We’re moving right along in the beautiful land of Israel. Such a wonderful time we are having. Some on our team have taken some great pictures. I thought I would share a few more with you today.
Shalom,
Pastor Ron
Currently, I am with a group of friends visiting Israel, the land of our Savior’s birth and life here on Earth. It never ceases to amaze me… the sights, the sounds, the people we meet. Whenever I travel abroad, the power and reach of media and technology always makes the world seem not quite so big. This trip is no exception. While we were visiting an Orthodox church in northern Israel, I was approached by the kind caretaker of the church. He told me that he recognized me from our television show, Ron Phillips from Abba’s House. Wow! Even in the most unexpected places, God continues to show me that what we do, and acts of obedience – regardless of how big or small – can change the world by changing lives.
Here are just a few pictures that some of my friends on the trip have taken. Hope you enjoy them, and can someday get to the Holy Land for yourself. It is a life-changing experience!
Shalom,
Pastor Ron
In the Academy Award winning movie, Saving Private Ryan, 8 soldiers set out across the French countryside in the days following D-Day. Their mission is to find one soldier, Private Ryan, deliver his discharge order, and get him back to safety and home. By the end of the mission, only two of the team members survived. Six of the men that originally set out to save Private Ryan sacrificed their lives so he would be saved.
Jesus talked about the Good Shepherd, who left his ninety-nine sheep to find the one that was lost.
Some may say, “That’s crazy… to sacrifice many just to save one.”
It sounds crazy… unless you are that one.
We were all that one.
The Bible says that “while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.”
The theme song from our TV program, Ron Phillips from Abba’s House, has the following lyrics:
Wherever you’ve been
Or what you’ve been through
The Father is waiting for you
If any one of us as individuals had been the only one needing to be saved, Jesus still would have gone through the torture, the pain, the anguish, and the death… just to save the one.
Just to save you.
He thought you were worth it… and He still does.
According to legend, when Spanish explorer Hernando Cortés came to the new world, upon reaching Veracruz, he had his men unload the ships. As they headed inland, those in the exploration party looked back only to see the entire fleet of ships on fire. Cortés himself had ordered the ships destroyed to make turning back an impossibility.
When the prophet Elijah called his successor – a farmer by the name of Elisha – Elisha asked his master if he could go home and say goodbye to his parents. Once there, Elisha himself proceeded to kill his oxen and burn his plows, thereby totally eliminating any chance of returning home. He committed himself wholeheartedly to the task God had called him to… turning back was not an option.
Here at the start of a new year, maybe you need to “burn down the ships” that have kept you in stagnant water. Maybe you need to “kill the oxen and burn the plows” that have kept you chained to defeat.
This is the year you need to allow radical faith to make a difference in your world.
This is the day you need to lay aside those things that are behind you – the things that have kept you bound to a life that is going nowhere – and start anew with the Father.
Pray… diligently seek the face of God concerning His plan for your life, and have the courage to say, as Jesus did, “Not my will, but YOUR will be done.”
Believe… prayer does little good unless it is accompanied by faith. Believe that God has your best interests at heart. Have confidence that He knows your end from the beginning. The psalmist wrote…
Your eyes saw my unformed body;
all the days ordained for me were written in your book
before one of them came to be.
Proceed… determine in your heart that you are going to follow the path He lays out before you. When He opens a door, go through it. If He closes one, trust that another will soon open. Allow your faith in His goodness to influence your decision-making this year. You have a Father in Heaven who is crazy about YOU, child of the Most High… Walk in that assurance!
The winds of change are blowing, so cast off the bow lines, set your gaze on the horizon, and follow the Son. This can be, not just the beginning of a New Year, but the beginning of a New Life as well!
Happy 2014!
Make it the best year ever!
Alexander Graham Bell recognized the value of being able to focus on a task…
“Concentrate all your thoughts upon the work at hand.
The sun’s rays do not burn until brought to a focus.”
However, he also observed that it was not just about focusing on “a” thing, but on the “right” thing…
“When one door closes, another opens; but we often look so long and so regretfully upon the closed door that we do not see the one which has opened for us.”
