Well it is Monday again and another week is upon us. Time sure flies by for sure. Had a good day yesterday at church. We had over 700 in attendance and a great spirit in both morning and evening services. PTL for the 9 teens saved at Youth Group this past Thursday. Pastor Chas led a young couple to Christ this past week and they were at Liberty yesterday. Mike & Randi Jones went out on the Blitz Saturday and invited a couple to church and they visited Sunday and after the service they said we loved it and we will be back, Amen. The music was wonderful yesterday especially the 15 voice ensemble which ministered in such a marvelous way. Last evening we had a good crowd and our study on the Holy Spirit continued as we looked at the "Baptism of the Spirit." We then had the Lords Table and after the service we had a great "LIFT" ( Liberty in Fellowship Together). It is always great to worship here at Liberty. 

Tomorrow I will blog about STUFF! Do you own stuff or does stuff own you? Luke 12:15 says, And he said unto them, Take heed, and beware of covetousness: for a man's life consisteth not in the abundance of the things which he possesseth." Think about that and we will talk with you in the morning, Lord willing! 

 I think one of the most lacking things in believers today is fervency. Fervency in many areas of our spiritual lives. It always refreshes to cross the path of an "ON FIRE CHRISTIAN." One who is just burning inside for their Lord. Apathy in my opinion is  one of the most dangerous enemies to the Christian walk, especially in the discipline of prayer. For many years I have been aware of the inadequate prayer ministry of the Church. I would read the question and command Jesus gave Peter in the garden: "What, could ye not watch with me one hour? Watch and pray, that ye enter not into temptation."  James tells us that Elijah "was a man subject to passions as we are, and he prayed EARNESTLY that it might not rain. As a result it didn't rain for three and a half years. The Elijah "prayed again, and the heaven gave rain, and the earth brought forth her fruit." The word earnestly marks intensity and fervency and seriousness to Eljah's prayer. Much of our prayers lack the kind of fervency  God requires for effectual results. But when a person sincerely cries out to God as his only hope for deliverance, provision, or protection, we can be quite certain the cry will be fervent. Faithful preachers of God in past generations knew and taught the importance of fervor in prayer. Charles Spurgeon said, "He who prays without fervency does not pray at all." He went on to say " We cannot commune with God, who is a  consuming fire, if there is no fire in our prayers." He said " "It is essential that prayer be red hot, cold prayers ask the Lord not to hear them."  The great prayer warrior E.M. Bounds said " Fervency is the soul of prayer." The Psalmist said " I cry out with my whole heart." May god build a fire in our hearts and then may that fire cry out from us to God in Prayer. Prayers that change our lives, our families, our churches our nation, our world, and eternal souls destinations. Fervency in prayer will affect how we pray and how often we pray, Samuel " he cried out to the Lord all night."  You may ask how do I get that fire for prayer?  It is simple , begin to pray. Fire fuels fire! Prayer fuels prayer! 

Tomorrow at Liberty we have an old fashion prayer meeting at 9:30 a.m. We will eat at 9 for all those interested and then at 9: 30 we will "Cry Out To The Lord" at 10 a.m. for all interested we will take and share the Gospel with our area. May we be like Jesus and Pray and Share the Good News. 

