From the Desk

 

of Pastor Ernie

From the Desk of Pastor Ernie

Quotes

WEEKLY INSPIRATIONAL THOUGHT: March 31

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“Church union set in the framework of denominational relativisms becomes a tug of war as to which denominational truth is recognized as uppermost, and therefore church union becomes impossible. But church union set in the framework of the Kingdom puts each denomination in its place, not as the Truth, but as a phase of something beyond itself. Church union is an almost inevitable corollary of the rediscovery of the Kingdom.” … E. Stanley Jones

WEEKLY INSPIRATIONAL THOUGHT: March 24

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“The church is to be a loving church in a dying culture. How, then, is the dying culture going to consider us? Jesus says, “By this shall all men know that ye are my disciples, if ye have love one to another.” In the midst of the world, in the midst of our present dying culture, Jesus is giving a right to the world. Upon his authority he gives the world the right to judge whether you and I are born-again Christians on the basis of our observable love toward all Christians.”…
– Francis A. Schaeffer

WEEKLY INSPIRATIONAL THOUGHT: March 17

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“We who live in this nervous age would be wise to meditate on our lives and our days long and often before the face of God and on the edge of eternity. For we are made for eternity as surely as we are made for time, and as responsible moral beings we must deal with both.”… A. W. Tozer

WEEKLY INSPIRATIONAL THOUGHT: March 10

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“Mercy is the attribute that God shows forth in all His works: therefore a merciful man is a truly godlike man. For mercy is brought forth by love and kindness. Therefore the true Friends of God are much more merciful, and more ready to believe in the sinful and suffering, than those who are not loving. Mercy is born of that love which we ought to exercise towards each other.”
… Johannes Tauler

WEEKLY INSPIRATIONAL THOUGHT: March 3

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“Prodigal sons, forgiven and reconciled with their heavenly Father–could they do other than forgive one another? A fellowship of prodigal sons came into being–the Church of Christ. Love begets love. A new power … was let loose upon our suffering world, the power to love those who have not deserved love, the unworthy, the unlovely and unlovable, a man’s enemies, and even his torturers. Christians, in imitation of the Saviour, became, as it were, Christs to one another and to the world.” … Theodore O. Wedel

WEEKLY INSPIRATIONAL THOUGHT: February 24

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“To love at all is to be vulnerable. Love anything, and your heart will certainly be wrung and possibly be broken. If you want to make sure of keeping it intact, you must give your heart to no one, not even to an animal. Wrap it carefully round with hobbies and little luxuries; avoid all entanglements. Lock it up safe in the casket or coffin of your selfishness. But in that casket–safe, dark, motionless, airless–it will change. It will not be broken; it will become unbreakable, impenetrable, irredeemable. The only place outside Heaven where you can be perfectly safe from all the dangers and perturbations of love is Hell.” … C. S. Lewis

WEEKLY INSPIRATIONAL THOUGHT: February 17

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“In the beginning, we are indeed the subject and the center of our prayers. But in God’s time and in God’s way a Copernican revolution takes place in our heart. Slowly, almost imperceptibly, there is a shift in our center of gravity. We pass from thinking of God as part of our life to the realization that we are part of his life. Wondrously and mysteriously God moves from the periphery of our prayer experience to the center.”… Richard J. Foster

WEEKLY INSPIRATIONAL THOUGHT: February 10

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“We practice patent-medicine religion: we know that God created the universe and has accomplished our eternal salvation. But we can’t believe that he condescends to watch the soap opera of our daily trials and tribulations; so we purchase our own remedies for that. To ask him to deal with what troubles us each day is like asking a famous surgeon to put iodine on a scratch. But Psalm 121 says that the same faith that works in the big things works in the little things.” … Eugene H. Peterson

WEEKLY INSPIRATIONAL THOUGHT: February 2

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“Nowadays the conviction of sin is widely misunderstood–secularists pity Christians, whom they picture as men bowed to the ground under an enormous burden of self-condemnation, men who go around all the time feeling guilty. Actually, of course, as anyone who has experienced conversion knows, the Christian is the only man who does not go around all the time feeling guilty. For him, sin is a burden he can lay down; he can admit, repent, and be forgiven. It is the unfortunate creature who denies the existence of sin in general, or his own in particular, who must go on carrying it forever.”… Joy Davidman

WEEKLY INSPIRATIONAL THOUGHT: January 28

“If God is silent now at times when we long for some sign from Him, it is because by means of silence He can best make known to us His mind. His silence may mean that our request is so foreign to His will, that it may not be heeded without hurt to the petitioner. Or, on the other hand, He may be luring on our faith and inciting it to a more ambitious flight. Or, again, it may be that His silence is His way of telling us that the answer to our query or petition lies in ourselves.”… Charles H. Brent

