Good Morning Saints of God

I sure love to see God moving in the lives of people. As things in our country go from bad to worse, it's great to see people reaching out with acts of love and kindness to others. I am certain that revival is happening all around us. This, however, is not a typical revival as some understand one to be, but is a group of people that have recently been changed by the Holy Spirit and are "doing" the gospel. I often preach that believing in Jesus is not enough to get you to heaven; after all, even the demons believe. James the half brother of Jesus said that. . "Faith without works is dead". So there seems to be a revival of spirit inspired works going on at Navarre 1st. This is happening at the right time because Christmas is upon us and although this is a time of great joy, it is for many a time of loneliness and despair.



I had the privilege of helping a gentleman today jumpstart his car in the Wal-Mart parking lot. That's why I always carry a jumpstarter and cables. I love helping others. I invited him to our Live Nativity Scene and I said, "you can bring your family and drive through. . ." He said, "I recently lost my family. My wife just died"

I said I was sorry and he could come and help us set up and meet some great people. You just never know who's going through what and how God brings them into your life for a divine appointment. He was very appreciative and thanked me. Hopefully I was a blessing for him.



Tonight is our chance to give the sleeping bags that Sam's group donated to the homeless of Ft. Walton beach. I am looking forward to blessing people in the name of Jesus. People always say that they don't go to church because they need a day for "family time", well I have plenty of family time and I need to have "ministry time" as well. One of the mysteries of God's kingdom is that when you take care of the lost, lonely and hurting (basically his work) he always rewards you with plenty of "family time". Just like when you give to God's church money he always gets more back to you. In fact, the more you give the more he sees returned to you, with interest. It's called the principle of sowing and reaping. Sow little you get little. Sow much and you harvest much.



Let's keep our lives pure of sin and put our backs to work because there is so little daylight left to do the Lord's work. The end of days is near and our Lord will be cracking the sky soon so let's let him find us working with clean clothes on.



Love yall
Pastor Skipper

Merry Christmas everyone

My favorite time of year is finally here.  Merry Christmas everyone.  There is so much evil being done in this world it almost seems overwhelming.  Be this as it may, we must double our efforts to DO good.  It’s better to light a candle than to curse the darkness.  There are many who curse and complain, but let’s be a part of those that bless others in practical ways and thereby advance the kingdom of God right here in Navarre.  Are you one of the cursers or Kingdom advancers? 

It was great to hear from our team that went to Atlanta.  They are part of the Kingdom Advancers and I have a sneaking suspicion that they will spread the fire to others.  Remember  our ministry called, “Blanketing the Streets” and lend a hand to Donna and Charley on Monday nights.  That will change your life and bless the heart of our Savior Jesus.  “If you’ve done it unto the least of these you’ve done it unto me” he says.

And he goes on to say, if you not done it unto the least of these you’ve not done it unto me.  Wow.  Makes me want to be more deliberate in his work.  More concerned and more thoughtful. 

Love yall and let’s make this Christmas season a real blessing for our community.

Don’t forget; Decorating tomorrow at 10am and the live nativity scene.  See Jay G.

Or Greg C.

Love Pastor Skipper

Hello Saints of the Most High

God is doing great things through us. We just handed out 6,000 pnds of sweet potatoes and tons of canned food. People were streaming in off the highway to get free food. What a great time to bring joy and goodwill to men. People really need to see God's love in action these days that are full of crime, poverty and joblessness. There seems to be a spirit of cynicism and skepticism permeating our society. Good will is in short supply and violence and abuse seem to be more commonplace than ever before. Our TV society has changed the norm from the world of “Norman Rockwell" to the immoral lives of the Jersey Shore crowd.

Let me fill you in on a little secret: people don't live like that and they don't talk or dress like those hoochie mammas either. Well, in the real world, that is. On the left coast and the right coast they are living in a post-Christian Zoo. Not a society- but a zoo. Only animals act so vicious and immoral.