 I feel like we have just rewound and are playing the same song again. For the last several months all the news could do it seemed is immortalize Michael Jackson. They told us how he changed our world for good, and yet in the Biblical Worldview we know he did much to help the decay of decency and true respect in our nation and across the world. He was not a friend of Jesus and he was used much by the world, the flesh and the devil to draw people away from genuine morality. And yet most of the media made him out to be a hero of our nation. Now "HERE WE GO AGAIN." Senator Edward Kennedy who took office in 1962 filling his brothers senate seat after John had become president left this world on Tuesday. He became a U.S. Senator when I was 9 years old so I personally have watched him for most of my life. Now I know that the Kennedy family is thought of highly in America and I am sure that there has been good done by many of them including Ed Kennedy himself. I am sorrowful for their loss and I have prayed for there family even today. BUT, we must not forget the untold damage done by Liberal lawmakers such as Teddy Kennedy! He has been a proponent of cause after cause that were not in the best interests of keeping America on the foundations of our early forefathers. He has not been a champion for morality, in fact the Kennedy family as a whole has not been shining examples of morality beginning with the father Jack. Much of the original millions of dollars this family has,  were made on the back of the liquor trade.  I could go on and on concerning the morality issue, but that is not my intent or desire. Issues like elitism, tax, tax, tax, moving our nation from capitalism to socialism, abortion, prayer in school,  national health care, on & on, these are the issues that have over the last 50 years  moved our nation to where we are today. And Ted Kennedy has been right at the forefront of it, each and every step of the way. He was a Liberal's Liberal. He was not a friend of morality. He was not a friend to the true church. He was not a friend to capitalism. In my estimation he was not a friend to our forefathers. Men like Thomas Jefferson, George Washington, Ben Franklin would have taken him on face to face and challenged his views! In all my years as a preacher of the Gospel I never witnessed one action or attitude that Ted Kennedy was a true born again believer. Now I am not his judge but I know who is and today Ted Kennedy has gone to reward or { fill in the blank}. "You can be sincere but be sincerely wrong"  Was Ted Kennedy sincere perhaps! But were his values God's values ? Were his principles God's principles? Were his philosophies God's philosophies?  Popular here. Yes! Powerful here. Yes! Prestigious here. Yes! Possessions here. Yes!  BUT WHAT ABOUT NOW! In my book real heroes are made of different things than what it seems our media thinks it takes to be one! 

 This past weekend we had a great emphasis at our church on encouraging parents and grandparents and all others to make an investment in rearing children for Christ. We were challenged by seeing the "Crisis" and what we could do about it. It was interesting to this Pastor to see that many were moved and many made decisions to step up and do better in this area, but at the same time many just left in the morning not even moved enough to come back in the evening to learn the most important part of what we can do. This may reveal that they plan on doing nothing about this Crisis or worse yet they don't see a crisis. Now I praise the Lord for the great attendance both in the morning and evening. I praise the Lord for the many decisions but I am broken hearted also for the lack of decisions . Another interesting thing to me has been over the last several days that there are those who were in each service and were very exited about what happened but have shown with decisions about there children already this week that they are not making adjustments. The spiritual development of a child , teen is priority not education, sports, arts or anything else.

As I was thinking on some actions of some parents I thought well it is the parents responsibility anyway. If they don't want to do all they can to see that their children will walk with God then so be it. If they don't care, then they will be the ones who are affected by this crisis, not me or mine.  Then the Holy Spirit prompted my heart and corrected my mind.  The truth is if parents don't make adjustments and grandparents as well it will affect us all. It will affect the future of the child. It will affect the future of the undisciplined parent. It will affect the future of the church. It will affect the future of the nation. It will affect the future of lost souls. Our nation is not in trouble because of Washington or Government. Our nation is in trouble because we have not produced enough strong dedicated children who have grown up to take a real stand for Christ. That may be painful but it is true. And if we continue on this course we are finished!. We must teach our children Respect for Authority, Wisdom to be saved, Grace for others, Destiny {purpose} for their life, (not making money, living happy but real God given desire to fulfill God's will for their lives) and Perspective of life (understanding God is Sovereign , He is in control of every event in their life). 

As a Father I cannot stop or slow down helping my children become more like Christ even once they are adults. I may not have control but I do have influence. As a Pastor I cannot just say, well we have done all we can to help the family but so many just reject the advice, the help offered, the tools made available. We must do more, we must stay with it, we must pray and ask God to give us the ways to make the difference. So much stands in the balance for our children, for parents, for our churches, for our nation and for eternity. GOD PLEASE SPEAK TO US, PLEASE SHOW US THE WAY , PLEASE MOVE IN OUR HEARTS TO MAKE THE ADJUSTMENTS NEEDED! Really it all comes down to a parents relationship with the Lord doesn't it? What is the true desire of the heart?   

What do you think about today's blog? Let me know. Am I being to harsh? To Alarmist like? Am I off base and not really on target? 

