Do you ever get so frustrated with life that you simply throw your hands into the air and scream, “I’m done! I’m out! I can’t take this anymore.” Perhaps you’re dealing with a difficult child, a unique work problem, some illness or disease, or perhaps you’ve been giving 110% in a relationship that seems to be going nowhere. You’re tired, upset, and just want to quit. What do you do? Where do you turn? Well, a few thoughts:

1. Preach the Truth to Yourself – Let me be clear: It is a lie from the pit of Hell that your life and what you’re doing with your life doesn’t matter. Here’s the Truth: Your life matters because God designed your life to matter, and what you’re doing with your life (as long as it doesn’t involve axe-murdering people and other forms of debauchery and wickedness) matters because God designed all that you do to reflect His glorious grace (cf. 1 Cor. 6:20 and 1 Cor. 10:31). In other words, you were fearfully and wonderfully made (Ps. 139:14) and all that you do, as a believer in Jesus Christ, has the potential of reflecting your status as a trophy of God’s grace (Eph. 2:4-7). Preach these truths to yourself often and with zeal. These are truths worth getting excited about! These are truths worth preaching over and over and over again, especially when you’re ready to give up and quit.
2. Reorient Your Life Around God and His Word – In a nutshell, your life is not all about you! So when frustration strikes, beware of self-pity. That is to say, the mentality that screams: “Woe is me! I suffer more than all of thee!” This mentality is a close cousin to the action that leads to giving up and quitting. Indeed, self-pity is sin. It’s just that simple…it’s sin. It’s selfish to become so introverted that you think life is all about you and that life should work like you think it should work. In moments of frustration and doubt, consciously and intentionally reorient your life around God and His Word. Realize that life is not all about you; it’s about God and His glory. Realize that life will go wrong. After all, we live in a fallen world because of sin and selfishness, but Jesus is greater than sinners and grace is greater than sin! If you give up and throw in the towel, you’re essentially saying that your life and your problems are too BIG for God to handle. This is heresy. This is sin. This results in a me-centered universe, not a God-centered universe.
3. Bathe Yourself in Gospel Hope – Ahh! There is hope! Real hope. True hope. God-honoring, Christ-exalting hope for the believer in Jesus Christ. And it doesn’t center around a better set of circumstances or all your problems in this life going away. Forget Joel Osteen and the demonic delusions of the Prosperity Gospel! Our hope is built on the Gospel of Jesus Christ! Because Jesus died, was buried, and rose again, we have a future inheritance that can’t be taken away from us (1 Peter 1:3-5). We can endure any amount of difficulty and frustration here on earth because our final destination is a perfect reality in Heaven, not a better reality here on Earth. In fact, all of the frustrations and difficulties here on Earth are designed to whet our appetites for this future hope, namely, being in Heaven with Jesus forever. Bottom Line: We endure difficulties here on Earth because of the JOY that is set before us (Heb. 12:1-2).

Prairie Flower, life is tough. Life gets hard and very difficult. But we press on! Why? Because this is God’s will for our lives (Phil. 3:14). Don’t give up. Keep going! To do so speaks volumes about a God who is infinitely greater than your life and all the problems that plague it.

Dear Prairie Flower Baptist Church,

Last year a missionary family that we support by the name of Vovo and Laura Kisarets came to visit our church. I can honestly say that their presentation was different than most missionary presentations that I have seen. Vovo got up on stage to preach and present his ministry, but Laura got up there with him (not too out of the ordinary). What threw me off was when Vovo began to speak; because he was speaking Ukrainian and Laura started to translate for him! I didn’t really know what to expect, but God worked through Vovo’s powerful message and presentation. In their presentation, they explained that one of their ministries was teaching conversational English to Ukrainians. At the end of their presentation, they said they were looking for teams to help them teach at their next English school and camp.

The Holy Spirit began to move in my life, but at first I wasn’t sure if God was moving or if I was just feeling a tug by my own feelings. I did not want to be hasty, so I talked to Pastor Dave in the morning to receive wise counsel. When I talked to him, he had mentioned that someone else had approached him about the trip as well. We thought that God might be opening up this door of ministry, so we prayed for God to continue to lead us. After that, the doors just kept opening and shortly after that we decided to make the trip official.