Thank God for the rest of us. We actually have standards, morals and a deep sence of propriety. We have clearly defined standards of decency and moral public conduct that are a part of the American ethic. As much as Hollywood would like us to act like there are no standards we refuse to acquiesce. Let's not let the left and right coasts redefine who we are and how we act in society. As children of God and those expecting a future judgment we must always act decently and with dignity. We must never lose sight of the ever watching eye of the creator who expects us to represent him well.

I love all of you and hope you have a happy Thanksgiving.

To Him we give thanks

Pastor Skipper

Hello GP (God's People)

I missed last week because I was on a mission’s trip to Cabo San Lucas. In case you don't know, that's on the very tip of the Baja peninsula of California. The sea of Cortez connects with the Pacific Ocean just off the coast and the depth drops to 3,000 feet just off the beach. I was joined by 25 men and women of God for four days of fund raising. We all showed up to make a pledge for Convoy of Hope. This is a food distribution ministry that is second to none on the planet. Our speaker was fabulous and spoke about all the great ministry Convoy is doing in the U.S. and around the world. One phrase he said just stuck with me: "it doesn't matter that you have a big church but how are you impacting your community" In other words, what are you doing to make a difference.

We also got to minister to the local people of Cabo through our one on one witnessing and our generous tips. I would leave a tip each day for my made with a little note with a Christian message on it. I'm sure my spelling was off but I hope they got the message. One little boy we prayed for had a latex allergy and was unable to play with balloons. The family called the hotel the next day to say that the boy was healed and played with a balloon all night.

I was very impressed with the caliber of people that I hung out with. They were from A/G churches all over the country and were committed to ministry. Although we were strangers, we laughed more in three days than I can remember. God's people are so loving and easygoing that we bonded in no time as if we had known each other for years. Some of the guys would ask the mariachi bands to come over and tell them that it was their friend’s birthday. The band would start playing a birthday tune for the embarrassed friend, since it was never anyone's birthday. They just loved to play tricks on each other.

Our "Cardboard Testimony Service" yesterday was so wonderfully anointed. If you didn't get to see it you will definitely want a video of the service. The Spirit of the Sovereign Lord was powerfully moving on hearts. Grown men were weeping and people were wonderfully touched by the Spirit of God. Leslie Cox gave a tremendous testimony and there wasn't a dry eye in the place. When I got up to speak I just opened the altars and people flooded down. We took our time and layed hands on everyone. I know God is touching many people.

Don't forget that we have a giant Thanksgiving dinner after the second service next week. We have rented a tent and we want everyone to come and bring a friend.
Let's blow the doors off this church.

Love

Pastor Skipper

Working together in unity

I just have to declare today, on record, for posterity, that I have the best church in the world.  Last night we hosted the town for our annual Fall Festival.  By all accounts it was an amazing success.  The crowds that came were huge and the helpers were numerous. 

I told Julie when we got home how proud I was of all of our servant leaders who showed up early and stayed late to help out.  Our board members, staff and leaders showed up early and worked together like a well trained combat division.  I saw the power of the gospel message, “how blessed it is when brethren dwell together in unity”.  Working together in unity is a very powerful and attractive thing.

Many of our new families also came and worked very hard.  “Wow” and double “Wow”

I am just beside myself, today as I write to all my millions of readers about God’s wonderful people.

Love you all and hope to see you Wednesday.

Pastor Skipper

Thanks

Do you remember the parable of the ten lepers who were healed by Jesus?  Only one of them came back and thanked Jesus.  How sad.  Does that mean only 1 in 10 people are thankful?  It boggles my mind how many people just live like the world owes them stuff.  People get blessed and then act like they deserve it.  People act like the Government owes them a house, a check, free food, education etc.  That's called the "Entitlement" mentality.  But in reality we are only promised life and liberty, the rest is optional. 

