Giving Thanks to God

Posted on by josiahkagin

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It seems like the rush of the holiday season that Thanksgiving has been nearly run over by the mad rush toward the busy Christmas shopping season. Black Friday is the focal point. It is like the stores forgot that Thanksgiving was on the calendar and jumped right to advertising and pushing Christmas gift buying. However, no matter what the world does, it is necessary for God’s people to stop in the midst of it all and reflect on all that God has graciously given. It is easy to look around and find things that are not going our way and to get down. Yet if we will take the time to think over the past year, we will be able to count our blessing and be amazed at what God has done. Here are some of the blessings I am thankful for:

  1. My Salvation—the longer I live and serve God the more I am amazed that He loved me enough to sacrifice His Son for me. He is amazing!
  2. My Wife–talk about a gift from God. She is exactly what I need and such a help to me. She is my friend and the love of my life. 
  3. My Children—they are so much fun! They keep us laughing. Sometimes when times are tough it is something they say that cracks us up. I am thankful for the new one on the way as well. God sure does answer prayers. 
  4. My Church—I count it a huge privilege to be apart of Grace Baptist Church. It is vibrant, growing church that is seeing God work in mighty ways. The unity of spirit is awesome. I appreciate members and their heart to follow Christ.
  5. My Ministry—I thank the Lord for calling me to preach and pastor. I love serving the Lord and leading others to follow Him. I am thankful for the new opportunity to be a volunteer chaplain at our local police department. God works it ways that are beyond our imagination.
  6. My Parents—they have been consistent servants of the Lord for many years. They have given a godly heritage for which I am thankful.
  7. My In-Laws—they have shown the Lord’s grace though the trials that they have endured this past year. What a testimony of following the Lord even through the storms of life.  

I am glad that we have a day to stop and reflect on the goodness of our God. Lets not let the day pass without letting Him know how thankful we are. 

Granted Desires

Posted on by josiahkagin

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Psalm 37:4-5 Delight thyself also in the Lord: and he shall give thee the desires of thine heart. Commit thy way unto the Lord; trust also in him; and he shall bring it to pass. 

I was blessed recently to have a fresh realization that the Lord truly does give the desires of the heart when we delight in Him and commit our way to Him. 

As a teenager I had a desire to be apart of law enforcement. My goal was to be an Indiana State Trooper. I headed this direction until the age of 17. That is when God unmistakably called me to be a preacher of the Gospel and a pastor. At first I wrestled with the call but then submitted to God and I am so glad I did. I do not regret the direction God’s will has taken me and enjoy everyday that He graciously grants me to serve Him. What I will share next did not happen because I was seeking it, but rather it was all of God. 

It was our church’s 30th anniversary and Pastor Shaw and I wanted to meet with some of the city officials to invite them to attend the special day. Our first meeting was the the Kettering Chief of Police. As we spoke with him another officer came into the meeting and was introduced to us as the officer over the chaplaincy. He briefly expressed to Pastor Shaw and I that the Kettering Police had a vibrant chaplaincy program and currently had an opening due to the retirement of one of the chaplains. I was intrigued and I told him there that I would like to set up a meeting to talk more about it. Pastor Shaw encouraged me to take the opportunity if I could. God continued to open up the doors and on October 18, 2013 I was introduced to the police department as a new chaplain. 

You see, while God did not allow me to become a police officer for life, He has now allowed me to be with police officers and endeavor to be a blessing and help to them spiritually. When I was 17 I could never have dreamed God would have worked it out this way. God takes our desires, abilities and life experiences and carefully crafts a call for us—it is always amazing. Don’t hesitate to delight in who God is and commit all your way to Him because I guarantee you He will give you the desire of your heart. If you will trust God, He will amaze you!

 

I Love Seeing God Work!

Posted on by josiahkagin

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This past week we had the Cola-Clash team come to help us reach Kettering teens for Jesus Christ. I was blessed by the zeal of the team members to recruit as many teens as possible to the three days of carbonated competition. The Lord blessed with record number of recruits and we entered the evening rallies anticipating God to work. He did work.  Each night teens came back to receive Jesus as their Savior. Friday night (the final night of Cola-Clash) we gave the teens who received Christ the opportunity to stand and make their decision public. All of them did and what a blessing it was to see them stand unashamed of Jesus Christ. Over the three days we saw ten come to Christ along with 4 other assurance related decisions. I am looking forward to helping these young people grow in their new Christian life.

