How Fleeting is Life

-by Andrew Strom

Most of us heard the sad news last week that in one day two
pop icons passed away. Farrah Fawcett was 63 and died
after a long battle with cancer. Michael Jackson the "prince of pop",
aged only 50, died in even sadder circumstances. How tragic that
even the vast machinery of fame cannot shield its many lost sons
from a lonely, miserable existence and an unhappy end.

No doubt Farrah Fawcett could look back on the glory years when
young women around the world imitated her hairstyle and her "look".
I can remember as a kid watching "Charlie's Angels", though I have
to admit far preferring "The Six Million Dollar Man" as a 10-year-old.
She will be remembered as a battler to the end, an icon of her era.
But oh, how fleeting is life. And oh, how empty is fame. And oh,
how pointless is earthly success when eternity stretches before all.

Michael Jackson could have looked back on years of pop glory
and superstar fame - when his dance moves dazzled the whole
world. But then came the surgeries, the bizarre behaviour, the ugly
allegations, the court cases, the hundreds of million$ of debt.

Like another famous "prince" of pop (actually - his father in law -
Elvis Presley), he seemingly died unhappy and alone, his
"comeback" unrealized, his fame a chain around his neck, his
death a shock in one still so young. Elvis died at 42, and now his
son-in-law Michael at 50. Fame seemingly does not take good care
of its own when they pass their "use-by" date. And so the ephemeral
idols of our shallow culture continue crashing down.

"For what is your life?" asks the apostle James. "It is a vapor that
appears for a little time, and then vanishes away."

"Vanity of vanities," says the Preacher of Ecclesiastes, "All is
vanity... All go unto one place; all are of the dust, and all turn to
dust again."

If it is one thing we can learn from the life and death of every 'icon'
on this planet, it is that we all must live with eternity in view, not
the fleeting charade of this present world. As Leonard Ravenhill so
eloquently asked, "Are the things you're living for worth Christ dying for?"

Make it a great day!

-Pastor Randy

Sunday Wrap Up

God is good! In spite of so many people being on vacation, we had a wonderful crowd this morning and a great service. I really appreciate Brian and the choir. They did a great job leading us into the presence of the Lord this morning. Tonight, we had a great time of worship and heard some very inspiring testimonies. I enjoyed preaching on Job and just how limited Satan is in what he can do to us. I gave out the laminated TMZ cards to everyone in attendance. Hopefully, if you weren't there tonight, there will be some left over for you to pick up later.

I ran across the following web article on the Mary, Mary web page. I really do pray that this is true. Praise the Lord!

Good News----RIP MICHAEL JACKSON
Last night we received some good news from Terri McFaddin-Solomon who is good friends with Sandra Crouch. Three weeks ago Sandra and Andre' spent some time with their close friend, Michael Jackson. Michael asked Andre` to play, "It Won't Be Long And We'll Be Leaving Here." Michael then prayed with Sandra and Andre and accepted Christ into his heart. Now he's singing in the heavenly choir! Our hearts rejoice!

Everyone have a wonderful week!

-Pastor Randy

Some Saturday Thoughts...

Today I ministered at Bill Hundley's funeral service. Bill and Deila are former members of Kings Point. Bill used to clean our baptistery faithfully. Bill also was known for taking young men under his wing and taking them fishing and just spending time with them. Bill was not one to seek recognition. He was rather quite but a man who was faithful in the small things. Last week I prayed with Bill and upon the profession of his faith in Jesus Christ, I know he is in heaven with his Savior today. Please remember his wife and his son, Ronnie, in your prayers.

After the funeral, I was able to scoot over to the church where people had finished up prayer and were preparing to go out and be a witness for Christ. Several teams went out today and approximately thirty people came to Christ in less than an hour. I was able to pray with one man who is suppose to be with me in church tomorrow. Please join us in prayer for these new believers.

The next scheduled time we have to go out as a church will be Saturday, July 11th, at 11:30 am. Please try to join us. I know its scary for some of you but that's okay. We will prepare you and God will give you the power you need and He will go before you as well and prepare the hearts of the people you speak with. God will use you to lead someone to eternal life...it doesn't get any better than that.

I want to thank Ron Thomas and Bob Dooley and those that went with them this morning to feed and minister at City Gospel Mission. What a privilege to minister to "the least of these" - Jesus.

I hope to see you at KP in the morning. I sincerely believe God is going to meet with us in a great way tomorrow. Please come expecting God to do anything and everything!

-Pastor

The Necessity of the Mountain Experience

Check out this testimony from last week's TZM revival..,
Last night and this morning's service here at the Youth Conference in Baton Rouge has been great. The kids here from KP have had a great few weeks of God's revelation being deposited within them. I am sure the same is true for those KP kids that have attended youth camp. Revival and renewal experiences are vital to us all. The truth is we all get dry and weary from time to time. We all go through valleys, but thank God for the mountains. But many times YOU HAVE TO GO TO THE MOUNTAIN IN ORDER TO GET OUT THE VALLEY AND HAVE MOUNTAIN TOP EXPERIENCES. Hiking up the mountain isn't easy, but its imperative that we make the journey. Many of you last week experienced a life tranforming week not because Tommie Zito is a powerful minister (which he is), but because you GOT ALL IN...you sacrificed and denied the flesh by coming to the services and coming to the morning sessions no matter how scared or tired you were. You gave of your finances, your homes, your time, and chose to burn in your heart for souls and God blessed you mightily. The same happens with the encounter weekend for many of you. The end result is a mountain top experience with God. I know you don't like leaving the mountain but eventually you have to. Mountains are not built to live on. We have to get back down to the valley. Even though the valley can be frightful and dangerous, we learn a lot in the valley. We learn to rely on Christ and so much more. Well, I got to go. I know my thoughts weren't to spiritually insightful today, but I hope you received something. We head back tomorrow so I may not be able to blog. Have a wonderful Friday and I hope to see you this weekend in God's house. -Pastor

