MERRY CHRISTMAS, TO ALL THOSE WHOM GOD HAS ALLOWED US TO SHARE LIFE WITH.
CHRISTMAS 2021

HOW CAN IT BE POSSIBLE FOR CHRISTIANS TO FAIL WHEN IT COMES TO LOVE?

In the past I have told the story of moving from Houston to the heart of Texas. We had seen hundreds saved and many who were saved at that time followed the Lord into ministries. Today, even their children are in the ministry and are living out the legacy of something that started in our hearts at an altar long ago. As I was driving out of Houston, with my U-Haul hitched to the bumper of our car, the Lord ask me a question that I refused to answer for 20 or so years. I had just passed 59 North traveling West on Loop 610, when I he asked me a question. As I was looking at the city of Houston in my rear-view mirror, I was thinking, about the people who God had wondrously touched. I wondered out loud about who would pick up the mantle and work with those who God had saved and had become a part of our lives like family. I laughed at the thought of how the boys, most of them Mexican young men, were angry when we adopted Kyle and how they concluded he was just to white. I thought about the long nights in the inner city and days when I would come home at night and Gay Nell, Krista and Kyle would already be in bed for the night. The other side of this is that by morning I would be gone back to the school to meet them and have a prayer meeting with 50 to a hundred young people in the cafeteria for prayer. This all started one day when Gay Nell and I were driving to church on a Sunday afternoon and a prayer came out of my spirit. I prayed, “Oh God, give me that school”, by which I meant give us a revival in the school. To my surprise God spoke to me and said, “Son, I have given you that school.” Gay Nell said, what did you say and I said, God just spoke to me and said, “I have given you that school.” The result was that after going to the principle and asking him for permission to do an assembly. He obliged and the Lord confirmed His word to us. Dale and Barbara Dailey joined us and lived in the house and worked with us in ministry for the next 5 years. You can’t do a lasting work without God giving you people who share your passion and love for God. In all they worked alongside us for eleven years in all.

Gay Nell and I had started a youth ministry and a core group of two to three hundred young people would meet with us every Tuesday, Wednesday, Friday and Saturday Night at the place we called the SALT INN. It was a place where we all knew one another’s names. Church life became the culture, which impacted dis-enfranchised youth; latch key kids and the loneliest boys and girls you would ever meet.

I had followed my father in law as pastor of the Oaklawn Church and loved the people that we served. Then God spoke to me to move away from Houston. I wrestled with it like it was a devil who was talking to me, only to find out it was really God that was leading us in a new direction. I was as I was leaving Houston God asked me this question, “Did you love me as much as what I gave you to do?” I chose never to allow myself to love what I was doing from that day forward. I was thinking about this and these thoughts came to mind.

Ephesians 3:16
New Living Translation
16 I pray that from his glorious, unlimited resources he will empower you with inner strength through his Spirit.
17 Then Christ will make his home in your hearts as you trust in him. Your roots will grow down into God’s love and keep you strong.

Are You Aware That It Is Our Responsibility, to make others feel loved?

When Christ makes His home in our hearts, as we trust Him. Our roots grow down into God’s love and keep us strong. Where does divorce and separation come from? How do couples and children and parents drift apart? I think we discover the answer herein. Their roots don’t grow down into God’s love. It is a painful experience for the partner that no longer feels the love or their spouse, husband or wife. I had never thought about something I read recently, flawed roots produce feelings of inadequacy, inferiority, worthlessness, anger, a fear of intimacy and so much more. The opposite is what a healthy root system produces in self-esteem, confidence, and selfassurance, just as God’s love produces a sense of wholeness in your mate and or your children. As a pastor I have seen to many people who do not realize that they are the problem in their marriage and the negativity in their own children who they dearly love. Strong roots systems require:

TIME TO GROW
To the degree you put your roots deep down in the love of God to that degree you will experience a greater love for your husband, wife and family.

PROTECTION FROM WHAT CAN KILL
You need to recognize what can kill your love and keep your roots from going down deeper into the love of God. I have seen marriages end because the root system in God was faulty and weak.

THE NEED OF A DEVOTIONAL LIFESTYLE
What would happen to you if you only ate one meal a week? Your adversary knows when you are weak and he preys on the weakest in the herd. Maintaining an intimacy with Jesus is necessary for you to be all He desires for you to be. Remember Jesus told Peter, “Satan has desired you to sift you as wheat.” Remember Christians fail when it comes to love because their roots quit growing deeper in the

Love of God. My prayer for you today is:
Ephesians 3:16,17 NLT
16 I pray that from his glorious, unlimited resources he will empower you with inner strength through his Spirit.
17 Then Christ will make his home in your hearts as you trust in him. Your roots will grow down into God’s love and keep you strong.

