Immanuel Baptist Church
20 Bond Street East., P.O. Box 747 K0M 1N0 Fenelon Falls, ON, Canada

One of my classmates sent this to me and I think it’s certainly worth passing on...

From Hart’s Heart June 5, 2020 The four Gospel writers record the final days and even the final hours of our Lord’s life here on planet earth. Matthew, Mark and Luke record His last few days, revealing some of His closing parables, His instructions about the memorial feast of bread and wine, His teachings about events surrounding the end of time and His agonizing prayer in the garden. John says little or nothing about these things, John’s focus is on the very private (for dis...Continue reading

Suddenly a sound like the blowing of a violent wind came from heaven and filled the whole house... They saw what seemed to be tongues of fire that separated a...nd came to rest on each of them. All of them were filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other tongues as the Spirit enabled them. Acts 2:2-4 NIV The final days of Jesus time on earth were a roller coaster to His followers. Even though He had tried to prepare them for all that would take place in those final days in Jerusalem, they didn’t understand. So, when He died, their hopes were dashed and with heads hung low they returned to their old lives. As low as those days were, the mountaintop came when they discovered the empty tomb and met the resurrected Lord Jesus. 40 days later they watched Him ascend to Glory, and once again He left them. But this time it was different. He had promised them the Holy Spirit, who would fill them with His abiding presence. And on the Day of Pentecost, He came, with power and authority. He still fills His people. #WFTH | https://bibleleague.ca/words-from-the-heart-for-sunday-may/

From Hart’s Heart May 29, 2020 Jesus loved to tell stories!... His stories had a bit of humour in them in the sense they always had a punchline. He was always steering the people’s attention in one direction and in most cases He focused on one theme only. In the synoptic Gospels, Matthew, Mark and Luke, many of His parables are scattered throughout their writings, but when Jesus was trying to disclose how the Father’s Kingdom functions, there seems to be an effort made to bunch them together. For example Matthew 13 is a real red letter section where Jesus says repeatedly, the Kingdom of heaven is like Mark does the same, (see Mark chapter 4) and Luke chapter 8 records a few of the same stories as Matthew does in chapter 13. Today, I would like to look at the parable told in Matthew 13:44. Just one verse tucked away among many such stories. It reads like this in the NIV: The kingdom of heaven is like treasure hidden in a field. When a man found it, he hid it again, and then in his joy went and sold all he had and bought the field. There is a pattern in the way Matthew records the word of Jesus in what we call chapter 13. It starts off with the parable of the seed and the sower. He even says the seed is the word of God and he illustrates how the seed’s future is determined by the response of the soil. As He later explains the parable, He makes it clear that the type of soil determines the outcome. His main thought throughout the story is focused on soil preparation. If you want a harvest, sow this powerful seed on good soil. Question is, What is good soil? Every farmer knows that good soil is often the result of good planning and hard work. Good soil is soil that was once hard, rocky and full of thorns but someone worked the soil and mixed into good soil. Resistance to the Gospel and new Christians not growing in the faith may be caused by lack of preparation by the witnessing believer. I don’t want to spend too much time on the parables that lead up to the one in verse 44 which has nothing to do with seeds but everything to do with a treasure. So onward we move. The parables that follow move through the process of realizing that where good seed is planted, often bad seed also takes root. Then He moves in His story from seeds to the actual plants that come from the seed. This is followed by a future harvest time. He links the final Judgement Day to the weeds that are separated from the good crops at harvest time. Now we come to what we call verse 44 and now the switch is made from seeds to a treasure hidden in a field. That is a big switch, or is it actually more of the same indicating a greater development? I am suggesting that His teaching is based on the concept that this Kingdom actually grows not only into an object of harvest time, but this Kingdom grows in value, it becomes a treasure that is treasured. (Okay Hart, don’t get carried away.) Now I am going to get real serious. Seeds in other places in the Bible are seen as mental concepts, images, perceptions, paradigms, notions and ideas. Certainly the Word of God is a brand new concept that the Holy Spirit plants in the mind and heart of a searching soul. The concept that it is not by our righteoueness, but by God’s grace alone is brand new to the natural mind. Study any religious doctrine and you will soon see how all of them (according to the late Ravi Zacharius) teach the merit system. If your good deeds outweigh your bad, you will be okay. We are born it seems with this concept. The Gospel of Jesus Christ is an entirely new truth, a divine concept, an eternal revelation. I know this is long but you have nothing else to do so just read on. Jesus is leading us on a historical journey as well as a personal journey at the same time. Historical in the sense that the revelation of the God’s Kingdom will grow down throughout church history. If you are looking in the right places, you too will know that the revelation of how His Kingdom flourishes is growing rapidly as never before. It seems to me that everywhere you turn God’s people are entering into a far greater awareness of how the Holy Spirit of God brings about personal God given authority in the lives of His people. I hope I can live a bit longer just to witness the outpouring of God’s Spirit in an unprecedented manner. To be filled with God’s Spirit and to bring about His righteousness will become more and more a special treasure that means everything. In the parable Jesus said the man joyfully sold all he had to purchase the very field in which the treasure was hidden. I believe that God is bringing His people to the place that all worldly and fleshly concepts are being sold out just to gain the sacred truths of this advancing Kingdom of God. The more the Kingdom advances through the average Spirit filled everyday Christians, the greater the opposition will be manifested. Concepts, both religious and political, that we as Christians have held onto as important, will be torn from us and we will stand alone on the Power of the Word of God and the anointing of the Holy Spirit. Amen and Amen!!!

