Exodus 16:31 And the house of Israel called the name thereof Manna: and it was like coriander seed, white; and the taste of it was like wafers made with honey.

November is the month we celebrate Thanksgiving in the United States. It is a holiday where we meet with friends and family to reflect on the goodness of God, the one who provides our daily bread. It reminds us that He provides new mercies each day and we should be thankful.

How many here will be sharing Thanksgiving with friends and family? How many will have a spread of food to gather-round during that time? Can you smell the aroma of the freshly roasted turkey – our traditional meat, or ham, chicken? My favorite smells are of corn bread, mashed potatoes, sweet potatoes, corn and apple and pumpkin pies? I can hear the recounting of family stories and jokes.

At River of Life Church, we are a blessed people. God certainly is good to us. All the time. Even in our worst of circumstances, His Love still shines through and we are blessed beyond measure. We are so blessed, we cannot contain it within these walls.

As of today, and time is short, we are initiating our food donations for the Thanksgiving meal outreach to those in need in our local city of Philadelphia. Each year, we take turkeys, chickens, hams, corn, potatoes, bread and all those wonderful smells to Highway Tabernacle in Philadelphia to feed those who don’t have the means for a meal with friends and family. We will hold Thanksgiving meal Monday, Nov. 20.

Rosemary is organizing the event. She is the main person. If you have questions about your involvement, speak with Rosemary. We need food, drivers, servers, workers and those who want to be the light of Christ. We have sign-up sheets in the back of the church so you can be a part. We will even accept money donations to fill in where needed.

For our extended church family who worships with us online, you can participate too. Monetary donations through our website will be graciously accepted. Designate it by putting in a comment stating “Philadelphia Manna with Honey”.

 

 

#offeringthoughts

Copyright © 2017, David A. Zimmer, All Rights Reserved.

Proverbs 11:30 The fruit of the righteous is a tree of life, And he who wins souls is wise.

Einstein said the one thing that fascinated him the most was compound interest. Here was a guy who could out-think and out-reason almost anybody. He was a guy who came up with new ideas that revolutionized science as we know it, and yet, he felt the most powerful concept was compound interest – the ability to make money using money seven days per week, 24 hours a day, every day of the year.

Would you mind if I were to disagree with Einstein and say he missed the true marvel of the universe? Even if you do mind, I am going to state he was wrong. Compound interest is not the most amazing fact of life. In our scripture text, God states winning souls is wise.

I learned a long time ago, no matter how hard I try, no matter how hard I work, I am very limited in what I can do. I eventually get tired. I must rest. And this is where the idea of Compound Salvation comes in. How can I compound my effect of winning souls?

God came up with a simple solution: We call them missionaries. I can get compounding of soul winning by supporting missionaries. While I am sleeping, missionaries are hard at work winning souls 24 hours per day, seven days per week. And because of the great God we serve, I receive “credit” for those souls won.

Let’s illustrate this. Let’s say I am on a long journey. It is hot. The sun is bright. I’m working up a mighty sweat and thirst. But silly me, I forgot to bring water. I reach a destination and I see water. Along side the water source, I see a spoon and a ladle. Which one will I use to quench my thirst with the water? The ladle, of course.

How thirsty are you for bringing souls into the kingdom? How wise do you want to be? A spoon? Or a ladle?

As we close out October, our missions month, think about your role in compound salvation. He who wins souls is wise. God said so.

 

#offeringthoughts

Copyright © 2017, David A. Zimmer, All Rights Reserved.

II Peter 1:16 For we did not follow cunningly devised fables when we made known to you the power and coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, but were eyewitnesses of His majesty.

To many, the life and death of our Savior Jesus Christ is an elaborate ruse, a story to rehearse at Christmas and Easter, a fable to instill in our children in hopes it will produce some good. I am currently in a discussion on Facebook with an atheist who made this statement concerning the difference between our beliefs.

He said, “My belief is based on facts and science, yours is based on faith.” The implication is that faith is inferior to fact and simply resides on oral history of traditions and myths – fables. What my partner doesn’t understand is his facts have changed over time while the facts which underpin my faith have not.

