Ed Nenonen

                                                You Are The Salt
       When I heard the statistic that 5% of the population of a business, state, or community can change the environment just because of their presence, it seemed to me to be a legitimate challenge to pray and work toward that number in Saline County (and Southern Illinois).  When Jesus said, "you are the salt of the earth," we have usually taken our western mindset and applied the properties of table salt to this parable.  We concluded that Jesus meant we can at least add a little taste to something or help preserve it.  However in Luke 14:34, 35, Jesus says that if we have lost our saltness we are no good for the soil or manure pile but only to be thrown out and trampled under foot by men.
       The salt Jesus was talking about was not sodium chloride (table salt) but the salt taken from the Dead Sea which would include Sodium Chloride, but was much more inclined to be Potassium Chloride (Potash), which is a fertilizer.  So when Jesus said you are no good for the soil He meant as a fertilizer.  Potash is what helps nourish the flowers and fruit.  It helps the good stuff grow.  To be salt in the soil of our society means we have enough of a Presence in our setting to affect the nature of what flourishes in our environment.
       The second reference Jesus made was to the manure pile or dunghill.  What good is table salt on a dunghill.   I don't think it significantly affects the taste and what interest do you have in preserving fresh dung.  Jesus was referring to the custom of using a handful or shovelful of salt on human excrement to disinfect or kill bacteria since there were not flush toilet systems in common use.  SOooo... Jesus was simply saying that salt also stops bad things from growing.
       Political action is necessary to help set a standard of righteousness, but unless the thinking and actions of a population take on Kingdom of God characteristics you cannot stem the tide of this landslide of moral decay.  However, if there are about 5% who truly live the attitudes of the Beattitudes and 5% who truly live morally like Jesus goes on to explain in Matthew 5, a morality not only outwardly but from the heart, we can change the direction of society simply by our presence.  The nature of the language will change.  The kind of jokes will change, and the ideas of what is morally right will change.
       If 5% will change things, we need to achieve it, because right now there is little contrast between the Church and the world and Jesus deserves more for His sacrifice than a compromising, lifeless, and therefore powerless Church.  We are to be salt and light and put ourselves in contact with society in such a way that we will have an effect.
       My desire is to be Jesus' friend and represent Him faithfully to the world.  Listen carefully to Psalm 15.  O Lord, who may abide in Thy tent?  Who may dwell on Thy holy hill?  He who walks with integrity, and works righteousness, and speaks truth in his heart.  He does not slander with his tongue, nor does evil to his neighbor, nor takes up a reproach against his friend; in whose eyes a reprobate is despised, but who honors those who fear the Lord; he swears to his own hurt and does not change; (in other words he keeps his word at all costs) he does not put out his money at interest, nor does he take a bribe against the innocent.  He who does these things will never be shaken.
        Call upon the Lord.  Ask Him for at least 5% of salty Christians in Saline (Salt) county.  That's just 1,300 people living like Jesus said.  He deserves 1,300 at the very least and it can change the nature of life in our area. 
 Pastor Ed Nenonen
6/22/2009