From Hart’s Heart May 26, 2020 In the fourth chapter of John’s Gospel we come face to face with the real difference between religious order and the transforming... power of God. The difference is profound. In this chapter we have the story of Jesus meeting a woman at Sychar, the place where the Samaritans worshiped. During their discussion she made reference to the two places of worship that were meaningful to both of them, Sychar and Jerusalem. The Old Testament made it clear that God had only one place of worship. Some 700 years before the woman and Jesus had this conversation, the 10 northern tribes of Israel were taken captive and scattered among the nations. Gentles moved into their land and married many former Israelis. The Jews regarded them as halfbreeds. They developed a form of worship that made Sychar the place to worship God. Jesus' respect for this woman is far removed from the norm of His day. He listened to her and even allowed her to carry the conversation to a degree. Then He did something rather non religious. He did not argue for the Old Testament concept of Jerusalem, nor did He embarrass her by putting down her view of Sychar. What He did reveal to this dear (at least to Him) woman of 5 marriages is nothing more than the chief cornerstone of all truth. What He said to her, He never, as far as we know, shared with anyone else. Jesus seemed to have a habit of making earth shattering statements in the most unexpected places and to the most unexpected people. He responds to her understanding of worship by lifting her horizon beyond any earthly city and unveils a time capsule that was both current and futurestic. He appeals to her sense of curiosity by circumventing her religious notions and also the Jewish perspective of worship. He starts this new unprecedented view of worship by saying (KJV) believe me. It seems that He never changes His method of introducing something new to us. All He asks is, Believe Me. Prepare your heart to be in a state of trust because what comes next demands faith in me. Most of the Old Testament images of God had to do with things people knew about. God had chariots that rode across the skies and His feathers were there to protect His people. He was like a rock of shelter and a hiding place in time of storm and so on and so on, using figurative forms to help them understand Him. Now Jesus is going to drop a bombshell! Dear lady of Samaria, I am going to speak to you the most powerful words ever spoken, God is Spirit!! True worshipers in the Old Testament sensed this but as we read their forms of worship especially in the Psalms, it dawns on us that their minds were always tied into something earthly. The Lord is my Shepherd for example draws a wonderful picture of the Lord as Provider and Protector. That is why laws and precepts and commandments were so important plus a special place and a special day of worship were so necessary. Now these words, God is Spirit come tumbling down the corridors of time and even though it was reality throughout the history of God’s people, it now sounded like a huge thunder clap. The cat was out of the bag type of thing. Finally God could reveal Himself directly to the human spirit because the truth was now out in the open. God is Spirit: they that worship Him must worship Him in spirit and in truth. Very few Old Testaments saints grasped this central truth but to this rather abused woman, Jesus without apology drops it on her. She is the first to hear the foundational wisdom of all truth. Without this revelation, all other teachings, no matter how true they are, only lead us into error if this foundation is not laid. In the situation that worshipers of the living God face today, we are learning this fundamental truth as never before. There have been many times in church history that the saints have had to deal with no special place and no special day when it comes to worship. God is Spirit and He is seeking for people who are contented with this reality. We have been lulled to sleep with our fancy buildings and have developed great pomp and ceremony but perhaps we have lost the genuine art of worshipping with our redeemed spirits. Now the focus is changing. I don’t believe that the coronavirus is of God, but He seems to enjoy taking what life throws at us and turning it into a deeper revelation of Himself and His ways. The Lord God is giving us the opportunity to focus on the eternal rather than on the earthly and temporary. God struggled throughout history with His people who seldom looked beyond the earthly horizon. Now He is giving us an opportunity world wide to really focus our worship on a Person and not a form or a place or a day. Now we can join with millions of Believers who have never focused on a place but worshiped deeply from their spirit consciousness. Oddly enough, in those areas of the world, they have the greatest sustained growth rate. God is Spirit and He is on the lookout for people who will get involved with their innermost being, their spirit. Praise His name!

Some in sight into the story of the Prodigal son.