 Good Monday to each of you readers of the Bishir Blog. It is a beautiful day in Northeast Indiana. I am in my office and looking out the window and thinking how nice it would be to be fishing today or taking a walk in the woods. I have our dog with me today. She is really struggling. She has had an infection of some kind for 2 weeks now and she is not improving but getting worse. We have an appointment in a little while with the vet. It is hard to see her in this condition. We have had her for 10 years and have grown really fond of her. Last evening we were up with her a lot trying to keep fluids in her. The Dr. can't figure out the problem and hasn't found the right medicine yet. You just wish you could help but can't. It is like that in the spiritual realm with believers as well. Lot's of time s you can help but the person doesn't want the help and other times you just can't solve the problem or situation for them. What do you do the? Lot's of tender Love! Kindness, Gentleness, Encouraging touches and words. Just stay with them and don't leave them alone, that really helps more than we will ever know. May each of us believers stick with our sick brethren. Wether sick physically, emotionally, mentally, or spiritually. As we sit with them, pray for them. When there is nothing you can do for them you can love them and pray for them. 

Yesterday we had a wonderful day at our church. We had a special day with emphasis on building children for Christ. Larry Fowler from Awana International spoke. It was tremendous. He taught us how to raise a "Modern Day Joseph." So many decisions were made in all the services. We had a dear 29 year old mother of 6 children baptized in the morning. How exiting. Our morning attendance was 775 and in the evening we had 389 in church. PTL! I report this on Monday because some have asked, not to boast because in and of ourselves there is nothing we can boast in except the Lord Jesus Christ!

 What a great night we had at church last evening here at Liberty. Evangelist Billy Fields was our special guest and the Lord used him to fire up the saints . He started the service with wonderful music and some very special songs which the Lord used him to write. He sang for 30 minutes or so and then preached  and he spoke from Matthew 24 on "Iniquity will Increase." I know the Lord used the singing and preaching in my heart. We had a lot of visitors and many of Liberty's people availed to themselves this mans ministry.

I have been studying John 8 this week. This is where we find some real cruel men who think they are spiritual bring women taken in the act of adultery and ask Jesu if they should keep Moses law and stone her. Now these men were not really caring about this women's act of sin as much as they were trying to pin Jesus in a corner. If he said stone her He would loose the following of many who were being influenced by His forgiveness and mercy. If He said don't stone her He would be breaking the law. Now their goal was to trip him up. If they really were so upset about the sin of adultery , where was the man who was committing the adultery with her? I think in the study of this passage, it is highly possible these men had set this lady up with this man. Wow , the hypocrisy and cruelty of religious legalist! Only Jesus could have known what to do. He stoops down {humility } and writes in the dust some things. Many think it was sins committed by these men even that day. Then He stands up { boldness and authority} and speaks masterfully. He didn't tell them not to stone her or to stone her. He says-- "Let the man here who is without sin in his life be the first to cast a stone." No one could, no one did! We know the lady was repentant and was saved because the Lord didn't condemn her nor condone her sin. He said I don't condemn you either, go and sin no more showing she now had authority in her life to not be slave to her sin nature but alive unto Christ. 

What an answer!  Jesus was the only one worthy to throw a stone and yet chose to throw other things. Forgiveness and Mercy. Salvation and Authority. A New Slate and a Bright Future. May each of us, when the enemy and his crowd come to influence us to have a little "Stone Throwing Party" of our own remember we have some sin ourself. May we be a little more interested in Redeeming someone instead of Rebuffing. Yes we cannot condone sin but our entire motive should be to Restore and Rebuild. 

