A farmer was coming out of the field along the back roads of a remote area.  Just as he pulled out on the road, a city slicker came speeding over the hilltop and hit his rig.  It was a horrendous accident scene.  The farmer lay pinned under the wagon, his dog was sprawled out a few yards away, and his mule was across the road in the ditch.
About that time a car pulled up and the farmer thought to himself, “Thank the Lord!  Someone is going to help me.”  When he saw that it was the sheriff, he was even more relieved.

 The sheriff sized up the situation with a glance.  Seeing the mule in the ditch with a broken leg, he pulled out his revolver and shot the animal to end its suffering.  He then walked across the road and saw the dog lying there in worse shape than the mule.  One shot put the dog out of its misery.  Then the sheriff walked over to the farmer and asked if he was in pain.  Witnessing what had just happened to his mule and dog, the farmer quickly replied, “Never felt better in my life!”

 It’s amazing what a change in perspective can do.  Sometimes we just need to look at life from a different standpoint.  If you have been having a rough day, here is a good word from the Bible that will help adjust your attitude, “This is the day the LORD has made; we will rejoice and be glad in it” (Psalm 118:24).

Pastor Todd Weston

The human brain is the most complex mechanism in the world and the most influential organ of your body.  It accounts for your ability to think, remember, reason, imagine, feel, and analyze.  Your brain supervises everything you do from the involuntary beat of your heart to the conscious decisions of life.  It controls hearing, sight, smell, speech, movement, eating, sleeping, learning, and everything else that makes you behave the way you do.

The average brain weighs about 3 pounds and contains 12 billion cells, each of which is connected to 10,000 other brain cells, totaling 120 trillion brain connections.  Truly, we are “fearfully and wonderfully made” (Psalm 139:14).

The two primary means of communicating to your brain are through your eyes and ears.  Everything you see and hear goes into your mind and will influence how you think.  How you think determines how you live, and how you live determines where you will spend eternity.  That is why we must be very discriminating concerning what we allow to enter our minds.

In old times gangs of thieves would often put a small boy through a tiny window so he could unlock and open the door from within, allowing the thieves to enter. 

Likewise, the enemy of our souls uses small things to gain entrance into our minds.  It might be improper reading material.  It might be television programs or movies that plant unhealthy and unholy images in our minds.  It might be music that either delivers a wrong message, or stirs up wrong emotions and desires.  It might be an ungodly attitude that seeks to gain entrance into our thinking.  Or it might be the impure sites visited when surfing the internet.  While all these things may seem to be small and insignificant, they can unlock the door to a host of other evils.

Don’t let that happen!  Diligently guard the door of your mind by putting into practice what Paul talked about in Philippians 4:8, “Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable – if anything is excellent or praiseworthy – think about such things.”

 
Pastor Todd Weston

 I will be the first to admit there are a lot of things I’m not very good at.  I love working around the house and in the yard.  But when it comes to home repairs I’m a disaster.  My wife and kids love to laugh at my handyman horror stories. Just ask them about them time it took me an entire day to hang blinds in our house!
 
And then there is the wonderful world of auto mechanics, of which I know nearly nothing.  I’m the last person you should call if your car ever breaks down.  If it wasn’t broken before, it will be by the time I’m done with it.  
 
I really enjoy playing the game of golf, but I never know what to expect from one day to the next.  Sometimes I play respectable.  Other times you would think I had never touched a club in my life. I’m telling you, it’s enough to give a
person a complex.
 
I’m a lousy cook.  I barely survived freshman algebra.  I have never beaten Sheri in a game of ping pong.  I went hunting once and wasn’t invited to go again.  I’ve never been asked to sing a solo in my life. Need I say more?
 
But the truth of the matter is it doesn’t really bother me that I’m not very good at those things.  None of those things listed above appear on the priority list of my life – well, maybe golf!  
  
But there are some things in this life that I do want to get right.  Two things really matter to me.  First, I want to be the best Christian I can possibly be.  I really want to get my relationship with God right.  The other thing that matters to me is my family.  To be the kind of husband and father God wants me to be is a high priority in my life. 
 
So what if I cannot fix the dishwasher, or rebuild an engine like my brother-in-law?  So what if I cannot cook?  So what if my wife beats me mercilessly at ping pong?  If I can be a faithful man of God and a loving husband and father, I will consider my life a success.  Those are the things that matter most to me.       
 
Pastor Todd Weston
 
PS– I really would like to break 80 before I die!  : )

We live in an ever-changing world.  In many ways, the world in which we live is not the same world we lived in just a few years ago.  Leaders move on and off the world scene.  Fads come and go.  Today’s headlines become history as breaking news captures our attention.

People change, too.  Over the years, I have watched some life-long friends experience a complete transfiguration from the person they were to the person they now are.  For some, the change was for the better.  For others, it was for the worse.

In the midst of all the change, there is one constant.  There is one irrevocable, indisputable truth upon which you can always depend.  “Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today, and forever” (Hebrews 13:8). 

