The Retired Pastor Messages

The Retired Pastor Messages Retirement: When you can spend all the time you want with God and discovering it's never enough!

12/27/2023

I keep getting notifications from FB regarding my ‘Retired Pastor’ page, I laugh because I’m pretty certain no one really looks at it. I admit it, I suffer from ‘distractions’. I determine to do something, especially if it’s something I believe the Lord has said I should do… and then, I get distracted and what I was quite determined I would do seems to become left in the distant past. 😊
So, with that, I will attempt for the third time to write about one of my God perspectives. God speaks to me in many ways; one is through his creation. Living in the country, nature surrounds our well over 100 years family farm. Outside my west window stands a rather odd looking walnut tree. Not odd looking of it’s own accord, this walnut tree was, among a few others was slated for removal due to trunk decay. A tree removal specialist was hired, two trees were downed. Not sure what the plan was but, the walnut tree was topped and the trunk cut near the ground leaving about 7 foot of remaining trunk.
And here lies the symbolism God has spoken to me through the walnut tree. The tree is undoubtedly more than 100 years old and over the years it produced an abundance of walnuts, yet it also began to deteriorate from within – unnoticed for years; much like the church in America. The tree continued to decay from within because no one seemed to notice, and if they did ‘as long as it didn’t affect them’ – and ‘it was still producing some walnuts, wasn’t it?’
Now I’m not going to go into the church – ‘if you have ears to listen…’ I’ll just say, the similarities cannot be ignored or disputed in this day. Back to the tree – over the past few years the 7 foot trunk began to sprout new limbs and then to put on leaves and walnuts again – even though by all accounts it was dead. I believe that God is saying to me and to you, that like this tree that reached toward heaven for new life, so the church must also reach toward our heavenly Father for new life. Keep 2 Chronicles 7:14 in your prayers Friends.
The Retired Pastor

08/19/2023

“Media”
Hot topic word for the day?! 😊 Funny how words take on a different meaning over time. Media, the plural of medium, describes all channels of communication that was, is and I suppose, is to come…. ! Today you can pretty much find information about everything known to man thanks to all means of technology available. Thirty years ago (or more) we were thrilled to have so much at our fingertips and wondered what we were going to do with our encyclopedias!! And over all we believed that what we read, saw, heard, was true; I’m beginning to realize that no matter how easy media seemed to have made life, we still have to think for ourselves (hmmm).
Wondering if, what we hear or even see on media can be believed, is something we need to discern for ourselves daily. Most days I wonder if ‘common sense’ is dead or is my thinking off?! Quite different from the way we thought growing up and quite maddening that we’ve come to this at all……
Thankfully there is one form of media that I cherish more than the others – love my books – the paper kind - and while I enjoy a good fiction and appreciate Christian authors, it’s a relief to know that there is one News Caster called the ‘Word’ who can be trusted to never lie. We may not like the ‘news’ He brings but at least we know it’s the truth. If you guessed I’m talking about God’s Bible you are correct, if you didn’t know, you need to read the Bible!! 😊
I’ve come to realize that even though I’ve been saved for so long, I don’t know the Lord like I want to, I haven’t relied on Him as He tells us to, thus I lack much needed to help others through this battle we’re in right now. I am learning, daily, what God has to say about it all and yes, it’s all in there, as it says in Ecclesiastes 1:9 ‘The eye never has enough of seeing, nor the ear its fill of hearing. What has been will be again, what has been done will be done again; there is nothing new under the sun.’ It’s really the news before the news! Oh, and I’ve discovered over the past few years that God still has a lot to say through His prophets, Amos 3:7 ‘Surely the Lord God will do nothing without revealing His secret to His servants the prophets.’ , and there are a lot of good and honest ones today….
So, my Friends, take courage and continue to seek the truth wherever you can find it.
Blessings Daily - The Retired Pastor

