1 Thessalonians 5:18  (NLT)

¹⁸  “Be thankful in all circumstances, for this is God’s will for you who belong to Christ Jesus.”

Thursday is Thanksgiving and yes, we're all thankful on that day.    However, the Word says we are to be thankful in ALL circumstances, no matter where we find ourselves.

Twila and I are in Michigan enjoying some down-time with our kids and helping serve Thanksgiving dinner to a host of students and their families at Teen Challenge. What a blessing this is to us.

However this weekend, and at all times, we’re thankful for our Battlefield AG Family. You are loved and we are glad we’re all part of God’s  Family.    Rejoice and worship Him today with your whole heart!  

We’re blessed to call you Family!   

Hope you had a great Thanksgiving!

Love ya,  Pastor Phil      

In my early years of serving as Pastor there was a time when Thanksgiving loomed close but the cupboards were bare.  The economy had taken a turn for the worse.  My wife and I prayed that God would send us a turkey for Thanksgiving.

Being new in the community, neither of us realized that several of our church families had more than one member working at a local factory that gave turkeys to its employees for the holidays.  Be careful how you pray, you may get it.

As Thanksgiving approached we wound up with so many turkeys from our generous congregation that we had to rent a freezer locker to store them!  We enjoyed roast turkey, turkey sandwiches, left-over turkey, warmed-up turkey, cold turkey...  we had all the turkey we needed or wanted and THEN some!

Philippians 4:19 became a way of life for us in those early days. We learned first hand that He really does care about those empty cupboards.  He really does hear those desperate cries as breadwinners pray for little hungry mouths needing to be filled.

These days our prayers might be a bit more specific.  We might think to include the side dishes to go along with the turkey.

Trusting God with you for a bountiful Thanksgiving!

Pastor Rich Orrell

Thankful for His Blessings

Psalm 69:30 NLT

^{30 “}I will praise God’s name in song and glorify him with thanksgiving. “

Thanksgiving is probably my favorite holiday.  Just a little over a week from now we will all sit down with family and friends to give thanks to the One who provides all to us.

God is so good to us friends, His mercy abounds and gives us much more than we could ever deserve.

Today and every day let us let the Lord and others know how truly thankful we are for God’s bounty.

“He paid a debt He did not owe, I owed a debt I could not pay.”  

Love ya,             

Pastor Phil      

As a younger person I often heard about the importance of putting a good foundation under the building. Things were said about the strength of the foundation as well as the need for it to be plumb and level. I’m not sure I really grasped what was being said until I began remodeling an older home. Although the project was not extensive it grew into some major work as I discovered just how wavy the floor really was.

It did not take long to find out there was nothing square nor plumb in the entire structure. A quick trip to the crawl space revealed the problem; the foundation had settled and cracked. Oh, the building wouldn’t fall down. The ground was too rocky for that. But it certainly made for interesting times fitting well-built cabinetry into a kitchen that was badly out of kilter.

 After lots of hard work and ingenuity the cabinets fit (more or less) and life went on. A bit wiser at the close of the project, I made up my mind that if I were ever to build something from the ground up, I would do everything in my power to see that the foundation was rock solid. I had had enough of fixing preventable problems from the past.

It occurs to me that life is a lot like that. Things just go a lot smoother for a lot longer if the Foundation is secure to start with. For the person setting out to build a life, there IS no better Foundation than a personal relationship with Jesus Christ. 

To know Him supersedes all else that might otherwise seem solid and secure. Without Jesus as the Foundation, whatever else one may build will be out of square and out of plumb. He truly is the Rock of our salvation. 

Lovingly,

Pastor Rich Orrell

Let’s be a true friend!

When the Word chooses to emphasize a relationship of great value It refers to a “friend. “  It says Jesus is a friend that sticks closer than a brother.   So friends are important.

Each person that we can truly call ‘friend’ is a blessing to us and a person of great value.  

As our Church Family grows, we have a great opportunity to add new friends to our lives.

Resist the ’comfort zone’ of just sticking with our ’old friends’.    By stepping out of the comfort zone to get acquainted with newcomers, we have a great opportunity to make new friends.

Let’s make sure our friendliness is more than just a friendly greeting.   Take the opportunity to connect and  get to know each other.   We all benefit when we expand our circle-of-friends!    Be a friend today, to have new friends!

True friends are a blessing from God!

Love ya,  Pastor Phil      

To a six year old in a family with limited financial resources the crisp new dollar bill in the birthday card seemed a fortune. An out of town relative had sent it perhaps realizing what it would mean to the boy to have an entire dollar to spend on himself. Unrealistic visions of the purchasing power of that single dollar filled his head as he slipped on his faded dungarees and buttoned his only dress shirt preparing to head for church with the family. Mountains of candy and piles of toys occupied his thinking as the '35 Plymouth sedan coughed and chugged toward church on it's remaining 5 cylinders. 

