Had wonderful services at Liberty yesterday. Our morning services were well attended especially for the last Sunday of June.  We saw two adults pray and ask the Lord to be their saviour. The Lord used the message in a special way as we preached on the 8th Commandment, "Thou Shalt Not Steal". Many decisions were made to follow the Lord more closely in the area of integrity. Last evenings service attendance was very well attended as the Auditorium was full. Amen for that, and we had lots of younger children in Kids Corner along with the nursery. We preached on Matthew 25:31 -46 . The title of the message was "When The Son Of Man Comes". The message was used of the Lord to speak to many hearts about winning souls. Both morning and evening services were sweet and anointed of the Holy Spirit. The music yesterday was as good as it gets. Cindy Walker and Randi Jones piano duet was unbelievable and Chuck Binkert"s Special was so moving. By the way Chuck wrote the words and composed the song himself. Vertical Focus provided music last eve and again we were moved to tears. All day the instrumentalist and praise team led us into deep hearted worship. As we ended our service last eve with the "Lord's Table" it was a fitting close to a great day in church. We sang our way out with the song "Only A sinner Saved by Grace". Today I will be extremely busy so I will blog again in the morning. See you then!  

 I was just reading the gospel of John in chapter 15 about The Vine and how we are to Abide in it. Who do you think the Vine is  symbolic of? Who do you think the Husbandman{farmer} is? Who do you think the Branches refer to? What do you think the word Abide refers to. How do I Abide? Just thought I would be like Jesus and ask some questions so you could get some answers. Go to work today and look at this passage and give it some thought, come up with some answers and apply it to your life. Make some comments and let me know what you came up with. 

 It has been a long time since I was saved on April 29, 1973. Over 35 years ago to be exact. Over those years I have learned a lot more about what the Lord's Salvation is all about. I have learned that the Bible teaches that salvation has three parts. It all starts with Justification, now justification is the first part of salvation. Justification is immediate and begins when we repent and receive Jesus as Savior. The Lord Justifies us and records our name in the Book of Life. Justification means the Lord sees me   JUST- AS- IF- I- HAD - NEVER- SINNED. The Lords Blood is covered over our sins and Jesus payment for our sin is put to our account. His account is applied to our account and the Lord sees it is paid in full. AMEN! So we have a PAST part of salvation, we  "HAVE BEEN SAVED'. The old account  was settled long ago!!!!!! POSITIONALLY we are in Christ. Now the second part of salvation is Sanctification. Sanctification is a process. We are being set apart unto the Lord. We are being changed. Sanctification comes to us in parts. It is a lifetime process. We grow in the Lord, sometimes 2 steps forward  1 step backwards, but we mature in the Lord. Sanctification is the present part of salvation , we are being saved. then there is the third part of salvation which is Glorification. Now glorification is our future part of salvation. It doesn't come in parts it comes if fullness. Glorification is when we are made Perfect completely. It takes place when we leave this world, via death or rapture. It is when we will be saved ." We have been saved, are being saved and will be saved"!!!!!!! 

Now think about what I am about to say and let each of us make sure we are saved and that we are being saved in the Sanctification process of salvation! Here goes the statement.

"When I got saved,I gave all I knew of me to all I knew of Jesus. Since then, I have leaned a whole lot more about me and a whole lot more about Jesus. And I've done more repenting and trusting AFTER I got saved than I did WHEN I got saved". 

What do you think? Let me know some thought's. Have a great day , this may be the day we will be GLORIFIED, but if not it will certainly be a day we will be a little or a lot more  Sanctified! 

 The big dialog this week is concerning Barrack Obama's comment about America not necessarily being a Christian nation but is a nation of many faiths. You know I am sad to say that he may be right. I believe this nation was founded as a Christian nation and I believe it was a Christian nation for 300 years or longer. Our Bill of Rights is certainly formulated around Christian principles. The vast majority of our Founding Fathers were Christian's. Our original laws were most definitely Christian in nature. But are we a Christian nation now or are we just a nation of many faith's ?  Certainly there are a lot of Christians that live in America. But the Moral Majority of the 1970s is it still in the majority? I am not sure, and with all humility if we are have we lost our salt? Our nation was always great in that we had room for all faiths, yet we understood we were a Christian nation. Christian principles believe in freedom of choice. We always had a choice but kept our Christian heritage in it's rightful place. Part of this was because the church was reproducing genuine believers. I think because we have failed to win souls, disciple believers in the Truths of the Scriptures that we today have become a nation of many faiths but have lost our roots of Christian principles. What is the answer? For the church to return to these two things. Is it to late ? Possibly, but God is a a forgiver and He desires to Bless right living. CHURCH , REPENT and RETURN , I think I read that somewhere, perhaps Revelation chapter 3. 

