Pastor’s Blog, June 2008

Pastor’s Blog, June 2008
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Progress digitizing Faith Assembly recorded sermons: May 21, 1995 a.m.

Saturday, June 28, 2008
Through Proverbs 23

10:15 a.m.
Every once in a while, I come across a verse that really sticks out. There it is, and it was there all along, and I wonder, why hasn’t anyone ever made a big point of it before? For the past week, I didn’t get much Bible reading done except for preparing sermons, but in reading today, I came across this passage.

Proverbs 16:6: “By mercy and truth iniquity is purged: and by the fear of the LORD men depart from evil.”

What a remarkable verse! It literally puts the message of the Bible in a nutshell! We are not saved by our works; but, by God’s mercy and truth, literally, in the Hebrew, our sins are covered. Nevertheless, those who are saved depart from evil because of their fear of the Lord. Not fear in the sense of being afraid of Him, but in the sense of recognizing His authority and having respect for who He is, as any child would have for his father. It is the kind of verse people don’t notice because we so often see Proverbs as just a book of “pithy sayings,” of a more practical nature; so, who would expect to find a profound theological statement in such a place? But, it is really quite a significant statement.

Saturday, June 21, 2008
Through Proverbs 14

1:20 p.m.
Well, vacation, June 9–20, is over. We praise God for His faithfulness in what turned out to be a most unusual and challenging two weeks. On Wednesday, June 4, when we came home from church, we heard that my wife’s father, Paul Powlison, had suffered a stroke. At that point, we were already involved getting ready for vacation. This vacation was not to be a private family get away kind of vacation, but we had been planning for nearly a year that our vacation would coincide with a family coming up from Texas, to visit Mammoth Cave and the Creation Museum together. So, we could not just call up and tell them, “Oh, sorry. Vacation’s off!” Plus, we have several employed children who had taken vacation time for those two weeks, which could not be changed.
   So, Rene made plans to be picked up on Sunday by her sister, Joyce, and her sister's husband, Bob, who had left North Carolina to travel to Detroit, as soon as possible after hearing of the stroke, and would be staying overnight with family in Indianapolis with family. Then, news of Dad Powlison’s death came on Sunday morning, before Rene’s sister and her husband had left Indianapolis. So, I said goodbye to Rene before I left to come to the church Sunday morning, and she listened in on the meeting on Paltalk, until her sister arrived to pick her up. That essentially ended vacation for Rene. But, because this vacation was actually a church activity, it just was not an option for us to cancel; so, Monday morning we packed up and headed on down to Mammoth Cave. During the next few days, the decision was made that the funeral would be held Friday at 11:00 a.m. So, on Thursday, leaving our friends at the Museum, all the Brennemans returned home to Larwill for the night, then went to Detroit for the funeral, and after the funeral, we traveled all the way back to Mammoth Cave, arriving just before dark. To make a long story short, our vacation went smoothly, but it was a very difficult time, and Rene is not going to be able to come back home until possibly as late as this coming Thursday.
   I hope you all can understand, this isn’t a time when I am all excited about writing the details of our vacation. Our family is not perfect, and we felt like we were in a fish bowl through all of this very stressful time. God gave us grace, but we can only pray for God also to grant us favor in the eyes of those who were with us.
   In the meantime, Bruce, the husband of Kathy Kinsey, who owns Faith Ministries, has also passed away after an eight month battle with leukemia, and it was impossible for me to return to attend his funeral and express my condolences to Kathy and the children. In all of this, my only hope is that my heavenly Father knows me, knows my heart, and He will see me through anything He allows in my life. My heart goes out to the bereaved of both the Kinsey and Powlison families.

One thing, though: it is more and more apparent every day how desperately the devil is trying to destroy God’s work and to make the faith message seem ridiculous. But we are not of them who draw back, and by the grace of God, we will stand firm, put on the full armor of God, and come through victoriously in every trial God allows.

Thursday, June 5, 2008
Through Proverbs 7

11:00 p.m.
While we are quite into getting ready for vacation, Mrs. Bee's father has had a stroke, so we are trusting the Lord to work everything out, while everyone watches us to see how we will handle the situation. Nothing like being in a fishbowl! At this point we do not believe we should change our plans, but we could if we would need to do so.