Soaring:Pastor Lee E. Daywalt

Soaring 
  
A weekly encourage-note published by Pastor Lee E. Daywalt 
  
To Encourage, Inspire and Refresh our lives; because God never 
intended for His children to just survive but to THRIVE! 
************ ********* ********* ********* ********* ****** 
October 2, 2013 Vol. 13 No. 30 
“Our churches have become social clubs, replacing spiritual joy 
with fleshly fun; and preachers have become counselors and ecclesiastical 
politicians whose idols are short-cut doctor’s degrees, prestige and high 
salaries. They are more concerned about not offending people than not 
offending God.” W.P. Watson How to do God’s will.
 
God’s goal is not to make us happy but to make us holy. We do not 
read in Scripture: “In this world you will have fun…” But we do read in 
Scripture: “In this world you will have tribulation…” I really find it odd 
when the Church proclaims “Fun Fests”, as if God was some kind of Cosmic 
Roller Coaster determined to keep His people in the FUN. 
 
News Flash: God’s Goal for your life is holiness, not happiness. Following 
God is not the quick fix to all your problems. Coming to God does not get 
us a free pass from the pains of life and living. I wish it did and I wish I 
could tell you that coming to God will make it all right, but that would be a 
lie. Everything will work out, but not until the end. For now coming to God 
may just make your life more difficult and more stressful! That’s the honest 
truth. Coming to God and following God is the most difficult path in life. Listen:
 
“Don’t look for shortcuts to God. The market is flooded with surefire, easygoing 
formulas for a successful life that can be practiced in your spare time. Don’t fall 
for that stuff, even though crowds of people do. The way to life - to God - is 
vigorous and requires total attention.” Matthew 7
 
SMILE - you are loved…enjoy the journey
 
Pastor Lee


Soaring 
A weekly encourage-note published by Pastor Lee E. Daywalt 
  
To Encourage, Inspire and Refresh our lives; because God never 
intended for His children to just survive but to THRIVE! 
October 9, 2013 Vol. 13 No. 31 “There is a yearning in the evangelical world today. We encounter it everywhere. It is a yearning for what is real. Sales pitches, marketed 
faith, the gospel as commodity, people as customers, God as just a 
prop to my inner life, the glitz and sizzle, Disneyland on the loose in o 
ur churches - all of it is skin deep and often downright wrong. It is not 
making serious disciples. It cannot make serious disciples. It brims with 
success, but it is empty, shallow, and indeed unpardonable.”  
David F. Wells The courage to be Protestant. 

Empty. Shallow. Unpardonable. Strong words but true and clear.
 
I’ve been to a few of these ‘churches’. Lots of noise. Lots of show. Amazing 
lights and sound. Completely devoid of righteousness. Free and clear of any 
semblance of facts and knowledge. 
 
Truth is under siege, always has been and in essence always will be, at 
least until the War for Truth concludes and the King sets up His eternal 
Kingdom. For today we are still in the midst of the battle for the Truth.  
That battle is fought in the hearts and minds of those who claim Christ. It 
is the Church, the Bride of Christ, who are the Pillar and Ground of the Truth.  
One of our tasks as the Body is to be the Guardians and Defenders of Truth.  
I don’t want to be known as ‘skin deep and … downright wrong.’ I want to do 
as the Apostle Paul told his young disciple Timothy:
 
“Guard the treasure you were given! Guard it with your life. Avoid the talk-show 
religion and the practiced confusion of the so-called experts.” 1 Timothy 6
 
SMILE - you are loved…enjoy the journey
 
Pastor Lee

Soaring

A weekly encourage-note published by Pastor Lee E. Daywalt

To Encourage, Inspire and Refresh our lives; because God never
intended for His children to just survive but to THRIVE!
************ ********* ********* ********* ********* ******
November 16, 2011 Vol. 11 No. 36

“Jesus speaks of him who ‘relaxes a single one of these commandments’ -
a relaxed Christian toned down to the common level. If there is no outer
difference between you and the world, depend on it, there is no inner
difference.” E. Stanley Jones How to be a transformed person.