 How are each of you today? I hope this day finds each of you closer to the Lord. One thing is for sure we are each one day closer to standing before and seeing our Lord in person. Amen! I just read a key passage in the Bible, Proverbs 6:16-18. It is a passage that always grips my soul because I know on occasion I fail in these areas. When I do it grieves God's Spirit in me And it grieves my spirit as well. Here is the passage, " These six things does the LORD hate: yea, seven are an abomination unto him: A proud look, a lying tongue, and hands that shed innocent blood. An heart that deviseth wicked imaginations, feet that be swift in running to mischief. A false witness that speaketh lies, and he that soweth discord among the brethren." Now those are things the scripture says God hates. Thank the Lord he never hated those who do such things but He does hate such things. I know on occasion I haven't been walking in the Spirit and some of these have come out of my life. Far to often we speak before we get all the facts, and then we share and you know what that is when we have a lying tongue. We have hands at that time that shed innocent blood. Someone who was innocent and we didn't know the truth because we were proud and jumped to conclusions with out  first ,in love going to that person and them alone to seek understanding and reconciliation for Gods glory and their good. It seems our natural hearts are so prone to come up with wicked devises that just seem to want to tear into others for no real reason. We are so quick to this type of mischief. The result is usually discord, hurt, people feeling hurt and betrayed. Who is behind this ? Well it is our flesh and of course Satan. Thank the Lord HE has the way out of such things, such sins. It is Love and Forgiveness and going to those we hurt and making it right. Sometimes such messes are made, but the Lord gives us the ways to clean up such messes. Just look at what God hates and you will find the way to make it all better when we fail in these areas. God hates PRIDE so we must learn to HUMBLE ourselves. God hates LYING so we must be dedicated to learning the TRUTH about God and those in our life who offend us. God hates HANDS THAT SHED INNOCENT BLOOD so He loves those who use their hands to HELP and BUILD the lives of others. God hates WICKED IMAGINATIONS so He loves those who in their minds are THINKING ON GOOD THINGS , PURE THINGS, how can they help someone who has failed them. So often we commit the same sins against others. Two wrongs don't make a right! Our Thinking must be like Christ's, "Let this mind be in you which was in CHRIST.' Christ loves people, Christ wants to build up not tear down. God hates RUNNING TO MISCHIEF so God loves it when we are running to aid people not hurt people. We need to be the ones who are not always found listening and sharing the latest sin or bad action of someone in the church or family. Love covers. God hates FALSE WITNESSING- so God loves it when we seek TRUTH and dedicate ourselves to be self controlled enough to not jump to conclusions before we have gone and gotten the facts from only those who were involved. God HATES THE SOWING OF DISCORD so He Loves UNITY in HIS family. We should be about PEACE MAKING and RECONCILIATION, not SIDE TAKING. Our wonderful Lord who saved us by HIS GRACE tells us to sow unity by sowing grace. WE must remember we reap what we sow. If we want peace, sow peace. If we want discord in our life, sow it and it will surely grow . 

 It is hard to believe that it is Monday already! Does it seem like the days are going by faster and faster to anyone else besides me? Yesterday we had very good service in the Lord. God worked and because of that satan worked as well but our great God brought victory to many people who genuinely desired Gods workings in their life. In the morning services we had many who used the altars. A middle aged lady came to the altar saying she was just saved and that she was needing help coming out of mormonism. She asked if we could help her learn the Bible as we had preached and of course we said yes. We gave her some Bible studies and will assign her a mentor this week. Another lady in her 60s came and said she had been attending Liberty for 6 weeks or so and that she was coming forward to rededicate her life to the Lord and that how the preaching of God's Word and the love of the people was what had brought her to this place. She wanted to know about church membership as well. A young couple came forward asking for prayer for their marraige and their little baby because the Lord had spoken to them through the service. This young couple were first time attender's! Others were at the altar for many other reasons. After the service while shaking hands in the foyer we met a young visiting couple who had a 3 year old and a 2 year old and they were so impressed with the children's department and said they couldn't believe how friendly and helpful the people of Liberty were. They said "We will be back." Another visiting family who just moved here from Alabama said they were so thankful to have been invited by one of our families. They said they felt right at home. In the evening service the altars were used as folk came to ask the Holy Spirit to fill them and use them. One of our 7 year old little girls came forward with her daddy because she had prayed earlier in the week to ask Jesus into her heart. These and many other decisions were made for Christ and eternity because we assembled at Liberty yesterday. Yesterday morn we had just at 700 in attendance and over 350 in attendance last eve.  Because Jesus has chosen to raise this ministry up and because Jesus is present with us all this happened. Liberty is not perfect, plenty of things to criticize and complain about for sure , but if you choose to focus and avail yourself to the Lord who this  church is all about it is worth calling this place home. AMEN AND AMEN! 