Someone once said that “when God closes a door, He opens a window”. Sometimes, the door of opportunity closes, and when it does, instead of bemoaning what we perceive to have lost, we should be looking for the new opportunity that God is opening before us.
As we enter into the promise of a new year, this is the perfect time to regain our perspective for the tasks ahead. Success in anything requires perseverance and focus. Make sure your focus is on the prize God intended for you, and not an attractive distraction.
Happy New Year!
Christmas is tomorrow, and if your house is like ours, the excitement is building, children are getting more and more excited with each passing moment, and last minute presents are gathering under the tree. But before we tear into the presents, I’d like to give you one last Christmas thought that, hopefully, will be one we all consider into the New Year and beyond…
Peace on earth… good will to men.
It was the word given by angels to shepherds in the fields outside of Bethlehem over 2000 years ago. It was those words that accompanied the announcement that the Messiah had been born.
But we live in a world where peace is elusive. We live in a nation that has been mired in wars and rumors of wars for the majority of our existence. We live in a country that, for all of our advancement and progress, just doesn’t “get it”.
The promise of the Messiah came with some “fine print” we have ignored. Consider the words of Isaiah…
For unto us a Child is born, unto us a Son is given: and the government shall be upon His shoulders: and His name shall be called Wonderful, Counselor, The mighty God, The everlasting Father, The Prince of Peace. ~Isaiah 9:6
The government shall be upon His shoulders… The government was meant to rest upon His shoulders: His wisdom was meant to be the foundation of society and civilization. When we take ourselves out from under the authority ordained to lead us, failure is not just a possibility… it’s guaranteed.
His name shall be called Wonderful, Counselor… If He is Counselor as the Scripture suggests, we might do well to heed His word. What is the purpose of having a Counselor that you refuse to listen to? Maybe… just maybe… His experience, purpose, and plan is better that yours.
… The mighty God, The everlasting Father… HE is the Almighty! HE is the creator! HE is everlasting to everlasting! When will we stop wasting our time looking to the foolishness of leaders who have no more integrity than sense, and whose lives are but a vapor – here today and gone tomorrow? When will we stop ignoring HE who is Almighty and Everlasting – whose name is Faithful and True???
… The Prince of Peace. A prince is a ruler, one of authority, power, and prestige. Our failure – as individuals, houses of worship, and a nation – to elevate Him to His proper place in our lives, churches, and nation has come with dire consequences. We have traded our birthright for a “mess of pottage”. We have sacrificed eternal hope and promise for fickle and temporary “comforts” that have only proven to lure us into a place of complacency, hopelessness, and despair. We have given up our place at the table of the eternal King (seated alongside the Prince of Peace) for a pile of table scraps outside the gates of the banquet hall. We have relegated the Child in the manger from a place of prominence in our lives, courthouse lawns, and town squares to the dark recesses of storage closets and basements, both in our homes and our hearts.
The words of the great Henry Wadsworth Longfellow ring in my heart…
Then pealed the bells more loud and deep:
“God is not dead, nor doth he sleep;
The wrong shall fail, the right prevail,
With peace on earth, good will to men.”
As we enter 2014, let us determine in our hearts to make Him LORD once again. Let us do as Paul encouraged us, lay aside every weight, and the sin that so easily besets us, and run the race set before us. Let us determine, as we close another Christmas season, that the spirit of the Child in the manger will be alive in our hearts the other 364 days of the year.
May you and yours have a very Merry Christmas, and a blessed New Year!
“Marley was dead: to begin with.”
With these words, Charles Dickens begins his classic tale of Ebeneezer Scrooge, who found life and redemption after living a life of greed and misery. A story that begins with death ends with life.
Kind of ironic, huh? Well, there is another story very similar…
It is the story of people who were born into death, with no hope. Yet, in their darkest hour, a baby was born with the power of life in His hands. A child was born who would become the Savior of the world.
