The Pastor's Pocket

  Do you know that “fear not” is the command most often repeated in the Bible? It’s true! Fear and timidity are never God’s will for His people. They are never an option for children of the living God. Fear and faith are opposites. When fear walks in, faith walks out. Yet we know without faith it is impossible to please God (Hebrews 11:6). If we want to please God, we must conquer fear and walk in faith. Oh I know there are a hundred reasons to be afraid; high energy prices, home foreclosures, wars, civil unrest, sickness and disease. The list goes on and on. Yet the Lord would have us trust Him with our fears and not worry. I love Psalm 46:1-2a, “God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble. Therefore we will not fear...” A choice is involved here. Either we worry all day, or we trust God. To live in fear is as much a disobedience to God as stealing or lying. Most of us haven’t thought of worry like this. Instead of living in fear, why not pray instead. Give your...

  Let’s face it; people often let us down Some of life’s greatest disappointments stem from someone we know and trust leaving a wound on our soul. All of us, at some time or another, have been seriously disappointed in other people (even Christian brothers and sisters) by their behavior, their attitude, their words, or they responded to us in a way that we felt was inappropriate. Knowing ahead of time that offences will come is a hard lesson, but it must be learned. Someone said, “the best of men is a man at best”. We must accept the reality that every person is a human being, subject to multiple failures and mistakes in their relationship with others. If we are prepared for disappointment, it will lessen the level of pain we feel, or at least lessen the frustration and help us heal and overcome our attitude toward them. Here are a few “words of wisdom” to consider: (1) Your immediate family is a “classroom”. They are often the last to understand what you’re all about. Don’t be sur...

  When God does something wonderful for you, you have a right to be happy about it! In Acts 3:1-10, consider the incredible miracle that this poor crippled man experienced. His whole life up until that moment was filled with misery, humiliation, pain and frustration, but by the power of God, his humiliation turned into jubilation! For the first time in his life, he was overwhelmed with pure joy. He was so happy that he just couldn’t hold it in! He entered the temple with Peter and John “walking and leaping and praising God”. In most churches today, there is not enough rejoicing. The sounds of happy Christians, clapping, shouting, singing and testimonies of praise are too often absent in our services. It’s no wonder we don’t attract the lost! We’ve given the unsaved the impression that our salvation has made us miserable. May I remind you dear friend that the gospel is still “good news”. God loves us, in spite of ourselves, and He still offers eternal life, forgiveness, peace and jo...

  It’s been said that we learn two ways; mentors or mistakes. Think about that. We can learn from some-one or some-thing. We can be instructed, coached, motivated, helped, or guided by someone with more wisdom, more knowledge, more skill, more talent or more strength than we have ourselves. Or, we can do things our own way, in our own limited understanding, with our own limited skills or resources. When we allow ourselves to be mentored, we can avoid many mistakes that we would make otherwise. Over many years of pastoring, I’ve watched people make a lot of mistakes in their marriage, their parenting, their finances, and their health. They made poor decisions because they refused to learn from someone who could help them. Did they learn from their mistakes? Proably so, but those are hard lessons that led to a lot of frustration and heartache. I’ve preached a lot of sermons through the years that would have helped some people with problems they are facing, but they never showed up to...

  Most of us live close enough to the ocean that we have been there and watched the waves crashing in on the shoreline. They just keep coming, don’t they? Wave after wave. The process never ceases. That to me is a picture of God’s grace. Yes, the grace of God. His undeserved favor poured out upon our lives, wave after wave, day by day, even minute by minute, His grace keeps coming. God spoke to the Apostle Paul with these words, “My grace is sufficient for thee…” (2 Corinthians 12:9). Sufficient: meaning always enough. Just like the waves of the ocean, grace keeps coming. It never runs out. It never ceases to flow into our lives, in our crisis moments, the dark seasons of our lives. Just when we need God’s touch, He will provide His grace for whatever we face. Thank God for waves! From the Pastor’s Pocket Pastor Bruce Freeman

Have you ever felt trapped by your circumstances? Have you ever thought, “Lord, when will my breakthrough come?” I’m always amazed when I read the story of Rahab. Here is a woman facing a crisis. She is living in a city that is about to be destroyed and she knew it. Her situation, from a human perspective, looked hopeless. A crisis is a situation in which your future will take one direction or another. It will get better or it will get worse. But God can make a way! Even though Rahab was a prostitute, faith rose up in her soul (read Joshua 2:9-11). She cried out for deliverance and God heard her cry. Let’s note three amazing things: (1) God hears the cry of every person who calls to Him and declares that He is the true and living God (John 3:16, Romans 10:13). (2) God doesn’t determine your future based on your past. No matter where you’ve been, what you’ve done, or what you are, God will set you free and give you a future filled with the best He has to offer. (3) Your faith is what mo...