Early in history, the earth was flat. That was considered fact. When someone debunked that fact and called the earth round, he was considered a heretic and crazy. Yet, the fact changed and we now believe the earth to be round. Unfortunately, that immutable fact is changing once again as some are beginning to promote the earth as flat again. I can’t wait to see their eyes when Jesus coming back with the New Heaven and the New Earth!

But what evidence do we have as Christians that we are not lead by fables or tales? Here are just a few facts I’d like to leave with you. It would take me all of eternity to list all the facts.

Fact: I am loved by God. He dances, sings and rejoices over me.

Fact: Jesus was born, died and rose again. His resurrection was seen by hundreds of witnesses. The power of His resurrection opened the graves of many who proceeded into the town of Jerusalem and showed themselves to many.

Fact: I am in Christ, therefore, I am a new creation, old things have passed away, all things have become new.

Fact: I am redeemed by the blood of the Lamb. All my sins have been washed away, cast as far as the east is from the west, never to be remembered again.

Fact: My God lives within me. In Him, I move and have my being.

Fact: The things of this world are temporal but we have eternal life in Christ Jesus.

Fact: I have accepted Christ Jesus as my personal savior, therefore, my name is written in the Lamb’s Book of Life.

Fact: The Holy Spirit dwells within me.

Fact: The Holy Spirit has endued me with power and given me a new language that I might communicate with Him more freely and completely.

Fact: Jesus is the Alpha and the Omega, the Beginning and the End. He is the All in All.

These are the facts, folks, and these facts won’t change. Aren’t you glad for that?

Atheists may belief in facts, but Christians believe in the fact maker who never changes.

 

#offeringthoughts

Copyright © 2017, David A. Zimmer, All Rights Reserved.

Nehemiah 2:14 – 15

Then I went on to the Fountain Gate and to the King’s Pool, but there was no room for the animal under me to pass. So I went up in the night by the valley, and viewed the wall; then I turned back and entered by the Valley Gate, and so returned.

The book of Nehemiah documents the events of rebuilding the Jerusalem walls during their captivity in Persians. Nehemiah was the cupbearer to King Artaxerxes, the Persian king. Nehemiah had received news of the dilapidated state of Jerusalem. The news grieved him greatly. Normally, Nehemiah served the king with a normal attitude, but after hearing the news, the king recognized Nehemiah’s sadden state. He inquired about the sadness. Nehemiah knew it could mean his life if his answer displeased the king, but he told the king the truth.

Nehemiah surveyed the broken walls of Jerusalem in the middle of the night. He had the king permission to rebuild the walls. He wanted to rebuild the walls of Jerusalem so they were no longer an embarrassment to Israel. My focal point is how he viewed the challenge of the walls.

We have all heard of mountaintop experiences and valley experiences. As Pastor Craig has mentioned, to get from one mountaintop to the next we must go through the valley. Each book I’ve read which mentions valley experiences states they are times of great learning and strengthening.

Here is what I learned from Nehemiah’s account. It says when he arrived at the King’s Pool, he had to get off his animal and go lower so he could view the walls. He had to get on bended knees to fully understand his situation. I’m sure as he crouched lower to see the walls, the challenge grew in magnitude. He learned how great his challenge was.

But Nehemiah did something most of us might not think to do. In seeing the size of the problem, he saw his God was bigger. He took the amount of work back to God in prayer, maybe even when he was on his knees surveying the situation and said, “Ok, God, we’ve got a lot of work to do. How will you lead me to accomplish it?”

We learn from the rest of the account given in the book of Nehemiah how God gave him wisdom, knowledge, and courage to finish the task and Jerusalem come out stronger than ever before. What is your situation? Has it driven you to your knees yet? Know for a fact, you will come out stronger if God is involved.

 

#offeringthoughts

Copyright © 2017, David A. Zimmer, All Rights Reserved.

Ephesians 1:7-12 (MSG Translation)

Because of the sacrifice of the Messiah, his blood poured out on the altar of the Cross, we’re a free people—free of penalties and punishments chalked up by all our misdeeds. And not just barely free, either. Abundantly free! He thought of everything, provided for everything we could possibly need, letting us in on the plans he took such delight in making. He set it all out before us in Christ, a long-range plan in which everything would be brought together and summed up in him, everything in deepest heaven, everything on planet earth.