                            He Will be Faithful to Complete His Work in You

      Recently while reading Genesis 28 God's promise to Jacob (later named Israel) amazed me.  It gave me hope that God will certainly accomplish in us what He intends to do.  Jacob was in the process of leaving the land of  promise to go to Abraham's homeland to find himself a wife.  His brother Esau was angry at him and wanted to kill him and contrary to the way his dad got a wife he was sent to another country.  Isaac got his wife when Abraham's servant went to the old homeland and brought Rebekah back to him.  Abraham gave specific instructions that Isaac was not to go to another land but that the servant had to bring his wife to him.  Curiously Isaac gives just the opposite instructions to Jacob.  Was it because Isaac knew Esau wanted to kill Jacob or was it that Isaac liked having Esau around more than Jacob, or maybe neither of these matters entered into his thinking.
       For whatever reason, Jacob was sent away.  On his way out of the promised land God speaks to him in a dream and tells him that He will be with him and keep him no matter where he goes and that God will bring him back to this land.  There were a lot of things that happened in Jacob's life after this but it is amazing that his path was set.  He would return to the land and he did years later with lots of kids, a couple wives and large flocks and herds.  God had multiplied and blessed his possessions while he was gone and then brought him back a wealthy prosperous man.  When he returned he was fearful about the reaction of his brother Esau to him, but 20 years and the providence of God prevailed to the point that Esau hugged and welcomed him.  There was no indication of hostility at all. 
      One of God's most powerful revelations of Himself is through history.  The Bible is really a book about the revelation of God to a group of people (Israel) through history.  God is able to knit the circumstances of everyday life and the lessons they bring together with other people and circumstances in order to fulfill His designed purpose in His timing, what we might call His-Story.
     My wife Anita just went to Kenya with friends of ours that we originally met when we lived in Arkansas.  I met this couple when I was in a desperate time of financial need.  We had 3 children and I had just left a Pastorate and only had a part time income from two other jobs I was doing.  Thus I began to deliver pizzas on the weekends to help make ends meet and to have some leftover pizza for a hearty Saturday breakfast.  Our friends, Steve and Stephanie, eventually lost the business and struggled themselves through various situations with multiple children as Steve pursued his education.
      When I began working for Steve and Stephanie they were not really following Jesus.  So I eventually thought that my purpose in working for them was to be a witness to them of Jesus.  They were later truly converted and even later moved to Texas where Steve moved up the corporate ladder in Dell Corp.  What is amazing to me now is that somehow God has brought a couple of young bankrupt former pizza parlor owners together with a displaced, distraught pastor and his wife 23 years later to combine their lives and resources together in a common desire to change the very atmosphere and economics of a group of churches in western Kenya.  When I was delivering pizzas and wondering why God had forsaken me and Steve and Stephanie were going bankrupt in their business we could not imagine God saying, you will go your separate ways but I will bring you together again with resources to help change a whole culture in western Kenya.  What God has for your life He will surely fulfill it.
       That is the main reason why the restoration and preservation of Israel as a nation is so important.  It is the actual proof in history of the faithfulness of God because God said Israel would have its own land.  One day Jesus will live in Jerusalem as King of Israel and King of kings in all the earth.  Israel and Jerusalem may see some very trying times in the near future, but ultimately I am very confident that God Himself will make sure Israel is ultimately rescued and He will reveal Himself to Jews as their Savior and He will sanctify His Name before the nations.
       Every knee will bow and every tongue will confess that Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory of God the Father!!
Pastor Ed Nenonen
5/20/2009

Notes for April 19, 2009 Sermon 
Here are some scriptures for your reference so you can be transformed by the renewing of your mind.  Pastor Ed 
                                 What Does The Lord Think About Me?
           
                      He thinks of me often
Psalm 139:17  
How precious also are Thy thoughts to me, O God!  How vast is the sum of them!
Psalm 40:5
Many, O LORD my God, are the wonders which Thou hast done, And The thoughts toward us; there is none to compare with Thee; If I would declare and speak of them, They would be too numerous to count.
                      He Defends And Helps Me
Psalm 56:9
Then my enemies will turn back in the day when I call;  THIS I KNOW, THAT GOD IS FOR ME.
Psalm 72: 13
He will have compassion on the poor and needy, And the lives of the needy He will save.
                     He Desires To Be Good To Me and Have Mercy
Jeremiah 29:11
For I know the plans I have for you, declares the Lord, plans for welfare and not for calamity to give you a future and a hope.
John 3:16, 17
For God so loved the world that He gave his only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish, but have eternal life.  For God did into send His Son into the world to judge the world, but that the world should be saved through Him.
Micah 7; 18, 19
Who is a God like Thee, who pardons our iniquity and passes over the rebellious act of the remnant of his possession?  He does not retain His anger forever, BECAUSE HE DELIGHTS IN UNCHANGING LOVE (MERCY).  He will again have compassion on us He will tread our iniquities under foot.  Yes Thou wilt cast all our sins into the depths of the sea.
Matthew 9:13
But go and learn what this means, I DESIRE COMPASSION AND NOT SACRIFICE, for I did not come to call the righteous, but sinners.
                 He Loves Me With The Love As A Groom For His Bride
Hosea 2:19, 20
And I will betroth you to Me forever; Yes, I will betroth you to Me in righteousness and in justice, In lovingkindness and in compassion, And I will betroth you to Me in faithfulness, Then you will know the LORD.
Isaiah 62: 4, 5
It will no longer be said to you, Forsaken, nor to your land will it any longer be said Desolate, But you will be called, "MY DELIGHT IS IN HER, (Hephzibah)" FOR THE LORD DELIGHTS IN YOU, and to Him your land will be married.
For as a young man marries a virgin, so your sons will marry you; AND AS THE BRIDEGROOM REHOICES OVER THE BRIDE SO YOUR GOD WILL REJOICE OVER YOU.  
                He Loves Me With A Greater Love Than That Of A Mother
Isaiah 49:15
Can a woman forget her nursing child, and have no compassion on the son of her womb?  Even these may forget, BUT I WILL NOT FORGET YOU.
                 He Will Never Forsake Me
Isaiah 54:10
For the mountains may be removed and the hills will shake, but my lovingkindness will not be removed from you, and My covenant of peace will not be shaken, says the Lord Who has compassion on you.
Hebrews 13:5
".... I WILL NEVER LEAVE YOU OR FORSAKE YOU."
"I cannot afford to have a thought in my head about me that is not in His."  -  Bill Johnson
"... taking every thought captive to the obedience of Christ,"  - Paul, The Apostle
Pastor Ed Nenonen