From Hart’s Heart May 23, 2020 This morning I went to the Garnet Graham Park on Cameron lake in Fenelon Falls at around 4:30AM and watched the new day dawn acro...ss the lake. There was not even one whipple on the lake. Everything near the shore line was reflected back upside down on the lake. The birds of many different varieties were welcoming the new day and the squirrels added to the sense of delight that was in the atmosphere. The houses and buildings on the opposite shore began to take on colour and formation. Eventually all the lights on the distant shore fade away to a far greater light. All is well on Cameron Lake according to the Canada geese that came ashore for a few moments. They look around, size up the situation, turn their heads and back into the lake. Soon another flock shows up and does the exact same thing. Once they see me, they decide it is better to go back to swimming. Probably a wise decision. My wife has felt that way many times I am sure. I know, I know! This is far to long already but please allow an old Pastor another chance to share what the Scriptures have said to him today. Our ministry with Immanuel Baptist has only 5 more weeks left so I want to squeeze in as much as I can. Still reading in 2 Peter. There is so much in any Scripture that it is impossible to express it all but let me just reflect on one statement that stood out to me today. It is in verse 17 of chapter 3 which says, ... be on your guard so that you may not be carried away by the error of lawless men. As I meditated on the words be on your guard I thought of what Jesus said to his disciples when they were crossing the lake on a boat. It is found in Mark 8:13-21. He too, warned His disciples to be on their guard for the leaven (yeast) of the Pharisees (religious mentality) and that of Herod (political mentality). Leaven or yeast does nothing by itself but when mixed with other ingredients, things begin to develop. We love it in bread and cooking goods but it does have a tendency to create empty air pockets that you actually pay for when you purchase a loaf of bread. Most of us do not use unleavened bread but if we use it, we get more bang for our buck In a sense, Jesus was saying that religion and politics have a lot of hot empty air as part of their structure, so avoid it. In other words, be on your guard to prevent aimlessness and distracting chatter that leads to nowhere. The context of Jesus’ statement in Mark chapter 8 leaves us a bit alarmed because it ends with Jesus saying, Do you still not understand? What is behind such a disheartening statement? Soon after they started sail on the boat, the disciples reasoned it out to the fact they were coming up short of food because they had only brought one loaf of bread. It seems, even though the story does not mention it, that the disciples may have focused on their limited supply and expressed their concern . Regardless of weather they said anything or not, Jesus says, Be careful, watch out for the yeast of the Pharisees and that of Herod. He warns them, but what brought this on, why did He say this? The KJV uses the words they reasoned among themselves. This is the cause of Jesus’ stern warning. Their view of circumstances which was natural but the source of their reasoning was what Jesus was trying to sniff out. Jesus always looks for the real cause, not just the symptoms appearing on the surface. Get to the bottom of this was His appeal. Jesus knew the source of their reasoning. It was unbelief in God’s resources. His approach is interesting. The KJV again uses the term Why reason ye. He challenges their evaluation of the circumstances and actually scolds them for this kind of thinking. Then He adds, not only is your thought process lacking but it exposes a very horrible thing called hardness of heart which basically means you can’t think outside the box you created. Jesus is a nice guy but He does not look favorably on any form of unbelief. Then He draws them into a quiz session with a number of questions which had to do with lack of resources, a hard heart, eye and ear failure and memory loss. It is apparent that He had a higher expectation of them. They were given so many opportunities to think differently than the natural but had not capitalized on any of them. Unbelief led the way regardless. Peter and Jesus are instructing us to have a mind set that is free of unbelief so we can receive Godly and Scriptural truth that is not mixed up with worldly thinking and worldly values. Peter writes, carried away by the error of lawless men. It seems to me this is happening on so many fronts today. The world has always been in a lawless state. The natural mind does not want any authority over them but they want to be a law unto themselves. Jude says they follow their own evil desires; they boast about themselves and flatter others for their own advantage. The natural world has always been grumblers and faultfinders (Jude 16) but as indicated by Jude, this will increase just before the return of the Lord. It is impossible to find truth in this world of confusing opinions. The self seeking alternatives to any sense of order usually brings chaos and confusion. Never before do we need to heed Paul’s instructions to be filled with the Holy Spirit in Ephesians 5:18. Then he lists the focus of a Holy Spirit filled life in the following verses by writing Speak to one another with and then he lists three sources of encouragement - Psalms in the Hebrew Scriptures; hymns that worship God as our source; spiritual songs are utterances that come from deep within our redeemed spirit. Following speaking comes singing. Sing and make music in your heart to the Lord, always giving thanks to God the Father for everything, in the authority of our Lord Jesus Christ. Our source is not the leaven of religion or politicians but our source is in the Spirit driven Living Word of God, Jesus Christ. No matter if we die with COVID-19 or not, Jeus wants to be our source. He is capable of carrying us through to His eternal Kingdom. Praise God!