Pastor Cliff: More Than a Teacher, but Also a Friend to Many

Collisions 2:6 Therefore as you have received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk in Him,
7:having been firmly rooted and now being built up in Him and established in your faith, just as you were instructed, and overflowing with gratitude.
8:See to it that no one takes you captive through philosophy and empty deception, according to the tradition of men, according to the elementary principles of the world, rather than according to Christ.
9: For in Him all the fullness of Deity dwells in bodily form,
10: and in Him you have been made complete, and He is the head over all rule and authority.

We are very grateful to Christ for sending us a caring pastor. We are currently being taught sermons on the life of Christ, and to live how Christ lived. We are being trained in the disciplines of Christ. That word discipline sounds like something a prideful person would not want to do, but if we remember the verse about if we take Christ's yoke upon us are burden will be lighter.
Some of the topics we have learned and will be learning to become disciplined in our what we are putting in our mind and how to control our thoughts, about the importance of God's word being our final authority when we make decisions, our prayer life, we must remember how Jesus went to the Father in prayer and how He said at different times He would not do certain things unless His Heavenly father gave Him direction. So it taught us if Jesus found it important to pray, then we also should see how important it is to have personal communication to God. Next week we will learn about forgiving others, then controlling our tongues, how the church body functions at it's best, the importance of thanksgiving, and stewardship.

As we have been learning through this series of disciplining and training ourselves in righteousness, many people have been stirred up by what they have heard. They have shared with me that they have talked with Pastor Cliff about different subjects and how he has been advising them and mentoring them in these disciplines of life. He has been very helpful to me in the area of budgeting money and finances. I have a long ways to go before I get debt free, but I have established a changed pattern and am well on my way. I have been able recently to have enough confidence to work on my own monthly worksheets, but as a way of holding me accountable to the process, he checks on how things are going. Some other younger couples have mentioned to me that they were also having trouble with their finances. As I become better experienced with the process, I am hoping that I will be able to teach others how to handle their money also.

Pastor Cliff loves people and loves his position, and one of the rewards he receives from it is when he reaches out to others when they are seeking answers and he can experience with them the progress and growth they experience from being obedient to the wisdom of following God's word.

3John:4: I have no greater joy than this, to hear of my children walking in the truth.