Remember.

In Deuteronomy, God tells his children to remember. Israel is about to make a transition. For forty years, they have wandered. Now they are about to settle down in a new land. It’s a time of transition. From Moses to Joshua. From the wilderness to the Promised Land. From nomads to farmers. From people with no land to people of the land.

God wanted them to stay faithful, stay distinctive. So Moses spends forty days reminding them of God’s law. This would be the second hearing of the law. [Deuteronomy is Hebrew for "second hearing of the law."] God didn’t want them to forget.

Hopefully you, Katy Fellowshippers, have a rock somewhere in or around your home to help you remember what God has done for us. I want to share an excerpt from the January newsletter article I wrote one year ago. We had been praying and waiting for years for property to build on. Below is what I wrote:

“I know that our prayers and perseverance are tied to His promise and I ask you to join me in 2010 to see that promise come to pass. Our word for 2009 (FAITH) could have very well provided the preparation necessary to be realized in the tenth year of our existence. The leadership of our church is seeking God and by faith working towards something definite to happen soon. Would you join us in pursuit of God’s plan for KCF? What a great way to celebrate our tenth year by experiencing the faithfulness of God through His provision of property! How’s your faith?”

What an AWESOME GOD we serve! November 21, 2010, we set up stones to remember God’s power, provision, and plan. Let’s be careful to remember what God has done and what He has taught us this year. Remember to be at AMC Theatre #10 on January 9th for the 2011 Word for the Year. I would LOVE for you to be there to see where God is leading us.

Praying for You,
Tim

Galatians 5:6 “The only thing that counts is faith expressing itself through love.”

The year 2009 took us through a study on the word FAITH. Now, in 2010 we will have a chance to express our faith through LOVE, our word for this year. The question for us might be this, “Do we live as though faith, demonstrated through love, really is the only thing that counts?” I must admit, much of my life I didn’t. The LORD, in His great patience with me, gently reminded me through this passage that loving God and loving others should be what my faith is about. God assesses our lives based on how we love.

We began the our study by asking how God defines love. . .

1 Corinthians 13:4-8, 13 Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It is not rude, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres. Love never fails. And now these three remain: faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is love.

Those words have grown tired and overly familiar, haven’t they?

Let me challenge you with a little exercise with the above verses. Take the phrase Love is patient and substitute your name for the word love. (Example: “Tim is patient . . .”)

Do it for every phrase in the passage.

By the end, I felt like a liar. How about you? If I am meant to represent what love is, then I often fail to love people well.

Following Christ isn’t something that can be done halfheartedly or on the side. It is not a label we can display when it is useful. It must be central to everything we do and are.

If we are to love our God with all our heart and love others, we are to surrender ourselves totally to God’s purposes. I would like you to join me in the pursuit of making the only thing that really counts is expressing our faith through love. The journey will not be easy or comfortable. The cost could be extreme but isn’t that what Jesus showed us?

1 John 3:16-18 This is how we know what love is: Jesus Christ laid down his life for us. And we ought to lay down our lives for our brothers. If anyone has material possessions and sees his brother in need but has no pity on him, how can the love of God be in him? Dear children, let us not love with words or tongue but with actions and in truth.

God will bring you the most pleasure in this life and the next as we love the only way that counts.

With a pastor’s LOVE,

Tim

5 When I could stand it no longer, I sent Timothy to find out about your faith.
6 But Timothy has just now come to us from you and has brought good news about your faith and love.
7 Therefore, brothers, we were encouraged about you because of your faith.
…
10 Night and day we pray most earnestly that we may see you again and supply what is lacking in your faith.

When the apostle Paul sent this letter with Timothy to the young church in Thessalonica, his first questions were not if the church had grown, if the offerings were up, if they had started building, he didn’t even ask if they were behaving in a proper way. His first concern; how was their faith? Paul was anxious to find out how the spiritual health of the people was. He was so encouraged to hear their faith was growing, and assured them that he would continue to pray where their faith was lacking.

We have spent all of 2009 desiring to deepen our faith. Praying, practicing, and persevering in faith has made for a special year. Personally, I have made strides but I have also experienced stumbles. Yet God has been so faithful to encourage me to keep going and was quick to steady me when I stumbled. Katy Fellowship has learned many faith lessons throughout this year.  Faith is more than spoken words, more than our works; faith is walking daily with Jesus. When we can’t always see where the path is leading, or the hills and valleys that await, faith is believing that God is who He says He is and will do all that He has promised.

I confess to you that I believed that 2009 would be the year Katy Fellowship would finally move forward with property and begin the building process. Am I disappointed that it didn’t happen? Yes, but certainly not discouraged. I know that our prayers and perseverance are tied to His promise, and I ask you to join me in 2010 to see that promise come to pass. Our word for 2009 (FAITH) could have very well provided the preparation necessary to be realized in the tenth year of our existence. The leadership of our church is seeking God and by faith, working towards something definite to happen soon. Would you join us in pursuit of God’s plan for KCF? What a great way to celebrate our tenth year by experiencing the faithfulness of God through His provision of property! How’s your faith?

Our 2010 word for the year will be revealed on Sunday, January 10th. I have faith that this word will propel us forward and keep us focused on what matters most to God. Come find out what that is!