God is Looking for Some Left Handers

I just came in from the first night of Bethany's Annual Youth Conference in Baton Rouge. I heard an awesome, strong message tonight from the speaker whose name escapes me. But he preached from this text in Judges 3:14-15,"So the children of Israel served Eglon the king of Moab eighteen years.But when the children of Israel cried unto the LORD, the LORD raised them up a deliverer, Ehud the son of Gera, a Benjamite, a man left handed: and by him the children of Israel sent a present unto Eglon the king of Moab."

He talked about how when God's people cry out and get serious about being rescued, God always raises up a deliverer...this time it was a man named Ehud who was a Benjamite and who was left handed. Now this was kind of ironic because in the Bible, Benjamin comes from the Hebrew name Binyamin which means "son of my right hand", or "son of the right hand." Even though he came from a tribe known as "sons of God's right hand," God raises up a deliverer for Israel who is left handed.

Isn't that like God, just when we think we have him figured out, He throws us a curve out of nowhere (and from a left hander at that). As the story goes God used Ehud to destroy "the fat man" Eglon, which brought deliverance to Israel. The preacher tonight talked about how God is looking for some left handers to bring deliverance to a generation that needs rescued from the power of the devil ("the fat man").

I did notice something as I was reading ahead of the speaker tonight. In Judges 3:21 "And Ehud put forth his left hand, and took the dagger from his right thigh, and thrust it into his belly." Notice, Ehud took his dagger out from under his right thigh. The thigh is significant because we see Abraham several times make covenant with different ones by the person placing their hand under his thigh. I think the thigh represents intimate covenant. God delivered up a left hander from His sons on His right hand to bring deliverance to Israel who are in intimate covenant with him.

What does all this mean Pastor? I believe there is a powerful prophetic word here for today's church. I sincerely believe God is looking for left handers today to bring deliverance to a generation who is crying out for deliverance. These left handers are not from the institutionalized, dead, do-things-the-same-way, play-it-safe, rigid church. But the left handers that God has called out today are unique, different, noncompromising, and untamed. They act out of an intimate walk with God, not what man thinks is best for them. They are made of the same stuff of John the Baptizer...they don't like playing church and tickling people's ears. They have come to bring deliverance to the captives like Jesus did...to kill the fat man (the devil).

Are you a left hander?

-Pastor Randy

Celebrate!!!

On Father's Day today we celebrated the fact that over 700 people were introduced to their heavenly Father this week through th esaving power of Jesus Christ. The Testimonies were awesome. I will play some of them for you on the blog this week. THIS WEEK AS YOU SHARE JESUS WITH OTHERS...PLEASE E-MAIL ALL OF US AND TELL US YOUR BRIEF STORY. I am headed to Baton Rouge with some youth and we will do the same as we share Jesus down there and back. I hope you like the new web site. Jon Rhoades did a great job along with his company. We are working on out audio and video sermons still. We hope to have it up and running within the next few weeks. Also, note the devotional page and all the pics. We will have even more pictures in the future. Well, everyone have a great
week! -Pastor Randy

TMZ Week Concludes with Nearly 700 Saved!!!

What a week it has been. This time last week as I was preparing a cook out for TZM team, little did I realize how this week would forever change and transform so many people. To be honest, I am a little numb right now. It's been a wild ride of a week, but what a ride it has been. Today the final team of around thirty-five people went out after a teaching and instructional time they came back with 112 souls added into the kingdom. Praise God...for a total of 692 for the week (it would be nice if everyone would help us get at least eight more before tomorrow morning's service).

Its one thing to go fishing for souls like we did every this day this week (except for Monday), but its another thing to teach men to fish for souls for a lifetime. Personally, I think that was the greatest accomplishment of the week...probably a hundred different people this week were taught to fish for souls (or share Christ)for life. The last person that I spoke with today before I locked the church and left told me their life has been forever changed...they said to me "I will never be the same again or see people the same again." She was just one of many who are saying the same thing.

Every morning people showed up with knots in their stomach this week before they went out. Some were so nervous that they were sick and near vomiting. But they came anyway...they battled emotionally, physically, and emotionally through their fears and pushed themselves out onto the streets. Every one of them was nervous when they read the card to their first person, some were met with acceptance and some with rejection. But nonetheless, they did it! They won! Jesus was glorified no matter how sick they felt in their stomach...no matter how the person on the other end received it. No doubt the second time was a little easier and the third a little easier and so on. But the bottom line is they did it..they died to self so that Christ could be made alive to others. And the more they do it, dying to self to share Christ - the easier it will come.

I can't cover it all in one blog article...and besides that my brain is in a shrunken fetal state right now anyhow. So I will share more about this great, great week with TZM over the next few days. As you know tomorrow is Father's Day but we will be sharing lots of exciting testimonies during the AM service. There are some real humdingers...you won't want to miss it!

Love you all! Again, I have never been more proud of the KP body of believers!

-Pastor Randy