We prayed that God would save teens in Kettering. It was our heart to bring hope into their lives. God did answer our prayer! While we were busy with the Cola-Clash, God allowed a local tragedy to bring many more teens to Jesus. Austin Rife was a 15-year-old young man who was killed by a drunk driver on August 8th. His funeral was on August 15 and while praying with the Cola-Clash team that morning, I felt impressed of the Lord to attend the Funeral. I am glad I did! We had prayed that God would help the preacher to give the Gospel clearly, but I did not anticipate what happened. The preacher, Jeff Rose, stood and gave one of the clearest, timely Gospel messages I have ever heard as well as extended an invitation to receive Christ. The first ones to respond were three High-School young men and then many more teenagers began to respond. They made their way to the front where several personal workers helped them know what to do. I counted around 31 people who responded, most of them teenagers.

It amazes me to see how God is able to work and bring people to salvation. He uses even tragic situations to bring hope to many.  I am praying that God will continue to work in our city to draw the lost to salvation through faith in Jesus Christ.

 

Please join me in praying for the Rife family as they continue to grieve for Austin.

If you have recently received Jesus and desire to grow in your relationship with Him, consider joining our Student Journey Class.

God Uses Children

Posted on by josiahkagin

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At Grace Baptist Church we are just one week away from Vacation Bible School. I am so excited to see just what God will do during this week in the hearts of the children and parents that attend. We have been actively, prayerfully preparing for this week of intense evangelistic outreach.

This Wednesday evening I will be preaching to the children in our Wednesday Children’s Program in preparation for VBS and God has burdened my heart to challenge them with this thought, “God uses children!” John 6:1-15 gives us the story of Jesus feeding the multitude of men, women and children with just five barely loaves and two small fishes. Tucked away in this story is the marvelous truth that God uses children. The story opens with a big need — the people were hungry and there was no food. Then there was a small boy. Evidently this lad wanted to be close to Jesus because Andrew was able to spot him. He noticed his humble lunch that perhaps his caring mother packed for him before he ran out the door to see Jesus. Andrew brought the lad to Christ and it should be noted that this little guy was willing to give up his lunch (Something little boys are not likely to do) for Jesus.  He would have not had an understanding of what Christ was about to do, yet he was willing to give up his lunch anyway. Here we see our amazing God. Jesus commanded the multitude to be seated and then thanked God for the food. I can only imagine what must have been going through the lad’s mind. I can see his eyes widened as his lunch keeps growing as the disciples walk throughout this huge crowd serving his five loaves and two small fishes. The multitude along with this little boy were stuffed. Jesus had done what no man could do and He allowed a little lad with a little lunch to help Him do it.

The fact is, God still uses children and don’t forget this as you approach your Vacation Bible School or other summer children’s ministries. Challenge the children of your church to let God use them too. Let them know that they are valuable to God. Involve them. Encourage them to invite their friends. Children will never forget being used of God!

Blessed!

Posted on by josiahkagin

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Six years ago I was privileged marry the lady of my dreams. I praise God for giving me exactly what I needed in my wife. I cannot thank God enough for His overwhelming goodness toward me. I continue to praise and thank God for my wife in these ways:

  1. She is a blessing – Literally her name, Sheila, means blessing. Over and over I have been blessed by her kindness, love, commitment, forgiveness and talents.
  2. She is always growing – Whether in music, mothering, business, cooking or spiritually, my wife has consistently grown. She works hard to improve and that is awesome!
  3. She is always planning – Being prepared is apart of my wife’s DNA. She is always thinking ahead to make every family event go smoothly and have everything that is needed, including emergencies. She definitely helps me in this way!
  4. She is caring – Her caring spirit has amazed me time and time again. She will go without in order to care for her family or someone else. Whether people or animals, my wife is very caring.
  5. She is godly – I can count on my wife to take God’s perspective in any matter. I appreciate how she allows God’s Word to govern her life and actions. I also appreciate her willingness to continually grow in this area.
  6. She is a keeper – The success of any marriage depends on each spouse being fully committed to the marriage for life. God has truly blest me with the perfect wife for me and I am so glad that He brought us together.

