Name Change

I saw this a few years back and it humors me...enjoy.

I know this is humorous but let me ask you this one question is all seriousness...

Aren't you glad, God doesn't call you by your past? I am glad that I am no longer a hypocrite, sinner, lost and undone person. I am glad that I am saved and that God calls me His own!! 

Be blessed today!!

Lessons Learned : Giving

I know, I know...all preachers talk about is money. Well, some preachers talk about money to get your money and others talk about it because Jesus talked more about money than He did about heaven or hell. BUT, He (Jesus) never talked about it, in the way it would, get you rich or help you to keep up with the Jones'. When Jesus talked about money, it was to grasp their attention because that is where the people's heart was at when He was talking to them. You don't have proof to back that up, OH YES I DO.

Usually when Jesus talked about money, He talked about not so much keeping the money, but giving it back. 11 out of 39 parables talks on money. He was usually conversing with either the Pharisees, Sadducees or His disciples when He was discussing money. When He turned the tables over in the tabernacle, it was because of 2 things, they had the dove in a cage and selling it for sacrifices (that's for another post) and secondly, they turned the house of prayer into a money making scheme. They were manipulating people when it was time for the burnt sacrifice into purchasing and exchanging animals in the temple INSTEAD of following what God has put into place back in Leviticus. Sound familiar??? We have some that manipulate the scriptures to make money off of the Gospel and that is just plain wrong.

So you might be asking yourself, is this preacher telling me NOT TO GIVE?? NOOOOOO!!! I AM TELLING YOU TO GIVE BUT WITH THE RIGHT INTENTIONS!!

Jesus said in Matthew 22:21, "Render to Caesar the things that are Caesar's and to God the things of God's." In other words, pay your taxes like you are supposed to and give your tithes like you are supposed to.

Whenever I teach on giving, I teach on the act of obedience. Obedience is BETTER than sacrifice. Let me let you in on something I have learned in my short time, my lesson learned; tithing is obedience and saves you from the curse, BUT your offering is what brings the blessing. Whenever the woman with only 2 mites gave, Jesus said in Luke 21:3, and I am paraphrasing here, this woman gave more than all of these people because they gave from their abundance, in other words they gave what they gave because it honestly didn't hurt them. They had the extra and wouldn't miss it anyways but this woman gave out of poverty and gave all that she had to the Lord. She gave with a heart of gladness and not to be seen. She was giving in the act of obedience.

My wife and I learned a long time ago, that when we give and give with a cheerful heart and not treat our offerings like another bill; God gives us favor in the workplace, in our health, and in our homes. I am not going to sit here and tell that everything was picture perfect and we had money overflowing after we gave, no sir/ma'am. But God always took care of our needs and our necessities.

When we give with the right intentions, and that is out of obedience to the WORD OF GOD and not TO GET ANYTHING IN RETURN; God will take care of you. Giving is not a get rich quick scheme BUT it is a command from God.

Lessons Learned: Praise & Worship

Over the next few weeks, I'm going to share some life lessons I have learned in my short time on God's green Earth. This little mini-series will be called, "Lessons Learned" and I hope they bless you.

I remember while growing up how different situations would change my actions. If I got what I wanted, I was happy. If I was corrected or something didn't go my way, I pouted. If someone made me mad, took my favorite toy (I wasn't the best at sharing..haha), or my friends picked someone else's idea over mine; I would get angry and throw a hissy fit. In other words my current situation picked my attitude and my demeanor. It affected how my emotions showed and how I would act towards people.

Paul said in I Corinthians 13:11 that when he was a child, he spoke and act as a child; but there was a growing process. He continues and I am paraphrasing here, he says but when I grew old, I gave up those childish ways. We all know one person that who stills act like a big baby or child. Their immaturity isn't that of their age. But this also happens in the spiritual realm. Now you might be asking, how does this title of praise and worship have to do with this? Here is your answer.