It’s in Christ that we find out who we are and what we are living for. Long before we first heard of Christ and got our hopes up, he had his eye on us, had designs on us for glorious living, part of the overall purpose he is working out in everything and everyone.

I read this verse in the Message Bible translation. I then read it in the New King James Version:

Ephesians 1:7-12 (NKJV Translation)

In Him we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of sins, according to the riches of His grace which He made to abound toward us in all wisdom and prudence, having made known to us the mystery of His will, according to His good pleasure which He purposed in Himself, that in the dispensation of the fullness of the times He might gather together in one all things in Christ, both which are in heaven and which are on earth—in Him. In Him also we have obtained an inheritance, being predestined according to the purpose of Him who works all things according to the counsel of His will, that we who first trusted in Christ should be to the praise of His glory.

I like both translations, although the Message translation illuminates what the New King James version was trying to say.

The passage came to life for me when I attended the Good News Home for Women’s 30 anniversary banquet dinner. The Good News Home for Women ministers to women addicted or abusing substances. The testimonies of each woman portrayed was amazing. Each described how she was broken, wounded, beaten, defeated and every other adjective you can think of from life. Each had a different past, a diverse upbringing, but a similar path to a dead-end. Some were facing prison time because of their addiction while others were facing death. After going through the Good News Home program, each graduated to a healthy life with many years of sobriety and clean living under their belt.

One woman stood out in particular to me. She made one simple statement that summed up a life of abuse and addiction. When asked why she came to the Good News Home, she said, “I’m tired of dying. I want to start living.”

The central theme of Eph. 1:7 – 12 is the abundant life we have in and because of Jesus Christ. These women were walking, talking, breathing examples of the abundant life after they graduated from the Good News Home program. Each traveled a different road to dead-end lives but not too dissimilar to the road each one of us travels. Listening to their testimonies, I related to their struggles and challenges in life. They chose to deal with their troubles through drugs and alcohol. I chose a different method. Yet, the similarity made me realize we both needed a savior. We needed Jesus Christ and in Him, I (we) have abundant life.

#offeringthoughts

Copyright © 2017, David A. Zimmer, All Rights Reserved

In 1 John 3:18 Amplified version, we read:

Little children (believers, dear ones), let us not love [merely in theory] with word or with tongue [giving lip service to compassion], but in action and in truth [in practice and in sincerity, because practical acts of love are more than words].

In case you’ve missed it, Hurricane Harvey has wreaked havoc and destruction on southern Texas over the past week or so. Estimates state 52” of rain fell in 4 or 5 days. Compare that to Hurricane Katrina in 2005 dumping 17” of rain, from which the area continues to recover. Hurricane Sandy in our area dumped a mere 7” of rain. Imagine, 52” of rain. Some people estimate that to be 19 trillion gallons of water.

In today’s society, because of the national US budget and its debt being in the trillions of dollars, we have grown used to what a trillion looks like. Or have we? Here is what 19 trillion looks like to me.

If I were to take $1 bills and lay them on this lectern, 1 every second, it would take 602, 486 years to lay those 19 trillion-dollar bills. I don’t think I have the persistence to last that long.

19 trillion gallons of water. Water supplies mix with sewer treatment tainting the water so it is no longer drinkable. Roads and bridges are destroyed. Ability to get in and out or around the area is completely shut down. The whole area totally devastated.

President Trump has already asked for $7.9 billion dollars in relief funds. Will he get it with the political maneuverings happening in our Congress today? I don’t know.

He has also designated today as a National Day of Prayer for not just the victims of Hurricane Harvey, but for all of the United States that we might be healed and unified and stop all the bickering and fighting.

I am proud to say Convoy of Hope was already responding to the crisis before the crisis happened and had trucks rolling to the area as the storm hit. We, as a church, support Convoy of Hope through our missions giving and other special offerings. We are making a difference in those people’s lives.

