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Welcome 2010
Wow! It's a new year! Have you made your new year's resolution yet? Some of you will know that I encourage it! I love to hear that people are making or have made a resolution. You know why? Because I've never heard a person make a resolution to be worse than they are right now. We make resolutions because we want to better ourselves.
The other thing about resolutions is that there is no time like the beginning of of a new year to change. It's just something about the way we're wired, but there is something about having a brand new year laying out ahead of us to help us achieve change in our lives.
Last year, as you may recall, I made a resolution to spend less time watching TV and more time in my study - and you know what, I did it! Not as much as I had hoped, but definitely better than the year before. So, while I've heard a lot of people say that they never keep their resolutions, I can testify that it does work. (Now I'm hoping to lose some weight.)
So think about it - you have a brand new year ahead of you - what are you going to do with it? There are lots of good things you can do, but can I suggest that you think about God as you do your resolving? Perhaps you could read through the Bible? Or at least read it? Perhaps you could attend Bible Study? And, how about helping someone become a new person in 2010! Could I suggest that you consider sharing your faith? I mean actually resolving to share your faith. Perhaps with a co-worker, a friend or neighbor, family member - even a complete stranger. Could you at least pray about it?
Hey, and here's a resolution that's easy to keep - resolve to join us Sunday as we enjoy a time of United Worship and Fellowship with the Hamonah Presbyterian Church. It's an annual event and it's a great time!
See you there,
Major Clay
Don't Miss Him
Mt.Diablo
Don’t Miss Him
I jumped in the car this morning to come to the office.
First I loaded it full of stuff. I spent part of Labor Day helping Pam clean our closet. Yuck. (I also spent part of it playing golf with her and Jason—but that’s another story.) Anyway, I jumped into the car, Pam was driving so I have no excuse—but I missed the incredible scenery of Mount Diablo. I have no recollection of seeing it at all. I don’t know how I missed it. Perhaps my mind was preoccupied, perhaps I was looking down, perhaps Pam was driving erratically, yeah, that was probably it.
It is hard to miss. I come down the hill every day and there is a completely unobstructed view of God’s marvelous creation!! It is truly a marvel I simply don’t tire of and I try hard not to take for granted. There is a certain majesty in a mountain, a majesty not found easily in many other visible objects.
Speaking of God—well I was getting around to it—people often ask me, “What are you preaching on this week.” and I reply, “God.” Well this week it truly is God, Himself, the Almighty, the Wonderful, who is the subject of the morning sermon, though it won’t be me preaching. Craig Arnold is filling in for me while Pam and I spend some time with Jason before he heads back to Korea and hopefully Joy too before she moves to New York.
As we work our way through our wonderful theology, this week you have the opportunity to sit in the passenger seat as Craig takes you down a path with an unobstructed view of God.
Oh, don’t miss Him!!
See you Soon, Major Clay
Surprise!!
Surprise!!
It was like a dream… There I was on the 18th green, getting ready to putt. I’ve seen it on TV hundreds of times. A crowd had gathered around to watch—complete with photographers (one from a local paper). I lined up my putt—it was a long one. My daughter Joy (one of the photographers) says, “Hold on Dad.” I paused for a couple more seconds and then I putted. What a lousy putt.
But I’m the only one who groaned, and then as I look up from my putt, there in full uniform was my son.
I tell people I’ve felt like crying on the golf course many times—but this time I actually did. It took a bit to compose myself. Jason and the crowd were all pleased that I was taken by surprise. Turns out Pam had had her turn an hour or so earlier.
It was hard to believe—Jason had tried to arrange leave a couple of times earlier in the summer without success—but he is here. Seeing is believing!!
Jesus once told Thomas, "Because you have seen Me, have you believed? Blessed are they who did not see, and yet believed." John 20:29
“Whosoever believes…” two of the prominent words in the most prominent verse of the Bible. But a slight pause here might make us wonder “believe what?”
Yeah, we believe, most people do. But what do we believe? Starting Sunday we’re beginning a sermon series designed to answer that very question. The Series is entitled simply, “We Believe”. Hope you’ll join us.
See you Sunday, Major Clay
Thrill Ride...
Weee!by Major Clay Gardner
When Pam was pregnant with our daughter Joy, we flew from San Francisco to Orlando, to visit her parents. Pam was still in the morning sickness phase of her pregnancy. We were concerned with the flight and for good reason. We flew all the way across country in a Boeing 737, one of the smaller airliners. On the way home we had a layover in Dallas.
Approaching Dallas it got real bumpy. I began to get concerned for Pam. I would have been more concerned except that I was afraid if I concentrated too hard on any one thing, I might get sick. Pam on the other hand (who gets carsick driving across town) was fine.
I read a story recently by a man who was on a really bumpy flight. The plane was getting tossed about pretty good. Next to him was a young boy who was obviously terrified of the whole ordeal.
The man gripped his armrests, looked over at the young traveler and said "Weeeee!!!" Then he said to the boy, "Are you scared?" the boy nodded. "But this is fun!" Suddenly the boy's expression changed and the man and the boy spent the rest of the flight enjoying the ride.
I daresay that you won't find too many people enjoying the ride on an airplane being tossed about by a windy day. Overall it really isn't a pleasant experience!” and most of us have a hard time enjoying unpleasant experiences. It takes a person of deep, inner joy to find a reason to be happy when life isn't.
Now the Apostle Paul and his disciple, Silas had plenty of reason to be happy. When they visited Philippi they had started a small Bible Study and more and more people were coming to know God through it. People were being delivered from idol worship, from sickness, from all sorts of problems; they even cast a demon out of a slave girl.
