Good Morning or Good Evening, whatever the case may be when you find yourself reading this weekly letter, Isn’t it ironic, what we find ourselves facing today?

Let me just give you a refresher course on the word irony because we are certainly faced with a great deal of irony today. One of the best definitions of irony is something that is exactly opposite of what is meant or expected to happen. I think one of the most appropriate words to define the culture of today is Ironic. Let me give you a few examples:

1. It is ironic that the Law Enforcement Officers today require our help today? They have become the victims.

2. It is ironic that a culture that votes to end the life of an unborn child would care about a shortage of baby formula.

3. It is woefully ironic the gender debate that is poignantly contrary to what God expected or intended, when he formed us male and female in the womb and the genetic markers prove this.

I could go on and on but I think the point is well taken.

In a spiritual conversation let’s turn to the question of Faith. You know the Word of God says, that every man is given a measure of faith, then it is ironic that some people would live life without cashing in on what God has given. The book of Hebrews chapter 11, is called the Faith Chapter of the Bible, for good reason, the word faith is used 24 times in this one chapter. As you read it, it is as though something stirs inside you, that measure of faith is quickened and an infusion of expectation comes alive. Let me give you a list of a few of these heroes of faith, the mere mention of their names has a way of bring anticipation into our hearts and minds in all situations. You know them like old friends; Gideon, Samson, Moses, Joseph, Jacob, Sarah, Abraham, David and several more. These along with some whom are not even mentioned except to say the world was not worthy of such gallant individuals they are simply called, ‘OTHERS’. It is said of the ‘OTHERS’ that THEY OBTAINED A GOOD REPORT.

It would have been something else to have been asked to build and ark, or be walk with God in such a way that He chose to just take you home with Him after a long walk one evening, can you imagine being tagged Father of the Faithful? Dare to be a Daniel or a Gideon even though you are the runt of the litter but that is not our calling, these are all examples of what happens when a man or a woman uses his or her faith.

Those who are listed at the end of the chapter are not quite so conspicuous. They however like us are all important and the eye cannot say to the foot I have no need of thee. One of my favorite studies is the word, EACH. You may say, how could a word like that be of any interest or even considered a favorite word study?

TOOLS
Acts 2:3
And there appeared unto them cloven tongues like as of fire, and it sat upon (each) of them.

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Philippians 2:3
Let nothing be done through strife or vainglory; but in lowliness of mind let (each) esteem other better than themselves.

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2Thessalonians 1:3
We are bound to thank God always for you, brethren, as it is meet, because that your faith grows exceedingly, and the charity of every one of you all toward (each) other abounds; Have you ever thought of yourself as an, EACH?

I have and I am thanking God for EACH one of you today, as it is expected of me, BECAUSE YOUR FAITH GROWS EXCEEDINGLY, AND THE AGAPE LOVE OF EVERY ONE OF YOU ALL TOWARD EACH OTHER ABOUNDS. I encourage you to esteem EACH other, better than yourselves. That is the ironic contrast of Christianity in comparison with this world. I believe in each of you and I encourage you to use your faith, for the irony would be that you would choose not to use it, in a world that is filled with irony.

God bless you today and make His face to shine upon on you, for the favor of the Kings face is like a cloud of latter rain.
Grace and Peace,
Pastor Cleddie and GayNell

Once again thank you for your support of all we do in the work of the Lord, EACH of you are a blessing.

Can you imagine how dark it must have been the night before the flood came upon the earth? The destruction that was coming was never in consideration. While all the while Noah was, “building an ark to the saving of his house”. What was going on can be found in modern language.

I hope you are having a wonderful day, wherever you might be as you read our weekly connect with you.

It is so good to be home, it was wonderful to visit family, but it is always good to get back home after a vacation. There are times after a few days away from the work place, I find myself thinking now I can relax and get some rest. As you know we visited our daughter in Las Vegas. This city that never seems to sleep is an in your face reminder of shades of grey. Last year GayNell and I had our family room remodeled and she chose grey as the color from Sherman Williams. There was only one problem in the color choices they have about twenty shades of grey. That is makes it difficult to make up your mind as to what color you will choose. God is the God of light and darkness He is the God of extremes, wouldn’t you agree, Heaven and Hell and Life and Death or extremes? It is the adversary that deals in shades of grey, not our God. Imagination helps us to see that a white lie is just a shade of grey? Truth is always easy to recognize because it is white and a lie is permanently black.

In Las Vegas there are places that are more like Sodom than Salem, The Hebrew meaning for Salemis PEACE AND COMPLETE. Sodom on the other hand just a few miles away as the crow flies represents the extreme in regards to SIN.