Let’s get an update from Convoy of Hope on their service there.

As our verse said, let’s not pay mere lip service. Here are three steps we can take to put action to our faith:

1. Pray for safety and salvation for all victims as they go through the long process of recovery. Pray for and stand behind our President as he takes actions to help those people and to stand against the false criticism he is enduring. Pray for the healing of our country. Pray for Convoy of Hope and the safety of its workers.
2. Give regularly to missions so we can give generously to Convoy of Hopes ministry. They not only give food and clothing to people, they provide the salvation message of Jesus Christ.
3. Consider. Consider a special offering to Convoy of Hope at this time. The $7.9 billion President Trump requested is a drop in the bucket needed to fully recover from such devastation. By giving to Convoy of Hope, 100% of those funds go to help the need and not to administration costs. That is important to me. I hope it is important to you.

 

#offeringthoughts

Copyright © 2017, David A. Zimmer, All Rights Reserved

This weekend, my siblings and I will gather to honor the passing of our parents. We will spread their ashes near the home we lived as a nuclear family. I have a regular meeting on Saturday mornings with some fellow men, but since I will be traveling for the honoring of my parents, I cannot host the meeting. It is my practice to remind the men of the meeting via a text message and some catchy message, I notified them today in the same way I would not hold the meeting. In this message, I sent this little ditty which I feel sums up live in general. I share it here with you.

Ashes to ashes,
Dust to dust,
It’s the dash between the dates
that becomes the story of our lives.
We live, we breath, we pay taxes and die.
To be remembered fondly is the greatest accomplishment of all.

Throughout our lives, we meet many people. We have the opportunities to build a good reputation or bad with each. Life is tough. It is not for sissies. But in the end, if we are remembered fondly, we have accomplished a major feat.

Above all though, the greatest decision is accepting Jesus Christ as our personal Savior. Living for Him and showing His Love to others provides us with the tools to accomplish that feat.

Mom – Annamarie Zimmer: Feb. 10, 1926 – June 5, 2017
Dad – James Milton Zimmer: Feb. 15, 1922 – Feb. 11, 1993

I sure hope you aren’t just resting in peace. I hope you’re kicking up your heels and having a good time with your heavenly bodies and newfound youth. All sickness and pains are gone.

#offeringthoughts

Copyright © 2017, David A. Zimmer, All Rights Reserved

Yesterday, I attended a young couple’s wedding and watched as they entered the state of Holy Matrimony. During the service, there were the readings where one person read God made man, made them male and female.

Of course, there was the requisite reading of I Corinthians 13:1- 8:

Though I speak with the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I have become sounding brass or a clanging cymbal. And though I have the gift of prophecy, and understand all mysteries and all knowledge, and though I have all faith, so that I could remove mountains, but have not love, I am nothing. And though I bestow all my goods to feed the poor, and though I give my body to be burned, but have not love, it profits me nothing.

Love suffers long and is kind; love does not envy; love does not parade itself, is not puffed up; does not behave rudely, does not seek its own, is not provoked, thinks no evil; does not rejoice in iniquity, but rejoices in the truth; bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.

Love never fails.

As the reader read those words, I started to think of the situation we are experiencing in our country. The division, hatred, anger, frustration, betrayal, degradation of patriotic loyalty, and so on. Group against group. Ideology against ideology. Faith against faith against no faith. (I apologize for not paying attention to the ceremony for a short period of time.) We have hate groups promoting their agenda through violence, through anger, through intentional disturbance. One group censoring another because they don’t align with the beliefs of the group.

In 1 Corinthians, it speaks of the tongues of angels sounding like dissonant brass or crashing cymbals, the gift of prophecy and faith to move mountains as nothing without love.

So, I had to ask, what is love. I needed something tangible. The young couple was experiencing feelings of euphoria which are exciting, but fleeting.

God brought me back to two points.

First, He is love. He must be in the center for love to be shown in such times. Without Him, the kingdom of darkness can rule and we have the chaos and hatred we see today.

