Skyline Christian Center

Hi Friends,

Thought I would write you a short note to say hi and simply pray God’s blessings on your life. I thank the Lord for you and your solid commitments to Jesus. It has been a great week thus far of the presence of the Lord. I trust it has been for you as well. May the blessings on God, His peace, joy, love, rest His presence fill you, your home, family and friends. May He increase you and enlarge your boarders like Jabez.

I have been thinking about our conversations on Sunday. People do need a personal encounter with God. Everywhere Jesus went He provided an encounter with God. Encountering His power is encountering Him. God cannot be properly or even accurately represented without power. In other words, those strange things we call miracles are actually part of what we owe the world in order for their faith to rest on something besides our good works.

Will you join Sherie and I as we press for the manifested presence of God? Will you come on Sunday’s expecting to encounter God in some way? Expectation is the environment for miracles. Honestly, I’m excited for what He is doing. See you Sunday.

In His grip,
Pastor Ken

PS… I’m listening to Pastor Chris’s message of a few weeks ago. What a great message. What a picture of the Father’s Heart. What a powerful picture of the authority of Sonship. Good word Pastor Chris.

Dear Friends,

I write to you this afternoon with a strange mixture of joy and sadness. Sunday evening one of the great men of God, Terry Oakley, or Pastor “T” as he was affectionately called, went home to be with Jesus. Pastor T’s, life wasn’t loud, nor showy but consistent, faithful and influential. His legacy is solid and lasting. Earth’s loss is heaven’s gain.

Again, I am reminded of what is really important. The famous Missionary Statesman, Oswald Chambers pens well concerning the truly influential of our world, he writes;

“The people who influence us most are not those who buttonhole us to talk to us, but those who live their lives like the stars of heaven and the lilies of the field, perfectly, simply and unaffectedly. Those are the lives that mold us. If you want to be of use to God, get rightly related to Jesus Christ and He will make you of use unconsciously every minute you live.”

Jesus said that we are the “salt of the earth.” Salt influences everything around and yet it is unseen. That is the nature of God’s Great Men and Women. With a quiet and consistent Godliness the world around them is quietly and consistently influenced. You may be facing situations that demand a special endurance. Be strong. Stand in the Lord. Wait patiently and consistently in faith. Never give up. I promise you, “this too shall pass.”

And let us not grow weary while doing good,
for in due season we shall reap if we do not lose heart.
Galatians 6:9

Thanks to all of you great folks that prepared a fantastic pot-luck last Sunday. What a great morning we had, we worshiped, shared the Lord’s Table, dedicated Marcu Joshua Dinut, unwrapped God’s Word, prayed for one another and then had lunch together. Wow… that was great. Let’s get together again this Sunday. See you soon and be excellent to one another.

In His grip,
Pastor Ken

Hi Friends,

I trust this note finds you well, especially on this sunny day. I can feel Spring in the air. During my prayer time today I sensed the Holy Spirit moving on my heart. I wanted to write you all and share what I felt. Just as the seasons are in the process of changing I had the distinct sensation that God’s seasons are in a transition as well. It is as if we Believers are also moving from Winter to Spring. Just as I can feel it in the natural world I can sense it in the spiritual world. Since all truth is parallel, natural and spiritual, then we can know that God is, in fact, processing one season out and transitioning in another. So what does that mean to each of us?

Be encouraged, all your sowing, waiting and laboring is yielding a harvest. It’s on the way now. I was again reminded of this while having coffee at Denny’s this morning with my good friend, Bill Ramanakiwai. (I love Bill, when he smiles I think the whole world smiles. What a guy!) Anyway, we were both reminded of the James’ words in his letter chapter 5:7-8;
7So be patient, brethren, [as you wait] till the coming of the Lord. See how the farmer waits expectantly for the precious harvest from the land. [See how] he keeps up his patient [vigil] over it until it receives the early and late rains.
8So you also must be patient. Establish your hearts [strengthen and confirm them in the final certainty], for the coming of the Lord is very near.
My simple admonition… be patient friends and enjoy the present rain of His Spirit on your life. At the same time get ready for the new season. You are going to get drenched by the early and the late rains of His presence. That is the blessing of the Lord. And it is ours in Christ.

Until later, I remain,
In His grip,
Pastor Ken

PS… Lot’s of great stuff happening at Skyline… take a moment and visit the web-page at
www.Skylinecc.org. Also I am just about ready to start a real “Blog” so sign up for that while you’re at the cite.