Praying for You,

Tim

This year’s word for us is FAITH. This month we will celebrate Easter. In this article, let’s look at how the message of Easter has an impact on our faith and why and how our faith impacts our life. Using the above passage from 1 Corinthians, we will see at least three ways Easter has a positive impact.

1) Easter faith allows us to live confidently. 17 If Christ was not raised from the dead, your faith is worth nothing and you are still living in your sins. 19 If we have hope in Christ in this life only, we are more sad than anyone else. 20 But it is true! Christ has been raised from the dead! He was the first One to be raised from the dead and all those who are in graves will follow. Having confidence in the promise that Jesus is alive today and has defeated sin and death will keep us on the right path.

2) Easter faith reminds us to live gratefully. 21 Death came because of a man, Adam. Being raised from the dead also came because of a Man, Christ. Our roots all trace back to Adam and Eve. Because of their sin, we were born with a sin nature with the consequence of death. Our sin nailed Jesus to the cross. Each of us deserve the penalty of death. But God loved us so much that He sent Jesus to die for us. And because of that love we should live each day with a grateful spirit.

3) Easter faith enables us to live hopefully. 22 All men will die as Adam died. But all those who belong to Christ will be raised to new life. My mother’s family just buried my grandma. Our hope is that we will see her and all our loved ones again. Death for believers is not the end. Doctors say that when a patient maintains hope, they often can continue to live. But when they lose hope they soon die. We must always keep our hope in heaven.

The question we should ask is, “Do I have Easter faith?” If so, we can live each day confident, grateful, and hopeful.

Praying in FAITH for You,
Tim

1. Jesus fasted and prayed 40 days (Matt. 4)
2. Forty opportunities to meet with God
3. Forty days develops a healthy habit
4. Forty days shows you’re serious
5. Prayer is commanded
6. Persistent prayer is commended
7. Prayer changes hearts
8. Prayer gives us boldness
9. Prayer produces power
10. Prayer changes hearts
11. _____________ will get saved
12. _____________ will get saved
13. _____________ will get saved
14. _____________ will get saved
15. _____________ will get saved
16. _____________ will get saved
17. _____________ will get saved
18. _____________ will get saved
19. _____________ will get saved
20. _____________ will get saved
21. Prayer works
22. Answered prayer is a  great witness
23. Prayer brings together over 40 others to pray
24. Forty days through Dr. Teykl’s book will encourage us in the Word
25. Forty days of prayer will change our attitudes for unbelievers
26. Forty days is a great investment for the Kingdom
27. Forty days is several more than the “few” days most people pray for the lost
28. Forty days of getting up and down off your knees is great exercise
29. Prayer is the highest calling in Kingdom work
30. Forty ways to tell God you love Him
31. Forty ways to show the pastor you love him
32. Forty ways to tell your Ten Most Wanted you love them
33. Forty ways to make the devil mad
34. Each one of the forty days brings you closer to celebrating Easter
35. Forty days of prayer can lead to revival and spiritual awakening
36. Forty days of prayer will strengthen our FAITH
37. Forty reasons to keep praying everyday
38. You will sense the eternal significance of what you’re doing
39. You will identify with the heart and compassion of God for the lost
40. Forty ways to make a difference

Praying in FAITH for You, (for 40×40 days)
Tim Barker

Every person possesses a degree of faith. To be a true follower of Christ we are saved by grace through our faith (Eph. 2:8-9). Becoming a disciple requires us to live by faith (Rom. 1:17). Matthew 17:20 reminds us that sometimes our “little” faith is expected to grow into a “great” faith. A mustard seed grows into a plant large enough for birds to perch in it’s shade (Mark 4:30-32). The disciples pleaded with Jesus to “increase” their faith (Luke 17:5). Let’s look at some ways to help our faith grow this year.

1. We must believe that our faith will grow. Paul complimented the believers in a small church for how they had first believed and how their faith was continuing to grow. 1 Thess. 1:3 “We ought always to thank God for you, brothers, and rightly so, because your faith is growing more and more.”
2. Associate with those who have great faith. The more we associate with those who really trust God, the more we will become a person of faith. Rom. 1:12 “that is, that I may be encouraged together with you while among you, each of us by the other’s faith, both yours and mine.”
3. Read and memorize God’s Word. D.L. Moody once said, “I prayed for faith and thought that some day it would come down and strike me like lightning. But faith didn’t seem to come. One day I read Romans 10:17 ‘Faith comes by hearing the Word.’ I had up to this time, closed my Bible and prayed for faith. Now I opened my Bible and began to study and faith has been growing ever since.”
4. Practice prayer and fasting. The verse at the top was followed by Jesus instructing his followers that sometimes there may be circumstances that require the discipline of fasting along with their prayers Matthew 17:21 NAS “But this kind does not go out except by prayer and fasting.”

Could I close this by encouraging and challenging you to journey with me in practicing the four points above. Let’s believe our faith will grow and God will send people with great faith to encourage us. Let’s study and memorize God’s Word and cry out to God for miracles through some extra time of prayer and fasting. I believe God will be pleased.

Praying in FAITH for You,
Tim