Jesus is immutable in His Person.  All that He ever was He is today.  And all that He is today He will be forever.  Consider this statement from Malachi 3:6, “For I am the LORD, I change not.”  That tells us Christ’s attributes are permanent.  He is never more or less loving, or holy, or omnipotent, or faithful.  He is always the same to perfection.

Christ’s teachings are immutable also.  Unlike the vacillating “truths” of the world, biblical truth is constant and absolute.  Jesus said so in Matthew 24:35, “Heaven and earth will pass away, but My words will by no means pass away.”

And, thank God, His power is immutable.  His ability to save, heal, comfort, deliver, provide, or do anything else that is necessary is the same today as it was two-thousand years ago.

Best of all, He who was everything in the yesterday of the past and will be everything in the tomorrow of the future is ours today and forever!

“Yesterday, today, forever,

Jesus is the same,

All may change, but Jesus never!

Glory to His name.”

 

Pastor Todd Weston

2 Kings 10:17 records that during the reign of Solomon he made 300 shields of gold and had them stored in one of the king’s houses in Jerusalem.  Each shield contained three pounds of pure gold.  Those were some expensive shields!

After the death of Solomon, the king of Egypt came against Jerusalem and stole the shields of gold (1 Kings 14:26).  So what did Rehoboam, the son of Solomon and reigning king of Judah, do?  Did he attempt to recapture that which the enemy had stolen?  No.  Instead, he replaced the lost shields of gold with shields of brass (1 Kings 14:27).

Rehoboam is the king who settled for less.  He reasoned:  Why fight for gold when you can settle for brass?  That’s kind of like saying: Why strive for excellence when you can settle for mediocrity?

It’s sad to see people settle for less in any realm of life.  But when we settle for less in our spiritual lives, it’s not just sad, it’s tragic.  For example, consider the following statements from the Bible –

·         “When you pray…” (Matthew 6:5)
·         “If you sin…” (1 John 2:1)

Those combined statements are like a spiritual shield of gold.  They imply that prayer is a constant in the Christian life, and sin is not.  But then the enemy comes along and steals that shield of gold and replaces it with a shield of brass that says –

·         “If you pray…”
·         “When you sin…”

Shield of brass Christianity settles for less.  It assumes that sin is the usual, and prayer the unusual.

There is no biblical record that Rehoboam ever recaptured the lost shields.  But then, there is no record that he even tried.

Don’t be a Rehoboam!  Despise mediocrity.  Refuse to settle for less.  Set your standards high, stake your spiritual claim, and compromise for no one.  It’s the only way to live.

Pastor Todd Weston    

Psalm 37 and Matthew 6 are the “don’t worry” chapters of the Bible.  Three times in Psalm 37 David said, “Do not fret” (Psalm 37:1,7,8).  And three times in Matthew 6 Jesus said, “Do not worry” (Matthew 6: 25,31,34). 

After the third caution against fretting, David added this warning, “It only causes harm” (v8).  The act of worrying yields no constructive results; only destructive.  Worry can actually affect your physical body.  It can result in loss of appetite, insomnia, digestive problems, respiratory issues, anxiety attacks, the inability to focus and think clearly, and so on. 

There is never a shortage of things to worry about.  What we need is a plan to overcome the worry-monster!  We find such a plan in Psalm 37:3-8.  It’s a simple five-step plan that will help us live worry-free lives.

Step #1:  Trust in the Lord (v3).  The word “trust” in that passage means “to lean.”  When I am worrying I am leaning on myself.  When I am trusting I am leaning on Jesus.  So maybe we should learn to lean!

Step #2:  Delight yourself in the Lord (v4).  The word “delight” carries the idea of having a good time.  Instead of fretting and fuming over life’s problems, have a good time with God.  Spend time with the Lord, because in His presence is fullness of joy.

Step #3:  Commit your way to the Lord (v5).  This step takes trust to a higher level.  The word “commit” has to do with the length of time involved.  It speaks of a permanent thing.  When you commit something to God you give Him control.  The pressure is off when I get out of the driver’s seat and let God take the wheel.

Step #4:  Rest in the Lord and wait patiently (v7).  “Rest” means to be silent.  “Wait patiently” carries the idea of remaining under.  Here is the idea – once you commit something to God, be silent.  Quit talking about it.  Quit thinking about it.  You’ve put it under the lordship of Jesus so leave it there and wait patiently for Him to work. 

Step #5:  Cease from anger (v8).  The word “cease” means to let something alone; to let it go down.  Anger, anxiety, and worry will naturally subside unless we do something to stir them up again.  Let God settle you down.  And whatever you do, do not take matters into your own hands.

If we wanted to, we could all worry ourselves into an early grave, or at least a nervous breakdown.  Don’t go there.  Follow these five simple steps laid out by the same man who wrote in another psalm about green pastures, still waters, and paths of righteousness.  It’s the better way to live.

Pastor Todd Weston