Passover

April 5, 2009

       Passover finds its roots in history.  When the Israelites were captive in Egypt and God was judging Egypt there was only one escape for the final plague on its way upon the land.  They were to take a year old, unblemished male lamb from among the sheep or the goats and kill it.  They were to eat the lamb that night and put its blood on the doorposts and lintel of their homes.  This way when the Lord passed through the land in judgment He would pass over the homes covered by the blood and in that home the first born would live.  What was necessary to be protected from the plague is that you had the correct sacrifice and did with it as instructed.  The sacrifice must be killed it must be eaten and the blood had to be applied to the outside of your house on the doorposts and lintel.

       Each family that did this showed by their actions that their trust was totally in the word of the Lord that came through Moses.  That word was that the blood would protect your house and in particular your firstborn from death.  The first born was redeemed or bought by the blood of the sacrifice.  The New Testament calls us the Church of the firstborn, in other words, those who have been redeemed (bought) by the blood.  And just like the firstborn of that day we are made to be heirs of God, joint-heirs with Christ, of the kingdom that is coming.   This historic event has been remembered for the thousands of years  since by a feast celebrated as the first of three annual feasts specified in Leviticus 23.  This is the feast of the unleavened bread, which includes Passover and the waving of the sheaf of firstfruits.  These feasts foreshadow the history of redemption.

       Jesus celebrated the feast of Passover with his disciples as the last meal He took on this earth before His crucifixion.  In the process of the celebration he took two parts of the feast and explained it in relationship to Himself.  The Church has preserved those parts in what we celebrate as Communion or The Lord’s Supper.  The broken bread that was wrapped and hidden beneath a pillow early in the meal and later retrieved and eaten was taken by Jesus as He shared with His disciples and He said to them “This is My body broken for you.”  When He did this He unveiled the mystery of a thousand years since the first Passover.  The bread was a picture of His broken body sacrificed for our salvation.  He also took the third cup that was used during Passover, known as the cup of Redemption, and said that this cup was the new covenant in His blood.

        John The Baptist declared when he first saw Jesus coming to him to be baptized, “Behold the Lamb of God that takes away the sin of the world.”  Jesus is the Passover Lamb.  His blood must be applied to your life.  What you have done is not the main issue.  The main issue is what are you trusting in to repair your relationship with God and protect you from the wrath to come.  You could have declared that first Passover night that you didn’t need the blood on your house because you were a good person.  And you could have been one of the best, but the only thing that mattered is whether or not you had the appropriate blood on your house.  No questions asked about the character of the house’s inhabitants.  The only matter was what did you put your faith in to save you that night.  If it wasn’t the right blood death would enter your home.  Likewise, there is only one thing that can save you from the wrath to come.  You must be trusting in the blood of Jesus no matter how good or bad you have been.

 Ed Nenonen     

  When Will Jesus Return?
March 9, 2009

Over the last two months I have been teaching about eschatology (the study of last things).  There are certainly uncertainties in our study of eschatology but there are passages we can look at that really speak plainly about some things.  In I Thessalonians 4:13-18 we know when He returns there will be a resurrection.  The dead in Christ will rise (resurrect).  In Revelation 20:1-6 we are told that the “first resurrection” is when the righteous dead come to life to rule with Christ for 1,000 years, which is often referred to as the “Millennial Reign”.   We know when Jesus returns to meet us in the air it will be with the resurrected righteous at which time they receive a new body as do the living righteous.  Since the Bible tells us that the first resurrection is when Jesus returns to rule and reign with His people it would make sense to conclude that Jesus will return at the beginning of the Millenium to gather His people (the Rapture) and begin His earthly reign.

            In I Corinthians 15:50-53 we are told that we will be given new bodies when the dead are raised and that will happen at the last trump.  I Thessalonians 4:13-18 also states that when Jesus returns there will be a trumpet sounded.  When we look at the Book of Revelation we see in chapter 11 verse 15 that when the seventh trumpet sounds, which is the last trumpet of a series of seven, that voices from heaven will be heard saying that the kingdoms of this world have become the kingdom of our Lord and of His Christ and He shall reign forever and ever.  At this time the Bible says that He has taken His great power and has begun to reign.  There is still the outpouring of the bowls of wrath upon the earth after this seventh trumpet.  This apparently says that after the Lord has begun to reign there will then be the actual defeat and destruction of those who have opposed Him.

