Going from the Red Zone to the End Zone

Good moring, Church.

I know everyone is getting into the racing mode right now, but take it from a person suffering from the absence of football. I want to make a difference in someone’s life more than I miss football! In football, there is a term: “the red zone.” The red zone is the 20 yards before the end zone. I want to make a difference in lives and take them from the red zone to the end zone! So many are close to scoring but come up just a little bit short. So many just need a good block to help them score! Lord, help me to be their blocker! Amen.

Have a great day and help someone,

Pastor Tony

Sharpening Each Other

Ever make a mistake? Ever say the wrong thing?

Of course you have, and so have I. We have all engaged our mouths before we engaged our minds and thought our words through. We have all had to say that we are sorry for our quick response that has hurt someone. Listen to the words of  Solomon, Proverbs 27:17: “As iron sharpoens iron, so one man sharpens another.” We need each other!

But I have also learned that we can hurt each other if we are not careful with our words. Rubbing two metals together usually makes a spark and grinds a little bit on each other; but if done correctly, it makes both pieces of metal better after the process. As Christians, we do not agree with alot of things that are going on in the world; but we must not forget that Jesus loves people and His compassion is what reached some for the kingdom of God. It is not our righteous anger that touches and changes; it will be showing the love of Christ. While sparks must fly between two metals being sharpened, let’s make sure it is compassion that makes the finished product.

Pastor Tony

Book Endorsement for Easy Understanding of the Bible

Hi Church family,

I have been reading a book by Dr. William H. Marty entitled “The Whole Bible Story – Everything That Happens in the Bible in Plain English.” This book is a great way for new believers and young discipled believers to understand the events and promises from the Bible. It is from Bethany House and the cost is $12.99. It would make a great present for someone you know that has struggled to understand some of the things of the Bible. It answers  for them the questions “How do I read this? Where do I start? What’s in it?” They can read their Bible and then read the paraphrased interpretation and have their own Bible study. Simply reading the Bible from cover to cover can be a tough task. The Bible is sixty-six books and the storyline is not in chronological order.

This would help them make sense of the Bible. No, I am not getting a commission, but this book would be a good investment for you or someone you know!

Pastor Tony

I hope that the New Year celebrations are behind you and you have begun to look at the New Year as an opportunity to break some individual barriers as well as some as a church family. It is about three weeks into the New Year that we usually start to see resolutions begin to fail and we take on our bad habits and resist change. Success is never an accident: it is the result of intention, effort, and the skillful execution of what you know to do as you seek intelligent direction from the Lord.

Winston Churchill says Excellence is caring more than others think is wise; Risking more than others think is safe; Dreaming more than others think is practical. Expecting more than others think is possible. These elements with the Lord’s help will make 2012 a year to remember.

• Caring for others beyond casual.
• Risking and getting out of your comfort zone.
• Dreaming big because we serve a God that can do ANYTHING!
• Expecting God to honor His Word and use His people to accomplish great things!

I pray this is the start of your New Year,

Pastor Tony

Looking to 2012

Good morning church family,

I hope everyone is recovering from the busy Christmas season and the pain for some of going back to work. Every year we think about the new year with the hope that it will be better in some way than the previous one . Every year we promise ourselves that we will change what needs to be changed, make right what needs to be made right. Is this year going to be different for you? Are you really going to stop making bad choices? Are you really going to entrust your life to the only one that can change you from the inside out?

“Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he [she] is a new creation; the old is gone, the new has come.” 2 Corinthians 5:17 Just like a new year coming in, if we are in Christ, the old should be going out of our lives and the new creation that God is working on should be coming in. The only way that this new year will bear results of God working in our lives is when we know there needs to be change, we allow God to make that change. Change is not good if God is not in it. Change is not good if we know the change is not going to please God because in our haste, we make poor choices. 2012 is a brand new year, start it out by putting God first! I pray that each one of you find the new year to be all that God intended it to be for you and your family. Apostle Paul says it best- “And this is my prayer: that your love may abound more and more in knowledge and depth of insight, so that you may be able to discern what is best and may be pure and blameless until the day of Christ, filled with the fruit of righteousness that comes through Jesus Christ.” Philippians 1:9-11

Happy New Year !

Pastor Tony

Christmas Reflection

To the most precious people in God’s Kingdom,

I just want to take a moment to thank you for being a part of this family of believers at Rosedale. I do not get a chance often to tell you how much of a part that you play in the work and success of what we are accomplishing. I hope that phrases we use often from the pulpit are not just words that make us smile. Phrases like “what a coincidence” and “God is doing amazing things” are more than cute; they are accomplishments that God is doing in our lives. What a coincidence is reference that we know that nothing that happens to us is by chance, that God has His hands in our lives and that we can trust Him. God is doing amazing thngs is not just for someone else, but that each one of us believes that God is doing something special in our lives, in our families life, and in our church family.

