firstIMPRESSIONS
from Senior Pastor Timothy Satryan

Psalm 46:10 tells us to “be still and know that I am God."Yet, so many times we make situations more than they are due to our anxiety. What do you do to change that?

1. Calm down, shut-up, and quit trippin’!

CALM DOWN! God has your life under control; He knows how to handle even the seemingly complex situation with ease. SHUT UP! Stop having pity parties and talking about your business all the time; don’t you know that the power of death and life is in the tongue? Stop speaking negative things into existence in your life and in others. QUIT TRIPPIN’! When you look at your situations through your eyes, you often read more into the situation than what is there. It’s not as bad as you think particularly if God is in your life; Stop over analyzing your life.

2. Be courageous.

2 Timothy 1:7 – “For God hath not given us the spirit of fear; but of power, and of Love, and of a sound mind. Fear is not of God. Have the courage to step out on faith and do the seemingly impossible. Start your own business; go into the ministry; apply for that promotion; anything that you’ve been afraid to do and you know that God has called you to do – JUST DO IT!

3. Have confidence.

Philippians 4:13 – “I can do all things through Christ which strengthens me.” Remember, greater is He that’s within you than he that’s in the world. You have the power of the most High God working in you, and you have His Son steadily making intercession for you. You have nothing to worry about! Walk with your head up! You say you have low self-esteem; somebody told you that you’d never amount to anything; the devil is a liar! Know that you are somebody not because Jesus said it, but because you are a child of The King!

4. Walk in the VICTORY!

Romans 8:28 – “And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to His purpose.” Do I need to say anything else? The jury has been out and the verdict is in -YOU WIN!

God has already worked it out for you. It may not come the way you think it should come (or when you think it should), but remember – CALM DOWN, SHUT UP, AND QUIT TRIPPIN’!

Here is your copy of firstIMPRESSIONS, Volume 7.07. Live for God, on purpose, walking in the victory that He has provided for you!

	Debbie and Pastor Steve Miller

This Sunday morning, our district youth director, Rev. Doug Sayers, will be with us here at WFA to officially install Pastor Steve Miller as our new Youth Pastor. Pastor Doug will also be preaching the morning’s message.

Pastor Doug Sayers currently serves as the District Youth Director for the Pennsylvania-Delaware District of the Assemblies of God. He works with nearly 365 churches and thousands of teenagers planning special events and activities throughout the year. Doug also travels extensively in the District, across the nation and around the world as a special speaker for crusades, youth retreats, rallies, camps, and church services.

Doug is the longest serving DYD in the history of the Penn-Del District. He succeeded me in that office, and has been serving there since January of 1991.

Doug and his wife Susan have been married and involved in ministry together for over eighteen years. They are parents of a fourteen year old daughter, Jaclyn, and an eleven year old son Chad.

You won’t want to miss this historic Sunday as Pastor Steve and Debbie are “officially” installed in their position!

(top)

Do you know the legend of the Cherokee Indian youth’s rite of passage?

His dad takes him into the forest blindfolded and leaves him alone. He is required to sit on a stump the whole night and not take off the blindfold until the ray of sun shines through it.

He is all by himself. He cannot cry out for help to anyone. Once he survives the night, he is a MAN. He cannot tell the other boys of this experience. Each lad must come into his own manhood.

The boy in our story was, naturally, terrified. He could hear all kinds of noise. Beasts were all around him. Maybe even a human would hurt him. The wind blew the grass and earth and it shook his stump. But he sat stoically, never removing the blindfold. It would be the only way he could be a man.

Finally, after a horrific night the sun appeared and he removed his blindfold. It was then that he saw his father sitting on the stump next to him – at watch the entire night.

“I will never fail you. I will never abandon you.” – Hebrews 3:5

If God takes you to it, He’ll lead you through it.

as seen at “Christian Voices” – www.ChristianVoicesWorldwide.com

(top)

There was an incredibly large group of people assembled. On one side of the group stood a man, Jesus. On the other side of the group stood another man, Satan. Separating them, running through the group, was a fence.