 

Jesus was telling us in the parable that we should not only be grateful but also to go out of your way to thank the benefactor of our blessing.  Individually we need to have attitudes of gratitude, and then we need to go out of our way to say "Thanks". 

 

Then we need to be the giver.  Be the one who is healing, feeding, helping etc.  that way we are saying thanks to God by helping others.  That's what he wants.  To whom much is given, much is required.  "If you've done it unto the least of these, you've done it unto me." 

We must make it our goal to be content with what we have , get out of debt, and start saving money in order to be the giver.  Be the giver.

"Whoever refreshes others will himself be refreshed"

 

Love yall

 

Be the Giver

Greetings friends and fellow travelers

I missed last week’s blog because the family and I were visiting our friends at Disney World.  My wife and kids love to go so I go with them.  That's something we do every year and have been doing every year for the last 15 years.  You might ask, "Aren't you tired of Disney?" well, as with many things in life, you put the wife and kids first.  Sacrificing what I want for what the family wants is one of the keys to a successful family.  Many men use their influence to get their way on trips, restaurants, new cars and such but they fail to realize that men are created to be givers and sacrificers.  We are the ones who sacrifice to make things happen for the family and we get our joy from seeing them happy.  After the kids are out of the house and the nest is empty you can go where ever your little heart desires.  So my word for all the dad's today is: put them first. 

It won't be long before your wife  sees your good deeds and once in a while do what you want.  That's called "reciprocity" and it’s a wonderful thing.  But I think it starts with us.

Love yall

Pastor Skipper

Jas 2:5 Listen, my dear brothers: Has not God chosen those who are poor in the eyes of the world to be rich in faith and to inherit the kingdom he promised those who love him?

I don't think that many of us fit into the category of "the poor" but so many people are slaves to debt that they feel "poor". The "poor" in America are rich compared to the poor in other countries.
Our problem is that we spend all we get and very few people save money for a rainy day. My wife's grandfather worked in a factory, didn't make much money but he was able to pay cash for everything; even a new car.
It just seems that the T.V. ad agencies are doing a great job in getting us to "need" everything. From movies, to restaurants , new cars, clothes and QVC products. There's always a new item we just can't live without. Remember the vacuum bag sealer that sucks the air out of your freezer bag and keeps food fresh forever. How many of you still use it? Not me. I'm too lazy to thaw out frozen food. I can't wait that long, I guess.
The Bible says that a fool and his money are soon parted. I will confess to all my St.'s today that I've played the fool for way too long. I am determined to save, and do without "things" that just end up filling up my garage and shed.
Jesus did say, "deny yourself, take up your cross and follow me." What have we denied ourselves?
I think America is in for a huge awakening as it relates to spending. With this economy in a recession, and maybe soon to be in a depression, we all need to be saving for a rainy day because the thunder is booming on the horizon and there is nothing I can see that is going to boost our national income.
I am very concerned at what I see and I hope for all our sakes that I'm totally off. But just in case I'm right don't you think we should all be more prudent with our spending and start saving?
My sermon this coming Sunday will deal more indepth with our spending and innabillity to be content with what we have. So bring a friend because I guarrantee you've never heard a sermon like the one I'm about to lay on you. Someone call Creflo Dollar and have him tune in.
Love yall and Jesus thinks your to die for.


Pastor Skipper

Php 2:3 Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit, but in humility consider others better than yourselves.

One of the hardest things in life is to "consider others". We are so busy with our schedules and the routines of daily living that we rush through conversations with friends and acquaintances not stopping to consider if they need anything from us. We rarely try to read others body language or moods to see if something is weighing heavily upon them. The word used in this verse is "consider", ponder or think about "others". How often do we "consider others”? We mostly want our voices heard or our opinions to matter and it would probably do us good if we listened more and had sincere empathy for our friends.