Monday, February 14, 2011

Dear Friends,

I trust you are all doing well today. We had a wonderful day yesterday during our Sunday Morning Celebration. I am sensing the Holy Spirit increasing His tangible presence each time we gather. He is so good to us. As most of you already know Sherie’s Dad went home to be with Jesus early Friday morning. We want to thank all of you for your words and expressions of kindness. You are wonderful and we are blessed to be your pastors.

Be encouraged this week. You are a son or daughter of God and heir to the throne with Jesus your Redeemer and King. You are His. He bought you with a price, His very own blood. You are the Pearl of Great Price. You belong to Him. He not only loves you but He likes to spend time with you. You are His friend. He’ll take care of you… really!
31 “Therefore do not worry, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’ 32 For after all these things the Gentiles seek. For your heavenly Father knows that you need all these things. 33 But seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added to you. 34 Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about its own things. Sufficient for the day is its own trouble.
Matthew 6:31-34
God’s great blessings, until then, I remain,

In His grip of grace…
Pastor Ken

Hi Friends,

I pray this Monday finds you well and abounding in Jesus. I have a heart of thanks and gratitude this morning. (Personally I think there is way too little gratitude in this world. Who is able to stand alone? If truth were told, we are all standing on the shoulders of others and ultimately it is God who is our only sustainer.) Anyway, great thanks to Jeremy Schuff for an outstanding word yesterday at Skyline. I especially loved the poignant truth, “God doesn’t call the prepared, He prepares the called.” Thanks to Chris and the band for leading us in worship. Thanks to Jeremy Gibbs for excellent sound. Thanks to all those who helped during out work day, you know who you are. And thanks to Barbara, her crew and the many outstanding cooks! The pot-luck was over-the-top. I could literally go on-and-on.

When we sow gratitude we reap a grateful heart. Gratefulness creates an atmosphere of joy. Grateful people constantly see the beauty, purity and power of God. So this week:

”In everything give thanks;
for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you.”
Paul’s first letter to the Thessalonians 5:18

Until later I remain,
In His grip of grace,
Pastor Ken

“No eye has seen, no ear has heard,  no mind has conceived what God has prepared for those who love him.” — 1 Cor. 2:9 (NIV)

Greetings Friends,

Ten days ago we began a short journey entitled Ten Days of Blue Ocean Reflections.  During this time we set our heart before God.  I hope you have felt as good about this time as Sherie and I. Like the Blue Ocean after which it was modeled, I trust a bit more of God’s majesty has come before your eyes.

There’s more “blue” out there. The most incredible aspect of the Blue Ocean experience is the feeling of endlessness.  It seems to be the habit of man to put boundaries around everything, study it, understand it, place it in our personally created box and then manage our lives around those preconceived parameters.  But God is always moving in our present circumstances and beckoning us to places of wonder beyond what we have ever experienced.  “No eye has seen, no ear has heard, no mind has conceived what God has prepared for those who love him.”  1 Cor. 2:9 (NIV)

Our Heavenly Father is offering us a fresh Blue Ocean Season. He has things in store for us that we have yet to even conceive.  Eugene Peterson, in the Message Version translates our passage this way, “No one’s ever seen or heard anything like this, never so much as imagined anything quite like it– What God has arranged for those who love him.” Regardless of what you experience, think or feel, God’s plans are for you to prosper. He wants to bring you into your future more than you do.  He is for you and all His power is behind you backing you up.  I know what I’m doing. I have it all planned out–plans to take care of you, not abandon you, plans to give you the future you hope for. (Jeremiah 29:11)

Blue Ocean Reflection… We will never experience the Blue Ocean while standing on the shore.  Welcome to the water.  In encourage you to keep moving forward, keep hungering, keep thirsting… Kick out a bit more and experience His limitlessness.

If you want to be perfect, go, sell your possessions and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven. Then come, follow me. — Matthew 19:21

There is a point in a Blue Ocean Dive where a commitment must be made.  The decision to kick out further must be made if one is to experience the full extent of the Blue Ocean. I think there are some things in life that can never be experienced until there is authentic commitment.

The thing that makes commitment so hard is its inevitable price tag. For the rich young ruler it was his possessions, to another it is something else.  We can be certain of this; whatever takes preeminence over Christ will be, like the Young Ruler, brought to the point of surrender.  Our level of commitment is validated only when it touches those things we hold dear. The rich ruler in our story would have had no problem had he only sold all and given to the poor!  But our Lord placed His focus solely on the young man’s area of greatest resistance. This was his personal commitment test.  We are no different. God deals directly with our greatest resistance.  He knows what holds us from unhindered abandonment.  Like the young man, Christ asks us to “go and sell.”  And like the young man, His questions have the potential of bringing freedom in the places of the heart where there is a corrosive unwillingness.