Many people today mock marriage and say it doesn’t work. God designed it and if you will follow His principles as given in the Bible, marriage is like a little heaven on earth — to God be the glory!

Reasons I am Thankful for My Parents

Posted on by josiahkagin

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The dishonoring of parents seems to have become an epidemic in this generation. The Bible tells us to “…Honor thy father and mother…” in Ephesians 6:2.  The word honor means to ascribe worth to a person. It is a command that is to be consistently carried out and it has no expiration date.  Honoring your parents as an adult entails giving them opportunity to guide you, to warn you and to advise you. We honor  them when we give their counsel in our lives more weight and thought than the counsel of others. There are many more aspects of honoring but the bottom line is God never condones the dishonoring of parents. Even our Lord Jesus was subject to earthly, flawed parents. (Luke 2:51) He even honored his mother from the cross. I just want to say, it is my desire to obey God fully in this area, to teach my children to do so, and to call on others in my generation to do the same.

God has blessed me with loving parents who know what they believe and make no apology for it. I respect that in them! They are not perfect, but neither am I. I just thank the Lord for allowing me the privilege to be their son. Here are just some of the reason why I am thankful for them.

  1. I am thankful for their commitment to Christ. People can be committed to alot of ventures but my parents have been committed to the cause of Christ from my earliest memories. Nothing was more important to my Father and Mother than the ministry God had called them to. We all worked in it together and made it a family effort.
  2. I am thankful for their love for God’s Word. I remember walking in on my parent’s devotional time often. I could count on it that my father would be on the couch at about 6:30 AM reading his Bible and sipping Alfalfa (that particular practice I have replaced with a good cup of black coffee). I knew that walking with God and knowing Him in the Word was important to my dad.
  3. I am thankful for their standards. They taught me that standards were the fences we put up to keep from breaking the clear principles of God’s Word. They set their standards because of a desire to please the Lord. Due to their example, I have chosen to set standards for my own family.
  4. I am thankful for their provision of our needs. My parents were never rich, yet our needs were always taken care of. Whether it was a new pair of Nike’s or a bike it seemed my parents would figure a way to make it happen.
  5. I am thankful for the memories. Granted, we spent alot of time working together, but we had some traditions that made for great memories. We always took several weeks each summer to go to Milwaukee to visit my grandmother. During this time we would often do mountain biking, wading in Lake Michigan and sleeping in tents in the backyard. Sometimes we would go further north to my grandma’s cottage which was always an amazing adventure. There are many more memories, but I think these make my point.
  6. I am thankful for their character training. I did not like the work ethic while they were trying to instill it, but I am so gald for it now. They taught me to work hard and focus on the task at hand. Some children resent their parents for making them work, but I appreciate the training immensely!
  7. I am thankful for their faith through trials. Watching parent go through trials is not easy. Learning from their faith is amazing. I can think of several times when my parents we under pressure and rather than buckling they turned to God in faith and were strengthened.
  8. I am thankful for their faithfulness. I appreciate the fact that they have been faithful for over thirty years to the ministry God called them to. I am know it was not always easy and I am sure there were times they were tempted to quit. Yet they looked to God in faith to enable them to be faithful. They are an incredible example to me of faithful ministers of the Lord.
  9. I am thankful for an ongoing, healthy relationship. I appreciate being able to call home and talk to my parents with no tension. We may not do everything exactly the same (by the way, no two people do), but I respect them for the stands they have always taken. Because they taught me to keep a clean conscience, I don’t feel like I have to justify and argue constantly for my viewpoint on any particular issue.
  10. I am thankful for their guidence. I am thankful that my parents still feel the ability to call me up and advise or warn me. I appreciate the times I have recieved wise counsel from them. When something especially burdensome is on my heart, their is nothing like being able to talk it out with them, maybe even cry together. I welcome their guidence even as an adult.

If you have not stopped to think through the reasons you are thankful for your parents,  today would be a good day. If you have a strained relationship with them, decide to work out the tension areas. Don’t let another day go by without choosing to honor them just as the Bible says. You will be glad you did!