You Can Do It!

Today's Scripture:
I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.
Phillippians 4:13 NKJV

"Rise up and Fly like the Eagles" ~ Don't Hold Back!

Swansboro Pirates 1986 QB/SS Patrick Muston

With open wounds from recent beatings, Paul wrote his fellow believers from prison. While thanking them for their prayers, he assured them that he would be all right. By depending on the strength of God rather than on his own strength, Paul knew he would be okay.

After surviving a shipwreck and starting a fire to warm himself, a snake jumped from the wood and bit Paul. Paul was miraculously uneffected by the bite. In one of the prisons Paul was confined to, the walls fell down, the chains around Paul's legs fell off, and he was freed.

According to another letter written by Paul, he was beaten repeatedly, almost stoned to death, and shipwrecked three times, risking his life constantly to teach about Jesus. Pauls was a strong person who acknowledged that his strength came from God.

You may be facing circumstances beyond your control. Maybe there is something you want to do, but you can't imagine doing it on your own.

It's vital for you to realize that you can allow God to be your strength. In our sermon message today we talked of "rising above the storms of life, like the eagles."

Tell God when you feel weak, and talk to him about your dreams. Remember Paul's story if you are struggling to overcome an addiction, suffering the pain of a relationship that ended badly, or just trying to get through another long day. Ask God to provide the strength to survive the shipwrecks in your life. With God's help, Paul went from being a persecutor of Christians to one of the greatest heros of the faith. With God, you and I can do anything. Let us work each day as if we worked directly for our heavenly father.

God offers his greatness so you and I can live a life with endless possibilities. Allow your mind to explore all the things you could do by relying on the strength of God. I wish all those travelling for labor day weekend safe journey and excuse the delay on my post as I was blessed to spend the day with my family. Be sure to also check out our church website at http://www.selahchurch.com/ and if your near us please come worship with us Sunday school at 10am & worship at 11am. Special thanks to Denny Tart for his technical assistance in this.

Peace be with you Selah family and please remeber to grab someone, anyone and tell them that God loves them!"

Your Pastor~

Rev Muston (PreacherPatrick)

God Protects Us

Today's scripture:

The Lord is good, a stronghold in the day of trouble; He knows those who trust in Him.

Nahum 1:7 NKJV

The People of Nineveh had messed up once before, and a hundred years later they were again choosing to live their own way. By indulging their desires at will, they had removed themselves from the safety and protection of God. At first having our own way has a certain appeal because it seems to offer freedom, fun, sensuality, and excitement. The appeal however, is lost once we realize that our way may not be as good as God's way for our life. God's way includes boundaries, but they are designed for our safety.

Choosing to live according to God's will reminds me of the story of the three little pigs, as we must choose a safe shelter or home for our life. The Hebrew word for stronghold used in Nahum 1:7 is "ma'owz", which means "a place of safety, protection, refuge."

Imagine two houses. One house is more like a castle with a moat, tall solid walls, and thick wooden doors designed to keep anyone inside safe from harm. The other house has just basic doors, walls, and windows. Living in God's will is like living in the castle, compared to living in just a regular common house.

The people of Nineveh drifted back into the bad habit of doing things their own way and ignoring God. As a result of ditching and ducking God's ways, they left themselves unprotected and open to attack from the enemies of the world. Speaking through Nahum, God called them back to the protection of his will. God will always be there for you when pain, tragedy, disappointment, and frustration threaten to invade your life. When you feel like you are under attack, whether at home, at school, or at work, God always offers you his protection.

Nahum's message was this:

"God is good. Living within God's loving will puts you and I in the most secure position we can be."

If you choose to live outside God's boundaries, in a sense you're choosing also to live outside his protection. As your pastor and a man of God I can confess in my lifetime and walk with the Lord I too must constantly check myself and ensure I am within those boundaries. As brothers and sisters in Christ it is our call to watch out for each other and alert each other when we will one of us is crossing the line and endangering that protection.

I leave you with a final question for you to ponder...What areas of your life need to be brought within the walls of God's stronghold?

Thanks for stopping by and please share this link http://selahchurch.blogspot.com/ and more importantly share God's blessing with someone else today.

