Hello everybody! I hope this finds you walking in the joy of the Lord! 
 
Many times in our life as a true Christian we run into those moments of decision that we just don’t have the answer for but we still earnestly try to figure it out on our own. Or we may go ahead and make the decision from our own earthly wisdom and it gets us into a position of confusion; confusion that has to do with how did I get here and how am I going to get myself out of this? I guess the first thing that I need to say is that confusion in your life is something that is definitely not a result of following God’s Word and will for your life. 
 
I have been there. I have made a decision before that seemed like a good idea at the time and it seemed like a God idea too, BUT I got ahead of God, I moved too quick in my decision and it put me into a situation that ended up in a quagmire of confusion. My eventual way out of it was to let God into it, and let Him decide what I should do from then on, and guess what, the place of confusion turned into a situation of peace and true God ordained purpose. I guess the Bible is correct when it says,
 
“Trust in the LORD with all your heart
And do not lean on your own understanding.
6 In all your ways acknowledge Him,
And He will make your paths straight.”-Proverbs 3:5-6 
 
Verse 5 says, “Trust in the LORD with all your heart” This is a very important teaching because God is the origin or source of all good. He has made us as His creatures to be dependent upon Himself. He requires us to be conscious of that dependence. He has promised to communicate what we need and He commands us to believe His promises, and look for our fulfillment in Him. But, we are to do this without doubt, fear, or distrust and we are to do it “with our whole heart.”
 
“And do not lean on your own understanding” You are to lean on GOD, not on yourself, because as I have heard it said, “He who trusts in his own heart is a fool.”
 
Verse 6 tells us, “In all your ways acknowledge Him” This is what I have so deeply learned in my own life as a believer. I have learned to begin, continue, and end every work, purpose, and device, with God. I have learned to earnestly pray for his direction at the beginning, and to look for his continual support along the way, so that everything I do will begin, continue, and finish in His glory! 
 
Leaning on our own self-sufficiency and self-dependence has been the ruin of mankind ever since the fall of Adam. Trying to live independently of God will do nothing but bring confusion. Trying to make the important decisions of your life without God can end you up in a place of great confusion. 
 
There is no reason for you to have confusion in your life today. Give your area of confusion over to God. Set your mind on Him and begin to trust in him, lean on Him, let His thoughts be your thoughts, let His ways take the place of your ways. If your decisions have brought you to a place of confusion, then ask for forgiveness for trying to do it your way, and then let God help you do it His way. Confusion will not be a part of the life of a believer in Christ who is trusting, leaning and steadfast in their mind towards God.
 
I am excited for you today and the fact that you are going to be relieved of your confusion and set in a place of perfect peace!
 
God Bless and have a wonderfully peaceful day.
 
Pastor Brad Tuttle

“with all humility and gentleness, with patience, showing tolerance for one another in love, being diligent to preserve the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace.” (Eph. 4:2-3)  
 
“To accomplish anything great we need to work as a team.”
 
That’s a simple statement but I think I tell it to my church every service; at least it seems like it. The great thing is that I am blessed to have a church where teamwork is of a high priority, and that we work on deepening the unity of our team on a constant basis. Teamwork and complete unity within that teamwork is essential for effective forward progress. I strongly believe this especially about believers who are part of a local church, and who have a dream and desire to see their church truly make a difference for the Kingdom of God. There must be a unity that is there that goes beyond just the surface-level, superficial smiles, and “Hi’s”, and congenial small talk. True teamwork, and I mean teamwork that is inundated with the bonds of unity, carries within it the idea of brothers and sisters working together as a family that may at times disagree, but yet is a family that always forgives, forgets, puts the past behind, and moves forward.  If we didn’t need each other so much than the Apostle Paul wouldn’t have written Ephesians 4 calling the Ephesian church and us today to walk in unity always realizing that each of us plays a vital role in the success of furthering the Gospel and building the church.
 
I witnessed teamwork at a recent outreach that our church did at a waterpark that is located near to where we hold our church services. I watched as the THCI Team worked and labored from 8am until 6pm in the hot Texas sun to play a part in the delivering of the Gospel message to over 2000 people! They set up tents, banners, the stage 3 times for 3 shows where Team Xtreme performed and ministered, carried brick and block, shared the Gospel with people who waited in line for an autograph, talked about the church to everyone, and generally worked like worker ants in unity to accomplish this task to the glory of God. It was awesome for me as the pastor of the church to witness.
 
