Sunday was my wife’s birthday and  she’ll say I forgot (but I really didn’t)  but I will admit I was pretty cheesy about it.  Still – I think the kids and I pulled off an okay day for her…  It was tough with Sunday being the busiest day of the week for me!  Thanks to those of you who gave her gifts and birthday greetings – I know she really appreciated it!

Here’s my thoughts for Sunday:

• have I said I love being a pastor at WPA yet?  Well consider it said!
• Rev. Jim Reese spoke in the morning services, “Just Live by Faith”.  Very inspiring and I loved the sound of his voice (listen to the .mp3 to hear it for yourself!)
• Jim’s definition of faith: “In Christ alone, by grace alone, according to scriptures alone”
• Using what Hebrews 11 had to say about Abraham – Jim outlined how you live by Faith:
  • Faith Obeys and Submits (11:8)
  • Faith Separates (11:8b) – “No to sin, and yes to God’s righteousness”
  • Faith Sojourns (v9) – means “you’re going on a trip no one else has taken”
  • Faith Seeks (v 10, 13-14)
  • Faith Strengthens (v 11-12)
  • Faith Satisfies (v 15-16)
  • Faith Sacrifices (v17-19)
• For the evening service Kevin Rogers from NewSong Church in Windsor, Ontario sang three songs and shared a message on “Doormats”.
• “poverty is everywhere around us – how do we treat those the world views as poor?”
• Yes, Kevin said a_hole when quoting a bumper sticker he saw – “Jesus loves you, the rest of us think you are an a_hole”.   The sad thing?  I wonder how much of us have that attitude towards the poor in our range?
• “The poor often get treated like doormats”
• For those of you wondering, no, I didn’t know Kevin was gonna call me up to lay down on the doormat!  Kind of funny when that kind of thing happens because I’m always afraid I won’t hear what the speaker is wanting me to do (because of my hearing impairment)…kind of funny though ha!
• Kevin shared the parable of Lazarus and the Rich man and mentioned that it is in that parable that we can see God’s heart for the poor.  Lazarus was just a “doormat” to the rich man.
• “If you’ve been a doormat then you can really identify with Lazarus”
• “We need to guard against the subtle attitude of ‘obsessing about the best’…”
• “there are those who are very religious but who lack a basic compassion”
• “if you don’t have charity, compassion, or love then your ‘religion’ is worthless…”
• Here’s a powerful statement Kevin made that really impacted me, “What Lazarus could not come and do, Jesus has done for us.”
• God is always JUST!
• Then Kevin shifted tack a little bit and took us to Psalm 84:10 where the psalmist writes, “I’d rather be a doorkeeper in the house of the Lord…”  and talks about seeking to be a Doorkeeper rather than seeing the poor as doormats.
• “Better to be a beggar at the door of God’s house than a rich man in his sanctuary”
• “In God’s house there are no doormat people.”
• “Our greatest joys come when we are in our greatest humility”
• We had an awesome prayer time following the message – what a challenge to shift our attitudes as a church and individually towards the poor in our midst!
• Our church took up an offering to help Kevin’s work at NewSong (I don’t know the total but I hope it blows their socks off!) and we’re planning on sending some teams to Windsor to work alongside of them during a few weekends in the coming year.  If you are from WPA reading this then get ready for some amazing opportunities coming up this year!
• For the audio of Kevin’s Message (and the songs that he sang) go here.