Thinking about mans natural tendency toward selfishness makes me really value those friends who really are considerate of my feelings, concerns and desires. These people are jewels. They have trained themselves to listen first, and care about the person. That is a selfless person who has learned to humbly consider others better than themselves.

I don't think I've mastered that one yet. But I'm working on it. No one ever said following Christ would be easy. If pastors would preach more on this verse then I think we Christians would be more influential in our communities. At the very least we would have an abundance of friends. So it stands to reason that if you have many friends then you naturally have more influence.

Our men's group just put on a dinner for our ladies at the church and we did all the work. We wouldn't let them clean up, cook or watch the kids. It was "Lady's Night" it was fun to watch them chit chat, laugh and they even ended the meeting in a circle holding hands and praying. Wow, what an evening. I said to one of the men, "we have a great church." We really are working hard on this "considering other" stuff.

God bless all of you as we endeavor to love others as Christ loved us.

So, go with the King and be a blessing.

Pastor Skipper

How to Handle a “Flash Mob” the old school way

It’s a sad reality of our generation, not just in America, but around the world, that violence is all too common. Our youth are getting courser and more violent. Crime, when it is not dealt with severely and quickly will become commonplace and young hoodlums will run wild in the streets. We have watched Great Britain coddle their criminals and disarm their people and we have seen crime rates escalate. Being soft on crime only adds fuel to the fires of rebellion and anarchy.

When Rudolph Giuliani took over as Mayor of New York, Manhattan was a cesspool of crime and porn shops. He broke out the big stick and cleaned up that city making it the very lucrative tourist destination that it is today. It’s now a very delightful and safe place to visit.

If you read the Old Testament you’ll find that God was never soft on violence and lawbreakers. In fact when Elisha, the great prophet of the Northern kingdom of Israel, was heading up to the royal, religious center known as Bethel, he was accosted by a large gang of youths. They began to call him names and make fun of his bald head. Back in those days baldness was rare and people assumed that if you were bald then you had a curse from God. For a great prophet that would appear as though you possessed no power. The youths were saying, “Go on up, you baldhead!”

What do you think the proper response of a prophet of God should have been? Should Elisha have just taken it and moved on? Should he have filed a police report? Did he tell those youths he was going to pray for them? No, quite the opposite, he was very aggressive with the out of control hooligans. He called down a curse on them in the name of the Lord and two female bears came out of the woods and mauled forty-two of them.

Wow, that doesn’t sound too “loving”; "I thought God was a God of compassion and tender mercies?" That's just one side of Him. There are many sides to the Judeo/Christian God of the Old and New Testament and one very pronounced quality is his demand for justice. When youth are allowed to run wild they hurt many good and innocent people. And not just for a year or two. They spend their entire lives hurting, stealing, and abusing good people. All that mayhem can be stopped if good people will follow God's plan and be aggressive with criminals.

So wake up America and deal severely with these young pups before they become dangerous thugs and hurt a great deal of good people.

We are Transformers

Good Morning God's people,

I always like to say, "God loves you the way you are but He expects you to change." God is into change. Today our high temps are 10 or more degrees below what they were the other day; Praise the Lord. We have had a very hot summer. The Lord changes the seasons four times a year and he said he makes "all things new". He also said for us to sing a "new song" unto Him and when we are born again he says that we become "new creations in Christ Jesus, the old has gone and behold all things are New". The Bible teaches that we are being renewed day by day and transformed into the image of His son. Why then do we resist change so vigorously? Why do we eat the same meal every time we go to the same restaurant? Why do we complain about our fat bellies, lame jobs or lazy children and just live with it? Because it takes guts to change. And it’s so much easier to complain than to change.