I admire people that make real commitments.  They are intriguing, heroic and worthy of emulation. They decide the value of something and choose to commit everything in order to attain it.  I applaud such abandonment. Let’s join the company of the committed. The abundance of Christ is often reserved for those who kick out a little bit further in risky commitment.

Blue Ocean Reflection: I think there are some things in life that can never be experienced until there is a real commitment.  Like the Blue Ocean Dive the real experience lay “out there.”  Never sidestep an opportunity to see your heart the way it really is.  Bold commitment moves us beyond the ordinary and into the extraordinary.

Mary has chosen what is better and it will not be taken away from her. — Luke 10:38-42

It takes some effort to get to the place where one can truly experience the Blue Ocean. But then again, nothing comes without some effort.  And nothing comes without an investment of time in a specific direction. Our desire to go into the deep places with God has a tendency to be swallowed up because of the busyness of life.  In fact, it seems many allow the deeper life with Christ to slip away simply because of over-scheduling.  We are tempted to go the way of Martha.  Her way looks so much more effective.  But more can happen in a moment’s time when Jesus speaks than hundreds of hours of busy service.

I think God wants us to stop long enough to be still and know Him.  I seems to me that since God took the time and effort to create us, that He wants to spend time with us.  I think God wants us to stop looking for something to do for Him and simply be with Him.  He’s not looking for great people to do great things; He’s searching for those who will stop long enough to sit at His feet and hear His voice.  Out of that “quiet place” He speaks.  This reminds me of being suspended in Blue Ocean, the silence being broken only by the sound of breathing.  Let’s not trade the best, for the good.  The good is always the enemy of the best.  Mary chose to sit and listen to Jesus speak. She chose the best and so should we.

Blue Ocean Reflection: Most of our lifestyles are busy beyond what we would like.  In fact, they are probably busier than they ought to be. Remember, He created you, loves you, even likes you and wants to spend some time with you.

I know that you can do all things; no plan of yours can be thwarted.

JOB 42:1-3 (NIV)

One of the most captivating aspects of a Blue Ocean Dive is facing the unknown.  The exhilaration seems to be found in simply not knowing what lay beyond the vast curtain of blue.  Few things in life are as unnerving as the unknown.  It is both unnerving and alluring at the same time.  The farther out you go into a Blue Ocean the more you are aware of how little you are and how big it is.  The width and depth exceeds our understanding and leaves us in awe of its vastness.  Our God is a lot like this.  We know Him but at the same time stand in awe of how very unknowable He really is.

I have read somewhere that the heart of man desires wonder and magic; and that technology is what man uses to supplant the desire for wonder. [1] That sounds reasonable to me.  What we are really longing to do is worship; to stand in awe of a God we don’t understand and can’t explain.  We are, in our heart-of-hearts desiring His wonders; and when we experience them we are drawn, (like the Blue Ocean draws a diver), to wonder and worship.

Blue Ocean Reflection:  Who wants to worship a god they can explain in human terms?  Not me.  I am thankful that God, the Creator does not fit in the understandings and speculations of my finite mind.  God is God and there is no other.

But blessed are your eyes because they see, and your ears because they hear.

Matthew 3:13-17 (NIV)

A thermocline is a heat continuum between two extremes.  The deeper you dive the colder the water gets.  The diver passes through levels of coldness.  In Monterey it can get extremely cold. (But I have a hard time with cold anyway. I’m a real whiner when it comes to cold water.)  This whole process happens as the diver transitions through the thermocline.

Transitions are tough but unavoidable.  Summer turns into Fall, Fall rolls into Winter, out of Winter emerges Spring which produces Summer.  As far as I am concerned (and I understand this is my personal opinion), Summer is all one needs. But the principle of transition is built into all God’s creation. Every new season provides a wonderful new opportunity for fresh devotions and new beginnings.  If we miss the time of personal devotion our hearts will not be prepared to endure the life changing transitions that come with every seasonal change.

The life of Jesus was clearly marked by moments in time which transitioned Him from one season to another.  These moments allowed Him to assess and close the previous season which, in turn, opened the door to the new season which lay ahead.  His dialogue with the religious leaders at age twelve, His baptism and His Father’s confirmation at the Jordan, the Mount of Transfiguration experience, His personal crucible in the Garden of Gethsemane… these were all significant moments that concluded a past season and opened a new season.  At each moment we find Christ making a fresh consecration to the Father’s will and thus journeying victorious into and through the next season.

Blue Ocean Reflection…  Transition is more than change.  It is possible to change your environment but never transition.  Do you need to make a fresh consecration to the next season of this Journey?  It is the consecration to remain steadfast in one direction that makes the transition possible.