Bitterness rots our souls

It's no secret that the Bible talks about the effect bitterness and unforgiveness has on us. When hearing others speak about it, including James MacDonald recently this thought came to mind... "As bitter lemons and limes are to our taste buds, that's how bad bitterness is to our souls." That was my thought, but does it really go far enough? What does the Bible say about bitterness? Acts 8:23 For I see that you are full of bitterness and captive to sin.” So being bitter is to be captive to sin! Wow. Ephesians 4:31 tells us to

Get rid of all bitterness. So we are under command to get rid of it. How do we do that? We forgive - even if the offending party doesn't ask for it. That's tough to do. At Life we play songs about this topic such as Forgiveness from Matthew West and 7x70 by Chris August, Toby Mac has a song about Forgiveness as well... many artists do. It's no coincidence as if we let unforgiveness fester in our souls it rots us from the inside out and bitterness sets in and we become ineffective for Christ - the enemy of our souls wins. 

So how do we beat this? Forgive. Overcome evil with good as Scripture says. Don't give the Devil a foothold. Easy to say, tougher to do...

A time to rest...

In life we get so busy that I think we forget to take time to rest. I have discovered this for myself at times when I have gotten so busy (even with being busy at the church) that God has had to step in and STOP me! Whether it is getting sick, or one year almost cutting my fingers off with a hedge trimmer... (yeah don't ask) sometimes God has had to stop me so I could rest.

Jesus often went off alone to rest and to pray and seek God's face. He didn't allow the busy patterns of life to get in the way - He took time out to rest, and He was the Son of God! I heard Chuck Swindoll use a phrase today that went like this: He will break the bow that is always bent. It was meaning that if we are always on the go and never slow down, that God will take matters into His own hands to slow us down. Something to think about...

So for all of us... myself included... make sure to take time out to rest and seek out the Lord in SPITE of the business of life.

Got questions?

I've been doing Ask The Pastor for over 4 years now on Life 100.3 Mondays at 9 pm. I started out with AJ the Wonderdog, have worked with Junky Rhodes, then Evan Duran, and back to Junky Rhodes. I've had the occasional fill-in DJ with me too at times when someone was not available. 

So 4 years later I've realized - people still have SO many questions! Some are worth repeating too. So here is my plea to all who listen - no question is a dumb question except the one you don't ask. So please ask! Email them in early if you wish to atp@lifeonline.fm, or call the nigth of at 1-866-737-LIFE (5433) or TEXT the word lifeonline to 212121 and ask your question!

I love hearing from listeners who just can't figure things out and need some help. I will do my best to answer what I can. I have also had the opportunity to counsel people off the air and through the week. For those more personal issues, feel free to contact me directly at andrew@lifeonline.fm and I will be glad to get in touch with you.

It's been an amazing 4 years and I feel so blessed and privileged to be able to continue to do this ministry. Thank you Life 100.3 for your support over the last 4 years and for the time to come! God bless, and ASK away! 

Pastor Andrew Robertson
Announcer/Ask The Pastor Co-Host 
LIFE 100.3

Examples

http://www.godtube.com/watch/?v=KWLPW7NX

Bethany Hamilton and Nick Vujicic!

Two amazing testimonies, two amazing people who inspire so many!

Both have been through unreal situations and yet turned to God for strength in their time of need. Nick has been around the world sharing his testimony to inmates at prisons, world leaders that others are denied access to, and more and now he's married and has a child of his own!

Bethany survived the shark attack and a movie was made about her life, she competes still and serves as an example as to how to overcome adversity!

Two great examples! 

We may never face situations like them, but we know that whatever we face? God is there to back us up!

Deuteronomy 31:6 says, 6 Be strong and courageous. Do not be afraid or terrified because of them, for the Lord your God goes with you; he will never leave you nor forsake you.”