Eli the prophet comes to mind. Remember big Eli? His sons were "hookin' up" with the church ladies in the temple and they were stealing the best meat from the sacrifices. Word had gotten around town and nothing was done by the leadership. i.e. discipline, correction. Eli was their dad and the High Priest and he did nothing about it. Eli new what needed to change but did nothing. He was not angry enough, strong enough and probably too scared of his sons to stop their wickedness. Don't worry, though, God took care of his sons and him. His sons were killed in battle, they lost the Ark of the Covenant and Eli fell off his chair, broke his neck and died. When things need to be delt with and changed we need to remember Eli and get things taken care of or God will do it for us. And His ways are usually painful.

I'm sure your not sinning like Eli and his sons but if we fail to grow (which means change) God will make it happen his way.

Heb 12:5 And you have forgotten that word of encouragement that addresses you as sons: "My son, do not make light of the Lord's discipline, and do not lose heart when he rebukes you,
Heb 12:6 because the Lord disciplines those he loves, and he punishes everyone he accepts as a son."
Heb 12:7 Endure hardship as discipline; God is treating you as sons. For what son is not disciplined by his father?
Heb 12:8 If you are not disciplined (and everyone undergoes discipline), then you are illegitimate children and not true sons.
Heb 12:9 Moreover, we have all had human fathers who disciplined us and we respected them for it. How much more should we submit to the Father of our spirits and live!
Heb 12:10 Our fathers disciplined us for a little while as they thought best; but God disciplines us for our good, that we may share in his holiness.
Heb 12:11 No discipline seems pleasant at the time, but painful. Later on, however, it produces a harvest of righteousness and peace for those who have been trained by it.
Heb 12:12 Therefore, strengthen your feeble arms and weak knees.

Notice it said, v5 "word of encouragement" and then in v.7 endure hardships as discipline. Not all hardships are from the Devil, in fact if you think about the Devil you must consider a few things: a. he is not omni present b. you are probably not important enough for him to be spending time with you. He's at the White House or some world leader’s residence. This verse specifically says that God is doing it to us and we are to "endure" it.
And be encouraged because there is a purpose for this "pain" and it "produces a harvest of righteousness and peace".

So, my friends, pursue change, holiness and spiritual growth on your own or God will make it happen the old fashion way.

Love yall and be encouraged,

Pastor Skipper

Our God

Hello friends and fellow servants of the Lord
Just wanted to send a message of encouragement to all who care to read this blog. God is good even when times are bad. Circumstances don't change His character or nature. His timing is always perfect, his love is always abundant and his mercy is new every morning. It's great to know that He never leaves us or forsakes us and we are never alone. If your home alone and its dark and scary; don't be afraid , his Holy Spirit is there protecting you like a wall. The Lord is our "Strong Tower" we run to him and are saved.

Seven of us gathered for a Bible Study on Hurlbert AFB and had the best time digesting the word of God. He challenged us through 1 Peter 4:1 "Therefore, since Christ suffered in his body, arm yourselves also with the same attitude, because he who has suffered in his body is done with sin. As a result he does not live the rest of his earthly life for evil human desires, but rather for the will of God." Those who suffer in our bodies have a totally different attitude than those who haven't suffered. They are focused on holiness, righteousness and the kingdom of God. Suffering seems to change our priorities and our attitudes to earthly possessions. The great emancipator William Wilberforce said, "Prosperity hardens the heart" So the opposite must soften our hearts. I know that when I come back from the mission field after working with the poor, my heart is always broken and soft.

Maybe that's why God took Moses out of the palace and into the dessert. The Bible says that Moses was the most humble man ever and he was unique in the fact that God spoke to him face to face. Interestingly, he never made it back to the palace and never even made it to the promised land. Hebrews 11:13 "All these people were still living by faith when they died. They did not receive the things promised; they only saw them and welcomed them from a distance. And they admitted that they were strangers and aliens on earth. People who say such things show that they are looking for a country of their own. If they had been thinking of the country they had left, they would have had opportunity to return. Instead, they were longing for a better countr- a heavenly one. Therefore God is not ashamed to be called their God, for he has prepared a city for them."

God bless you all and may His powerful word sustain and encourage you.

Pastor Skipper