IS CHRIST AT HOME IN YOUR HEART?
THIS CHRISTMAS LET’S MAKE SURE HE HAS ROOM IN OUR HEARTS WHEN THERE WAS NO ROOM FOR HIM IN THE INN.
THANK YOUR FOR MAKING THE CONFERENCE SUCH A HUGE SUCCESSS. TIME AN ETERNITY WILL WRITE THE STORIES OF THOSE WHO DID MORE THAT JUST HEARD THE WORD THEY ACTED ON IT.

I BELIEVE IN YOU,
Pastor Cleddie and GayNell Keith

P.S. Thank you for your prayers of faith for GayNell she is out of AFIB and getting
stronger each day.

KINGDOM CONNECTION’S & PROVIDENTIAL PATHWAYS

Psalms 46:10, is a simply stated staple in my life of faith; “BE STILL AND KNOW THAT I AM GOD.” As I have walked with God through the year, I have been reminded by that verse many times to put things in neutral. It is astonishing how often people find themselves seemingly out of control. Allow me to remind you in this busy season when life is moving at break neck speed, to consider this admonishment as seen through other translators eyes.

If you are like me, the first thoughts of the morning seem to follow me through the day. Thanksgiving is this week and as a nation we people will be mobilized in the next six weeks like no other time of the year. Millions will leave their homes to visit family and friends and some will take a long-needed break from the pressing events of the last two years. Hotels will be over run, restaurants will be full and waiting lines will get longer. Black Friday has already been expanded and online shopping is at an all-time high. Billions of dollars will be spent and as always everything will seem to change for a few days but everything will still be the same. My early morning musing today was:

This expression is usually the salutation or what you find at the end a letter. However, after the month of appreciation the church and friends have lavished on GayNell and I, I am sure that I could never find the words of our total appreciation in regard to your kind and considerate words. We love the privilege we have had sharing life with you.

Thank you for Forty Years of Friendship, Fellowship and Faithfulness as we have Followed our God Given Passion and have literally spent life together.

The First Week of November 2021,

Thank you for Forty Years of Friendship, Fellowship and Faithfulness as we have Followed our God Given Passion and have literally spent life together. 1981-2021

Loving Greetings to all of those who have gone the Second Mile in celebrating our 40th year of ministry as the pastors of Heritage Fellowship.

Each week through the last two years it has been a joy to touch base with you through letters of heartfelt appreciation for your prayers and support. For some we have wanted to do what we can to stay connected with you, only to let you know how important you are to Heritage, it is, for this reason, we call our church family a fellowship.

Years ago, a local pastor had criticism for our church family. He told me, “You don’t even have a church all you have is a fellowship.” It was his way of reproving me and attempting to put Heritage down. He is regretfully no longer in ministry having been disfellowshipped from the church he served. Paul wrote letters to the churches and speaking to the church at Philippi concerning unity he put it like this:

Joined Together in Perfect Unity

2 Look at how much encouragement you’ve found in your relationship with the Anointed One! You are filled to overflowing with his comforting love. You have experienced a deepening friendship with the Holy Spirit and have felt his tender affection and mercy. 2 So I’m asking you, my friends, that you be joined together in perfect unity—with one heart, one passion, and united in one love. Walk together with one harmonious purpose and you will fill my heart with unbounded joy.

3 Be free from pride-filled opinions, for they will only harm your cherished unity. Don’t allow self-promotion to hide in your hearts, but in authentic humility put others first and view others as more important than yourselves. 4 Abandon every display of selfishness. Possess a greater concern for what matters to others instead of your own interests. 5 And consider the example that Jesus, the Anointed One, has set before us. Let his mindset become your motivation. Christ is our example of how we should live and His example is all we need to understand the standard He Himself has set.

The Perfect Standard

14 May my only boast be found in the cross of our Lord Jesus, Christ. In him, I have been crucified to this natural realm, and the natural realm is dead to me and no longer dominates my life. 15 .................. What really matters is the transforming power of this new creation life. 16 And all those who live in agreement with this standard will have true peace and God’s delight, for they are the Israel of God.

Over the past few weeks in the month of October 2021, as we celebrate our 40th Anniversary as pastors of Heritage. I realize that we have a fellowship around us of, “2 MILE MEN AND WOMEN IN A 1 MILE WORLD.” Words are hard to come by when I think about what I want to say regarding your many expressions of love for us.

Let me thank you for sharing vision and working side by side with us to see God’s Great Dreams fulfilled.

Simply Yours for the Glory of God,
Cleddie and GayNell Keith