The guest speaker for the morning was a missionary. Memories of just which country the speaker served have dimmed with age. But the urgency of the request for assistance in getting there still rings true through the years. 

At the close of the service the missions offering was finally being received. The six year old thought about the great need for the Gospel in that distant land and the enormous cost the missionary had underscored in his talk. In the little boy's mind, the only source of money massive enough to fund such a need was his one and only dollar. By the time the offering container had arrived at his pew the boy clutched his offering reverently in his pudgy little hand. Mountains of candy and piles of toys evaporated from his thinking to be replaced by thoughts of a child rather like himself, but with darker skin, kneeling to pray as he had done months earlier to receive Christ as Savior and Lord. Gravely, the little boy placed his dollar in the pan experiencing that warm, clean feeling of joy every missions giver knows. 

It was not a solitary piece of money that the Father had given that bought salvation for all. It was His one and only Son. He still looks for those who place greater value on the souls of men than they place on money or possessions. 

"For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son..."

Lovingly,

Pastor Richard Orrell

2  Corinthians 12:9-10 NLT

⁹ “My grace is all you need. My power works best in weakness. So now I am glad to boast about my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ can work through me. ¹⁰ That’s why I take pleasure in my weaknesses, and in the insults, hardships, persecutions, and troubles that I suffer for Christ. For when I am weak, then I am strong.”

Today you may feel that life has brought you more than you can bear.  As Christians we often do face trials, but be encouraged, HE has overcome all of our trials.  His Grace is sufficient for you today.   Rest in the scripture above, when you are weak, He makes you strong.   You CAN do all things through Christ who strengthens you  - -  you’re not alone, He has everything under control!

Rest in HIS strength for all of your todays!

Love ya, 

Pastor Phil      

I was thankful for Dad's borrowed Chevy as I headed back to college following Christmas break. The flamingo pink paint job didn't do much for me but at least it was in good shape and reliable, or so Dad and I thought. With barely enough money for fuel and meager eats, I couldn't swing any repair bills. So when the motor made an odd noise and lost power for a moment, I was galvanized to pray enthusiastically.

It picked right up with its familiar rhythm and I breathed a sigh of relief as I was coming into Montgomery at rush hour. Noticing the sinking fuel gauge, I pulled into a gas station and filled up. Remembering Dad's fuel stop routine, I checked the oil, cleaned the windshield, eyeballed the tires and paid the bill from my small supply of travel cash. The old motor fired right up and soon I was pulling out into the river of cars on Montgomery's south side. At the first stop light the motor died. I turned the key and cranked the engine until the battery died. As I listened to the futile clicking of the solenoid I realized I was in a tough situation; a very balky car, a very small amount of travel money, and very alone in a very big city.

The honking and rude comments from the drivers behind me only served to underscore the precariousness of my situation. I bowed my head and prayed, asking God to help the old Chevy start one more time. My work around Dad's service station as a kid had taught me enough to know there  was no "start" left in that battery. And whatever possessed me to think it might start after it WOULDN'T moments before?

Naïveté? Desperation? Faith? After all these years I'm still not sure. All I know is that when I raised my head from praying, that old pink Chevy started like a new one and ran like a top all the rest of the way to Missouri! It never gave me another moment's trouble as I drove it for a semester. 

Moral of the story? Even when it looks impossible, go ahead and pray. The Angel told the Virgin Mary, "...with God, nothing shall be impossible!"

Ask, attempt, anticipate...

Be encouraged!

Pastor Richard Orrell

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We felt fortunate not to have wrecked but were honestly wondering why the delay with the flat tire when we had prayed for divine protection before starting our trek from the safety of home.  

The only tire shop in town just happened to have a trailer tire in the correct size. After negotiations using our interpreter, we paid the steep price and waited "patiently" while the tire was put on the trailer.  

It was only when we were asked to come see what they had found that we realized the answer to our prayer. The shop near home that had serviced the trailer prior to our departure had failed to tighten the lug nuts on the wheels. They were close to falling off and might have caused a serious accident. It was only the annoying flat from the near-miss with the express bus that saved us from worse trouble ahead.

Makes me wonder what else God might be protecting us from when we experience life's little exasperations.

Be thankful for all things! (Paraphrasing Ephesians 5:20)

Thankfully,

Pastor Rich Orrell

"You are in the process of becoming what you are going to be," is an axiom first heard in the early 1960's on my arrival at Bible College green as grass and wet behind the ears. Contained in these few cryptic words is a truth many will live a lifetime and never grasp. 

Each date, Bible study, conversation, part time job, or book we read helps to formulate opinion and character.

Even the occasional disagreement or lively debate may serve to coagulate our view of life and how it should be lived.

It behooves us to be careful what influences we allow into our lives. Even the most casual contact or recreational choice can unduly affect our outlook.

The children's chorus says, "So be careful little eyes what you see!"

May we be discerning in all we do.

With compassion,

Pastor Rich Orrell