May this Christmas be a time to thank God for an amazing year and for Jesus coming to fulfill prophecy– but also to redeem mankind. All this took place to fulfill what the Lord had said through the prophet. The virgin will be with child and will give birth, and they will call him Immanuel- which means “God with us.”

Becky and I truly love each one of you!

Pastor Tony

Just thinking!

I’m watching my fish in my office (I know: “Pastor, get to work!”). I sometimes think that it would be nice not to have any stress or worry about the necessities of life. After all, I feed the fish everyday; I clean the tank as they need it; I make sure that they don’t get diseased because of fungus. The fish, on the other hand, they do not even realize that their needs are being met. They constantly are searching for a way out. If they could, they would jump out only to find out that what appears to be a bigger and better ocean would actually be their death.

God has us where we are for a reason. How about looking for opportunities right where you are? We do not always get to see the big picture (the large ocean), but we do have a chance to make an impact where we are. We do have a chance to be Jesus to someone in need. We must take time not only to look at our situations, but at what God wants us to accomplish while we are in those situations. When the church (which appears as a fishbowl to many) begins to understand that we will face persecution (people tapping on the glass), and giving us dirty and crazy looks, we will make someone smile today just watching us swimming and doing what God has called us to do.

I don’t know… just thinking!

Praying for Your Pastor

Hello everyone,

I am selfish in my note to you today.  I am going to ask you to pray specifically for your pastor. I am encouraged and blessed by all the wonderful things that the church family has done for me and is planning to do for me for Pastor’s Appreciation month. The excitement of what God is doing is amazing! I believe we could see revival in each one of our families and our church if we will let God do it.

The Prophet Habakkuk says “I will climb into my watchtower”  He is saying that he was going to get alone with God. I am so thankful for my prayer teams that pray throughout the week. On Friday, being able to pray specifically for the needs of many of you. We all need that watchtower, a place (anyplace) that you can get alone with God. You need a place that is quiet, a place where you will habitually go every time you meet with God. Make it special and make your prayers specific. The Bible says “Jesus often withdrew to lonely places and prayed.”

There is nothing more important to me than hearing from God about what He has for my life, my family, and the church that He has allowed me to pastor. If I am to lead this body of believers, I need to hear from God daily. Please keep me in your prayers daily as we seek God’s guidance for the church. Please find that quiet place to ask God what He has for each one of you, and while you are there, please lift up your pastor and the leaders that we might hear from Him and that He would guide us daily. God desires to meet with us, He wants to guide us and use for His honor and His glory. The focus must shift from us to God, and we will see Him do some amazing things! Wow! Would that be a 21st century Pentecost Church! Grant and hear our prayers. Amen.

Being the Church

I was reading in Revelation 3:15-17 the words of Jesus concerning the church. It does not take us long to figure out that Jesus was talking about disoriented churches. They believed they were “okay” in being neutral. His presence was gone and they did not even know it. Whole nations live today not even acknowledging the presence or importance of God in their lives. Nations, communities, and families all feel the spiritual life being sucked right out of them and they do nothing about it.

Warnings are sounded to turn back to God and people get more irritated at the church. We have, like never before, been given a mandate to reach the people that we come into contact with. The church will explode when God’s people begin to share their faith with the people God has brought before them. We must treasure HIs presence and be alarmed when He withdraws it!  We must be looking for opportunities to touch a person with God’s love and repent when He speaks to issues in our lives.

God is doing some amazing things! Let’s make sure we are doing them under the anointing of the Lord and reaching as many people as possible. You don’t have to be a Bible scholar; you just need to believe the words of the Lord and share them with someone who is waiting to hear.

Looking forward together,

Pastor Tony

Remaining faithful

We have seen alot of devastation in the community this week. It truly is a week that you wish you could have a “do-over.” The phone has rung off the hook with people sharing their life experiences: some people wanting to give God glory and some expressing disbelief. As pastor, I am expected to be rock solid and always have the correct answers. Just having water in our basement and seeing what others have had to go through, I would be in the catagory of praising God. It is just stuff! It is minor compared to someone else’s troubles. I have to hang on to the Words of the Lord and I have to trust God to take a bad situation and make it better.

Romans 8:35- Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall trbulation, or distress, persecution, or famine, nakedness, or peril, or sword- yet in all these things we are more than conquerers through Him who loved us.

Romans 8;38-39- For I am persuaded that neither death nor life, nor angels nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor height, nor depth, nor any other created thing shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.

You can put your trust in a God like that! I don’t know where you are at today…but I know my Lord is bigger than any circumstance or situation. Remain faithful and watch the Lord do some amazing things in your life!

May God richly bless you and hold you in the palm of His hand,

Pastor Tony