Without going into detail, there were so many unknowns, variables, and details that I didn’t even know where to start as I was planning for this trip. God moved and worked in so many different ways to make this trip happen and everything for this trip just seemed to fall into place. Don’t get me wrong, there were many times that I would get pretty nervous (especially buying tickets); but every time a problem would arise, we would pray, give it to God, and He would provide! It has been such a great growing experience and I am excited to see what God will do while we are there.

I am trying not to post full names, the dates of the trip, and other important facts on social media for security reasons, but we are leaving very soon. Our team is comprised of six individuals that God has uniquely placed together: Eldon, Phyllis, Braden, Janine, my wife (Julia), and myself. We have been praying for this trip and I know that many other people have been too, but here is how you can specifically pray for us while we are on our trip:

1. Safe and Smooth Travels – Safety always seems to be concern these days and for good reason! Also, Laura said that the airports in these countries can be hard to deal with, so please pray that our arrival and departure would be without complications.
2. Vovo and Laura – They are working very hard to prepare for these schools and camps. So please pray that God would give them strength and endurance to finish strong and do their best.
3. The Ukrainian People – We will be coming into contact with many different people. Please pray that God would begin to work in the hearts of these people and that we would be bold with the Gospel!
4. Our Team- Traveling will be exhausting, teaching will be new, and trying to communicate with people of a whole different culture and language will be difficult. Pray that God would give us strength and wisdom to deal with the difficulties that lie ahead.

We are so excited to see how God is working in the Ukraine and to see how God will use us while we are there!

Thank you so much,

Pastor Jon

 

Hello, Prairie Flower! It’s so good to back with you from a fantastic family vacation in Branson, Missouri. Thanks again for allowing us to go. We have returned to you refreshed, relaxed, and ready to run the race that God has for us.

I am particularly excited about our upcoming brand new original series that we’ve entitled, “Broken Church: Grace For Them – Grace For Us”. This will be a 12-week study through the Apostle Paul’s first letter to the Corinthians. This series will launch this Sunday, June 12, and will extend through Sunday, August 28.  Below you will find the BIG Idea of the Series as well as a Sermon Series Schedule.

BIG Idea of the Series: WHAT you’re doing (in terms of sinful behavior) is not in line with WHO you are. Thus, let your GOSPEL-IDENTITY shape your EVERYDAY ACTIONS and you’ll find WHO you are in line with WHAT you’re doing.

June 12 – Broken, Yet Blessed – Part 1 – 1 Cor. 1:1-9

• A message on our Gospel-Identity in Christ…

June 19 – Divided, Yet Unified – 1 Cor. 1:10-19 (cf. 1 Cor. 3:1-9)

• A message on the absurdity of factions in the church when we are ONE in Christ…

June 26 – Foolish, Yet Wise – 1 Cor. 1:20-2:16 (cf. 1 Cor. 3:18-23 and 1 Cor. 4)

• A message on the call of God on our lives despite our human weakness and foolishness…

July 3 – Sexually-Deviant, Yet Sanctified – 1 Cor. 5 (cf. 1 Cor. 6:12-20)

• A message on the seemingly strange dichotomy between sexual activity and worship…

July 10 – Two, Yet One – 1 Cor. 7

• A message on the sanctity of biblical marriage…

July 17 – Constrained, Yet Free – Part 1 – 1 Cor. 8-10

• A message on the biblical balance between our freedoms in Christ and our love for Christ…

July 24 – Constrained, Yet Free – Part 2 – 1 Cor. 8-10

• A message on the biblical balance between our freedoms in Christ and our love for Christ…

July 31 – Fractured, Yet Family – 1 Cor. 11:17-34

• A message on the importance of unity in and around the Gospel and not socio-economics…

Aug 7 – Prideful, Yet Gifted – Part 1 – 1 Cor. 12-14

• A message on the need and priority of ALL the gifts in the Body of Christ…

Aug 14 – Prideful, Yet Gifted – Part 2 – 1 Cor. 12-14

• A message on the need and priority of ALL the gifts in the Body of Christ…

Aug 21 – Ignorant, Yet Glorified – 1 Cor. 15

• A message on the foundation of our faith and the fuel of the Gospel – Resurrection Power!

Aug 28 – Broken, Yet Blessed – Part 2 – 1 Cor. 16

• A message on our Gospel-Identity in Christ…

Please be in prayer for this series and be sure to interact with the messages on social media using the hashtags #BrokenChurch #PFBC #PrairieStrong.