  “Let integrity and uprightness preserve me, for I wait for Thee” Psalm 25:21 Wait? Oh my Preacher, that is so hard to do! I hear you. Waiting seems difficult, useless, and even impossible to do. But, it does have a significant role to play in our development and growth process. This generation is one of rush, rush; hurry, hurry. I believe one of Satan’s tactics is to speed us up, bypassing the blessing that comes with lingering in the presence of God. We must learn to enjoy the now, to savor the present moment. After all, it has taken us a lifetime to get here! Yesterday is in the tomb, tomorrow is in the womb. Today, this moment, is all we have. So why do we find it so hard to wait on the Lord if that’s what He instructs us to do? I have made many a blunder by failing to wait on God. Pushing though my agenda seldom works out. Here are some tips to help you and I wait when necessary: (1) Waiting is hurry’s enemy. Patience brings power, vision, motivation and perseverance. All are...

  Someone once wisely said, “no man is an island unto himself”. The truth is we need each other. We need our family and friends, and we need the Lord most of all. Without Him we are nothing (John 15:5b). God designed us to be social creatures. After God made Adam, He said “it is not good that the man should be alone...” (Genesis 2:18). So, God created a helpmeet for Adam – Eve – who became his companion, his helper, his encourager, his wife, and the mother of his children. Keep reading the story and you will find the word “beget” over and over and over again. God filled the earth with people! Whatever you are facing today, don’t try going it alone. Swallow a little pride and reach out to others to help you bear your burdens and cares. If you look around you, you will find a lot of folks to help you along your journey. This is one reason the local church is so valuable to a believer. A church is a family! Brothers and sisters, pastors, teachers, administrators, talented, gifted peop...

We could all use a lot more boldness in these evil days.   It seems the rotten culture around us is getting more wicked every passing day, and bolder too. It’s displayed at parades, on social media, in politics, in music, in education. I’m asked the question all the time, “What can we do?” We can do what the Christians in the first century did amid an aggressive persecution against the early church and their leaders (Acts 4:29). They asked God for boldness.   They needed BOLDNESS and they needed courage to continue to witness and preach the gospel. We need the same. God heard their request and answered their prayer (Acts 4:31). He filled them with the power of the Holy Spirit and made them bold.   Their witness efforts only increased, they never wavered. In this season of ungodliness, have you asked God to make you more bold for the gospel’s sake? This is not the time to cower in fear and yield ground to evil forces.   We must stand strong for Christ and BE BOLD!...

  “Be thou not envious against evil men, neither desire to be with them.” Proverbs 24:1 A lot of people have said to me over the years, “Preacher, there are just so many bad things happening in my life”. And then I think about the people they are associating with on a regular basis. It’s no wonder bad things are happening all around them. One, yes I said “one”. Just one wrong person in your life can lead to disaster (remember Samson?). We make choices every day, but few choices we make are more critical than who we choose to associate with. The Bible has a lot to say about unwise associations. In Proverbs 1:10,2:11-14, 6:3-10, 14:7, 16:27, 22:24-25, and 23:17, we are taught to be wary of lazy people, naughty people, angry people, people who lie and deceive, the proud, the disrespectful, the rebellious, the foolish. When you remove yourself from the wrong people in your life, the wrong things stop happening. When the right kind of people are around you; honest, kind, respectful, wis...