 If we don't nail sin it will nail us. Sin will not stay in one place . If allowed to go unchecked it will progress, it will advance. It will grow into more sin, greater sin. It will come with worse consequences, it will have more restraint and it will have greater addictive power. For instance - A fifth grader caught in the act of stealing a classmate's CD player finds it easy to lie about the nature of the event {" I just wanted to know what size batteries it takes"} and then to lie about the lie{" I'm telling the truth!"}. Three specific sins. This child stole then lied and lied again. Listen sin has a progression. Let me give you another example- A high school girl watches television after her mother tells her to study her home work. Her mother gestures toward her unopened books and the daughter cops an attitude and snaps back. The next day she cheats on the first of her semester exams because she didn't obey and study. Then she has feelings of guilt and becomes irritable, she gets drunk with her friends, gossips more maliciously than usual about an acquaintance they dislike , and blood alcohol level still rising aggressively drives her mothers car home. Indeed, she drives it part way through the end of the family garage. Afterward she has an attitude she really hasn't done that much wrong and she still wont study. Fact._ Sin tends to despoil things. Unarrested, sin despoils even it's own agents, eventually causing "the very death of the soul." Sin is remarkably generative: sin yields more and more sin. Each episode of sin gets triggered by trouble from the last. Sin progresses! Sin allowed unchecked and not brought under the blood of Jesus will Pervert, Pollute, and dividing that will break down persons and their vital relationships. Sin will break down Great Institutions, Churches, and Whole Societies. The lethal process moves forward with greater speed and intensity if left unchecked. Oh may our God help us to see this and do something about it. Resist sin and once committed bring it to Christ in confession. Get it covered and cleansed by His blood. Stop it dead in it's tracks by repentance. Give it to God to take and destroy and rid it from your life. May each of us attack sin more than it attacks us!  

 Have you ever heard this statement? "Man this ain't the way it is supposed to be?". You usually here that when things are going bad,  when life is difficult. May  say that statement is true, because in the beginning our great creator God made a world, a man, and a women and put the is a place where there was NO SIN! After He created He rested and His creation rested as well. They were in perfect Shalom, perfect peace. We don't know exactly the time they lived in this type of a world but because Adam sinned that Holy Shalom was broken and ever since we can truly say "Man it ain't supposed to be this way." Sin is costing each of us much more than we know. For the lost person the price is emotional, mental, spiritual, {and eventually} physical and eternal death. In realty not one moment of peace in this life and the eternal life as well. For the true redeemed Christian who has received Jesus as Lord and Saviour we can have peace with God and the peace of God. But for the Christian who allows sin to rule in their life there is no peace as well. We will lose our Holy Shalom when we sin and the only way to experience it to the fullest is to confess and forsake sin in our life. Yes we have sin taken care of in our position with Christ but daily we are to work on fellow-shipping with the Lord and He doesn't fellowship with sin. This fact alone should drive each of us believers to search the scriptures to find out what sin is and to confess it when it is being allowed in our lives and then to forsake it in the power of the Holy Spirit. In my life I am trying to retrieve the old awareness that has seemed to slip in recent decades. THE AWARENESS OF SIN! Christians used to hate sin, feared it, fled from it, grieved over it. Some of of our grandparents agonized over their sins. A man who lost his temper might winder if he should go to communion. A women who for years envied her more attractive and intelligent sister would be concerned if she could have God's power in her life. Those who gossiped about others would be so concerned with that sin that they would go and confess the sin to God and the ones they gossiped about. Nowadays, the accusation "you have sinned" is often said with a grin, and with the tone that signals an inside joke. At one time , this accusation still had power to jolt people. I can recall sermons in which preachers got visibly angry over a congregation'  sin.  Preachers were in full cry, they would be red faced , finger pointing , fighting sin with all their souls. Today we would think they are unloving and uncaring. Yes they would cross the line on occasion but look where we have become. Our nation and increasingly our churches have lost their consciences. We need to see sin as God does. We need to deal with it in our lives. We need to appreciate those who are fighting against it in their own lives in their own families and in their own churches. 

What is your comment concerning the last two blogs. We have had several and thanks for those. Really what do you think? Let me know. 