07/29/2023

‘Worship’
New word for the day! I should have begun my last post with the word ‘flood’ since that was the word God had pressed upon me then!! So today the Lord has prompted me to talk about ‘worship’ since this has been close to and disturbing in my heart for several years now.
Born again when a fresh ‘young’ Pastor came to our church and opened up new revelation to the Bible I fell in love with Jesus. But the Pastor didn’t stay long enough to get the whole understanding of what had not been taught in our church, and so it was back to ‘normal’, that is, what we’d always been used to. Not that the other Pastors were not sincere or Christians but as I look back, they were culture bound for the times and the location.
And what do I mean by that? I believe that over the past 50+ years the focus of church and sermons has been on ‘love’ and ‘eternity.’ That is, love everyone and go to heaven. Both good things, mind you, but only half of what the Bible teaches. And oh, there are so many examples I could give to illustrate just why that is not all the church is meant to be. Ok, just one – if you act like an ostrich and bury your head in the sand, thinking you are hidden, you will be in trouble when you are attached from the rear! Right?!
After years of enjoying, yes, I liked planning the Sunday service with the help of the pianist choosing the songs and another typing up the bulletins that I chose to go along with the theme; it came to my mind one Sunday when I was in the office, the sanctuary was filling up, and I caught myself thinking, ‘it’s show time…’ After that the Lord impressed upon me that church as we know it has become more like a ‘show’, a program, if you will, a familiar, comfortable way of doing church (and I’ve found this to be moreso in a small town where change is not so readily accepted.) Now, don’t take offense at that, I grew up here, have lived in cities and you see where I live once again! 😊
Saddened at my realization of all of this several years ago, God has given me reassurance that worship is indeed going to change. That the church will be introduced to Elohim – The Sovereign, Mighty Creator and as John 4:23-24 promises “From now on, worshipping the Father will not be a matter of the right place but with the right heart. For God is a Spirit, and he longs to have sincere worshipers who worship and adore him in the realm of the Spirit and in truth.”
Growing near to God requires worship.
Blessings Daily – The Retired Pastor

07/27/2023

Hello!
Funny how God knows how to get our attention, how He speaks to each of us in the way only He knows we will hear. Even funnier – that one could come to their salvation over 40 years ago and still trying to totally figure it out! 😊 For years I could say God spoke to me through the ‘word’, (imagine that!), well of course through the word of the Bible but also through a word or words I hear from Him and follows up by putting the same word in front of me repeatedly until I get an understanding….. that often takes awhile…. 😊
So, for over 40 years now, I knew I was blessed by God, enjoyed gaining all the knowledge I could about the Bible as I claimed the verse 2 Timothy 2:15 “Study to show thyself approved unto God, a workman that need not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth.” Praying to God regularly, I thought I had it all figured out – but inside I knew there was, or at least I wondered, if there was more. Oh, well, over the hill now, on my way out so what it said in the Bible about the ‘end times’ was never going to happen in my lifetime.

As I sit here thinking over the last several years, so much has happened, so much has changed; where to start my realization of this, I cannot say, but what I know is that the more I suspected and had over the years heard hints of have come to a reality; in God’s timing, God’s season as I’ve come now to claim (Daniel 2:21 “He changes times and seasons, he deposes kings and raises up others. He gives wisdom to the wise and knowledge to the discerning.)
As I said, at my age I really thought life would be ‘normal’ until my end. You know, retired, grandchildren, perhaps greats, resisting age but ready to see Jesus face to face – ‘normal’. And now, what am I to do with all of these new realizations, what is my part in this great plan of God’s? It’s not hard to wrap my mind around it all, it’s just hard to fit in with old ways of thinking that I was taught.
So, I ask and have been for some time been asking God what He wants me to do to share these truths. As I went back to the last post I put on the FB page for The Retired Pastor – a long time ago – I see God told me then to write; pretty much that is what I have kept rejecting. So, awhile back I was praying, again asking for an assignment I guess you would say and out of the blue 😊 I heard the word ‘flood’. He said He plans to flood the world with himself and I again was reminded that I should write on FB. Since then I have heard many prophets and pastors refer to God flooding the world so many times that– yeah, that is how he has always talked to me, that is also how he confirms what he says.
Wanting sincerely to follow and obey, knowing that when I do, blessings will follow, here I go again, let this be a new beginning! After writing sermons for years and still at times, I always thought one needed to flow into another, to connect thoughts from the Bible that people could understand and put into their lives. With things happening as they are now, my mind has been on overload so I pray what I write connects with some of you and gives you a sense of peace in understanding, or lack of, understanding that is. 😊
Keep looking to God through the flood. We must feel special to have been born to be alive at such a time as this.
Blessings Daily – The Retired Pastor

07/04/2022

HAPPY 4TH OF JULY TO EVERYONE!!