There ought to be a difference.

Jesus Christ living in the heart ought to make a difference. How’s your
heart? How are your actions? Is there an internal difference because
Jesus Christ has changed your heart? Is there an external difference
because Jesus Christ guides your life? What does your heart and your
life reveal about your beliefs?

Many are those who believe about Jesus Christ in their head but it makes
no discernable difference in their heart or life. Their priorities are the same
as someone who is an out-and-out atheist. They spend their money the same,
go to the same places, do the same things and talk the same way. ‘If there is
no outer difference between you and the world, depend on it, there is no inner
difference.’

Believing with your head about Jesus Christ will not save you from Hell!
Heaven comes only to those who have been born again. I know that sounds
rather exclusive and intolerant. Maybe this is better:

“Jesus said, ’I am the Road, also the Truth, also the Life. No one gets to
the Father apart from Me.” John 14:6


SMILE - you are loved…enjoy the journey

Pastor Lee

Soaring
A weekly encourage-note published by Pastor Lee E. Daywalt
To Encourage, Inspire and Refresh our lives; because God never intended for His children to just survive but to THRIVE!
************ ********* ********* ********* ********* ******
June 8, 2011 Vol. 11 No. 13
The generation before mine didn't like risk; they had known too much suffering while growing up during the Great Depression and living in the shadow of Hitler and totalitarianism. After coming through the nightmare, what that generation valued more than anything in the world was security - freedom from fear and risk. They wanted to work hard, live in one house, and hold one job until retirement. Nothing seemed more attractive than security and predictability. Unfortunately, my generation has inherited that mind-set. David Jeremiah Life wide open.
Satan is a sneak. He's clever and careful. He's been studying the weaknesses of humanity since Adam and Eve and he's good at what he does. Satan has a clear goal, revealed in John 10:10, as the thief he has come: To kill, To steal and To destroy. If he can't do that he'll settle for creating enough fear in our hearts that we freeze up and do nothing.
Satan's goal is always and ever to stop the advance of the Truth and the Unity of the Church. When we function according to our God-given gifts and step out in faith to do amazing things; Satan is irritated. Satan hates it when we take risks and move. Satan hates it when we work together to see souls saved, marriages and families healed and strengthened and the name of Jesus Christ glorified.
To please Satan: Make security and predictability your goals. To irritate Satan: Make risk and adventures for the Kingdom your goals. Personally I want to be a thorn in the side of the evil one as long as God allows me. I want to plunder his kingdom and work to set his captives free, just like my Savior:
God's Spirit is on Me; He's chosen Me to preach the Message of good news to the poor, sent Me to announce pardon to prisoners and recovery of sight to the blind, to set the burdened and battered free, to announce, ˜This is God's year to act! Luke 4
SMILE - you are loved enjoy the journey

Pastor Lee

Soaring
A weekly encourage-note published by Pastor Lee E. Daywalt
To Encourage, Inspire and Refresh our lives; because God never
intended for His children to just survive but to THRIVE!
************ ********* ********* ********* ********* ******
January 26, 2011 Vol. 10 No. 46
The ancients, better versed than most moderns in the reality of the human
heart, talked about three stages of maturity. In the beginning, we may keep
the law out of fear; we want to do something, but we refrain because we don't
want God to punish us. This is a willful obedience. In the next stage, our obedience
grows and flows out of love and gratitude; we don't want to hurt the God whom
we love and to whom we owe so much. This is relational obedience. We reach
the highest state when we are truly satisfied with the good, when we obey because
our heart desires only what God desires. This is a transformed obedience.
Gary Thomas The Beautiful Fight.