14 Years!

This past week my wife and I celebrated 14 years together! Hard to believe it's been 14 years already. Where did the time go? Seems like yesterday we were saying our vows and then celebrated getting married by each of us taking turns at being sick. Yeah, some kind of bacterial parasite from the rehearsal party that waited at least until the day after our wedding to show up. I got it first for a week (good thing we didn't go away anywhere but celebrated our condo that we got with my parents help), Tanya got it the week afterwards. Happy honeymoon right?

So here we are 14 years later, 2 great boys in Seth and Gabe, and we're still making things work out for work and more. For anyone who is not married, don't be deceived, marriage is work. It's a commitment. It's a covenant not to be entered lightly. Yes we love each other, but for those couples who start out and they say "We never fight!" - just wait, it'll come. The key is when you do fight - fight fair. Don't keep a record of wrongs and bring them up over and over, because that's not love - just look at 1 Corinthians 13 for that.

So to celebrate our 14th we went to Fair Havens Bible Centre in Beaverton and had a great time. It was relaxing. The programming hadn't started yet which was actually fine for us, we just needed some time away. We had the kids and it was fun.

So recap - yes, I love my wife Tanya still after 14 years, and still dedicated to her. Am I perfect? Just ask her... :) Have we got this marraige thing all figured out yet? No, but we are working on it together.

God bless!

Our heavenly Daddy?

I know some people will hear this phrase and think I'm being disrespectful to God. Not true. Quite the opposite really. See, Jesus gave us the example in Scripture in calling God the Father by this intimate term "Abba" in Mark 14. This term literally means in our modern English - "Daddy." It's not offensive to call God the Father our heavenly Daddy. In fact, this is really the level of intimacy He wants with us! We're His kids! 

When I was at Bible college, I first heard a guy in group prayer (thanks Keith Wilhelm) start off his prayer with a simple, "Our heavenly Daddy..." It took me off guard, but the more I thought about it, that's how it should be! We could even go simpler with with, "Hey Dad..." in some senses to truly feel that intimate connection, because that's how we would talk to our dads right? How many of us go around talking to our dads like this: Father, how are you doing? Not many. Instead when I talk to my dad I say, "Hey dad!" As a child I said, "Hi daddy!" I wouldn't expect to hear my kids address me so formally as father.

This is the level God the Father wants with us, He wants to be our heavenly Daddy. The question is, will we let Him get that close?

Catching up

Back in 2008 I was called to be the General Associate Pastor at Pinewoods Chapel responsible for youth/worship/children and some administrative. I was there for 2 years and only had to move on due to finances of the church at the time. We have stayed in contact and for a while we even just attended while waiting for what God had next for us. It's now 2013 and I'm the Youth Pastor at Stayner EMC, and I I still keep in contact with people from Pinewoods and Mt Pleasant EMC where I was Lead pastor for a year. Last night I had the opportunity to speak at youth for Pinewoods once again and it was neat to see the changes - new youth that had grown into the group from being kids when I was Associate before, the programme was still similar to what I used to do - and the response was great. It was great to catch up with Pastor Chris and John McConnell too who I worked with.

Time flies and things change. Sometimes it's just nice to go back and see what's been going on after you leave a situation. God is still working at both places where I have been, and it just reminds you how God steers you where He wills. That the ways we expect things to turn out aren't always what we expect them to be, but are what He wants for us to grow in our walk. 

For me when I arrived in the fall of 2008, I had never expected to be part of Life doing Ask The Pastor and then being an announcer, yet in 2013 Ask The Pastor has been on the air 4 years, and I have been an announcer for a year!

Sometimes it's good to just catch up and see how God has blessed and led in both the expected and the unexpected ways. We trust Him in all things so that when life takes an unexpected turn, we don't go into panic mode. Instead we do as Proverbs 3:5 - 6 says, 
5 
Trust in the Lord with all your heart
    and lean not on your own understanding;

6 in all your ways submit to him,
    and he will make your paths straight.

When we fail to look back and see how God has worked it can be hard to look to the future and see hope in our present situations. 

God bless!

Pastor Andrew