Call to Prayer

Hi everyone! Just enjoyed praying this morning in a Prayer Gathering for Possess the Land: Room to Dream capital stewardship campaign. One of our members shared an interesting conversation he had with a man who has created over 100 Japanese gardens here in Hilo. This passion to leave behind "Living Treasures" reminds me of what God desires of us in 1 Peter 2:9-10: "But yo are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people belonging to God, that you may declare the praises of Him who called you out of darkness into His wonderful light. Once you were not a people, but now you are the people of God; once you had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy." The Apostle Paul gives a similar appeal in his second letter to the Corinthian church(2 Cor.2:14-15) "But thanks be to God, who always leads us in triumphal procession in Christ and through us spreads everywhere the fragrance of the knowledge of Him. For we are to God the aroma of Christ among those who being saved and those who are perishing." In his letter to the Ephesians(Eph 2:10), he writes: "For we are God's workmanship(His masterpieces still in progress) created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do." We are leaving behind a legacy of faith for those who come after us. At our Commitment Service on November 20, 2011 we will celebrate our 65th anniversary. It was mentioned today that some of us may not be here to celebrate our 75th, 85th or 100th year anniversary. But God is calling on us to leave a foundation of dependence on God to provide the resources for the purchase of the property NOW and the building of buildings LATER. I am so glad to be a part of a church who believes God! Enjoy the week of prayer! Pastor Daniel

Trust God! Trust His people!

"But the man who makes Me his refuge will inherit the land and possess My holy mountain. And it will be said: "Build up, build up, prepare the road! Remove the obstacles out of the way of My people." For this is what the high and lofty One says--He who lives forever, whose name is Holy: I live in a high and holy place, but also with him who is contrite and lowly in spirit, to revive the spirit of the lowly and to revive the heart of the contrite . . . I will heal him; I will guide him and restore comfort to him, creating praise on the lips of the mourners in (Hilo) Israel. Peace, peace to those far and near," says the Lord. " And I will heal them." Isaiah 57:13-19 For most of us living here in America, we have been taught at birth to depend on self, "if I don't get it done, it won't get done!" kind of attitude. Self-sufficiency often becomes the obstacle to which God can work His miracles and use our lives to bring Him glory and honor. This is a great time for us here at Kinoole where God promises that when we make Him our refuge that we will inherit the land and experience the promise He made in Joshua 1: "I will give you every place where you set your foot. . . No one will be able to stand up against you all the days of your life. As I was with Moses, so I will be with you; I will never leave you nor forsake you." May God bless us as we depend on Him in our Possess the Land: Room to Dream Capital Stewardship Campaign. Don't miss out on what could be an incredible journey of faith for us all! I choose to believe God! Won't you? Pastor Daniel

Hello everyone! What a blessing to be the people of God at this time! When Ken and Lauren introduced the Stewardship Campaign Leadership Team and we were asked to pray for the Team, for our church and for our community, I remembered what Queen Esther was told by her uncle Mordecai "Who knows but that you have come to royal position for such a time as this?" (Esther 4:14) That God would consider us worthy of such a great challenge before us, as Joshua was commanded by God to "Be strong and courageous. Do not be terrified; do not be discouraged, for the Lord your God wil be with you wherever you go." (Joshua 1:9) By now, you have received my letter unveiling our Campaign Theme: "Possess the Land: Room to Dream" taken from Joshua 1:11 ". . . take possession of the land the Lord your God is giving you for your own." But success depends on God's faithfulness to provide and your faithfulness to obey God. Remember Jesus' Great Commandment in Matthew 22:37-40 "Love the Lord with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and to Love your neighbor as yourself." AND His Great Commission found in Matthew 28:18-20 "Go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I(Jesus) have commanded you." Were we not blessed to witness Cheryl's baptism in the first service and rejoice with her and her family as she walks in "newness of life". Her joy was unmistakable! If you could see what Cheryl and I saw from the baptistry when the Kinoole family stood to encourage and pray for her, you could understand the great feeling to be FAMILY! This is indeed exciting times in which we live! God bless you as you follow Him! Pastor Daniel

Hello everyone! It has truly been an eventful summer: God raised up a host of young men and women to follow Him and they are in process, eaager to join God on mission. Several completing their college work, two beginning their training at seminary(includes my daughter Hannah) BUT all in process and all passionately in love with Jesus. We are so blessed! I have been doing a study of King David, the man who God took and transformed from being a shepherd boy of his father's flock to one of the greatest kings the world has ever known. God Himself called David "a man after my own heart" and in 1 Chronicles 11:9 God gives us the source of David's power: "And David became more and more powerful, because the Lord Almighty was with him." David wrote Psalm 20 and in verses 6 & 7 again gives us the source of power: "Now I know that the Lord saves His anointed; He answers him from His holy heaven with the saving power of His right hand. Some trust in chariots and some in horses, but we trust in the name of the Lord our God." But we also see that God uses "A Few Good Men" to support His leadership and beginning this Thursday evening, I am asking a handful of men to join me in a quest to depend more fully on the Lord in Bible study, prayer and biblical fellowship. The Apostle Paul writes in Ephesians 6:10 "Finally, be strong in the Lord and in His mighty power." May God help us in the spiritual battle against a crafty enemy who seeks to destroy and devour! But we claim the promise of God that "greater is He that is in us than he that is in the world". (1 John 4:4) Amen and Amen! Pray for us!

Hello everyone!