Read I John 5:4-5… There is just something about a victorious Christian! A person that is consistently up-beat and enthusiastic, intrigues the world and sends a signal to the lost that Jesus does give joy and gladness.  Perhaps you are thinking to yourself, is it really possible to be a consistently happy person? Is it really possible to be an up-beat person in a down world? Can someone really be positive in the negative environment we all live in?  Yes! We can have victory, we can overcome, regardless of past failures, bad family situations, financial woes and other troubles and trials, but we need a conquering faith to pull it off.  First: Stop dwelling on all the negative things around you and focus on all you have “in Christ”.  Second: learn to see yourself as a victorious believer! You will always struggle subconsciously to become the person you believe yourself to be.  If you see yourself defeated, that’s the way you will live.  Absorb the words of Je...

“Whatsoever ye do, do it heartily, as to the Lord, and not unto men;” Colossians 3:23 We should always do our best at anything we do in life.  Why? Because as a believer, we owe it to the Lord to give our best effort – He did! I read once where Michelangelo, the great sculptor and painter from centuries ago, worked tirelessly on his art, always giving his best effort. Think of what he produced; sculptures and paintings admired to this day. Even if you sweep streets for a living, you should sweep the streets as Michelangelo painted, giving your best effort. Many people live today doing only enough to get by. Requiring of themselves only minimum effort.  If you’re not passionate about what you do, find something you can be passionate about.  Don’t just strive to make money – strive to make a difference.  As a Christian, our goal should be significance, not merely survival. So remember – do your best at whatever you attempt in life.  If you do that, you have to a...

Mark 10:49 “and Jesus stood still” We have all either read for ourselves or heard sermons on the story of blind Bartimaeus. A pitiful fellow, just sitting along the roadside each day, begging.   Bartimaeus was blind and had a particular problem as well. Though he was blind and could not see, he could hear. Jesus is passing through Jericho on His way up to Jerusalem. Within a week or two, He will be taken by sinful, wicked, religious rulers, tried for made-up charges, whipped, crucified, and raised from the dead. The setting for the story of Bartimaeus occurs at the end of the three-year ministry of Christ. By this time, a throng of people are following Jesus wherever He went. I am sure, without a doubt, the news of the miracles Jesus had performed, reached the ears of blind Bartimaeus. When he hears that Jesus is passing by and getting closer to him, he cries out, “Jesus, Thou Son of David, have mercy on me.” He shouts those word at least twice. Here is the turning point of this st...

Surprised to hear that from me? A Preacher who has called for revival for years now?  In Isaiah chapter 58, God told His prophet to “Cry aloud, spare not, lift up thy voice like a trumpet, and show my people their transgressions…” (Isaiah 58:1). After listing many of the nation’s shortcomings, God said He was looking for someone to “raise up the foundations of many generations” and to repair the breach, to restore paths to dwell in (Isaiah 58:12).  Since we as a nation have not heeded the call for revival in the land, we may be facing another American Revolution; a revolution that brings us back to fiscal sanity, traditional values, and a strong moral fiber.  You see, when you’re facing a massive mess (and we are) you need massive changes to fix it.  America is at a crossroads and time is running out!  We are now at a critical time in our nation’s history.  We need radical change and it needs to begin with the people of God (judgment must begin with the hou...

   It’s true! All of us face decisions every day. When we make good decisions – the right decisions – according to the standard of God’s Word, there is both an instant joy and a long term joy that goes with that. It’s amazing how complicated and tangled life can become when we sin against God. Study the lives of those in scripture who made major mistakes – did the wrong things – made the wrong decision – and you will find sadness and sorrow. By contrast; follow the lives of those who did right by God and you will find they were rewarded with a happy life for the most part. Psalm 144:15 says, “Happy is that people...whose God is the LORD.” Proverbs 16:20 tells us, “He that handleth a matter wisely shall find good: and whoso trusteth in the LORD, happy is he.” Most people would choose to be happy than to be sad. The truth is, we make that choice every day when we make wise choices. Make sure that you follow the Lord and do right by Him. You will find yourself a happy person! Fro...