What do you think? Let me know your thoughts! 

 750,000 is a big number. When you have 750,000 of anything you have a lot of something! If you had 750,000 people in one city you would have a very large city. If you had 750,000 miles you would be able to circle the earth 63 times, I SAID 63 Times! If you had 750,000 minutes it would mean you had 500 days, nearly a year and a half of minutes. If you possessed $ 750,000 earning 10% yearly interest, you could live on $75,000 a year the rest of your life without touching the principle. Think what you could do with a church 750,000 strong, {only a preacher could think such a thing, but remember Moses led 3 million of Gods people}. Could you imagine having 750,000 cars, horses, houses, 750,000 of anything. 750,000 is a large amount !! Now do I have your attention? I hope so because that is what I am attempting to do. I am getting tired of typing 750,000.  Just last week we saw where 17 young girls in a fishing town in the Northeast part of our country formed a pact to get pregnant and bring into this world 17 babies out of wedlock. These were girls who just found some guys { one a homeless man} and committed adultery, became pregnant for a challenge and a thrill. Now here is the point     750,000  I said  750,000  TEEN AGE GIRLS GET PREGNANT EVERY YEAR IN AMERICA OUT OF WEDLOCK!!!!  Every year! That is the highest rate in the world.  750,0000 that's right 750,000. How can that happen? My opinion is because we have failed to teach Truth in our HOMES! This is not a school problem or a town problem it is not necessarily a nation problem, it is a HOME problem . Oh how our Homes need to return to the commands of the Lord. The ABSOLUTES TRUTH OF GODS BOOK THE BIBLE.  Now I realize, from bad can come good. I pray for all these babies being born out of wedlock that many will be saved and the Lord will do great things with a host of them. But I also understand how  750,000 sinful acts can multiply into 750 million problems in the future. God has a way! His ways are Right. They are the way to health, blessing,and LIFE. Let us choose His ways. Let us choose Life. May each of us pray today for the Parents of our nation. May we once again instill integrity into our young people, by teaching them by lip and life in living ourselves in a biblical moral style!

 Hello to all you blog readers. It is really surprising me how many are reading our blog on a regular basis. Just yesterday someone from Kentucky told me they were reading and enjoying. Yesterday we had another good day at Liberty. Our summer attendance is down slightly because of vacations but it really is holding its own. During last evenings service we began VBS. They had over 150 children with 65 workers, not bad for the first night. Our prayer is that it will grow and by Thursday eves concluding service we will see records set. It was really fun last night watching all the children getting to classes and how exited they were. Also to see all the workers dressed up for the "Power Lab" theme. The Children's Center has been turned into a Laboratory and it so many special effects that last night I had a little problem choosing the Adult service versus VBS. We also had a great eve service for adults. The worship was wonderful and we looked at Matthew 25. I love Sunday eve services. It was also exiting to see many parents who are not a part of Liberty bring their children. What a way to reach our community. Liberty family remember to pray for Linda Cain as she aces surgery tomorrow morning. This is a very serious surgery so she and Steve really stand in the need of prayer. Maybe a card sent this week would be an encouragement. I wanted to also encourage all parents of Teenagers to think about making sure your teen to consider Camp. It is July 14 -19th. I am sure it would be a real plus for them to attend. Just contact Pastor mike if you have any questions. 

Make sure you check out last Friday's Marion Chronicle Tribune. They did a write up on the Bishir Blog. Go to their web sight and click on  'Ourtowns" and check the archives. Talk with you tomorrow! 