SIN has been around since the fall of man in the garden. SIN has always been missing the mark of God's standard. SIN has always been man's transgressions against God's laws. Some may say that things are getting worse in the world. I am not sure about that as the root of sin has been in the heart of man since the fall. We see the manifestation of sin on occasion as it comes out for all to see. Just this past week we witnessed in our small community in the little town of Swayzee an angry husband take the life of his wife and the man she was with and then took his own life. Sin is not only in the big cities but it can be found in the corn fields of Grant County, In. Sin has been here since the beginning and will be here till this old world is finally done away with by our great God. But here is my point. Even though sin has been around since the beginning of time I am not sure it has ever been as welcomed in God's Church as it is in these days. It seems to me that we need to do a little more study in the Bible on what is sin and what is right. We need to pray more about this in our personal lives. We need to be a lot more uncomfortable with what God calls sin and do all within the power of God's Spirit to empty it from our lives. The Bible will reveal to us what is sin and the Holy Spirit of God will convict us of what is wrong and also what is right. Just read John 14 & 16 to verify that fact. I for one think that we are justifying sin far to often in our churches and in our personal lives as believers. We are growing ACCUSTOMED TO SIN. We are far to comfortable with things in our lives that the Lord has called us to COME OUT FROM, those UNCLEAN THINGS. Now the preachers and pastors can help us to know what those things are but it is our individual responsibilities to learn Gods Word and listen to His Spirit and to walk with Him in such a way that we will know what is clean and what is unclean. Sin will never help the believer, it will always bring the ways of death either physically, emotionally, relationally, mentally, financially, in any capacities we live.  Nothing is more destructive than sin. Sin fascinates, and then it assassinates. Sin thrills, and then it kills.  "Sin that used to SLINK down the back alley now STRUTS down the front isles of our churches." I am amazed at what some professing believers seem to talk about in person and online. I am amazed at what seems to be acceptable actions, attitudes, speech. We have seemed to have lost the shame of sin in our lives. Now I understand why lost people  sin but believers, that is another thing. Listen,  "Whatever Satan can get you to laugh at you will never take seriously again."  As a believer I recommit to fighting sin in my life and in my church. We must remember that is is never enough to confess sin without forsaking it. Let me know what you think. Am I being to harsh? Should we be more patient with sin in our life?  Yes I will always be willing to help my brothers and sisters when they sin but shouldn't we be fighting sin more that we are?   

 Good Monday to each of you. Had a great weekend at Liberty. Our evangelism teams saw one person saved at First Fridays. AMEN! On Saturday we were able to give the gospel to many at the Don Purvis funeral. Yesterday we had wonderful services in both the morning and evening. The altars were used every service. The morning attendance was reported at 682 and the evening attendance was 345. Still had many on vacations so the attendance was great for August. Last nights service was electrifying from the start. The singing was rousing , the congregation was singing with all their hearts. By the time I got up to preach on the Holy Spirit you could tell He was there in power. It was easy to preach and the people were really into learning about the Holy Spirit. The full auditorium was a testimony of what the Lord is doing at Liberty. We had special prayer for our missions project for the persecuted church in Sudan. Our Awana children were able to make 44 blankets for our persecuted brothers and sisters in that country. Thanks to our generous congregation who gave over $ 1,000 for this outreach. We prayed that the recipients of the blankets would be warmed both bodily and spiritually as they used them. We also had April Atkins present the flag that laid on her fathers ( Don Purvis} casket. Don wanted the flag to be presented to the church and flown instead of left on a mantle somewhere. He wanted it to be given in honor of all who served God & Country. We announced we would be putting up a flag pole and that Don's flag would be the first to fly from it. Then we prayed for several of our families, the Cabes are in Ethiopia picking up their newly adopted child, the Lewis will be going to Russia to pick up their little girl in a little over a week, Adel Shinholt will have surgery this week and other things we prayed for and then dismissed. Folk hung around a long time after service just talking and fellowshipping. Don't want to forget that we honored Rex Shinholt in memory in the morning. It was a great day in church.  My wife Karen started her first day of school for this year. She teaches at Eastern High School. So we need to pray for many teachers who are going back to the classroom which is such a great place of influence. To all you teachers out there I honor you and for each of you that I know personally I will pray for you this school year. Have a great day! 

