Pastor Jeff Yale

Today the Lord took home a great Brother in Christ, Pastor Jeff Yale. I first met Pastor Jeff at Real Life Church in Tampa in 2003. There he was serving as the church's youth pastor.

Jeff was such a warm, charismatic man. You felt immediately welcome in his presence. So many of us at the church and in the Tampa Bay area were and still are touched by Jeff's ministry. Our Wednesday night youth service was filled to overflowing by kids that weren't even regular members of our church. The local DJ's knew Jeff by name and helped him promote numerous community outreaches and local Christian bands of all genres.

Jeff leaves behind a legacy in Christ that we all would hope to leave. Touching so many lives, leading so many youth to Christ. Jeff trusted in Jesus knowing that He is our only hope as fallen creatures. He taught that to his flock God had entrusted to him. Jeff also leaves behind the legacy of two beautiful children. I pray that God would reign down on them His Peace, His Mercy and His Protection, in the name of Jesus!

As the events of the past few weeks unfold I cannot help but think of the lives of the people that have departed the Earth. I've pondered their faults, failures and struggles. I've marveled at their positive contributions to our culture and society. But no matter the size, stature, grandure or celebrity of these people, I cannot help but really ponder their place with Christ. Not standing in judgement of any of them but wondering if they truly knew Jesus and hoping they were face to face with Him right now! Right now, only the Lord knows for sure the eternal placement of each of their souls. What I do know for sure is that the soul IS eternal! What I do know for sure is that Jesus' offer of eternal life in Him is free! What I also know is that time is running out. Jesus is returning for His very soon!

As you watch the news and see people come and go, live and die, take time to think and ponder on this Gift of eternal life God has offered you and embrace it!

John 16-18"This is how much God loved the world: He gave his Son, his one and only Son. And this is why: so that no one need be destroyed; by believing in him, anyone can have a whole and lasting life. God didn't go to all the trouble of sending his Son merely to point an accusing finger, telling the world how bad it was. He came to help, to put the world right again. Anyone who trusts in him is acquitted; anyone who refuses to trust him has long since been under the death sentence without knowing it. And why? Because of that person's failure to believe in the one-of-a-kind Son of God when introduced to him.

God Bless!!!

natural versus supernatural

Did you ever have the most wonderful experience at Church, or receive an awesome word from God? Then Monday morning comes and or maybe you just simply step out of the church into the "real" world and everything feels less powerful or less special?

Have you every known that "you know, that you know, that you know" that God's revelation to you was God, IS God, speaking into your life, but everything you are currently seeing in the natural is telling you different?

It's amazing how you can stand and witness the most amazing, supernatural acts of God and then be completely brought back to where you were by the everyday natural.

This is where faith in action comes in to play. This where you walk it out. Where "the rubber meets the road" as the saying goes.

Mat 18:18 "I tell you the truth, whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven.” What truly made me understand this verse more clearly was Jesus raising Lazarus from the grave. What was loosed in heaven was the miracle of Lazarus being brought back to life. What had to be loosed on earth was the physical grave clothes that Lazarus was bound up in.

To many of us receive a Word from God and cherish it, hold it close to our heart and then put it in figurative "keep sake" box. Never actually putting it into action, never taking it for a spin. Kind of like you praying for a car so you can go to work, God sends you one and you leave it in the driveway only to stare at it day after day, never doing with it what you had needed and asked God for.

Heavenly Father I pray today that you continually reveal your Glory to me and continue to strenthen my faith, continue to strengthen my resolve to walk out your blessings! In the name of JESUS!