 Hey how is everyone. This week has been really full. Pastor Mike is here and this week we have spent lot's of time with him just getting him acclimated to things. I have already grown to appreciate he and his family. Sarah , Mikes wife had to stay home from church last eve because two of the children were sick. I think it has been hard on them traveling back and forth, pray that all get better soon. Sarah is to sing in our morning services this Sunday, you will be blessed. Today in Sweetser it is the yearly day for all to have Rummage or Yard sales. I was thinking in Heaven we will never have such a thing. The Bible teaches every moment will be new with new things . Now ladies and some men, that will make you sad I am sure as you love to go to rummage sales. Well maybe the Lord will have some just for your enjoyment. But for me I think I will skip them here and there, that is if there are any in Glory. But it sure looks like those in Sweetser today are having lot's of fun. Last night we had a great midweek service. All the ministries were in place and it was good to be in the house of the Lord! I taught in the Auditorium on "How to Please the Holy Spirit". I think it helped all of us to be more mindful of how we grieve Him and then in turn lose His power in our life. Afterwards on the way out everyone was treated to an ice cream bar and it was fun to watch all the folks stand outside and fellowship before leaving for the evening. It will be great when we all get to Heaven and never have to say 'Good By Up There". Tomorrow {SATURDAY} we have our monthly PRAYER _ BLITZ- BREAKFAST, It starts at 9:30 a.m. hope all you will be here. Today I am working on fine tuning my Sunday morn message. I will speak on "AFFAIR PROOFING OUR LIVES". We each need to glean from the Truth of this 7th commandment. Then on Sunday eve I will preach part 2 of the message on "WORKING FOR HIS RETURN". Remember to enjoy the day not just endure it. Look for someone to encourage and then do it. Anyone in your path who needs forgiven just do it. Be kind to all and ask the Lord to give you a tender heart instead of a hard one. Have a good day.

 Well "Good Morning"! Sorry about missing yesterday but the day seemed to get away from me. Had another wonderful weekend of services. We had one adult man saved in our morning service I am sure that was the greatest fathers day he has ever had. Our attendance was good and we had many visitors. What a blessing to see all the Grandfathers and fathers. I think we had nearly 200 fathers present that we knew about. Yesterday we took another trip to the cemetery as we officiated another funeral of one of our long term members of Liberty. Mary Cox was such a good friend to this Pastor and I am so thankful today that the Grave is not victorious according to 1st Corinthians 15: 51-52. Please pray for Mary's 2 children and her 8 grandchildren and 17 great grandchildren many of them need the Lord. Pray that the Gospel given yesterday will penetrate their hearts and open their spiritual eyes. What a beautiful day it is this Tuesday morn June 17th. The weather is perfect, I am in my office at around 7:30 am but have been outdoors for a little while this morn already. It is one of those perfect morns , I just can"t imagine it could be any better but our Lord tells us that Heaven will be better, Perfect every day, I am looking forward to that. It won"t be long we just need to continue to be faithful in just a little time the MASTER will return. I am sipping on a good cup of coffee, I fell good, had a good night's sleep, My office is clean and just had several pieces of toast with peanut butter, my wife and I are doing well, my children are healthy and they love the Lord, I have forgiveness of sin and a wonderful relationship with the Lord Himself. It is beautiful but the world is also is filled with heartache and woe. I will work on lot's of problems today with other people. Even in our beautiful moments we know that trials are coming but wait till that first morning in Heaven and we realize every morning will be the same, and that the day will have no woe or heartache or any problem. "OH WHAT A DAY THAT WILL BE" someone ought to write a song about that! But until we get to heaven lets learn how to live in the beauty in spite of the ugly. Liberty folk remember this Thursday in the Auditorium I will be teaching on how we can walk in the Spirit and not in the Flesh. Hope to see you there! Have a good Tuesday!

