Boredom is. . .

a real feeling that all of us encounter. The question is what do we do with any 'gift' God puts into our hands. Christians should always remember one major truth. Nothing happens to us except God allows it. Sometimes, more often than not we have trouble with that lesson. In Luke 19, right after the account of Zaccheus' s life changing lunch with Jesus, Jesus tells about 10 men each receiving a gift to use. One multiplied his into 10, but one put his away in fear and did not use it at all. Jesus said his gift was taken away and given to the one who already had the 10. I don't know all of the meaning of that, but I do know God is not a 'waster' of anything, even of empty time we may find ourselves with.
When finding yourself with much time, and no artificial relationships with entertainment 'stuff' that we so much rely on, what could we be doing? Here's some possibles:
1. Talk to someone you've been neglecting in a real relationship: wife, son, daughter, neighbor or the Lord himself.
2. Go visit someone who is in a 'can't help it' boring situation: nursing home, shut ins, or friends needing some help.
3. Call your pastor and ask if there is someone he needs you to visit or pray for.
4. Enjoy the quietness that you were wishing for the last time you were overwhelmed by activity.
As I sit here in Chur village Udmurtia, I'm watching the snow fall, the electric was out for awhile, and I am unable to go anywhere til my foot heals from the burn. Can't watch TV cause I really don't understand what they're saying. Yes, I'm on my computer writing this note, but now I'm finished. What do YOU think I should do?

. Pray for Olga in village Bolshoy Vinya.

As we sat and talked over the usual tea and cookies it became evident that the Lord is working powerfully in this ladies life. From an initial encounter with R & Andrei sharing the good news to now listening to another new man talking about praying for her she's definitely wondering who is Jesus.
Keep up the prayers as that is the most important thing. A study group would start in her home if she decides to accept the Lord.
Pray also for R & R as they make these excursions during bad weather Many obstacles here.
Praying for her and others to "know the height and depth and width of the love of God through Christ Jesus".

Faith, foolishness, fantasy and fun. . .

When Peter had the audacity to say to Jesus, "If that's you (walking on the water), tell me to come to you," never did he dream that the call was to really follow Him to the stormy seas of life to proclaim good news to lost and dying of the world. What a saviour.
As I make my 11th trip to Udmurtia, all I can say is that. . . "Jesus paid it all. All to Him I owe. Sin has left a crimson stain. He washed it white as snow." Never in my wildest dreams did I imagine being a pastor of a great church, and a messenger to a lost and dying world on the other side of the earth at the same time. Only God can do stuff like that.
Pray for me as I go and I'll pray for you while I go. Together we will "walk on the waters of the stormy seas of life" and watch Jesus change the lives of many whom He is calling.

blessings
Jack

Messiah / Christ . . . and Me.

What a great weekend of worship, outreach with our area families and watching God at work with a basketball ministry called 'Crossfire'. I would be lying if I didn't acknowledge a great deal of pride from watching Brad pop a 3 pointer and listen to the crowd roar when he did it. Yes that's called a 'glory' moment. He's my son and I am proud.
Even more so is how God feels about us. His desire is to see us succeed; do good; hit the 3 pointers and all as a result of His salvation He sent to us in the form of His Son, the Lord Jesus.
We are called to be 'in the race'. Several got in it over the weekend. But, they do not have to run it alone. That's why He ( Jesus) is called the Christ / Messiah. He provided the way and He is the truth. We run it WITH Him. He's the power, the guide, the protector, the comforter. His Spirit indwells us to enable us. "Christ in me, the hope of glory. . ." to Him!

blessings
Jack

"Thank you for letting us serve you". . .

When's the last time you had a teenager tell you "thank you for letting us serve you"? That came from the young people from Central Community Church, Harrisburg, Arkansas.
They came up to help us with VBS this year, but also to do a service project. After a long day Monday of painting the hallway in the children's department, and being on their knees a good while scraping dropped paint from the floor, one of them as they finished said "thank you for letting us serve you." Normally you hear, I'm glad that's over, I didn't realize all this was involved, or other such oh me statements. But, to hear a such a statement from such a young believer was a blessing.
We are studying 'growing in grace' here at Rea Valley Baptist for the past few weeks. That's a perfect illustration of how Jesus illustrated it in John 13 by washing the disciple's feet.
Thank YOU Central Community Church for sharing your young mission team with us for awhile. God bless all of you as you continue to 'grow in grace and knowledge of the Lord Jesus Christ'.
Thanks Rea Valley Baptist for such a great VBS. Miracles are still God's business. Many took place this past week. To God be the glory!

keep praying and growing,
Jack Gilliland, pastor

"Go out into the highways and hedges. . ."

Jesus said in Luke 14. He was illustrating with a story about God's invitation to mankind about His salvation. Several things to note here that we at Rea Valley can learn from.
One is that the Lord uses food, feasting, banquets and so many other varieties of things associating salvation with one of most basic of our physical needs. . . eating. Not one of us should miss that analogy. We all do love to eat. We had lots of practice.
One other thing is how many people who were originally invited to this banquet in Jesus's story made excuses as to why they didn't want to come in. Would you buy some land and not look at it first?
But, the thing I want to emphasize for us is the part where He sends out His servants to the highways and hedges to get those people.
Growing in grace is definitely of importance to us if we are to be able to do this. We are looking at developing our bus ministry. That is hard work. There are no short cuts or easy solutions. But, the blessing is that He gives His grace to be able to accomplish it. We've seen it at work now for the last couple of years on our Wednesday evenings. We've seen it work on a small scale on Sundays. However we may feel, the call still remains for His servants to "go out into the highways and hedges and bring them in." Whether they answer the invitation or not, we are still need to feel the master's heart and go get them.
Mark down August 7th, right after church. Bring your lunch and we'll work on how to do this.