Sodom represents the evil which is the result of the misuse of their free will by created beings and that the body, with its passions and impulses, is to be neither ignored nor despised but sanctified. In the Word of God, the “flesh” that is spoken of disparagingly is not the human body but human nature in rebellion against God.

Theologians divide sin into “actual” and “original.”Actual sin is sin in the ordinary sense of the word and consists of evil acts, whether of thought, word, or deed. Original sin(the term can be misleading) speaks of an inherited consequence of the fall of man found in Genesis chapter 3, whereby one man's transgression,all became sinners. In Sodom the original purpose of man was violated by immoral and depraved acts. You and I both know for God to condone sin in any fashion would be for Him to deny His own character. The Cancel Culture of today, is championing the cause of Free Will without any consideration God’s Word, such as, “Be Ye Holy for I am Holy.” Have you ever compared Abraham and Lot, uncle and nephew?

Have you ever considered they both are spoken of as Righteousin the New Testament?

Abraham believed God and it was accounted to him as righteousness. Not only isUncle Abraham called righteous but Nephew Lot is called righteous as well. It may be well to consider that Lot was the first in a long line of humanity that bought into a get rich quick lifestyle. He saw the well-watered plains of Sodom and Gomorrah and by hastened choice must have said to himself this is the fast lane, for my family and I. It really became what he must have thought,for he knew a good deal when he saw one. It all was going as planned, he moved into Sodom became even richer, he was recognized by the elders of the city and became a member of their city council. Do you remember Jesus' words, “The gates of Hell cannot prevail against it?” What was Jesus talking about in this text? He was talking about City Councils or what men call Supreme Councils cannot prevail against the Church. Could this be what we are seeing right now in Washington?

(CONCERNING ROE vs WADE) What we gain by intercession we must remember, we keep by intercession.

It always pays to read the whole story in the Bible.

Lot’s choice worked well for him, for a while but things changed rapidly when Chedorlaomer and three kings came to town, who were not in Lots plans but they were in God’s plans. Lot was taken as a hostage to prove that the Sodom was totally captured. I have always been amazed by what followed, Abraham heard what had taken place and sent 318 of his servants to bring them all back. It seems like a small army but when they returned Melchizedek met Abraham and told him, “God gave you the victory”.

There is a world of difference between Salem and Sodom as redeemed eyes can plainly see. Have you ever stopped to think about what Lot thought concerning the choice he had made when Abraham told him he had first choice of the land before them? Abraham more than likely invited Lot to return home with him to Salem, which we know as Jerusalem today. (Jeru-Going Forth and Salem-Peace)I am reminded daily that Moscow is no Peace Center, Ezekiel 38 and 39 at the same time Jerusalem is God’s Peace Center. That is why we pray for the Peace of Jerusalem. The story of Sodom is a caveat, a warning for all of humanity in regard to the consequences of choice. If you allow me I will share with you some fresh insights from this story. In the book of 2Peter2:7,8, it is only appropriate that the Holy Spirit would inspire Peter of all the writers of the New Testament to write this verse:

7 And God delivered just Lot, vexed with the filthy conversation of the wicked:
8 (For that righteous man (dwelling among them), in seeing and hearing, vexed his righteous soul from day to day with their unlawful deeds;)

Lot got what he wanted but he did not like what he got. Our choices are ultimately important our choice to follow the lifestyle of Jesus is a Salem Choice. We follow the path that leads to peace.

Once again, I BELIEVE IN YOU,
Pastor Cleddie and GayNell

How can we say thanks for all the Lord has done for us? For me it is to continually to honor him with my first fruit and my offerings given to extend His Kingdom. Thank you for your faith and faithfulness, by which we share life together.

Greetings to those we are privileged to serve in any way which God has chosen for us to be a part of your life.

As we are spending the first part of our vacation in Las Vegas I realized that much of life is like a vacuum. I know for sure that the casino’s in Vegas are exactly this. The greedy slot machines are in my estimation GIANT VACUUMS THAT CAN TAKE IN A MANS HOUSE, CAR AND THE CLOTHES OFF HIS BACK.

GAMBLING IS NOT THE ONLY VACUUM

However, that is not all there is to this thriving city. Krista lives in the Summerlin area which flourishes with trees and flowers, right in the middle of the desert. She says it this way, “Dad, it is like a little bit of Kentucky here.” She is right and It is not at all what people’s idea of Vegas really is. I watched car wrecks, an elderly lady shopping ruin her day by falling on a curb EMS and FIRE TRUCKS COME WITH SIREN’S SCREAMING TO ATTEND HER. (No, it was not moved from GayNell) and I took it all in. We Walked and did some people Watching which is apparently one of mankind’s past times. I realized as the bio-degradable world around me devoured itself. People, like Impersonal Machines as though they were not aware they were living souls in dying bodies, took one step after another toward an endless eternity. They were like ants on an ant hill trudging through life, with some more energetic than others.

