Hey Kids!

Here is a picture of my family dog, Gimli. If you’ve been at my house you’ve seen him. Gimli is very friendly. We also have a cat, fish, and hamster. We used to even have two lizards!

I love our pets, especially Gimli probably because I’ve always liked dogs the most. God gave us these animals to take care of. Ask yourself how you think I should take care of my pets… why should I treat my pet with care?

You might say, give him good food and water, brush him and give him a bath, take him on walks. We take care of ourselves when we eat good food, drink plenty of water, keep ourselves clean, and get exercise. We take care of our bodies because God loves us and wants us to be healthy.

If you open your bible and read 1 Corinthians 6:19 you’ll read this, “Do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit, who is in you, whom you have received from God? You are not your own.”

The Bible says the Holy Spirit lives in us, and we need to honor God with our bodies. That’s the best reason of all to take care of ourselves.

Romans 8:11 tells us, “And if the Spirit of Him who raised Jesus from the dead is living in you, He who raised Christ from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through His Spirit, who lives in you. ”

So from time to time when we are feeling weary, or tired. When we don’t feel like obeying or doing what we know is right. Pray and ask the Lord to give you the strength! If he can raise the dead, he can surely raise you up and give you strength for the day.

We need to do our part as well, an Olympic athlete doesn’t eat junk food until a week before the big race or event and then all of a sudden gets healthy. He needs to be eating right and exercising for months and even years before his event. The same as each of us as Christians, we need to be training in His word and prayer continually so we are ready to trust him in the difficult days. Give Him your all today and see what the Lord will do with you. You won’t be disappointed.

Call or write to me if you have any thoughts or questions my number at church 385-0450.

Pastor Casey

Hey Kids!  Happy New Year!!

The apostle John talks a lot about truth in his letters. In 2 John verse 4 he says, “It has given me great joy to find some of your children walking in the truth, just as the Father commanded us.” In 3 John verses 3-4 he says, “It gave me great joy to have some brothers come and tell about your faithfulness to the truth and how you continue to walk in the truth. I have no greater joy than to hear that my children are walking in the truth. “

Pontius Pilate asked Jesus, “What is truth?” and it seems today that question is still being asked. John seems pretty confident that truth is something we can see, experience and know. In his gospel he quotes Jesus where He said, “I am the Way, the Truth, and the Life…” So this is something that we can find, apparently we find it when we seek after and come to know Jesus.

Back to the short letters that John wrote, he says he is joyful in the fact that some are walking in the truth. He has no greater joy than to hear that his children are walking in the truth. Today we find great joy in many things. When the Steelers won the super bowl last year I was very joyous. I can remember each time one of my children were born, that gave me great joy. But for my children and each of you to “walk in the truth” that is worth more than any super bowl victory!

So assuming that each of us know Jesus, how do we walk in the truth? One easy answer is not to lie, right? Someone in the truth is going to tell the truth. But more than that, it is a walk, a way of living every day. This means more than just having right doctrine – knowledge and understanding of the Bible. It means to live every day with the truth you believe. It means to walk in a way that is real and genuine, without any phoniness. What do you believe and how to you walk in your belief?

I think that John’s first letter shows us this very clearly. He says, “That which was from the beginning, which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we have looked at and our hands have touched–this we proclaim concerning the Word of life. The life appeared; we have seen it and testify to it, and we proclaim to you the eternal life, which was with the Father and has appeared to us.  We proclaim to you what we have seen and heard, so that you also may have fellowship with us. And our fellowship is with the Father and with his Son, Jesus Christ.” We need to read the bible because we weren’t there in the flesh to see and experience it so we need to use these eye-witnesses to help us see the truth that is found in Christ.

Reading the gospel of John and his three leters we can get a view on who Jesus is and what He desires for us each day in our daily life with Him. If you aren’t consistently reading your bible, find one that you can read and start in the gospel of John. Ask yourself what is being said and how you can use it in your life. If something is unclear ask your parents to help you or drop me an email.

Call or write to me if you have any thoughts or questions my number at church 385-0450.

Godspeed!

Pastor Casey

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