Our verse tells us to be diligent about preserving the unity within the team. In other words, work hard at doing your part to keep the unity amongst yourself and those who labor among you. Hey, I realize that there may be people on your team that ‘grate’ on you a bit, but from what I read in Ephesians 4 the Apostle Paul doesn’t give us any out because of that. We are to suck it up, pray about it, put on the garment of love, and do everything you can to bring the team together in unity because that’s just the way it’s supposed to be. I don’t read anywhere in 1 Corinthians 13 where it is explaining what real godly love is that we are allowed to destroy the unity of the team because we want to hold on to our little grudges. This is one of the tricks of the devil and there is nothing more he would like to do than to have believers not get along, and thusly hinder the effectiveness of a church’s forward progress. If a ministry can rid itself from any strife than it can be mightily used of God.
 
So let’s not let the devil win. Let’s defeat him by being a team and working together with the kind of teamwork that is so unified that nothing can slow us down or hinder us from accomplishing everything God has called us to be and do! 
 
What about you? Are you truly the team player you need to be in your church? Be diligent about preserving unity and make a difference on the team that God has placed you on. Teamwork is key for the effectiveness of God’s work.
 
God Bless you and may your team thrive and accomplish everything God has called you to accomplish!
 
Pastor Brad Tuttle

“As the Father loved Me, I also have loved you; abide in my love” (John 15:9)
 
Hello everyone! I hope this finds you walking in the peace and presence of the Lord.
 
Perhaps the greatest need Christians have today is to learn how to truly abide in Christ (John 15:4-10). We are created with a deep need to know, commune and fellowship with the Lord on a moment-by-moment basis. Christians write, preach, teach, organize, develop evangelistic strategies, and administer programs, but many have forgotten to spend time with the Lord . . . to abide! We need a more personal communion with God in prayer and through His Word so that we can grow more in the “grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ” (2 Peter 3:18). We need to find ways to live our Christian life by abiding in Christ in a very real and practical sense. As a pastor of a local church I have come to realize that if more folks truly gave their relationship with the Lord the same amount of time they give to so many other things in their life that there would be a lot more believers walking in victory and not discouragement. If you are living out your daily walk with Christ in the same old way . . . no excitement, no intimacy, no deep abiding . . . you must make a change! 

Let me help you to find a place to start. You need more than the knowledge that you need to abide in Christ; you need to know exactly what that means and how to go about it. Here are a few simple points that will help you daily to abide in Christ.
 
1. Spend quality time in prayer.
 
Have you prayed today? The Bible tells us to, “Pray without ceasing” (1 Thessalonians 5:17)
As well it tells us to, “Devote yourselves to prayer, keeping alert in it with an attitude of thanksgiving” (Colossians 4:2)
 
We must follow God day by day with prayer. We must fill our mouths with urging, and fill our urging with faith and fervent desires. Abiding in Christ means that we are celebrating our fellowship with Him, and the greater our fellowship the more we will realize the richness of Him and be able to appropriate His grace and love in all dimensions of our lives. To abide in Christ is to pray always and as the psalmist told us, to pray without ceasing. Are you abiding with Him through prayer? Are you setting aside a time everyday in which you get alone with Him in prayer? 
 
2. Passionately worship Him.
 
Paul tells us in Romans 12:1: “I urge you, brethren, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies a living and holy sacrifice, acceptable to God, which is your spiritual service of worship.”
 
In worship, we offer ourselves completely to the Lord. Every day, we need to endeavor to put forth some vigorous acts of love towards Jesus Christ. Even during your normal day, in your secular business and employment, you need to look up to Jesus Christ in worship. In your personal devotions and with your family, worship Christ with passionate adoration that comes from a heart that is truly in love with Him! I am talking about even taking a moment right now wherever you might be and just make a commitment that you will begin to present all of who you are to Him as a living and holy sacrifice-that you will give Him 100% of who you are! I don’t know about you but the Lord has been so good to me and in turn I truly want to worship Him with my life.
 
3. Cultivate an attitude of thankfulness for what He has done for us.
 
“In everything give thanks; for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus.” (1 Thessalonians 5:18)
 
Jesus relinquished the glory and majesty that was His in heaven to take on the role of a lowly servant, lovingly submitting to His Father’s plan. He suffered the wrath of God on the cross-He took the penalty we ought to have suffered for our sin. He endured criticism, ridicule, unbelief, and finally humiliating death by crucifixion in order to right our relationship with God. He humbled Himself before the Father to become the Lamb of God, and He did so in full view of mankind, even when He was labeled a criminal and unjustly convicted. This wasn’t just the brutal suffering that is depicted in so many movies. Jesus, fully God and fully man, became sin so that we in exchange might miraculously become the righteousness of God. And through Him, we have God’s free gift of salvation and eternal life.
 
