Pastor's Blog

Good Morning, Dear Family.

KJV Isaiah 40:28 Hast thou not known? hast thou not heard, that the everlasting God, the LORD, the Creator of the ends of the earth, fainteth not, neither is weary? there is no searching of his understanding.

KJV Isaiah 40:29 He giveth power to the faint; and to them that have no might he increaseth strength.

KJV Isaiah 40:30 Even the youths shall faint and be weary, and the young men shall utterly fall:

KJV Isaiah 40:31 But they that wait upon the LORD shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings as eagles; they shall run, and not be weary; and they shall walk, and not faint.

Lord, we would have not known if we would have not heard that you are the Creator of the ends of the earth and that you never faint or tire as we do. How is it that there is no limit to your understanding and that your ways are past finding out? Lord, you give power to the faint and to those who have no strength and are in fact, weak, such as ourselves, you increase strength! How does that work, Lord? How do we go from having no might to increasing in strength? Not even the strength of the youth will avail anything, but You, Lord, through the power of faith renew, rejuvenate, make us alive again, when we wait upon you. It is truly as it is recorded in this Psalm:

KJV Psalm 123:2 Behold, as the eyes of servants look unto the hand of their masters, and as the eyes of a maiden unto the hand of her mistress; so our eyes wait upon the LORD our God, until that he have mercy upon us.

And in the book of Chronicles:

KJV 2 Chronicles 20:12 O our God, wilt thou not judge them? for we have no might against this great company that cometh against us; neither know we what to do: but our eyes are upon thee.

Dear Lord God, cause our eyes of faith to be upon you this morning as well as during all the days of our lives, so that our strength shall be renewed to the extent that we will live and walk above the challenges and difficulties of life. As you are the center of our lives, may it be the our problems would be seen as periphereal rather than central to our vision of faith.

Cause us to remember that as your children we not only go into, but we also pass through difficulties. Dear Father, isn't it true that trials are like the trains that come through town, we know that they come through, some are short, some are long, but they all pass through town. But dear Father, it is so hard when the noise of the train is rumbling through town for a long time as if it will never pass through.....Cause us to trust, Dear Lord.

KJV Psalm 23:4 Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil: for thou art with me; thy rod and thy staff they comfort me.

Lord, it is always through your Word and your Spirit that we are renewed, comforted, directed and encouraged in the midst of the weaknesses and storms of life. Dear Father, be with each of your children today; with those who are struggling with fear, with those who are struggling with lack of hope, with those who are disappointed with life, with those who are finding it difficult to forgive themselves as well as others, with those who have lost their way but do not as of yet realize it, with those who are grieving, with those who are suffering with pain, with those who are rejoicing in you, and, Lord, with all people everywhere in the world!! In the name of Jesus, Amen!

In the love of Christ,

Pastor Orval Wirkkala

P.S. I have not forgotten about the topic I have started, but will get back to it soon. (Concerning forgiveness and the parable in the 18th chapter of Matthew)

Good Morning, Dear Family.

1 Peter 1:3 Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, which according to his abundant mercy hath begotten us again unto a lively hope by the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead,

On Sunday, by God's grace, we shared from the 13th chapter of Matthew and learned about parables and why they are so important in teaching as well as learning. We concluded as an application with this verse, hoping to receive light and insight into the meaning of the last verse of our text, which was:

KJV Matthew 13:52 Then said he unto them, Therefore every scribe which is instructed unto the kingdom of heaven is like unto a man that is an householder, which bringeth forth out of his treasure things new and old.

First of all, it was good to be gathered with some yesterday to be a part of the funeral service of Tom Christopher. Mabel was with us as well as all her daughters. During the service when Phil Wilson was preaching, he read from the 1st Epistle of Peter these words:

KJV 1 Peter 1:3 Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, which according to his abundant mercy hath begotten us again unto a lively hope by the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead,

As we sat there listening and thinking about the reality that Tom had left this earth and had entered eternity, I was given new from the old when Phil read that verse, especially when he read the word, lively!! That is how our gracious Lord works through His Spirit and brings new meaning or new life to His Word which is old historically, but always new spiritually, for it is a living Word in our hearts.

It continues to amaze me of how that works, I mean, how the Holy Spirit shows us new insight and new light from passages that to our minds sometimes have become almost just words on a page. But then we read the Word ourselves, hear somebody else's explanation or their revelation or even simply hear someone else read the Word of God, explain the Word, and boom, ignition central within our heart takes place and the fire of understanding, comprehension, inspiration, warmth and encouragement take place.

Recently I received a book from someone and in it the author explained the reality and application of forgiveness in a way that I had never quite seen before. In the following passages, (Matthew 18:23-35), he explains that the one who was forgiven the 10,000 talent debt never really could grasp or believe that he had been totally forgiven of his debt, a debt that there was no way, and I mean, no way, that he could ever hope in his wildest dreams to pay back. He did not realize or experience the total forgiveness of his debt (sin), so therefore, in his mind he had only bought a little time so that he could somehow (even tho naturally speaking it was impossible) repay the debt given the right amount of time. So what did he do when he did not experience true grace and forgiveness? He grabbed the neck of the first person he came to, one who owed him just a miniscule fraction of what he himself had been forgiven. I came to see that the reason he went after smaller debtor is that it was not opened to his mind and heart to believe that his debt was wiped clean. This has opened up to me huge implications for our lives today, and I will plan to discuss it more the next time that we meet on this page.

God bless you today and may you rest in the complete knowledge of His forgiveness!

In Christ,

Pastor Orval Wirkkala