Second, love is a decision. God decided to love us despite what we have done. Jesus decided to come to the earth as flesh and blood. He decided to come as a child. He decided to heal the sick and mend the broken-hearted. He decided to die on the Cross. And He decided to rise from the dead so we might have eternal life.

It is easy to love when all is well, but can we love when we are in violent disagreement? If you come to me with angry words, temper flaring, clubs and sticks, shouting and screaming your demands, before I can even hear you, my defenses are up to protect me. You may have legitimate concerns and righteous grievances, but I can’t understand you because my walls are up. Ask any customer service agent who he or she can help the best: a customer who comes demanding and brow-beating the agent or one who comes willing to express a concern in a reasonable fashion?

In those times where anger and hatred is displayed, loving reactions are an offering. An offering to the other person, to hear them, to listen, to understand and then to come to a mutual agreement. I am not talking about syrupy-sweet, namby-pamby “oh, does someone need a hug” type of reaction, but one demonstrating self-control and rationality. One side cannot demand or dictate the outcome, but both sides must work together toward a common solution with God reigning in the center.

This message of God’s Love for us must get out to our dying country. There are hurting and anger-filled people that God loves. We are all special in His sight. I don’t care if you are black, white, yellow or green, male or female, conservative or liberal or moderate or far-left or far-right or far middle. God cares for each of us. Our financial offering today goes toward that mission of getting a message of unity through Christ to all groups. Give the offering in love so the person who opposes you in anger and hatred can see the love of God shine into his or her life.

#offeringthoughts

Copyright © 2017, David A. Zimmer, All Rights Reserved

Who is Jesus? …Let me ask another way. Who IS Jesus?

Of course, we all know who Jesus is because of the famous revelation by Peter in Matthew 16:16, “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.”

In Christian circles, when asked who Jesus is, we are quick to answer:

He is the Messiah.

He is the Christ.

He is Lord.

He is our Savior.

He is our Healer.

He is the Risen One.

He is our Provider.

He is our Strong Tower.

He is our Banner.

He is our King.

He is the Alpha and Omega, the Beginning and the End.

He is the Lion of Judah.

He is the Lamb of God who takes away our sin.

He is the Lord of Lords.

He is the King of Kings.

He is our Hope

He is our Joy.

He is our Salvation

He is the Great I AM.

He is God.

He is our Righteousness.

He is a mighty Warrior

He is the all Sufficient One

He is the All in All

… He … Is … the …. One … Who … Loves … Me.

And He is The One Who Is Coming Back For Me For all Eternity.

What if you lived in a country which was 99% Muslim. You are sitting in a coffee shop sipping on your latte’. You’re approached by four Muslim men who simply ask, “Who is Jesus?”

Your answer could be a matter of life or death, torture for you and your loved ones, or who knows what else? And if you were to start spouting out all those terms of endearment, do you think they would understand?

River of Life Church in Doylestown, PA supports a missionary who is part of the LiveDead Movement. This young man in his 20’s has dedicated himself to help bring the Gospel of Jesus Christ to the pre-dominantly Muslim country of Turkey or die trying. The Children Church of River of Life actively follow this missionary and support him with their offerings also, so they learn at a young age the importance of spreading the Gospel, of being part of the Great Commission established by Jesus Christ and the power of ministry.

Joshua, our missionary in Turkey, was sitting in a local tea shop sipping some freshly brewed tea when he was approached by a Muslim man and his friends. They asked him about Jesus. As Joshua and his new-found friends discussed the scriptures, they established a relationship and a trust-bond of friendship where both sides were able to share their faith. Joshua and his friends decided to meet regularly to study the Bible, discuss its meaning and open the Gospel of Jesus Christ, His Sacrifice and His plan for eternal Salvation for all humanity.

Amazing. Because of missions dollars, we can sponsor a missionary who is holding Bible Studies with Muslims in their own country. Only God can make such miracles happen.

If you are interested in supporting this brave, young missionary, willing to die for the Gospel of Jesus Christ, feel free to donate through River of Life Church. All money donate for missions goes to missions. Visit our website and click on the Online Giving button. It is safe and secure.

#offeringthoughts

Copyright © 2017, David A. Zimmer, All Rights Reserved