Article by Make The Days Count Contributor Jenifer Snelling

As I was driving today, I was searching for a radio station and stopped on a channel that had a preacher that I disagreed with.  It just so happens that in the church I attend it isn’t uncommon for someone to disagree with something the minister says.  But it is called a difference of opinion and everyone respects one another and moves on, if they even speak about it at all.

What interested me about the sermon on the radio was that the preacher was speaking about love being finite – that though you may want to, or try to, you cannot possibly love all the people in your life and the things of the world that you feel you should love. 

This interested me a lot because sometimes I am frustrated when I send my love out into the world in all directions … Read More »

Article by Dr. Les Hollon, Pastor, St. Matthews Baptist Church

To do whatever it takes, begins with whoever it takes us to be.  Jesus lays this truth out clear and simple in the Beatitudes.  As we trust Him with all of whom we are, we become more capable to be trustworthy with all God wants to give us.

Mercy is God’s opportunity for us to have new opportunities in life and for us to extend new opportunities to others on God’s behalf.  God’s mercy is grace at work.

God knows our life story and He knows that in order for us to be people who overcome, people who move from tragedy to triumph, we must be people who can also recover from sin.  Therefore, God connects us with a love that on His part will not let go.  

In Hebrew this love is called “hessed” (often translated steadfast love, loving-kindness, and mercy).  In the New Testament it is called grace and mercy.  This love is built inside our souls and tethers us.  When we have sinned, this love motivates our conscience, to: feel remorse, repent, and be renewed.

God doesn’t want us to visit the dark side and if we go there, He doesn’t want us to stay there.

Recovery through repentance from sin is the way out.  This good news applies to all sins, adultery is not excluded.  Broken trust can be restored.  An afflicted husband and wife may have to do sweaty work for years to get through the pain … however by entrusting their vows to God it is possible again “to love and to cherish … for better or for worse,” and go forward.

We are all sinners.  Believers are sinners saved by God’s mercy and grace.  The work I do as pastor includes helping people who are caught in sin by showing them that there is a better way to live, and to begin living that way. Our life is determined by the choices we make.

Pastor Les Hollon

“Ye fearful saints, fresh courage take,
The clouds ye so much dread
Are big with mercy, and shall break
In blessings on your head.
Judge not the Lord by feeble sense,
But trust Him for His grace;
Behind a frowning providence
He hides a smiling face.”
-William Cowper, “Light Shining out of Darkness”

This article was written by Les Hollon, Pastor of St. Matthews Baptist Church.  For more information about God’s mercy and new beginnings, St. Matthews Baptist Church, or to contact Dr. Hollon, click over to St. Matthews Baptist Church.

If you liked this article, please share it on del.icio.us, StumbleUpon or Digg. Thanks!

Article by Dr. Les Hollon, Pastor, St. Matthews Baptist Church

These relationships form the inner core of our lives. We hunger to love and be loved, but how do we live in right relationship with each other?  By listening and connecting…

LISTENING:

God’s love, which transforms our lives inside out, is the source for us to live in right relationship with family, friends & acquaintances. How?  Christ shows us by His love for us and by our first-hand experience we can love each other with Christ-likeness.  With love we listen, and when we really listen to God’s love …

Our Minds are changed when we think about others being a person of worth—not an object, a means to an end;

Our Hearts are changed when what we value becomes motivated by a passion for God’s best;

Our Bodies are changed when our mind, spirit, & heart can be centered in the body as a temple created by God and not just seen as a mass of muscle, tissue, blood, bones, chemical reactions;

Our Spirits are changed when the spark of our identity, which is created in God’s image, knows salvation and ripples out to every area of our life.

CONNECTING:

God’s love enables us to:

1. Relate in love, “Perfect love casts out fear.”

2. Work Together to bring about God’s best.

3. Focus through love to work out differences and not be distracted by grudges, envy, jealousy, pridefulness, blaming, and “my way or no way” attitude

3. Speak respectfully while working through differences among ourselves.

4. Responsibly deal with our “own issues” so we can be helpful and not a hindrance.

5. Seek to understand each other by connecting with each other spiritually, emotionally, and mentally.

6. Trust each other and seek forgiveness when trust is bruised.

7. Lead with integrity by being trustworthy.

8. Model cohesiveness as sisters & brothers in Christ.

9. Stimulate each other to grow personally and as family & friends.

10. Enjoy each other with smiles & hugs to pass on the peace.

Let’s live out our salvation by how we love one another.

Pastor Les Hollon

“Sometimes it seems like God is difficult to find and impossibly far away.  We get so caught up in our small daily duties and irritations that they become the only things that we can focus on. What we forget is that God’s love and beauty are all around us, every day, if only we would take the time to look up and see them.”

-Matthias

This article was written by Les Hollon, Pastor of St. Matthews Baptist Church.  For more information about forming right relationships with family, friends and acquaintances, St. Matthews Baptist Church, or to contact Dr. Hollon, click over to St. Matthews Baptist Church.