 It is the second week of June and one thing I notice every year is that at this time of year in the state of Indiana it is easy for Christians to lose there focus on the Lord and to turn it onto other things. If we are not careful, godly habits are replaced with another worlds habits. Faithful church attendance can be replaced with Sundays at the Lake Cottage or Midweek services replaced with Little League,gardening, outside yard work, or odd jobs. Faithful service in your S.S. Awana group, choir etc. can be replaced by so many other things of an another world. It seems to me that summer time just seems to temp us to be a little more lazy and less careful to work diligently on our spiritual life. We seem to dress more casual not only in our physical dress but also our spiritual dress. Now let me say this "I LOVE SUMMER" and it is a great time to do all the things I have mentioned plus many more. We enjoy the sunshine, the outdoors, boating walking, cookouts, yard work, landscaping, gardening, sitting on the porch, bike rides, camping out, etc. We love vacation so much I think we will have one in July. But the point I am trying to make is we can do all this without FORSAKING the things of the spiritual world. Lets not forsake church attendance, prayer meetings, bible study, visitation, etc. Lets not forsake using our gifts of the Spirit, and being Faithful in our ministries at His Church. I believe the Church is so important to God's kingdom and also to our families and the nation. Let's make it strong by supporting it, serving in it, loving it even in the summer. Let me leave you with this thought today.

                            "IF YOU LIVE FOR THIS WORLD ,THEN YOU WILL LOSE THE WORLD TO COME. BUT IF YOU CHOOSE THE WORLD TO COME , YOU WILL

                                          HAVE BOTH IT AND THE BLESSINGS THAT GOD PUTS INTO THIS WORLD FOR GOOD AND HIS GLORY."

                                     "ONE WORLD AT A TIME " IS REALLY AN EXCELLENT PRINCIPLE OF LIFE --- IF YOU CHOOSE THE RIGHT WORLD "                  

 Good morning to all you blog readers! Last night Karen and i spent a nice evening with a new family in our area. They have just moved here from Winona Lake where the husband was a prof at Grace College. We had a wonderful evening talking and getting to know about them and of course their getting to know about us and Liberty Baptist. It is always encouraging to hear the testimonies of how folk came to know the Lord. It always amazes me how the Lord works it out for people to hear about Him and then how He draws them to Himself and opens their eyes to see their sin and His grace. While we were there we received a phone call from the family of Mary Cox telling us that Mary went to be with the Lord at around 6:30 p.m. last eve. My heart rejoiced and saddened all at the same time. I remember back over 25 years ago when Mary gave her heart to the Lord. Then month after month we would visit her and her husband Art. We began to disciple Mary and when we came to Liberty in 1987 she followed and has been here ever since. We were in her home many many times. Right before her husband Art passed he gave his life to the Lord. They are reunited with their son Arty. Mary was always calling me and telling me she was praying for me. She wrote poetry and in my file cabinet I have hundreds of her poems. Thank God for Jesus and his forgiveness. Thank God for Mary who was Wise enough to repent and give her life to the Lord and receive His forgiveness by faith. Mary we will see you soon. As I think of Mary I am reminded that visitation still works, that personal soulwinning is still the wisest thing we can do. Today the only thing that matters to Mary is that her name was written in the Lambs Book of Life and that she served her Lord faithfully. Have you been watching world events, the economy, the natural disasters? Jesus is coming soon! Be ready , be watching, be working, and be winning, {Hey that kinda sounds like a series of messages a baptist preacher has been preaching in a church in Sweetser, In on Sunday eves lately}. Have you been praying for others? Lot's of people have lot's of needs, Start a prayer list of names and pray daily, get the church directory out and pray. Well I need to go for now talk to you later. Have a GREAT DAY!

 I think a lot of times we have problems because we don't do right and do it now. Most all the problems I see folk have seem to be a "Reaping of what is Sown". We tend to think often that we are getting by with things but that is never the case, we always reap what we sow. I may get by for awhile with my anger but if i don't get it handled by the power of God it will one day really mess me up! I may get by for a long time not treating my wife and family right but in time it will come back to cause me some real serious problems and life will stop as we know it and maybe never be the same. I can get by for time in sin and no one know but in time be sure your sins will find you out. If we sow bad seed it will come to haunt us one day. If we sow good seed it will return to help us and bless us. the time to sow good seed is today. Today is the day to overcome that habit, attitude and sin. Win today so you won't lose tomorrow! If you find yourself reaping bad seed today confess it and cry out for forgiveness from God and Man. Turn from it and begin to sow good life giving seed. It wont take long till the harvest will change. Pray for those today reaping a difficult harvest. Go to them who are overcome and help them up and show them how to sow good seed.