Had a nudge this morning to share the sermon Holy Spirit gave me for yesterday at our church. Hope you find it inspiring as we do celebrate what God has given us and what He will return to us!!

July 3, 2022
Sermon: Do it Again, Lord!
So here we are again, ready to celebrate the 246th birthday of our nation’s Declaration of Independence from the tyrannical rule of the British Government! You do know there is one thing good about ageing, you have more memories stored up, whether they be good, bad or ugly, they serve one purpose or another. Brenda S. and I took a couple of evenings this last week to travel around Clearfield to invite children to our VBS scheduled at the end of the month – I am amazed at the number of children there are in this town, as many or more than when I was little, I think!! And where were they? Oh, in Cameron’s old house or where Sobotka’s used to live or around the corner from where the laundromat used to be….. oh and don’t forget those people who live where the old Methodist church used to be….😊 All part of my history, part of our heritage in the USA due to the freedom given us by God for this nation.
The Bible tells us that Freedom is something God always planned for us, as it says in Jer. 29:11 ‘I know the thoughts that I think for you, says the Lord, thoughts of peace and not of evil, to give you a future and a hope.’
‘The Declaration of Independence’ contains a very long list of complaints against the dictatorship like mandates that the King of England held over the American colonies at that time – it’s no wonder they got fed up and were finally ready to fight for their freedom.
A look back at this time in history shows us that King George III was more about ‘control’ as he determined to keep the people in this new found land bound as slaves to high taxes, paid to the king who then paid judges they didn’t choose who enforced laws they didn’t make (and that judgement depended wholly on the decision of the king no matter what the law said). Oh and I also read that immigrants were beginning to come to America and the king didn’t like that, he didn’t want the population to grow to where he could not control them.
It would appear that the King of England gave no thought to God at all; his thoughts were more along the line of Satan’s, as John 10:10 says - ‘the devil comes only to steal, kill and destroy’.

