I love my friends, and by the grace of God, I have had the privilege of knowing a lot of people as friend.  Through serving God in the ministry, I have had the privilege of getting to know many people and coming to know many of them as close and dear friends.  One of the benefits of being a pastor is that I have friends all over the country and beyond that I met through serving God. California, Pennsylvania, Florida, Texas, Honduras, and Brazil are just a few places where I have friends, not to mention all the friends I have in Mississippi!

I must admit, that I am not always the best at staying in touch with my friends, yet each and every one of them is special to me in their own particular way, and it hurts me to ever lose a friend.  In the last few months I have lost two very fine and close friends to death.  They are not really lost, because I know where they are.  It is just that I have lost contact with them until Jesus comes, or I go to be with them.  I miss them, but at least I was able to enjoy their friendship on earth, and will get to enjoy it for eternity in heaven.

There is a new way to lose a friend now that is more hurtful than death.  Now, with the advent of Facebook, if someone decides that they don’t want to put forth the effort to work through misunderstandings, they can simply “defriend” you from their Facebook account.  It probably isn’t really a new concept, but it is certainly new terminology to be defriended (as I write this my spell checker underlines it as a misspelled word!).  No one wants to be defriended, especially if they are like me and love people, even those that no longer wants to be their friend.

While there will always be misunderstandings that will sometimes result in people “defriending” you, it is good to know that there is One who will never “defriend” us; our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ.  Even though we let Him down over and over and  sin against Him who died on the cross in our place, He will never defriend us, because He loves us.  Jesus is, ” . . . a friend who sticks closer than a brother” (Proverbs 18: 24).  I thank God that I know Jesus as my friend, and that He knows me and loves me so much that nothing I could ever do would cause Him to defriend me.  Thank you, Jesus, my Lord, Savior, and Friend for all eternity.  I pray that you know Jesus as your Lord, Savior, and Friend too.

^{Ezekiel 12:25} – “But I the LORD will speak what I will, and it shall be fulfilled without delay. For in your days, you rebellious house, I will fulfill whatever I say, declares the Sovereign LORD.”

There are often times when we actually believe that God needs us to carry out His plan.  Do we not yet know and understand the sovereignty of God?  God will always do exactly what He says He will do!  When we try to impose our plans upon God’s plans, we will surely fail and God can not and will not use us.  The amount of talent that you have been given does not matter to God.  All that matters to God is your heart!  God will greatly use someone with no talents and a huge heart, but He will not use someone with many talents and no heart for His will.  God does NOT need you and your talents, but he WANTS you to use your talents for His will and His glory!  As part of a church plant, God is going to fulfill everything He has promised with or without the people He has brought to do the job.  I am amazed and awed at my Sovereign God!  The way He uses people with little talent to do huge things to help grow His kingdom is simply astounding!  There have been many times along the way where we forget how God is in total control and does not need us at all.  We say, “How is this going to happen without ____?”  God says, “Oh you of little faith, sit back and watch!”  Come be a part of what God has promised He will do here at The Grove Church!  It’s an exciting time to see how God works.  We get to see His sovereignty each week, and nothing can compare to Him!

As I write this blog, I’m thinking of what the Labor Day holiday represents for those who labor for our country. It was started for the union movement to help workers represent their needs so that employers won’t take advantage of them. My dad believed in unions. As a matter of fact, this past summer he was voted in as Vice President of IBEW local 605 . When compared to the kingdom of God, we as believers in Christ are to labor for the kingdom. Know that the bible says works wont get us into Heaven, but only faith can in Jesus Christ. We know that God took a break on the seventh day in Genesis and He says we also should rest. But remember, we as Christians should be laboring for the kingdom with the strength of Christ for “I can do all thing in Christ who strengthens me.” While this does not mean we can jump over a building, we can retrieve strength through Christ when we are doing something for Him. I hope you all have a good Labor Day and God bless!

Care Pastor
Will Parsons