Welcome to Life Church of the Islands

These are current sermon notes from Pastors Tim and Savina for your reading enjoyment. They are posted to edify the reader, with the hopes that the reader will be blessed in the Lord with messages that have been recently presented to the congregation. Our meeting time is 8:45 am, Sunday morning at the Lighthouse Baptist Church Bldg., located on Talahi Island at Quarterman and Hwy. 80. Blessings...

"The Heavenlies, God's Sanctuary!"

When I was a young Christian, I fell in love with my heavenly Father, out under the stars at night.  Along with Scripture I was passionately hungry for and reading, God also used the glory of the heavens to introduce Himself to me. With the eyes of my heart, I could look up and see beyond the distant galaxies, and behold the Creator of them all, my eternal Father. At times, I would weep with inexpressible joy at God’s glory being revealed to me from above. He was so close and intimate, and yet, He seemed so majestic and infinite, as He tenderly expressed His love for me, His newly born son, from somewhere on the other side of the universe. The sky became a tent curtain, with little holes in it, and every star was the light of God’s Presence, shining through to me from the other side, as I looked with eyes of longing to see more. Though I could not see the Lord through my physical eyes, the heavens were surely declaring the glory of my Creator to my soul, and O how wonderful it was. It was as though the night sky had become a heavenly choir, singing my favorite song, “Look beyond us to your Maker. Come through our glory, and behold the infinite glory of your Creator. See His majesty! See His splendor!” Shooting stars became the finger of God to me, streaking across the cosmos, as I watched silently in wonder and awe. The aurora borealis spoke to me of the Holy Spirit, in full splendor and majesty, as it streamed across the sky in shimmering bands of light so incredible, that at times I trembled at their majesty. Clouds floating high above beckoned me to come up, and ride on the wings of the wind with them, into the heights, there to see the glorious Lord Jesus Christ, lofty and exalted beyond human imagination. You see, for me in those early years with Christ, and even now, the heavens above have become sacred, for they speak of the habitation of the Creator of the universe, the God that I have fallen in love with. At special times in the past, when I would gaze into the night sky, I would somehow lose sight of the stars themselves, and all I could see, through tear-filled eyes, was the invisible Presence of my Maker, with a “knowing” that was so incredibly real and inconceivable. God and I were communing, Father and son, and enjoying each other’s company.  Imagine that!

As I grew in the Lord, and continued absorbing the Bible into my thinking and lifestyle, I began to see in greater detail, that Scripture was confirming what I had already come to know as true.
The heavens are telling of the glory of God... (Ps. 19:1).”  Yes, I knew this in my inner being. God had already revealed it to me. I can still hear my Father’s voice calling to me, “My son… Lift up your eyes on high and see who created these stars. (Is. 40:26).”  The Bible taught me that heaven is God’s throne (Acts 7:49). Of course it is! God had already spoken this to me, out under the stars. What joy it became, to find one Scripture after another, confirming as fact what God had already revealed in experience. It has become the call of God to me, to always be looking beyond the stars for any glimpse of Divine revelation my Creator may graciously share by the Holy Spirit’s power. [Thank You Jesus Christ, my Savior and Lord, for making all of this possible!] I am convinced that God has indeed made the heavens sacred, meant only to declare His glory, to those who would go searching to find Him, by gazing heavenward. “The heavens are the heavens of the Lord, but the earth He has given to the sons of men (Ps. 115:16)."

I want to share with you some of my favorite Scriptures Jesus has blessed me with through the years, concerning this.
Scripture is fact. It is true, and it behooves every Christian in this late hour in history, which is so full of deluding voices and demonic agendas, to know more about what God says, concerning the heavenlies. Though in my life experiences, I have intensely enjoyed the human emotions connected with my Spirit-lead star gazing, God knew it was important to base my beliefs on more than mere feelings. To build my house on the rock, so that it would not be destroyed, I needed to hear and understand what Christ was saying through Scripture, and act on fact, not fiction.“To You I lift up my eyes, O You who are enthroned in the heavens (Ps. 123:1)!"
“The Lord has
established His throne in the heavens, and His sovereignty rules over all (Ps. 103:19)."
“It is He who sits above the circle of the earth, and its inhabitants are like grasshoppers, who stretches out the heavens like a curtain and spreads them out
like a tent to dwell in (Is. 40:22)."
“For since the creation of the world His invisible attributes, His eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly seen, being understood
through what has been made... (Rom. 1:20)"