If you liked this article, please share it on del.icio.us, StumbleUpon or Digg. Thanks!

Article by Dr. Les Hollon, Pastor, St. Matthews Baptist Church

To the believers in Galatia, Paul wrote, “You are all sons (children) of God through faith in Christ Jesus, … If you belong to Christ, then you are Abraham’s seed, and heirs according to the promise.”  

That word “children” applies to all of us and calls us to live in an awareness of how God sacrifices for us. Jesus Christ gave his life so that we might live.

The vows we speak in our American weddings are words of clarifying equal worth and equal commitment.  When married couples become parents, they are to be the leaders in the family through love and moral living.  Parents are to help empower the children by encouraging them to grow in Christ and make moral decisions.  This way of parenting forms a covenant with your child based on love and respect.  Truly loving each other, truly respecting each other and truly working on each other’s behalf are meant to be the family way for Christians.

Every child deserves four blessings - whether born, adopted, befriended, or baptized into a family called parent/s, grandparent/s, or church.  Blessings are biblical ways of giving power to another.

1. Mixing joy into the child’s life enables the children to feel their importance.  The joy of knowing we matter to God and God’s people lays a secure foundation for all of one’s life.

2. Molding memories worth keeping enables us to feel our worth to God and helps us to make our way through life by having reference points which show us what to do and how to do it.

3. Modeling growth for children grants gives them security in knowing there is a way to go forward.

4. Making eternal life a normal topic of conversation which enables children to know that God doesn’t abandon us - ever.  To show another how to live is to show that person how to die in the assurance that God has a home called heaven for everyone who “knows the Way, the Truth, and the Life.”

Pastor Les Hollon

“Children are not soul-less, unguided creatures made for adults to manipulate like chattel.  They are spirited beings, complete at every given moment and age.  They have differentiated minds, specialized abilities and unique gifts that give testimony to themselves and their Creator. Children look to us for guidance. And they see us as symbols of love …”
-Anthony Gregorc  

This article was written by Les Hollon, Pastor of St. Matthews Baptist Church.  For more information about parenting, St. Matthews Baptist Church, or to contact Dr. Hollon, click over to St. Matthews Baptist Church.

If you liked this article, please share it on del.icio.us, StumbleUpon or Digg. Thanks!

Article by Dr. Les Hollon, Pastor, St. Matthews Baptist Church

Editor’s Note: Traditionally we have not published articles on Sundays.  Until now.  This article is the first of what will be many “Sermon Briefs,” which will be published each Sunday and on select other days as appropriate.  We owe a debt of gratitude to Les Hollon, Pastor of St. Matthews Baptist Church in Louisville, KY, for making this happen.

Make The Days Count is about reminding ourselves what is important in our lives, and how we can be more positive and productive each day.  You can see the various topics we focus on in the right margin … with the intent to be present, make each day count, be productive, and live well … For us, this includes God.

How do we manage life?  How can our faith help us live with mounting stress?  How do we find rest in a busy world?

Strange, isn’t it?  Our technology was marketed with the idea of giving us more time to enjoy by our not having to do the “work” once required before the technological developments.  Yet Americans are working more and talk of being “stressed out” because we don’t have enough personal time away from disstressful responsibilities.

We live in the wealthiest country in the most affluent era of world history, yet we feel the affect of a financially “stressed out” society.  We live in an age of remarkable medical resources for living longer and healthier.  Though we have added more years to our life, we have not added more life to our years. What is going on?  The gap is caused by an age-old problem.

The gap of distress is caused by the disconnect of our living in a sin sick world and our faith in God in light of the world’s challenges.  Rather than placing our trust in God to form our lives, all too often we depend upon society & ourselves to get done what we can’t do alone.  And our inability stresses us out. 

The three key promises in faith are:

▪ Know that God understands our needs (see I Peter 5:7).

▪ Trust God because God is trustworthy.   And we become trustworthy as we allow God to shape us (see Matthew 6:33; 11:28-30).

▪ Trust God with our whole life and apply that faith to each life area, one day at a time (see Philippians 4:6-8).

When we look to our faith and trust in God first - rather than ourselves or society - our hopes & expectations are shaped by God’s promises and the stress which then comes with life is placed in His power and we are given the strength to fulfill His desires in our lives.

Healthy stress is a necessary part of healthy living.  This stress is the natural interplay of living out good priorities in healthy ways.  This is Shalom, the Hebrew word for peace, which Jesus used.

Pastor Les Hollon

“I have to learn that the aim in life is God’s, not mine.  God is using me from His great personal standpoint, and all He asks of me is that I trust Him, and never say - Lord, this gives me such heart-ache - He simply asks me to have implicit faith in Himself and in His goodness.”
-Oswald Chambers, “My Utmost For His Highest”

This article was written by Les Hollon, Pastor of St. Matthews Baptist Church.  For more information about finding peace through faith, St. Matthews Baptist Church, or to contact Dr. Hollon, click over to St. Matthews Baptist Church.

If you liked this article, please share it on del.icio.us, StumbleUpon or Digg. Thanks!