Does it really matter why I obey so long as I obey the Law? For that matter does
the Law really matter now that we're living under the New Covenant? Yes and Yes.
It matters why I obey and it matters that I obey. The Law is ever and always in effect.
God still cares that we obey and why we obey! Jesus Christ didn't come to toss out
obedience.
Jesus Christ didn't live and die and rise again so that we could do what we want, live
how we please. Obedience to the Truth wasn't just an Old Testament principle.
Obedience is expected and that obedience which is expected in an obedience from
the heart. I obey, not out of fear of Hell, but of a desire for Heaven. I want to be with
and please the God I love. God has my heart and I WANT Him to have everything else.
It is the desire of my heart to please the Father. God deserves my very best for my entire life. Hear His Word:

Give your entire attention to what God is doing right now, Matthew 6
SMILE - you are loved enjoy the journey
Pastor Lee

Soaring

A weekly encourage-note published by Pastor Lee E. Daywalt

To Encourage, Inspire and Refresh our lives; because God never
intended for His children to just survive but to THRIVE!
************ ********* ********* ********* ********* ******
December 29, 2010 Vol. 10 No. 42

It is in the storm that the soundness of the house is revealed. A foundation is
not a glamorous thing. No one visit's a house and says, What a great foundation
you have here. No one even knows. Until the storm. And the ultimate storm that
Jesus referred to is the last judgment. One day our lives will be scrutinized by
God. Every beam and timber, every word and deed will face scrupulous examination.
One day the truth of our houses will be reveled. John Ortberg Love beyond reason.

Today take some time to examine how the foundation of Jesus stood the tests of
Satan. Get your Bible and read Matthew 4:1-11. Seriously, take the time and get
your Bible!

The storms of your life will come. The tests of the enemy of our souls will rock
your world. There is no doubt that we will each face the adversary of our souls.
No one is exempt. No one is shielded for all of life against all attacks.

2 keys to standing true in the tests: Be prepared and Be persistent.

Be prepared: know your Bible, know your King. You have armor, do you know
your weapons? Still have your Bible handy? Read Ephesians 6:10-18.

Be persistent: this too will pass. Tests come and tests go. Enduring, seeing each
one through to completion is vital! Don't stop short. Don't give in. Persistent, tenacious faith, will hold fast and see through! God is holding you, don't you dare let go of Him!

Hear His Word: So let God work His will in you. Yell a loud NO to the Devil and watch him scamper. Say a quiet YES to God and He'll be there in no time. James 4

SMILE - you are loved¦enjoy the journey

Pastor Lee

Soaring

A weekly encourage-note published by Pastor Lee E. Daywalt

To Encourage, Inspire and Refresh our lives; because God never intended
for His children to just survive but to THRIVE!
************ ********* ********* ********* ********* ******
December 22, 2010 Vol. 10 No. 41

There is a consistent pattern in Scripture of what happens in a life that God
wants to use and improve: There is always a call. God asks an ordinary person
to engage in an act of extraordinary trust. There is always fear. God has an
inextinguishable habit of asking people to do things that are scary to them.
There is always reassurance. God promises His presence. God also promises
to give whatever gifts are needed to fulfill His assignment. There is always a
decision. Sometimes people say yes to God's call. Sometimes they say no. But
always people must decide. There is always a changed life. Whatever the
decision, yes or no, it always changes a life - and it changes the world that little
life touches. There is some aspect of your life in which God is calling you to walk
with and to Him, and when we say yes to His calling, it sets in motion a divine
dynamic far beyond merely human power. John Ortberg Living the God life.

That's one of the greatest things about the God I serve - He always gives me a
choice - I can say Yes - and I can say No! He allows me the free will to choose.
Not that there aren't consequences to both choices - but that He allows me to
choose the consequences that I WANT!

Christmas is ever and always about a choice. God has arrived on the scene
and YOU must choose. God is in my world and I must choose. God stepped
from eternity to time and now I must choose. God spoke, God acted, God lived,
and now YOU must choose.

God wants to use you and improve you this Christmas. He wants to come in
and make the next year your best and brightest (and maybe the most difficult).
You must decide. Only you can make the choice for YOU. Yes or no, what will
it be? Hear God's Word:

I place before you Life and Death, Blessing and Curse. Choose life so that you
and your children will live. Deuteronomy 30

SMILE - you are loved¦enjoy the journey

Pastor Lee