God so fills the heavens above us, that Scripture tells us, in His omnipresence, He overflows all of His creation, seen and unseen, far beyond all its borders, infinitely out of reach of space and matter and time! God is transcendent, which means He is as infinitely above a caterpillar as He is an archangel, or even a universe. “Forever God stands apart, in light unapproachable!” A.W. Tozer once wrote.
“Behold, heaven and the highest heaven cannot contain You… (1 Kg. 8:27)."
“Let them praise the name of the Lord, for His name alone is exalted; His glory
is above earth and heaven (Ps. 148:13)."
“O Lord, our Lord, Your majestic name fills the earth! Your glory is
higher than the heavens (Ps. 8:1)."
“Who is like the Lord our God, who is enthroned on high, who
humbles Himself to behold the things that are in heaven and in the earth (Ps. 113:5,6)?"
“He [Christ] who descended is Himself also He who
ascended far above all the heavens, so that He might fill all things (Eph. 4:10)."
“The High and Lofty One
who lives in eternity, the Holy One, says this… (Is. 57:15)."

I’d like to speak briefly now, to the truly born again Christians, who would be reading this.  I’m talking about the people who love God with all their mind and heart and soul and strength.  I will identify who these people are, to others who would be reading this also, on this Christian forum..  True Christians are the ones who would look up on a starry night and in the deepest part of their being, they would hear the voice of the heavens telling them of the glory of their Creator, whom they are longing for.  The true Christian has been given “eyes to see”, and that even as they gaze heavenward, they stand awestruck at the Heavenly Father above them, who is looking back down at them with infinite love and caring.  Forever God will be their God, and they love Him constantly.  The true Christian would not be looking to the heavenlies with any thought of aliens living out there.  They would not defile their thinking with such unholy sacrilege.  The heavens have become a sacred meeting place for God’s people who seek Him there, in His sanctuary.  The true Christian has been trained to cast down imaginations that would seek to exalt themselves above the knowledge that God has given them from the Bible.  The true Christian takes every thought, every lie of Satan, captive, and makes it obedient to what Christ has told them is true, according to the Bible (2 Cor. 10:3).  This is the warfare of every born again Christian, who would resist God’s enemy, Satan, who is the father of lies.   Jesus said that His sheep simply will not listen to the voice of this demonic stranger.  They will flee him (Jn. 10:5)  True Christians love truth that is found in the Bible, which they abide in (Jn. 8:31,32).  In this manner, truth sets them free from falsehood, which are doctrines of demons.  True Christians will not pay attention to myths, which give rise to mere speculations (1 Tim. 1:3,4).  Myths are made up thoughts that are false,  and a speculation is believing something is real when there is no evidence to prove it.  Myths and speculations are for those who don’t love the truth, and as a result of this, God will send a deluding influence upon them, so that they might believe what is false (2 Thes. 2:11).  Aliens have been made up by science fiction.  They don’t exist.  That’s why the true Christian utterly rejects and despises the notion that they are real, and that God created them and just didn’t put it in His Bible for us to learn about.
“Anyone who goes too far and does not abide in the teaching of Christ, does not have God; the one who abides in the teaching, he has both the Father and the Son.” (2 Jn. 1:8-10)
“For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine; but wanting to have their ears tickled, they will accumulate for themselves teachers in accordance to their own desires, and will turn away their ears from the truth and will turn aside to myths.”  (2 Tim. 4:2-4)

So my appeal to the true Christians who would be reading this, is to honor God with the heavenlies, and “Refuse foolish and ignorant speculations, knowing that they produce quarrels.” (2 Tim. 2:23).   This message is to say that the heavens are telling the glory of God, nothing else!  This is not fantasy.  Aliens are.  God bless...  Check out The Mountain on Vimeo. It's awesome!