C.S. Lewis analogy: “Good things as well as bad are caught by a kind of infection. If you want to get warm you must stand near the fire; if you want to be wet, you must get into the water. If you want joy, power, peace, eternal life, you must get close to, or even into, the thing that has them. They are not a sort of prize which God could, if He chose, just hand out to anyone. They are a great foundation of energy and beauty spurting up at the very center of reality. If you are close to it, the spray will wet you; if you are not, you will remain dry” 

Rick Howe: “Emotions … are the tip of the iceberg. There is much more beneath the surface. And when we explore that territory, we discover that we are active participants and contributors to our emotional states. Even if it seems that we have little control over our feelings per se, we do have a say about their entourage of values, beliefs, and desires. We can affirm them or deny them, embrace them or reject them, cultivate them or put them in check. This is what makes it possible for us to ‘school’ our emotions. Wisely or foolishly, in healthy or unhealthy ways, we all manage our emotions. This in turn plays an important role in the formation of our character. And this makes our emotions morally significant.…The pursuit of joy is a moral obligation” 

Henri Nouwen: “Joy does not simply happen to us. We have to choose joy and keep choosing it every day”

Richard Foster: “The decision to set the mind on the higher things of life is an act of the will. That is why celebration is a discipline. It is not something that falls on our heads. It is the result of a consciously chosen way of thinking and living”

“…when a Christian realizes his citizenship is in heaven, he begins acting as a responsible citizen of earth. He invests wisely in relationships because he knows they’re eternal. His conversations, goals and motives become pure and honest because he realizes these will have a bearing on everlasting reward. …He gives generously of time, money, and talent because he’s laying up treasure for eternity. He spreads the good news of Christ because he longs to fill heaven’s ranks with his friends and neighbors. All this serves the pilgrim well not only in heaven, but on earth; for it serves everyone around him.” – Joni Eareckson Tada, in Heaven: Your Real Home,

“Prosperity knits a man to the World. He feels that he is ‘finding his place in it,’ while really it is finding its place in him.” – C.S. Lewis

“Almost all of us labour under two very different evils, too much impatience and too much laziness. In our impatience we snatch at the day of Christ as something expected imminently, but in our carelessness we push it far off. Therefore just as the apostle has earlier corrected our reckless ardour, so now he shakes our sleepiness off us, so that we may look expectantly for the coming of Christ at any time.” – John Calvin

“What men call training and preparation, God calls the end. God’s end is to enable me to see that He can walk on the chaos of my life just now; if we realize that obedience is the end, then each moment as it comes is precious. God is not working towards a particular finish; His end is the process – it is the process, not the end, which is glorifying to God.” – Oswald Chambers My Utmost For His Highest (as shared by Fran Harms)

Challenges

“Dirk Willems was a Dutch Anabaptist martyr who escaped from prison, but then turned back to rescue his pursuer, who had fallen through the ice. He was recaptured, as a result, tortured, and killed for his beliefs in May 1569” – (unexplained slide in Sept 29 message)

Homework from Oct 27 Sermon

Psalm 103

-Read this passage every day this week, and think about your perception of God, his character and nature, and how that affects everything else going on in your life

-Find ways to thank God for who he is, and for what he has done for you…

Prayer & Fasting Challenge

Join me, if you are able, as I pray and fast on Mondays. I will be in the sanctuary, or prayer room, between 12 and 1 on Mondays; you are welcome to join me!

Links

Resources

True Riches:What Jesus really said about money and your heart.

God and Money: How we discovered true riches at Harvard business school

“For those of you teaching S.S., leading bible studies, or teaching youth bible studies, this is an excellent resource, or abbreviated presentation, of every book of the bible. I trust that it will be a helpful resource to you! You will find it in the EFC library….

Alcorn, Randy. “Heaven” Carol Stream, Illinois, Tyndale House Publishing, 2004.

Wright, N.T. “Surprised by Hope: Rethinking Heaven, the Resurrection, and the Mission of the Church” Broadway, New York, Harper Collins Publishers, 2008.

Burke, John. “Imagine Heaven: Near Death Experiences, God’s Promises, and the Exhilarating Future That Awaits You” Grand Rapids, Michigan, Baker Publishing Group, 2015.

Eareckson Tada, Joni. “Heaven: Your Real Home… From a Higher Perspective” Grand Rapids, Michigan, Zondervan, 2018.

Youssef, Michael. “Heaven Awaits: Anticipate Your Future Hope, Your Eternal Home, Your Daily Reality” Carol Stream, Illinois, Tyndale House Publishing, 2024.