THERE ARE POSITIVE AND NEGATIVE VACUUMS

SOME OF THE NEGATIVE VACUUMS ARE AS FOLLOWS: DOUBT, UNBELIEF, ANXIETY DISTRUST, FEARS ABOUT THE FUTURE, WORRIES ABOUT THE PAST

These all work like vacuums that can suck you in like a whirlpool in a raging river. Have you ever thought about the peer pressure on youth today, in regards to critical theory, the ideology of cancel culture and so much more of what they are having to deal with? We need to be engaged in ceaseless prayer for them. Peer Pressure is a vacuum for sure attempting to erase the past and eradicate hope, while promising a better future. I have spoken with young people lately whom I have great admiration for, in that they are swimming upstream against their own parents who have bought in to today’s heresy. I borrowed a statement years ago, that fits the day in which we live with added drama. “NOTHING IS TRENDIER THAN EDUCATION, YESTERDAY’S HERESY IS TOMORROW’S CREED.”

Tolerance breeds intolerance and it becomes a vacuum for instance, defund the long blue line, and once again we see the impatience of lawlessness. “Where there is no redemptive vision, people perish.”

It is as simple as that my friends. I am aware that UN-FORGIVENESS IS A VACUUM, holding people back from the best God has for them.

Lately, I have spent time with many who I realize have been emotionally drained by grief over the loss of lives one’s. Grief is an enemy of God given peace and must be dealt with as such. As I write this weekly letter I am acting as a friend who is here to lift up hands that hang down. Knowing that death attempted to vacuum and keep Christ in the grave. We know how that all ended, with an empty tomb.

HALLELUJAH!!!

I believe God, is more powerful than any vacuum, We have victory because, “In Him you live and move and have our being.”

I believe in you because I believe what God’s Word says about you.

When you pray will you pray for me for I need your love and your care. And when I pray I will pray for you I will whisper your name in my prayers. We appreciate You and your trust in us.
Cleddie and GayNell

Dearest of friends, I hope you had a great Resurrection Weekend,

I was left with this thought after our Easter Weekend, “what do you think it was like for Jesus to breath His first breath after being dead for three days?” Do you think He just went back to breathing? Do you think maybe there was a big gasp for breath? Could it be that the Father gently touched him and said, “Wake Up Son”? Did it happen as he heard the Roman guards talking outside the borrowed tomb and He just woke up?

Let’s take a look at what happened one more time, just to remind ourselves of the fact, “Death could not hold Him”.

MATTHEW 27

62-64 After sundown, the high priests and Pharisees arranged a meeting with Pilate. They said, “Sir, we just remembered that that liar announced while he was still alive, ‘After three days I will be raised.’ We’ve got to get that tomb sealed until the third day. There’s a good chance his disciples will come and steal the corpse and then go around saying, ‘He’s risen from the dead.’ Then we’ll be worse off than before, the final deceit surpassing the first.”

65-66 Pilate told them, “You will have a guard. Go ahead and secure it the best you can.” So, they went out and secured the tomb, sealing the stone and posting guards.

THIS IS A PICTURE OF WHEN, MAN’S BEST IS NOT GOOD ENOUGH

If government could not keep Him in the grave, government should not be able to keep us quiet. Don’t think they could not seal a tomb for it to stay sealed. Once again, we see mankind doing all it can to bury Christianity but God has a plan that includes resurrection of the just and the unjust. I have walked among the ancient Roman ruins that are more beautiful than modern man can manufacture or build. Herod the Great was a master builder and his accomplishments are tourist sites even until today. He was a jealous megalomaniac, the monster who tried to kill Jesus at His birth, when he could not find him he killed off every male child of that age in Bethlehem. This terrible abortion of young lives is sometimes called “The Massacre of Innocents”. Pilate was the Roman Ruler of Israel when Jesus was crucified.

John 19:12 The Message Translation

12 At this, Pilate tried his best to pardon him, but the Jews shouted him down: “If you pardon this man, you’re no friend of Caesar’s. Anyone setting himself up as ‘king’ defies Caesar.” Did you know that Pilate was referred to as ‘The Perfect’ and that after the death of Jesus he was ordered back to Rome to stand trial for executing men without a proper trial? Did you know that Pilate died like Judas? It is taught that Pilate’s life ended when he committed suicide. Do you
remember that Pilates wife had a dream and while the trial was still in session, “sent him this message don’t get mixed up in judging this noble man? I’ve just been through a long and troubled night because of a dream about him.”