But that should not surprise us, we’re told in the Bible that as soon as God made man in his image, the devil determined to destroy God’s good works because of His Very Good works – Man. God made man to be an extension of himself, father, son and holy spirit that is, to be part of his family. And they were free to walk and talk and be near God daily and everything around them was given from God to be theirs; Adam was even free to name all the animals and plants!! If you think about it, that would be pretty cushy life!! But then we know what happened, the devil stole their innocence, killed their relationship with God and destroyed the life of freedom they had enjoyed with God.
And yep that was just the beginning of the battle between good and evil that man has lived with since. In Ecc 1, Solomon writes that ‘what has been is what will be, and what has been done is what will be done, and there is nothing new under the sun.’ I absolutely have found that to be true when reading through God’s word it is the same thing with some slight variations of the story line.
Just look at God’s people. God loved them, made promises to them of prosperity and protection and proved himself over and over again to them. While they on the other hand would forget God’s goodness and run after things of the world, controlled by the ruler of the world, Satan. Didn’t work so well for them then and it doesn’t work well for us now…
Time after time, God came to their rescue, especially when they cried out to him for help. Consider when God’s people had been slaves of the Pharaoh in Egypt for so long. It says He heard their cries. Pharaoh was a tyrant, right?! Most of them were, worshiping pagan gods with little regard to human life. You know the story – our God showed Pharaoh that his little ‘g’ gods were fake and God’s people left Egypt through a trail of miracles that only our God can perform. The Israelites were free!!
They were not only free from their oppressors but God had such a wonderful plan for their lives, a nation of their own, a land of milk and honey the Bible says, better than one can imagine. Perfect one might say?! Or would you say it was too good to be true? Yes, that’s what the majority thought so they voted not to go, in fact many of them wanted to go back to Egypt!! (Anybody besides me, see yourself here?) I mean, unwilling to believe that God would or is even able to give us better, we settle for just what we’ve always had…. 😊 But the next generation took claim to God’s promises and as long as they followed his rules, (the most important coming in the form of the 10 commandments) life was good. And they all promised they would!! The problem then and today is that many people don’t like to be told what to do, but they don’t understand that God is in the details, he has everything covered and it’s all for our good!!
So how does this fit into today – America 2022? A good share of Christians say America is not in the Bible. I say if you notice all of the symbolism used in God’s word then it’s not hard to find nations connected with eagles in many places… that’s just a for instance.
You might say, ‘God’s church’ was given a new Promised Land in America and what is par for the course, the devil chased after and tried then and is still trying to ‘kill, steal, and destroy’ what is God’s. After declaring independence, like the Israelites had to battle for their promised land, so the colonists fought against the British with God’s help and won.
It took awhile to get it right, the states had to first unite, but you could say our Constitution is as close to being God inspired as anything written besides the Bible. To have that many men, men from widely divergent backgrounds, different churches or no churches. They ranged in occupation from farmers to presidents of universities, with their economic origins including everything from frontier poverty to opulent wealth.
How then do you explain their remarkable unanimity in fundamental beliefs? I see that God chose those who He knew could get the job done because he had already planned for them to accomplish that which would keep His people free and bring glory to His name!
John Adams said of this accomplishment – “Our Constitution was made only for a moral and religious people. It is wholly inadequate to the government of any other.’ And Patrick Henry said: ‘It cannot be emphasized too strongly or too often that this great nation was founded, not by religionists, but by Christians; not on religions, but on the Gospel of Jesus Christ.’
I would like to say this is still where we are; a United States of America, but we can see that is not so. However, As God heard the cries of the Israelites from Egypt, trust he has heard our cries also. And, Like he miraculously rescued them, so He will rescue us. Like the colonists took a stand against the evil put upon them by the King of England, so too it is time for God’s people to take a stand against the evil that has for too long been put upon us.
God promises in Deu 28:1-3 that, ‘Now it shall come to pass, if you diligently obey the voice of the Lord you God, to observe carefully all His commandments which I command you today, that the Lord your God will set you high above all nations of the earth. And all these blessings shall come upon you and overtake you, because you obey the voice of the Lord your God; Blessed shall you be in the city, and blessed shall you be in the country.
It’s time church, time to separate ourselves from the world and be the light on the hill that God calls us to be, so much so that the world can see the difference. So much so, that if Jesus came back tomorrow and took us – the world would notice….
Now stand back and watch the miracles of our God take place!!
Amen

03/22/2022

God says to me ‘write’ because He knows I enjoy it. Writing is my way to reflect and sort things out; but like, in particular, my big old house, when I ignore it the clutter builds up and then it is hard to know where to begin again.
This morning as I sit at the kitchen table I am reminded that this has always been a favorite time of year for living on a farm. A time of new life. The grass is turning green and the Crocus’ are on schedule too. But the better part of this season is the return of the various birds, hearing their songs, watching them build their nests and the comedy of sparrows trying so hard to squeeze into the wren house.
However, the main attraction lies just beyond the backyard fence. Just a small number of cows ready to calve that if one is paying attention (that would be my husband) you can watch the birth and even better observe how a calf, just a few weeks old, recognizes another calf the same age and right away bond in frolic.
New Life…. Can there be anything more amazing in this world? To sit and wonder at God’s creation should cause everyone to wonder about a God who could possibly do all of this?! And to deny that our earth and all that is in it was designed with nothing but love is to me, just foolish.
But things have changed you say! Yes, God is in charge of change and if we can’t see the change; and that includes the bad changes we have been experiencing, well, maybe we have ignored our houses and the clutter has built up. But, God is a God of change, good change! Over and over, especially in the O.T. we find God giving nothing but good to His people and they inevitably put it on a shelf and eventually it gets covered up by the clutter, and yes, they suffer the consequences.
Time to start again then, isn’t it? Get rid of the clutter in our lives and world, that is. Thank God that He is willing to come help us clean up this mess we’ve accumulated…. I believe what Paul said in Philippians 1:6 “being confident of this, that He who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus.”
And fellow believers, that day is still afar off. There is good work to be done, work to undo the evil we have for too long ignored I think! Look forward to change in the near future, because as we all know, Our God is Absolutely Good!!
Blessings to All,
Karla

