Prisoners of War Earth

Easter is upon us. Some people see it as just another Holiday. Most children vision the Easter Bunny bringing candy and treats. For those of us who have actually grasped the purpose of Easter, you start wondering, is it a joyful Holiday, or a Sad and Remorse Holiday. To actually sit down and figure out the pain and suffering that Christ went through on this day is horrible. In today’s news, if one of our close friends went through the pain and suffering that Jesus went through, we would be sad and devastated from that. Our joy comes from that Jesus did this for our freedom of sin. Where Salvation is our rejoice, our remorse should be in His death, and the suffering that He went through for us.
How many of us, if someone were to hand us a million dollars, would have a life change immediately? Or if we won the lottery, how would that affect the rest of our life? Personally, I know that it would change mine and my family’s life immensely. We would be set for the rest of our life here on earth with no worries. Money problems would disappear and the stress of the work load would be relaxing instead of a hinder. I know this to be a fact, for our family has about $50.00 in our checking account to last us until the next pay period. We worry and fret thinking “How in the world are we going to make it until the next pay period” when in fact; Eternity has already been paid for us. Jesus has already given us more treasure than we could ever dream of. So why can’t we rejoice in that, and be worry free for the rest of our life?
So many Christians today have these same worries. Who is in control of this? The realization of all of this is that Satan is in charge of our affairs while we are alive on earth. We as Christians are in a constant world war through the lifetime of our existence here on earth. You know, soldiers go across seas in battle, and some of them are captured by the enemy. Satan has the Christians of this earth held as POW’s. The enemy is the ruler of the world. We are in a constant war with the enemy, falling into his traps over and over again. We get rescued and then we are blinded again and fall into a pit again. Satan is at constant work to trap us and capture us. As prisoners of War, we need to stay focused on the purpose that we are here for. Winning the war is the first task. Our personal battles that become victories, will affect more than just us as we witness to the lost. If our life reflects the joy of treasure that Jesus has given us, then others who struggle can be uplifted with that same joy. If we walk around in a depression, stating, “Oh, woe is us”, then we are focused more on the treasure on earth, which most will never obtain, and resulting in a lost battle for Christ.
Weigh your options and find out which is better.
Treasure on Earth or Treasure for Eternity.
I believe that I can struggle for a few short years to have an Eternity of joy.

March Madness

Well....... March Madness has come and gone. The field of 65 ended with an SEC team standing alone victorious once more. Football, Basketball, Track, Baseball..... Is there another conference that can match the SEC? I know that I have been gone for a while from the blog world, but if you know me, you know that this is my time of year. The NCAA tournament is like the first day of deer season for hunters to me. It's like a woman with $1000 free shopping card to any store of her choice. It's like Christmas morning for children. You get the point.... I love it. Now it will be a long summer before football season cranks up. Baseball is not my cup of tea. I'll get into a few arena football games every now an then. Maybe watch some rodeo's. A race here or there. Gymnastics is always fun to watch, but I get in trouble too much with that. Reruns get boring. The heat is a killer. Let's face it, I'm not a summer person. Some of the outfits that women wear in the summer makes it interesting, but again, that gets me in trouble too much, and I don't like being in trouble. So if I had it my way, summer would be erased from the annual for me. It would be 3 months of Spring, 6 months of Fall, and 3 months of Winter. Baseball would be only a sport played by children, and network TV would not be aloud to play reruns. As a matter of fact, if I was King, there would be a series of stations that only played reruns. There would be an ABC, CBS, Fox, and NBC with new TV hits all the time, and then an ABC Rerun, CBS rerun, Fox rerun, and NBC rerun. Those four would be the only stations that could play reruns. It's fun pretending to be King, oh the many things that you could accomplish. Anyhow, speaking of CBS shows, "Jericho" is still on the top of my list of favorites. Last week the Morse code message was, "A COSTLY DEAL" which makes perfect sense if you watched the show. "American Idol" is another great show that Tammie and I watch. Melinda Doolittle is our pick to win it this year. She's a true pro. "House" is good. "CSI Miami" is also good. "Criminal Minds" is Great ! And believe it or not, I like to watch, "Family Guy". It is funny.

This has been fun, but just like TV, this episode has to end.
Tune in next time when Kevin says, "My Lands!"

Public Humiliation: Please Forgive Me

James 5:19-20
19) My brothers, if one of you should wander from the truth and someone should bring him back, 20) remember this: Whoever turns a sinner from the error of his way will save him from death and cover over a multitude of sins.

Through sleepless nights of conviction, God has finally made me realize my path to destruction. I’m probably writing my own resignation to the Praise Band that I so dearly love to play music with. Some of them may feel offended from the words that I am about to say, along with the passage above, but keep in mind, that passage also applies to me.
Friday night was a nightmare for the Praise Band from Journey Church. We had good intentions, but our actions showed nothing as far as how Christians should act. God made sure that He cut off the branches that night that did not produce the fruit that He has so carefully planted.
I’m not going to go into any detail of how we acted, but it was obvious where our heart was during the duration of the concert. You know, it’s OK to have fun, but not at others expense. And on top of that, we did not pray before we went on stage. An important step that leads to the Worship of God. Not only did God cut short our performance, but the four songs that we played were disastrous. He made sure that we got the “Spotlight” that we so deserved.
I don’t know about the rest of the Praise Band, but I want to publicly apologize to the other Worship teams who performed that night, “who in fact was dead on with solid performances”. I also want to apologize to the Vera Lloyd Presbyterian Home for our conduct. If in fact, any member of the Journey Church Praise Band finds this letter offensive, I think that they should ask for wisdom and knowledge through a study of the book of James, then listen to the song by Casting Crowns, “If We Are The Body” and then look long and hard in the mirror. If you still find this offensive, then I will take the burden alone.

Heavenly Father,

Please forgive me for my actions. Thank You for reminding me of what Worship is all about. You have taught me this over and over again, and I should know better by now. My actions were childish. My heart was engrossed with sin. Please save me from my wicked ways, and direct me toward Your Glory. Where I can Worship You in Honor. I wandered from the truth Friday night, and You, through Your punishment and conviction, brought me back and saved me. Thank You Lord for always reminding me that All of the Glory belongs to You.
In Jesus Christ Name I Pray.
AMEN

Kevin Stokes