The View From My Window Pastor's Weekly Blog

The word “meeting” is a neutral term: a meeting can be good or it an be bad depending on many factors. For example, a meeting with an IRS auditor is probably not a good thing. However, meeting a couple of friends for lunch is something to look forward to. What feelings are stirred in your soul when I mention each of the following types of meetings: meeting the new boss, PTO meeting, meeting new neighbors, meeting with your insurance agent, a board meeting…a prayer meeting? That last one is a great question because if you curled your lips (like you do when you pass a freshly fertilized field) the enemy has been doing some great propaganda work in your mind. If, however, it warms your soul you are probably on the right track.

Meeting with God ought to have the same reaction as smelling freshly baked cinnamon roles or finding out you have $200 more in your bank account than you thought. Meet with the Lord soon; meet with Him often.

– Pastor Joel Everhart

My mom’s nap was interrupted some years ago by three angels she said were dressed like warriors. She thought they were taking her home but they said they’d been dispatched to come to my aid in answer to her prayers. This happened while our church was in the middle of a terrible battle for its very existence.

We interrupt our regularly scheduled series on prayer to interject a teaching on angels. Some people have had a few very profound interactions with God’s holy messengers while most are blind to their many interventions in our lives. Most are here to help; a few from the dark side pretend to represent God, so it’s best to be wary. Some of us have been kind to strangers not knowing they were actually God’s servants on a mission! Angels are very powerful & it’s comforting to know that many more of them are on the Lord’s side than have defected into the enemy’s camp. The God of angel armies is always by my (& your) side.

– Pastor Joel Everhart

We put a little sign out in front of my Dad’s house, “For Sale by Owner” & my sister placed an ad on Facebook. Many people came to see the property & one young man decided to buy it. Both my sister & I called my father’s attorney numerous times asking him to draw up a sales agreement. His secretary was very polite & apologetic but he never returned any of our calls. Finally, my sister happened onto a lady who works with real estate that agreed to do all the paperwork for a flat rate. Finding her – a person to intercede between us & all the legal documentation – felt like the 1st day of spring! She enabled us to do what we could not do on our own.

There are so many things in life we cannot do without assistance, especially when it comes to spiritual matters. We can help save souls, start a revival, prevent tragedies, & so much more with the right intercessor. He will not do such things without our involvement just like our real estate lady can’t sell our house without our input. Get busy: pray.

– Pastor Joel Everhart

Sitting in the Cernugals’ living room shortly after Marty was discharged from rehab, it dawned on me that the last time I’d been in their home was shortly after Carole had come home from the hospital. I’ve watched as a number of our older couples have taken turns helping each other recover from an injury or illness. I don’t think there’s a greater expression of love than that.

Sometimes a rather contentious relationship can be helped through just such an experience. Realizing our dependency on one another, doing for our partner what they cannot do for themselves & working together to get things done, has a way of drawing us in, bringing us closer.

It’s time to stop thinking that the Lord is the only one expected to do anything in this relationship we have with Him. Along with all the benefits of being part of His family come some very serious responsibilities. When you finally “take up your cross” & follow Him, you’ll find a fellowship with the Lord you never knew existed.

– Pastor Joel Everhart

We moved from Lake Meade to Hanover just as our daughter Kayla was entering the 10th grade. She hated her new school & begged us to home school her. I told her that if after two weeks she still couldn’t stand her new classes we’d get her out. What I was thinking was that given two weeks she would make the adjustment & everything would be fine. The reality was that her nerves were becoming more & more unglued. We ended up home schooling her throughout her senior high experience.

Have you ever made a promise not thinking you’d really have to back it up but then had to do just that? God gave humanity authority to rule over the earth. If Adam & Eve & every one of their descendants had remained obedient to the Lord that decision would have worked out a lot better than it has. Nonetheless, we still carry God-given authority as human beings. We use that authority well when we pray. We invite the Lord’s power, wisdom & knowledge into this world when we ask for His help. As the song says, “we need to pray like never before.”