We often too many times allow outside circumstance and situations affect how we praise and worship God. We let our finances, intense moments of fellowship with our spouse, a child who rides on our nerves, a co-worker that annoy us, a church member that gets on our nerves truly affect our worship. But a life lesson I have learned is this, there are 2 times to praise God; when you feel like it and when you don't. This is called putting childish things away. Look at Psalms 150 when you get a chance. David says this one phrase in verse 6, "Let everything that has breath, PRAISE THE LORD." He didn't stipulate to praise God when every thing was going your way, if there was money in the bank, if your spouse was the best thing since sliced bread; he told us to PRAISE THE LORD. If you have breath, you are commanded by God's word to praise.

I challenge you this week to give God everything you have in worship. Hold nothing back. Worship unashamed because God has told us in His word in Psalms 22:3 that He is enthroned in the praises of His people. In other words, he INHABITS the praises of His people. You want to see God show up, PRAISE HIM! When praises go up, BLESSINGS come down.

Who Do You Blame?

A couple of months back, while I still had my Acura (which was one of my favorite cars that I've ever owned), I turned into Starbucks Drive-Thru to grab my usual cup of coffee. As the young lady handed me my coffee, I placed it directly buy the gear shift instead of the cup holder which of course is designed to hold that cup. I got distracted as I easily do, and sped off spilling the cup of coffee into my leather seats which in return soaked the leg of my dress pants. I was on the phone with my wonderful wife, who heard my frustration that my pants where now ruined and my coffee was also ruined. I remember very distinctly getting upset with Starbucks and the young lady who handed me my coffee for a split second until the common sense section of my brain took over. 

I was willing to get mad and upset over my mistake and my wrong doing and blame someone who was totally innocent; because in all honesty I was an idiot. 

As I was driving through town this past weekend, this incident came back to my remembrance. As I begin to think about this, I laughed but then I thought of how many times I actually do blame other people for my own mistakes. Then I began to ponder, how so many times, we blame our current situation, our habits, our behaviors on our background and upbringing instead of taking responsibility for how we act. 

I understand that there are generational curses but I also know that those can be broken. Until we get real with God, God can't get real with us. Just like a GPS uses your "real" location to give you "precise" directions; God needs us to first be real with ourselves, so He can be real with us. The first solution to any problem is first admitting their is a problem.

I am reminded of a passage of scripture found in John 9:1-3, though I encourage to read the entire 9th chapter of John because it is an amazing story. Anyways, the disciples and Jesus come across this man, who was blind from birth. They ask Jesus who sinned, the man OR his parents. Jesus answered, "Neither." In other words, quit looking for someone to blame and just know that the answer lies in Jesus Christ. When we quit blaming everyone and everything and just get real with God and ourselves; that is where healing begins. 

I encourage this week to get real with God. Don't hide anything and don't hold anything back. Remember, James told us that we have not because we ask not. 

Maranatha.

No Matter the Storms

Have is it ever seemed like no matter how hard you try; you can’t just get seem to get going forward? Have you ever been in a place where it just seems you’re stuck in the middle? If we are totally honest with ourselves, we have all faced that at least one time or another and if you haven’t faced it; you will. There will come times in our lives that no matter what we do, it will just seem to either fall apart or never get us anywhere. So what do we do in those situations? Do we call it quits? Do we throw in the towel? Do we sit on the sidelines and throw a pity party for ourselves?

I am reminded of the story in Matthew 14:22-33 where Jesus walks on the water. Now we focus on the walking water miracle and Peter getting out of the boat to walk on water also; but something happens before then that I want to focus on. Look at verse 24. It states in the NKJV version that, “But the boat was now in the middle of the sea, tossed by the waves, for the wind was CONTARY.” The word contrary comes from the greek word, “enantios” which we get over against and opposite from. The wind was contrary to Jesus’ word. Jesus told His disciples, go to the other side, but a storm was keeping them stuck in the middle because the wind wasn’t allowing them to move.

Some of us are in that very same spot. We know the Lord has spoken to us and has given us our directive but the storm we are facing is holding us back. There have been times we have thought about giving up. We have thought to ourselves, “What’s the use?” “Is this worth the fight?” Let me encourage you this morning. Look at verse 25. Jesus began to walk toward them. Now we shout right there because the miracle of walking on the water happened, but I want to give you another reason to shout! We can shout because Jesus’ eyes never left the boat! So no matter what we are facing, no matter how the storm may blow contrary to what God is leading us to; we can hold to the peace and the joy knowing that God’s eyes have never left us.

