Wylie’s Handyman

Pastor Keith
Friday, March 22, 2024
When the World Closes In

“After saying these things, Jesus crossed the Kidron Valley with his disciples and entered a grove of olive trees. ”
—John 18:1
Jesus knew the crucifixion was coming. In fact, He began to aggressively address it at a place called Caesarea Philippi.
Matthew’s Gospel tells us, “From then on Jesus began to tell his disciples plainly that it was necessary for him to go to Jerusalem, and that he would suffer many terrible things at the hands of the elders, the leading priests, and the teachers of religious law. He would be killed, but on the third day, he would be raised from the dead” (16:21 NLT).
Jesus knew exactly what was about to happen. He had to come and taste death for everyone. As commentator Alfred Edersheim wrote, “He disarmed Death by burying his shaft in His own Heart.”
John 18 gives us a rare, behind-the-scenes look at the personal struggle of Jesus as He contemplated the cup that He had to drink. The Bible tells us that Christ was “a man of sorrows, acquainted with deepest grief” (Isaiah 53:3 NLT). But the sorrow He experienced in Gethsemane on the night before His crucifixion seemed to be the culmination of all the sorrow He’d ever known, which would accelerate to a climax the following day.
I don’t think we can begin to grasp the anguish that Jesus experienced at that moment. Being God, He knew everything. And He was fully aware of what lay ahead. Someone has pointed out that ignorance is bliss, and in some ways, that is true. But there was no ignorance with Jesus. He was omniscient.
And He knew that in just a few hours, Roman soldiers would whip Him and nail Him to a cross. He knew that His disciple Judas Iscariot would betray Him and that another disciple, Simon Peter, would deny Him. And He knew that He would bear all the sins of the world.
Next to the cross, His time in Gethsemane was the loneliest moment of His life. In our moments of loneliness, when it seems as though our friends or family have let us down—or when it even seems as though God has let us down—we must remember one thing: Jesus has been there. And He has been there for you.
Hebrews 4:15 says of Jesus, “This High Priest of ours understands our weaknesses, for he faced all of the same testings we do, yet he did not sin” (NLT).
We are all going to face our Gethsemanes in life, those times when things just aren’t making sense, when our problems seem too much to bear.
Jesus gives us an example of what we ought to do when we face our personal Gethsemanes, those moments of ultimate stress in which the cup that we are to drink seems to be too much to bear, when we seemingly can’t go on another day. He prayed.
During those dark nights of the soul when our friends have abandoned us and our family has let us down, when we are lonely, when it seems as though the whole world is closing in on us—that is the time to pray.

Pastor Keith
Tuesday, March 5, 2024
Why Spiritual Gifts Are Important


“However, he has given each one of us a special gift through the generosity of Christ. ”
—Ephesians 4:7
When you are born into this world, you have certain natural abilities. Some of us have a natural ability in mechanics. Some have a natural ability in music. Others have a natural ability in art. There is a skill or a talent that God has given to each of us.
However, there’s a difference between spiritual gifts and natural abilities. In the spiritual realm, after we put our faith in Jesus Christ, God places certain gifts in our lives.
Ephesians 4:7 tells us, “However, he has given each one of us a special gift through the generosity of Christ” (NLT). God has given some gifts to you. And God is the one who decides what gift (or gifts) you will have.
The Bible also says, “Just as our bodies have many parts and each part has a special function, so it is with Christ’s body. We are many parts of one body, and we all belong to each other. In his grace, God has given us different gifts for doing certain things well” (Romans 12:4–6 NLT).
There are gifts that God has placed into your life, and He has chosen to whom He will give what. The choice is totally up to Him. These gifts have nothing to do with any kind of merit on our part. Rather, they’re a result of God’s grace.
Paul mentions these gifts again in the letter he wrote to the church of Corinth. He pointed out, “It is the one and only Spirit who distributes all these gifts. He alone decides which gift each person should have” (1 Corinthians 12:11 NLT).
We can’t go out and pick and choose what gifts appeal to us. We need to recognize that God has placed these gifts in our lives, and our main objective is to use them.
Of course, whenever you bring up the gifts of the Spirit, it causes some level of discomfort for certain people because of the abuse they’ve seen. It seems that whenever we hear the phrase “gifts of the Spirit” or “the power of the Spirit,” we often see excess. We often see the gifts misused.
What we see displayed may be so bizarre and erratic that we think, “If those are the gifts of the Spirit and that is the work of the Holy Spirit, then I want nothing to do with it.”
Yet what we are often seeing is not the gifts in action but an abuse of the gifts, a misuse of them outside the parameters that the Bible gives. We are not seeing what God really wants to do. God wants to work through our lives in a powerful and wonderful way. God has given us these gifts, and we need them.
We are living in dark times. In fact, the Bible tells us that the last days would be satanically energized times. People will go from bad to worse. We need all the power that we can get to effectively live for the Lord and serve Him.

Tonight’s message. You’re not fit for the Kingdom of God. If you look back

2024 The year of breakthroughs

Pastor Keith
Wednesday, December 6, 2023
A Surrendered Heart

“And I am certain that God, who began the good work within you, will continue his work until it is finally finished on the day when Christ Jesus returns. ”
—Philippians 1:6
If you were involved in the fulfillment of Bible prophecy, would you be tempted to brag about it a little? Mary easily could have gone to her friends and said, “Hey, have you checked out Isaiah 7:14 lately? You know, the part where it says, ‘The virgin will conceive a child’? Well, you’re looking at her!”
Mary, however, didn’t do anything of the kind. She was amazed, even flabbergasted, that God had chosen her to be the one to bear the Messiah.
But then she had a question, which was a logical one considering the circumstances: “But how can this happen? I am a virgin” (Luke 1:34 NLT).
Now, Mary was not doubting or questioning the angel Gabriel. This had more to do with methodology. And Gabriel answered her because it was a legitimate question. He said, “The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you. So the baby to be born will be holy, and he will be called the Son of God” (verse 35 NLT).
In the same way, sometimes we look at what God asks of us and wonder how we can possibly accomplish it. We think, “How can I live a godly life in this culture?” Or “How can I, as a single person, be sexually pure and wait for the right person that God will bring to me?” Or “How can I, as a married person, remain faithful to my spouse, honest in my work, and uncompromised in my principles?”
The answer that Gabriel gave to Mary applies to us as well: “For with God nothing will be impossible” (verse 37 NKJV).
God will complete the work He has begun in our lives.
The angel promised that the Holy Spirit would come upon Mary, and the Holy Spirit comes upon us as well. God will give us the power to do what He has called us to do.
Although Mary didn’t fully understand, she was obedient to God’s will for her life. In essence she said, “It’s a done deal, Lord.” She didn’t ask for a detailed explanation. She simply said, “I am the Lord’s servant. May everything you have said about me come true” (verse 38 nlt).
Often we want to know God’s will before we submit to it. But if we want to know God’s will for our lives, we first need to surrender ourselves to Him. As Alan Redpath said, “The condition of an enlightened mind is a surrendered heart.”
The apostle Paul wrote, “And so, dear brothers and sisters, I plead with you to give your bodies to God because of all he has done for you. Let them be a living and holy sacrifice—the kind he will find acceptable. This is truly the way to worship him” (Romans 12:1 NLT).
We want to know the perfect will of God. But God is saying, “Submit yourself to Me, and I will tell you. First, give yourself over to Me.” Mary did that. She submitted her will to God.
Have you surrendered your heart to Jesus Christ?