12/25/2021

Merry Christmas Eve! Apparently the Retired Pastor took that title literally, seeing that I haven't posted anything since June.... I've always said that life is a learning experience and I've learned that walking with the Lord is like course after course in a college that never ends; and yes, learning is at the top of my life list!!
So what have I learned in this past year or so; well, that I'm a much better Mary than I am a Martha. (Luke 10:39-42) Like Mary I've been sitting at the feet of the Lord, listening, or at least listening more than I ever have in my life; it takes practice when you're used to doing things your own way.
I have learned that there is a great deal I never realized before about God and His ways. I've learned that there is a reason for that; either I was never taught or I wasn't paying attention. (Maybe a bit of both...) I gave my heart to the Lord in my twenties and sought Him, of course, through the Bible but also through those who had known and walked with Him longer than I; hence I have more than five bookshelves of various works by Christian authors that cover many aspects of Christianity.
My heart ached to serve him as a Preacher, even though I had always been given ways to serve others as a Social Worker. God gave me the desire of my heart as Pastor of a church. Oh, I felt well equipped as I had served in many positions in the church, except that of a Pastor, but, more education through the denomination would provide what I was lacking. I admit, having God as your boss is a wonderful thing!!
Sorry, I have digressed from my sharing of knowledge gained in this past year. What I learned, were really those passing thoughts that one has, you know, those things that come into your mind but you dismiss because they are relatively foreign to you. I've discovered that these thoughts are often from God.
I have also come to realize that the old adage of 'history repeats itself' is true. After reading the Old Testament and finding our current day world situation in it, I began to realize more how God works.
I've learned how symbolic everything in the Bible is - everything is deliberate; only an almighty God could of done all that and then put it into words for us. The problem is, too many accept Jesus as their Savior and think that is enough, they don't bother to get to really know Him through His Word and even if they attend a church, may very well have been cheated out of full knowledge, as I was, hence the lack of excitement, and eventual turning away from being a part of God's church.
I've learned that because of the above, we Christians, have been ignorant of what the devil has been up to and now, fortunate for us, he has gone too far and the scripture that I preached the last year I Pastored the church in Lenox (2 Chronicles 7:14) came to me for a reason.
I hope to get back and post more about even what I have briefly mentioned because there is so much God is doing now in our country and world that needs to be shared.
For now, on this Holy night, let us celebrate the birth of our Savior, born in a stable as the Lamb of God who was destined to die for us that we can have access to the Father with our sins forgiven. Worship only Him this Day and give Him all the Glory!!!
Merry Christmas All!!