Be encouraged. When the enemy fights, it means you are doing something right. Also, know that everything worth keeping is worth fighting for! God will go before us and make the crooked places straight! (Isa. 45:2) Rest assure that the same God that walked on the water to meet His disciples, is the same God on the throne, and the same God that will walk on the very storm to meet us.   

May God richly bless you,

Pastor Dereck J. White

Recharged?

Last night, I did something very much out of the ordinary for me.......I forgot to charge my iPhone. Shocking, yes. As amazing a phone as the iPhone, it's nothing without the battery. My battery usually last me one full day of use but it needs the recharging to carry on another day of calls, emails, texts, snapchats, Facebook messages, etc.

Just like our body needs a recharge and we get that through resting or sleeping, our spiritual man needs recharging. We can't go from Sunday to Sunday spiritually and think that our spiritual man isn't affected. A bunch of us look like Wall-E strolling in on Sunday's spiritually.

But just like Wall-E, after spending time in the SON, we leave recharged ready to take on whatever may come! So what about during the week? How can we keep our spiritual man charged up?

I try and pray, read the Word, study the Word, & worship God with music and actions daily. Now life can get hectic with kids, jobs, sports, and other things; but our spiritual well-being should be at the top of our list. I have found myself driving down the road just talking to God or worshipping to a CD. It's in those times that I can find the recharging I need.

How do you recharge your spiritual man during the week? Let us know by commenting below!

Be blessed!

Pastor Dereck

One of the Most Powerful Scriptures...(In My Opinion)....

I read this scripture last week while preparing for the sermon. It's the shortest verse but it is, again in my opinion, one of the most powerful verses in the Bible. John 11:35 simply states, "Jesus wept." That's it. Nothing more. No huge dialogue.

Any student of the Word knows why but I want to explain to those who are maybe wondering why. Lazarus had died. Jesus was close to Lazarus and his sisters, Martha and Mary. He heard the news that Lazarus was sick but tarried because He knew that through this God would receive the glory. Did Jesus have the power to heal him? Yes. Could Jesus have made it there before Lazarus died? Yes. But this time, a different kind of miracle was going to take place. As He arrived into town, He was approached by Maratha who told Him that if He would have come, her brother would have not died. Jesus told her, that her brother would rise again. Not in the resurrection that Martha was thinking about, but it was a resurrection where Jesus was about to show His true anointing and authority over death and the grave.

Now let's break this scripture down and lets start with Jesus. Jesus, the Son of God, the One who had the power, the One who had the authority, the One who could heal, raise the dead, give sight to the blind, open deaf ears, and make the lame to walk. He wept. He cried, shed tears, felt grief, felt the sense of loss. The One who would sit on the right hand of the Father, the One who will split the Eastern sky, the Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the end, the Lily of the Valley, the Rose of Sharon, and the list could go on. He felt the overwhelming emotion of grief. He experienced what we all have at one time or another.

When we lost my mother-in-law this year, we felt the overwhelming feeling of grief and sense of loss. We rejoiced in knowing she was no longer in pain but the grief was from not hearing her laugh, tell her jokes, and her just being Amy. There was honestly no one like her. I was terrified of Amy when I first met Courtnie's parents, but 11 years later, that fear was replaced with love and a bond that we shared. We didn't always see eye to eye, I drove on her nerves at times, but I wouldn't trade any of those moments for nothing.

Through that time of grief, I was reminded that Jesus wept. I began to realize how powerful that scripture was and is. When you think at times that no one understands what you are going through, remember Jesus does. When you think that Jesus doesn't understand the void, the pain, the tears, the heart ache that death leaves; just look at this short verse. Memorize it. Write it down. Jesus wept.

Do I still miss Momma Amy? Yes. But I know that soon and very soon, Jesus is going to split the Eastern sky and we will all be going Home. We will get to see Momma Amy again! Why? Because the very One that wept, He died on the cross, overcame death, Hell and the grave, and rose again. Now He is sitting on the right hand of the Father ever making intercession for you and I!

I pray this blessed you! If you would like for our church and us to remember you in prayer, please email my wife and I at djw2410@gmail.com!

In Christ,

Pastor Dereck J. White