  Psalm 106:15  Our country is in trouble!  You want me to list some of the signals that we are on the verge of a major collapse?  Crumbling housing market*, record foreclosures, massive national and personal debt, high unemployment, jobs moving overseas, moral and spiritual bankruptcy, civil unrest and rioting in the streets of our cities, and a church that is sadly asleep with our head in the sand, hoping it will all just go away.  Why might we be experiencing a “leanness of soul” in our nation?  The answer just may be found in verse 13 of Psalm 106, “They soon forgot his works; they waited not for his counsel:”  We are becoming less and less aware of the sovereign power of Almighty God!  We won’t acknowledge Him in American government and we won’t seek His counsel.  The first half of verse 15 says, “…he gave them their request.” Like it or not, we are reaping what we’ve sown. Until we get back to God, back to the Bible, back to prayer and ...

  We live in the most sophisticated and advanced technical society in the world.  We have massive communication power at our fingertips.  We can touch the numbers on our cell phone and in a few seconds, we can be in contact with someone clear around the world.  We have PCs (when they’re not “down”) that allow us to reach around the globe instantly. We can explore the internet, “google” something and find practically anything we want to know.  Our television sets now in HD make it feel like we are right there. Satellite radio provides listening pleasure without static!  Yet with all of this technology, it’s hard to have a real one-on-one relationship.  For example; when someone “texts” you, you can’t see their facial expressions, hear the inflection in their voice, and when you are emailed, often you don’t even know who it is that sent it to you.  I know that in the first century A.D. none of this technology was available, yet when I read in Acts 8...

How many of us have attempted to download an app but before it could be activated, we had to agree to the Terms and Conditions? In other words, until we “checked the box” to indicate we agreed, the app could not be opened. How often have we read the pages-long terms?   We can’t move forward until we click that box, and a check mark appears. Jesus said some important things recorded for us in Mark 8:34-35.   These are the Terms and Conditions for becoming (one of His disciples), one of His followers: 1.        Deny self.   Jesus wants His followers to deny their own selfish agendas and make the cause of Christ his or her number one priority. 2.        Take up your cross. Share in sacrifice and commitment for others gain, to love to the maximum extent. 3.        Follow Him. Follow Jesus wholeheartedly wherever He leads with no regret, without looking back, following daily, step...

  Satan hates finishers! He loves quitters however. This is why we must determine to be faithful believers and complete the things God calls us to do. If the devil can discourage us and influence us to give up on the things God has assigned us to do, the tasks will go unfinished. Consider this; Jesus was a finisher (John 19:30, 17:4, Hebrews 12:2). The Apostle Paul was a finisher (2 Timothy 4:7). These examples encourage us and help us realize that even though the temptation to quit on God is always there, we can complete the tasks that the Lord has given us. No matter where you are in your Christian journey; near the beginning of your walk with God, near the end, or somewhere in the middle; determine to be a finisher! Work hard, run well, and never, ever, ever, ever give up. The Pastor’s Pocket Pastor Bruce Freeman

As Christians, we’re destined for something much better than what this world has to offer!  As the old song says, “This world is not my home, I’m just a passin’ through, my treasure is laid up somewhere beyond the blue…And I can’t feel at home in this world anymore.”  If we’ve trusted Jesus as our Savior, our eternal home is heaven.  Therefore we are seen as pilgrims just passing through here. We are aliens, strangers to this present, evil world system.  Isn’t it silly? We spend so much time trying to “have it all” here and now, when in reality we already have it all “in Christ”. Abundant life that Jesus told us about doesn’t have anything to do with having an abundance of things.  It has to do with the quality of life we possess with all the spiritual riches that come from knowing Christ.  God warns us not to love this world.  We must never get too attached to “stuff”.  The fact is; we will suffer rejection, experience sorrow and pain in this wor...

The late, great D.L. Moody once said, “The Bible was not given to increase our knowledge, the Bible was given to change our life.”  In other words, what’s in the Bible must get out of the Bible and into your life in order to affect you.  There must be a transfer of Biblical truth from your head to your heart.  If the gospel ever gets past your ears and into your heart, it will change your life (II Corinthians 5:17).  Many Christians have heard a ton of sermons and they may have learned a great deal of what’s in the Bible, the issue for God is how much of it has affected our lives.  What real difference has what we know to be true made in our daily routine?  Since you’ve become a follower of Christ, are you more loving, kind, sensitive to the Spirit, compassionate, discerning, faithful, committed, active, involved, giving, aware of others needs, and interested in God’s will?  Are you less hateful, proud, boastful, covetous, critical, selfish, negative, ...