A Word Of Encouragement



This is just a word of encouragement to our Berean Family. It follows up on what I said about using imagination in your prayer time with the Lord. We are finishing our study on stewardship next week and then I will be going back to our series of messages in Romans. I trust that all of you were as richly blessed by our stewardship study as I was. I appreciate the many words of testimony that I have received from this study.

My schedule for the remaining weeks will be as follows: I travel to Brasil for a conference in July and return in August. I will then be taking Jeremy back to school in Knoxville, Tennessee. I will be away the month of August and return to the pulpit in the first of September. Pastor Tipton will be going with me to minister to our dear friends in Brasilia. Please keep us in prayer as we make our preparations to travel and to serve together. .

I will be putting on my blog some interviews I did with Pastor Tipton adn I am praying that these discussions will also be great blessing to our church family.

God bless, and have a great 4th of July!!

Praying And Using Imagination!

 

Prayer is extremely important in the life of the believer.  Prayer should be the atmosphere that a child of God habitually lives in.  Prayer is like breathing air—without prayer the believer dies a slow spiritual death of spiritual suffocation from emptiness and meaningless.  When Paul was converted the Lord spoke to Ananias and told him to go to where Paul was located, and the Scripture simply says, “Behold he prayeth.”  Acts 9:11.

 Here are a few quotes on the importance of prayer.

 “Worship and intercession must go together, the one is impossible without the other. Intercession means that we rouse ourselves up to get the mind of Christ about the one for whom we pray. Too often instead of worshipping God, we construct statements as to how prayer works. Are we worshipping or are we in dispute with God ‘I don't see how You are going to do it.' This is a sure sign that we are not worshipping.” – Oswald Chambers

 

“Every great movement of God can be traced to a kneeling figure.” – D.L. Moody

 

“Intercessory prayer might be defined as loving our neighbor on our knees.” – Charles Brent

“Our praying, however, needs to be pressed and pursued with an energy that never tires, a persistency which will not be denied, and a courage which never fails.” – E.M. Bounds

When I pray I use my imagination. I see myself sitting in heavenly places as the Apostle Paul tells us in Ehpesians 2:6.  I trust that this brief message here on using imagination in prayer was helpful for you. God bless you as you enter into the holy of holies and intercede on behalf of yourself and others.

Tea With Vernon 3

This is the final interview with Pastor Vernon Higham. These brief interviews have been such a blessing to those who have seen them. In my lifetime I consider my friendship with Vernon Higham one of the special blessings and privileges from the Lord. My life has been enriched because of my fellowship and friendship with this dear servant of God. I will have some interviews in the near future with Pastor Bill Tipton.

May the Lord bless our dear Berean family as we walk with the Lord and seek His face. Jeremiah 29:13, "And you will seek me and find me when you search for me with all of your heart." 

Tea With Vernon Higham-2

This is the second interview with Vernon over a cup of tea. What a blessing this man of God is to all of us.

Today, we had a wonderful time at the church as Father's and Son's. Thanks to all who prepared the meal and served our men and sons. Tomorrow we continue with our stewardship study. I will be bringing the message on the Creation Mandate. My prayer is that we will all be blessed and will be working daily to fulfill that divine assignment from our Lord.

Have a great week. Be looking for the third interview with Vernon.

God bless,

Pastor Dickie

Tea With Vernon Higham

After our trip to Scotland Mary and I returned to Cardiff, Wales. One of the special joys was to have a few opportunities to share a cup of Tea with my dear friend Vernon Higham. This is just an informal time where I asked Vernon a few questions on a number of different topics. As usual whenever you have a chance to listen to Vernon you will sense his gentle spirit and his deep love and devotion to Christ. I trust you enjoy our conversation around a cup of tea.

Our stewardship series continues. I pray that it will have a powerful impact on our church family.This Sunday Pastor Tipton will bring the message. I will bring the next two and then Pastor Eric will bring a message and I will conclude the series. After we finish I will immediately return to our series on the Book of Romans.

God bless you all,
In Christ,
Pastor Dickie

A Special Word of Thanks!

This is just a special word of thanks to my Berean family for making last Sunday a very wonderful day for Mary and me. These past 30 years have come and gone so quickly. I can hardly believe where the years has gone. This brief video expresses our gratitude and thanks for the prayers and support we have received over the years from so many dear friends here at Berean.

On Sunday, we received many cards, words of thanks, and words of encouragement from a number of people. For this I am deeply grateful. May the Lord return His blessings on all of you and bless you and keep you.

A pastor can preach, pray and live among his flock. But only the Lord can change hearts or give his people a love for Christ and a heart to follow the Lord. This is my constant prayer for each of you. I often weep over this flock and plead with our heavenly Shepherd to mold you all into His image. I weep with you when you weep and I rejoice with you when you rejoice. I long that your eyes would stay fixed on the Saviour and that your love for Him would increase day by day. However long I have left on this earth to serve the Lord, when I am finished and called home to be with Him, I trust that my labors will not have been in vain. May we all rise up and put on Christ for the day is far spent and the night is at hand.

God bless you all!

Pastor Dickie  

Thank you Berean family!

Mary and I want to thank our Berean family for the wonderful day of celebration. These past thirty years have been in the will of God and He has truly blessed us to have had the opportunity to minister among you during these years. I want to thank Pastor Bill for the wonderful message, and Pastor Eric for his kind words. We also deeply appreciate the gift that you gave us. Thank you Sam and Debbie for the wonderful meal. Your labor of love is always appreciated by the entire church family. This was such a special day for us and on behalf of all my family we express our love and gratitude back to each of you. I am always overwhelmed by the mercy of God and for His abundance of grace that He showers on His unworthy people. May the Lord be praised continually. I never cease to wonder at God's grace that captured me 46 years ago in Saginaw,  Michigan.

My prayer is that the Lord will continue to bless this church and all of our dear loved ones and prepare us for eternity. Live each day as if it is your last. Love one another with the love of Christ. Labor to be pleasing to God in everything you do. Let not the sun go down upon your wrath. And finally, learn the beauty and peace of dying to self. 

The summer is upon us. On Wednesday night Pastor Eric is starting a series of messages on the book of Titus. Come out if you can.

God bless you all,

Yours in Christ,

Pastor