Singleness Of Heart, Pastor Phil Sessa

Psalm 86:11, “Teach me Your way, O Lord; I will walk in Your truth; Unite my heart to fear Your name.”

When a lion tamer goes into a cage with a lion, he brings his trusty stool with him. Most think of the whip in hand and forget about the importance of the stool. Why a stool, good question. When the stool is extended toward the lion with the legs facing the lion, the lion tries to look intently at all four legs of the stool at once and it causes the lion to become dizzy and therefore tames it. Perhaps it would be more fitting to call the stool the lion tamer than the man holding the stool.

The Lord’s Workshop, Evans Olang

Isaiah 41:15, “Behold, I will make thee a new sharp threshing instrument having teeth: thou shall thresh the mountains, and beat them small, and shall make thee hills of chaff”

Life is full of up and downs, a lot of challenges to go with it. There are days you feel like you are winning and there are days when you feel like a failure. Often times I have used the word “season modes” for every season presents it’s weather and everyone has to learn to adapt in every season otherwise you become a victim. At times even the preachers go dry, and they are left with no power and no strength to fight the good fight of a soldier. If the preachers, pastors, deacons, board members, evangelists are not exempt from the dry and burnouts. God may take you through a process and when you think you now have everything in place to make you perfect, He will relocate you again for His purpose is not to make you confident in yourself but confident in Him.

Peace Without Pieces, Evans Olang

Philippians 4:6&7, “… and the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your heart and minds through Christ Jesus”

One of the things that has taught me how the Lord grants us peace is while being driven by someone who I know. Of all my brothers, only Kefa I trust his driving. When he is driving, I can doze off and relax. Because I know his ways, that knowledge gives me peace in side to ride with him.

He Has You Covered, Part 1of3, Evans Olang

Genesis 3:1-21, “The Lord God made garments of skin for Adam and his wife and clothed them”

The book of Genesis is known as the book of the beginnings, it’s the book that reveals creation and the purpose of God for humanity. It presents us with the picture of God being a skillful Creator who does things in skillful ways. If that is not enough, we see things working and moving systematically in the order of creation. Everything God created was done step by step and each step He looked back and concluded it was good. I’m amazed at His creativity, the thinking and planning in the sense that He did not create man on the first day otherwise where would He put him? Many other things begin to make sense when you look at the structure in which He took to make things come out. To continue my amazement at His work, He called things into existence and everything He spoke into existence had no choice but to obey the voice of the Creator, the bible says in Isaiah 55:11, “So shall My Word be that goes forth from My mouth; it shall not return to Me void, But it shall accomplish what I please, And it shall prosper in the thing for which I sent it”.

Garments Of Praise, Evans Olang

Matthew 21:16, “…Out of the mouth of babes and nursing infants, You have perfected praise”

I have come to believe that to know someone really well, see how they deal with pressure. I try to void being stressed out for it is not healthy. I refuse cuss or swear when things come my way because cussing and swearing don’t help anyway, it’s not a mark of a Christian and out of cussing mouth can no sweet praises come.

Bring It Under His Control, Evans Olang

James 3:1-18, “But no man can tame the tongue…”

The tongue has landed so many people into trouble. As much as what people do destroy, what people say can do even a greater damage and it’s because what has been done may quickly heal unlike what has been said stays in the memory. Friendships have been broken due to what came out of the tongue. Husbands and wives have ended up in great fights because of the tongue. 

Is God Fair Or Is He Just? Lisette Rivera & Phil Sessa

Romans 8:28, “And we know that all things work together for the good of those who love God, to those who are the called according to His purpose”, NJKV

Many times when “bad” things happen to “good” people, the first thing that is said about the situation is “That’s just not fair!” or “Such and Such was a good person.” But you know what? We won’t get it. It’s not our place to try and figure out God’s reasoning behind letting something “bad” happen to a “good” person. “For My thoughts are not your thoughts, Nor are your ways My ways”, says the Lord. “For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are My ways higher than your ways, And My thoughts than your thoughts”, Isaiah 55:8-9 NJKV I don’t know about you but the last time I checked the earth was pretty far from heaven. Since this is the case, we cannot possibly completely understand God’s thoughts. And you’ll just get a headache trying to force the issue.

Be Ye Steadfast, Judy Olang

Isaiah 26:3-6, “You will keep in perfect peace him whose mind is steadfast, because he trusts in you. Trust in the Lord for ever, for the Lord, the Lord is the Rock eternal. He humbles those who dwell on high, he lays the lofty city low; he levels it to the ground and casts it down to the dust. Feet trample it down—the feet of the oppressed, the footsteps of the poor.”

What does the word steadfast mean? It means unchanging, loyal, fixed, or constant etc. Have you ever been in situations or gone through life where you felt like you were between a rock and a hard place? You felt like the ground was sinking beneath your feet? You felt like the walls of this world were closing in on you and you are panicking and feeling like running out of air? Have you ever felt like you are the only one in this world going through difficulties and challenges that you feel like no one else has any idea what it’s like? Have you ever felt like the devil was sitting right on top of you and you were suffocating and everything you do and touch is messed up, nothing is working right? I will join you in saying YES! Even us as saved Christians go through all the above but what we do after we encounter hardships and challenges of this world is what matters most. I have seen so many professed Christians cuss God and leave their faith because life did not go their way and so they feel entitled to take matters into their own hands instead of looking up to God for help and strength and understanding. And Isaiah tells us very perfectly that when we fix our eyes on God, he will keep us in his perfect peace, that no matter what is going on around us we will be intact because we trust in him.

Turning Disappointments Into Appointments, Part 1of3, Evans Olang

1Samuel 30:1-30, “…But David encouraged himself in the Lord”

David has just come back to Ziklag a place where he and his men’s families camped for some time. During this time, David had been anointed to be the next king while Saul was still ruling at this time. David’s reign was just around the corner, however his reign was not going to come easy. Saul was out to kill him, the philistines to who he had destroyed their champion had an issue with him and now the Amalekites had descended right into their camping site while David and his 600 men were away to team up with the Philistines to fight Israel. The Philistines did not trust David for they feared that David was in a position of turning against them while in the battle field to join the Philistine enemy. So they refused to allow him to team up with them and David and his men came back to their camping site.