The View From My Window Pastor's Weekly Blog

You’ve heard of cults. They often require their members to adhere to a very strict code of conduct: abstinence from sex, dress in very plain, odd ways, eat a starvation diet, fast for long periods of time, work tremendously long hours, exist on very little sleep… Their followers are always taken advantage of by the leaders of the group. You might ask who in the world would put up with such treatment, yet millions around the world are under their control.

If the devil can’t catch you in his web of immorality & loose living, he’ll out-sacrifice you to death! There is a balance to this life we choose to walk in Christ. It’s strict enough to keep us from harming ourselves & others by making foolish choices & it’s loose enough for us to enjoy the very best things life has to offer. Christ’s blessings add no sorrow to our lives.

Just because someone dresses or talks “holy” doesn’t mean they know the Lord. They can be just as lost acting like a saint as they can be acting like a fool. Be careful with whom you fellowship.

–  Pastor Joel Everhart

Our neighbor across the street adopted a kitten recently. This thing is wild! It climbs everything, squeezes in places it doesn’t fit, knocks over lamps, pictures and anything else sitting on a table or counter. Anytime you run into Shirley she’ll show you her latest collection of bite and scratch marks. Every time Barb comes home from a visit to her house she has stories of how she was stalked by the beast, pounced on and wounded. Shirley often puts it in its pen just so she can have a few moments of peace.

Her hope is, of course, that her kindness and discipline will eventually result in a mature cat that provides comfort and companionship. In the meantime, it’s a daily temptation to drop the little terror off at a shelter.

Seeing people through rough spots in their development in Christ can be nearly as exasperating. You may even have some scars from helping others in church. No wonder the Bible calls on us to bear with one another in love. Even though the process may be difficult, the finished produce is worth the trouble.

-Pastor Joel Everhart

What does it mean to be a member of a church? Yes, we have an application to fill out, we ask that you tithe your income, attend as many services as you can, get involved serving somehow, etc. All that is fine, good and necessary for us to function as a church. But what does it mean to be a member, a part of the body?

Paul says that each of us is a member of the church like our eye or ear is a part of our body. Those parts share the same blood, go places together, depend on one another & dare I say, enjoy one another’s company. My eyes are glad I can hear and my ears are glad I can see. As members of the same body we need to seek to get closer to each other. Attend functions and classes that put us in social contact, visit outside of church meetings. Become friends. Settled into a clique here? Good, but reach outside of it to pull others in. Pray that God helps you find your best friends here. Loving one another will help us accomplish what the Lord sent us here to do like nothing else can.

What a wild summer! COVID has colored everything: where we go, how we act once we’re there, what we can or cannot do… One of the forms Barb filled out for a doctor visit recently asked if she’d been outside of Adams or York counties within the past 14 days or been in contact with anyone who had. Honestly, how would we know if anyone we’d been in contact with had been out of the area? Surely, someone went somewhere to do something!

Well, this week we hope to be on the road. If Barb’s health can handle it we intend to visit some relatives in the Pittsburgh area. I wonder if her doctor will be willing to see her again after that?

All of this convinces me that now more than ever, I want to be ready when the trumpet sounds & all God’s children are called home. Can you imagine being left behind to face plagues, disasters & judgments of Biblical proportions one on top of another? No thank you.

-Pastor Joel Everhart

We’re going to be talking about branding today. Another word we could use for branding is reputation. People get a certain feeling about a product or person just by hearing their name. Let me try a few: McDonald’s, Walmart, George Floyd, KFC, Ford, Ronald Reagan… Chances are you had an immediate reaction to each of those names. They carry a brand, a reputation.

Each church, each minister, each believer carries a brand with the people who know them. Some churches get a bad reputation and, try as they might to overcome it, they’ll never be able to be very effective in their area of influence. We can say we don’t care about our brand but if it is linked to our ability to do what God has sent us to do we should care about it quite a bit. What would you say is the range of reactions people have to hearing the name of our church? Can you think of any ways to improve our “curb appeal”?

A couple of years ago an Asian family was touring the Warf in the San Francisco Bay area. Their little girl sat down beside the water where a sea lion jumped up, grabbed her shirt & pulled her down into the sea. Immediately her grandfather leapt in after her. He didn’t hesitate, didn’t stop to offload his cell phone or wallet or shoes, took no time to think about his own safety. He was on his way into the surf before the splash from her departure had fallen. Grandpa brought her safely back to the dock. That’s love. That’s a passion in action.

We are called to care about the spiritually lost. We are called to share the gospel with those who are outside of Christ. When you share your faith, it shows you care for the people around you. In today’s study Paul shares that our fear of God ought to motivate us to work in the field of souls.

On the newsfeed this morning I read of an actress who died of breast cancer at the age of 57. Although I didn’t recognize the name, her picture was familiar. Her name is Kelly Preston & as I clicked on the article, I was surprised to learn that her husband of 30 years is John Travolta. She passed away on July 12, 2020 after a two-year battle with her illness. Travolta wished to thank all of their family, friends, doctors, nurses & care givers for their support through that very painful season. They fought hard & spared no expense seeking a cure that didn’t come. I was reminded once again how precious & brief life is.

It won’t be long & it will be our turn to leave this world. That’s not the end of our life; we live on. Those who are in Christ have a glorious future ahead. In all of the planning, preparing, building, studying, working, playing you do, be SURE to be ready for the day Jesus calls your name. You don’t want to miss heaven for all the world.

-Pastor Joel Everhart