Growing in grace continues. . .

Up close and personal. Last week I wrote about the young people ( Immanuel church from Nashville, and our own) and what a blessing to see the Lord using them and 'growing them in grace' as they served and shared with us how God is working in our lives. That was truly a blessing of grace then, but nothing compared to what my family was to experience last weekend with Brad, Sara, and Shelly's accident.
I was not able to be with you last Sunday because I had been in the ER and finally ICU at Baxter Regional with Brad there and Sara on the 3rd floor. I listened helplessly as the Dr said "I don't want to give you any false hopes, Brad is still in danger. The next several hours will tell. He could go either way." And the other doctor that had examined Sara looked at her and said "no you're not alright; you've had a heart attack." My head fell down against my arm on the rail of the gurney Brad was laying on and my heart cried "Lord, help".
This is not the first time I've been in this particular valley. Each time there is a very strong reoccurance of God's presence and assurance that He is there, and in control.
I got on our modernized 'grapevine' called facebook and posted simple 'help, need prayer' message. You heard it. Thank you.
It's been unbelievable how many calls, visits, notes, and all answering the cry for help. God moved people's hearts in a powerful way, just to say " I'm here, I've got this".
I'm trying to piece together the several facets of this story and will write it into a more coherent version later, but there is a lot more to this than just the surface of the accident. You see, our daughter was scheduled to go on a mission trip to Haiti to join her husband Robby at the time this happened. She was torn between staying here to help her mom, and brother, while at the same time listening to God call her heart to 'join Him' there. What a blessing to listen to her share her burden with me and then decide to 'join Him'. Again, growing in God's grace continues.
There are more than just these testimonies coming in. Some of you have shared things happening in your lives also that are making God's personal presence more real and blessed than ever.
It's starting to appear that the enemy does not want us to learn about this wonderful Lord Jesus we have to walk with us through our lives. He is more than just a nice Bible story character that we can teach our children about on Sunday morning. He is our "wonderful, counselor, mighty God, prince of peace" saviour, Christ Jesus the Lord. "Now unto Him who is able. . . ".

God bless all of you
Jack

Evidences of God's Grace. . .

It's one thing to read of God's promises and hear the Bible stories about His working in the lives of Abraham, Moses, and NT disciples, but it is even more exciting when you see it NOW in the lives of our young people.
This week we had 'visitors' from Immanuel Baptist in Nashville, Arkansas. They were on their travel week. It was kind of like church camp on wheels. They were doing fun stuff such as going to the Passion Play in Eureka Springs and Silver Dollar City. But they had also planned this as a mission trip also. The church they were scheduled to work at cancelled out on them. Instead of saying to themselves 'well, it's too hot we'll just skip the work part', they called our White River Baptist office and offered themselves to any of our churches. They were sent to us and what a blessing they were.
After weed whacking the whole back yard of the church, cleaning inside, painting the rest of the floor in the youth room, and canvasing the valley and town for our VBS, they gathered around the piano and led a worship time of praise songs. . . not just once but several times on their rest breaks. Again, what a blessing.
To top it off, I took one of our small boys home that night after all the events. It was his first time to be at our church. I asked him did he like it. He said, "that was my first time at your church, I want to come back."
See you Sunday morning.

God bless y'all
Jack

Does A Pastor NEED to Grow In Grace? . . .

Many times ( I've done this, because I've sat where you are as a listener of sermons by my former pastors) we sit in the pew listening to one more sermon and thinking, "yeah, but you're a preacher and you've got this secret hot line to God and He gives you stuff because you're one of His messengers and . . . . ". Don't say you've never thought this, because I have as a listener, and shockingly, as a pastor/preacher now, I still do. It's a normal thing to think that God gives things to others that He does not give to 'me' for some not understandable reason. But, is that true? NO! His desire is to GIVE YOU His grace, not only to be saved, but also to live in this world. How can you KNOW this? He says so. "Grace to you and peace, from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ". You find this greeting over and over in several of the letters of the New Testament. This is as much scripture and heart of God as "...you must be born again...".

Not only has He already given us this grace through the blood of His Son, the Lord Jesus, He has given us a 'signed in blood' invitation to access this grace to walk in daily. It's our 'life vest' so as we encounter the storms of daily 'stuff' we don't sink.

So who needs to 'grow in grace and knowledge of the Lord Jesus Christ'. Me! You! All of us. We have the exact same need. The need to be saved ( accept His personal invitation to "come unto Him, and He will give you rest") and the need for grace to walk through this world with His life in you ( accept His personal invitation to "take His yoke upon you. . . and find the rest only He can give). Matthew 11: 28 - 30.

This is what we're learning about presently at Rea Valley Baptist this summer. Who? Me ( the pastor) and hopefully you. Let's pray for each other as we walk in this together in His 'sufficient Grace'.

God bless you
Jack

Good judgement!

I've always wondered if anyone is reading these things. Either you're very kind or you're not there. I started this note last week and all that got posted was the title. . . Good Judgement. . . found it today and decided that was probably enough said. So think about it for awhile if you're reading this. What is the best thing you can do anytime?. . . good judgement! Check it through your daily activities or life determining decisions ( sometimes both are the same).
Is it a good judgement to say 'thank you' regularly to others? Is it good judgement let someone else win just because? Sorry super bowl fans but it's not ALL about competition on God's field. Is it good judgement to say "Lord be mercyful to me a sinner" ? Good judgement is what the Lord is all about. . . . He's 'rooting' for each of us to make good judgements.

blessings
Bro Jack