06/28/2021

The Retired Pastor Messages
Prayer --- as I have already noted, ‘if you are a Christian, prayer is not an option.’ Throughout the Bible it talks about prayer and Jesus sets the example for us many times as the way to communicate with Father God. Last message I said that the scriptures I was relating to about the Armor of God ended with instructions to pray. So, each morning we are to rise and shine and put on every piece of God’s armor He has provided for us 😊 (one would think that would be enough, fully covered, right?) No, Paul says, don’t leave home without your marching orders!! And if you read Ephesians 6:10-19 you know that with prayer, God provides the help of the Spirit – He provides everything a Believer needs to live on this earth; we never have to go it alone.
I’ve always believed that prayer was important, just ask the members of the church I pastored; they heard it all the time, so much so that when I retired they gave me a quite large wall hanging that said , ‘Pray, Wait, Trust.’ The truth is, I never felt I was an adequate Prayer, and my public prayers are far from eloquent. Though I strived to be an effective Prayer it seemed my prayers more often felt like begging or a checklist of people or things I thought I should pray over.
Now I cannot say I have never prayed earnestly about a heartfelt need, I have, and God was gracious enough to give me reassurance and answer my prayers in a very visible way. But, prayer, like many things we do as church can become rote in our daily lives to the point of saying we’ll pray about something and don’t, pray about something or someone and forget about it, and one thing I’ve noticed over the past decade is the attitude that, ‘I’ll pray about it but if I see no results then that’s alright, God must not want that for me or them…’
But, when the chaos began in our country, I fell to my knees as I’d never done before and called out to God for answers and as He does so often with me, putting it in writing or otherwise in front of my face, works well with me for understanding! And He hasn’t stopped giving me information and understanding since that day, which is very comforting to me (call me nosey, I want to know what’s going on, good or bad).
One answer He gave me was a clearer understanding of why it is so vital that we pray. Oh, I had for many weeks included the verse from 2 Chronicles 7:14 at the end of our prayer time every Sunday; it reads, “If my people who are called by my name, will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven and I will forgive their sin and will heal their land.” And everyone agreed it was appropriate for the time at hand.
Now, just look at what God is saying, and read it again real slow. Do you catch that there are a lot of ‘if’s’ in there? ‘If’ my people (God’s people only) – ‘If’ they humble themselves (that’s a tough one in this ‘you can do anything you want’ world) – ‘If’ you pray (not just at Sunday church) – ‘If’ you seek my face (God’s face, yes, are you continuously looking for Him?) – and ‘If’ you turn from your wicked ways, (it’s called repentance and salvation makes it easy – that is another writing too! 😊) – ‘If’ you ask, He ‘will’ answer…..
Remember the Israelites? God heard their cries, and saw their affliction and rescued them from the Egyptians with the plan to send them to the ‘Promised Land.’ (short version) See the parallel – God gave us the ‘Promised Land’, pray without ceasing for His intervention.
Blessings until next time!! Karla

06/22/2021

The Retired Pastor’s Messages
Hello! Hope everyone had a memorable Father’s Day!! I love that God is our Father because even if you grew up without a father or a not so kind father, anyone can claim the perfect Father God as He promises in 2 Corinthians 6:18 “And I will be a father to you and you shall be sons and daughters to me, says the Lord Almighty.”
As I mentioned last time, we were told to stay home which came to be known as a ‘lock down’, a rather unsettling notion to me. Now I’ll admit there actually have been times in my life that I thought it would be good to ‘have’ to stay home, then I could do all those things around the house that I never had time for! Well, that idea lasted a couple of weeks at the most…
So, I was glad when my friend Rita asked myself and some other friends to do an online Bible Study with material from Pricilla Shirer – ‘The Armor of God’, a study of Ephesians 6:10-19. I was familiar with the scripture, I had at one time done a sermon series on it; but you know how it is when you read something in the Bible and at another time you read the same thing but the second time God opens your mind to a different meaning.
That study of ‘The Armor of God’ was perfect for the moment and as time went on it became more and more relevant for what was going on. Funny how God does that! Before, when I had studied and sermonized this reading, I was seeing it as a personal battle with God helping me through life. With the insights of Priscilla Shirer I heard a deeper meaning that I would need to understand later on.
Now picturing a whole army being given instructions on how to dress for battle and why, I came to the realization that we Christians in the U.S., as well as around the world are now, more than ever in a war with the devil. This passage talks about the schemes of the devil, our struggles against the rulers, against the powers, against the world forces of this darkness, against the spiritual forces of wickedness; we need that armor more than we ever have before.
We are to put on the belt of truth, the breastplate of righteousness, fit our feet with readiness by knowing the gospel, the helmet of salvation, take up the shield of faith and the sword of the Spirit. (To get the fullness of meaning, please read and reread these passages.) I will add that more than once it calls for us to be strong and stand firm, words I have heard over and over from Christian speakers since I finished this study.
And as the last two verses instruct us to pray I will end with that thought and pick up from there next time.
Blessings to All, Karla

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