            We can read a similar scenario in Zechariah chapter 14.  It says the Lord will set his foot on the Mount of Olives and will then war against the enemies who have come to take over Jerusalem.  At that time He will defeat them and begin to reign from Jerusalem, which will fulfill the prophecies that the seed of David will sit upon his throne in an eternal kingdom that will have no end.

            From these passages it appears the Lord Jesus will return at the time of the first resurrection which is when He comes back to defeat the enemies who are coming against Jerusalem and Israel and will begin to reign on the earth from Jerusalem.  We see a rapid rise of evil in society today.  Evil will rise, Israel will be attacked and many ungodly things will take place leading to the Lord’s return.  However, let me quote Isaiah 60:2,3 “For behold, darkness will cover the earth and deep darkness the peoples; but the Lord will rise upon you, and His glory will appear upon you,  And nations will come to your light , and kings to the brightness of your rising.”   Get ready for the rise of the glory of the Lord as He raises up a people during difficult times who will be His glorious church without spot or wrinkle or any such thing, to represent Him to the earth in these days.  Get ready to see and experience all the fullness of Christ with which He said He would fill His people.  It is time to whole heartedly seek the Lord.

            If you have never received Jesus as your Savior and Lord you can do it right now by confessing and forsaking your sins, asking Jesus to forgive your sins and receiving Jesus as Lord of your life today.

Pastor Ed Nenonen

                                  The One World Religion of Tolerance

  

       As I read the Bible and observe what is taking place in our society many things just seem to be heading to a logical conclusion.  We are currently in a worldwide movement to accept everything as “right”, unless of course you believe in actual right and wrong and then you are labeled as one of the intolerant ones.

      We are told that we all serve the same God (Christian, Muslim, Buddhist, etc.).  It has been said more than once recently that we are not just a Christian nation we are also a Muslim nation and a Buddhist nation and a Hindu nation.  The move now on the earth is to bring everyone together under one umbrella, which is a noble task.  (Can’t we all just get along?)  The main obstacles to such reasoning are those that would claim that there is only one truth.  Jesus said He was the only way to the Father and for the true followers of Jesus, there can be no other view.

       The Book of Revelation tells of a great Harlot who seduces the kings of the earth and they participate in her immorality.  This Harlot is eventually destroyed by the Beast and his kingdom.  The Harlot is responsible in the Bible for shedding the blood of the saints.  The kingdom of the Beast is characterized by worship of only the beast.  The Beast incorporates political, military and religious systems in one great international governmental system and requires complete allegiance, NO TOLERANCE.  So how do we get from a current worldwide religion of tolerance to the Beast/Antichrist system of no tolerance?  Let me give you a viable scenario.

       At the present time the world is receiving every religious system into one unified fellowship without carefully examining each component.  At the present time Islam is using the tolerance teaching of the western world to infiltrate all aspects of western life.  As we let Islam take a foothold in our society it would do us well to understand that the goal of Islam is world domination, by force, if necessary.  So the teaching of tolerance welcomes a religious system like Islam into our brotherhood of well meaning tolerance teaching, peace loving, world changers.  However, once a system like Islam is allowed into this brotherhood and begins to gain influence it will also begin to exercise control.  Islam will not, according to its own teachings, peacefully co-exist with other religious systems.  It will take over.

       If  Islam is not the foundation of the antichrist system, it is at least a prototype of what we can expect.  In Revelation the Harlot has worldwide influence until it is destroyed by the Antichrist system/Beast.  The Harlot rides upon the beast until the beast is ready to take over.  Islam and other teachings are taking advantage of the current world religion of tolerance to gain influence and position.  Once that is achieved and prominence is gained there will come a change.  From a religion of tolerance the world will be thrust into a world religion that accepts no alternative to what it teaches.  This world religion will be enforced by the military and political system of the antichrist network. 

      The current mentality of our academic institutions toward tolerance rather than truth and the political climate that incorporates everyone into prominence in our political systems is simply the very pattern laid out for us in the scriptures.  The Harlot will shed the blood of the prophets and the saints.  Tolerance philosophy does not tolerate, in fact it hates, those who would say there is absolute truth.  The Harlot will shed the blood of the saints eliminating their influence internationally the best it can.  Then some of those elements that have been tolerated will rise up within to take over the world systems.  Tolerance teaching will itself usher in the most intolerant regime the world has ever seen.