Matthew 27:19

I can say that the story leaves you breathless, two thousand years later. I cannot remember my first breath when I was born but I can remember my first breath when I was born again. It was as though I was raised from the dead and sixty-one years later, I am still breathing the fresh breath of heaven on my life. “In Him we live and move and have our being”. One of the types of the Holy Spirit is ‘Pneuma’, the Wind or Breath. Can you see the picture?

The major verse of the resurrection of Christ from sets the stage for my letter today. Paul writes to the Church in Rome about this and the Message Translation reads like this in Romans 8:11 “It stands to reason, doesn’t it, that if the alive-and-present God who raised Jesus from the dead moves into your life, he’ll do the same thing in you that he did in Jesus, bringing you alive to himself? When God lives and breathes in you (and he does, as surely as he did in Jesus), you are delivered from that dead life. With his Spirit living in you, your body will be as alive as Christ’s!”

Because He took a fresh new breath at the Resurrection we can say we are breathing Resurrection

Life, 365 days a year.
Alive in Christ,
Pastor Cleddie and GayNell
Still celebrating a wonderful Easter 2022, because of our Heritage Church family.

To All our Church Family and Friends of Heritage, Welcome to Passion Week 2022, I woke up one day last week with this Andre Crouch song on my heart, actually it was like a broken record playing over and over in my head but I didn’t mind.

I don't know why Jesus loved me
I don't know why He cared
I don't know why He sacrificed His life
Oh, but I'm glad, so glad He did
He left His mighty throne in glory
To bring to us redemption's story
Then He died just for you and me
Oh, but I'm glad, so glad He did.
THE SECOND STANZA IS WHAT RESURRECTION WEEK IS ALL ABOUT
He left His mighty throne in glory
To bring, to us redemption story
And then He died but He Rose Again
Just for you and me
Oh, but I'm glad, I'm glad He did.

This is a good week to think about the question that is answered in this song, WHERE WOULD I BE IF JESUS DIDN’T LOVE ME?

Jesus is the first-fruit of them that sleep, His resurrection opens up the door for those who believe in Him to have hope beyond this world. It is one thing for people to say, “I believe in Jesus” but another thing to say, “I know him”.

In life we sometimes find ourselves relying on Him and the more rely on Him, the better we know Him. When Kyle and Angie went through the loss of Palmyr, it was as though they had been ambushed by the unexpected but I watched them get to know the Lord more because they found themselves relying more on the Lord in their loss. It was not something that can be taught so much as something they had to love through together. As their father and father in law I watched as the each grieved differently. Their experience was like reading a journal on broken hearts and with all they were going through they still had to live life coming their way day after day.

Good Scripture seem to fall on hard ground but in the back of their minds they had to come to their own resolution, “that all things work together for good to them, who love God.” I have watched as the years go by as they are from time to time ambushed emotionally. It can be just a memory or a picture on the refrigerator or the mention of her name. I have to admit to drive by the cemetery where she is buried is easy and often I just pull in and set there for a while where she is buried at the foot of her great grandmother. It is a little easier when I have someone in the car with me. One of the best things I learned from Kyle and Angie is they kept on moving, there faith was forward moving and this is a good lesson for all of us. One day we will all disappear but this is not the end, remember Jesus was the first fruit of those whom God would raise from the dead. (Jesus Resurrection is our Connection with Heaven.)

No Slain Lamb, No Blood Sacrifice
No Shed Blood, No Sin Sacrifice
No Sin Sacrifice, No Salvation
No Salvation, No Overcoming Life
No Overcoming Life, No Eternal Victory
No Victory, No Release for those in Captivity
No Release, No Freedom from Sins Tyranny
No Freedom, No Triumph Over Death, Hell and the Grave
No Triumph Over the Grave, Death has the Final Word

But Jesus is the Word made flesh, Who dwelled among us and He is the final Word the Amen, the Omega, The First and the Last, The Source of Life itself and He is Risen Indeed.

And the song still plays loudly in my mind:

He left His mighty throne in glory
To bring, to us redemption story
And then He died but He Rose Again
Just for you and me

Yes, and I am glad that He did. Happy Easter to you and yours.

Pastor Cleddie and GayNell

(Don’t Miss Next Friday Night, The New Video Presentation of Hope for the Hopeless, with Billy Price)

We bless you today with the love of the Lord and at the same time we are blessed by you and your faithfulness to the work of God.

Don’t you love the spring of the year, new life charges on to the grand stage of humanity, with bursting blooms of colorful beauty? The drab grey of melted snow and leafless trees are once again transformed as the landscape becomes glorious at the stroke of God’s perennial brush

To all our brothers and sisters in Christ, who receive our weekly letter,

Have you ever thought of yourselves as deputized by the Lord himself?