 Hello all you blog reader's! It is almost 4 p.m. on Monday and just returned from the Dayton, Ohio area. Since I last blogged on Friday it has been exiting to say the least. On Friday eve we had a part of the Junior- Senior Prim and it was a wonderful event. just to see all the young people dressed up in formal attire and to see the Life Center transformed into a beautiful Asian City was worth attending. There was a wonderful meal with choices of a Steak dinner or Chinese dinner. Appetizers, deserts, etc the food was wonderful. We had a tremendous video of our seniors and Evangelist randy Hogue spoke. While in the middle of the program a really bad storm rolled thru and we lost electricity but because of the new building we just built we just moved down into the basement and with the safety and limited electric power from our new generator system Ev Hogue was able to finish and the night was a success. Also on Friday night we had a wedding rehearsal and with the storm it also added some stressful situation. On Saturday finally the church received electric power enabling us to have the wedding and to clean up from the prim and also the wedding getting ready for Sunday service. I was able to visit several hours on Saturday before the wedding. When we got to the church early Sunday we were greeted with our P.A. system having lots of its equipment blown out evidently from the power surges due to the storms and lines down. Thanks to all our P.A. personnel as we were able to have services with limed equipment. Evangelist Hogue preached and we saw many saved and many Christians get back in a right relationship with the Lord. After the morning service Karen and i left for Dayton, Ohio where we participated  in the sending service for Mike and Sarah Click. We arrived just in time for the 6 p. m. service of the Blessed Hope Baptist Church and were greeted by a most friendly church. It was good to be a part and to pray for the Clicks as they will be leaving there and coming to Liberty this week to begin their service here. We heard Sarah sing for the first time and Liberty Family get ready to be blessed she is really used of the Lord when she sings for Him. On Saturday Karen and I celebrated 33 years together as Husband and Wife. So I decided to get a nice room and stay the eve and we had a great time last eve walking and talking after church. We got up this morn and did some shopping in a real cool place and then took country roads back to Indiana. I am so thankful for Karen she is the Love of my life, she is so good to me. I so often hear men complain about their wife or worse yet I see them drift away from their wife and put their focus elsewhere and it is so obvious that they really are not close. Please don't let that happen in your marriage. Be kind one to another and continue to love each other no matter what comes your way. When we got back we heard that last night's service was another blessed one. 3 Teen were save and the altars were full. Liberty family never get used to the Lord moving in our midst. Week after week we report miraculous events. Let's continue to praise and thank HIM! Heart that some of our outreach servants saw 1 saved at First Friday Event  downtown Marion. Amen & Amen!!!! Have to go, need to get some things done. See you tomorrow. 

 In a society that puts too much emphasis on numbers, we tend to forget the importance of the individual. And yet it is the individual - that one man or woman -who ultimately get the job done. Bible history is filled with examples of this principle. When God wanted to redeem a lost world, He called Abraham and Sarah - two individuals- and set in motion His great plan that culminated in the birth of Jesus Christ. When God wanted to redeem the Israelites from bondage, He did not call a committee meeting. He called one man-Moses and used him to free the people. Now to be sure, no one person can do the whole job. Those individuals who labor with good leaders who have been raised up by God are also important.In other words, it is individuals who get the job done, whether as leaders or followers.  God's work cannot do without the individual. Churches are made up of individuals, and it is the individual and not the whole congregation that is getting the job done. This means that the personal witness of the member in the smaller church is just as important as any individual in the larger church. In fact, it may be more important since, in the smaller church, there are fewer available to do the job. The thought I want to leave with you today is  " NEVER UNDERESTIMATE THE INFLUENCE OF ONE PERSON". I fear that our constant emphasis on bigness and greatness may be giving some saints an inferiority complex. Each of us need to see our importance as one. And just stay at what the Lord has given us to do. No matter what it may be. And each of us need to appreciate those who are faithful their tasks. Liberty is so blessed with hundreds of God's people who are just serving one by one but together have become a great army marching forward for the Lord.