 Good Thursday morning to each blog reader. Thank the Lord for Tuesday eves rain. The farmers in our area needed it along with all the gardeners. We have already enjoyed fresh corn on the cob, fresh cucumbers, cabbage, and summer squash. Several folk have been so gracious to drop fresh produce off at our home or office. Whenever this happens I am reminded of God's wonderful provisions, along with how He works in His children to be mindful of others. God is good! We need to have it more aware in our hearts how that everything we have comes from the Father above. Can you imagine if He were to decide not to be provider? So many people think if they just work hard enough they can make it on their own but we know that is not the case. If our Lord was not holding nature all together and sending the rain, sunlight and on and on, we would be in a mess real fast. We need to understand our dependancy more and more and we need to thank Him moment by moment for all His manifold blessings. Think about it.

For all you Liberty Folk, our dear brother in the Lord Don Purvis went to be with the Lord on Wednesday morning about 4:30 a.m. He is now with his wife Violet and his granddaughter Tracy. Liberty has lost one of it's foundational people. Don & Violet came to our church in the second year of my ministry here. They were some of the most faithful members this church has known. Don was always polite, positive and Oh how he loved to pray. He was a real prayer warrior. He loved his family and his church. We will miss him but wouldn't want to call him back as he has made it HOME ! The viewing is this Friday eve from 5p.m. - 8 p.m. The funeral will be 10 a.m. Saturday. The viewing and funeral will be at Needham& Storey North in Marion. Please pray for the family they have been through a lot this year. 

 Good Tuesday morning to each of you readers. Since talking to you on Thursday I have had a real busy time. On Friday we took our day off for the week and at 7 a.m. we were on the roof of a house and finally at 9 p.m. we were able to go home. Karen & I purchased a home on Church Street a few months back for future possibilities and it needed a new roof. So we decided to save some money so we could use it for the Lord and we along with our children and a few good friends ripped off two levels of shingles and put down new on one side of the roof. This Friday Lord willing we will do the other side and have that behind us. Then on Saturday we went to MENS PRAYER at 8 a.m. { one of my favorite times of the week} and worked on lot's of things in the morning and called many and visited during the afternoon. Saturday evening Chris & Rachel came home and we enjoyed very much having them for the weekend. On Sunday we preached 3 times and how I enjoyed the messages. They spoke to my heart first for sure. In the morning we spoke on "The Church That God Uses" Pt 3. It was from Ephesians 4 and the theme was that God uses a maturing church and we believers should continue to grow up. Sunday eve we spoke on "The Holy Spirit" and we had a full house for the first message on this series . Pastor Ryan was telling me he could not recall ever having so many SS teachers and workers who were away on the same Sunday. Thanks to all the helpers who filled in. It was for sure one of those vacation weeks when many are trying to get their vacations in before school starts in a week or so. Our attendance was down but we still had around 640 in the morning and over 300 in the evening. On Monday morning we came to the office early and intended to blog first thing but things became busy fast and before I knew it I needed to leave the office and head out to another planned activity that kept me busy until after 9 p. m.  It seems like life is so full but if we are being used of the Lord I am glad to be a part of eternal things. Today we will work on Sunday's messages, have a few appointments, make some much needed calls, work with the staff on some issues and tonight Karen & I will help Chris and Rachel move all their furniture and personal possessions to Lafayette as they will begin setting up their home there. Chris has about 1 1/2 years to go to get his masters degree at Purdue. So we will help them tonight. Tomorrow we will help celebrate our son in laws {Pastor Ryan} birthday. He sure deserves the honor. He has been a wonderful son in law and assistant pastor. If you see him wish him a happy birthday. Pastor Click and the NYC Missions Team is due back today so pray for safety. Also Brenda Ressler our faithful church secretary is on vacation ,pray for her and safe traveling mercies. Brenda has been secretary here for many many years, pray she has a great time down in her beloved Knoxville, Ten. area. You know life is full but if it is full of the right things I am glad it is. Have you told your spouse today that you love them? Have you told a brother or sister in the Lord that you care? Have you spent time in His Word yet today? Have you prayed a season yet this week? Have you told the LORD how much you appreciate Him and Love Him? Have you spoke to the HOLY SPIRIT yet today? Make this day count it may be the last one we have!!