings to us? After all, in spite of our problems (and they are many), our nation is still the greatest nation on earth and God has not completely withdrawn His blessings from us. The Bible’s words concerning ancient Israel could be applied to us as well: “Blessed is the nation whose God is the Lord” (Psalm 33:12). But I hope you’ll also make this holiday a time of intercession, asking God to intervene and bring us back to Himself. Many of the dangers we face are self-inflicted, because we’ve left God and His will out of our lives. This is why our greatest need as a nation is repentance and spiritual renewal. May God bring us back to Himself– beginning today.

(2) The second is a video and country song I heard this week that reminds me of the price of freedom. We've included in the blog for you today.

Tuesday on the Run

Tue, 29 Jun 2010 10:08:07 -0800

   Good Morning. I hope you are having a great day! In spite of the heat, and in spite of whatever problems you’re facing, I hope you are still rejoicing in the Lord. Which brings me to the theme I want us to think about this morning. How are you doing at obeying the command of I Thessalonians 5:16 “Be joyful always.” Is there much joy showing in your life today? How’s your sense of humor? Have you laughed today - even if it’s at yourself?
   I read a story recently about two great expositors of the world James M. Gray and William Houghton. Dr. Houghton writes of an occasion when he and Dr. Gray were praying together. Dr. Gray, though getting up in years, was still interested in being an effective witness and expositor. He concluded his prayer by saying: “And Lord, keep me cheerful. Keep me from becoming a cranky, old man!”
   That is a pretty good prayer. As most of us get older, we do tend to be a little more negative. Instead of mellowing out we often become increasingly impatient and short-tempered. We need to pray that the Lord would increase our joy quotient.
   Solomon gives us some wise counsel in the book of Proverbs about the benefits of maintaining a joyful spirit.
   A joyful heart makes a cheerful face, but when the heart is sad, the spirit is broken … All the days of the afflicted are bad, but a cheerful heart has a continual feast….A joyful heart is good medicine [the Hebrew says, “causes good healing”], but a broken spirit dries up the bones. (Proverbs 15:13, 15; 17-22).
   How often do we let minor irritations and insignificant problems rob us of our joy? I have to confess that on a recent trip to a large city [Baltimore] I allowed traffic, one way streets (usually going the wrong way), time pressure and the inability to find a parking place ruin my day. [If that GPS had said “Recalculating” one more time, it might have gone out the window!] My joy disappeared and I just about ruined an otherwise perfect day. Fortunately, Rosemary’s calm spirit and a seven block walk from where we finally did find a parking place allowed my blood pressure to return to normal. I can laugh about it now, but at that moment Satan had robbed me of ALL my joy. The question is how can I keep that from happening again? God (and Rosemary) have forgiven me, but what are some steps I can take to keep minor irritations from getting the best of me. I came up with several:

#1 Stay out of big city traffic (thankfully we don’t deal with that kind of traffic in the Shenandoah Valley on a regular basis).
#2 Plan ahead—if I had brought a map or checked it out on MapQuest ahead of time, I could have avoided a lot of stress.
#3 Listen to Rosemary [it hurts me to say that, but this time she was right].
#4 “Don’t sweat the small stuff” … most of the things that upset us are not really that big a deal when you stop to think about it.
#5 Instead of getting angry, I should have turned to the Lord in prayer... (the next verse following the command to be joyful in I Thessalonians 5:11 is to “pray continuously”.
#6 I need to work at cultivating that inner joy that can only come from the Lord. In John 15:11 Jesus says, “I have told you this so that my joy may be in you and that your joy may be complete”.

   A long time ago I learned a little acoustic using the word JOY. If you put Jesus first, Others second, and Yourself last, you will be full of joy.

   Be Joyful!
   Pastor Barry