        In these days we are told to pray that we would have strength (NASB) to escape all these things (Luke 21:36).  Christians will need in this day to move further into the promise of God’s power and grace so that we will be able to tangibly present to the world the truth of the Kingdom of God.  It will be essential in the coming days to be filled with God’s Spirit in Wisdom and Power.

   

There are Two Countries in These United States

February 20, 2009

      Recently I heard an interview on a news network.  The person being interviewed told the hostess that there are two countries “out there”.  The hostess said she really didn’t believe that, but as I look at the U.S. it seems obvious to me that we live in an incredibly polarized country.  Regarding some of the issues right now it is difficult to even have a discussion, input or dialogue because to say anything other than what the popular media and current judges say  is to be involved in hate speech or to be intolerant (which is the worst of all sins in modern day America).

       One “country” in America says that to call Islam a religion of violence is hate speech while they somehow can excuse the jihadists who call for the destruction of Israel and America as having the right to voice their opinion.  It is these very cries on the part of the Islamic Jihadists and the teaching of their own clerics and writings that call for the death to infidels (non-Muslim believers) that leads some of us to conclude that this is a violent religious system.  Our country is divided over this.  Some believe we can be both a Christian and a Muslim nation.  Check to see if Christians have equal rights in current Muslim nations.  The only way Christians and Muslims can both have equal rights is if we are based in Christian principles because if Islam is in control Christians will not have equal rights.

       One “country” out there believes that the beating hearts of unborn children can be stopped rightfully if the mother of the child so chooses, the so-called right to choose.  It seems to me that we need to fill in the blank.  The right to choose what ____?  Isn’t it the right to Choose to kill.  If it is a constitutional right what are the limits?  They will continue to expand if this notion is not defeated.  The other “country” out there believes as I do that we are terminating innocent life, shedding innocent blood.  And the beat goes on, or does it?

       One country believes homosexuals should have the right to marry.  After all, how can we deny anyone equal access to marriage rights?   That’s discrimination!!  However, nature itself discriminates against two people of the same sex  perpetuating the human race.  This has been one of the primary purposes of the marriage relationship throughout known history.  The homosexual relationship is unnatural, it is against nature’s (God’s) plan to continue the life cycle.  So whatever the homosexual relationship is, it is not marriage, and it is not intolerant discrimination to say so.  Marriage has been well defined throughout history by nature, societies and every major religious system in the world as a relationship between men and women, not men and men or women and women.  I may want to be called the strongest man in the world, but if I am factually not the strongest man in the world it is not discrimination to deny me of that title it is just the facts.  Homosexual relationships are not marriage, that’s not discrimination, it’s just the facts!

       One country says evolution is established scientific fact, while the other country questions the validity of evolution as science.  The academic elite offer little room for discussion and therefore evolutionary speculation dominates the academic world.  The blind acceptance of evolution has given credence to such ideas as directed panspermia that proposes that life forms originated on our planet when aliens brought life to this planet in seed form and left it here to evolve into what we see today.  There is no room for the concept of a great and mighty God Who made things after their kind with seed in them after their kind, yet the idea of aliens seeding the earth has made its way into mainstream academia.  It is amazing what the scientific world is allowed to believe as long as it isn’t in the Bible.

       There seem to be a host of other issues that this country is polarized over from gun regulations to taxes and the degree that government should be involved in the lives of individuals.  The more we demand help from the government the more they have authority to dictate every aspect of one’s life.  Alexander Tyler wrote during the time of the foundation of this country that a democracy can only continue until the voters discover they can vote themselves a generous gift from the public treasury.  From then on the voters always vote for the candidates who promise the most benefits and the democracy always collapses over loose fiscal policy.

       If we continue to go the direction we are going morally, financially and philosophically is there any hope?  How long can we steamroll toward a world with no foundation?  What is the basis of our laws?  It’s not public opinion because we have had laws instituted with less than 50 % approval.  It is certainly not the Bible.  So with no moral or societal absolute authority, laws now become the reflection of the personal opinions of whoever has the most power at the time. They can shift at the whim of those in control.  Our Constitution has been relegated to the status of a living document which being interpreted means, it can say whatever I want it to say in the current political and social climate that I find myself in.

       It is important at this time in history to know the reality of Jesus of Nazareth, a Jewish man who is also the Son of God.  He will reign on the earth someday and his kingdom will have no end.  You don’t get to vote Him in as King, but you can willingly accept His right to rule your life and this earth.  He has an answer to all of life’s problems.  They will all be resolved in His Kingdom.  May His Kingdom come and His will be done on earth as it is in heaven.  So be it!! 

Pastor Ed Nenonen