Liberty family please pray today for Mary Cox she is close to being with Jesus!!!!!!!!!   Have a great day! See you Sunday

 Good morning! Missed you yesterday, was not in my office. Back now and have a full day as normal. Tonight is our midweek service and want to encourage all our Liberty Family to be here. It is summer but lets keep church in it's PRIORITY PLACE! I have been watching the Presidential Campaign lately and it seems that Obama has defeated Hillary Clinton but she is having a difficult time admitting defeat. She is still looking for a way not to admit defeat and not to concede to the reality. We all know she will get there but it seems in her mind it must be on Her Terms and Her Time! That is not unlike all of us. We all deal with issues in life like this. Our pride gets in the way often. Especially if we have worked hard to attain something or someone. In the Spiritual realm we kind of do the same before we receive Christ or surrender to Him once we are His. We keep struggling, keep resisting surrender and keep thinking we can still win this one in our own power. We think we can make it on our own and that we can still win even though we are totally defeated. It seems to take us some time to admit the defeat { our sin} and concede to the VICTOR.I have never been a Hillary fan but I will say she gets an A+ in my book for perseverance and tanacity.I do know how difficult it is to quit when you are not a quitter, but there are times in life when we must humble ourselves and say I did my very best and yet the Lord has allowed me to come up a little short of the original goal. Wise is the person who can do this and make the adjustment and move on from there. Sometimes in our Christian life the Lord Overrules and what we thought was to be wasn't . I don't know about Hillary's spiritual life but for those of us who know Christ we can see some things here to apply to our life in times like these. Hope your day is a good one. Sorry about getting into the political arena today. Talk to you soon. 

Good morning Holy Spirit! Got up this morning and spent a little time with  the TWO COMPANION'S of MY LIFE, Karen and the Holy Spirit! First all THREE of us went for a 2 mile run. It was beautiful out and as we all were together it was beautiful IN also. I couldn't run as well as both of the others but it was good for me just to be around as we exercised together. As we exercised our body we also exercised our soul. We meditated, praised, gave thanks, petitioned the Lord and made intercession for others. Got back to house and attempted to make ourselves acceptable to the public. Got to the office and had a Divine Appointment waiting for me, {read yesterdays blog}. Just finished with that and now off to a full day of plans hopefully that will translate into the building of the Kingdom of God! Pray for Pastor Chas as he is taking his youngest {Katie} to New York state as she is serving the Lord this summer at Word of Life ministries. He will return on Wednesday eve. Pastor Ryan is working on lot's of things today , one is Children's Camp which is next Monday- Wednsday. They have so much work just to get ready for camp. Today they are picking up all the supplies. Parents I hope you take advantage of all these special events for your children and Teens. Events like these sure helped Karen and I to rear our children for Christ. It is amazing the life changing decisions made at Christian camps! I am really thankful for our Pastoral staff at Liberty! Pray for them and their families right now, just stop reading and pray !

Are you back now?? See how fast prayer can be but oh how important it is! Well have a good day and let me know you are reading the Bishir Blog. Post a comment every once in awhile and let me hear you heartbeat. I think you are out there? My counter tells me that 20 -30 a day are reading and it seems to be growing. Get the word out , let others know . Love you!!! 

 It is Monday about 1:30 p.m. Has been extremely busy today. I got to the office around 7:30 a.m. and just now got to blog. I usually do it first thing on Monday morn but today has been filled with lots of what we call interruptions. I have learned to be careful thinking things are INTERRUPTIONS when they really are DIVINE APPOINTMENTS. The Lord really moved in our services yesterday and when that happens it usually brings people to points of decisions and a real need to seek advice as to what to do now as they have gotten things right with the Lord. I was thinking this morning of all the work that comes to us because the Lord moves. Think about the early church in the book of Acts. God used the preaching of the disciples and 1,000s were saved. That was wonderful but it brought many problems that needed to be solved. Really our problems are often opportunities for us to solve and bring more glory to God. So today because we had victory yesterday we have much more work today. Some may not be sure they really want God to move because of this but the alternative is if God doesn'twork there still is problems and they are of the worse sort.  The fact is we will work in both ways. Either work for a bad result or work for a good result. For me I would rather work for a good result! Lot's to think on !!  

For all the Liberty family the vote concerning Mike & Sarah Click resulted in 96% in favor for Mike to be added to the Pastoral Team. Our hope is in the next 2-3 weeks that they will be with here and begin serving here at Liberty. Pray for housing and if you would like to help move them let us know.