The scene was set, both Jesus and Satan began calling to the people in the group and, one by one, each having made up his or her mind, each went to either Jesus or Satan. This kept going on a while, and eventually Jesus had gathered around him a group of people from the larger crowds, as did Satan.

But one man joined neither group. He climbed the fence that was there and just sat down on it. Then Jesus and his people left and disappeared. So, too, did Satan and his people. And the man on the fence sat alone.

As this man sat there, Satan came back, and appeared to be looking for something that he’d lost. The man said, “Have you lost something?”

Satan looked straight at him and replied, “No, there you are. Come with me.”

“But,” said the man, “I sat on the fence. I chose neither you nor Him.”

“That’s okay,” said Satan. “I own the fence.”

“But if serving the Lord seems undesirable to you, then choose for yourselves this day whom you will serve, whether the gods your forefathers served beyond the River, or the gods of the Amorites, in whose land you are living. But as for me and my household, we will serve the Lord.” – Joshua 24:15

(top)

“That’s the kind of Christianity a lot of people desire. We just want to put our head between our knees and say, ‘Oh, I’m so glad I’m a Christian, so I can live in this horrible world.’ It is a horrible world, and our Lord has put us here as His representatives. Opportunities to serve Him are everywhere.”

from Adrian Rogers’ book, “What Every Christian Ought to Know: Essential Truths for Growing Your Faith”

(top)

by Pastor Tom Goodman

Half of the town of Kiruna, Sweden, is being moved two miles from its current site at a cost of $4 billion. Decades of iron ore mining has slowly eroded the foundations of the town built above the world’s largest underground mine.

It’s an expensive lesson: Lose the foundation, lose your way of life.

Across the next 40 to 50 years, some buildings will be torn down and rebuilt. Others will be taken down piece by piece and reassembled in their new locale, including a historic wooden church. The church was once voted Sweden’s most beautiful building but the ground it was built upon is giving way, so it won’t last.

Some remain uncertain that the new location will be any more secure than the sagging earth they’re leaving. For the relocation, the state-run mine has chosen a spot where they have deposited waste rock from the mining process.

Nevertheless, most accept the move as inevitable. “The people in Kiruna have known since 100 years ago they were living on iron ore,” said Vice Mayor Hans Swedell. “They knew that sometime they would have to move.”

As I said: A parable for our times.

A little apathy in our civic duties, chronic laziness in our parenting, a few bad decisions in our business, a few compromises in our church — like the tap, tap, tap of a miner’s pick, these things can slowly chip away at the foundations. The consequences aren’t immediate, but over time we find we’ve jeopardized the life we hoped to build.

In Isaiah 58:12, the prophet looked hopefully for people who would “rebuild the ancient ruins” and “raise up the age-old foundations.” Let’s be the fulfillment of that prophecy in our own families, churches, community, and nation. What can you do today to tend the convictions and habits that uphold the things important to you?

from Pastor Tom Goodman’s blog, seen at http://getanchored.blogspot.com/2007/01/pay-attention-to-foundation.html. Tom Goodman pastors Hillcrest Baptist Church in Austin, Texas.

(top)

by Michael Halleen

Winston Churchill failed sixth grade, but he was no failure as leader of his nation. Thomas Edison failed all his classes in school and was sent home to work on his widowed mother’s farm, but he was no failure as an inventor and creator of progress. David Livingstone fled from the pulpit of his first church in Scotland, a failure because he could not remember the text he was to preach on. From there he went to Africa and brought the Christian faith within reach of millions.

Failing, in itself, is not the issue. It is what we do next that matters.

from Michael Halleen’s weekly email devotional, “Monday Moments.” To subscribe, send your request to mhalleen@att.net.

(top)

A wife invited some people to dinner. At the table, she turned to her six-year-old daughter and said, “Would you like to say the blessing?”

“I wouldn’t know what to say,” the girl replied.

“Just say what you hear Mommy say,” the wife answered.

The daughter bowed her head and said, “Lord, why on earth did I invite all these people to dinner?”

Consider yourself invited to this Sunday’s phenomenal worship experience here at WFA! It’s going to be a delightful time together in the Lord as we praise His name, rejoice in His presence, and be challenged by His Word! Don’t miss it!