"Peace be with you and grab someone and tell them that God loves them"!

In Christ service,

Your pastor ~

Rev Muston (PreacherPatrick)

In the Beginning God was thinking of you...

Today's scripture:

"In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth." Genesis 1:1 NKJV

Wouldn't it have been incredible to have been with God the day he began creating the world. I think on this as our little church Selah is in the process of meeting, designing and planning our new sanctuary; both the inside details of how many it will seat, where to put the bathrooms, the baptistry and the outside appearances and location of the building. We can reflect on the process God had on designing the moon, the sun and the planets. The power and creativity our Lord has just gives us a glimpse of all that He is capable of.

The creation of heaven and earth involved science, math, biology, chemistry, all of the other school subjects that humans would not discover for some time. Much of creation remains a mystery to us even after all these years. Much of what God does is just too huge for the human mind to comprehend. The creation story is a loud statement from God to you and to me about who He is, how powerful He is, and what His plan is.

God has used his glorious power to arrange all the little intricate details of our world that we live in. God didn't just make one tree for you and I but he made hundreds of thousands of species of trees. God's power created all that we need including water, food, and shelter. God's abilities go way beyond merely providing for our physical needs, however; he supplies us with a direction and purpose for a great life.

It is no small thing to create even one star...or as I've heard joked to even create the dirt we walk upon from nothing.

If God can create the dirt and stars out of nothing, imagine what He can do with your life!

It is comforting to me to know, as your pastor and friend, that each of us in the beginning were a special project ~ God took a personal interest in you and provided exactly what you needed to live and prosper as his creation.

God designed the world with you in mind. Look around and enjoy the details of life that God made for us to enjoy. Let us Selah people together mark this day on the calendar August29th as not just day two in this 100 day journey we are on, but also as another opportunity for God to mold us and make us into the wonderful creation that He invisioned in the beginning! Thanks for stopping by today and be sure to check out http://www.selahchurch.com/.

In Christ service,

Your Pastor,

Rev Muston (PreacherPatrick)

We are called not to be like the world...

Today I'd like us to begin a new hundred day journey both for my own spirital growth and any of God's sheep who will follow this shepherd.

As I was trying to find a stopping point so I could step away and take lunch this afternoon in Mount Olive I had a vision - if you will - of what our heavenly Father views as good for us. I grabbed my phone to google for the scripture and found it as follows...

Do not change yourselves to be like the people of this world, but be changed within by a new way of thinking. Then you will be able to decide what God wants for you; you will know what is good and pleasing to him and what is perfect.

Romans 12:2

So this is God inspiring us with his word to be "changed within" and that when we do we will know what is good and pleasing to him.

So as a church family united for one God and one purpose take a step closer to Christ today and let us Selah Christians' continue to grow over the next one hundred days and beyond!

In Christ Love and service,

Your Pastor ~ Rev Muston (PreacherPatrick)

We all have to begin somewhere...why not here?

Today I was inspired by my cousin David and his new wife Jennifer as I read through the entire blog my Mom had forwarded to me.

I thought to myself as I stopped to take a break from my work for the first time this afternoon that as challenged as they are in a Bishkek, Kirkestan...not sure of the spelling but I do know if you can't spell it you can imagine how far and how isolated it is.

For us that live in the Grantham' and Dobbersville communities we understand a little when people from Raliegh and Durham say where is that?

Moving forward I will try to daily put some thoughts and words as I travel the stage we call work and minister to those travelling with me. I feel led to use this as a place for sharing a scripture a day with devotion for all my young and young at heart Selah Church members.

We are in process of planning and preparing to build our new sanctuary and all that entails. I was blown away by how God continues to move us and grow us spiritually. As we grow as individuals and the building, church family and community expand to accomodate us I see us growing our infrustructure of electronic media ministry, online prayer list, skydrive files of photos and audio sermons growing as well. My former boss and mentor Rev Ken Powell used to always say "Work smarter, not harder". I think that goes along with God's plan and stewardship. "Peace be with you and grab someone and tell them that God loves them"!

Your pastor,

Rev Muston

http://selahchurch.blogspot.com/