Trust that you are enjoying your 40 Days of Love small group! To our friends who log on to see what we are doing, we began our second Purpose Driven Life small group campaign(the first being in 2008) and are in the middle of the campaign(DAY 18 of 40) Pastor Rick Warren of Saddleback Valley Community Church in Mission Vallejo, California developed this material called the 40 Days of Love.

This fits perfectly with our discipleship process of moving everyone from our Sunday morning worship(8AM & 10:30AM) to the SS or even better a small group. We began on Kickoff Sunday(09/17/10) with 25 small groups. We have learned that to grow stronger, we must grow smaller, deepening our love for one another through small groups, amen?

Jesus taught us His Greatest Commandment(found in Mark 12 & Matthew 22): “You shall love the Lord Your God with all your heart, soul, mind and strength and love your neighbor as yourself.” We want to become better lovers of God and of people. Our Vision Statement says it simply: Kinoole Baptist Church exists to Love God, Love People and Serve. Like the song that goes: “They will know we are Christians by our love.” In addition to the Sunday morning sermon, we are enjoying Rick’s teachings each week as he teaches from 1 Corinthians 13, called by many “the Love Chapter”. His brother-in-law Tom Holladay, teaching pastor at Saddleback wrote a book called the “Relationship Principles of Jesus” and we are using this book, which is broken down into 40 chapters as the primary daily devotional reading for our campaign.

We truly have been blessed! For example, in Day 17: The Connection between Mouth and Heart (pages 157-158), he writes “The only path to a change of heart is to take off the fake and paltry crown you’ve fashioned for yourself. Your heart changes whenever and wherever you recognize that God is the only rightful wearer of the crown. He is the only King.” Amen and Amen! I always get into trouble when I focus on myself more than God, when I yank the steering wheel of my life away from Jesus instead of letting Him drive.

Have a safe week everyone and let Jesus drive! Pray that I will do the same! Love God, Love People and Serve! See you this Sunday!

Jesus died, Jesus was buried, Jesus was raised from the dead, Jesus appeared to many!

Hello everyone! What an incredible display of God gathering His people all over Hilo last weekend from Good Friday meditations, Easter Sunrise services, baptisms, multiple Sunday morning services to celebrate the resurrection of our Lord! God brought almost 200(191 to be exact) to our two services that we offered. What a wonderful testimony: "I serve a risen Savior!" was emphatically declared in every church, in every household all across our world. Millions of people celebrating Resurrection Sunday! The shouts of "He is risen! He is risen indeed!" rang out to declare our joy and gratitude to our God who made Jesus His Son to be our substitute. The prophet Isaiah said: "But He was pierced for our transgressions, He was crushed for our iniquities, the punishment that brought us peace was upon Him, and by His wounds we are healed. We all, like sheep, have gone astray, each of us has turned to his own way; and the Lord has laid on Him the iniquity of us all. " (Isaiah 53:5-6)
Last Sunday, we began looking at the historical record of Jesus being seen by many in the 40 days before He ascended into heaven to one day return to gather those who remain to be with Him forever. We will continue this Sunday with "A Look Back to the Resurrection", Randy Drake will be preaching on the 25th and I will conclude the "Life After the Resurrection" series on May 4th with "Believing Is Living". We will observe the Lord's Supper on that Sunday. "Soon, and very soon, we are going to see the King! Hallelujah, hallelujah, Hallelujah! Have a great week in the Lord! See you this Sunday!

I'm back!

Hello everyone! Well, I am now fully back from my sabbatical leave and I thank God, my family and our church for giving me this time to be away. I felt so welcomed my first Sunday back in the pulpit on September 6th and the observance of the Lord's Supper was wonderfully meaningful for me. Thanks to Earl and Didi Sabate for the beautiful maile lei; I felt so special! I was extremely blessed to know how supportive you were all summer of Pastor Ken Drake's leadership, along with Gail and our four summer interns! Their hardwork and creativity made it possible for me to leave the church in their capable hands. A special Mahalo to Tony and Brenda Pratt and to all of you who worked hard to offer the Welcome Back Picnic for me this past Sunday. Even our first-time guests who stayed for the meal would agree wholeheartedly that Kinoole Baptist Church offers the very best potluck in the world, amen? Amen! I must admit that I was a bit uncomfortable going first in the line and sitting with my wife Karen the entire meal! Somehow it seemed like I should have gotten up and served some water but thank you for allowing me to be the guest of honor! I also appreciated the hearty rendition of "For he's a jolly good fellow!" And to top it off, the cake was exquisite! Great choice!

Besides rest and a renewed spirit, as I met with pastors and other church leaders and visiting in their churches this summer, I am convinced that we must "live and leave a legacy of faith" for the generations coming after us. Psalm 71 & 78 remind us of the vital responsibility to pass the baton of faith to those who come after us. They clearly spell out the mandate from God that this is our time to serve the world and not ourselves. The very next day, we were able to share the love of Christ to the veterans at the Care Home and visit with Calvin Kaya, Jimmy Fujimoto and Mrs Henry Ayabe. What a blessing! We all missed Pastor Alberto Camacho but our prayers are with him and his parents in the Philippines as he spends the next several weeks attending to their special medical needs.

Can you believe that this November will mark sixty-three years that God has planted our church here in Hilo to be a lighthouse of His presence and power? This Sunday, Gail is leading another group through Class 101, an Introduction to Church Membership because everyone here at Kinoole Baptist Church learns to Love God, Love People and Serve. This is more than just a motto; it is our God-given mission! He is waiting on us. Can He count on us to follow Him faithfully as ducklings who follow the mother duck? See you Sunday! Daniel