It is the story of all of us who have found hope in the life, death, and life of a risen Lord. It is the story of all of us who have called upon the name of…
Yeshua…
Immanuel…
Jesus.
During this Christmas season, maybe you are looking for something the presents, songs, and sentiments of the season just can’t satisfy.
Jesus invites you to make Him the center of your holiday by making Him the Lord of your life. This year, give Him the greatest Christmas gift you can… your heart.
From our House to yours, may you have a Merry Christmas and a blessed New Year!
In Shakespeare’s classic play, Juliet asked Romeo:
“What’s in a name? That which we call a rose by any other name would smell as sweet.”
In spite of the sentiment in those words, the truth is that we are people, not plants, and our names carry great significance. Someone once said…
“The sweetest sound on earth is your own name spoken tenderly by a friend.”
In biblical times, a person’s name directly indicated his character. If we explore the pages of the Hebrew Bible, we find that the Hebrew word for “name” is shem, the name also given to one of Noah’s sons. This word comes from a root word meaning “to set a mark.”A child was often named according to something that “marked” the child.
Many times a name would become synonymous with fame, renown, and heroic reputation, such as in the case of David. God Himself blessed the name of David, saying,
“I have been with you wherever you have gone, and have cut off your enemies from before you, and have made you a great name, like the name of the great men who are on the earth.” (2 Samuel 7:9 NKJV)
Unfortunately, a name can also come to represent evil. After years of being under the rule of a fiendish queen whose wickedness caused heartache in the land of the chosen people, few Jewish families consider the name Jezebel for their baby girls!
For unto us a Child is born,
Unto us, a Son is given…
And His name shall be called Wonderful…
Wonderful! Isaiah began his description with this word that comes from the Hebrew people, which refers to supernatural power, something that cannot be explained in terms of human planning.
A great evangelist of the 1900’s was a man named Rodney “Gypsy” Smith. Until his death in 1947, having ministered all over the world, he maintained a glow and an excitement about Jesus that were infectious. One day he was asked how he stayed so fresh in his life and preaching. He replied…
I never lost the wonder!
Gypsy Smith couldn’t get over the wonder of being touched by the God of the universe through the salvation given by Jesus. He often said, “I didn’t go through colleges and seminaries. They wouldn’t have me… but I have been to the feet of Jesus.”
Have you been to the feet of the baby in the manger who became the Savior of the world? Have you stood, as the shepherds and kings of old, in awe at the wonder of the One called Wonderful? If not, this Christmas season is a great time to start! What better gift to give to the One Whose birthday we celebrate that your own heart and life.
Merry Christmas!
— adapted, in part, from the chapter Call Him Wonderful by Ron Phillips from the compilation book, The Spirit of Christmas (©1999 Thomas Nelson Publishers)
I am so happy to announce that, after months of hard and diligent work by the staff at Ron Phillips Ministries, we have just launched two great new ways to stay connected…
“So, what’s the big deal with the new website?”
Watch the last four weeks of Sunday services anytime.
Watch the live service stream directly within the app.
So visit the website, get the app, and stay connected to all we are doing at Ron Phillips Ministries.
Go ahead… click HERE to visit the website.
To download the app, click HERE
In 1835, the New York Sun published one of the earliest illustrated news stories, depicting a fire at the New York Merchant’s Exchange. The picture was produced by a young artist by the name of Nathaniel. Because there was no photography, newspapers relied on illustrators such as Nathaniel, allowing the world to see events through their eyes.
From that point until this very day, many of the beloved images we cherish of Christmas Past we owe to Nathaniel.
Nathaniel Currier, of Currier & Ives, captured the images of a simpler time in America, images of peace on earth and good will toward men.
The stories of Christmas have been handed down for centuries, by shepherds and kings. But their stories all tell of the same event… of a little baby, born in a manger, who was the Savior of the world.
This Christmas season, as we take in the images, the lights, the sounds, and the smells, let us not forget to heed the plea of this most cherished of Christmas songs…
O come, let us adore Him
O come, let us adore Him
O come, let us adore Him
Christ the Lord
The Heart of Abba - Ron Phillips 