Knowing this, how could we respond any differently than to absolutely love Jesus Christ with incredible passion and be overwhelmingly thankful? Anyone who calls himself or herself a true Christian needs to remember that they were truly lost before they accepted Christ. But now because of Him, look at what a true Christian can become-in right standing before God the Father, redeemed, filled with the Holy Spirit, and living with a true purpose in life! One who is truly abiding in Christ has a grateful heart. Too be very honest with you there isn’t anything or anyone in our life that should have a place of greater importance or who deserves more thankfulness than the One who set us free from the bondage of sin and separation from God!
 
Let me close by asking where you are abiding? Are you abiding in anxiety, loneliness, discouragement, fear, anger, disappointment, worldliness?
 
Abiding in Christ is a process. So don’t get discouraged if it seems hard to understand how to get it working out in your life. Just start doing-abiding and then just rest in Him, trust in Him, and allow Him to meet with you when you abide with Him.
 
God Bless,

Pastor Brad Tuttle 

Finally, be strong in the Lord, and in the strength of His might. 11 Put on the full armor of God, that you may be able to stand firm against the schemes of the devil. 12 For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the powers, against the world forces of this darkness, against the spiritual forces of wickedness in the heavenly places. 13 Therefore, take up the full armor of God, that you may be able to resist in the evil day, and having done everything, to stand firm. (Ephesians 6:10-13)
 
Hello everyone! I hope this finds you walking in the power of the Lord.
 
I am writing on this topic this week because it seems like so many believers are going through spiritual battles. The problem is that many are forgetting exactly what they are in the middle of and are letting it defeat them emotionally. I have written this as a way to bring encouragement to all of you who may be going through it right now-to understand that your enemy is battling against you to steal you zeal, joy, and emotional strength. I don’t want to see you allow this spiritual battle you are in to bring discouragement into your life. So I am giving a call to all who need it today.
 
It’s a call to us to be men and women of God, to fight the good fight, to stand fast in the faith, to be strong in the Lord in the midst of the battle, in this dark and evil world. We must understand at all times that a true believer is Satan’s enemy. We must see that the greater our impact for God’s kingdom, the harder he works to stir up frustration, doubt, and anxiety.
 
The apostle Paul wrote a letter to the Ephesian believers warning them that the devil would scheme against a true Christian’s life. He (the devil) rallies the “spiritual forces of wickedness” to attack believers in mind, body, and spirit as we see in 6:12. His primary goal is to divert our attention from the Lord so that our relationship suffers and our witness is weakened or ruined. The Devil cannot snatch our eternal spirit from God’s hand (John 10:29) but he will settle for leading us to make a mess of this present life.
 
We Are Called To War-Stand Firm!
 
Those who ignore this call and the battle that rages around them are doomed to be casualties. Fending off satanic attack is not done in our own strength. No man or woman can match wits with the adversary. He is smarter and stronger than even the most intelligent people. Instead we must be continually empowered by God through the Holy Spirit, who is far greater than Satan. (1 John 4:4) We must answer the bugle call, we must put on our armor and stand our ground-or the battle will roll over us.
 
So we must learn to recognize how the dark systems of the devil work. But more than that, we must learn the processes of overcoming the systems of the devil-not by flesh and blood, not by joining committees, not by political action, not by taking up clubs or assault weapons and attacking a human enemy. No, Paul says the weapons of our warfare are not flesh and blood weapons, not physical weapons, not political weapons. Rather our weapons are mighty through God, unto the pulling down of strongholds and bringing into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ (2 Corinthians 10:3-5).
 
We are Called To War-Stand Firm
 
No battle was ever won without courage, perseverance, and strength. And that is the challenge before us, clearly sounded in Ephesians 6. Paul calls us to be strong in the Lord. He calls us to understand the nature of our enemy, and he calls us to put on the whole armor and join the battle. Let me say again that the apostle Paul indicates that the only ones who can successfully battle against the devil’s forces are true Christians. As unbelievers, we were under the power and control of Satan, even though we did not know it. But when we came to faith in Christ by His grace, we were delivered from his “kingdom of darkness” and made citizens in the “kingdom of light.” Our salvation caused us no longer to be the enemies of God, but at the same time resulted in us becoming the enemies of Satan. No wonder he so aggressively attacks Christians. We were once his subjects. The spiritual war is about not giving way, but standing fast.
 
So stand fast today and don’t give up ground. Go into your battle position and use the weapons at your disposal-prayer and God’s Word, and your faith in Him as your Deliverer. You have the power of the Holy Spirit within you to fight this war against your mind today and be victorious! So don’t give up, don’t let your mind be discouraged, don’t let your heart be troubled, for the Lord is with you and if He is with you who can be against you. Go on the offensive this week—you take the battle to his doorstep. And always remember, the Lord your God is with you!
 
God Bless you this week and praise God that the victory is your through the power and might of your Lord and God!
 
Pastor Brad Tuttle

Hello everybody! I hope this finds you walking in the strength and power of the Lord.