– Pastor Joel Everhart

It’s been said that one snowflake never hurt anyone but when it gets together with enough of its kind they can stop traffic. Today we begin a new series on prayer by talking about the accumulative effect of our prayers. The Bible says, “If my people will humble themselves & pray … I will heal their land.” Jesus taught us to keep on asking for what we need. Let’s create a snowstorm of prayer in heaven! If all of us participate & we keep on asking, heaven is sure to notice.

Christmas is only three months away! Soon we’ll be trading our shorts & shirt sleeves in for long johns & mittens. Jesus is coming again soon; we’ll be trading these old bodies & all our earthly problems in for glorified bodies & everlasting peace. Don’t waste these few short days you have left – pray.

– Pastor Joel Everhart

I do a lot of my cooking from memory of the recipes I’ve used in the past. Usually this works out well. Occasionally I’ll miss an ingredient that isn’t obvious but makes a difference. For example, confidant I had all the necessary ingredients in my Green Pepper Soup, I thought to check the recipe just to be sure. Sure enough I’d neglected to put in a cube of beef bouillon! The soup would have been fine but not quite as flavorful as usual.

When sharing the gospel with someone its helpful to look at the recipe to be sure you aren’t missing a key ingredient. We’ll be considering that recipe in today’s message.

– Pastor Joel Everhart

My wife has battled a fever for months. The funny thing is she’ll often feel hot when her temperature is 99.4 & feel like she’s freezing when its over 100. There have been times this past summer when I sat wrapped in a blanket while she sat in shorts with an ice pack with the AC & ceiling fan running full tilt. She will often ask me if I feel hot or cold because she knows she can’t trust her own impressions to be valid.

The reason Paul gives us rules to follow as we worship is because there are times when we are not the best judge of whether what we feel we ought to do to express our praise is beneficial to everyone in the church or not. It’s easy to get excited & carried away while thinking everyone else is lacking spiritual fervor. Or we may think that someone who shouts out a word of praise to be overly zealous when in fact they may be very pleasing to the Lord. It’s good to trust others when we’re trying to determine the “temperature in the room.” Am I helping others in the body draw closer to the Lord or distracting them from their own worship experience? Follow the rules & you’ll be fine.

– Pastor Joel Everhart

I have a friend, who shall remain nameless (you know who you are!), who made a box of Kraft Macaroni & Cheese but thought the milk & butter were optional. We call that a cooking fail. The result was not at all appetizing. Imagine getting your tastebuds primed for some smooth, cheesy mac & cheese only to be met with dry, chalky glop.

Love is the butter & milk of life. Without it everything is hard to digest & disappointing. However, when served with generous portions of love, even the hardest tasks in life take on a taste & texture that satisfies the soul. Show your friends & family some love today. Actually, don’t limit it to people you know &/or love; become like a little ray of sunshine to everyone you meet.

– Pastor Joel Everhart

There was a very nice older couple that attended our church when I was a boy: the Richardsons. Brother Richardson (as we called him in those days) had made his living as a coal miner. However, he was also a gifted craftsman. We visited his home once & marveled at some of the sculptures he’d produced. One that stands out in my memory is a Lincoln head penny carved out of a piece of coal, maybe six or eight inches in diameter. He was able to carve wood, coal, or stone & worked with silver too. It was kind of a shame that he spent so many years mining coal when his gifts could have created more works of art that would have been cherished long after he went on to be with the Lord.

Perhaps he never trusted his skills enough to make the leap from a steady paycheck to becoming an established artist. Maybe providing for his family took precedence over everything else. Only after he retired from the mines did he have time to market some of his treasures & he became a bit of a local celebrity. Got any gifts that are lying dormant while earning a paycheck? Do what you can to work in areas where you are gifted. More than making some money, you just might change the world.

– Pastor Joel Everhart