Of course the slave girl's owner had used her and her demon to tell the future for a price and he wasn't too happy about the loss of income. Likewise the idol makers were losing business. So these businessmen gave Paul and Silas the business by concocting some lies that got Paul and Silas beaten and thrown in jail.
Personally, right about here I would have gotten a bit perplexed, perhaps even discouraged. To think, the reward for all the good they were doing was a back ripped raw with a whip and being thrown in jail. I think that most of us believe that good deeds are rewarded with goodness. But what happens when it's rewarded with evil? That's when we get grumpy!
Except Paul and Silas didn't get grumpy, they got happy! The inner joy - the joy that lived deep within them - surfaced in that jail. They realized that they were being punished for doing the work of God and that if they weren't doing it very well, no one - including Satan would have cared. So they rejoiced!
1 Thessalonians 5:16, "Rejoice always," and John 11:35, "Jesus wept." are the two shortest verses in the Bible. Jesus wept has fewer letters and so technically it is the shorter verse. Except, in the original Greek, the verse Jesus wept consisted of three words while rejoice always only had two - making it the shortest verse in the Bible.
As short as these verses are, they speak to a huge truth. You see, it is when we realize that it was His great love for us that caused Jesus to weep, that we really have something to rejoice about.
Now, perhaps you're thinking, "Boy, I wish I had that kind of inner joy." Well my friend, I have good news for you: Joy is a fruit of the Spirit. We don't need to work on being more joyful or happier people - we just need to work on being more like Christ - and the joy will come.
Because "...the fruit of the Spirit is...joy!" (Gal 5:22) So enjoy the ride!
Guilty
by Major Clay
Well it's happened.
I can honestly say I thought it wouldn't; after all it hasn't happened since 1977.
Wondering what I'm talking about?
I've been called for jury duty. Seriously, the last time I was called for jury duty was 32 years ago. I was young, skinny and didn't look much like a juror; oh and I wasn't picked to serve either.
My wonderful wife has been called lots of times, and has been picked. My kids have been called. But somehow, for 32 years, I've flown under the jury pool radar.
When Pam saw I had been called for jury duty all she could say is, "About time!" I think she's hoping I get picked!
Just because I've never served doesn't mean I don't know what goes on, I'm a big Perry Mason fan. The jury is selected and they hear testimony and then they decide...
To me that sounds a lot like the world! The world out there is just one big jury, waiting to hear testimony about God; waiting to decide.
Of course, God has already confessed! He said, "I have loved you with an everlasting love". Jer 31:3. And the Bible is filled with the testimonies of countless generations who prove that God is GUILTY. He has, well, He does, love us with an everlasting love.
I'll bet He's proven that to you. He has loved you, comforted you, come to your aid. That means that you have a testimony. That means you're a witness, you're on list! Have you testified yet? I hope so, there are people waiting to make a decision. Who knows, they might be waiting on you, to hear you declare that God loves you.
When? Well, Peter says your testimony could be needed at any time...so he says be ready, "...if someone asks about your Christian hope, always be ready to explain it."1 Peter 3:15 NLT
Speaking of hope... I hope to See you Sunday,
Major Clay
Quiet Please
Quiet Please
by Major Clay
So I'm sitting here at my computer...writing, but really, I'm watching TV. Or maybe I should say, I'm sitting here watching TV, but really I'm writing. I'm not sure why I have the TV on except that I'm alone and it's quiet here at the house, so I guess I have the TV on for a little background noise.
Do you do that? or maybe for you it's background music? I mean it just seems hard these days to just be quiet. But if ever there was a day that quiet was needed - it is today. There is so much going on, life is troubled, the world is troubled, if I didn't know better I'd say we're in the "last days" - wait I don't know better. Maybe we are in the last days.
So with the world in such turmoil, the economic struggles that face us all, global warming (or cooling - or whatever) wars and rumors of wars, morals declining, we see it every day; so what are we supposed to do? Well God's Word says in Psalm 46:1 "God is our refuge and strength, always ready to help in times of trouble."
I like that "always ready to help in times of trouble." So that must include today. But how can we be sure? Well, God gives to key to faith in verse 10, "Be still and know that I am God!"
This Sunday's theme discipline is silence. I know that for most of us silence, quietness, "being still" - isn't easy; but did I mention it is the key to faith in troubled times? - So give it a try!
Career Plans?
Career Plans?
Joe Stowell, writing in "Our Daily Bread" makes the following observation:
"Every year, high-school seniors apply to their favorite universities and then watch the mailbox for the letter announcing their acceptance.
It was different for teens in New Testament times.
Jewish boys would often attend rabbinical schools until age 13. Then only the best and brightest would be chosen to “follow” the local rabbi. This small, select group of disciples would go where he went and eat what he ate—modeling their lives after the rabbi. Those who didn’t make the cut would pick up a trade like carpentry, sheep-herding, or fishing.
Guys like Simon, Andrew, James, and John hadn’t made the cut. So instead of following the local rabbi, they were down by the docks, knee-deep in the family business.
It’s interesting that Jesus sought out the men the local rabbi had rejected. Instead of targeting the best and brightest, Jesus offered His invitation, “Follow Me,” to ordinary run-of-the-mill fishermen. What an honor! They would become followers of the ultimate Rabbi.
Jesus extends the same honor to you and me—not because we are the best or brightest, but because He needs ordinary people like us to model His life and to lovingly rescue people on His behalf.
So, follow Him and let Him make something of your life!".
This week we'll be talking about the Christian discipline of Giving.
No, not about "stewardship" or "tithing", something much deeper and less superficial than those!
Major Clay won't be with us physically, so please continue to pray for his speedy return to health and the pulpit!
