Defining Momenet

Greetings In The Name Of The Lord:

Luke 22:42 (NLT)
⁴²  “Father, if you are willing, please take this cup of suffering away from me. Yet I want your will to be done, not mine.”

Several years ago Jeff Strueker was a US Army Ranger posted in Mogadishu, Somalia. Today he is a master of divinity student at the Southern Baptist Theological Seminary in Louisville, KY. For him Oct 3-4, 1993 were the defining moments of his life. He was one of the troops called on to go into the center Mogadisu to secure a building as part of a larger operation. The movie “Black Hawk Down” came out about a year ago chronicling the events of those two days. In the first trip into the city he and most of his friends got out through a hailstorm of bullets. One man was shot and killed. It was then that he felt the fear. He began to pray. The Humvee was painted with blood as they escaped the city with their dead and wounded comrades. The news soon worsened. A helicopter was shot down. The team received orders to return to the melee. Yet, his men understandably couldn’t fight in the bloody Humvees. Struecker spent the next 30 to 45 minutes cleaning. No running water; only sponges and buckets. “I began to talk to the Lord. I thought I was going to die,” he said. Feeling his fear grow, he began to ask God to protect him. But his prayer soon changed.  “I’ll never forget this for the rest of my life. … A scene appeared in the landscape of my mind. The scene was Jesus in the Garden. … He clearly and honestly knew that he was going to die. … He also showed that he did not want to go to that cross and die. And I knew that I didn’t want to die that night. But Jesus courageously said, ’God, not my will, but yours be done.’  “If I die tonight, that’s fine, as long as your will is done,” Struecker said. For the first time in his life, Struecker — who had been a Christian since age 13 — was prepared to die. “God spoke to my mind and my heart and said, ’I’ve been protecting you every day of your life,’” Struecker said. “He did not tell me, ’You will live through the night.’ He simply showed me my life has always been in his hands.” Struecker and his men returned to the field of fire in Mogadishu that night and fought with a God-given courage. The sergeant first class would later be awarded the Bronze Star Medal “V” for valor. “I fought differently that night than everybody else … because of my faith,” Struecker said. God had given him a “supernatural peace” in the midst of pandemonium, further firefights and an ambush that nearly blew his Humvee off the road. “I began to understand God’s omnipotent power,” Struecker said. “He was orchestrating every single bullet that was fired that night. … The peace that I had was not only for my own life, but for the lives of my soldiers. If any of them were to get shot, then that was part of God’s sovereign plan.” And God chose to preserve Struecker that night (CITATION: http://www.family.org/teenguys/breakmag/features/

a0023481.html).

In Christ,

Pastor Mark

A Valuable Lesson

Greetings In The Name of the Lord:

Romans 12:21 (NLT)
²¹  Don’t let evil conquer you, but conquer evil by doing good.

“The world is a dangerous place, not because of those who do evil, but because of those who look on and do nothing.” [Albert Einstein 14 March 1879 – 18 April 1955) was a German-born theoretical physicist who developed the theory of general relativity. He is regarded as the father of modern physics.] Albert Einstein’s words were spoken at a time when evil seemed to have an upper hand in the world. Communism and Fascism marched across much of Europe, while the rest of the world was left to choose how to respond. The same struggle continues today. By God’s design, there continues to be enough evil in the world to test those who have it in their power to do good. And by God’s design, there continues to be enough good in the world to overcome those who have it in their hearts to do evil. So, the question is this: Will those who love good do what is in their power to do to overcome evil? God does not place the fate of the world in the hands of evil men, but in the hands of those who can and must do something to stop them. “Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good’ (Romans 12:21). Our church learned a valuable lesson this week; sometimes it’s a challenge to minister to people who come from a different mindset than ours. We had the privilege this past week to minister to a group of children who aren’t used to being in church, and are in some ways very different than those we are used to having with us. At times it was a challenge to deal with them in a manner that is in keeping with the character of Christ. However, in my opinion we did an exemplary job with the young people we had as our guests, and in doing so we won many of them over. In fact, a number of them were asking, “can I come to this church all the time?” We had the choice of showing love or being harsh with them; of overcoming a difficult situation by doing good. The fruit of our actions have only just begun to materialize. When you show the love of Christ people respond in a positive manner.

In Christ,

Pastor Mark